GreasyDogMeat

I think they are making great progress. There are plenty of projects that have made much less progress over a much longer stretch of time. I've been waiting ages for a remake of the original Star Wars Dark Forces in the SW: Jedi Academy engine, and seemingly years later and they've only finished 3-4 of the 15 levels and progress seems to have come to a stand still. I hold little disapointment over this though. These were fans that took free time out of their lives without any pay to create/recreate something for other fans. Massive hobbies like this take time and a little tlc. Another remake I've been looking forward to for a long time is a remake of Quest for Glory 2 with better graphics by adventure gaming fans. I actually only played the Quest for Glory series in the last 2 years but I loved it. As ancient as the games were I really enjoyed the series and I've been anticipating the improved graphical remake. Theres something I really enjoy about remakes and 'enhancements' of games that had things removed. Even if they are little quests/sub plots removed from a game due to time restraints or whatever reason. Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape Torment are both good examples, with a few minor quests re-added thanks to some mods.

These things take time, especially considering the complexity of some of the things being added. As for people moving on... Oh well. There is no sense trying to rush things by complaining that you've lost interest in the game. If it were released at this moment, it would probably be far from done. I still play the original Baldur's Gate on time to time thanks to the tutu project. I'll have no trouble replaying KoTOR 2 when the restoration project is released.

"But your the one bringing up Jesus in the first place! Don't bring him up, and people won't bash him..." Wow... that's just... wow. I feel a bit like a ping pong ball. On the one hand I feel that GJK is pushing religion a bit hard in other people's faces and I see no reason for creating two near identical poll-threads about a connection between Jedi and Christianity, but a statement like that makes me feel I was right to originally defend him to an extent. That's like saying... don't say that you are black... so we wont bash you. Don't say that you are gay, and we wont have to call you names and belittle you. It would be nice if an admin would put an end to this nonsense.

Apparently it does look like GJK has been hijacking atleast one of his own threads to turn it into a religious debate, however, he was provoked to an extent. Some of the words were less than kind before it went there... and this thread is still not called for. The harassing is going both ways.

Unless I'm missing something here and GJK has been harassing people, I see absolutly no reason for this trolling. It appears to me as if some people are being a bit intollerant. Does it offend you that much that he uses the word god and appears religious or has he crossed some sort of line in what he's said. If he has broken some rule, and I fail to see which, then there is probably a better way than creating a forum that is obviously intended to troll for some stupid religious debate or to flame a person for his/her beliefs.

I think that creating a forum to harass another forum member is... pretty damn pathetic. Especially if this is about religion.

It is a shame their demeanors didn't change once they became jedi/force users. Bao Dur's conversion, as another put it, was pretty un fulfilling. I actually didn't manage to convert him my first play through as I didn't know it was possible, and I didn't bring him along very often. He doesn't take a ton of influence. Then its just a matter of asking him and that is that for the rest of the game. If I had to list my favorites in order from most to least favorite it would be: Handmaiden: Her conversion directly affects the story, which was cool. "Betrayal". It was really interesting how it effected the return to the Taris station later in the game. Atton: The only thing keeping him from being last in my list is his story. I actually found him pretty dispicable. A character that illicits strong emotions is a good thing in my book though. Even if they make you hate them. My only disapointment would have been options to kill him/have the exile hate him. Mira: It was kind of interesting converting a bounty hunter with a 'tude to a jedi. Disciple: Again, he had more to do with the story. Bao Dur: IMHO the most dull of the jedi transformations. The other characters had a lot to overcome to become jedi. From taboo's in their former trainings, a former murderous life style to being a cynical bounty hunter with a 'tude, they each needed a little work to become jedi. Bao Dur's only issue seemed to be his hatred for the mandalorians in war, which frankly seemed natural. His issues just seemed small fry compared with all the other character's issues and there was very little to worry about when converting him to a jedi. Handmaiden: Atris will s&!7 a brick if she becomes a jedi, and that whole betrayal to the echani teachings deal. Atton: Hmm, is it a good idea to transform this former killer into a jedi? Mira: I don't know if that attitude is good for a jedi... Disciple: The whole it should have been his destiny to begin with and the head butting with Atton. Bao Dur: Uh, he showed strong negative emotions during a brutal war. " It's funny, while writing this I was listing the characters as far as likability, then I had to remind myself that this was about their actual jedi conversion, not how much I liked them/their personality. Atton was originally at the bottom of my list until I thought of it as far as his actual story arc to jedi went and then I found him much more interesting. Bao Dur isn't my least favorite character by a long shot, but he deffinitly has the least interesting jedi conversion IMHO.

We all know who us guys would want to train, considering what is involved in the training. (w00t) I'm amazed the male exile doesn't start acting like Austin Powers. "Ooops I fell! Ooops I fell again!" "

It basically seems like she will do whatever it takes (I hope those reading have beat the game) to bring about the death of the force. The force elevates all those who use it to god like levels who use it for either good or evil. It seems to be why she loves the exile. Because the exile is the only jedi in history who was able to turn away from the force... give it up completly. This created some interesting questions during the game as, at first, you think that the jedi council were the ones who stripped the exile of his/her power, and you slowly learn that they had nothing to do with the deterioration of the exile's power. I think she is one of the most interesting characters I've seen in anything that has to do with star wars. I also couldn't bring myself to hate her, despite her using you and turning on you in the end I like that you had the chance of trying to redeem her at the end, even if it was futile. Most villains in movies in games are treated without any form of humanity. They are two dimensional things of muahaha evil that want to destroy the world or rule it cause they had nothing better to do, or are just such vile people/creatures that the final blow or explosion that takes them out is a good moment simpley because they were such giant scum bags. It's fairly rare that you run into a villain that you feel sorry for and maybe even want to help, to try and prevent that last battle.

"where was the last time you had to run from someone in K1 duh??" Forget about Malak on the Ravager? If we are going to 'pick on' the main character of each game, I'd consider abandoning Bastila to hold off Malak worse than running away from a Sith Lord who is invincible in a person to person fight and taking all of your buddies with you. I didn't feel any guilt or 'embarassment' running away from Sion. Whether or not it was easy to 'beat' him enough to activate the advice from Kreia, what can you do against an enemy that will constantly regenerate... Have the game let you fight him for hours on end until you realize that despite him not doing a ton of damage to you, he just can't be downed without certain knowledge? EVERYTHING about the Sion encounter felt like the Exile was in control. "OK, we're not doing any damage, but he's not very threatening either. Let's all regroup, calmly and quickly exit stage left and save this battle for another day otherwise we'll be standing here hitting him all day." I just knew that at some point or another we'd be able to have this fight anohter day and the Exile would have some new knowledge or ability on how to beat this sith lord. In KoTOR 1, I couldn't believe that I was being FORCED to abandon Bastila so late in the game. Here I'd spent so much time with the character and then suddenly its just ditch her. Atleast in KoTOR 2 the Exile isn't ditching long term friends and even goes to the effort of rescuing Mira who was trying to claim a bounty on him/her. If you play LS of course.

I actually liked the Exile a bit more. I don't know if it was because you got in more intense situations, like trying to rescue/hunt down Mira by yourself, starting the game with an immediate understanding that some bad event had happened to cause the Exile to lose the ability to use the force or the fact that you are extremly high level by the end of the game. I really enjoyed who these characters were in both games. I've always liked the idea of, if a bad person has their memory erased completly, would they still be bad when they awoke? If you go lightside in the first game, was it because of thorough 'reprogramming', or because Revan really had the ability to return to the lightside on his own and the 'loss' of his memory allowed him to start fresh? The Exile is also an interesting character and I really enjoyed the themes of forgiveness. I found myself angry at the Jedi Council in the game. Not so angry that I wanted to kill them in revenge, but angry in the sense that I/Exile deserved an answer for being kicked out. An answer for their slow deliberations while worlds burned. Atris also seemed to play a big part of that, falling to the dark side herself because she couldn't let go of her jealousy and anger sorrounding the events of the Exile. The thing that lifts the Exile as a PC over Revan, for me, is that the Exile's story is explained MUCH earlier, and plays a large part of the story as a whole. Revan, on the other hand, felt more like a generic PC with no past until the big revelation 3/4 of the way into the game. They're both great characters with interesting pasts and who you like is really a matter of opinion. Both great in their own ways.

True, but it was hinted that he had become a jedi by training Nomi's daughter. It was neat to see the Cathar homeworld in that episode.

'SPOILERS' of course... I think the characters were developed much better in KoTOR II. I really enjoyed Kreia. Despite her lack of... charisma, every word she spoke felt like it carried weight and was important. Even later in the game I couldn't really bring myself to hate her and I was very glad they added the line about it not being too late. While KoTOR 2 may not have been as epic in scope, I think they did a much better job of making you feel threatened. Part of what put me at ease in the first game was that all of your characters were so loyal to you, even the ones who were of a different alignment. Just look at what Mission says on the unknown planet when you turn dark side. "I still believe in you! You wouldn't kill me!" etc. In KoTOR 2, the game is just filled with malice and unease, and I frankly enjoyed that more than the original's brighter more cheery story. From the very start of the game there was this uncomfortable feeling, that you should leave Paragus ASAP and that forces were watching you. Then there was Kreia's speech about not staying in one spot for too long etc. I also really enjoyed the feeling of being betrayed by the Jedi Order. Playing a character resentful of being kicked out when they did what they thought was right. It aslo gave a MUCH more tangible reason for falling to the dark side. The resent of being cast out seething and growing stronger until the character falls to the darkside, unable to forgive the characters who banished him/her. In KoTOR one it just seemed to be about being mean for no apparent reason, but in KoTOR II it felt more like your character had a reason for being such a jerk if you went dark side. I also loved all of the conspiracies that were brought up in KoTOR II. The miners who try to sell you to the exchange, the weird signal around Nar Shadaa that an alien discovers. I think Obsidian is very good and creating an atmosphere of unease and suspicion. Many of the members are from black isle, and Icewind Dale also did this very well. I didn't have very high hopes for it as a sequel. How could it be better than KoTOR 1? But I soon felt myself being drawn into the story more, wanting to find out what was going to happen next. The problem was, of course, when it got to the climax and most of the really interesting questions were just dropped.

I thought KoTOR 2 was a more mature story. It also got me involved more and excited more when things started to heat up in the last section of the game. I also enjoyed the upredictability of your buddies. In KoTOR 1 it was all a case of "we'll follow you to the death, even if some of us are total dark siders!" while in KoTOR 2 I felt this genuine mistrust and suspicion of some of the characters. I, personally, liked that. I really enjoyed the betrayal in KoTOR 2, even if you could see it a mile away. I have no argument with those who say KoTOR 1 is more star warsy than KoTOR 2, but I have no issue with that if they can tell a good story & I think KoTOR 2 did a fine job of that.

I wouldn't mind seeing Dustil in the Sith Tomb as long as it only occurs if you say that Revan fell to the dark side in the first game when meeting Atton at the start of the game. It wouldn't make sense to have his ghost in the tomb if Revan were light side... unless one of the sith figured out Dustil was ditching them and killed him somewhere off screen. As for his ghost being in the tomb, remember that ghosts can travel from section to section and they have in the SW movies, games, comics etc. The only problem I can see with Dustil being a ghost is that, from my understanding of force ghosts in SW, people only turn into ghosts if they were high level jedi or sith who had mastered their teachings etc. So it doesn't really make sense that a hot tempered trainie would become a force ghost. Then again, I have read in some of the comics of people not mastering becoming a jedi and still becoming a ghost...

I've never heard anyone from Team Gizka take credit for Obsidian's work. Everyone who's followed this knows that the content was left in the game but not used and that is how they are restoring it. That was what was so maddening about this whole deal, beating the game, having many things not make any sense, then coming online to hear recorded conversations between characters that would have made the game make a hell of a lot more sense. The only people who would accuse TG for taking credit for the dialogues etc. would be people uninformed of the mod. TG have been putting this together for almost a year now on Obsidian's OWN site with their forum STICKIED to the top of the forum. I think if Obsidian or LA were going to come out with a cease and disist notice of some kind they would have done it by now. p.s. If you are so concerned about this restoration being 'noticed' and stopped, why were you so eager for more screenshots & advertising?

I wouldn't really call it a product in the sense they aren't really 'selling' anything/making money as far as I know, though I am sure that the more people that download the restored content and see the finished game the happier TG will be. I tell anyone who I talk with about KoTOR 2 about the project as I've chatted with plently of people who were avoiding the game because of talk of how the ending was such a bomb. There is still a long ways to go from what I understand and it seems a bit early to pour on the 'advertising'. They are, of course, welcome to start with tons of media if and whenever they choose. Again, sorry if I sounded grumpy, but the original screenshot request sounded kind of 'demandy'. "It's been so many months... show us your progress now!" :">

I don't really care about the lack of screenshots. It will be more fun to just play it when it comes out. The only reason I can think a person would need to see a screenshot of dialog is as 'proof' that progress is being made. I'd rather the team be free to work on getting the scripts & dialog in the game in working than worrying about posting a million screenshots of characters talking to each other because some fans are getting antsy. Team Gizka is essentially conducting video game 'charity', finishing a game that DESPERATLY needs it on their own free time and the fact that they stop to answer questions here, many of them that would have been answered looking at their web page, is just another nice thing they're doing. They're making great progress and I can't wait to see the game finished. No more wandering what the heck happens to the remote and GOTO and all the other ridiculous plot holes that weren't properly removed when 'excess' story started being thrown out do to the development time. P.S. Sorry if I sound grumpy, but this would just be one more thing to bug them with and I really don't need a screenshot of Atton's face on Malachor with new dialog as 'proof' that progress is being made.

Exactly. The moment she joins you in the side room she appears gray when you check her 'stat' page. I'm by no means advocating that she be changed to red. I feel the previous poster brought up a good point, though, and it is interesting to talk about people's perceptions of how she appears at first. If Juhani can go postal on you in the grove, and require a lot of haggling with to get her back to the enclave and still be a "blue" light side jedi, Visas can sure as heck be a gray neutral jedi when she attacks you. Individual motivation is impossible to tell. It's like Kreia being gray, and she often felt more 'red' than Visas.

As another said, I always thought of Visas' character as a dark sider trying to be light side. A lot of what she says is very dark side, disliking weakness etc. The fact she didn't argue very strongly with you if you had a different opinion, or being able to get influence with her for a few decent deeds makes me think she was originally corrupted by Nihilus, but at some point upon meeting a LS exile begins to change her core beliefs. That's one problem about KoTOR 2. You could gain influence with characters but no matter what their alignment showed, LS characters would still hate DS deeds no matter how corrupt you were or vice versa. Example: I once completly corrupted, atleast according to the alignment page, Bao Dur, but he would still get angry and I would lose alignment with him if I murdered a character in game. Visas seems to have a more natural change. A character was once a decent person, corrupted by the dark side who then slowly comes over to the light side if you play a LS jedi. I personally believe she should have been a bit more red when you first meet her on the ship, but should then go gray if you beat her as a LS jedi, but as I said it works either way and you could argue either way of how she should first appear. I wonder how Juhani would have appeared with the force sight ability in KoTOR 1? She seemed to have fallen pretty far and attacks your group on first sight. Would she have been red or gray? Turning blue once you convinced her she could return to the enclave. There's certainly room for interpretation as far as the whole LS DS thing goes.

Shes actually showing up as a gray neutral which I think is what her alignment is when you first beat her on your ship. Although that does bring up a good point, if you are a LS jedi should she first be darkside/appear red then when you beat her and she "gives her life for yours" should she then go gray neutral? It would work either way I suppose. The fact she's willing to give up to your PC probably means she isn't necessarily full dark side and still a shade of gray.

It depends on how much time you've put into KoTOR 2. If you've played it a billion times since release you may be sick and tired of it and not even the cut content would interest you in another play thorugh. However, having only played it a few times, I'm more than happy to go through it a few more once the restoration is finished. Besides, Galaxies at War is a RTS game, not a RPG. There isn't a whole lot out to fill the current RPG void atm. The only two things I'm excited about are this Restoration Pack, and NWN 2 which will be out in a number of months.

The biggest problem with auto level up is that it doesn't take into account what alignment your NPCs are. For instance, it will give NPCs you've converted to good jedi the dark side power scream. Generally I auto-choose NPC feats and skills, but manually choose my NPC's force powers, except with Kreia, who as a neutral jedi may use either light or dark powers with no penalty.

Heh, the Exile's clomping feet sounded like machine gun fire at the speed he was walking. I thought it was a bug until I noticed everything else around was moving and a normal speed then, like others, figured they had done it to decrease the boredom of the original's super-slow mo walking speed while in a suit. It is pretty funny that, instead of animating it to look like the Exile is taking bigger steps or is running faster, they simply increased the speed and left the animation alone.

The journey can feel like it was for nothing if there is no closure. So many elements were left unexplained near the ending on Malachor. Endings can be great, but at the same time bittersweet. I wouldn't call the ending to Planescape Torment "happy", but atleast there was closure and it felt like the journey had come full circle. If there were any questions about the journey, it was because you hadn't paid attention, not because the journey was incomplete. In defense of KoTOR 2, a lot of answers that people thought were incomplete, were in fact answered, but they just hadn't gained enough influence with the right character. I had thought the whole side plot about a mysterious signal on Nar Shadaa to be one of the cut things from the game, but I simply hadn't gained influence with GO-TO. Replaying the game as an evil character, and getting lots influence with the evil aligned characters gained a lot more insight into certain story points that you wouldn't learn as a goody-two-shoes jedi. I can't really blame people though if they didn't realize more was explained. Malachor was just a mess as far as story and closure went, and a lot of people assumed it was more cut content like much of Malachor. It was especially frustrating for me, because I was REALLY enjoying the game up until Malachor. I was loving the conspiracies, the weird goings on with your party members and the game was really amping up for what I thought would be a brilliant ending. The ending is just so important with an epic rpg. It can make a mediocre game feel better than it was if it's really good, or make a brilliant game come to a screeching halt and give you nasty feelings if it is particularly bad.