Plano Skywalker

I would just say this about that: LA needs to realize that this is not Jedi Knight on steroids....this is a comic that you run on your computer/console. They had such an overwhelming response to the characters in the first game that they got Dark Horse to create a comic simply to justify the existence of Revan and Malak in the EU. They need to realize that that is what they are dealing with here. They need to have the story *not just screened* but WRITTEN by someone like Zahn and THEN adapted to RPG format. They got lucky the first game...the second game ALMOST lost the Star Wars mythos, IMO. However, I generally enjoy the second more than the first because of certain gameplay and presentation devices. But the overaching story in the Star Wars setting needs to be simplistic.

I definitely agree with the idea of having a Padawan in the truest since of the word. They should also probably cut back on the number of adepts that you can have on your ship at any given time to one or two (and only one for DS, IMO). And I agree that the Padawan thing would be a great device for some multithreaded elements (which I absolutely love!). Along the same lines, it would be nice if we had more say in who our primary Force mentor is and it would be nice if this person was not a passenger on our ship (it's nice to be the top dog on your own ship!). And there is no reason why your Force mentor has to be the primary vehicle for main story triggers...would be best to seperate that IMO.

I agree that when it comes to 3D cRPGS, it is almost all Sword and Scorcery. We need a really good, story-driven Sci Fi cRPG and, preferably, a new IP that does not have cliches to fall back on. Having said that, I like the KOTOR games, even though I realize their many limitations.

possibly...I think they are very pacifistic but maybe Consular-only with alot of defensive and healing powers.

Perhaps an EU lawyer could better answer that but I look at it like this: they tap into the raw energies of the Force, not particularly focused but effective in some key ways. Having been trained by an Ithorian priest could be like playing a Wild Mage in D&D...certain advantages and certain disadvantages.

I also like the idea of having different mentors at different stages in the game. Having an Ithorian priest teach you the Force for a few levels....coolness. In fact, if you go totally Grey and totally Unaligned, you might have to get just that kind of arrangement to get any Force training.

Well, I would agree that these "faction quests" should not be "Fed Ex" quests, at least not the majority of them. Morrowind was right bad for the Fed Ex variety. > But perhaps they could come up with a smaller list of planets and let you choose from one of them that's what I was thinking. >I agree we really need non-human races...but there seem to be way too many >And some are improbable like Hutts and Jawas " >Do you by any chance have some sugestions on the races? if all they had was Human, Twi'lek and Rodian in the next game, I would be happy. Not all races have Force Sensitives.

Both...it was almost impossible to advance in high rank in both the Mage's Guild and House Telvanni...they were essentially rival factions. Same thing with the Assassin's Guild and the Thieve's Guild...they were arch rivals. >As for the Planets...it would be hard...I saw a map once and it was huge Well, even if I could not visit my homeworld, it would be nice for my stated homeworld to have some sort of unique bearing on the story. >It would be hard to implement all those planets and of course we would also need different races(which would be great ) IMO, the next SW RPG needs to give us the option of non-human PCs. IMO, this is just a must. No more "hidden past" stuff. That's right 40-60 hours of content the 5th time you play!

Well, I'm not really the one to ask about EU matters. I REALLY LIKE the idea of being able to state in dialogue what planet I am from and for that to have some bearing on the story. The faction thing really shouldn't be that hard to do from a coding perspective...just alot more content (and these games need more content)... Morrowind does the faction thing pretty well.

sometimes, yes. but again, if you are sent on a mission to take out a satellite dish somewhere you still advance in Sith rank by accomplishing the mission (even if you do not kill all the civilians there). But that just triggered another thought: three indicators: * Reputation: (i.e. cunning, cruel, psychopath, kind, daring, wise, etc). * Diplomatic affiliation: Sith, Republic, Unaligned (if you are someone who is LS and is anti-Republic, say from Onderon, you would be Unaligned...no need to punish you with DS points for being anti-Republic). * Alignment (Light/Dark/Grey) >Sith being the DS faction of the Jedi and not a political movement when I say "faction", I do not just mean factions of the Jedi, although that would be cool, too, maybe in KOTOR 4 since there are no real Jedi to speak of in the current story arch. I mean any organization: Sith (Revan/Malak), True Sith Empire (probably not this one since that will be so important to the main story), the Exchange, the Echani syndicate (you could join it in KOTOR I), the Czerka Corp, the Hutts of Nar Shadda, Republic Intelligence...whatever. If you join a faction, you get a number of faction-specific quests and the possibility of picking up some party members that only someone of your faction can get. You also can buy weapons and other items at reduced prices from fellow faction members...but it could also increase your chances of being waylayed by a rival faction. But all this points to something other than a simple thermometer-type scale, does it not? OK, a field that states what your primary faction is. By default, it would be Republic. If you complete at least 2 faction-specific quests, the field changes to that faction. If you continually state in dialogue that you like neither the Sith nor the Republic, then it changes to Unaligned. What is in the field is important as it will determine what kind of triggers you get for side-quests and potential party members. > Q: Can you be outside the Republic as a single World? I would use the Onderon situation as an example...yes, and it does not necessarily make you evil. (fact check: yes, I realize that Onderon is technically in the Republic). > Q:Can you leave the Republic? that would be up to the writers. but, if so, it would probably have to be trigger-based (i.e. only a couple of times you could do it). The bottom line is, everyone is kind of expected to be in the Republic. The Republic is a very loosely-knit tapestry...there is alot of room for different views and such.

Well, that is the one combination that would be most unlikely. They would have to code it so where, say at 30% Sith loyalty, you just cannot get any more LS points until you move closer to Unaligned. But I think alot of problems would be solved if there was an actual Sith path and a Republic path in addition to the LS/DS thing. We need more FACTION QUESTS and FACTION PARTY MEMBERS!

One of the things that came up on the Lucas Arts boards was the idea of having two seperate meters: * Alignment bar (Light/Dark/Grey) * Diplomacy bar (Republic/Sith/Unaligned) that way, you could still be DS and support the Republic or be a grey Jedi and have political leanings for the Sith. The penalty for going Grey is you cannot take a prestige class (as now). The penalty for Unaligned is you don't get certain side quests and party members because no one has a deep level of trust for you...you only get the stock party members and side quests. I normally play LS but if they developed the "non-bully" DS path a bit more, I might play that some. I just can't play bullies.

right. I'll be honest with you, that is one of the main reasons I want them to do more with Swoop Bikes....we need more stuff to spend money on. It would be cool to be able to buy upgrades for the bikes, and, for that matter, buy upgrades for your spaceship. Also, it would be nice to be able to pay someone to make illegal modifications to your weapons (while still keeping the workbench upgrades). For the spaceship, one of the things I would like to see is to have someone in the starport offer to upgrade the astro charts of your navicomputer. If you pay to have it done, you get a couple to extra (non-essential) worlds to navigate to.

right. one of the main points of a role-playing game is immersiveness. I agree that we need more "regular clothing" options and it would even be cool if that could trigger certain resposes. For instance, let us say that you have equipped "Onderon middle class attire" or "Tatooine business attire" or "Tatooine moisture farmer attire", etc....the merchants and other NPCs would greet you differently, in part, on how you are dressed. IMO, being able to run around dressed as a Sith soldier was one of the coolest parts of Taris in the first game.

It's called the Third Way ideology which is essentially what Bill Clinton was all about and this is also openly embraced by many European politicians. Basically, it is a concession that human economic society is market-based, really. It seeks alot in the way of safety nets and worker's rights as long as capitalism remains intact.

I personally think that the best way to use the Exile is to make him the one who is trying to rebuild the Council (a scripted character, not a PC or party member). In other words, he is the closest thing to a Master Vandar or Master Vrook that you see in KOTOR III.

Need improvements to the way INVENTORY is handled! I don't know about you, but I think it is kind of strange to be able to carry around 5 tremor blades, 5 suits of heavy armor, 5 suits of Krath armor, 3 suits of Mandalorian armor, with no encumberance penalty of any kind. * give us an encumberance system and possibly little droid-like carts that we can put stuff in. * FIX RANDOM LOOT! I don't mind random loot but there should not be several instances of a unique item. Also, make some loot random and some not random. If you destroy a droid, you should not find credits on it, etc.

my thoughts: * Revan is an iconic figure at this point, like Darth Vader or Exan Kun. * Revan is the most awed Force-user in this time period (i.e. after Exan Kun). * In my view, it is best to use Revan as a plot device in future games and not someone we actually see (let's face it, would it not be nice to know that you are not the center of the Force universe? I think so). * KOTOR III does not have to dispose of Revan but it does need to dispose of the True Sith. * HOWEVER, we can't really have 2 UNRESOLVED HEROES running around out there...go ahead and set the Exile with an official race, appearance, gender, alignment, etc and use him as a prominent scripted character in future games....absolutely. * from this point forward, the PC's identity needs to be totally open.

right. I would argue that there is a much different dynamic at work in the KOTOR games than in an MMORPG. The KOTOR games are very linear and trigger-based. So, I don't think the swoop bikes would really cause the same kind of trouble as in an MMORPG, especially if only a couple of worlds gave you the trigger to use them.

I have not yet played FO or PST although I now own the games and hope to be playing them sometime this year. I am currently going through BG1, though. And, if there is NPC (party member) influence there, I must have missed it. It is certainly not an essential part of the game. I have logged many hours with Morrowind. Morrowind has influence...you can flatter, bribe, etc and you actually get to see the influence rating you have with that NPC right on the screen! No, we are talking about apples and oranges here. To have influence so intricately and yet subtely woven into the actual dialogue tree was an ambitious undertaking. This was something that, had they gotten it right, would have turned the cRPG upside down. They didn't quite get it but they came close. I sure hope that whoever does K3 perfects it.

with regard to Influence, I must say, it was poorly implemented in that: * the PC is the one being influenced (at least it seems that way most of the time). * it is alignment-based (this is BAD since you can't swap out ship passengers). * it unlocks way too many main story clues than it should...Influence should be about "extra" stuff. However, I have never played a game that tried anything that ambitious. I applaud them for putting something like that on the table.

You just can't conceed anything here, can you? You are one of the only non-munchkin gamers here who does not think K2 is better had it not been rushed or, at the very least, had a modicum of QA. No, his ideas do not suggest he is drunk.

Kalfear, I agree that having Swoop Bike travel on some planets but not others could adversely affect the overall "feel" of the worlds that do not have it. However, I think there are other things that could be done to compensate. For instance, you could have some worlds that have a land speeder shuttle service--kind of like the Stilt Strider in Morrowind. You don't actually watch the travel, the screen fades out and you are already at the other city, etc. That sort of thing could be used on the worlds that don't have bike quests.

I don't think that KOTOR III would be the best place to introduce non-Force using PCs. If KOTOR III is the conclusion of the story arch we are in now (and it darn well better be), we are going to need a powerful epic PC for that. However, beyond KOTOR III, I am hoping for less epic stories and less epic PCs. You *can* be a Force-user but you don't have to. And indeed, it would be nice to, once in a while, have a PC that gets really good at ranged combat, stealth, etc.

I have no idea. But I think it is safe to say that MS has been involved in any talk of a KOTOR III and that they would probably want it out sooner rather than later. I suspect we will hear something about it at E3.