Star Wars: KotOR II Previews

The three largest gaming sites on the web have each published previews of LucasArts and Obsidian's upcoming PC version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. A snip from GameSpot's article:
Right off the bat, it's clear that the choices that you make in the game will have a much greater effect this time around. You'll have to make moral decisions that will not only steer you toward the light side or the dark side of the Force, but will also affect your relationships with your party members. You can also gain influence with your companions, depending on what dialogue choices you select during the game. For example, when one of them has a suggestion, you'll have multiple answers to choose from, including the opportunity to slap it down. Do so, and you'll lose favor with that character. Though we've played through only the first location in the game, the storyline is as intriguing at this point as the original game's storyline was. There are certainly many mysteries in the game, and for every answer you find, you'll uncover even more questions. And for fans of the original, several familiar faces crop up early in the game.

A snip from GameSpy's article:
While the game has been fun to play, there have been some bugs and glitches in play. The build I have is about 98 percent complete, but the game has crashed a few times and there are certain gameplay aspects that do leave me scratching my head. For instance, there are times where your party does not follow you, even when you are not in solo mode. There have been a few times where I have been in melee and wondered where my comrades are, only to find them in other rooms that I had recently visited. In another situation, I used an NPC to solve a quest, and when my character came back, he was totally alone. My party was not with me and no where to be found on the level.

And a snip from IGN PC's article:
Conversations and situations challenge players early on to decide which path to travel. Morality issues play early, but don't show as strongly until NPCs begin playing a larger role. When people begin bringing problems to you after arriving on Telos (the second planet) decisions become more critical and personal beliefs begin trying to weasel their way into your decision making process. So far, though I'm not too far into the game, characters haven't been too annoying, so it's a little more difficult to be a jerk to everybody... which is a little upsetting considering I wanted to play the dark side. My natural want to do good (or some semblance of good at least) makes it hard for me to make evil decisions in a game that isn't even a very lifelike situation. I suppose that's a testament to the writing and ability of the development team to really think up creative situations that resemble real world situations one might come across.