Darth Drabek

After watching the gamespy video that takes place on the Hawk and watching the dialogue between the PC and Handmaiden concerning Visas Marr, I am even more pysched about this game! Influence is going to make "for every choice, a consequence" a reality.

I didn't look at the guide too closely, but I browsed the extensive list of weapons and upgrades, force powers and feats that is in the appendix. I thought that was pretty nice. They did have Feat progression charts for the NPC's, showing what at what levels Atton, Mira, ect. get feats. They even gave recommended builds for them. I didn't look too closely because these charts were near the biography info and I DON'T want to know about these characters and their shady pasts just yet (even if Prima was dumb enough to spoil stuff in the first few pages of the guide).

It appears so. Which is actually quite nice because you can really spread out the skills amoung the party members. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That is really the big factor for me. If my skill-savvy NPC's can use the workbench to create stuff, I will play as a Guardian and max out Awareness and Persuade for max dialogue options and keep Bao-Dur, Mira or Atton with me at all times for their skills. If not, I'll play Sentinel and keep at least one tank in the party.

I didn't buy it... too much temptation since I don't have the game yet. But I wanted to learn some new info and they happened to have it at the EB games near me. You're getting a freakin' encyclopedia of KOTOR 2 man. That guide is huge. It has a lot of cool info about the NPCs (which I only scanned to avoid spoiling the story for me), but I did notice that Prima put everybody's starting attributes in there as well as recommended builds for all the party members.

It seems like people (sentinels especially) are gonna have really high skills this time around. That's good, because some of the better upgrades in the game have prerequisite skill levels to create/install them. I was reading the Prima guide at EB games today (carefully, to avoid spoilers :ph34r: ) when I noticed that lightsaber upgrades require diverse skills! I might have them mixed up, but the lens, emitter and power core upgrades each require a different skill to make them. For instance there was some piece of equipment that added a load of ion damage - you needed a security skill of around 18 to install it. I think all the emitters had repair as their prerequisites; the power of the upgrade increases in proportion to the skill required to create it. I believe all the lens upgrades were tied to the awareness skill, while the power core upgrades had a prerequisite level of computer skill needed to create them. Only a few had security prereq's (I don't know why any would at all, doesn't really make sense to me... maybe the hand dexterity). The best upgrades in each category required scores in the mid-20s of their respective skill, but had some SERIOUS bonuses. I didn't read them all (didn't want to sit there for an hour incurring the wrath of the clerk), but Obsidian wasn't kidding about the ridiculous amounts of combinations. Besides all the creatable upgrades (and there's a completely different set for regular melee weapons) there's a bunch of new crystals as well, including most of the ones from the first game. There was even a crystal that increased the CHA and WIS of the user. To say the least, I was very impressed with the sheer amount of items in this game.

I remember reading somewhere that only the Sith Lord prestige class gets Force Crush. I think it was in the Prima guide excerpt on the offical KOTOR 2 site. :D

Still, I wouldn't think that a double-bladed saber should get a higher strength bonus than a single saber. More damage, sure, cause there's...uh, two blades, but maybe a lesser to hit rating. Both of those are swung with two hands, as opposed to one melee weapon in each hand. Does that strength bonus times 1.5 thing go for single sabers or just double-bladed? I think it should because a Jedi would generally swing his saber with both hands if its his only weapon, but then again, I don't write D20 rules. I think that Jedi/Sith with two sabers should be few and far between, so I'm all for requiring some serious dedication (spending lots of feats) toward the ability to overcome big penalties.

Using a feat to make something a class skill sounds interesting. Yeah, in KOTOR you could take repair-savvy NPC's with you if you needed to repair something, just like you could with any skill. But there were those instances (mostly the HK-47 repair sidequest) where only the PC could do it, so it makes me wonder about the workbench stuff. If I am the one loaded up with skills, I won't have to worry as much about having skill people in my party - I'll be rolling with tanks.

Thanks for the info. I saw on another post that Sentinels get average feat progression, as opposed to Guardian fast and Consular slow. I agree that Sentinels were weak in KOTOR, but I think they will be much more useful in KOTOR 2. I am considering playing one so I will be able to load up persuade and awareness for extra dialogue options ($$$) and repair and treat injury for the whole item breakdown and creation thing. I want to be able to make some awesome items, maybe they'll be good enough to offset the low BAB. I'm guessing that you can't use Bao Dur or another repair specialist to do all the breakdown and creation for you?

Thanks VIctory6 for posting that info!!! "sentinel- 8- 6- avg- avg- avg" "consular- 6- 8- slow- slow- fast" Prima can suuuuuuck it! Bummer about the implants though. I might have to bump that past 10 in this game I guess.

Siorfin and Sol, thanks for posting this stuff. Without the game, we will quite happily feast on these tidbits. :D I was wondering what feats the different classes get at creation. Does the game start you off on one of the main attack feats (power attack, flurry or crit. strike) or can you pick your choice at character creation? I also would really like to hear that the Prima guide was wrong about Sentinels having the fewest feats.

Well, since you have the game and can check the manual, I'll take your word over the guide. Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. Still, Prima needs to hire better editors so they don't have misleading assertions in their guide!

From the Prima guide: "Guardians get the most feats, while Sentinels get the fewest." What the hell? I thought the goal was to make the Sentinel class MORE feasible to play this time! I really want to have high INT/skills to get the full experience of this game but who's going to pick Sentinel over Guardian with high BAB and lots of feats or the Consular with wicked force powers and MORE FEATS THAN SENTINEL! One of the things I hoped was different in KOTOR 2 was the fact that the Sentinel and Consular class had the same amount of feats. This isn't the direction I hoped the change would go. The sentinel should be in between, the way it is with VP and FP.... (sigh). I better be able to use these skills to get me out of combat cause too much of it will probably kill me without many feats.

I wonder if Hades skips the Fellowship of the Ring when he reads (or watches) the trilogy. Seriously, what's wrong with exposition? It is a helpful tool to introduce characters or develop the plot. How would we know who Calo Nord was without the cantina scene on Taris? It's the developer's way of advancing the plot in other areas of the galaxy. Like, "while Revan and his posse are dropkicking Sith on Korriban, Malak is trying to turn Bastila to the dark side." It's an obvious point that while you're watching a video, you're not playing the game. But do you really mind?

I was reading over the delicious strategy guide excerpt that is now available on the LucasArts site when I noticed this tidbit: "For scouts and droids, dexterity is the most important physical attribute because of the bonuses granted to ranged attack rolls. The Two-Weapon Finesse feats allow a nimble but weak character (like Visas Marr) to add their DEX modifier to melee and lightsaber attacks (but damage rolls still use your STR bonus, as normal)." In KOTOR, your "To hit" rating with a lightsaber was modified by STR or DEX, whichever was higher. I never played Star Wars PnP, but I remember some people complaining about this, because in Star Wars d20 or PnP or whatever the player needed to invest a feat to get that ability. It seems in KOTOR 2 that STR modifies all melee combat unless you take this feat. Now, the wording here makes me wonder... will we be adding our DEX modifier to the STR modifier or only replacing it, as was done in KOTOR with no feat needed? Also, why would we need to take this feat multiple times, as is suggested by the plural tense? It seems like the sort of ability that should only need learning once. These nitpicky wording questions might be involuntary, overzealous copy editing on my part, or simply mistakes in the guide. For instance, later in the guide I found this statement, which seemingly contradicts the earlier mention (it also drops the confusing "Two" prefix): "Weapon Finesse allows you to use your DEX bonus (instead of STR) with melee attacks, but those in melee generally wear armor that limits this feat

LS Male Sentinel/Weapons Master first time through... it looks like skills will be much more useful this time. STR 12 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 12 CHA 14 I will pump dex at level-ups, and take a level of toughness and max dueling to make this guy hard to kill, because he won't be a damage factory right away.

Hahaha, I've been found out! Nice ones yourself ....Wally Backman, oh man I'm actually a little across the border in that damn red state that f*cked it all up a month ago. But I've always loved the 'Burgh teams, and I thought this fit better than Darth Bonilla, Darth Van Slyke or Darth "Spanky" LaValliere. Maybe an irish Sith Lord.... Darth O'Donnell? Darth Lemieux doesn't sound too bad... :cool:

Lo Pan. What if two of the NPCs have green eyes? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Then he would become one powerful SOB. And they are hinting at multiple love interests for the game....

Lo Pan.... in honor of a real perpetuator of asskicking. :cool: Nah, I'll probably go with a random first name that sounds good with Deschain in homage to Steven King's Dark Tower books. Making Roland of Gilead in KOTOR was an interesting exercise in role-playing. Dual-wielding ranged specialist, tough as nails, with no loyalty but to his quest.

Cool guys thanks for the responses. Between the extras and the Yavin outpost-thing I almost got the PC version just to try them out. Maybe you PC users will get something cool added on at the last second again.

I have been paying pretty close attention to any news concerning the game and I haven't seen any mention of the LS/DS Masteries that were in the PC version of KOTOR. I have the Xbox version, so I never actually got to check this feature out. Naturally, I end up a bit on the lighter side of neutral, not the blinding Mother Teresa-light that is needed to get the mastery perks. I am tempted to sometimes "do things" that will earn me cash to buy cool stuff. I think this is a more realistic simulation of the internal conflict between dark and light than refusing a reward just for the extra light side points getting you closer to that +3 CON or whatever the perks are. So what do you guys think? Should characters be rewarded for staying absolutely loyal to their chosen side of the force? Also, if I've missed some news clipping stating that masteries ARE in KOTOR 2, please let me know.

Today I give thanks.... that I am a North American Xbox user! :D

I always felt that I had to choose the dual sabers feat just to use as many crystals as I could. I never felt that taking dueling made up for losing the effects of two crystals. I think that limiting certain styles to single saber would make that path more attractive for people. Also, being able to upgrade the lens, emitter, ect. ect. on the saber itself might help make single saber a viable option this time around.

I agree that the saber styles should only apply to the single saber path. It would be a good trade-off - the added damage (and crystals, for dual sabers) of two sabers or a double-bladed saber or the versatility of a single saber with options for better defense, better one on one fighting, ect. depending on which stance you take.

I really wanted more development of Darth Bandon. While lower profile characters like Yuthura Ban were fleshed out nicely, he seemed like a bare sketch of a Sith thug. Maybe Calo Nord stole some of his thunder as the guy hunting you down for the first part of the game, but the understudy of the Sith Lord needed more face time. Even the damn wookiee had more lines than Bandon. Oh yeah, and he was easssssy. At least this looks fixed for KOTOR 2. We've been led to believe we will be encountering Sion quite a few times in this game. Here's hoping.