Niten_Ryu

Very informative thread. I've played KotOR 2 both LS and DS. During my 2nd run, I must have spent over 10 hours in order to find out what happend to HK-47 and his clones (It's fun to return to Telos after every planet several times over in different stages of game... NOT), trying to find more clues what happend after Jedi council ect ect... Now I found out that many things were cut from the game. Damn, I should have read this thread first. Sound files clarify many important things. Too bad that we'll probably never see technical fix patch or storyline patch. If they cut stuff, they should have cut Ravanger and Malachor V. They were REALLY badly designed and it would have been better if the game just ended after Jedi council (kill Sion in Korriban, Nihilus during final flight to Dantooine and Kreia at Jedi council). You just can't create complite game in 12 months anymore. Lucas Arts needs to change policy as soon as possible or Star Wars (games) brand will be same level with Star Trak games... and that's not good.

Everything, except maybe the writing (what characters say, not how they interact with protagonist or each other), feels rushed in KotOR 2. That can only mean very thing schedule from Lucas Arts side. If Obsidian only used 12 months to create this... damn, you just can't make solid game in 12 months anymore. I'd say 20 months is minimum and even then you'd need huge development team (including talented QA team). Nearly all party members were interesting, but very underdeveloped. Same with Sith Lords, except Kreia (who I didn't like that much because it was BG2:ToB Melissan all over again). Bugs, oh damn the bugs... I haven't seen this many different kinds of bugs since the Anarchy Online launch date. Of course if there's technical bugs, there must be storyline and balance issues as well. I don't know what QA people did, but I've seen alpha versions in better shape then this game. 70% blame goes to LA, 30% to OB.

Hehe, and I only used Force Crush as a Jedi Guardian/Sith Lord....imagine a Jedi Consular/Sith Lord with lots of WIS.....*shudders* That would be like a one-hit kill on Nihilus! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I did that. I tried to make REALLY gimp character. Jedi Consular ---> Sith Lord was obvious choice... untill I found out that he destroys everything. I thought that only pure fighting skills were important, so I didn't use single point to str or dex. Few points to int/con, rest to wis/cha. I even chose only crappy force powers but then I got Force Crush... damn, I killed those Storm Beast with one or two hits (I used that force enchantment +30% damage... I can't remember the name of that skill... purple circles look all the same... anyway, consular/sith lord skill). I didn't die once vs. all three Sith opponents. Game was easy with my LS Jedi Guardian/Watchman, but it was super easy with DS Consular/Sith Lord. This is the first time that I couldn't even gimp myself enough in order to find some challenge.

These "Who would win ?" polls are problematic if characters are from different era. It seems that peak of Sith era was long before KotOR or Exar Kun and obviously way before Vader. When you visit the Sith tombs in KotOR 2, you'll learn that current Jedi or Sith lightsabre skills/techniques are not as advanced that they were ages ago. Theme of lost knowldge is very apparent in Star Wars universe. Maybe Vader really is the greatest of all time, but it's difficult to say when we don't know general skill level compared to heigh of Sith era. So, it's better to ignore traditional jedi/sith powers and find out what special skills they have. Clear winner would be Darth Nihilus. He is like his name, oblivion and void. His other skills might be worst in Star Wars continuum, but his special talent is more powerful than Death Star.

Ok, I want to experiment something. I've read from this board and reviews that KotOR II is really easy game, even easier than KotOR. Normally I choose hardest difficulty level and create non-

No, it's not. I really like KotOR, but I've played many great games since the early 80's. Top ten list is very hard to reach. KotOR is in my top ten games of 2003 list GTA - Vice City Freedom Force KotOR Splinter Cell Arx Fatalis . . . . . So, I bought only 5 games 2003... oh crap, I have to buy all sequels this year. GTA - San Andreas, Freedom Force vs. Third Reich, KotOR II, Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory, Arx Fatalis II (not sure if this will make it 2005).

Early 90's and late 90's were both very good. I think I have to go with early 90's because adventure games. Amiga was slowly fading away and PC was the no. 1 system for the hardcore gamers. Great games in many different genres. Wing Commander Gold Box games Sim City Lemmings Populous Many Sierra and Lucasarts adventure games Civilization Star Control II Ultima Underworld Doom For just CRPGs, late 90's was really awesome. I don't think we'll ever see that kind of boom. Unfortunately adventure games died about same time as CRPGs revived. It's interesting to see what will happen to CRPGs in next few years. Although some still try and IMO make good CRPG, next generation budgets are so high, that CRPGs might die.

I think I'll be happy with Fallout 3. Only thing that I care about is the Fallout's world and that it's not pure action game like BG:Dark Alliance or FOBoS. Of course it would be nice to see TB based game, but I'll take hybrid system too. S.P.E.C.I.A.L (including whole system, not just stats, perks and traits) was ok, but bit too simple for modern computer games so I'd love to see more detailed system based on old system (damage simulation, physics, advanced critical tables, covers/line-of-sight, z-axis movement, material durability, item creation ect ect).

Timmy is great designer, but his programming/management skills are not that good. You just can't release buggy game after another and expect everything to be smooth. If Timmy still stays in computer biz, please leave programming to someone else. I think same goes for Jesse Reynolds and Steve Moret (or at least take enough time to write clean code). It's sad to see Troika go. I'm still going to buy Vampire:Bloodlines, even if they never fix the bugs. Even with bugs, it's bargain bin quality (needless to say that without bugs, it would be "buy right away at retail price" material).

Oh yeah, Brian Menze's pipboy designs. I'd love to see high quality images of all traits, perks and stats.

GTA - Vice City Silent Storm Silent Storm - Sentinels Freedom Force NWN NWN - SoU NWN - HotU Half-life Team Fortress Classic Half-Life 2 Counterstrike Source Thief - Deadly Shadows Flatout Return to the Castle Wolfenstein Far Cry No One Lives Forever 2 Planescape - Torment Fallout 2 Not that many games in my HD right now.

Bugs don't matter that much to me (Unless we are talking about end of Anarchy Online beta amount of bugs) but generally if I know that some game is buggy (like Troika games by defeault), I'll wait few months to few years (it depends how many patches and how much patches fix or bargain bin) before I buy the game.

I really liked BG2:ToB except that Melissan character. It should have been you vs. other bhaalspawn (Highlander rip off - there can only be one). Fight against Melissan was anti-climatic and it hurt the whole bhaalsage ending. Best parts - Old enemy as your team mate - Fun high level action with gimp group - Standing stones and funky vocoder effect - Upgrading obscure items - Group teleport to own plane - Learning aspects of your characters personality Bad parts - Melissan -

Lord of the Rings But not end of third age, because obvious heros of that age are someone else than you or your party. There are interesting events in the middle of 2nd or 3rd age (PnP adventures). I'd love to see cRPG set in the First Age but I don't think it's going to happen. Star Wars KotOR timeline or even earlier. Again, you can't be THE hero if timeline is near the offical movies. Planescape Any timeline, any dimension, any door. As long as Sigil is there. So many chances to be hero (or villain) as long as you don't actually end Blood War, destroy indestructible Lady of Pain or blow up Sigil. Arcanum I really loved Arcanums magic vs. technology world and how different races saw industrial revolution.

I loved JK2 combat. Not that much against human or computer opponents but watching 2 or more equal computer controlled NPC fight each other. Spawn few Luke's, few Dark Masters and some Stormtroopers for fun. Asbolutely beautiful. KotOR combat should look like that.

I can't belive that people would want yet another computer RPG with crappy PnP D&D rules. Sure, simple and fast rules have their place in PnP RPGs, but computers can do so much more. Even combined Rolemaster rules with extended critical and fumble tables would not be anything for todays computers. You could basically do hundreds of virtual dice throws in matter of microseconds. I can't stand D&D rules in computer games but I love many D&D worlds, even that clich

Porn music is great... 70's and 80's that is. It fits really well in Dj sets. Project X is of course CRPG based on 70's (It was illigal back then) LA porn industry. Main character is John Holmes alter ego Johnny Wadd. Hire Bob Chinn to write the plot

I'd like to see CRPG set in modern non-scifi world. Kinda like Jagged Alliance.

If they make KotOR II, I bet we see that in next E3. But if they make some original game, this years E3 is probably too soon for that project. It might take next +3 years to develop. Too much hype too early is very BAD.

Single player CRPGs are almost as bad shape as they were before Fallout and Baldur's Gate circa 1996. In that time FPS (like Duke Nukem 3d and Quake) and RTS (Warcraft II, C&C Red Alert) were the hit games and only insane dev team would do old skool RPG. Good thing there were few insane devs... Now the threat is bit different and maybe even more severe. Games cost WAY more to develop than back in year 1996. PC game sales are nowhere near console game sales and PC CRPG have even more grim sales figures. Basically task is very difficult, since todays gamers don't like old skool PC CRPGs. They like short, steamlined, fast hack-and-slash action "RPGs". CRPG is realy big risk. But not all hope is gone. KotOR was a great game, but it could have been so much more if Bioware would have designed it specifically for the PC. Or to imaginary console with mouse + keyboard and +256MB memory. Maybe we'll see new CRPG peak after next generation consoles are released. Will we see mature (and I don't mean just gore but mature themes like sexuality and philosophical/morality issues) games like Fallout or Planescape:Torment in the future ? I don't think so, because times have changed too much. Old hardcore gamers are just tiny niche anymore and they just can't buy enough games in order to cover the development costs. Of course I'm more than happy if I'm wrong and OE or any other dev team can prove me wrong.

Let's see... If project X is KotOR II... Basically better design for PC. Maps in KotOR were way too small, probably because X-box's tiny memory. Fighting sequence in KotOR was alright, but it got very repetative after few fights. Special attacks like Power Attack only had one attack sequence. I'd like to see way more different attack, defence, shooting and dodge sequences. I guess X-bow memory limitations might be issue again... Fights were bit too fast in KotOR for my taste. That's alright because some people like very fast paced combat but I'd like to see some improvements in defence/parry rules system. Maybe you could add new combat feat where I could move attack bonus to defence. More interaction between party members, player character and party members and party members and NPCs. Nerf lightsabre crystals bacause you could build insane doomsday weapons in KotOR. Especially two lightsabre style and sabrestaff style were totally unbalanced because of this. I kinda like Pazaak but I hate the fact that I always have to be first to play. Computer has always unfair "bank" advantage. Between two individual players there should always be turns who will be first to play. Also it would be nice to be able to use force persuade to cheat in that game (or NPC cheat on player... with force or some other way). Ebonhawk gun turrert fight were just plain awful. Since I'm damn sure that you won't create better engine for it, I suggest that you don't do any in KotOR II. Ok, there's few suggestions. I'll do more when/if KotOR II is offical.