Seeker1

I have to say, having now pored over my first set of 4E rulebooks, the new magic system ... blows. Fine, I know the Vancian (memorization) system had its detractors. And so did the mana system used as an alternative in almost every other RPG or CRPG. However, if we allow mages to cast an infinite number of spells infinitely often, that blows, too, then they become invincible. Well, 4E adopts the WoW-like "cooldown" system of making spells ... "powers" ... that can be used either once per encounter, once per day, or or at-will. (I'm surprised there aren't two more time-based options, such as once per turn or once per hour.) But then it gets weird. See, not all "spells" are "powers". Just the combat ones. Almost all non-combat spells are now "rituals". Except, and maybe I'm losing my mind, but this is where things get hazy. "Rituals" appear to be like what used to be called "spells". They actually require components, they require resources, and they require time to cast. But ... now anybody can learn them. Not just spellcasters. Or even rogues who have mastered the read magic scroll skill. No, now, if your fighter knows the ritual to raise dead, he can do it too ... ??? AFAICT, now that things like magic missile or fireball are "powers" ... and most of the combat powers are "at will" (although a few are "once per encounter") ... I guess there's no more casting time, no components, just think n zap, once per round. "Powers" seem like "feats" and 4E still has "feats" and yet AFAICT the main difference between "powers" and "feats" is lots of classes can take various feats, whereas powers are always class-specific. Basically, though, "powers" are almost all combat-focussed. It's like every other magic school other than evocation has vanished. No more alterations, summonings, conjurations, defensive spells, illusions, enchantments, teleportation ... what little is left of the other schools have become "rituals". Mages are basically walking blaster rifles now. And clerics? Well, their powers are very strictly limited to the very narrow kinds of things they could do in 1E, healing and buffing, and very little else. Cleric domains have disappeared. Druids, with magic focussed on nature, shapeshifting, summoning, and the elements... are gone. But natch, warlocks, the blaster rifles of 3.5E, have made a strong comeback. Many people said the warlocks were the model of things to come ... and they were. (BTW AFAICT the only point of the new warlord class is that it's a fighter that can buff other people besides himself. For that, they had to make a new class? I don't get it.) Don't like it. It's made both mages and clerics very narrow and generic. Turning everything that they do into "powers" and giving every other class "powers" too ... just doesn't work for me.

I haven't seen any good tabletop espionage-modern day based RPGs since .. well... TSR's Top Secret. Let alone, of course, a good CRPG implementation. I've been wondering when somebody will do a RPG in a modern setting as opposed to the other two predominant genres ... fantasy/high tech future-cyberpunk (or the 'blenders' like Shadowrun). BTW, I know the spy movie genre is heavily solo focussed (James Bond always works alone) but I still hope there is room for party/team based gaming. Even Bond occasionally goes in with a team of people, such as when he raided the smuggler cartel in For Your Eyes Only. Looks cool... so your chars can be gearheads like MacGuyver, stealth ninja types, or action focussed like Bond (esp. the new rebooted Bond). This could be interesting ... the spy genre is one in which double agents and moles and people switching sides are a constant factor ... so it makes for interesting roleplaying.... It's one in which objectives are not always about killing ... sometimes you want to go in, discover the secret plans or documents, and get out without killing anybody at all... BTW is this going to be console only or also for PC?

I don't think Torment would or should have a sequel per se. It would be nice to see another Planescape game that uses the ambience, the setting, and the "feel" of the original game (maybe even revisiting Sigil and other locations), while featuring a different protagonist, story, companions, etc, etc. And of course moving beyond the Infinity to the NWN2 engine. They might have to hurry, because I understand 4E is going to radically redo the structure/cosmology of the planes. I would agree that new modules/scenarios in either the Icewind or Planescape settings (or ... Black Hound/BG setting) ... would be marvelous. I guess others are right that they might not be doable, though.

I'm not sure your scenario is likely. However, I will ask you and anybody else, assuming the other scenario is correct (they're going to release their own competing MMO) 1) if SWG is dying (I honestly don't know figures for membership), for what reasons is it dying? 2) what do you think a Bioware/LA/KOTOR MMO could do right that SWG did wrong? Otherwise isn't it entering a dying genre? I haven't played, but again the one thing I heard from people is they got frustrated that SWG made it too easy for people to become Jedi. A KOTOR MMO could make it much harder, but I'm not sure that will attract more players, either.

I know this topic has been done to death already, but I'll just add my voice to the chorus. There's already a Star Wars-based MMORPG (Galaxies). Making a second one with only very slight changes in setting (so fine, it's set 4000 years earlier, but it's all the same basic elements, with perhaps the exception that there is no Empire or remnant of the Empire and the Republic hasn't fallen or is in a state of being rebuilt) doesn't make much sense. I've never played the existing one (in fact I've only in my life ever played two MMORPGs), and I understand one of the complaints was it was too hard to become a Jedi. Then I heard they nerfed that due to player complaints and as expected the galaxy is now overrun with thousands of them. I guess they could make the KOTOR setting very "low magic" (i.e. low Jedi) but I don't think it will be a player draw.

This is one of these things I would never have known had I not read it on forums. Apparently, you are supposed to speak to her at level 15, then she offers you the option to take a prestige class. And it's not like anything in the game prompts you about this, like, a cutscene after you hit level 15, and she comes up and taps you on the shoulder and tells you to talk to her or anything. I don't know if she won't offer it if you wait too long after hitting level 15.

I read on the forums its properties were upgradeable and my assumption was the way it was explained as you levelled up so did the properties of your personal lightsaber crystal. Except, as I later read, too late, it will not upgrade unless you level up, and then talk to Kreia. I just find it weird that there are a lot of events in the game that I wouldn't know to do, if it weren't reading the forums, because they all require you talking to Kreia. I get the weird feeling the Secret Tomb was to be more significant in the plotline, but once again time constraints meant they cut aspects of it then made it optional to visit. I could be wrong, but that's the sense I get. If there is to be a KOTOR3, I hope it's no rush job.

My point is, why revive Hanrarr to fight Mira a second time, when she defeated him the FIRST time? I mean, isn't the definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? I was observing to see if Kreia had done something to buff Hanrarr for the second showdown, and AFAICT he wasn't any tougher than the first time. So it just seemed pointless. Dunno, it seems the only point of this is to punish you for not clearing out all the storm beasts as the exile, because they will kill the remote if you don't. I didn't make the mistake a 2nd time. But there are several scenes where they show the remote being upgraded, Bao Dur and G0T0 comment on it, except AFAICT it just got a very puny laser and not much else. Certainly, they didn't do anything to help you defeat the storm beasts ... or even stealth past them. Incidentally, though, oddly, the remote seems capable of throwing grenades (?) and I might have been able to finish off the storm beasts if I had about a dozen thermal detonators. Dunno, the whole G0T0 business stinks of cut plotting/dialogue, it's clear from reading forums that the actual G0T0 who programmed the droid on your ship to be his representative is himself another droid, and the humanoid hologram you speak to is just to fool you into thinking he is human. I think you can find this out with enough Influence, but just what G0T0 is up to by himself messing with the remote is never made clear, either.

I just don't get that. At the end of the game, I was practically brimming with Light Side energy, having done LS stuff throughout the game. I had brought several people over to the LS as Jedi (Mira, Handmaiden, Atton). Even Visas was moving toward the Light side. And then they accuse me of being part of the Dark Side? There are hints by characters throughout the game that the real problem with the Jedi isn't you or anybody else, the reason they keep losing to the Sith is some flaw in their own Code. I wonder if judgementalism isn't that flaw. I just felt like I was getting a raw deal for the second time. Like how dare they do this to me AGAIN? Of course, maybe you are SUPPOSED to feel that way. I didn't approve of Kreia killing the remaining Jedi, but I sure thought it was right for her to save me. Obviously, the Sith are doing something right, because I was bumping into hundreds of them by the end of the game, whereas the remaining Jedi were indeed far and few between -- and many of them like the people who judged me were buttheads. It seems some were killed, some like Mira were thrown from the crash and knocked unconscious, it's just that sans dialogue or cutscenes you have no idea as you go into the endgame what happened to them, just that they aren't there -- and the final ending doesn't clarify matters. Her answer to the question of whether or not she is a Sith is an interesting one -- it sort of hints that she's willing to "wear" the title but sees herself as something beyond that. Again, I just don't like how the ending plays out in terms of play mechanics, nor how the storyline/plot resolves itself (because it doesn't). And both aspects bother me. If I wanted to play a first person run and gun I'd go out and buy one. I buy *RPGS* like KOTORII because I want to play through them with a TEAM. A lot of RPGs these days, esp. the MMORPGs, force you to play through only one character. I finallly got around to playing KOTORII (a few years late) because I wanted a game I could play through with a party of chars. Too bad in the best, most involved part of the game, the endgame, I can't. Also, the way ppl. explain things/events, they make sense *now*, too bad they don't offer that full explication ingame.

.... what's the difference between a blaster rifle and a blaster carbine? Given a choice between the two, and the fact that they both seem to do the same damage... is it that the carbine has a slower rate of fire? The game seems to suggest carbines are inferior to rifles but I'm not exactly sure why. My favorite ranged weapons are the repeating blasters, some are fully upgradeable and obviously you can't complain once you have high rate of fire, accuracy, AND high damage, something that is hard to achieve as the perfect trifecta. Too bad the "unstoppable" (shield penetrating) disruptor weapons seem to neither come in repeating nor upgradeable form. (But then, I didn't notice too many enemies besides droids that ever used shields, and I was usually blasting the droids with ion weapons which seem to largely ignore shields anyway.) ... basically, I'm wondering, what are the best pistols and rifles in the game, in terms of offering a nice combo of upgradeability, and even sans upgrades offering nice rates of fire, damage, penetration, and side effects (like stun/slow). If you were going to choose the two best pistols to dual wield in the game, what would they be? (Assuming your opponents are not droids, I know which are the best that are specifically droid killers ... but ... the weird thing is you face the most droids at the BEGINNING of the game and find the most weapons useable against them at the END.) I've read the item guides and many list all the properties of the items in the game (some of which I never FOUND due to its random loot generator, some of which I found eight times even though I didn't like) ... I guess it would be nice to see an analysis/breakdown on them if I'm going to do this game a second time, cheat, and try and give my chars the best stuff. ... I found Bao Dur's shield penetration ability works regardless of what weapon he uses, he could take down shields even by firing at them with a blaster (which is what I usually gave him). The game says his unarmed strike breaks shields but I notice he didn't need to be unarmed to do so so I kept him armed with a blaster. Anyway, what I'm asking is, it seems like his unarmed attack improves because of his mechanical arm (he keeps gaining weirdly named abilities as he levels up), it seems to keep gaining properties, will these "powers" show up if I disarm him and basically let him fight melee unarmed? (I'm asking this because I kept him armed with a blaster and never let him fight unarmed.) ... I loved Mira's wrist launcher, she makes grenades more fun because she is the only one who can hit moving targets with them, plus her own rockets are pretty cool, although once again due to random loot generator I never found many types of rockets/darts. Ended up having to make her most of her ammo, love those buster rockets. I know there's a mod that gives the PC his own wrist launcher, would love to find that. Wrist launcher + thermal detonator -- very nice combo. Once again I would have loved to have her wrist launcher dealing some death in the endgame, too bad I can't bring her with me. (Is there a mod that lets you take companions with you into the endgame? I would love that, personally.) ... is there any value to the G0t0 droid that you don't get from HK-47 or T3-M4? Didn't really find any. He can't take any upgrades they can't, nor seems to have any real abilities they don't. So he can stealth as a droid. BFD, rarely used stealth for anything. I just found him and his master "creepy" and left him behind most of the time. ... is there a mod that lets you take a party of four instead of a party of three? Yadda yadda game balance. Bottom line, I like games like this because of their team play aspects, I like to micromanage coordinated attacks some time, I would have definitely liked on some missions to have a party of four instead of three... or even five. But I'm betting this can't be modded. Personally, if I could have a party of four, I would do most missions with the "sweet team" of me (light jedi), Visas (dark jedi), one droid, and one "combat unit" (Mandalore, or Mira with her beloved launcher.) ... is there a mod that lets you pick up Hanrarr if LS and Disciple if male? I'm betting the answer is no because the "party screen" wouldn't have room for all the pictures (unless the mod makes them available by making two other choices unavailable). I went through the first time as light side male, and while I wasn't terribly interested in the Disciple (so he's a mobile medlab, BFD, although that does make up for the lack of a medlab on the Ebon Hawk) (oh and BTW what is with so many people in the game being known by formal titles rather than actual names), it's apparent Hanrarr is the only guy to really arm to the teeth with all those great non-lightsaber melee weapons you find. But it looks like I gotta go DS to try him out. And be female to see all the stalker Disciple dialogue he's supposedly famous for. ... can I say something about armor? Most of your companions start out with named stuff that makes you not want to switch out what they're already wearing. If they become Jedi, you have to switch them to robes anyway. Handmaiden as a soldier seems like more of a DEX fighter, so even if she doesn't go Jedi she seems better suited for light armor. You find lots of heavy armor, but the only guy who really seems suited to wear it (Mandalore) won't take his off. (Yes, I know a mod fixes this one, I've seen it.) Is there any point to medium armor? There are stealth/dex types good for light armor, seems everyone else should wear heavy (but who in your party is the everyone else other than Mandalore or ... Bao Dur? why is it BTW so much armor seems determined to exclude poor old Bao Dur specifically?) Bottom line is I found tons of it and usually ended up breaking it down, nobody could wear it. (Not even Hanrarr if I had gotten him since he's a wookie.) ... can someone explain to me why you make mines and grenades at a MEDICAL LAB? I don't get it. Seems to be mines and grenades should be made where you make your other weapons (workbenches), medical labs should just be for medpacs and stims. However, personally, I also would have preferred if instead of grenades and mines, you could also use medlabs to make more bio-implants, especially the higher level ones.... I was always running out of grenades in the game, and without Mira around to make them and not finding them as loot, it seemed weird to run to a MEDICAL LAB to make more. (I love grenades. I love wrist launcher fired grenades even more. But I think I said that.) ... BTW, I would have also loved to be able to upgrade grenades, like you do other weapons. Maybe upgrades to their damage radius, or effects... or accuracy. .... there are many items in the game that shield you from cold and fire. But the only real protections that seem to matter are energy (from blasters or lightsaber) or melee/physical (from beasts). The only time I was ever getting hit by heat or cold were the very rare times that a droid hit me with a flame thrower, or somebody threw a cryoban grenade. Basically, those resistances seemed to matter very little. Obviously, my favorite shield was Mandalorian Power, which shields you from physical and energy at the same time. Verpine Prototype is best for absorption but I think only blocks energy/electrical. ... there seem to be a shortage of level 3 droid upgrades, particularly level 3 droid special weapons. Found that disappointing. ... ok, that's it for now.

This whole post is one giant spoiler, so let me SPOILER WARNING you right now, I would have to black out this entire thing otherwise, the bottom line is I can't talk about the game's endings without spoilers, so, you're warned... ... I know the reasons for this, the game was rushed out the door, the various teams -- "Team Exile" "Team Gizka" and "Team Bantha" are working to restore what was cut ... but I gotta say the ending to the game really doesn't make sense as is. First off, I finally get many of my team mates to become Jedi (I succeeded with Atton, Handmaiden, and Mira; I must have missed the dialog to do it with Bao Dur and from what I read you only have a one time shot and obviously I missed it as he never would dialogue with me at all after a certain point).... but this was near the end of the game so I had no chance to level any of them past level 1 or 2 jedi ... sheesh. That aside, I figured this might figure into the endgame plot ... but other than being told that this is something BAD about my character at my second trial on Dantooine (why is attracting followers and helping them become Jedi BAD so that I must be punished for it?) ... not only couldn't I level them but I was in a big disappointment when I found out they wouldn't help at all in the endgame on Malachor V ... the bottom line is it doesn't even seem to influence what Kreia tells you about their futures, let alone influence the ending. The second trial on Dantooine doesn't make sense to me. The game is hinting that the Jedi Council are wrong for condemning me both times (the first and the second), but essentially they are telling me the second time that the reason I need to be cut off from the Force again is that I attract followers and bring them to the Force. Huh? That's BAD and I need to be PUNISHED for it? Kreia saves me from punishment, but given that I find out she's a Sith Lord at the end, it doesn't seem to be for noble reasons. It's almost like she agrees with them that I am the key to destroying the Force and wants to stop them from preventing me from doing so. Yet, I am the one who stops her. It's all so weird. Anyway, the endgame is just crap. It's basically just my lone character with no team mates, fighting hordes of storm beasts, then gaggles of Sith, then fighting two boss battles (Sion and Traya), with the ultimate one actually being easier than the penultimate one, which is weird. There's a cutscene to a Mira vs. Hanharr final confrontation (why do this again? they already fought once?), which appears pointless as Mira walks toward where I am but nooooo she does not join me to help me out after all. And then a weird little bit where I play as Bao Dur's remote. The fact that it starts out with the remote viewing the holovid of Bao Dur saying "if you are viewing this" suggests to me that Bao Dur is dead, but the game never really says that. I don't get the point of the remote "minigame". The remote gets upgraded during the game but that appears to be pointless as the puny laser they add to it can barely scratch a storm beast. AFAICT, there's only one point to the remote minigame. If you clear out all the storm beasts as the Exile, the remote can do its stuff. If you don't, the remote will be killed by the storm beasts. BTW, I only realized this after screwing up once, because as the exile I didn't clear the path to one ship and the remote died on the way to getting to it. But, other than that, all the remote has to do is just go visit the four terminals. That's it. No challenge to it ... provided you cleared out all the beasts first. Then we get a cutscene where the G0T0 droid shows up and threatens the remote and would seem to prevent what the remote was doing from succeeding ... except that never happens. Huh? (Yes, from what I've read, there was supposed to be additional content here with HK-47 saving the remote from G0t0's droid ... presumably after installing its "selfless" pacifist protocol.) So what are we doing at the end anyway? Pulling up the shadow generator? Why? Activating it the first time caused all the problems. Are we activating it a second time to destroy Malachor V or activate a self destruct sequence? This is never really clear. Malachor V seems to be destroying itself as we fly away at the end, so it seems to be the latter. And that ending (LS). Sheesh. No movies about the fate of your companions. You have to ask Kreia/Traya about their fate, apparently her impending death gives her omniscience, but I really would have enjoyed actually watching what happens rather than this being given in the form of dialogue. She never says anything about the droids. And the connections you make with Visas, Handmaiden, Mira ... nothing is ever hinted about whether they will maintain any kind of connection with you (romantic or otherwise) ... the fact that I made Handmaiden and Mira Jedi nothing is really said about although there is a hint they are the "Lost Jedi" I was tasked with finding which will be important for restoring the Order down the road... where are you going on your ship at the end? Presumably beyond the Outer Rim to join Revan, although there is no indication of who else is alive and did you leave Mira on the planet because she clearly is? ... like I said the game makes you suspect Bao Dur died in the crash and the G0T0 droid was killed along with the remote. (Of course, despite crashing and falling into the chasm, the Ebon Hawk flies out unscathed at the end anyway.) The motivation of it all makes no sense ... I notice there is another thread on this. What exactly IS Kreia/Traya trying to do? Activate the shadow generator to destroy the Force? But I thought YOU were the key to destroying the Force and she wants you to live/survive so you can do so. Yet, if she is omniscient, she must know you are going to stop her at the end. (But what are you stopping her from doing? She never even mentioned the generator in her final dialogues.) She is revealed to be Sith at the end .. Darth Traya (and I understand this was another late change, as the original version of the game would have Atris revealed as Traya)... yet she seems to hate both the Sith and the Jedi and the Force in general, not favoring either side, Light or Dark. She really seems more like a Gray Jedi, or something else, wanting to end the Force so that the Dark and Light Sides of it will stop battling each other. (It actually reminds me of one of Michael Moor****'s novels, where the final task of the Eternal Champion is to destroy the Balance itself.) It certainly doesn't make her "evil" like Nihilus or Sion, both of which she seems to be using/manipulating just as she manipulated you. I just found it weird that she is so "Neutral" throughout the game ... Influence with her being dependent on not being EITHER "too" dark or "too" light ... yet turns out to be Sith at the end. Didn't really make sense, although the cutscenes of her doing things behind your back all the time made it painfully obvious to me she had a hidden agenda, as did the G0T0 droid. BTW, I rarely took her with me on missions, as that missing hand made her unable to dual wield the double bladed lightsabers I kept getting. ;-P The XP boost and force chain she gives is nice, although I only found out later that dialogues with her are critical on the ship, towards the end of the game, for such things as getting your prestige class, or making Handmaiden Jedi (which seemed to upset her OR please her her response is kind of strange), learning telepathy, or upgrading your personal lightsaber crystal (I learned too late you need to do this OFTEN, every time after you level up). Basically, useless for missions, but talk to her on the ship. A lot. Now I know. P.S. I took away all her equipment before the end because I peeked at what was going to happen, but this did not seem to weaken her for the final battle. ;-P I don't get what Atris is up to at the end either. Somehow I suspect this was messed up by a late decision to make Kreia Darth Traya and not Atris. The weird thing is the final dialogue with Atris makes it seem like she had feelings for you too ... even of a romantic nature. Weird. AFAICT, she was trying to do something good, but she decided to use the Sith Holocrons to find out what the Sith were up to, and this corrupted her and made her bad and so they "fed" on her. Or something like that. At least that got Handmaiden to finally tell me her name, Brianna, and pledge undying loyalty, too bad she disappears from the game after that. The Korriban visit is just bizarre. I was WINNING my showdown with Sion there, then Kreia forced me to escape ... come on now, don't force me to quit when I'm winning ... I find Vash only to find she's dead (yes apparently there was an alternate plotline where she isn't .. another cut) ... I find Revan's holocron only to find out it isn't working. And AFAICT the entirely optional Secret Tomb which is supposed to prepare you for your final challenges ... does nothing except make you revisit your past and seems to have little other point. And you have to kill gaggles of beasties just to get there. Sheesh. Once again, visiting it doesn't in fact seem to affect the endgame. So there I am the end blasting off to join Revan. Or am I? I seem to be the only one Omniscient Kreia-Traya can't see the destiny of, so I guess there are three paths ahead of me. Atton seemed to be the only one who could actually fly the Ebon Hawk, so he must be alive. Other than that, I have no idea who's alive or dead and the "fate of" dialogues I get seem to concern the distant future, not the immediate future. Heck, I'm even told when Mira is going to DIE and it's not at the hands of Hanrarr, even though I spared him. Obviously, given that I have "fate of" dialogues for several companions, they must be alive. The fact that the ending seems to be a painful setup for a sequel (KOTOR 3) is painfully obvious, it's almost like all this was just some complicated rigmarole to get me to join Revan "beyond the Rim" and that was the real point of everything. (It reminded me of Sheridan's decision to go "beyond the rim" at the end of Babylon V.) Dunno. It was unsatisfactory in many ways, both in terms of play (why the hell play as solo for most of the ending, then get one quick and dirty solo mission for Mira than have her disappear, then get one pointless solo mission as the remote), and plot.

I would like to see a party size larger than three. Although I seem to be very partial to a party of six, I think even being able to take 4-5 (total counting myself) would have been better than being limited to three. If I could take more than two with me on expeditions in KOTOR1, I would choose another jedi (Juhani/Bastila), a scoundrel (Mission), a gunner (Carth/Canderous), a droid (HK-47), and a melee fighter (Zaalbar). Honestly, I saw no reason to take T3 once I had HK, almost never brought along Jolee (I think he got knocked unconscious more times than I could count)... two characters that could have been dumped from the roster. At least you had full control, unlike the pathetic "henchman" system of NWN, and I would love to see a VISIBLE action queue return in other games of this type. So I know what they're going to do in what order to whom. Obviously, to facilitate a larger party size in KOTOR2, they'd probably need to adjust game difficulty upward, have a larger total NPC roster than 9, increase the number of class/race combinations, and maybe even tweak the pathfinding engine, but all those things would be welcome as well.

I think the lamest part was the minigames. Pazaak was fine. You never had to play if you didn't want to. As it was, I almost never did, there were plenty of places to get credits without relying on a game of chance (I hate gambling). It also struck me as a simply superficially altered version of the casino game "21". Swoop racing? It would have been fine if, like Pazaak, you could do it as an OPTION, which is the case on any planet, except for Taris, where they MAKE you do it to further the main quest. Couldn't there have been a "rescue Bastila" alternative path BESIDES that? And that damn turret-fighter minigame. Ack. I would have found it OK *IF* they had included a cheat code for insta-victory for it (all the "restart minigame" cheat ever did was crash my game) or simply to ignore it. I even would have put up with it if it was a random encounter you occasionally got between planets. I simply would have quicksaved between each planet run and restarted from that save until I didn't get the encounter. However, to further the game plot, you HAVE to complete the minigame three times throughout the plotline, and the result of failure is irremediable. Couldn't they just have you crash on a planet and have to repair the ship like they did on the Unknown World? I bought KOTOR to play an RPG, not an RPG with some half thought out arcade-type minigames stuck in it. The point of RPGs is not to test your arcade/handeye/twitch skills, but your CHARACTER's skills. So, why is it that when me/Revan has a 25 dexterity and 20 heavy weapons skill, hitting those damn fighters remains as hard as ever? Why can't I upgrade the Ebon Hawk's turrets to fire smart bombs or something or augment its shields? And, since there are tons of hints that you should be able to upgrade your swoop bike, why can't you? I know some people found the turret minigame pathetically easy, me, I found myself constantly being blinded by the sun, finding the radar reading on the fighters deceptive and inaccurate, and what looked like direct hits on the fighters as they were retreating from an attack run being ignored. Plus, what was all that flotsam that kept floating through my field of fire, distracting me? Bottom line is, it wasn't optional, and neither was the swoop racing. More irritating was that to save Bastila, you had to get a lousy time, and then a good one. Because if you post a good time on the first run, the challenger automatically beats your first run, and then you have to beat him. Unfortunately, I didn't know this at first, found myself unable to beat his beating of my first run, and suddenly found myself back at the load game screen. Not even a cutscene with somebody coming to tell me that I lost the race and game over. Yuck. :angry: Anyway, I read in the FAQ that KOTOR2's minigames will be both improved and totally optional, to which I say hurrah. I do not even mind if there are, for example, certain results and items you can ONLY get through the minigames, as long as you don't HAVE to do them to win. Other miscellaneous observations -- 1. poor implementation of the Bastila romance. Why nothing at the end showing the result of her confession of love to you at the Star Forge. I guess as you are both Jedi so things still can't go forward (I understand the SW III movie will show that it is Anakin and Padme's romance that causes his downfall), but there's no discussion of it at the end. 2. wasn't bothered by the space or undersea scenes. It is kinda funny seeing you tramp about slowly in either an underwater diving suit or space suit, and even funnier if you use the turbo cheat during either scene. However, the undersea scenes seem "pointed" (even if I never could figure out how many times to fire that sonic emitter to kill the sharks or what would happen if I failed to fire it n number of times; I just kept hitting it over and over again until they died). The spacewalk scene seems kind of like an afterthought. Sure, it's your alternative route to the Leviathan bridge and all, but nothing happens between A and B, unlike your undersea trip. 3. the Manaan trial was a bit strange. I thought I put on an excellent defense of the guy, and he was still convicted. Even odder, I got XP for it! As it turns out, many game guides/walkthrus seem to indicate (spoiler alert???) he WAS guilty, so maybe I'm simply being rewarded for making the best of a worst situation? There was a darkside way to get him off scot free, by force persuading the hotel desk clerk to lie, but I chose not to use it. I saw no other way to win an innocent verdict, but then, apparently, I shouldn't have been able to ... ? 4. (Spoiler alert 2?) It's interesting the way they used a nice gender-neutral name like "Revan" so that regardless of what you play, the central revelation of the game makes sense. Honestly, it's never made clear why s/he//you were never recognized (did the Force cause plastic surgery to occur?), except they seem to indicate Revan always wore his/her mask everywhere (although not why -- unlike Malak s/he had no facial injury). Also, the one curious thing I will note about the game is that it sort of parallels Return of the Jedi in that the defeat of the enemy is sort of irrelevant. Luke and Anakin kill the Emperor on the Death Star Reloaded, but he would have been killed ANYWAY when Lando destroyed it. Likewise, the only thing you really do on the Star Forge that appears relevant is the redemption of Bastila (if you choose that path) and her turning her Battle Meditation back over to the Republic side, enabling them to win. It seems that Malak would have been killed anyway when it was destroyed... 5. I'm not sure I dug the class/game system. I don't think SWd20 is that impoverished...? Too few skills. Too few non-combat feats for anyone other than jedi or droids. No options to play as a nonhuman, even though you had alien and droid NPCs. I understand the need for nerfing ranged weapons in these games, but blaster fire was ridiculously inaccurate and weak even for lvl20 Carth with his uber blaster. I also would have appreciated a multiclass possibility for other characters, giving them the option to become jedi or maybe even having juhani stop being jedi (fallen?) and become something else (scoundrel?) Also, as a multiclassed jedi, I really hated not having 8 more levels to get some more jedi feats and powers... although there is a KOTOR hack that lets you start as jedi, it really appears to muck with the plotline on Dantooine... that and while scout/jedi sentinel made sense, as did soldier/jedi guardian, scoundrel/consular did not (I guess its the SW equivalent of mage/thief). I liked the 9 NPCs, but I would have also liked to see a human melee soldier (Zaalbar is your main melee guy, but can't wear armor, and you can make Canderous into one, but he seems better suited as your machine gunner), and a human scout (Zaalbar really should be a warrior), and another scoundrel besides the good-natured young twilek girl with a soft heart... and a 2nd romance choice besides Bastila and ... Juhani.... for male PCs. That, and your dark side choices are limited. Only Canderous, HK, and Dark Bastila won't ditch you if you go the darkside route. OK, long response to a simple question, but I'm done. I do hope all these things are improved in KOTOR2. Oh yeah, and that there's a Mac version.