Understanding the problems of KOTOR2

[Achalon]

I absolutly love this game. I've made 4 characters, had 2 seperate xboxes die on me in the last two weeks (I have a new one now -- unrelated to this game) I've lost 20+ hours of gameplay due to those failures, and I'm still loving this game.

 

I've encountered many of the bugs people have mantioned, skipping, slow framerates, etc.

 

But as a programmer myself, I feel the need to make a few points.

 

Obsidian didn't create this game. They took a pre existing game engine and pushed it to its limits. Not to trivialize the job Obsidian has done, because they did a great job, but they didn't develope the core of this game. They recycled it.

 

Obisidian Pushed the power of that engine alot to get KOTOR2. I heard one of the devs say that they nearly maxed out the available memory for the characters so that we could have robes and such.

 

I own KOTOR 1 for Xbox. Has anyone actually looked at that game? It had framerate issues, it had the loading lockups. But it was still an awesome game.

 

In my openion, the major bugs everyone keeps yelling about are the result of a heavily coded (I don't want to say badly coded, because it wasn't) game engine being pushed to its limits.

 

KOTOR1 had most if not all the same bugs as KOTOR2, They simply weren't as noticible. I think the bugs are fundamental flaws in the game engine that have become more noticible due to the increase in what that engine has to process.

 

This isn't anyone's fault, Bioware likely wasn't considering the game engine's reuseability this close to the launch of Xbox 2.

 

Has anyone noticed the discalmer on the loading screens? "Save Frequently and in Different Slots".

 

None of the bugs will devour your game if you follow that disclaimer above.

 

This disclaimer tells me all I need to know. That the devs knew about many of the problems and were unable to fix them.

 

Re-writing the game enging is likely the only way to eliminate many of those bugs as finding and fixing them in the old code would probably take even longer and been more difficult.

 

How long did Obsidian have to get this game up and running. A year? I don't know for sure what their timetable was, but I can tell you that thats not as much time as it sounds.

 

I love this game and think Obsidian and Bioware both did great jobs!

 

I just felt that they needed a cheering section around here somewhere....

[bodrock]

I'm just under 30 hours into the game now, and haven't encountered freezes or game-breaking bugs (I only had a single freeze in the last game as well) -- the only things I see are aimlessly wandering NPCs (runnin in circles at times), somewhat awkward transitions, and a few other rough edges (like framerate), but yeah, the last game also hade it's framerate drops, glitches, etc. -- none of that has hindered my enjoyment of this game. I dislike the loading screens, but still, I can't play this game enough.

[Maverick4101]

Very good post!

[Dracomicron]

Thank you, Achalon, that puts some of the questions I was having into perspective.

 

Glad you like the game.

[bodrock]

seriously, as soon as I experience a game-breaking glitch, I'll report ASAP. But as is, from the sounds of things, this board is almost in hysterics with bug/glitch talk.....sure, this game lacks the polish of other high-profile games, but it's as playable/replayable as the last game, imho. I already have ideas for my replay(s)!

[JEDIDAN12386]

Low fram rate is the only thing I've seen. It's a very good game and the only real problum I have is the ending but still a very good game.

[bodrock]

there are multiple endings though, so you should replay it if yer dissatisifed with the ending received -- I know I will!

 

Like I've said before, I didn't think the LS ending for KOTOR1 was too good, and the DS ending barely better, but it was the journey, both times, that made KOTOR so memorable and replayable to me. I see the same happening with this one.

[Achalon]

Anyone know how many different endings there are? Just wondering about the number.

[bodrock]

Anyone know how many different endings there are?  Just wondering about the number.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I heard there were six variations -- sounds like a lot, and I can't confirm/deny. I know there's atleast 2, like the last one.....

[Sophrosune]

I understand that Obsidian has done an excellent job with the materials they had to work with, but what about us that HAVE experienced a game breaking glitch, like when my game froze 40 hours into the story on Dantooine, and no matter which save I go to, the game still freezes at this point. I probably have 20 different save files for one character, and no matter what I do, the game freezes at this point. It does the same on a friend's Xbox, so it's not a matter of my Xbox or disk being bad, it's the game itself.

 

What explination does Obsidian offer to those of us who can't even finish the game due to these bugs?

[Ludozee]

What explination does Obsidian offer to those of us who can't even finish the game due to these bugs?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's not Obsidian who should offer an explanation, it's LA's QA department...

[bodrock]

I understand that Obsidian has done an excellent job with the materials they had to work with, but what about us that HAVE experienced a game breaking glitch, like when my game froze 40 hours into the story on Dantooine, and no matter which save I go to, the game still freezes at this point.  I probably have 20 different save files for one character, and no matter what I do, the game freezes at this point.  It does the same on a friend's Xbox, so it's not a matter of my Xbox or disk being bad, it's the game itself. 

 

What explination does Obsidian offer to those of us who can't even finish the game due to these bugs?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

damn. now THAT is a game-breakin bug. Your friend didn't encounter this same one, but this problem persists on both y'allz Xboxs? hmmm......I'd ask for the setup to the bug, but since I've only completed Onderon past Telos (and am now on Nar Shaddar), I can't be of much help here.