BTW - according to the poll, I'm a lawyer ...

 

Below is a lengthy synopsis of the aspects of immersion that I feel are significant, In order of importance:

 

Game Mechanic / Interface - how natural does it feel to play?

- One place where K1&K2 fail in this regard is selecting the type of attack / force power / item to use in combat ... three seconds per combat round is not long enough to sort through all the friendly force powers trying to find "heal", and pausing the game to do so (or enabling the "pause every combat round" option) breaks the pace of combat.

 

Voice Acting - does the voice match the character? Does the inflection / tone / emotion match the situation?

- K1&K2 did a good job here. HK-47 is my favorite character from K1, not in small part because of the inflection in his voice - Mira in K2 for the same reason. The only really bad example I can think of is the choppy, monotone droning voice of ed Asner as Vrook. The alien voices were generally done well, but the constant repetition of (it seemed like) the same five or six phrases over and over got old quickly. I would have liked a PC voice, but oh well.

 

Graphics Consistancy - is a similar level of detail applied to the textures & models?

- Another area where K2 was distracting ... it was obvious to me that the level design for Malachor V was very rushed, especially when compared to (for example) Trayus Academy or Dantooine. Also, the fog effects (particularly on Malachor V and in Visas' meditation chamber on the Ravager) are miserable (which is inexcusable to me, cosidering the steam vents on Koonda were very well done). If all the graphics are consistantly cheesy, then it's possible to still be a good game, but if some models look like glossy photos, and others look like a scanned image from a photocopy of a page in a well-worn book, then it's distracting.

 

Sound Effects - does it sound real?

- One (minor) failure of K1&K2 is the frequent repetition of the effects used for creatures in combat - for example, every merc makes exactly the same sound when they die. Weapon sound effects were generally good, but aside from squealers, ranged weapons all sounded the same - disrupters / blasters / ions / bowcasters should all sound different. Background sound effects (wildlife making wildlife noises, for example) falls into this category as well - and I thought K1&K2 did a good job in outdoor settings, but not so much indoors and especially not in spaceships. One particular item I especially enjoyed was the voices in the background in certain locations - the prison box in K1 (don't open the box!!), the "force listen" lessons (although I never heard the "echo" that the Exile heard), and Visas' meditation chamber are specific examples where it was exceptionally well done. One thing that bothered me was when the lead character movement sound mysteriously dissappeared (T3-M4 in Vogga's warehouse, for example).

 

Sound Effect Placement - does it sound like its coming from the right place?

- K1&K2 do this pretty well, and in some cases, they did great (of course, my el-cheapo 5.1 speaker set doesn't do my THX-approved Audigy2 sound card justice - but my high-end 5.1 headphones do). That said, for other than immersion purposes, sound placement doesn't have a significant impact on CRPG's - for FPS's on the other hand, it could be a critical part of gameplay.

 

Soundtrack Music - does the background music add or detract from the experience?

- SW:ANH was one of the first movies to have music playing almost throughout the entire film (all hail John Williams), and K1&K2 do a pretty good job here. The music sounds like it belongs in the SW universe, changes pace when expected, and each locale (and most major characters) have their own themes.

 

There are more ... but I've covered pretty much all aspects of sound, and most of the remaining immersion items are visual fluff and aspects that impact the pace of the game (load times, cutscenes, etc) ... and the post is long enough.

 

BTW - I'm not a GPU whore - I'm an across-the-board gaming experience whore - and this post has reminded me that I really need to upgrade my speakers.

BTW - according to the poll, I'm a lawyer ...

 

Below is a lengthy synopsis of the aspects of immersion that I feel are significant, In order of importance:

 

Game Mechanic / Interface - how natural does it feel to play?

- One place where K1&K2 fail in this regard is selecting the type of attack / force power / item to use in combat ... three seconds per combat round is not long enough to sort through all the friendly force powers trying to find "heal", and pausing the game to do so (or enabling the "pause every combat round" option) breaks the pace of combat.

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The alternative is a game where the player has to learn all the esoteric keypresses and execute them in order, quickly, to conduct combat. I am not a fan of button mashing, so I prefer that the producers err on the side of pause between rounds. After all, you can turn this feature off, if you don't like it.

...

Voice Acting - does the voice match the character?  Does the inflection / tone / emotion match the situation?

- K1&K2 did a good job here.  ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wait a minute! Are you telling me you thought Bao-Dur was voice acted well?

...

BTW - I'm not a GPU whore - I'm an across-the-board gaming experience whore - and this post has reminded me that I really need to upgrade my speakers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're welcome.

...

Voice Acting - does the voice match the character?  Does the inflection / tone / emotion match the situation?

- K1&K2 did a good job here.  ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wait a minute! Are you telling me you thought Bao-Dur was voice acted well?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

OK - by "good" I mean that it frequently added to the experience and only rarely detracted from it ... I was neutral to Bao-Dur - while his voice acting was not especially well done, it didn't grate on my nerves like Vrook's monotone (in K2) or the super-repetitive phrases used for the Rakatan (in K1).

Well, that's alright, then.

The alternative is a game where the player has to learn all the esoteric keypresses and execute them in order, quickly, to conduct combat. I am not a fan of button mashing, so I prefer that the producers err on the side of pause between rounds. After all, you can turn this feature off, if you don't like it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Another alternative is to have a more intuitive interface. The most commonly used powers (and items, for that matter) should be easy to find. One option (for the PC, anyway - not too familiar with the console controller - would be one mouse click to select the category, mouse wheel to toggle through the options, and a second click to use the item / power / attack style.

 

This is nit-picking, though - throughout an entire game there were probably less than ten combat situations where being able to quick-cast heal (or being able to quickly find a repair kit, or medpac) would have kept a party member alive.

There was a thread here about how you can go through the entire game using just the mouse (it was apparently easier in K1 than K2). No keyboard necessary.

Bao-Dur goes over the top in pleasantness and control, except in a few spots; it's kind of spooky in a guy who has a lot of rage and aggression bottled up. Big warning sign. An explosion of some type was imminent, we just didn't get to see it. I don't think Bao's actor did a bad job at all, but this was not exactly a character that could showcase his talent. We only got a glimpse of emotion when he was talking to Canderous, and then nothing, so the character journey was incomplete and the point was lost.

I think you're being too kind. It sounded like the entire voice track was recorded in chronological-procedural order, and there were no rehersals. Bao-Dur certainly ended better than he began, but I can see why voice actors get $500 an hour ...