Falconhurst

I have a supported graphics card listed on the label (Radeon ATI 9600XT) but the movies would never come up and always crash the game. Everything else seems to work fine. My computer is nearly brand new and is loaded, lots of memory etc. The movies worked fine for KOTOR1. The only way I could play the game at all was to disable movies.

While in the enclave sublevel on Dantooine, Kreia was in my party and we went to the room with Jorran. I had Kreia "open the door," she told Joran that the path was clear. He came out and was eaten by the monsters. The DSP accrued not to me, but to Kreia -- which I think is advantageous as she uses mainly DS offensive force powers in my light-side team. And I still got the influence with Kreia.

Upon leaving Telos, I got handmaiden onboard the ship and fought with her and got the wisdom bonus to AC. Now everytime I speak with her she says "I do not think you are ready for further instruction." I am currently halfway through with the Dantooine mission (my first stop). I am worried because I just read in Dan Simpson's faq (gamefaqs.com) that there is a bug if you fight Handmaiden before landing on your first planet, that the fights cannot be won: " Like Visas, you only really want to start dealing with her once you hit a planet. Why? There's a bug, where if you spar with her in certain places, such as where you start, then you can't win at sparring and it will go on forever and ever. And ever. Until you get frustrated and break the rules. So, head to your first planet, then talk to her in the Cargo Hold. If you are very Light/Dark she'll react to that." I seemed to win, so I don't think I have experienced this bug, even though I fought with her immediately. But I can't fight with her any more, even though I've been in battles. Is it possible to fight more later? Thanks.

Just received the PC version today. What are your favorite builds, including feats & skills? Looking back on the board archives, I don't see much discussion about what feats or skills players prefer for their PCs. Thanks!

What is your favorite lightsaber style? Most look fairly insignificant to me. I may try ferocity or perseverance, but the impact of the styles seems fairly trivial. And having a +1 extra attack, while it may be one of the better bonuses, hardly seems like a big plus in a game where you already have double-bladed lightsabers and force speed, but there is no "cleave" feat. The one that provides a defense bonus against multiple opponents may also be useful.

I preordered my copy from EBGames and received a notice last night (2/:) that the program had been shipped to me.

>"Imagined," not built, as if they wanted to create characters without the absurd, >meaningless restrictions of weighted point-buy, which I can certainly understand. So they create characters that are absurd and meaningless in their design because they adhere to no clear design principles at all, heightening any imbalance that the whole point of the weighted stat system is to prevent. Some NPCs are "uber," others get the shaft. >2) I said not quite so far-out, not un-far-out. I don't think anyone quoted you as "un-far-out." I cited your quote as: >so Hanharr's not quite so far-out. which seems to quote you accurately. Anyway, unweighted points, racial modifiers, and other explanations make little mileage towards explaining gross weighted and unweighted discrepancies in NPC attributes.

The ideal would be a mostly random loot generator, but with fixed drops for important items. It sux that some people don't find key or powerful items at all, like the implant that gives +2 to all stats, while others do. Kind of imbalancing. That is, it would be, if the game weren't already such a cakewalk from start to finish anyway.

>It looks like the characters were imagined using unweighted point-buy No, they use weighted point buy (disciple, handmaiden, etc); otherwise the list of deficient characters would be a lot longer. Any way you look at it, some like Mira are grossly deficient while others are "uber." >Wookiees gain the racial adjustment of +4 strength, -2 dex/wis/cha, so >Hanharr's not quite so far-out. It still is...with the adjustments you noted, Hanharr's base (pre-wookie adjustments, pre-level 4) would be: STR 16 DEX 15 CON 19 INT 10 WIS 14 CHA 10 Base points: 47 (+17 over norm) Somehow that didn't seem to help much. >Well your npc's are not supposed to be balanced. The reason you have a group >of companions is to have someone help you against the baddies yes, but also to >help make up for your early deficuncy in certain areas of your char >development. ie: a guardian may not be very good at security so Atton helps >balance this. Also it is a little pointless to have a group of people that are all >good at the same thing. That would be like the NAVY seals having all demolitions >experts. You are confusing the concepts of "balance" (characters are designed in harmony with specific rules) and variety or diversity. Characters can be "balanced" or fair and still have diverse skills and abilities that complement the PC in very different ways. A tech, a scout, a soldier, a sentinel, an expert droid, and a scoundrel can still be fair and "balanced" in the sense of playing by the rules and getting the appropriate stat point allocation, without having those points allocated to identical attributes or skills. Iam not complaining about a lack of diversity among NPCs, but about the gross imbalances.

>Also, most of those NPC's (with the exceptiono of Hanharr, Mandalore and the >Droids) can be used as Jedi - that tends to add a whole new spin on things. But not on the fact that they are imbalanced. My point with Mira is that as a Jedi, she NEEDS the extra points as all attributes are important for force users -- as opposed to wookies who can get by with good STR, CON, and maybe a little DEX only. I don't know which is worse...the fact that some Jedis are so grossly imbalanced either above or below the standard (Kreia has 42 attribute pts, Visas has 35, Mira has 25) or the fact that the game is so dang easy that it doesn't matter which henchies pick, it doesn't matter if you solo, it doesn't matter how poorly you design your own character, it may not even matter if you never bother to pick up a lightsaber and play through the whole game with blasters or vibroswords...

In doing some research in preparation for getting the PC version of the game, I notice that some henchies are overpowered while others are underpowered. The stats I am looking at come from Dan Simpson's FAQ ( http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox/file/s..._kotor_ii_a.txt ), and it's possible there could be inaccuracies. A normal character should have 30 attribute points, +1 extra attribute increase for every 4 levels. Yet only 3 of the NPCs seem to be balanced, with the others having either less or more attribute points. If my math is bad or the stats are wrong, I am open to corrections. WINNERS: Hanharr Level 4 STR 20 DEX 13 CON 20 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 8 Points: 55 Base + 1 attribute increase at level 4 (STR or DEX) Balance: +25 (!!) Kreia lvl3 STR 10 DEX 16 CON 16 INT 14 WIS 16 CHA 12 Points: 42 Balance: +12 Go-To (Level 6) STR 10 DEX 19 CON 16 INT 16 WIS 10 CHA 10 Points: 42 base + 1 attribute increase (DEX) Balance: +12 Visas (lvl6) STR 12 DEX 18 CON 12 INT 10 WIS 12 CHA 15 Points: 35 base + 1 stat increase (DEX) Balance: +5 HK-47 (level 6) STR 16 DEX 16 CON 10 INT 14 WIS 12 CHA 10 Points: 32 base + 1 stat increase (STR or DEX) Balance: +2 EVEN (30 points): Handmaiden (lvl 6) STR 14 DEX 16 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 14 Points: 30 +1 stat increase (DEX) Disciple (lvl 6) STR 14 DEX 16 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 14 POINTS: 30 base + 1 stat increase (DEX) Mandalore (level 5) STR 15 DEX 12 CON 15 INT 12 WIS 12 CHA 12 Points: 30 base +1 stat increase (STR or CON) T3 (level 3) STR 10 DEX 15 CON 14 INT 16 WIS 10 CHA 10 Points: 30 base LOSERS: Atton lvl3 STR 12 DEX 16 CON 14 INT 10 WIS 10 CHA 12 Points: 28 base Balance: -2 Bao-Dur (Level 6) STR 14 DEX 10 CON 14 INT 15 WIS 14 CHA 10 Points: 28 base + 1 stat increase (INT) Balance: -2 Bao-Dur would have 30 points if he were level 1-3, but when you take into consideration that he is level 6, he should have gotten the int 14->15 for free with with level-ups as he is beyond level 4. So this is a substandard build. Mira (lvl 6) STR 10 DEX 16 CON 12 INT 14 WIS 11 CHA 10 Points: 25 base + 1 stat increase (DEX). Balance: -5 points, it would be hard to get worse than this. Now maybe some of this balances out (who cares about CHA and, to a lesser extent, WIS in non-force users?) but I am still hard-pressed to figure out when I would ever want to use a henchie as sucky as Mira when there are others that are so much better? It's a little disappointing that some henchmen builds are substandard while others are uber, lowering the player's incentive to use a variety of characters. Okay, I can understand a few extra points for Hanharr as a wookie who can't use armor and certain other items. Even droids like GoTo 'cuz droids stink. But the others? I would maintain that some of the fighter-types with INT, WIS, and CHA over 10 are also poorly designed (what on earth does Mandalore need 12 in all of these for when none of his combat attributes are over 15 -- as a level 5 soldier?) It also almost makes me want to go dark side because Hanharr is so much better than Mira at baseline, in addition to offering your main character 2 free permanent stat increases. Does anyone really take Mira along and use her? As a potential Jedi, she actually NEEDS her full stat allocation, but is the most disadvantaged of any character in the game (-5 stat points). The next question is whether this was done on purpose, or whether it is just another manifestation of a rushed product that was not completely thought through. Falconhurst

It sounds like a title that needs multiple patches even before it is shipped. I for one will be waiting anxiously for modders to create difficulty-increasing mods or patches so that the whole game isn't a cakewalk from start to finish. Everyone is saying that there is no challenge left in the game after you get your lightsaber, and using a guardian or sentinel is overkill if you have any NPCs with you.

>computer, demolitions, persuade, repair...(max out) Besides persuade, which of these can ONLY the Exile use? I've read that you need repair as only the Exile's skills is used for making/breaking down things, but that you can use the demolitions, computer, treat injury skills of others in your party just as well as you main character...correct? Several of the NPCs are or can be jedi sentinel, so I would like to rely on them for some of the minor skills. I am planning on a sentinel/weapon master with a 10 INT, so I'll have points for repair & persuade & 1 other, but when I transition to the prestige class, I will only get 1 skill point per level. As a side question, can weapon masters get lightsaber specialization, or is this restricted to jedi guardians only?

One FAQ I read says that implants are CON-dependent as opposed to skill-dependent (I have the PC version of K2 preordered). Yet most of the builds I've seen on the boards are low-CON, 10-12. Without getting in to spoilers or specific items, can individuals comment: are there useful implants that require a CON of 18 and would justify me starting my CON at 14 and working up to 18 as the game progresses? Thanks.

I did a forum search but couldn't seem to find much useful on this topic. I apologize if this has been discussed before and replies are buried deep in the archives. Skills were widely acknowledged as being pretty much unnecessary for the main character in KOTOR 1. That isn't to say that there weren't skills that presented opportunities, but one could get by without skills quite easily. The skills had dubious value in fact: computer skill could save money on computer spikes, but it wasn't like I was ever much short on cash in KOTOR. Droid repair was fairly worthless as the better characters were all Jedi rather than droids, and repairing security droids to fight for you was unnecessary as well as possibly taking away experience from fighting enemies that the character otherwise could have had. Demolitions was basically a money skill also -- salvaging mines could earn you a few credits, but again this was largely unnecessary, and even running through mine fields rarely caused singificant injury. A few points in Persuade, maybe a few points of aware, and you were set to go. KOTOR II has a different setup, where all classes have the same BAB, making the classes that offer more skill points more attractive as this does not come at the cost of worse attacks. The question however is whether this is useful or necessary. I understand that with a high INT and repair skill, you can dissassemble items for parts, but is this something that is really essential, or can it be handled as well by letting one of the NPCs do it and putting your jedi's attribute points into areas that improve combat or force abilities? Which skills do you consider essential, which are good, and which are of little value? Also how high do you like your characters INT to be? I always lowballed INT in KOTORI (, and would appreciate your input on whether the skill setup in K2 is sufficiently improved to merit the investment of attribute points to benefit skills. Would appreciate your input.