drkl0rd2000

I see a whole slew of posts regarding, more customization, more character facial features, more gear. My only suggestions are this for KOTOR 3 ---------------------------- 1. Continue the story started in KOTOR 1 and KOTOR 2 2. Have a few main characters from each game return for the 3rd installment. As well as introduce a few new characters who are living in the outer rim worlds. 3. Continue the Exiles story- reason is the Exile in KOTOR 2 had a wider aray from customization than Revan in KOTOR 1, but Revan could become a party member later if your wish was to add him/her to the equation 4. Allow the player based on a series of questions when starting a new game to automatically pick the alignment of the character (dark or light) with some starting force powers. 5. Allow the player based on a series of questions when searching out Revan in the outer rim to pick Revans alignment 6. Slightly modify your choice of available party members based on the alignment of your characters. (or if unable to because of programming constraints reset the party members to neutral alignment except for a few who would never follow a dark jedi like Carth) 7. New worlds, should take place in the outer rim where Revan and now the Exile seem to be heading. (remember these billions of worlds so making a few interesting ones should be easy) 8. Never, never compromise the story or game play elements for customization. Customization while nice does not make for a gripping game. (if people want 1000 different face options tell them to play the sims. KOTOR should be about the story and NEVER about giving players 5000 different clothing options), (Players will forget about a lack of pretty clothing options if the story is awsome but players will never forget how the story sucked even if you have 5000 different clothing combos in a game) Beyond those, a wish list of a few things that might be kinda cool BUT not necessary. Those listed above I feel are the most important items I'd like to see addressed in KOTOR 3. Now for a wish list -------------------- Better character models- the walking animation in KOTOR 2 make the characters look like they had some heavy starch in their shorts. A different enemy- The sith is getting old, how about seeing if you can tap into a different enemy, perhaps the Vong from the "new Jedi Order" we know that they did send a small recon force (as established in the NJO books) quite some time eariler before they invade in the "NJO time era". This was even possibly hinted at in some dialogue that mandilore had spoke in KOTOR 2 about "a enemy the mandilorians has engaged" and while he didn't give a name to the enemy logic suggests this could have been a Vong advance force that was hinted at the "NJO books". This would also give a large reason why Revan feels there is a huge pending threat coming and why he felt the need to do things the way he did it. Better lightsaber combat animations- would be nice to see some of the twirling, juking and moves that have creeped into the new movies and was seen somewhat in Jedi Knight 2.(can sill use the core RPG rules and make it pretty at the same time) Expand the story- if this is going to perhaps be the last make it tense, if we see the continuation of KOTOR 1 and 2 in this game and it brings to bare the unseen threat Revan was talking about then make it somewhat real. Want a crossroads where the main character can shift alignments to the darkside in one fell swoop, kill a supporting NPC or partymember who is important to your character(pain, suffering, the dark side are these- as was quoted), nothing makes a good story or driving force like drama. Hopefully when looking over this you can find one thing of interest if so then glad I could put my 2 cents worth into the jar.

1. I will bet that most of the players at least tried the romance to some level, however it is not necessary to predispose the game to one way or the other. If you want a completely different game with no reference to the previous then simply do not mention any events. However if you want to reference the previous game you could mention a few events which would help first time players to the second game. The romance- this could be just briefly mentioned so that first time players know there could be something develop between characters(its not necessary to guide them through the process but an idle mention might peek their interest in the love story aspect of the game and lets face it unless a person is from under a rock everyone knows Star Wars is space Opera at its finest). You could mention the StarForge while not making specifics. The key here is NOT to make a KOTOR clone where you follow the same format; start out as a joe nobody and end up the savior or the evil dude of the known universe, while its a good format it could not be the best format. One of the things that made Starwars so good in the first place was the continuing stories(what happens in one impacts the other). The only downfall here is that in doing a sequel you would have to start with one extreme or the other and decide as a Dev which ending you wanted to base the sequel off of. Under odd numbering system- HEY its my numbering system so its got to be odd :D 1: I referenced FF because when you look at it as a whole the story is complete it has a rewarding start, middle and ending. That is a rare thing in games anymore most spend to much time on the middle and skimp on the ending, if you want a game with no real story play quake but when most play a RPG they want a story with either an ending or a (to be continued) and not something that looks like it was tossed together in a few minutes. So a longer ending with more feeling of completion is always a must unless it is building towards a sequel. 2. For romance, if the Dev wants it in there then there should be at least an effort to make it rewarding to follow through to its end. The romance in BG2 and KOTOR was really not very rewarding it was more like an extended sidequest whos ending didn't really leave you feeling anything much. In a game like KOTOR it is interesting that you can screwup the relationship however doing one or the other option really does not impact gameplay, it would be nice if a romance that was put into the game could impact the game play somewhat. As an example certain events in KOTOR could be made easier or harder depending on if you tanked the relationship. My point here is a Romance in StarWars is always a event that impacts the world around them, to make this point just watch the films, so any relationship in a game should include some pitfalls and some advantages and not be a taxed up sidequest that has no benefits. You would not have to follow any relationship in the game but it could be there if you decided to undertake it and the benefits and pitfalls could either make you undertake it or avoid it and that is the essence of Roleplaying which is making a choice and living with the outcome. As an example ONLY you enter a romance and your love is killed in a scripted sequence it could give you reason to roleplay your character to the tune of falling to the darkside or staying true to the light. Where as if you don't initiate a romance and the character is killed then there is no negative outcome. SAme example..your love has fallen to the darkside it could be easier to pull her back if you have a romance, in contrast with no romance it would be a little more difficult. But see the point is you can have a romance that impacts the outcome of the game while not deadlocking that game. 3. Exactly my point, importing the characters will present design issues with game balance and add to the dev time if they have to think about how to balance it to contend with skills that players could bring over from the first game. This also brings up the sequel arguement as well, in a non-sequel sequel you would not have to concern yourself with this issue since the same characters would not come into play, however one of the things that made jedi Knight2 sweet was you got to continue with Kyle Katarn a memorable character that made his mark on starwars so much that he was included in the New Jedi Order Novels. This character impact is something that should not be overlooked with considering a sequel with the same characters or leaving them fade into the mist. 5. I don't know about other players but I'd rather have a little less customization and a little more story. If your looking for the ultimate customization then StarWars Galaxies or everquest might be a game better suited to your tastes however the choice to have your character in 50 different looking armor choices really does nothing for me if the story sucks. This is an age old arguement everyone wants their character to look different and the answer to this is as simple as "The Sims" and some of the BG2 editors if customization is a high demand in a game title such as KOTOR then perhaps when building sequel the Dev team could consider allowing custom content, this would end the problem of people wanting more customization and at the same time it would free up the Dev team to work on other aspects of the game such as battles,stories,romance,art and so forth you are only partly right on why the Devs shy away from PC a lot of times. While it is big time true that profits is always the driving force for the gaming market and software pirates eat into the profits of PC games it also has to be noted that piracy is also quickly becoming a problem in the consoles as well, with modifications of your console you can play pirated games so not even the consoles are safe any longer. A factor that you forgot to mention is the easy of Dev on a console system, a console system is a snapshop of technology that never changes. The specs of an Xbox is the same as it will be a month or even a year from now so this allows the Dev team to make a game based on one set of specs instead of having to consider lower quality machines. As an example when you have an Xbox you are assured of being able to play KOTOR however the same is not true of the PC since with the computer you now have to take into consideration peoples current hardware. This factor weighs on the Dev mind since maximizing profits means maximizing sales and if 1000s of PC users can not play the game because of hardware requirements then thats 1000s of lost sales, however many PC users will upgrade to play a great game and KOTOR is a great game so that also can not be overlooked.

1. I would like to see KOTOR 2 take place later in time the time stream but not to the extent that the characters would have aged to much. A 2 year gap is a nice figure as it allows things to happen and develop between the original game and the sequel. There should be only minor references to the original game mostly concerning the romance between you and Bastila (you and carth if your female) 2. We all know that in the Star War timeline there is a constant imbalance in GOOD and EVIL , therefore it should not be hard to find another story where an epic adventure for power in good or evil must take place. The original story of Reven and Malak is noted in the Star Wars timeline as should the sequal be from this timeline. - I felt this was a good example from an above post and just restated it here, this goes hand in hand with number 1 being that there is always something going on in the life of Star Wars. Somethings I would like to see changed/added into the game - 1. Better Endings - Take a look at the Final Fantasy games, it is the complete feeling we get after playing the game that always keeps us coming back. A good story also keeps us wanting more but its the ending that is ultimately the huge reward and it is the end that players strive to get to. The actual story in KOTOR was epic but the endings was somewhat weak. A good story is always better when it has an ending that makes you feel the journey is worth every moment. 2. Love Story - I hate to restate but look at Final Fantasy 7,8,10,X-2. The key is not so much in what is said but what is also felt. The conversations during KOTOR was nicely done but it had the feeling of being rushed a little and left many feel this was a romance that was incomplete. Take FF X-2 for example even though it was campy at times you never forgot about Yunas quest to find her love and that was something that motivated you to the very end. When the end did come you felt it in your core, this is what a game with romance should strive for, a romance should never be on the back burner if a romance is in a story then it should impact the lovers and their actions. An example for a romance style issue would be in Jedi Knight 2, when Kyle believes Jan was killed by Desian and was very close to going over to the darkness because of it and later how he reacted when he had found her(granted it was not a romance thing but you felt his loss in the way the story handled it). With a true RPG it could go tons farther it could be the driving force behind your actions causing you to walk the light or the darkness causing you to feel pain,joy and sorrow. 3. Characters and balance and importing characters - Its not really as important a feature as some would think, imports mean you have to balance the game on what you feel players have accomplished in the previous game. Though if the game is a sequel then all jedi characters should start with basic force powers since it would not make sense for a jedi to suddenly forget his/her training. 5. customization- I feel that the current level of customization in KOTOR was good enough. The basis of a RPG is the story and should not be wrapped around a (make your character pretty) simulation. Character development- I would like to see some of the characters return if the game is based on a sequel. Bastila, Carth (these 2 would also be the centerpoint in any wellneeded romance), Mission, Big Z. And perhaps add a new character to the fray but I would keep the party members down to perhaps 5 or 6 max to allow for more character development. Voice talent- Keep the same voice Talent if its a sequel, it always gets under the skins of many when you have speech in a game and a sequel comes out and the voices are totally different. Almost like having Avery Brooks play Sisko in season 1 through 5 of DeepSpace 9 and then hiring Ice T to finish out the run...it would just ruin the feeling of the experence. Availability- PC availability is a must, to many games nowdays neglect the PC when in fact its because of the PC that you can push the design so much farther.