Plano Skywalker

the AI scripts were a very welcome addition...once I started using them, I couldn't even image doing without them. HOWEVER, there is room for improvement....just as Balder's Gate had CLERIC DEFENSIVE and CLERIC AGGRESSIVE choices, there needs to be a way to choose a Jedi Support>>Aggressive and a Jedi Support>>Defensive...absolutely. What is the difference between Aggressive and Jedi Support>>Aggressive? The former is all about rushing into battle with your melee weapon (i.e. lightsaber). The latter is all about using offensive Force powers to neutralize the enemy and only engaging melee when you have no other choice.

Right, Arcanum allows you to choose a bit of backstory if you want at character-creation time. things like: * raised by wolves * joined the circus * elven blood etc, give your PC certain advantages and certain disadvantages. I personally believe the KOTOR games should give us about 4 or 5 fairly detailed backstories to choose from and that the story is heavily influenced by what we choose. Basically, with RPGs, it is a choice: the more straightjacketed the PC's identity is, the more immersive the story can be written around him....the more "open-ended" the PC's identity is, the more "generic" and haphazard the story is going to be. By giving us 4 or 5 "prefab" options, this gives us the illusion of open-endedness while allowing the devs to create a quality, immersive story.

THE WORKBENCH what is the purpose in having a Bao-Dur with a Repair skill of 25, for instance, if you can't use him as the guy on the workbench? And this is NOT munchkin gaming I'm talking about. Your PC is the only one that can sink points into Persuade and there are many other skills your PC needs....you really can't afford to pump alot of points into Repair for the PC, IMO. They need to allow us to use ANY party member on the workbench. LIGHTSABER and following down this path, I think there should be a lightsaber-creation feat tree. this feat will allow the PC (or any character that has the feat) to create the basic lightsaber components and then to assemble them. this feat would also allow you to create the more advanced lightsaber components. NON-HUMAN PCs this really should not be that hard to do and it would add a ton of replayability to the game. ALIENS ON THE SHIP how many aliens does a LS player have on the Ebon Hawk in K2? One. And the Iridonian race is, truth be told, very human-like in custom and temperment. Need more aliens on the ship. I personally would like the pool of available NPCs to be greater than the number you can have on board at any one time. If you don't like aliens, you don't have to use them. If you want a bunch of aliens, have a bunch of aliens. JOIN FACTIONS You should be able to formally join the Jedi Order, New Sith Order, and/or a number of other splinter groups from both Jedi and Sith. Other factions, such as Republic Intelligence, the Exchange, the Czerka Corp, etc should also be joinable. (However, the only way they know whether you are truely in is if you complete a number of faction-specific sidequests for them.) Faction membership unlocks certain training that is not available to outsiders. It also unlocks certain party members that are not available any other way. FIX RANDOM LOOT no need to explain as this has been much discussed. FIX THE INFLUENCE SYSTEM no need to explain as this has been much discussed.

Conceptually, I like Peragus....blown-up planet that is now an asteroid field. However, this very introductory world should have been no more than 1-hour long. Hopefully, next time we will not have 2 ultra-linear worlds to go through before the game opens up.

this came up on another thread but I think it deserves mention here: ***Improvements to the Ebon Hawk*** Let's face it, the Ebon Hawk is a character with a big reputation. A ship with a big reputation is a good conversation device, etc. If there is a KOTOR III, I think it is safe to say that the PC will be riding around in the Ebon Hawk. However, the Ebon Hawk could stand to use some upgrades. Some ideas that I have either thought of myself or gleaned from others are: >>>THE GUN TURRET. normally, when I play KOTOR II, I choose not to play the gun turret mini-game. the other day I did and I remembered why I avoid it like the plague. that thing is a pathetic pea-shooter and is clunky to operate...not enough "Z-axis" action, either. first, I ask for a rapid-fire quad-laser canon (i.e. as in the M Falcon). with a quad-laser, there is always one gun firing....not a second goes by that you are not firing something into space. it looks better, feels better and is more effective. second, I ask for, as I stated earlier, more of a "Z" action, not just left-to-right. with these kinds of changes, I would probably play the turret mini-game most of the time it comes up. I like it being optional but it should probably surface more than it does in KOTOR II. >>>MEDITATION CHAMBER. IMO, the PC needs to take more ownership of his Force training and manipulation. A meditation chamber on the Ebon Hawk would be a good first step to this end. In the meditation chamber, the PC can: * "center" himself....by centering, the PC gets some sense of what kind of dangers may be lurking on the planet....and some sense of whether he will encounter any other Force weilders on that mission. * crystal focusing....in KOTOR II, the biggest, baddest Force user in Known Space has to have someone else focus his lightsaber crystals....in KOTOR III, the PC should be able to do this in the meditation chamber. * channeling...the PC can attempt to send a message to another Force user or try to strike up a conversation with a known Force Ghost. It does not always work (depending on where the PC is in the story) but it would be cool if the PC initiates these kinds of triggers once in a while. * holocrons...in the meditation chamber, the PC watches Jedi and Sith holocrons that he picked up in his travels and increases his knowledge of the Force by doing so. * training the padawan....the PC sends out an empathic command for his padawan to appear for his next lesson. A dialogue ensues in which the PC can teach one lesson every 3 levels (or something to that effect). This device would not be active until the second half of the game.

I would generally agree with that. I would also point out that Pascal was designed to teach people how to program. It is a very "clean" language. Delphi is object-oriented Pascal. Spending some time fooling about with Pascal/Delphi might be a good idea (although not absolutely necessary). I would definitely think that the use of object-oriented programming is essential to good game programming. Don't just put a bunch of procedural code in your objects....use objects the way objects are meant to be used. To that end, Java and/or C# would be good (as a learning tool) as they are fully object-oriented.

I know this is not a K3 thread but....I'm of the school of thought that says the PC should definitely have a lightsaber within the first 3 hours of the game. Waiting 10-15 hours is bad for someone who is supposed to be the last Jedi hope. I have no problem waiting for additional lightsabers and waiting for really good upgrades. But there is no reason why your PC should not have a lightsaber early on.

this is what we know: * the project was cancelled while in pre-production in Sept 2004. At that time, Obsidian was supposed to the dev. Chances are, they even had some content developed for it (not sure if it was going to be next-gen or not at that time). * Lucas Arts has recently been conducting an official survey (through Nielsen Media Research) of KOTOR 2. I have taken the survey and it asks alot of questions about what you would like in a KOTOR 3. that is what we know. everything else is just speculation. HOWEVER, the fact that Obsidian is allowing us to fill up their forums with all this K3 talk is interesting. Perhaps there is more to this story than we realize. I personally would like to see Obsidian involved in some way, even if they are not the primary developer.

I think part of the problem is that you were FORCED to travel with her. They could have still used her in a very prominent role without you carting her around. Your Force training could have been a patchwork from a variety of sources (i.e. the Ithorian priest on Telos, holocrons, and more stuff from the 3 Masters, etc). Forcing Kreia on you to the extent that they did was REALLY BAD.

to be honest, I'm more concerned about what they don't do than what they do. list of *please don't do*: >> Do NOT link the Force training with main story triggers and clues. >> Do NOT put our primary Force teacher on the PC's ship. >> Do NOT use any "Force Bonds" as part of our training this time. (use the Force Ghost device instead...and use it sparingly). >> Do NOT give a Jedi Weapon Master the same primary teacher as a Sith Lord....please, don't do it!!! >> Do NOT give us fake padawans....give us the real Master/Padawan relationship. >> Do NOT require us to keep going back to our mentor for things like crystal focusing....the PC should learn this and then start doing it himself.

right. the "JavaKiller" is not so much C# as it is the .NET Framework. Java is both a language and a technology. MS decided to divide the underlying technology from the language, thus making the language choice almost irrelevant (you can even use languages like COBOL in the .NET Framework). C#.NET is no more powerful than VB.NET but it is very Java-like in appearance and is probably meant to help steal some of the Java devs out there.

I would like it if the KOTOR games had 60 hours of content the 5th time you play. But not 500 hours of content!

I'm curious, what did you think of the Matrix movies? Alot of people thought it was great to have alot of action plus alot of philosophy packed into the same movie. Others, however, thought it was 3rd-rate nonsense. That seems to be the case with K2. If you treat it as an essay on Philosophy and Religion, it sucks. If you threat it as a welcome twist to the normal cRPG, it kinda works. Anyway, that is how I see it. And, I agree with what someone said the other day: K3 needs to give us a more straight-up story AND keep some of the philosophy mumbo jumbo. That would be ideal.

I agree. KOTOR I was a really tight story with alot of good sidequests and subplots. But the main story was sooo simplistic and Carth and Zaldabaar (for instance) were so annoying and infantile. KOTOR 2 has many faults. But, had they fleshed it out more, it would have been MUCH better than the first one. I like the NPCs much better in KOTOR 2 except that they needed to be fleshed out more and needed NPC sidequests. And, of course, I like the gameplay enhancements of K2: train Jedis, lightsaber forms, Force forms, influence (yes, I know, needs work, but still), more customization for the lightsaber, etc.

yes, indeed. :D

speaking specifically about the movies. The movies are CANON. Canon trumps every comic, RPG, book, magazine whatever. So when Lucas decides to introduce midi-chlorians and almost everyone else is against it....too bad. The movies are immutable and infallable. Period. The problem comes when a movie intrudes on an EU construct. The problem is not who will win, the problem is how do you patch up the EU construct that was jolted without screwing something else up? But that's canon vs continuity. An even more difficult challenge is continuity vs continuity. Which one is right? The oldest one? Does a comic always trump an RPG? Anyway, it looks like they are starting to create omnibus compendiums to help smooth over the differences. They might even decide to go with the RPG version once in a while. Guess we will have to see.

right. and this kind of ties in with faction-affiliation. you can always find a retired/washed-up/retread kind of Jedi or Dark Jedi to teach you the basics. but only a card-carrying faction member is going to learn the purple lightsaber form of Mace Windu. faction membership unlocks forms, feats and even certain party members that are not available any other way.

remember, too, that alot of people will be playing K3 as their first SW RPG. the little stuff has to be explained as it was by Bastila. I think Jolee would make a great starting teacher....maybe levels 1-7. And then, you start to branch out as you study the higher mysteries of the Force. You CAN enter into a Padawan relationship but you don't have to in order to keep growing.

>not in the game I was playing she wasn't my mentor. >Bastilla accompanies you. Not trains you. Damn. Where you smoking pot while >playing OK, your guy is a complete neophyte....she takes you to Dantooine....that is significant....she tries to help you understand Force Bonds.....the "little stuff" is important early one. She WAS *rescued Revan's* first Force teacher.

Oh I edited my post to saying I preferred Jolee. Yeah but remember in the case of Disiciple in Kotor 2? He didn't get transferred to another jedi master simply because of the lack of them. Which will be the case of K3. At best I only expect atleast two dozen jedi masters left. That doesn't leave many transferships right? Considering that they would probably all have their own padawan <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Bastila was not a Master and yet she mentored you in the Force early on...Jolee could be a mentor early on, no question. One thing I remember about Mical the Disciple is that he teaches you . Nothing wrong with learning some tricks from those less powerful than you. That was a really good idea, I thought.

right. the *ghost* device can be overused just as the dreaded force bond can be overused. the best way to use the ghost device, IMO, is for him to simply point out where you can get the training you need...and, indeed, in a cryptic way. "you have learned all you can from Master Soandso....go to Tatooine and seek out the Twi'lek master there" >OK, what is the name? .....(ghost fades from sight) that's how you do it. :D

the neutral path should be the hardest to take and finding someone who is truely a Master of neutrality should be almost impossible. Kreia was more than a Force mentor, though. Her character was a shortcut storytelling device. They really need to resist the temptation to link your Force training with the main story.

starting off with a mentor and then about halfway through he dies and his Force Ghost guides you through the endgame (and directs you to other mentors). that is some classic Star Wars fare.

Yeah, and he would have made what I would call an excellent *secondary teacher*. A secondary teacher teaches you a new form or two and maybe a new feat but they only have a little to offer. (Too bad K1 really did not do that). Your *primary teacher* needs to fit like a 2-year-old pair of tennis shoes. That's why we need a decent selection and not get stuck with someone we hate.

but please no more all-encompassing, ultra-mysterious, ultra-secretive, ultra-manipulative, non-traditional disasters like Kreia! Not as your teacher anyway.