Poll: Is KOTOR really as good as we say?

[Basement Cat]

IIRC KOTOR was at the leading edge of gaming technology when it was released in, um, 2003?

I played through it so many times it's ridiculous.

Ironically I can't get into KOTOR 2, even with the updated Mods that eliminate the bugs and unleash the whole story. I bought the KOTOR 1+2 combo last fall. I've really applied myself to it twice and found myself wandering in circles looking for whatever was necessary at the time to get the darned story to advance. For me KOTOR 2 was more of a game of "Find the needle in the haystack" than an enjoyable experience.

And for years I'd looked forward to getting a copy of it!!!

I has a sad.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

No, I think KOTOR is not as good as we say. The combat is clumsy, the story is nothing special beside the twist reveal you can see coming from miles away and the characters are mostly boring and/or annoying. KOTOR II may be unfinished and buggy, but it's by far the superior game in terms of story, characters and themes.

And ALL OF THEM HAVE FAMILY ISSUES. Seriously, I know that in KOTOR2 everyone was a broken shell with a dark past all trying to screw each other over, but at least they deviated in their individual quests and dialogue thanks to the influence system. But in KOTOR1, each person gives you their life story, then a family member shows up, and then you need to fix their daddy issues.

Yeah, BioWare really seems to love giving their characters family issues to make them seem deeper.

Mass Effect has Ashley, Garrus, Jacob, Miranda, Thane, Tali, Liara, Samara and arguably Grunt as well. I also remmber at least one from Jade Empire. Haven't played any Dragon Age, but I have a hunch it has it's share as well.

 

[Erttheking]

Ehhhhh.....I downloaded it and I couldn't get very far. The characters actually seemed rather interesting, not surprising since it was written by Bioware before EA murdered them and started wearing their skin, but the combat was...well...ass. I just couldn't get into it.

 

[Glongpre]

For me KOTOR 2 was more of a game of "Find the needle in the haystack" than an enjoyable experience.

Really, everything is really straight forward and easy to find, the worlds are almost linear, they are so tight.

I played Kotor 2 first, and I found it a large improvement over Kotor 1. The combat was better, the characters were way better. My favourite area was Tatooine, it was cool to see, I enjoy the sand people. The twist was pretty good, but the story was pretty bleh overall. The star forge felt too weird for me, some random station that can create a shit ton of stuff that was left by General Ackbar's race. The tech just seemed way too unbelievable, and yes I know how that sounds, haha.

What I think it comes down to is that the characters just aren't that memorable, except for maybe HK and Jolee.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Haven't played any Dragon Age, but I have a hunch it has it's share as well.

Dragon Age was actually pretty good about it's characters IIRC. Let's see: Shale wanted me to find her old body, Morrigan wanted me to steal her mom's spellbook, Leliana needed help with a bunch of Orlesian gangsters who came after her, Sten wanted me to find his sword that he lost in a shrubbery, Oghren wanted me to be his wingman as he went after an old girlfriend, can't remember what Wynne wanted, or Zevran. I think the only one with daddy issues was Alistair, and his stemmed more from inadequacy from being a bastard and not being thick skinned enough to take insults.

 

[In Search of Username]

I chose good, because I think it has aged somewhat, but I really like it and think it's got a better plot than anything else in the Star Wars universe (including the movies). I'd agree that it's aged though, but what old game hasn't?

 

[Best of the 3]

I loved them. I'll have to put this out though, I did not play this game for it's game play. It's slightly repetative with little change. I played it mainly for the story and for the ability to feel like I was in the world, like I was the jedi and I made the choices (mainly LIGHTNING EVERYWHERE!).

And with that in mind it's a blast, difficulty down to low, force lightning level up, zapping foes ahoy. The story is good when you get into it, the characters for the most part are interesting and witty and the story is pretty good in my opinion. The gameplay and graphics definitely show their age but if you're not looking for that as a priority then the game is still fantastic.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I played just out of curiosity after I finished Mass Effect 2.
I can really see how awesome that game was when it first came out. Completely new look at Star Wars universe, unexpected plot twist, solid characters etc. But yeah, age definitely shows, especially in battle system and interface. Still really solid game though.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I only played the first 5 minutes with a friend, but it seemed way too simplistic. Like Mass Effect I didn't see any opportunity for satisfying development in the gameplay or control over my party. It seems gamers are becoming more satisfied with playing through a movie rather than controlling a game. That's not for me. I have no doubt the story and characters were great and if it had been made like the old SSI Gold Box games or Infinity Engine games it would have been excellent.

 

[chadachada123]

I only played the first 5 minutes with a friend, but it seemed way too simplistic. Like Mass Effect I didn't see any opportunity for satisfying development in the gameplay or control over my party. It seems gamers are becoming more satisfied with playing through a movie rather than controlling a game. That's not for me. I have no doubt the story and characters were great and if it had been made like the old SSI Gold Box games or Infinity Engine games it would have been excellent.

Err...the actual game doesn't start until well after the tutorial. Which it sounds like you didn't even finish.

Your "movie" part is practically the exact opposite of what KotOR does. It is a game. An RPG. Through and through. Nothing like a movie-game like Bioshock Infinite or other modern Press X to Win shit.

Maybe you're thinking of The Old Republic MMO?

 

[Smiley Face]

I still go back to it every now and again, and enjoy the heck out of it. I've always enjoyed the turn-based combat, makes it less about the action, more about the strategy of it and the story, less time pressure. The music is brilliant, and the graphics are still tolerable.

If your friend is jumping into it, now, with its age and unfamiliar combat system, yeah, I can see how they wouldn't be gripped - when I go and replay it, it always feels like a bit of a slog getting through Taris, and you've got a party of moody Carth and, later, Stuck-Up Bastilla - so yeah, I can see how it gets off to a slow start though.

Later though? Lots of fun. The world-building they get to do with Kashyyyk and Manaan are a lot of fun, being able to make moral choices in a Star Wars game is quite cool, and you can really get into the characters you find later on (Jolee, HK, Canderous, Zaalbar, etc.). The story? BioWare always makes its games in such a way where you can find yourself forgetting the overarching story because you're getting swept up in the moment - and because it's not really so much a single story, as a series of individual stories with a coating of overarching story - which works just fine for KotOR.


And then of course, there's KotOR II, which has an even LONGER slog of the early game, for better payoff. The two games also have different feels - KotOR I is quite lighthearted, whereas II is darker, more philosophical.

 

[Get_A_Grip_]

I played it for the first time last year and stopped playing about four or so hours in.
Why did I stop? The combat. Just didn't care too much for it.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I only played the first 5 minutes with a friend, but it seemed way too simplistic. Like Mass Effect I didn't see any opportunity for satisfying development in the gameplay or control over my party. It seems gamers are becoming more satisfied with playing through a movie rather than controlling a game. That's not for me. I have no doubt the story and characters were great and if it had been made like the old SSI Gold Box games or Infinity Engine games it would have been excellent.

Err...the actual game doesn't start until well after the tutorial. Which it sounds like you didn't even finish.

Your "movie" part is practically the exact opposite of what KotOR does. It is a game. An RPG. Through and through. Nothing like a movie-game like Bioshock Infinite or other modern Press X to Win shit.

Maybe you're thinking of The Old Republic MMO?

Maybe you're right. What I saw was "move a character forward: attack. Rinse and repeat." If not I should give it another try.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

For the time it was mechanically solid. It had a reasonably engaging narrative and the characters were largely interesting even if they were just rebranded versions of the same set of people Bioware's been working with since Baldur's Gate. I wouldn't call it the finest game Bioware has made but it is probably my second favorite Star Wars game made to date.

 

[The Danger]

KOTOR is a great game, and not only because I'm kind of drunk right now.

As per Bioware games, the two main things it does fantastically are story and characterization. The story is the kind of thing that, once it's spoiled, it seems obvious; however, provided that it hasn't been spoiled for you, it does genuinely surprise you. Shit, it surprised me at first. Screw it, maybe the kind of twist that it is has been done a lot, but KOTOR did it back before we educated ourselves with snappy Internet movie and game reviews and knew what to look out for. I'll defend it as a fantastic twist that truly makes us reevaluate the entirety of the game in hindsight, as well as a twist that serves a genuine purpose and isn't sheerly for M. Night Shamwow shock value.

The characters are also great. Not necessarily on the level of truly amazing, but definitely above serviceable. I gave a shit about the characters. As far as characterization normally goes in interactive media, that is freaking far and above the call of duty (pun intended!). Carth Onasi IS the worst thing ever, but HK-47 alone makes up for him, and goes much further.

In summary, KOTOR is truly a shining example of what story and gameplay can do for a video game. The gameplay mechanics are a bit dodgy, but it's an RPG, so what did you expect, you froth-mouthed savage?

 

[Haukur Isleifsson]

It's good. Played it a couple of months back and enjoyed it a lot. But that it had consistent CTDs right after the big twist. That's just totally unacceptable and I have not found any solution to it yet.

That being said I think most of the things that I didn't like about KOTOR got fixed in KOTOR II. Things like the fluidity of combat. In KOTOR you could not move your character manually until combat was over and that felt clunky as hell.

Story wise I think it just really depends on taste which one is better. While KOTOR is a rather classic story of redemption KOTOR II is more about giving meaning to the past through your actions in the present. (Edit) You could say that the main question of KOTOR is "Who are you?"
while in KOTOR II it's "Why did you do what you did?"
So good but definitely not flawless.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

The game is showing it's age unfortunately, but at it's time when I played it (back when it was released) I enjoyed it a lot.

After playing KOTOR 2 however, I thought that was the better game. Too bad for that unfinished ending, really bummer that Obsidian had no time to finish it properly.

 

[Rack]

The D&D combat is shallow as hell and if you go through the story in default order it's virtually impossible to be blindsided by the twist considering they flat out say it in black and white, just no-one reacts.

But it's still a fun game, other than that one issue the plot is competently written, some of the characters are fun even if they are broadly drawn and it does a good job of drawing you into a Star Wars storyline. Unfortunately it pinned a bit too much on the graphics so it aged quite badly.