Larian Studios Forums General Chat RPG Chat SW: Knights of the Old Republic (no spoilers)

Anyone's interested/has bought this baby?

So... I gave in, bought the game yesterday, and installed.

You know what? I haven't played a decent RPG for a long, long time, digging up old things not counting. NWN? Yikes. Dungeon Siege? Don't get me started. ToEE? Nice for the first few hours when the combat was still fresh, but in the end, a bugfest, cold turkey. Despite the applause KotOR has been receiving, I'm therefore quite leery.

I'm very pleasantly surprised.

The graphics are lovely, and there is a real atmosphere; "immersive" would be the best description. Despite the fact that my graphic card is a not-so-good GeForce 5200 FX, the game runs like a dream with high quality texture and graphical options (anti-aliasing, etc) set to 2X. Things like shadows and grass stay on. Unfortunately, turning it all the way up (8X) causes a mild lag. Eh, I can live with it. The melee combat animations make for the height of cool.

Most of the dialogue -- if not all -- is voice-acted, and the voice-actors are doing a fair job. There are tones, and the dialogue itself, while not yet awe-inspiring, is reasonably well-written. After the literary travesty in ToEE, well, almost anything is better. Save for, perhaps, See Spot Run or The English Roses. The characters -- even the most minor, nameless NPCs -- are given life, as opposed to just being another cardboard model with all the emotional and character depth of a very small, very shallow puddle.

The controls are a bit jerky. My characters sometimes bump into each other and, as another player's put it, "charge into walls." Right-click menus are absent. XBox transition is fairly obvious, but it's still nothing to tar and feather. I'm getting used to it. Gameplay -- well, it's using d20 rules, an adapted version of D&D, so the learning curve isn't too bad for me.

I'm exploring the first planet, and having a lot of fun. I'll report further progress; I have quite high hopes, and with luck, this won't turn out to be like Lionheart (whose first half is divine, but the second... not so good).

What do you think?

makes me wanna go out and buy it... that's what I think

And to think I'm not even paid by Bioware! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

not to forget u're very critical of RPGs, so a positive note from u regarding KOTOR is great! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

Hehe! She is very critical (As is her right as an individual) so a vote from her is high praise indeed. I just bought it yesterday winterfox and my system is below the minimum specs CPUwise but it still runs it at a quite playable framerate (It requires a P3 1ghz and I have a P3 866). I cant turn anti-aliasing on and I have to run it in 800x600 but it still looks good and it plays well. Im enjoying the first planet as well, its good to see Bioware are back in form. Its nice to have a party rather than a "henchman". BTW all the dialogue in the game is in speech. Quite an achievement. Thank god the voice acting is decent <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kitty.gif" alt="" />

I was a bit surprised to see that the game comes in four CDs. Guess all those sound files do take up a lot of space. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I wish the party could contain more than three, though. I want all the NPC interactions I can get. *pouts*

Yeah, I miss BG2, the tour de force of party NPC interaction! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Im a bit frustrated at the party of 3 restriction but you have a pool of nine to choose from and they all have back stories so I guess it should be interesting <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kitty.gif" alt="" />

Everywhere here in Germany the game gets the best reviews.

But I won't buy it, simply because my PC is too weak for it.

Must upgrade in the next months, but prior to that I must find a new job. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Alrik: Aww. *patpats* Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'll soon be replacing my GeForce 5200 with a 5900 and add more RAM to my machine. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Ahem. Just kidding. There are still people with a 833MHz, Riva TNT64 graphic card and 56k 'Net connection, y'know, so don't feel too bad.

My PC is an Athlon 800 (first breed, I think), with about 300 MB RAM, and a 56k Modem connection. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

AND there still are many good older games out there ... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Alrik.

True. In the past three-four years, I haven't played a single good RPG (except for DD, of course).

The *only* thing I don't really like about KOTOR is the underlying D&D system. This makes me feel as if Star Wars was just another D&D world ... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

The gaming system is virtually invisible really. I dont notice it much at all!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kitty.gif" alt="" />

Ditto, especially compared to all other D&D games. Besides which, it's d20 rather than D&D -- the rules are a lot less prevalent.

errr.... winterfox, hope u don't mind a stoopid query regarding D&D system as well as that arcane d20.

now i know D&D has that dx which the x is a number that represents the number of sides a thrown dice has. please correct me if i got that wrong. so the dx thing is actually a subset of D&D system, right? that makes d20 a subset of D&D system. so what makes the rules less prevalent?

i never play pen & paper D&D so i'm very much in the dark on D&D history & its developments.

another stupid one, if u please. does KOTOR comes in DVD format? a friend of mine told me he saw a dvd format of it somewhere. that got me confused & made me hesitate to get it. could be a long john silver product. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Well, I won't go into a lecture about d20 in P&P. d20 modern, the rules used for Star Wars, is a lot less restrictive compared to D&D. The basics are the same, though. Think NWN; the 3E rules in NWN are heavily... altered, to make it more accessible to non-D&D players.

It doesn't come in DVD. Definitely CD-ROM -- four of 'em, in fact. There may exist a DVD version somewhere, but I certainly haven't heard about it. I checked on Amazon.com, too, but didn't see any.

thanks for the info & the willingness to answer, winterfox. maybe i'll go & check with bioware to see if there is a legitimate dvd version.

thanks again.

OK so what is the gameplay like in comparison to say JKII and Jedi Academy? Is the gameplay like anything?

Well, remember, it's an RPG. JK2 and JA wasn't. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

The fights are said to be real-time, with pause buttons to interrupt and give orders. Like in BG <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

alrik's right. it's actually a modified NWN with modified D&D rules to accomodate star wars environment & characters. it's RPG. u should get a demo & try it out to see if u like it or hate it.

most reviews that i read give positive remarks & winterfox likes it as well. that makes the game look very very good to me. think i'll get a copy. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />