DarthNipples

Influence was an intriguing game mechanic and to this day is clever. More influence events could've been scripted but thats another issue. My problem with influence is that while its a great mechanic, it forces me to play the game 4-5 times to hear everyones full opinion. And at 40 hours to the first go around and 20 hours the second ... I just don't have another 40-60 more hours to do everyone else. This is compounded by the fact that what some of the characters say gives KEY plot elements that go a long way in explaining the story. IMO, it's plain old bad design when you need to influence a specific character to understand a game's story. So please, for KOTOR3 Give us LS and DS conversations like the original and dump the influence system for the sake of a fully coherent story the first go around.

Start the game on Difficult.... use a non-Jedi character or two. I did this my second time around: HK-47 and Mandalore... and it was a challenge at many a point.

I don't follow game development cycles like you do. I heard KOTOR2 was coming out about a week before it did and was surprised, but thought it was done. I particularly thought it'd be as good or better than the first because it was being made by Black Isle, THE premier development studio in my eyes.. But now I remember the first few months of Fallout2 and maybe I should've known better =P FYI, I played KOTOR1 and did not notice any bug, I'm sure they existed... but some of the bugs in this one were glaring & inexcusable.

It was the best of games, it was the worst of games.

That puzzle had me laughing.... Sith Lords guard their tombs with 8th grade arithmetic! OH NOES!

I'm not a fan of the system either. Finding mere Sith soldiers with +5 gauntlets of strength and dark jedi with jedi padawan robes is annoying. The main point of KoToR2 is dialogue, morality and storyline. They should've left the equipment hunting for Diablo2 gamers. But it was a built in feature of the Aurora engine so I guess they used it.

sounds about right.

Question: Why did Bane reform the Sith Order? Statement: It seems to me its better to have many hidden Dark Jedi working with the Dark Lord and his apprentice than two uber Sith who do not coordinate with the dark jedis ones below them. Affirmation: That is, of course, considering Dark Jedi exist independent of the Sith Lords, right?

Thats not going to happen. The real arrogance here is not including Live functionality to be able to download patches. Theres no reason to get rid of it... it was already part of the engine in KOTOR1 but no... they couldn't give the consumer the idea that they'd continue supporting their game. That'd just be too much to ask. I guess the legacy of thrift (to put it politely) of the continually indebted Black Isle/Interplay lives on with Obsidian. As it stands right now good RPGs are the only games I buy at full price. Everything else I wait until its at the 20-24.99 used bin range to buy. With developers putting out half-finished products I have to wonder if its worth the wait for a PC version or just 6 months for a discounted version like everything else. Too late now for KOTOR2 I guess.

I just got done fighting Vrook on difficult as I always play the KOTOR series and I sighed... that was a real battle. So was the entrance to the Sith Temple on Dxun. So was the 3 droids on top of Telos' polar mesa. The 5 Handmaidens were not a cakewalk either. That's it. Why couldn't we get more fights like those?

My (uncomfirmed) reasoning is the the developers intended for Darth Nihilus to crumble upon the nothingness of the Exile. Nihilus is a big badarse when he has an entire planet of force wielders in Katarr to feed off of... but when he encounters nothingness, when he has nothing to feed on... he is merely a three pump chump with a lightsaber. This theory to me makes sense, it's how I think the developers intended it and how I've justified it. But I wish they would've actually put some sort of plot device or dialogue piece to make this clear. My question is: If this is the case.. why make us fight him at all? It would've been a hella more dramatic for it to fade into a cutscene where he tries to Force Choke me only to find himself unable to do anything. The scene could've continued with him falling to his knees and acknowledging his end as he encounters the great power of nothingness that the Exile is. An option for an evil Jedi to absorb the power of Nihilus which would've been cool in the form of experience or force points. Or a light-side option for a single, deadly coup-de-grace to the kneeling Nihilus to end his menace altogether. However, the current act of a 3 strike fight is confusing and does the character of Nihilus no service.

In the eternal words of the Gubernator: STOP WHINING! ... girly men.

Aww crap... I didn't pick up the vocabulator on Peragus and now it went boom Im on my evil playthrough PARTICULARLY for the reason of repairing HK-47 and getting him to talk Anyone know where else you can get the Vocabulator? I've been everywhere but Korriban. I also killed the droid merchant in Telos 8/ ... which might be another problem.

Good point. Developers should take notice of this. When players spend 40 hours investing themselves in ideology, forming emotional attachments with their NPC buddies, etc.... what they want is closure. And if theres anything that deserves extra budget/resources it would be a kickass ending, full with character conversations and a nice FMV. The Developers obviously put the effort to amaze us with the Peragus Mining Station, setting the tone for a great game to come. Why not end it with the same wow factor? You know If I mess around with my girl for 40 hours, she's gunna get the big O before we're done. Thats just how it is.

despite my pissyness at the sloppy nature of some aspects of the game... no other game, not even KOTOR1 had me sit through so many 8 hours sessions and not let me go. I wish I could do it again If you're a principled person I would say wait and demand that they fix the bloody game, show them with your pocketbook that it's not ok to release unfinished work to reap the cash this christmas season. But if you're someone who just can't get enough RPG, and hungers for it... oh man is it worth it.