Pazaak - love it or hate it?

[Darth_Windu]

Ok, just have to get this off my chest - I loathe Pazaak in the KotOR series. Sometimes, it's alright, but at other, more frequent times, it is extremely frustrating and annoying. For example, in a game I am playing at the moment, at Nar Shadar (sp?) the doid which is supposed to be easy got about 4 cosecutive natural 20's, and beat me about 8 times in a row. In the same game though, the Champ never beat me, nor did the Ithorian on Dantooine playing for 750 credits per match.

 

One other big problem is where you can skip matches. On Nar Shadar, if you fix the droid before playing, are male or have atton and approach the Twi'lek woman, threaten the Duros and then convince the Champ to give it up, you have just cheated yourself out of 2400 credits! This really needs to be looked at - after all, why not have the droid give you what you otherwise would have won as a 'thank you' for fixing it?

 

Overall, Pazaak is annoying and frustrating. The computer cheats extensively most of the time, and frankly it's not fun. Swoop Bike racing relies on skill, as does the turret gun (which there should be more of) but really, something needs to be done about Pazaak.

 

Thoughts?

[Darth Flatus]

The Pazaak bar on Nar Shadaa - everything is that way for a reason, its part of the story

 

 

This should be in spoilers.

[EnderAndrew]

The droid is not easy. He is lying about being a poor player. He's the toughest player you can face in the bar at the moment, and Akari assured us that he went over the code, and the computer does not cheat. Certain players just have better side-decks, or get lucky.

[CoM_Solaufein]

Passes the time and a way to make money. I like it and if K3 came out I would hope they include it.

[Petay]

I enjoy it most of the time, however it gets quite annoying the way that most of the games turn out with the end result the same. What I mean is that I win the first set, then opponent, then me, then draw, then opponent, then opponent, its really annoying, but otherwise i find it pretty fun and yea it does waste time if your bored :D

[SteveThaiBinh]

I like it as a game, less so as a mini-game within an RPG. I usually have a saved game somewhere in a cantina, and sometimes I go into the game purely to play Pazaak - as a fun alternative to Windows solitaire. When I'm playing Kotor 2 proper, I tend to avoid the pazaak games, except the one of Telos which is part of a side-quest.

[Shryke]

i avoid it totally

 

there's only something like 2 quests that it is involved in, and you can do those quests without playing pazaak anyway.

 

and its not like you desperately need the credits anyway. most of the good equipment you find or create yourself, not buy. plus you dont even get a lot of money from it anyway

 

and on a final note, i actually prefer things that need a bit of skill, instead of pure luck. there's just no effort whatsoever required, which makes it rather dull

[metadigital]

I like it. Then again, I like gambling; I used to be a blackjack croupier, so I am into card games.

 

There is some skill involved, so it is not entirely a one-armed bandit.

 

Sounds like you need to research some tactics, and get a better side-deck.

 

For example, there are at least two different tactics: fill your side deck with negative cards and keep drawing cards in the game to reach twenty, or lots of positive cards to convert a small total into twenty. The

[Guest Fishboot]

I like Pazaak well enough. It makes for a good mini-game - easy to understand, challenging to master. I always like +/- 3s and 4s since they can save you when you have the very bad 16 and 17 totals as well as subtract well from busts caused by drawing a high card on a medium-low teen total. The double card in KoTOR2 also seems to be very powerful (anecdotally).

 

I'm not sure about an early pre-reversible card strategy, though. I'd probably go with +4s and +5s to turn weak mid-teen totals into winners, with maybe a few -2s and -3s to save small busts.

 

I'm sure there's been some exhaustive Pazaak analysis either here or on the Bio forums, so this is probably redundant information at best.

[Shryke]

I like it. Then again, I like gambling; I used to be a blackjack croupier, so I am into card games.

 

There is some skill involved, so it is not entirely a one-armed bandit.

 

Sounds like you need to research some tactics, and get a better side-deck.

 

For example, there are at least two different tactics: fill your side deck with negative cards and keep drawing cards in the game to reach twenty, or lots of positive cards to convert a small total into twenty. The

[Jediphile]

I like the idea of Pazaak, but not as part of a quest or the plot itself.

 

Pazaak should always be completely optional with no plot relevance IMO, so that that you don't have to reload to the n'th degree just to beat some lousy NPC who keeps getting lucky or cheats (I don't care what anybody says - if the other guy keeps beating me three rounds running after losing the firrst two and I play a good hand, then he must be cheating - the chances of anything else are astronomical, yet it happens frequently in both KotOR games - nobody contiously just "happens" to conveniently draw the *exact* card he needs when he is in trouble, nobody - period!)

 

I like Pazaak as pastime, though, so I'll sometimes play "senate rules" with Atton in KotOR2, where the game is a little better, because it doesn't force you to always go first and so constantly force the risks on the player (as in KotOR1).

[metadigital]

It is the Force working against you, youngling; the Force is predestiny ...

[Oerwinde]

I tend to avoid it when I can.

[Echo_Drive]

I enjoy Pazzak. Especially in KOTOR II, since Pazzak is faster and has more cards that can be won from opponets. Plus if you beat your opponent enough times they'll give you a special card, their entire deck, or some other decent items.

 

By far, the toughest Pazzak opponent was the Rodian merchant on the Yavin space station in KOTOR I. That guy was hard to beat.

 

For KOTOR III, I think they need to have a side-quest Pazzak tournament (only as long it won't conflict with the main story). That would be fun.

[Petay]

For KOTOR III, I think they need to have a side-quest Pazaak tournament (only as long it won't conflict with the main story).  That would be fun.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pazaak tournament would be good......

 

Swoop racing tournament would be even better!!! :D

[Kor Qel Droma]

I like pazaak better than the turret games, for sure. But after a dozen hands or so it really seems weak. Unless you have the tie breaker card, then its a cinch...

[GhostofAnakin]

I enjoy a good game of pazaak once in a while. Especially when I win.

[Tabulated Rasa]

I played it a bit in the first game to see whether it led to any interesting interacations, and to earn some extra dough. However, it didn't really lead to any interesting interactions, and I really didn't need the extra dough, so I really didn't have the patience for it in the second. As long as it's optional, I don't care if it's in a future game. I just likely won't play it if it is.

[metadigital]

I liked playing and winning. I thought it was odd, IIRC, that if you won three times in a row after a loss then you cleaned out the opponent. Even if you won fourteen times in a row previously, this wouldn't clean them out, but a loss followed by three in a row would.

[Darkside]

I love pazaak; I have a few saves in various cantinas on both games just so I can go play. I hate games that are pure luck, but though there is a good deal of luck involved i pazaak, it's still up to your skill to make the most of any hand.

[darth spock]

I love Pazaak. It's a Star Wars geek's version of Black Jack.

[metadigital]

Yeah, they could improve the game by allowing betting on each card, or using a doubling die, as in backgammon ...

[DarthMoeller]

They should definately make internet Pazaak. I love playing pazaak.

[LadyDisdain]

I loathed pazaak in KotOR 1, but either my luck's improved or I've unintentionally developed a strategy. I enjoyed it much more this time 'round.

[Silvershadow]

I love pazaak.

 

But then again, I suppose I wouldn't be much of an Atton fangirl if I didn't.

 

And yes, if there was Internet pazaak, I'd be all OVER that. I can already picture the conversations at work...

 

Co-worker: What are you playing?

Me: Erm... pazaak.

Co-worker: What the hell is that?

Me: It's... um... it's... Well, I can tell you what it's NOT... It's NOT a Star Wars version of blackjack! No siree! *looks around and giggles nervously*

Co-worker: You're a total geek. You need serious help.