Lord Soviet

I simply bashed them all open with my lightsaber.

"Star Wars Knights of the Old Rebuplic II PC patch coming soon!" Woopie-do, Obsidian has heard our grievances at last! Now, what's gonna be in the patch? And when is the estimated release date?

Floating lightsabres? I just call them Mordenkainen's Swords

Is that just me, or does the icon for the miner's uniform on Peragus (as seen in the inventory) look suspiciously like the Vault 13 Dweller uniform from Fallout 2? Now bring out the radoscorpions! *reaches for his Bozar with a devilish grin*

I just think that they are following you, when you reach the ebon hawk they just break in the hangar. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes, but where did the troopers come from if Darth Sion's ship didn't carry then on board? We know that the ship was empty when boarded by the Harbinger crew, and I find it extremely unlikely that after losing the Ebon Hawk, Darh Sion flew back to where he came from, stockpiled on Sith troopers and went back to Peragus to finish the Exile off. After all, he probably knew very well that, being a Sith Lord, he could probably slaughter the entire station single-handedly, and, if not, he had a small army of Sith assassins to help him. I still suspect that the Sith troopers are an accidential leftover of the Darth Nihilus part of the level. After all, we know that the Ravager was swarming with them.

Firstly, why does everyone assume that Obsidian will not be developing KOTOR3? To me, Obsidian looks like the most natural developer for the sequel. Secondly, the reason why Obsidian was not subject to any scrutiny is because nobody expected that KOTOR2 will go so wrong so badly, not when one took into account Obsidian's RPG experience. And, let's face it, apparently the problems with KOTOR2 are largely due to LA setting unreasonable deadlines rather than to Obsidian's negligence - KOTOR2's storyline is brilliant and the game is great, but numerous glitches and bugs ruin the overall impression. Besides, based on what exactly could the community criticise the game? The demo that was never released? The screenshots that told nothing about the game's content? Thirdly, there will never be an apology from Obsidian, because, by apologising, they would implicitly acknowledge the problems with the game, thus leaving themselves wide open to allegations of negligence. In such a situation, they'd have two choies - either to blame themselves or blame the publisher. If they blame themselves, they would damage their own image with actual and potential customers. If they blame LucasArts, the Star Wars giant will grind them into dust and they will never get to work on KOTOR3 (which, let's face it, is a major potential source of profit). So, under the circumstances, staying tight-lipped is the lesser of two evils.

Then why was she able to sense three mining droids, but not HK50? I'm sure you'll agree that three mining droids were probably a less lethal than an assassin droid!

Sad thing is, everyone will buy KOTOR3. Even if it's bugged to death and even if reviewers acknowledge the fact, people will still buy it, either hoping that they would avoid the bugs because of their system configuration or that a patch would be released to fix them. Furthermore, even if the game has a lousy storyline - well, it would still be a KOTOR storyline, and people would still play it, if only to see how everything turns out in the end (since I have no doubt that KOTOR3 will be the last game in the series).

For a moment there, I had also thought that Kreia was Bastila who fell out with Darth Revan and who burnt her eyes out.

While playing KOTOR2 for the second time, two questions popped into my mind in the Peragus/Harbinger part of the game? Who were the other passengers from the Outer Rim? The computer in the Briefing Room on board of the Harbinger contains a log where the Capitain mentioned picking up more that one passenger in the Outer Rim. Given that the vessel was reassigned from its mission to Onderon to pick the Exile up from an Outer Rim world, it seems pretty unlikely that the Harbinger would also collect all the random people wanting to get to Telos - especially given the Exile's particular importance. I just conducted a thorough search of the Harbinger and found no indication of who the other passengers where (for some reason, I'm inclined to think that there was only the Exile and some other person accompanying him, but I don't think the exact number of passengers is indicated anywhere). If I remember correctly, all the escape pods on the Harbinger were sealed and all the bodies that littered the floor were Republic soldiers, not civilians - therefore, the passenger(s) must've been somewhere aboard the vessel, either alive or dead. What's more surpising is that logs also mention that there were no survivors on the Ebon Hawk and that the bodies had been collected for autopsy on the Harbinger, but, again, I found no bodies in the Medical Bay, though here I might assume that they had been disposed of. My personal guess is that there must've been a side quest in the game of some sorts where the Exile runs into the person who accompanied him on the Outer Rim and the Harbinger, but it was removed because of time constraints. Also, on the first level of the Harbinger, I came across a small room that was visible on the minimap, but was behind a magnetically sealed blast door and therefore could not be opened. Since it was just a small room bang in the middle of the ship, keeping it safe with a blast door really made no sense at all. Another sign of a removed quest? Sith troopers in the Docking Bay Now, how exactly did those get there? We know that both the Harbinger and the Ebon Hawk were empty except for Sith assassins, but in docking bay, right after boarding the Ebon Hawk, the Exile mans the turret and mows down regular Sith troopers. I know that the Ravager was packed full of such Sith troopers, and, since there originally was supposed to be a cutscene involving Darth Nihilus on Peragus, I'm guessing the Sith troopers are a leftover from the deleted Nihilus part of the Peragus level. Apparently, someone in LucasArts thought that gunning down Sith troopers in first-person mode was just too "cool" to be removed, even if it meant throwing continuity and plot coherency out of the window.

Yep, but on the other hand, you have to remember that the Harbinger was empty except for the Sith assassins, so had it not been for their skill, Kreia should have been able to sense them. The fact that they are not strong in the Force is also quite irrelevant - Kreia was able to sense three droids behind a closed door, yet she cannot feel the presence of four organics standing a meter away from her? Anyway, 213374U explained it, although I have to agree that someone with no knowledge of the ruleset (like me) would have a difficult time with this issue.

Hmm, good thinking there - you're probably right. And I guess the reason why Kreia was able to sense Darth Sion approach was because he was too crude, blind and arrogant to even bother attempting to conceal his presence.

Thing is, I see no immediate reason why Kreia would want to understate a danger that is clearly about to manifest itself. If anything, I would expect her to tell me straight from the start that there is something wrong there, since her life (and, more importantly, my life, since she's so interested in me) is at stake.

I'm currently playing KOTOR2 for the second time, this time writing everything plot-related (and especially Kreia-related) down in a Word document, hoping to piece the story together. So far, I had the following question - Kreia was able to sense the oscillations originating from a bunch of droids (even though they're mechanical), was able to sense the oscillations from Darth Sion as he approached Peragus on the Harbinger - but was completely and utterly unable to detect the Sith assassins? I can understand how HK50 got past her - after all, since he's a droid, his force oscillations must have been very small and then she wouldn't have seen the droid, just the oscillations - but how was she unable to sense the assassins? What's more, how could she say that the Harbinger was empty when it was actually crawling with cloaked Sith assassinations, whose oscillations in the Force she must have felt! So, either I missed something, or the developers missed something, or Kreia simply lied to me. Any ideas?

BioWare. While I was a die-hard fan of Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment et al, it is, unfortunately, very clear to me that Obsidian cannot stand up to the pressure of a major publisher like LucasArts, resulting in poor quality products. This is not a complaint against Obsidian - I know they don't have much leverage, since they're a relatively new company - but I don't want to spend time working on a game that I know is going to be full of bugs and plot holes simply because the publisher has set an unrealistic deadline. BioWare, on the other hand, clearly make such a stand, as exemplified by KOTOR1.

Lovely... Looks like from now on, I will have to restrain myself from visiting the official website of a game for the duration of its development and until I beat it, lest I spoil my gameplay experience by visiting what I quite logically assume to be a spoiler-free website.

Ok, please follow this link: http://www.lucasarts.com/games/swkotor_sit.../indexDark.html And click on the Chronicles section of the website. Is that me, or do the last two Chronicles contain information that is normally obtained half-way through playing the game? Why does LucasArts ruin the very game they are publishing? Do people over there really fail to see the importance of maintaining the secrecy of a storyline?

Alright, ladies and genlemen, although I haven't finished the game yet, I'm beginning to have this nasty suspicion about the storyline. Consider the following facts: Kreia told me about her past with Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus in that movie shortly after landing on Dantoonie, thus completely ruining the the whole idea of suspence about her past. Plot-advancing events and dialogues seem to appear completely out of nowhere - e.g., all of a sudden, I'm confronted with the fact that I must've felt Nihilus' "disturbance in the force" (which I actually didn't!) and, when fighting the Jedi Master on Nar Shaddaa, I'm suddenly told about the grave threat that Darth Nihilus supposedly poses. Although, logically, I should be able to enlighted the Jedi Master in question about the nature of the threat (since Kreia has explained to be about how he feeds off the Force), I'm unable to do so. Furthermroe, Kreia tells me that Visas' homeworld was destroyed because it was full of Force-sensitive beings (The Maralukes) that Nihilus wanted to feed off, while the Jedi Master tells me that it was destroyed because there was a gathering of Jedi there. What on earth is going on? These factors, as well as countless other things, made me completely lose the direction of the storyline. Unlike KOTOR1, I no longer spend time trying to figure out where all of this is going - rather, the plot clues seem to be all over the place, and often point in completely opposite directions. Currently, I'm a passive, as opposed to active, player - I'm playing the game, I'm acting on the information that the game provides me, but I'm expecting the story to somehow unfold itself, as opposed to trying to figure out the greater conspiracy behind the current events. My question is, have any of you had similar problems with the game? Feel free to vote and leave your feedback. Regards, Lord Soviet

Yes, Troika is dead. They're selling out on Feb 19. If you're lucky, you might make it to Irvine in time to get your hands on some of the office furniture and hardware. Here's the e-mail which they've sent out recently: LIQUIDATION SALE After 7 exciting years, and 3 published games, Troika Games is closing its doors forever! EVERYTHING MUST GO! * Computers - P3 & up * Monitors 13" - 21" * Desks * Chairs * Conference Tables * Filing Cabinets * Cubicle System * Canon Copier * and much more! Saturday, Feb. 19th 9am - 1pm only 17991 Cowan in Irvine (Cash & Carry) Let our loss be your gain. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone that may be interested in the sale. *** Also, one of former Troika employees now works with Obsidian Entertainment. Here's a copy & paste of the post made by Andrew Meggs, the Lead Programmer of Bloodlines: "Everyone's talking about what the ex-Troika people are going to do. The reality is that for the past several months Troika has been on a skeleton crew. The real layoffs happened in two waves at the start and end of November, and a lot of people have already moved on. I know of ex-Troika people working for all of these companies: Activision Day One Studios Mythic Entertainment Obsidian Entertainment Point of View (2) Seven Studios (2) Sony (2) Supervillains (2) Swinging Ape Tiger Hare (2+) Turtle Rock Treyarch (And any of you who are reading this and don't see your current employer listed, by all means PM me. Let's not lose touch.)" You can read the full thread (with comments from Troika staff) here: http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic...der=asc&start=0 P.S. Oh, and I don't see how Bloodlines performance was a Valve problem, seeing as Half-Life 2 (which used the same engine) ran with no problems whatsoever on my computer, whereas Bloodlines occasionally gave 9FPS performance. I'm more inclined to blame the complete and utter inability of Troika people to code a string of code without making a mistake in it (Arcanum and Temple of Elemental Evil, anyone?)

I had exactly the same problem. http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=30222

Let's just hope Obsidian and LucasArts don't pull a Troika on us - when Troika released Vampire: Bloodlines, it was a potentially brilliant game, but bugged beyond belief. Constant crashes, disastrous performance and a general feeling of poor Quality Assurance led many players to criticise Troika. Troika responding by releasing a patch a month(!) later that solved several game-stopping(!!) issues - issues that had already been solved by independent modders within two weeks (!!!). As for game performance, Activision (the publisher) had the guile to blame poor systems specifications for choppy performance and 9FPS in some areas (!!!!), even though many of these reports came from people who were running the game on systems that far exceeded the recommended specifications. And now, Troika is dead, selling off their assets on Feb 19 in a garage sale in Irvine. Please, Obsidian and LA, don't do this to us.

Ok, this post contains some spoilers, so don't say I didn't warn you. After exploring the cave on Korriban (the one where I relived my past and faced Kreia and my companions), I hurried back to the Ebon Hawk to have a word with the old hag. When I entered Ebon Hawk, the screen blinked as if a cutscene/dialogue was about to take place - for the record, it *always* happens when I enter Ebon Hawk, for some reason. So, I approach Kreia and she asks me if I had felt "it", too - a distrubance in the Force. I say that yes, I had, that it's Visas' Master yadda yadda yadda. I'm then prompted to choose my prestige class, when I'm level 15. Now, here's the problem - I didn't feel anything in the slightest! I know the game is different from most standard RPGs in that the author's assume that your character (and, therefore, the player, knows certain things about himself and his surroundings), but, given the Blink Bug when entering Ebon Hawk, I cannot help but wonder - maybe I missed the whole Visas's Master Sensation due to yet another silly bug? Any comments will be greatly appreciated!

Alright, now look, I'm not the one to whine about minor problems with the game (like graphical glitches with holograms), but when I encounter things that seriously detract from my game experience, I become really upset. Namely, I've been experiencing this fast-forward dialogue bug. Every now and then, the dialogue is simply skipped - e.g., I choose a dialogue option, then the screen blinks and next thing I know, I'm presented with a new choice of dialogue options. I've had it happen to me at least twice - once in the cutscene where I talk about my accommodation on the Harbinger, and then SPOILER WARNING when the half-rotten Sith Lord has a go at me and Atton in the engine room, shortly after his battle with Kreia. As I'm sure you'll agree, it severely detracts from my game satisfaction, and as there's no telling when it might happen next, I risk missing some important quest dialogue next. Question is, does anyone know how to fix this problem? Oh, and I'm running the game on ASUS Radeon X800, and my computer fully meets the system requirements (and, in fact, exceeds them). Regards, Soviet

Bah! Canderous is a worthless meatbag compared to HK-47! Speaking of which, I really wish HK had a bit more lines in KOTOR. I totally loved his grim sense of humour, especially when I asked him to translate the history of the wanderings and the civil war of the Sand People.

I'm fully aware of the exploit - however, seeing as KOTOR kept crashing every now and then during area transitions, I chose to rely on medpacks instead. Besides, with me, Juhani and Bastila (who was later replaced by that old Jedi guy whose name I cannot remember even though I finished replaying KOTOR 15 minutes ago) all having the Heal power, medpacks and what not did not come in handy until the very end.