SamuraiGaijin

I think every equippable item (headgear, gloves, armbands, armor, belts, weapons) should be reflected in the characters' avatars ... an armor piece system could get cumbersome quickly, but might be cool ... one-handed weapons should be holstered/stowed when not in use. K3 must wrap up the Revan / Exile story - I'd prefer the PC (and the choices the player makes) to be the focus of the story, and have significant influence on how the Revan / Exile story ends, but it must end. The player should have the option to choose Revan's and Exile's alignment and gender - it's not hard to implement, and at the end of K2 (even if you chose the "take over Malachor V" option in K2) both of them are headed for the Unknown Regions - there will be subtle differences in the K3 story, but it should be relatively insignificant to the core story (which MUST be about the PC, not Revan / Exile). I want maps where there is more than one path from A to B ... and teleport tricks don't count as an alternative here ... and I agree that forcing the PC from one scene to the next is frustrating (but it does move the story forward).

As much as 15-20% in some benchmarks. In real-world use, it's noticable.

He may have been "imprisoned" by Kreia ... or simply trapped there (with no working ships on the surface) ... but that's just supposition on my part. As for Visas' "of that place" statement ... here's my theory ... Nihilus was created, awakened, or turned to the Dark Side indirectly by the Exile when the Mass Shadow Generator was activated. The Exile shut out the pain and became an echo in the force ... Nihilus fed on it and became a black hole in the force. I also believe that by destroying Nihilus, the Exile restores some balance to himself and the force.

I think Freelancer's a great game, and often wondered what it would be like in a SW setting ... especially since after completing the storyline, you've still got a lot of experience to earn to qualify for the coolest ships, you've only explored maybe 25% of the systems, etc., etc. Don't mistake Freelancer for a RPG, though ... it's a space sim ... there are no real character-defining choices ... sure you can pick which ship you buy and how you equip it, but that's typical of any simulator ... the closest it comes is that you're able to influence your reputation with the various factions. Don't get me wrong - I WANT to fly around in the SW universe, but I also want to explore the planets ... not just visit the used-ship dealer, equipment shop, bar, and commodities market. A "complete" SW RPG would include elements from numerous video game genres - role-playing, vehicle driving/vehicle combat, space trade/combat, first-person shooter, squad-based combat shooter, real-time strategy, etc. - the real problem is, getting a good 90% solution for some (or even most) of those aspects of the game will leave half the fans dissappointed that "their favoritve {blank} was omitted" and the other half complaining about bugs, inconsistencies, etc. It took Obsidian about a year to develop KOTOR II, a lot of the ground work was already done for them, and it was still not up to our expectations ... I honestly can't imagine how much work it would be to develop a game immense, thorough, and detailed enough to really satisfy us diehard Star Wars fans. I think a collaborative RPG would be cool - you could finish it yourself, but the real joy would be playing with a select group of friends (instead of the other 20,000 or so on that MMOROG server at that point in time). It would make computer role-playing a social event.

If you think you'll ever need half that much disk space, then ... no, the Raptor's not for you. If you're running a file server and don't want to go SCSI, or just want to be able to blink and miss a level load, then go for it. I love my Raptors, but they're sports cars in a pick-up truck market.

My current desktop rig: P4 3.0, ASUS P4P800-E, 1 GB RAM, 2x WD 100 GB SATA in RAID 0, Audigy, Generic NVidia 6600GT ... the generic VGA was my worst purchase ever - I saved about $50, and got what I paid for ... it looks great, but has cooling issues, after a couple of hours of gaming, I am forced to take a break by it overheating and locking up my system. My current laptop: Sony VAIO S560P, P-M 1.6, 2 GB DDR-II RAM, NVidia Go 6400, 80GB HD ... it took a lot of shopping to convince me that a Sony would be the right computer for me - I'm not a "proprietary" kind of guy, and Sony VAIO's are about at proprietary as they get. The S-series came in the size I was looking for (13" screen), the video looked fabulous, and the specs, frankly, blew me away for the cost. DDR-II RAM was quick at 512 MB - after day shopping around in Hong Kong, I found 1 GB sticks for half the price of a 512MB stick at the local Sony store and almost as cheap as 512MB sticks online ... I bought 2, and have never been happier with performance in a laptop. I can play 3d games, but performance is sluggish (as would be expected in any 5-pound laptop - now, a Dell XPS or Alienware laptop would rule, but I don't need a desktop replacement). I've had it for four months of frequent use, and have had no complaints. My next rig (sometime next fall, most likely) will be: - mid-range Intel or AMD ... not sure which yet (I've been an Intel user for a long time, but like the price/performance promises of AMD) - SLI compatible (just in case) w/ 1x hi/mid-range VGA (probably a 7800, which should be more moderately priced by then) - Maxed out on high-end RAM (after three home-built PC's, three laptops, one "off the shelf" PC of my own, and years helping friends and family troubleshoot and upgrade their computers, I'm convinced that this is by far the easiest and most noticable upgrade) - Audigy 2ZS (from my old gaming rig, which just died a gruesome death) - 2x WD Raptor 36GB in RAID 0 for the OS and games (also from my old gaming rig - see my comment about the Raptors below) - plus 2 additional HD's (probably salvaged from my current rig), one for long-term storage, one to store a backup image of the Raptors About WD Raptors ... they're more performance than most people need, and current 7200 rpm drives do provide similar performance specs (but the benchmarks generally put Raptors on top) with roughly 25% the $/GB cost ratio. I used 2 Raptor 36's in RAID 0 for about two years in my gaming rig, never had any problems whatsoever, and could barely hear them over my fans (the two in the front of the case were the loudest). The new Raptor 150 is louder (I think I remember seeing 40+ dB, but don't quote me on that) than most and higher performing than anything else on the market today (including some RAID 0 rigs). If you don't plan on storing tons of movies, pictures, etc. one Raptor 74 is probably enough for a single-drive system - and especially when playing games (with frequent saves and level-loads), you'll appreciate the difference. But if price is an issue, stick with mid-range, "last generation" drives - no one "needs" bleeding-edge performance in a hard drive.

Micro-Pulse Blaster ... +2 to Attack, 20/x2 Critical, Fully Upgradeable, 3-20 Damage Mandalorian Disintegrator ... +2 to Attack, 18-20/x2 Critical, Fully Upgradeable, 6-16 Damage I cheer anytime I find one of these before Malachor V. One LS Crystal not mentioned ... Ankarres Sapphire ... Keen, +2 STR, +1 DEX, VP regeneragtion 2

@The Architect ... can I vote twice? - My first vote goes to "K" - I don't really want ot play Revan or Exile again in a new game, but we need to wrap up their story. My alternate vote goes for "J" - with this caveat ... the "main stoyrline quest" could be for a new Jedi (your PC) to track down Revan and Exile (they don't join your party until the end of the game) ... the lead-up to the final level would involve discovering the big "threat" everyone's warned us about, actually finding Revan and Exile (separately), and convincing them to join you (or killing them) ... the final level would be confronting the "threat" (either with or without their help). For everyone else ... the game should begin with you as an untrained force-sensitive or force adept ... FIRST STAGE: attracting and accepting a master / mentor (I want to start on Coruscant, but hey, so does almost everyone else) SECOND STAGE: master / mentor is killed (LS) ... is killed by you (if you started DS) ... or abandons you (if you started LS and turned DS) ... ultimately, clues are revealed that lead to "the big threat" (the logical locations here is Korriban (DS) or Dantooine (LS)) THIRD STAGE (MAIN QUEST): track down clues following Revan's and Exile's paths (obvious repeat locations are Dantooine (DS), Duxn, Korriban (LS), and a few others should be thrown in for good measure, especially including a few new locations) FOURTH STAGE: find and recruit or kill Revan and Exile ... both options should be available, even if there's a LS/DS difference ... their motivation to save the galaxy from a "threat" that the galaxy's not ready for should allow the option for a LS PC to recruit a DS Revan (at least two new locations) FIFTH STAGE: confront the threat (with you're newly-forged party of Jedi-Gods) ... oh, and I want robes w/ hoods, actual helmets, less pastel-colored armor (and more dark-colored armor), lightsabers with different hilts, more sidequests, sidequests more interesting than "fetch and deliver" missions, hotkeys for pazaak, actual swoop racing (not just time trials), less linear level maps, more options in avatar selection, and wouldn't mind some cameos from old party members and NPC's

(1) Unlock the trade routes quest (side with the female Rodian merchant on Nar Shadda - and tell the Duros merchant to pack sand) (2) Complete the Duxn/Onderon main quest (3) Save Khoonda (don't side with the mercs) on Dantooine (4) Complete the trade routes quest (talk to the merchant) (5) Purchase HK Pacifist Upgrade (and anything else cool she sells - usually a cool light saber crystal or two) (6) Talk to HK to install the upgrade You'll get one of the funniest dialogs in the game, a couple of bonuses for HK, and some XP.

What, exactly do you "hate" about it?While it's not a perfect approximation of the d20 PnP means of determining stats, I think it works fine. In the d20 PnP, PC stats are determined by rolling 4d6 and discarding the lowest - this works out to an average roll of 12.24, with the majority of rolls being between 11 and 15. The "bell curve" for that system works out to approximately: 3-7: 5.7% 8: 4.8% 9: 7.0% 10: 9.4% 11: 11.4% 12: 12.9% <-median 13: 13.3% 14: 12.3% 15: 10.1% 16: 7.3% 17: 4.1% 18: 1.6% (I know this adds up to 99.9% - rounding error somewhere) In KOTOR, you begin with minimum stats of 8, and have 30 points to allocate. Your average score should be 13, if you don't try to "max out" one or more scores. (Point cost for increases at character generation: 8-0, 9-1, 10-2, 11-3, 12-4, 13-5, 14-6, 15-8, 16-10, 17-13, 18-16.) With a stat increase gained every four levels, 30+ levels gained over the course of the game (increasing VP, To Hit, Armor (for Jedi), and damage (for some classes)), and a ridiculous amount of equipment that increases your stats, your starting stats are not really that significant, except for INT (which determines available skill points). While I'm sure it's a bit more difficult to complete the lower levels with 8 STR, DEX, and CON, and max points applied to CHA, INT, and WIS - you would also suffer later for maxing out CHA, INT, and WIS. Unfortunately, especially at higher levels, both K1 and K2 focus almost exclusively on combat - either lightsaber or force-power spamming - so "min-maxing" (AKA "munchkin gaming") is almost encouraged. The best bet is not to try to figure out "how powerful can I make my character" and to actually ROLE PLAY and decide what type of person would become a Jedi - the strongest, with below average wits? ... the quickest, but with the personality of a wet wookie? ... probably someone who was a little above average in all traits, but did not rely on only one to solve all his problems ... "Hate" is a strong word ... what, exactly do you "hate" about it, and what would you change?

All the advice so far has been good. I'll willing to give you a bit more long-distance trouble-shooting, but I'll need to know your mobo, power supply, processor specs. Send me a PM if your interested to continue this by e-mail. (I've built five computers myself - over a dozen, if you count the number of times I've upgraded/rebuilt my two longest-lived PC's ... one of which just had a mobo crap out on me.)

in KOTOR II, turret game, if you let everybody pass, you had to kill 25 sith off of your ship (however this way you get exp) instant freeze when you do that. I don't recall getting experience for the ships shot down with the turret. Also, Never had the game freeze when I let all the troopers on board. Finally, you get 2000 XP for killing all the troopers with the turret, and less if you don't kill all of them (1000 XP, I think if you kill most of them). I don't know how much XP each one you kill onboard the Hawk is worth, though - and it's not worth the time or trouble, in my opinion to determine the "optimum" number of troopers to kill with the turret vs. letting them board. The experience difference can't be that great. You can get some loot from those you kill on the Hawk, though (but never anything really useful). - shifting gears - All this talk about the turret mini-game reminds me that I'm really itching for a great starfighter combat simulator. I wish I could find an old copy of the X-Wing series. All the space simulators nowadays seem to focus on fleet-level combat more than dogfighting. I used to love playing Wing Commander, X-Wing, etc. The only game I've found in recent years that comes close in that genre is Freelancer (which I still play occasionally) - but I'd love to see an "X-Wing" upgrade for current systems. Does anyone know of anything that comes close that's on the shelves today? I don't care much about the story - I want to blast other starfighters into itty bitty pieces in glorius 3d sound with kickass video using relatively simple controls (I don't want to be forced to buy and 18-button joystick to enjoy the game). BTW - I also don't want a console - I spend too much time (and money) on my PC as it is.

If you just want to play Pazaak, knock yourself out, but don't expect to get anything great from the Ithorian ...

Interesting couple of days worth of posts to catch up on ... The d20 system works, if and only if you maintain difficulty balance, and I have to agree with Hades and many others that this balance was infrequently well achieved with K1, and even less so in K2. In the d20 system, a 4th (or so) level character is past the "newbie" stage, a 9th (or so) level character is considered an expert in his field, and anything beyond about 15th gets into the "God-like powerful" realm. K1 did the right thing, maintaining the level cap - while K2 was fun (more from an adventuring and exploring standpoint than difficulty), beyond 20th level, your character is simply too powerful for anything to be a real challenge. One thing regarding difficulty that has not had much attention recently - the enemy combat AI sucked hard. The things that should have been a challenge were a cakewalk. For instance, mobs of Dark Jedi rarely did anything but charge at you with their lightsabers or staves ... you would think that they would work together ... send a couple of marauders to engage you with LS while assassins stealthed up behind you to sneak attack and Sith Lords blasted you with Insanity, Plague, Scream, etc. ... but no ... the fight with Darth Bandon in K1 was a pretty good example of how you expect Sith to fight somewhat intelligently (somehow I always managed to trigger that fight when I was solo on the Genoharadan quest on Kashyyk - really tough alone). Again, I have to agree with Hades that closer adherance to the SW:RPG d20 rules would definitely make for a more challenging game. KOTOR does NOT need to be a MMORPG - there are already too many, and while I had high hopes for SWG ... I have not played it, and probably never will, especially when I take the reviews, comments like those above, and other information I've found about the game in consideration. I love the idea of role-playing in the SW universe, but am not sure I want to deal with the MMORPG munchkins, and don't have the time or energy to dedicate to it. My two credits ...

While I would like to see cameos of a few NPC's from K1 and K2, I would NOT like to have any of them in my party ... except I guess T3-M4 and HK-47 (if we have to follow the SW pattern of C-3PO and R2-D2). Some possible cameos that might add flavor to the game ... if LS Revan ... - Admiral Carth Onasi, Jedi Master Bastila Shan (probably hunting for Revan & Exile) - Grey Jedi Jolee Bindo (on yet another backwater system brooding over his past) - Scoundrel/Scout combo Mission Vao/Zaalbar (up to their neck in trouble somewhere) - Jedi Guardian Juhani (on a mission to defeat some slave trade ring) - Grey Jedi Yuthara Ban (sp? ... the Twilek Sith you could make friends with on Korriban in K1) - Dustil Onasi ... whatever happened to him, anyway? If DS Revan ... - Sith Lord Bastila Shan (still hunting for Revan) If LSM Exile ... - Jedi Historian/Guardian Handmaiden/Brianna (either as a member of the council or tracking down lost Jedi relics) If LS Exile ... - Jedi Sentinel Mira (on a quest for the Council - perhaps this would be a good death scene, if she saves your party against overwhelming odds, like Kreia foretold) - Jedi Sentinel Atton Rand ... however, I have a hard time placing him in a useful future plot ... so maybe not If LSF Exile ... - Jedi Consular Mikal/Disciple (either as a member of the council or on a mission somewhere) If DS Exile ... - Sith Assassin Atton Rand ... this has promise as a "boss fight" For all D/L M/F choices ... - Mandalore / Canderous Ordo (almost a "must" to continue his story, if the Mandalorians are going to play a role in the battle yet to come with whatever Revan is hunting in the Unknown regions) Now all that said, I'm not crazy about the idea of cameos for the sake of making it feel like a sequel or satisfying "fanyboy/fangirl" obsession. They need to have a good reason for being there (or be hidden as easter eggs, or possibly be part of class-specific sub-quests).

Things that I know of to get the Exchange's attention (some of these might not help): - Loot Vogga's stash (stealth up to the aliens in the first room in the flophouse for instructions ... it involves a bottle of Juma you buy from the bar and dancing for Vogga) - Try to help the Duros trying to examine the "signal" (at the corner of the flophouse) - Reunite the guy in the flophouse with his wife (Aida, I think - she's in the refugee sector) (I don't think there's a way to complete this without getting some light side points, but if you go full LS on this quest, you get a light saber or light saber part) - Repair the power distribution terminal for the docks (don't forget to talk to the Twilek after to complete the side quest and get your reward) - Beat all the Pazaak players in the den - Beat up/thwart all the exchange thugs extorting money - Get the Duros shop keeper to threaten you with the Exchange, and tell him to go ahead and tell them. - Rescue the little girl from the Exchange in the refugee sector - Kill off all the exchange badguys in the refugee sector - Kill off the Serocco gang - Heal the sick guy in the refugee sector - Pay the little alien near the bar (the one who knows the pass word) to change your reputation with the Exchange - Blow up the swoop droid and win the swoop race - Beat the Red Eclipse

I typically play at 2x AA and 2x AF, with a 1280x1024 resolution (my LCD's native resolution) ... while I can tell the difference between different levels of AF, AA is not quite as obviious to me, especially during gameplay.

LadyCrimson - all that you mentioned is 100% correct - your Video RAM is most likely your bottleneck, not the GPU's ability to compute more AA or AF effects per frame. If you think about the minimum amount of memory required to store one frame of 800x600 resolution screen (800x600 pixels x 32-bits (color) =10,240,000 bits ~1.2 MB) versus a higher resolution (1600x1200, for example) ~7.32 MB (four times as much).

That cutscene occurs when you first pass near Jek Jek Tar (sp ??) ... typically on your way to deliver the credits to the Twilek for the Duros investigating the "unusually strong signal". It really has nothing to do with the message from G0-T0. The message from G0-T0 occurs after you've completed most of the "get the exchange's attention" quests on Nar Shadda - then walk (don't use the speeder) to/from the refugee sector and the landing pad - this should trigger the Red Eclipse fight, and then, most likely, you'll trigger the G0-T0 message.

Most of the patched movies look great on a 1280x1024 LCD monitor - the only one that looks bad, IMO is the arrival of the Harbinger to Peragus (but it always looked bad - I think, for some reason, it was designed that way).

Not trying to fan the fires of the flame war, but, I like the idea of having the option to play a non-force user. I think this could work, but it would take some significantly better level-crafting than we've seen in KOTOR to date. IMO, each of the main quests should be flexible enough to allow for different motivations and different means of accomplishing the quest. For example, "stabilizing the galaxy" was a relatively strong theme in K2 ... lets say one of the main quests involves stabilizing a certain system ... a Sith's motivation would be different from a Jedi's (the Sith may want to maintain influenece within the government, the Jedi would most likely be interested only in peaceful resolution) ... a non-force-user's motivation will probably be different as well, establishing trade routes, ensuring continued need for combatants (i.e.: mercenaries), establishing a strategic base of operations, etc. Also you should be able to use means appropriate to your class (investigation & skills for the sentinel, scout or scoundrel; diplomacy for the consular; and the straight-up-fight for the soldier or guardian) of course, each option should be open to all.

Hopefully by this point you have a light saber - you should be able to use your light saber to "bash" it

There seem to be certain "choke points" where the interaction will be triggered ... in the hallway to the bar on Manaan, for example ... and if there's more than one for a certain pair of NPC's (i.e.: Bastila and Carth, Mission and Zalbaar) you only get one per level. I usually got the Mission/Bastila on Tatooine (past the cantina, on the way to the droid shop where you buy HK-47).

While the little LS/DS choices you make throughout the game ultimately decide "who your PC is", in K2, no matter what you do, nothing really changes (just so long as you do it). No matter how you decide to finish the game, your PC ends up alone, Kreia ends up dead (probably for the better), and you're stuck with a "now what?" feeling. I didn't intend this to be a rant on how the game feels rushed and incomplete, but there should be major "turning point" choices to make in an RPG.

K2 has it's moments, but none of them compare to the first time I played K1 and found out my PC was Revan ... fun to play through a few more times and catch all the hints. K2's somewhat enjoyable surprising moments ... - the first appearance of an HK-50 - the argument with Atris - Mira's "awakening" - probably my favorite character development in the game - Hanharr's story - tragic ... - Atton's story - also somewhat tragic - HK-47's pacifist package - the funniest moment in the game - HK-47's discussion about Revan's companions in K1 - Canderous assumed the title of Mandalore None of them were a particularly emotional moment, and I never really felt like there were any "turning points" for my PC as far as character development ... in K1, you had some real choices to make to determine the path your PC took - in K2, there are different degrees of "light" and "dark", but no "do I join Bastila or fight her, kill Bastila or save her" type choices ...