Plano Skywalker

in a sense, it would be good to hear about what happened to certain people depending on how you set the alignments of Revan and the Exile. ON THE OTHER HAND, it would also be neat if someone asked you what happened to soandso and you had a number of dialogue choices with which to answer the question.

just curious if anyone knows....are they looking to have pack animals?

I generally prefer LS but I do wish that there were different ways to play DS and not just the sociopathic antihero. factions and more chaotic options are the key!

excellent points there Weiser.

I agree...yes, there should be a mentor character (who becomes the squad leader in a number of multithreaded situations) and that Bastila, at this point, would be an ideal candidate. Either that or a Vrook or Zhar type....just not an old crone with an attitude (I do not, however, want my mentor hovering over me on my own ship...the mentor should rarely be on my ship....the mentor should have their own Jedi Starfighter and also catch rides on capital ships.)

for me, it is all about immersion and story....I remember playing the Third Age game and getting a Rider of Rohan as a party member....his cutscreens have him on horse but if you ever use him in combat, well, he fights on foot (he still has his horseman's lance!). I, personally, would have preferred that he be on horse, even a "generic" horse that cannot die, has no attacks, has no personality, and has no shadows. IMO, that would have been better than the disconnect.

ah, well easier for Obsidian to one-up. :D

riding along the countryside on a mount = yes fighting brigands while they are on foot and you are mounted = yes

rideable mounts, pack animals, and even carriages that you can pay to ride all make for some serious immersion and you really don't have a medieval world (or quasi-medieval world) without such things. hopefully, the reason they dropped it at this time is that they want to "do it right" and have, not only rideable mounts, but mounted combat as well. Oblivion is supposed to have mounted combat. My hunch is that they may be looking to introduce that in an expansion pack (and maybe even try to one-up Oblivion in that regard).

I agree, actually. The Republic CANNOT fall between the time of Darth Bane and Darth Sidious....it CAN fall before Bane and I actually think it would make for an interesting story if it did.

as far as computer gaming goes, it was the KOTORs that got me in. basically, I avoided CRPGs in general for the longest time. not because I didn't think I would like them, but because I knew I'd spend too much time on them. so, while many folks look to Balder's Gate or PST as the Holy Grail of the CRPG, for me it is the KOTORs (I also don't mind admitting that I liked Morrowind quite a bit). prior to the KOTORs, the only computer games I spent any real time on were: Team Fortress and Age of Empires II. my how things have changed!

I just think the biggest problem is continuity....by using pregens (each within a small window of time), you are setting up a very crowded field of uber Force users. It's best to find a way for the PC to leave as close to zero footprint as possible on SW continuity. The PC might have actually saved the day, but if he had someone else with him who was of higher rank, that person would get the official credit. That is how history is often written anyway. (BTW: I have no problem with giving Revan and/or the Exile full VO....but, guys, "battle cries" are just not the same thing....not at all)

@Dacen I hear you but I think this just illustrates why you can't have PCs in SW games with a predefined first name....Kyle Katan, Jaden Korr, Revan, etc are all a part of SW continuity and their replayability goes way down because of it. Hence, I think having a "coprotagonist" (a scripted character like Bastila, for instance) would allow for the PC to be less defined in terms of continuity and could allow for more freedom. It is not realistic for Kyle Katarn to be in 5 games (I'm not saying he was, BTW) without becoming a Force god....it IS realistic for Padawan Stargazer to be in 5 games without becoming a Force god partly because the player can nominate different first names as the story progresses, if he really wants to. The continuity story would read "Jedi Knight Bastila Shan and her Padawan Stargazer set off to..." The bottom line is that the PC should leave "zero footprint" (or close to it) on official SW continuity. Having a "coprotagonist" and a predefined surname instead of first name, would accomplish that IMO.

I have no doubt that Civ 4 is a better strategy game. But Empire At War is what I will get first, largely because I'm on a big SW kick right now.

Revan and the Exile have to be in K3 but cannot be the PC. I agree that, even though continuity Revan is LS male, it would be best to allow the player to determine certain things about the character, especially gender. I don't think they have to leave both of them user-defined, though. I think they can get away with one hard-coded. And I think a hard-coded Exile makes a lot of sense, especially with regard to alignment (the DS ending of K2 leaves too much unresolved for the Exile for be a hero in K3, IMO). Going forward, they need to have co-protagonists in these games so that continuity can be written without referring to the video game PC.

I think these games would do better to give the PC a pregenerated surname rather than first name. Revan is a first name (I'm pretty sure). The Exile is a placeholder. They can't just keep coming up with unisex first names like Revan and Jaden. And, heaven knows, they can't keep using placeholders like "the Exile". What they can do, is use predetermined surnames. That way, continuity snippets can refer to "Padawan Stargazer", etc. That actually allows for more customization of the name and keeps it unisex (without having to use weak, unisex names). So....please devs, don't give me a first name or a placeholder....give me a SURNAME!!! thanks

my guess is that it will be a heretofore unknown but one who has written some really good NWNs modules (not necessarily published either).

@Karimi right on....some sort of "trader" aspect to this would be nice....yeah, I'll buy 5 tons of wheat on this planet and sell it for a profit on the other planet. also, the necessity of refueling should be there (some worlds have better prices on fuel) and for the DSer or the guy who is just winging it, making a few spice runs here and there...would be nice to be able to do that. and, the Sith aren't the only ones interested in that vessel....we should get attacked by pirates more often...especially when we have cargo in hold.

I wouldn't be surprised if they included a "Jedi arena" kind of multiplayer but the main campaign has to be single-player because of all the dialogue and non-combat choices. But then, they'd be competing with Battlefront II and Jedi Academy so your guess is as good as mine as to whether they would spend the time on it. Also, having a multiplayer component almost assures that all combat in the game would be real time.

actually, I like that idea. K1 has already established that Jedi use small starfighters at this point in galactic history, so I don't see a continuity problem. I like the idea of the PC having to go off and speak to his mentor (and it doesn't have to be Yoda) alone and to take his single-passenger starfighter....meanwhile, the PC's padawan becomes Acting Captain of the Ebon Hawk....that would be a good way to do a multithreaded sequence.

there are a number of ways they can salvage KOTOR-style combat as we know it (it is basically "Active Turn Based" or "Quick Turn Based"). they cannot, however, leave it just the way it is. your squad members are almost worthless in the present situation IMO. here is how they can salvage it: * better AI (yeah, that's a no-brainer) * SQUAD COMMANDS that temporarily override the individual AI. * better ranged weapons on the high end (while still nerfing them on the low end). * more squad-based tactics (i.e. flashbang grenades while your squad members are all wearing protective eyegear). * more and better area-effect weapons and devices (sentry guns that the Tech Specialist can set up, grenades that have a continuous effect, etc). * purchasable combat droids (including melee-oriented ones). * more and better melee feats including defensive feats. * the ability to advance in a specific fighting form. * dual-classing and prestige classes for non-adepts.

right...not much potential there as a PC but I can definitely see her playing a prominent role in future KOTORs (that are, presumably, set after the present story arch). an example might be Kyle Katarn who was the PC in Jedi Knight I and II but played a prominent scripted role in Jedi Knight III. Bastila would be good for such a role.

it really wouldn't bother me either way. I just want a "real" lightsaber and that seems to fit RT better....but it could still work TB. KOTOR combat was, on most maps anyway, preceeded by conversation of some kind....in other words, combat was secondary to what was going on....they definitely need to keep that even if they go real time. they CANNOT retreat on dialogue, story, NPC interaction and all the other things that drew us to KOTOR in the first place.....the main problem with going real time is that they might just get lazy and turn this into another Quake clone (which is really what the Jedi Knight games are). as long as they keep combat in its proper place, I personally would not mind it being real time: Jade Empire, Mass Effect (in development), etc do, I think, show a trend in moving RPGs to RT.

with regard to blood, etc: the Jedi Knight games generally do not have blood but there is a reason for that....energy weapons, such as lightsaber, and even the basic blaster, have a self-cauterizing effect and so the wound is simply not bleeding. the Jedi Knight games do utilize severe wounds, however...just not blood.

I think so. There is alot in the Jedi Knight games that should make their way into KOTOR. I like the idea of real-time combat in KOTOR. As long as they don't have the "escape from the crushing sardine can" puzzles every 10 mintues (and that is what makes those games twitchy), then I think real-time is fine. I am playing Jedi Outcast right now. As you may know, there is a "disruptor rifle" with a scope...that is basically a sniper rifle. the longer you hold down the trigger, the more charge it gets....well, a fully-charged disruptor will vaporize any organic target...and lightsabers cannot deflect a disruptor blast. I want that sort of thing in KOTOR but only for Soldier-classed characters and only if they take the requisite specialization. sniper rifles (REAL sniper rifles) and heavy weapons (REAL heavy weapons) for certain party members would be nice.