Thoughts on the E3 Footage

[ultimate_ed]

Just finished watching the gameplay demo video (all 90 something MB's of it), and it seems like that ought to give us some things to talk about. Since the other thread was mostly people talking about how long the download time is at Fileplanet (took me about 1.5 hours in line, myself) I figured we should start fresh.

 

So here we go:

 

Likes

1. Moving the action choices from above the character to the bottom of the screen. Definitely an annoyance in KOTOR in that the overhead display would often block opponents or cinematic elements of the game.

 

2. Looks like there are six choices for action instead of the three of the first game. Although, through all the combat I saw, pretty much the only one used was the second one with all the flurry, critical strike,etc. I never saw any action with the three added choices, so I'm not sure what they're for. It would be nice if you could use them for other combat actions that could then be tied to a hot key (so you could do 1 for critical strike, 2 for flurry, 3 for normal attack, etc, instead of having to scroll the second column to change the attack type all the time).

 

3. Looks very familiar to those who have played KOTOR. On the one hand, I appreciate it as the KOTOR engine made for a pretty immersive gameplay feeling. But, on the other hand, I had hoped things would be kicked up a little higher. I've been playing UT2004 for the last few weeks and been quite impressed by the graphics of the environments. It definitely exposes a weakness for KOTOR and KOTOR 2 in been limited by what the Xbox can do.

 

 

Dislikes

1. Those info boxes took up way too much screen real estate. Talking about the description/health box for enemies, the attack selection menu, and the head icons. Hopefully, this is just for the Xbox and us PC users running 1024x768 and higher will be able to scale those boxes down so we can actually see the game.

 

2. The character models and animations were stilted, choppy, and cheap looking. The laser bolt deflections looked particularly bad. But, I'm expecting that these are pretty early versions of the models as they didn't appear as good as what we had in KOTOR.

 

3. Party memebers are still too stupid to avoid walking through mines when there is a clear path around them. I hope they are planning to improve the NPC pathfinding abilities.

 

4. What's up with the bun on the player character?

 

I guess that's what I think so far. After seeing the video, I'm still looking forward to the next game, but I don't expect to be caught up in it like I was with the first one. From what I can see in the video, I think this one is closer to a version 1.5 rather than a full 2.0 type of improvement.

 

What do you guys think?

[Craftsman]

I agree. The first KOTOR looks better. I know that its early and stuff but if no decent his res footage can be shown whats the point?

[Craftsman]

Also the timing in the combat can be imporved to give a more sense of 'real action'. To many pauses. Bewteen attacks

[nightcleaver]

It was footage from an old build, I'm pretty sure, though I'm not certain where I got that info. I'm pretty much 98.1 percent certain, though.

[TSAdmiral]

To be frank, I really was not impressed by the footage that has been released at all. The footage looks pretty sloppy to be honest. I was most looking forward to the new attack animations, but was severely disappointed to find a repeat of the old animations, which grew tiring quickly. Hopefully this is just a relatively early build.

 

When will a proper trailer be released?

[gstommylee]

there is better kotor II footage out

 

go over to fileplanet and get the 92mb file which is a 4 mins 50 sec video of kotor II

[Sarkile]

When I downloaded it it was corrupt. So now I have to wait another 90 minutes to watch this 4 minute video.

[Akari]

Just finished watching the gameplay demo video (all 90 something MB's of it), and it seems like that ought to give us some things to talk about.  Since the other thread was mostly people talking about how long the download time is at Fileplanet (took me about 1.5 hours in line, myself) I figured we should start fresh.

Not much I can say about any of this, other than to point out that the footage was almost definitely taken from the X-Box version. I haven't seen it for myself, but the PC version hasn't been shown to anyone so far, I don't think.

 

From your comments, I get the feeling that you played KotOR1 on the PC (the way you described the change in action bar placement and the size of various displays, which actually have not changed in the X-Box version).

 

If my guess is correct, then yeah, the footage just isn't going to look as good compared to what you saw in KotOR1. The PC version will always be a more visually impressive version of the game.

 

-Akari

[Craftsman]

Ahhh the PC. Good. Just hope to see some high res stuff soon.

[Sarkile]

I hope the action bar is placed down there for the PC version as well. It was an annoyance having that thing hovering over enemy's heads. I also noticed when the map was brought up the character was a level 12 Sith Marauder. Does that mean that once we pick a prestiege class it will overwrite our old Jedi levels, or is this just for the demo?

[Akari]

I also noticed when the map was brought up the character was a level 12 Sith Marauder.  Does that mean that once we pick a prestiege class it will overwrite our old Jedi levels, or is this just for the demo?

Just for the demo. It was hard coded to say Sith Marauder. The demo characters were actually just custom made for the demo, with no respect for any real class.

 

-Akari

[Craftsman]

Overall KOTOR 2 is looking very good. Its the xbox version no dount bout that. THE CLOAKS ROCK. Its set in a undergorund mine on Telos. You save one of the people in your party. Lookin good! Animations also look better.

[Ivan the Terrible]

KOTOR with a few improvements. Pretty much what I was expecting.

[Craftsman]

But the cloaks flow really nicely. I cant wait.

[Craftsman]

Also something seemed different. I am sure the animations have been worked on. They flowed better. Maybe im jsut seeing things

[Cantousent]

Actually, could you get a good look at the planets in the footage. Some of us haven't seen it yet. I'm curious also to know if you got any idea if there were more planets or not. I did a seach, but didn't find an answer.

[Craftsman]

No its all underground.

[Logan]

"1. Moving the action choices from above the character to the bottom of the screen. Definitely an annoyance in KOTOR in that the overhead display would often block opponents or cinematic elements of the game."

 

So, is this in the X-box version only or has the combat interface been moved for the PC version as well? Please!

[Craftsman]

No. The PC interface, will stay VERY similar.

[Akari]

"1. Moving the action choices from above the character to the bottom of the screen. Definitely an annoyance in KOTOR in that the overhead display would often block opponents or cinematic elements of the game."

 

So, is this in the X-box version only or has the combat interface been moved for the PC version as well? Please!

Maybe it could be added as an option... I really don't know at this point. The PC interface has yet to under go significant revisions. We've been busy getting the X-Box interfaces ready for E3.

 

-Akari

[Craftsman]

I think the PC interface was perfect. Just add in that weopn thing and it should be fine.

[Frosty_V2.1]

It worked fine but I don't think it was perfect, personally I'd prefer the menus to be on the bottom or along the side with a little bar for each thing (which maybe had scroll bar if there isn't enough space to fit all the icons for the feat/weapon) instead of needing to click through each feat/attack box in the original.

Most PC players should be playing at good enough resolution for something like that to be useful I think.

 

[ed]

Ooo, and making it so that you can hide the interface and have a mode available where it only shows up when paused would be nice IMO

[/ed]

[Bantha Fodder]

I think the PC interface was perfect. Just add in that weopn thing and it should be fine.

The interface was good, but Obsidian could work on a more interactive environment.

[lumen11]

I too think the animations on the whole looked smoother.

I think I saw 1 or 2 new moves as well. That was cool.

 

I also think she moved faster then the character could in KotOR 1. I'm hoping knight speed etc. will really be fast now.

[Ivan the Terrible]

I also think she moved faster then the character could in KotOR 1. I'm hoping night speed etc. will really be fast now.

I noticed that, too. Rather than the 'brisk jog' of KOTOR, she was flat-out running from place to place.