Trom

I've thought about that extra time too. But I surmise that once the XBox version was released in November, Obsidian was locked into the same storyline for the PC. They couldn't release two different game endings as it would wreak havoc with K3 developers who would have to develop two different games. My conjecture is that something happened in the release of XBox to force them to truncate the ending, which carried over into the PC version. Maybe they put all their development into the XBox and still missed their deadline and then spent the "extra" three months porting it. Whatever the reason, something drastic clearly happened for them to do what they did. They built in all of this foreshadowing and then dropped it all in the end. It's like King Lear coming into Act V and instead of having the actors playing their parts, he merely recites what happened to all the characters. (Did I just compare Obsidian with Shakespeare?)

Great job of detailing the same disappointment I felt Terelius! I suspect the real culprit here was the XBox roll out. They had to get that out before Christmas and in order to do so must have found some problem that could only be resolved by corrupting the endgame. Once the XBox version was locked in, they couldn't change the PC version storyline as it would have been out of synch with K3. This is all conjecture on my part, but *something* drastic must have happened for them to abandon their much ballyhooed influence system that came to nought in the end.

The ending is a major disappointment but I'd still recommend playing the game for the first 75% of it as it is intriguing and almost to the level of K1. I'd even have played it given all the negative feedback about the ending because, after all, there is no other game like it. I suspect LA knows this and in fact counts on people like me. Yes, K1 had a trite ending. The first time I played K1 I was worried that the Mandalorian or the assassin droid were suddenly going to turn on me at the end so I stripped all the characters of clothes before the ending. Everybody was clapping and cheering to the team in its underwear! Hah!

I find Dxun not all that different from the Shadowlands in Kashyyk. Dantooine is, well, same as KOTOR1. Telos, Onderon is, well somewhat generic and nothing really stands out. (In fact all the high-tech city interiors like Citadel / Taris / Nar Shardaa really melts into the same thing for me). In fact, the only planet that stands out to be really different was Malachor V. I agree, there isn't much going on on the planet, so it's somewhat boring, but in terms of how it looks - it's certainly quite different. The polar view of Telos was kewl, but too brief (just one area). In KOTOR1, I love the exploration of the different planets - the desert sun blazing down with lense flare on Tantooine, the kewl breeze amidst the grasslands of Dantoine, the metal landscape of Taris, etc. were all breath-taking the first time I saw it. In contrast, in KOTOR2, only Malachor 5 managed to make me feel like I am on a new planet. Almost all other planets make me feel like - "been there, done that". Some planets I would love to see in the future: - exploration of an snowy / ice planet - exploration of a crystalline planet - exploration of a gaseous planet <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The sameness of the planets was a BIG disappointment to me. One of the standout features of K1 was the artistry that went into making each planet distinct. In K1 they accomplished this through dynamic backdrops (vis Taris with ships taking off, blinking lights etc.) and exquisite and hauntingly beautiful ambient music. The backdrops in K2, in contrast, are drab and static. The lightning effect and rain was interesting, but too little. It's as if they started to create unique planet atmospherics then stopped. K1 created a sense of otherworldliness, of being in another place and time, especially Kashyk.

Those "vestigal traces" are exactly what we're talking about not being resolved. Those traces resolve some of the loose threads. It's like King Lear walking onto the stage alone in Act V and telling the audience what happened to everyone else in the play.