[finkelmana]

First, I want to say Kotor was a great game. I got it for the Xbox and I couldnt stop playing. But there were definately some things that could have been improved. Dont let my comments make you think this was anything but an extremely enjoyable game. Many people touched on the things I didnt like, but there are more:

* First it was too easy. I played on the Normal setting. Yes, I died here and there, but fortunatley I learned to save a lot before opening doors and going to new areas. If I got my butt kicked, I just reloaded the last save and got prepared for the oncoming fight.

* I got the game for the Xbox, typically I hate RPG on consoled, but everyone said this game was often. Using a controller took me a while to get used to. A keyboard would have made things a lot easier. I suppose the PC version will be better.

* Movement and load times. The load times on the Xbox made me want to scream. Moving from one area to another (usually with 1 area or more between them) took way too long. Sometimes I went in the wrong direction and had to go back... A jump to another area would have been better (half the time you couldnt even go back to the Ebon Hawk). And could you move any slower? It took forever to run across large maps. THen you would try to go to another area and some party member is lagging way behind. Or, more annoyingly, a npc locks you into place and you have to swith to them just to move em, so you can switch back and move you. Then there was the underwater part. I literally was snarling in frustration at moving so slowly. Movement has no bearing underwater, you just zapped the sharks. It was purely for effect and I hated it 10 seconds into it. Then there was the catwalk to the bridge on the Leviathen. Hmm.. differenct colored wet suit, just as freakin slow. All that to walk to a door. That could have been a cutscene.


* Bugs. There were a few visible ones, like on tattooine, where your clothes disappeared. Another one of note was talking to someone, like the computer on Kashyyk and 1 or two other places... You would talk to it and get attacked. Well, you can put your focus back on the computer and talk and it thinks the battle was over and go on with the game. Of course, when it was done talking, the droids (and others) still attacked you. Other bugs included getting parts for the Ebon Hawk when on the unkown planet. I had em, went into the ship... and nothing... I ran around the areas twice (which took forever) before I re-entered the EH and a message appeared saying the parts should work.

* The shops. I more or less never used them. Everything I had in the game I found. Im sure I bought a few non quest items, but the only time I used the shops was only early in the game and I was buying stuff for the hell of it.

* Character development. I was kind of dumbfounded as to what to pick when leveling. I wasnt sure what to do... I ended up autoleveling all the chars in the game. Worked fine for me.

* Party Members. I almost always went out with the Jedi. They were far more effective in battle than the others. I never picked the others unless there was a quest related to that char. The only time I used T3 was to open the occasional door and I only used HK in the single mode when rescuing the chars on the leviathan or translating on tattooine. I dont think I ever used Canderous, except just to try him out.

* Cycling through the text. Sometimes you load a game cuz you died, or want to try something differently. There was no way to quickly cut the chase... I just sat there smashing the A button over and over to speed it up a little.

* The map. Very helpful... But it would have been nice to be able to put noted on it to denote where people where standing.

* Pazaak and swoop racing. Pointless. It was fun to play, but had no bearing on the game. I never had a money issue in the game. Other than on Taris, I never did a swoop race. I got bored, and played pazaak players and saved after every win and reloaded after every loss. Did you know they will either quit or accuse you of cheating if you win "every time?"

* Force powers and feats. I never really used em. Other then cure/heal. Even the stims I didnt use much unless I reloaded a game and knew I was going into battle. I just went through and hacked at everyone with light sabers. Heck even on the NPCs I gave them melee weapons cuz they did more damage.


* What was the point of the - whatever is was called - press the right analog stick down. Gee, you can look around! Woohoo. After a while the textures all looked the same, the NPCs have the same faces... so why?


* the menu in the bottom left. I wish the stupid thing would stay on what you just selected, rather then jumpin back to the attack setting.

* The inventory. I never sold anything except easrly in the game to buy the occasoinal quest item. My inventory was full of... well everything. Can you really carry around 30 types of armor and 100 weapons, etc? In addition to that opening up containers. Since you can carry everything under the sun, dont open a container and ask me if I want to take it, just give it to me.


* The ending. I went all the way to the light (that was my goal)... so what was the point? I heard the was a way to see the alternate ending... But there is no way im going to go back thru 40 hours of gameplay just to try some other missions or see some different text or whatever. Would be nice to be able to play the game again with the same char so you can breeze thru the game quickly and try a different path or do a mission you didnt do.

* Save games. WOuld have been nice to put a comment on them so I know what I was had done/was doing. A picture of my chars on front of a door doesnt tell me much.

* gun turrets on the Ebon Hawk. I didnt notice the meter on the bottom right till the last time I had to do it. It was so easy, I thought it was purely a cosmetic touch. THat was way too easy. I didnt even find out what happens if the meter went all the way down.

* Customization and armor/weaps/etc. I fiddle with it, but I never really looked at how it affected anything. I customized all the stuff, but never noticed anything special. Sure damage went up a little... but what is one less hit? The only crystal that was noticeably useful was the one that had a chance to stun. As for armor and weaps, I just went for the highes offense/defense. I have no idea what a "critical threat" is.

* talking to your party memebers. That was a bit of a task. You actually have to initiate the conversation (Except when the game stops and it tells you to talk to em). I just got into a routine in which everytime I got on or off the EH to talk to em. What was more annoying was running around the EH just to talk to each one. Not only that, when you can ask em to make you a grenade or a spike, just have em give you all you can carry rather than asking them ten times.

* graphics/sound. I must say I wasnt overly impressed. The graphics werent bad, but nothing to write home about. The game ran smoothly, except for the rare half second pause for no obvious reason when you hit the Y button the spin your lightsabers. THe textures got old after being in one environment for hours. and seeing the same 10 NPC faces got tiring. And the sound was even less exciting. The music was good, but quickly faded into the background of your mind and you forgot it was there. The sound effects, well how many lightsaber and blaster sounds can there be? They could have at least made it dolby 5.1 since it is a 3D game.

Thats all I can think of at this point, Im sure there are more annoyances I had. SOme RPGs are insane with crappy numbers and formulas you had to think about. This was more of a adventure game with a little RPG thrown in to boot. More or less everyhing RPGish was cosmetic. I couldnt imagine how pissed I would be finding out 40 hours into the game I couldnt continue cuz my computer skill was too low and I couldnt open a door and I couldnt go get T3.

I know I have a lot of gripes... Again, I will say the game was great. The story was excellent. I couldnt stop playing it. One of the better games I have played in a long time.