Plano Skywalker

Dark Horse also had a comic series called "The Golden Age of the Sith". That comic talks about the Sith as an actual race...they are red-skinned, insectiod, somewhat demonic-looking. It is believed that, by the KOTOR time, there are probably not many full-blooded Sith running around but, perhaps many with Sith blood and who still look alot like the ancient sith. The "half-breeds" would actually be stronger in the Force than pure Sith since they are also the offspring of Fallen Jedi. Basically, the real Sith is anyone who learned of the Force through the Sith tradition...in other words, Palpatine would be a "true Sith" because he was not a fallen Jedi...his Force instruction came from the unbroken Sith tradition. Sith is a dark side cult as is the Krath....I personally would not mind hearing from the Krath a bit more in future games...as a joinable faction too.

one of the problems with this whole franchise is that, if you play some uber Jedi then you just changed SW continuity...but your name was? your gender was? etc. I think it would be best if the PRIMARY PROTAGONIST is a scripted NPC who is hardly ever with you. That way, when the continuity story gets written, it doesn't have to include the video game PC....it also frees up the PC to be a non-Force-user. now, what if you ARE a Force-user? then, you are so-and-so's sidekick. hey, that's the way it works, especially in an era when there are tons of Jedi...you a peon, baby. and by not having the focus on the super dupper Jedi pc, then they don't have to keep and crap like that. this era is dominated by Jedi as a law enforcement agency like the FBI...think of all the intrigue if this era was done right...you could have factions/splinter groups, the whole bit....but they have to throw everything out of kilter for the godlike pc. ideally, the endgame would be different for each class, but that is hoping for alot...that is why I said I would not mind having a "forced Jedi conversion" late in the game and as a dual-class thing.

one theory about the term is this: Revan knew that the Sith Empire (i.e. the decendants of Ludo Kresh and his followers) was preparing for war in the Unknown Regions. He also new of the Star Forge and how it had the ability to mass-produce ships. He decided to "fall" to the dark side in order to wake up the Republic against the true (unseen) threat. He used the Star Forge against the Republic in order to galvinize the Republic. Revan's New Sith amounted to a "scorched earth" policy of attacking the Republic in order to save it. That is what Malak could not understand...why Revan did not move more aggressively against the Republic....Revan was amassing a fleet that would ultimately assist the Republic. But apparently this scorched earth policy was also part of the True Sith's plan and a mindless Revan ended up destroying the only thing that could save the Republic...the Star Forge...that have basically allowed the enemy to waltz on in and take over. "True Sith" is just the Sith Empire (that, while largely defeated in the comics, was not totally wiped out). New Sith Order was just a failed scorched earth scheme that Revan had cooked up to save the Republic.

indeed, it is all about "role playing"...there will always be a Jolee or Bastila or some such person to handle the "Force mumbo jumbo" if the PC does not want to do it. making the storyline about the Force has got to be Deus Ex Machina...a shortcut from hell. don't get me wrong, I want to have the *option* of playing a Jedi but I also want to be able to play as: * Soldier * Scout * Scoundrel * Engineer (Bao Dur had this designation, I believe) with prestige class for each: Soldier can go Heavy Weapons Specialist, Scout can go Bounty Hunter, Engineer can go Demolitions Expert, etc. Dual classing for those who don't care about going Prestige, etc. now, I would not mind having the game drop Easter Eggs about me being a Force Sensitive and, towards the latter part of the game (say the last 10 hours of a 40 hour game), I am forced to dual-class as a Jedi....as long as I get to keep whatever else I had, that would be fine.

haven't played Torment yet but I like the idea of a "strategic victory" in lieu of the tactical final confrontation (basically 2 ways to win)....things like that would be sweet....sooo Obsidian....so not everybody else.

indeed....what would be fun is to be able to play non-Human Jedi and even non-Force-wielders as the primary PC. now, if K3 wraps up as much stuff from the previous games as I would like then I don't need to see these things in K3....a human (Jedi) PC might help wrap everything up better in this story arch. But as soon as we get a new story, we need the ability to play non-human PCs, non-Force-wielding PCs and dual-classing for non-adepts. Also, they should make linguistic skills matter....if you want to understand a Twilek who does not speak Basic, you should have to burn a linguistic slot for it.

if you think of the True Sith as the decendants of the followers of Ludo Kresh, then it works just fine. The ultimate fate of his followers has never been defined.

Bastila, That is not a "gaming mag" on par with Gamespy or IGN. I followed the hyperlink and found this article: According to a few reports, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic III is supposedly in development over at Obsidian Entertainment. The reports (and logic) indicate that the game will be on a next-next generation console (never thought I'd hear myself saying that) and such a system is likely the Xbox 2. While it does sound true keep in mind that no official announcement has been made and as such, KOTR 3 remains little more than a hope. If we hear any new rumors on this popular Star Wars title we'll let you know. -Shiva Stella [postED: 01/27/05] this "news" was posted Jan 2005.

as far as leaks go, the most definitive thing we have at the moment, IMO, is what John Jackson Miller said the other day in an interview "there will be another Knights of the Old Republic video game for sure". And he goes on to link that with the new comic suggesting that the game will "provide momentum" for the comic. that is pretty convincing to me that it is at least being *planned*. Now, for those who want ot think it is already in production, the fact is that there is no hard evidence to suggest that at this point. we know it is planned....we know nothing else.

Knights of the New Republic would not be a sequel and it seems to fit the rather convoluted explaination that the CEO gave about the project. Now, I'm sure most of us would prefer KOTOR but I think New Republic would relieve some of the pain.

Knights of the New Republic

but then we can only begin to imagine the kind of push/pull politics between Obsidian and LA....by having a D20-based engine and plan set to go, that kind of ups the ante a little for LA because LA knows they could always do something else as they said they would...it forces LA to "fish or cut bait" kind of thing. If that is what this is about, then I am not upset at all.

maybe is it all about what the definition of is is. or what a sequel is. I don't know that I would consider the Two Towers and the Return of the King as sequels...they are, rather, just direct continuations of the same story. Yes, I know, it is all semantics but perhaps that is what they meant when they said "it is not a sequel".....a brand new story arch within the same franchise would be a sequel...a continuation of the exact same story is not necessarily a sequel, properly defined.

it's the only time of the year that you can buy Egg Nog in the stores.

is this open to non-computer games? well, I guess it is now. ** Castle Risk ** great game....think of it as a cross between Risk and Diplomacy. when it comes to light wargames that complete in about 3 hours or less, there is nothing better than Castle Risk. I believe it is out of production but, of course, can still be obtained on eBay.

I wouldn't be surprised if LA licensed the NWN2 engine and developed K3 in-house.

there is nothing wrong with using traditional storytelling devices...just don't use the same one every time. The "betrayal" and "secret revelation" hooks are used quite often. If you are going to use those, plan the actual implementation very carefully and not be too predictable. Example? What if Mission betrayed you instead of Bastila? I certainly wouldn't have seen that coming. and not every story needs a nuclear twist. I don't remember Hamlet or Antigone having one but they were both solid stories...obviously, a more straight-up story will need things to help it along such as really funny NPCs, alternate paths, party management, etc and that means more work. The M Night twist helps avoid those things and that it why it is used in games so much, IMO.

another bit of evidence that something wasn't quite right is that there was really no media marketing blitz to speak of as there was with the first title and with most LA titles.

indeed, and that shows just what kind of devs Obsidian people are. even with a significant faction within LA trying to sabotage their debut title, they pulled off a truely great game.

true, but I think it is more of "the ideal" more than hard and fast rules...otherwise, we have a continuity mistake. love and marriage among Jedi is OK during this time period, although it is frowned upon and could hold back your advancement in the Order. that is how I see it.

I have to admit, it all seems odd. I think K2 became something of a political football in light of the many layoffs that happened to some of their in-house devs (K3 is thought to be one of the projects that the laid off people had been working on). Perhaps an analogy would be: you are a programmer for a large company and you notice that many of the tasks that your programs perform are now being done by an Indian software firm. You and your mates may be so ticked that you go around badmouthing the new software and, perhaps, even use your clout to sabotage as much of the project as you can. I don't think the brass at LA wanted to sabotage K2, I think it was more the rank-and-file.

did you enjoy K2? I sure did. K1 had much more polish but K2 was a better game, IMO.

umm, yeah, I was not referring to that evidence.

I rarely do anything close to an ad hom attack...but, anyone who thinks there WILL BE NO K3 has got to be smoking crack. There is going to be a KOTOR 3. It has been all but confirmed (i.e. LA has not made an official press release but those close to the operation have confimed it).

what makes you think there are going to be no more games?