Poll: Knights of the Old Republic and other Star Wars Titles

[ejrocksthisworld]

I've been playing a lot of Star Wars games as of recently, amongst movies and tv shows and what not, and it occurred to me that most list compilations of a top 10 Star Wars games have either one or both Knights of the Old Republic (NOT THE MMO) near the top, if not the top. But for years I have come across individuals who harp on how the second game is an inferior product, due to numerous reasons. Simultaneously, it recently occurred to me that after some pointed out the mods developed for the second game, the enhanced experience of the second game trumps the first (or so they say). I recently played through the original KotOR game and have yet to play the second, so my opinion of the matter is slightly biased as of now, but with my ongoing play through of Jedi Outcast I have rekindled my infatuation with everything Star Wars and gaming related (there are a lot of really good games based off the series). So, fellow Escapists, which game was your favorite? Original, sequel, both, or perhaps there is another game that trumps these two!

 

[josemlopes]

I do feel that as much as the Battlefronts were Battlefields with a Star Wars treatement at the time they certainly did one thing incredibly well and that was being a celebration of everything Star Wars, they didnt do "Star Wars with an unique take" but instead chose to simply do Star Wars and let the players have fun with all it had to offer.

All in all there are other that do Star Wars differently that I also like very much like Republic Commando or Jedi Outcast (not as different from the original trilogy though)

 

[Gizmo1990]

I have never really agreed that kotor 2 is better than 1. I see alot of love for kotor 2 and that is fine, to each there own but even without all the bugs and the unfinished ending I simply never found myself liking any of the characters as much as I did in Kotor.

I cannot comment on the mod that adds the stuff that was cut for time. I had kotor 2 on Xbox so I would have to buy a new copy for pc to play it and I just can't bring myself to do that. Partly because I refuse to buy a game that was knowingly released in such a broken state but while I know that if I were to buy it now the money would not go to the people who did that, I just don't care enough any more.

I will say that the combat was better in 2 tho.

 

[Elfgore]

KoTOR wins for me, not just between the two, but for all the Star Wars games as well. I've played it to the last boss battle about five times, each time as the same character pretty much. That should say how much I enjoyed it. The second game suffers a lot from boring planets and certain sections dragging on wayyyyyyyy tooooooo loooooonnnnnnggggggg. The tutorial is enough for me to bash my head against a rock. The second game only wins in characters. I love Handmaiden.

 

[DoPo]

I think KOTOR 2 is a masterpiece even if not set in the Star Wars universe. However, being there, it capitalizes on the opportunity as much as it can. It's a giant deconstruction on various elements of RPGs the biggest of which being morality, and it's framing all that in the aftermath of KOTOR. You don't really need to have played the first game, however, as KOTOR 2 uses the tropes of the genre masterfully to its advantage - there was a big war of good versus evil and so on and so forth. Superficially it's quite similar to many other works, however KOTOR 2 explores what happens whenever one of those rolls around - more specifically, what happens to common folk who are nothing but victims of both warring sides.

It's single handedly one of my favourite games ever.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is, for me, far better than the first game. Sure, it's buggy and unfinished but it's practically unique when put next to all of the Star Wars games in that, like DoPo said above, it's a huge deconstruction of ideas that both the franchise and RPGs are built on. Avellone's writing has always been stellar and this game is no exception. Expertly-written characters and a well constructed plot make up for a lot of the issues in my mind. One of my favourite games outright, let alone within the franchise as a whole.

 

[endtherapture]

KOTOR1 may be have been a more polished game, but after your first playthrough the twist holds less impact and it's just a standard Star Wars story. Still fun, but it doesn't have a lot of depth.

KOTOR2 is one of those rough diamonds. It's an amazing postmodern deconstruction of Star Wars and RPGs, and I love postmodern games (see MGS2). It's like an onion with lots of different layers of intrigue and has an amazing atmosphere in loads of areas of the game.

It's just a bit more special to me, and has higher level gameplay and more force powers, classes and abilities which is always fun.

 

[Aetrion]

I think one of the big reasons why people remember KOTOR2 more fondly than the first game is because it let you develop your character in much more interesting ways. The max level was higher, it had more force powers, more perks etc.

One of the things that really bugged me in KOTOR2 though was that they removed the limit on damage dice to force lightning. In the first KOTOR force lightning was 1d6 per level with a max of 10, while the light side powers like saber throwing were 1d6 every 2 levels. The level cap in the game was 20. So I always thought that the game mechanics actually mirrored what Yoda said in the movie about the dark side being faster, but not stronger. In KOTOR 2 they removed the max of 10 dice, and with a level cap of 30 the dark side powers were just way more powerful than the light side ones that only gained an extra die every 2 levels.

 

[Mahorfeus]

I think we could debate on which game had the better plot for days on end, but honestly, the gameplay improvements in KotOR 2 alone makes it the winner in my eyes. It just feels like it took everything about the first game's gameplay and improved on it in every way. And maybe it's cheating, but the restoration mod for the game introduced even more options for feats and what have you.

 

[Doom972]

I can't really choose one over the other. Both are awesome. If you liked the first, you'll definitely like the second as well (only with the restored content mod of course).

There are several good Star Wars games, but I think that the KOTOR series is the best of them.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

The flight simulator Star Wars games will always rank head and shoulders above the titles you listed. I am about as uninterested in Jedi/Sith as you can get. I'll always take the smugglers/bounty hunters/pilots instead. There is more to Star Wars than The Force.

 

[Vivi22]

KOTOR1 may be have been a more polished game, but after your first playthrough the twist holds less impact and it's just a standard Star Wars story.

I've never understood how the big twist held any impact even on the first play through. The foreshadowing might as well be an actual club that Bioware took and beat you half to death with. There was no subtlety to it at all, and the rest of the story wasn't all that different. Add in the mediocre gameplay and there wasn't much for me to like about it.

KotoR 2 at least had a much better story and characters. But there are still a small handful of Star Wars games I'd say I like a bit more.

 

[endtherapture]

KOTOR1 may be have been a more polished game, but after your first playthrough the twist holds less impact and it's just a standard Star Wars story.

I've never understood how the big twist held any impact even on the first play through. The foreshadowing might as well be an actual club that Bioware took and beat you half to death with. There was no subtlety to it at all, and the rest of the story wasn't all that different. Add in the mediocre gameplay and there wasn't much for me to like about it.

KotoR 2 at least had a much better story and characters. But there are still a small handful of Star Wars games I'd say I like a bit more.

I was like 12 when I played KOTOR1 for the first time so take that as you will

 

[laggyteabag]

I had a lot more fun with KotOR than I did with KotOR II, admittedly. As for other great Star Wars games, of the ones that I have played, I must say that Battlefront 2 and Republic Commando really take the cake, though they are very different compared to KotOR, and to some extent, each other.

 

[Mikeybb]

Kotor2, but only for the potential rather than what was.
A lot of this has been realized by the dedicated mod team working on restoring it, but all the same, what could have been makes it almost unassailable in my minds eye.

I voted a little hastily though, as I was letting SWG in it's original form (pre NGE) duke it out with the Xwing series (Tie fighter and Alliance squabbling for the head of the squadron), but then saw Kotor2 in the list and clicked before I thought about it.

At least this way I voted though, as I'd still be ruminating which of the three would win for me.

 

[DoPo]

KOTOR1 may be have been a more polished game, but after your first playthrough the twist holds less impact and it's just a standard Star Wars story.

I've never understood how the big twist held any impact even on the first play through. The foreshadowing might as well be an actual club that Bioware took and beat you half to death with. There was no subtlety to it at all, and the rest of the story wasn't all that different. Add in the mediocre gameplay and there wasn't much for me to like about it.

KotoR 2 at least had a much better story and characters. But there are still a small handful of Star Wars games I'd say I like a bit more.

I was like 12 when I played KOTOR1 for the first time so take that as you will

I was 14 when I played it, I believe. And I saw it coming. Nearly all people I talked to around that time were the same. And mind you, all of them knew English as a second language, so they were more likely to miss some details, yet nearly all caught it.

 

[KenAri]

Kotor 1 was more consistently enjoyable for me. There were no 'bad eggs' with the planets, really. Taris is a bit of a ballache, but that's mostly because of its layout. I can't stand Paragus, Telos and Nar Shadaa, which were all painful for me. I actually really want to do another Kotor2 run soon, but the thought of having Paragus followed by Telos has put me off it for about a full year now.

The characters in 2 have a cooler concept, but were very unfinished conversation-wise. I think if it hadn't been rushed, 2 could've been better from a gameplay standpoint, with better characters, more variety in items, better feats and a more widely-branching plot. But a game can't be ranked on what it might have been, but rather what it is, and what we have is a Cream Egg with the cream sucked out.

Didn't play any other Star Wars games except Republic Commando (And Swtor, but bleh), and while awesome, there are a thousand games just like it.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

X-wing is my favorite Star Wars game. Really captured the feel of the space battles and I found the story very enjoyable. So far, no other Star Wars game has come close to the sense of wonder I got from that game. So it wins in my book.

However, between the two KOTOR games...I think I enjoyed the second one slightly more. More interesting characters and a different story style, as others have said. A pity that it was rushed and thus suffered greatly for it. I would have liked to play the game in its full form--and before anyone points it out, I have it on Xbox, so no, I can't download the mods and patches that add in the extra stuff.

 

[The Madman]

I'm actually replaying the Kotor series right now and while both are excellent, I've gotta give it to Kotor 2 for a couple reasons.

While the game might have been a mess at launch, the Restored Content Mod does to Kotor 2 what the Director's Cut has done with a number of movies by taking an otherwise merely alright experience and making it truly fantastic. The story and characters in particular excel not just above Kotor 1 (Which is good in it's own right, I really like both games) but above most games of any genre.

I really like Kotor 2 is what I'm saying. I could make a half-hour video of just me ranting about it and how novel some of the stuff it does is, I like it that much... not 'top 10 games of all time' like, but as a unique gaming experience I think Kotor 2 stands out a fair bit from the crowd and it's that uniqueness that makes it so appealing to me.