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Improving level design.


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A lot of areas in the first game were just wide empty spaces. Tatooine was an excellent example of this...there were some enemies in the desert to fight but a lot of the level was just a giant running simulation. The same can be said of Dantooine. It's great that the areas are so big and wide open, but make some more enemies or people to talk to so it doesn't turn into a running simulation.

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I'd like the levels to be less closed-in and repetitive in KOTOR 2. A lot of the wilderness areas in KOTOR felt way too Diablo II esque.

 

And I agree they should put more stuff to do in the wilderness areas then just one random encounter after another.

 

I thought the dungeon and city areas were well done in KOTOR, though the cities could have been bigger. The computer hacking made the dungeon levels fun.

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My favourite part of Kotor1 was actually the undercity (and sewers) of Taris.

 

I'm not sure why, but it had the mix of postapocalyptic elements, doom and gloom etc. that adds up to more than the sum of it's parts. But then, I'm biased, I'm a Fallout fan :)

 

It would be nice if the could bring that atmostphere to more parts of the game.

 

B)

 

ps: and blue jumpsuits

“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein

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It's great that the areas are so big and wide open, but make some more enemies or people to talk to so it doesn't turn into a running simulation.

Oookkkk.. Let me just warn you about a little game called Morrowind: Never play it! You'd get a heartattack! :)

 

Seriously though, Tatooine wasn't really that big. It just felt that way because it was so empty. Personally I want maps that are ten times the size of Tatooine, but with lots more detail.

Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish!

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What they did right with the tatooine map was the feeling of distance, esoecially in the desert. The background fitted perfectly with the 3D Map.

 

Compare it to the crappy background image of the Lost Planet. How in the nine hells did this low resolution crap passed Bioware's quality assurance ??

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Actually there were two side quests. You could kill a group of mandalorians and get a nice little footlocker of equipment and depending or whether you took the good or evil route there was a person in each complex that had some information they needed you to retrieve for them. Just thought I'd toss that in there.

 

-Samori

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I know I sure as hell wanted her back. Going through that world kinda ticked me off. Just when I finish kissing her and laying my pimp game down her comes Malak to not only capture her but bring her to my side. By the time I got finished will all that crap I was more than ready to head to the Star Forge. I was scared to death there was going to be another dumb world to distract me again.

 

-Samori

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If Bastilla truly believed that Revan was needed to combat Malak, then why attempt to sacrafice herself to save Revan from Malak?

 

She also knows she had a duty to the Republic to preserve and utilize her Battle Meditation against the Sith fleet. Her staying behind didn't make sense. It was emotional, flighty and stupid.

 

Your PC stood around and did nothing because you had no choice. I hope KOTOR:TSL doesn't follow similiar lines.

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I would like to see NPCs actually doing something, in KotOR all they did was stand around, maybe walk a little ways every once and awhile, but that was it.

 

They should be doing something or going somewhere, not just standing in the same place through the whole game.

 

 

TripleRRR

Using a gamepad to control an FPS is like trying to fight evil through maple syrup.

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I would like to see NPCs actually doing something, in KotOR all they did was stand around, maybe walk a little ways every once and awhile, but that was it.

 

They should be doing something or going somewhere, not just standing in the same place through the whole game.

 

 

TripleRRR

I've been trying to get the developers to play Gothic/Gothic 2.. but to no avail. Wish they did so they could see how fascinating it is to see the NPC's get up in the morning, sit by the campfires eating their breakfast, going to work, eating lunch, chatting with each other, taking a leak, watching gladiator games and finally going to bed in the evening. It really makes the day-and-night cycle seem real.

 

More developers should do scripts like that.

Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish!

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That was amazing with Gothic. There are a lot of good things about that game.

 

I think a day and night life would seriously enhance the game. I could see people getting wasted on Tatooine all throughout the day since there's not a lot happening but not on Taris. Hopefully, there will be day and night usage to have time-specific events happen in those hours.

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KOTOR doesn't seem to account for time at all.

We looked at adding Day/Night cycles way early on, just as a visual thing. But it was going to end up at least doubling the art resources because we found we couldn't simulate the change of time convincingly enough by just adjusting the lighting system in the game. We would have had to make day and night textures for everything, and that's more than we could justify just for adding day/night cycles. ;)

 

I've always been a big fan of the day/night stuff, myself. Observing the exceptionally well done changes in weather and time in Morrowind was one of the few attention grabbing details in that game for me. I hope we can get to it in future projects. :o

 

-Akari

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We would have had to make day and night textures for everything, and that's more than we could justify just for adding day/night cycles. :)

That's odd. I've always thought the way to simulate day and night was done by gradually changing colours on the textures according to a predetermined script and just removing the "overhead lights" if there ever was any. I can't imagine Gothic/Gothic 2 has two of every texture in memory since that game never loads any data in-game, and it's world is huge, varied and very detailed (meaning lots and lots of textures).

 

It seems, though, as the sun in Gothic/Gothic 2 is one large lightsource that's slowly crawling across the sky, since if the sun passes behind a cloud, that cloud actually casts a huge, real shadow on the ground. Which looks great, by the way.

Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish!

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It does depend on how the textures are drawn and coloured. If they where lit by a realistic physics engine (yes light is physics - so sayeth the physics teacher) just changing the light sorces would work, but you have to simulate how the light reflects of each surface to generate ambiant light. KOTOR simulated the ambiant light by the way the textures where shaded (the shadows where often very dodgy too). A more elaberate lighting system might overload the already stretched x-box as well as not fitting in with the short development cycle of this game.

Everyone knows Science Fiction is really cool. You know what PoE really needs? Spaceships! There isn't any game that wouldn't be improved by a space combat minigame. Adding one to PoE would send sales skyrocketing, and ensure the game was remembered for all time!!!!!

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Wiggin I think the idea is that at first Bastilia didn't think Revan was strong enough. But he's the only way to find out where the Star Forge is. Plus you'll notice that when you face her in the temple after she turns she truly believes she's stronger than Revan. It's not until you defeat her(twice if you're on the light side) that she realizes you're truly stronger than Malak.

 

-Samori

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