Plano Skywalker

>>>>I am one of the ones that would like to see a departure from the Reven/Exile storyline. A Fable type of story would be kind cool so you could begin as a young padawan and then it turns in to the real story later when you become older. While I am all in favor of these games becoming self-contained, non-trilogy stories beyond KOTOR III, I want KOTOR III to be a ROTJ kind of story. It needs to be epic in scope and finish off the True Sith. However, while Revan and the Exile need to be mentioned (and possibly involved), they definitely don't have to be playable characters. In fact, it would probably be much easier to write the story if Revan (especially) is not a playable character. >>>>I liked how you could learn different powers and feats from different characters in the game but felt it was not explored enough. Maybe less feats and powers learned during leveling up and more from quest/dialog. I agree that it would be nice to learn more skills, powers, and feats from conversations with NPCs. Morrowind, despite its faults, had a pretty good system of training....you pay a trainer, you advance in that skill. And speaking of this, I think it would be really sweet if your PC had different mentors at different stages of the game....NOT one big all-encompassing mentor who just so happens to be the primary storytelling device.....at some point, one of your mentors dies and his Force Ghost helps guide you through the endgame. >>>>I really enjoyed the infuence system however it needed some tweeking. Ex: choosing between Hand Maiden and Viasa, after you pick one the other has nothing to do with you. the influence thing was good but it needs alot of work. it also ties into the lack of NPC-to-NPC interactions. if there really is bad blood between Handmaiden and Visas, why didn't we get more cutscreens illustrating that? perhaps there could have been a way to broker some sort of peace between the two? influence was also alignment-based....THIS IS BAD if you can't CHANGE OUT PARTY MEMBERS. If you could change out party members to those who have more in common with you, then it would not be as bad to have it alignment-based. also, the relative lack of NPC sidequests....influence should unlock non-essential training and sidequests....NOT essential clues to the main story. >>>>Random item generation could use some tweeking so where you find an item make sense. right. random loot is fine if it is done right. if you destroy a droid and find credits on him, that's a problem. >>>>I immensely enjoyed the Onderon lvl where you split your forces up. It was a great idea and should be done more often. if there was any one area (gameplay-wise) where KOTOR II blew away KOTOR I it was with the multithreaded elements....absolutely right....need more of that! >>>>When the game enters the "end phase", when the story is wraping up, don't limit where the character can go so much. the endgames in these games are extremely linear. it would be nice if there could be a number of different ways to complete the game (think Vampire: TMB). >>>>The last thing is dialog loops. They can get kind of annoying. right...if you are obviously not getting anywhere with someone, the devs should give us a clue....for instance, with the Handmaiden, you find yourself just looping back into the same dialogue trees, they should send up a signal by only giving us one thing we can say. if we see that, we know there is no point in continuing to dialogue. If we come back later and there is more than one thing we can say, then we know the influence rating (or something) has changed and that there is now a reason to start conversing with that person again. >>>>From reading this you would probably think that I didn't like the games but in fact they are my favorite. I'm with you. I really enjoy these games...I just want them to get better and better.

I would agree with those who think that Anakin's quick fall was the weakest part. Otherwise, Episode III owned!!!

well, it is one thing to be a Force Sensitive...if no one ever trains you, you might be the town psychic or something but nothing too threatening. but the Jedi turn you into an awesome instrument of power because of the focus they give you in the ways of the Force. it is because they have turned you into such a weapon that they must ensure that that weapon is never used against them or the Republic. It is really a pragmatic thing more than anything else.

one thing to remember is that in the KOTOR games, you are not *really* a Jedi. that is one of the things that allows for love conversations. part of the KOTOR sub-franchise seems to be that the Jedi and the Sith both have truth and both have lies in their teachings. HOWEVER, with regard to SW in general and the Jedi Order in particular, yes, I think it is patterened off of being, say, like a Knight Templar or Knight Hospitaler...you have given your life to the Force and the teachings of the Light Side. Your life is no longer your own and anything that could take away from your highly disciplined life of service is a threat. Why? Because you are a Force-user. If you become distracted, then the fact that you wield the Force could cause an imbalance to occur. If you want to live as a normal person, then you can always switch off your lightsaber and stop training in the ways of the Force. An interesting analogy: in the Roman Catholic Church, if a priest quits to get married, he is still a priest in the eyes of the Church....he still has the *power* to administer the sacraments...he just does not have *permission* to do so. However, in the case of a major crisis, he could be granted special dispensation to administer the sacraments. I think the analogy holds: once a Jedi, always a Jedi. But only those who remain true to the teachings of the Order should call themselves Jedi, look like Jedi, carry lightsabers, etc.

Darth Sirius, you nailed it right on the head. One of the biggest holes in the game is the relative lack of the "non-bully" DS path. Some will argue otherwise but I think they are wrong. If you want to be so DSed that you get Force Crush, for instance, you ain't getting there with dialogue alone in this game. So that means if you are playing a smooth, diplomatic, manipulator-type character, you are not going to benefit from nearly as much DS stuff as THE BUTCHER who is always saying SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP! Absolutely! One of the key ways you get is by doing compassionate things. Well, by doing compassionate things, you get LS points. It would be nice to be able to have something like this: > "here, take this medpac and these 50 credits" > "[FORCE DECEPTION] here, take this medpac and these 50 credits" and, of course: > "I don't give a cannok's rear end about your predicament" > "I'll be going now" the first (LS), third (DS-BULLY) and fourth (NEUTRAL) of those they already have. what they need to add is DS-MANIPULATOR. That simple change would add so much more believeability and depth, even if you don't actually use it yourself.

If you do it the way Panther says, then yes, that is very late in the game. I usually go to Dantooine as my second quest world (after Nar Shadda) so I have access to a silver blade for most of the game (sometimes I use it for myself and sometimes for a party member). I believe orange is on Korriban (though I'm not sure where).

I think so. Voice acting, rideable mounts, really good NPC AI...

well, yeah, if you kill Atris, you get whatever color lightsaber you told Atton about. but I never kill Atris (not even the one time I played DS).

and speaking of silver crystals, they are hard to get...only one or two ways. IMO, all the non-traditional colors should be like that...it was WAY too easy to get violet crystals in this game, IMO.

if you want a silver crystal, I believe Jorran the salvager has one on Dantooine. after you save him and he gives you a reward, ask him if he has anything else and he will sell you something for 1,000 credits. That something is a silver crystal (everytime, I think).

I don't know. I think they pretty much painted themselves into a corner with KOTOR II. If KOTOR III is not about wrapping up the True Sith as a threat, then that will come across as really cheap. They need to make KOTOR III an epic, trilogy-ender. Revan should be involved but as a plot device and not a playable character, IMO. The Exile should take over the role of Master Vrook and become the primary gathering point (other than yourself) of Force Sensitives who will be fighting the True Sith. The Exile could be playable as part of a multi-threaded endgame.

No. I would not interpret it that way. However, only a DSer can upgrage a red-bladed lightsaber and only if he is maxed out on the lightsaber creation feat tree (now that would be cool!). The reason why the red blade has the potential of shorting out a non-red blade is simply because it is stronger...not because of alignment. It is just that only a DSer can manipulate the energies of the red crystal to make it lightsaber-worthy. I think blue is the "default" color (think Obi-Wan in SW and Luke in EBS). I heard that the reason Luke had a green lightsaber in ROTJ is because green contrasted better with the desert set of Tatooine and that it was used outside and needed the contrast.

in my opinion, the different colors are cool but they should also be rare. 9 out of 10 of the color crystals you see in the game should be: green blue yellow even for DS/Sith. That's right, if red lightsabers were more rare, everyone would be trying to get those. The other colors: veridian, orange, silver, bronze, violet, black (would be nice...is in the EU) should be extremely rare (only one of each in the whole game). That would be ideal, IMO. =========================================== Quote: "Red crystals are ordinarily unsuitable for lightsabers, since they are less stable than the customary green and blue crystals Jedi use for the blade generators in their lightsabers. However, red crystals glow in harmonic vibration when energized by the dark side of the Force. When energized in this way, red 'Sith' crystals can actually produce a stronger blade that has the rare potential to 'break the blade' of Jedi lightsabers, overloading the energy matrix and instantly burning out the saber of the unfortunate opponent. This rarely happens, but it is a known and frightening possibility in combat." - Star Wars Insider, Issue #62 ===========================================

I'm sure this has been covered in other threads but I think it very appropriate to cover it here. If you want to see a KOTOR III and see it done the way you want it, please FILL OUT THE OFFICIAL SURVEY: http://home.reelresearch.com/NRG/newtest.a...10L&id=32700547

http://morrowind.ttlg.com/oblivion/ofaq.shtml#3.3 IMO, if you don't have mounts, you don't have medieval. Simple as that. At least Dungeon Siege had a pack mule...a step in the right direction.

another problem with Morrowind was the lack of rideable mounts. there are 3 different types of quick transport (more than that if you count Mark, Recall, and the 2 Intervention spells), and while the quick transport helps alot, the lack of rideable mounts makes cross-continent sight-seeing a bit of a chore as well as being extremely hazardous. A mount will allow you to travel quicker without as much fatigue and allow you to flee trouble if you don't feel like fighting. Thankfully, Oblivion is supposed to have rideable mounts and even mounted combat!

Yes, but M$ does learn and they are now broadening their 1st party support for more than just FPSs and sports games.

that is a really good point...obviously, both systems will have alot of power. the real test is in the titles. MS will already have 2 exclusive RPGs from Mistwalker. If they can bag JE 2 and KOTOR 3, then I know what I'll be buying.

another problem with Morrowind is that time essentially does not matter. One of the things that Fable was supposed to do was to have an open-ended RPG but with a limited amount of time...basically, the best of both worlds. I haven't played Fable but from what I've read on this board, the game sucked.

Morrowind is not trigger-based at all. There may be a few triggers but nothing is thrown at you like a previous poster said. It is a game in which you are totally in the driver's seat. You can easily log 80 hours in this game and not even touch the main quest. I personally believe that this kind of game would be much better if it had more SIM/RTS elements (i.e. you can buy property, businesses, hire mercenaries to do some of your mundane tasks for you, etc). There actually is a way to end up with a stronghold in MW and that involves joining one of the 3 Dark Elf feudal households and doing alot of Fed Ex quests (and some assassination quests) for them. Also, the NPC dialog is horrible and that should not be the case for an open-ended game. Still, for all its faults, it has some redeeming points. I think the best part of the game is the whole idea of joining factions and advancing in their ranks and the fact that this has little or nothing to do with the main story.

Exactly! Revan is the all-purpose Shadowy Plot Device like Robin Masters in Magnum P.I. or Charlie from Charlie's Angels. He is nothing more than that at this point.

sounds like a winner to me. it means: * manpower and other resources shouldn't be a problem. * this developer ain't being strongarmed by nobody. :D of course, they would be wise to try to sub out the story aspect to Obsidian, IMO.

both K1 and K2 were released on Xbox before being released on PC. I think it is quite likely that K3 will be done the same way. In fact, MS might even try to get LA to go next-gen console exclusive with this.

at this point, all I want to know is whether there is even going to be one....come on LA, you can't stay silent about this, not after that cliffhanger!

I think part of the reason they had so much philosobabble is because LA would not let them do anything (or much, anyway) to the true story arch....LA was milking the story arch for later and so this one was all about allusions to Revan and some new gameplay features. It is OK to have a cliffhanger but this one did not give us any meat...only lentil soup.