IGN Review!

[Naso]

(Edit: I'm a PC user, so maybe this is not quite analogous):I and many others had problems upon problems upon problems with KotOR. Look at all the fixes for NWN released just a bit ago. Granted, it's a much more complicated ruleset, but the timing and the quantity, (not all rule-related even), show it. If you want to see good support, look at something like UT2k4. That was polished and well supported. Aside from actual bugs, the performance of the engine is attrocious and in no way matches the visuals given. Far Cry runs better than KotOR. It's rather a tossup to compare it with Morrowind's performance, though KotOR is somewhat more stable. Then consider the attitude of the devs. It's a company I've bought from for a long time that I've been slowly losing respect for.

[-GCD-]

My thoughts:

Less of a review and more of an attack. If Obsidian decided that the engine wasn't broke and they didn't need to fix it, why is that bad? Instead they opted to improve what was really bad about the 1st game. Menus, dark/light side depth, longer conversations, character influence, fighting styles, and more. To hell with IGN's attack review.

[GhostofAnakin]

I haven't read the review, but if the reviewer is using the fact that Obsidian is using the same engine as a basis for lowering his score, isn't that rather idiotic on his behalf?

 

IMO, when I rate a game, I compare it to its predecesor (sp?) and base it on what it hoped to accomplish, yet failed to do. Something like using an existing engine shouldn't be a negative, since it was known ahead of time that that would be the case. IMO, that's like taking points away because it doesn't have FPS combat, even though it was known ahead of time it wouldn't be implementing FPS combat.

[Naso]

I don't think the problem was that it uses the same engine, but that the problems of that engine really ought to have been fixed by now.

[Kazic]

That's how I see it GoA.

[Muad'Dib]

Volourn: All cool with me, just didn't like the "Who are you to say this" bit, makes it sound like just because IGN is an official reviewer than their word is superior to that of someone who isn't. And if GCD's comments are accurate then IGN's review is as typical as I've always known them to be, and thus likely to only annoy me...that though is just my personal opinion of them, no criticism to your pov. You get me I'm sure.

 

Naso: What kind of problems did you have with KotOR on the PC? I'm a PC gamer myself and never once had any problems with KotOR though I did add the patches as they came out just in case. But I rather liked KotOR's engine, FarCry I also never had problems with aside memory caused lag maybe I missed something.

[Darth Tratious]

yes but gameplay was a 9.5 overall was a 9.3 which is really really good

[Ivan the Terrible]

I haven't read the review, but if the reviewer is using the fact that Obsidian is using the same engine as a basis for lowering his score, isn't that rather idiotic on his behalf?

 

IMO, when I rate a game, I compare it to its predecesor (sp?) and base it on what it hoped to accomplish, yet failed to do.  Something like using an existing engine shouldn't be a negative, since it was known ahead of time that that would be the case.  IMO, that's like taking points away because it doesn't have FPS combat, even though it was known ahead of time it wouldn't be implementing FPS combat.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, I'm not sure about that. I think a review should base itself on what a reasonable standard is for the present day. After all, if a mainstream FPS was released nowadays using the old Unreal engine (but they never pretended they were going to use any other engine), the end result would still be an extremely graphically unimpressive game in comparison to Half-Life 2 or Doom 3, which needs to be remarked upon for potential buyers.

[Dead Skin Mask]

The bugs are what worry me the most. The review said there are more in TSL than there were in K1. I luckly never got the Mission Leviathan glitch in the first game but the poor bastards who did had to restart their games from the very begining. I dont wanna have to walk on egg shells while playing TSL constantly worrying if I save at the wrong spot at the wrong time that my save will be corrupted. I was one of the few XBox owners who was troubled by the Dec release date and wanted the game to be released when it was finished and not a day sooner.

 

Now as far as the other gripes IGN had I am not so worried about them. The story will boil down to personal preference as to wether you like TSL's or K1's better. As far as the graphics go we all new it was going to be the same engine so it's no suprise that the graphics arn't blowing peoples minds like Doom III.

 

On the positive side TSL sounds like it is ripe with replayability and I really like the new influence mechanic. The NPC's sound interesting and dynamic. The voice acting was said to be top notch which was something I was never worried about. All in all if the game can give me two or three play throughs at 25-30 hours each without any game ending bugs it will be money well spent.

 

Cheers!

[Kazic]

I am worried about the glitches as well. The only glitch I ever came across was the galaxy droid glitch and that was only after intentionally bringing it out.

 

I don't want an extremely buggy game but I'm confident that IGN is overstating the problem.

[Ivan the Terrible]

If there were any game-ending bugs, I'm guessing IGN would have remarked upon them. As it stands, they mentioned nothing specifically, so I'm guessing the bugs consist mostly of minor annoyances rather than anything game-destroying.

 

EDIT: Jesus, that's three pages in a row I've taken the top spot on. I'm a message board GOD! :cool:

[jaguars4ever]

Well fortunately the inter-map processing times won't be a problem on my AMD 64, and the the lack of high textures with fluid framerates at high resolutions shouldn't trouble my 256 MB video card.

 

Being a story-chaser however, I'm somewhat concerned about their comments pertaining to the loss of momentum during the climatic finale.

[Naga Sadow]

I don't see how using the KOTOR engine is a problem. I liked KOTOR a lot, so it just doesn't seem bad to me. There were a couple ineteresting things in the review though. First is that they said it was 45 hours long, that's very promising. And second there was mention of a Jedi Master in the game that you are trying to locate to either learn from or destroy. I just hope we have the option of learning whatever it is we can learn from this master and then proceed to destroy them.

[Kazic]

Where was that mentioned jag?

[jaguars4ever]

Where was that mentioned jag?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The technical bit or the story part?

[Kazic]

The story part.

[Ivan the Terrible]

The story part.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The story starts strong but stumbles across the finish line.

 

and...

 

like KOTOR II's story, especially since it ties in with the events of the first game, but it doesn't come together in the end as well as it should have.

 

Both at the bottom of the first page.

[jaguars4ever]

The story part.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

• "KOTOR II's overall story is not quite as strong as the sweeping epic of the original"
  
• "The story starts strong but stumbles across the finish line."
  
• "I like KOTOR II's story, especially since it ties in with the events of the first game, but it doesn't come together in the end as well as it should have."
  

EDIT: Damn, you beat me to it, Ivan. Guess you really are Forum God.

[Muad'Dib]

Boy I hope I disagree with them on the ending issue, that would really ruin the game for me if the ending wasn't as strong as the story leading up to it.

[jaguars4ever]

Oh, and it seems that our man Hades was spot on concerning the level pacing/balancing issues:

 

"Combat is tough in the early goings of KOTOR II, but gets much easier once you obtain your Lightsaber. There's no level cap, so you can get pretty powerful before the final battle. By the time you reach the last few areas, you'll be able to rip almost any enemy to shreds. In a way this makes sense, since you are building up your power to be a great Jedi (or Sith). Scrubs shouldn't be able to touch you. One of the last worlds is just a mess of Apprentice Sith being slaughtered by your superior swordsmanship. The only problem is this ease remains in some of the final boss battles. I won both of the final battles without dying or feeling particularly challenged, a far cry from the difficult end-game against Malak in the original KOTOR. I wish the bosses gained a power boost based on your experience level to offer some difficulty in their final defeat. But the boss battles are pretty interesting, if not particularly challenging. It's the revelations they provide that proves more engaging than the combat itself."

 

[Dead Skin Mask]

Boy I hope I disagree with them on the ending issue, that would really ruin the game for me if the ending wasn't as strong as the story leading up to it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well OXM said the story was better than K1 and IGN says its weaker. I guess story is in the eye of the reviewer. Although both agree it is a good story.

 

I wonder if we can tweak the difficulty as we could in the origional.

 

Cheers!

[Nartwak]

I won both of the final battles without dying or feeling particularly challenged, a far cry from the difficult end-game against Malak in the original KOTOR.

[jaguars4ever]

I won both of the final battles without dying or feeling particularly challenged, a far cry from the difficult end-game against Malak in the original KOTOR.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:">

[Dead Skin Mask]

I won both of the final battles without dying or feeling particularly challenged, a far cry from the difficult end-game against Malak in the original KOTOR.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Is it just me or was I the only one who killed Malak on the first try without even coming close to dying?? Malak was a big push over. I don't know how he all of a sudden is supposed to have been as tuff as a boss from Ninja Gaiden.

 

 

Cheers!

[Ivan the Terrible]

Oh, and it seems that our man Hades was spot on concerning the level pacing/balancing issues:

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm at once unsurprised and indifferent. It would have been nice if the level pacing had been better, but I rarely play RPGs for the 'challenge' anyway.