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Originally Posted by fable For all the bollixing up of the story at the end (from Lucasarts rushing the job), it is still a far more compelling story with far deeper characters than in the original KotoR. |
I must admit, I enjoyed the way the story was told in KotOR2 much more than I did the first one. There was perpertually a sense of mystery, and pieces of the puzzle were slowly revealed. The NPCs were quite deep, and each - from Atton to T3- carried a bit of mystery in themselves (though, I must admit, I found many of the NPCs in KoTOR deep, as well.)
With that said, I thought that while these storytelling techniques employed in KoTOR2 were quite good, the game ended up feeling very rushed. In particular, while the NPCs seemed quite deep, they also felt unactualized. Meaning, it was frustrating that your NPCs ran out of things to say to you when you're on the verge of getting to know them, had no NPC specific quests (though the first game quests were really horrible). Moreover, while each was somewhat interesting, the NPCs really cease being important once you recruit them. They may have a twinge of mystery to them, but if you ignored them the rest of the trip, it wouldn't matter. It would have been nice to see their storylines play out in some depth either independently from the main quest or in conjunction with it. Similarly, they didn't really craft a compelling romance in KoTOR2. The ones presented in the first game were much more compelling.
Similarly, the worlds felt much smaller in KotOR2, with the exception of Nar Shadda. Now, perhaps, thats a matter of perception. All I know I was very dissappointed by how small Korriban was, for instance.
Likewise, the game, I think, dissappointed many of us because it was anticlimatic. We had high expectations for the encounters with the Sith Lords (who were much more interesting villains than Malak), and they weren't particularly difficult or, more importantly, interesting. You really do not get to know the two Sith Lords very well, at all. More cutscenes featuring them, or something along those lines, might have aided in that.
Likewise, I had high expectations for the end game scenario. <Pseuo-Spoilers> Meaning, I hoped NPCs would have roles and stories in that, perhaps I hoped for a final city or at least a chance to re-explore Telos, etc. The last few things you do are simply too strung together, and lacking in substance in places.
So, all things considered, while I liked the second game, it lacked the fine-tuning of the first game. More importantly, it seems the end of the first game was more carefully planned out or implemented than the end of the second game. The post-collecting Jedi Masters portion of the game is just really poorly developed, in my estimate.
Finally, I didn't realize it was possible to develop a game that made one of the Final Fantasies or the first KOTOR look difficult.... I'll let that go for now...
Anyway, to the post at hand, I sincerely suspect that a 3rd game is in the works. The ending of this one seemed to imply that this was at least a trilogy, in my estimate (in good Star Wars fashion). That and I'm sure the product will be mad successful. So its just good money sense. I look forward to a third game, though I do hope it resolves some of these issues I've been complaining about. Still, Obsidian did a fine job with KotOR2, but I can't help but feel the deadline weakened a potentially phenomenal game, turning it into an "okay" role playing game.
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Oh its a shame you live so far away man. We could have so much fun! Well... maybe. We might end up in jail after we get out of the hospital.
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