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New KOTOR2 Trailer Released
xCepheus writes "IGN has posted a new trailer for Xbox/PC RPG Knights Of The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords. An interesting tidbit from the trailer notes that, as your character sways towards the light or dark side, so do the rest of the characters in your party." The original was my fav non Final Fantasy RPG in recent memory, so I can't wait for this one.
The dark/light choices were a nice thing, but only in a nascent way. The trick is that light vs. dark is not the same as black vs. white. For example, in TESB, Luke going to save his friends was a white choice that led him closer to the dark side. At the tree, taking his weapons with him was obviously a dark choice, although a sensible one.
Also, remember how often it's stated that once you start down the dark path, the easier it becomes. After the first dark step or two, make it require several light actions to go back to the light side. When at the very, very light side of the spectrum. If mining the extended universe, the dark side is also more attractive if you are powerful and light, because powerful and the dark is so much more powerful.
Speaking of powerful, why were the high level light side powers so lame?
Still, loved the game. And I don't fault it for not having any of this, as it was the first crack at it. And even though I expect more this time around, if it's 100% the same with a new story, I'll probably still buy it (but I'll wait until it is about $30, like I did for the first one. Make these improvements and I'll purchase when it is still at the $50 level).
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
This is something I expected to happen in the original, and I had so many evil plans of corruption in cohort with that evil assassin droid (can't remember his name). I was immensely entertained by the fact that my face got grayer and more veiny as my evil intensified, but I was never able to sway anyone except at the very end.
Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
As much I absolutely hate to bring up the new SW movies, Clone Wars did show a great many scenes of how you slip to the dark side without being insane and stupid.
Namely, the two points that stuck out in my mind was Anakin's desire to love that annoying princess wench and his destruction of the Tuskin raiders camp. The raider camp is straightforward. His mother died and he wanted revenge, rightfully so. In the case of the wench, he selfishly wanted to experience love, and placed this desire over the greater good. A Jedi is supposed to put the greater good above himself, and he can't possibly do that if he is being lead by his passions.
I personally think they could make a more complex and interesting game if they took this idea and ran with it in KOTOR2. Let the love of someone be what leads to the dark side. Make it an actual struggle to avoid the dark side by making the decision and actual struggle.
In KOTOR I never felt like it was a challenge to avoid the dark side. Just be a generally okay guy, don't randomly murder people, and the dark side is easily enough avoided. The light side always lead to the most satisfying and happy ending. Whenever I picked a dark side decision I felt like an ass because the dark side decision was generally you just being malicious for the sake of being malicious. There was never anything satisfying about it and there was never any temptation to fall into the dark side. Playing the game purely on feeling left you easily running to the light side and feeling good about it.
Now, if they had instead toyed with the idea of putting love over the greater good leading to the dark side, it could have been a far more interesting game. Perhaps Bastille could have been killed by the Jedi in order to prevent her from using her Battle Meditation against them when she got turned to the dark side. Now you are faced with wanting revenge against the Jedi. For the fun of it, make it so that the Star Forge can revive her. NOW you have a real incentive to go to the dark side. Choose the light side and accept the death of your love and stop the Star Forge, or in a fit of rage take the Star Forge for yourself, revive Bastille, and wreak revenge against the Jedi for destroying your love. Now you have an interesting game and interesting decision to make between dark and light.
The choice between Dark and Light is between the greater good and the personal good. Instead of making the 'personal good temptation' a stupid thing you don't really care about, like a few extra credits for mugging a guy, make it a real choice. Make the gamer choose between what is most satisfying to appease his emotions, or to do the right thing for the greater good. Wiping out the Jedi just because you like power isn't a satisfying dark side ending. Wiping out the Jedi in a fit of rage and furry because they decided to sacrifice something you love to preserve what they thought was the greater good is satisfying. Bonus points if the sacrifice the Jedi made ends up having no positive effect of consequence. I know it goes against all attempts to 'teach' a moral in these games, but you will know that you have done the Dark Side justice when you complete the game on the dark side and feel satisfied with the ending.
An adventure game to me is sam and max or monkey island.
Hmm, an adventure game to you is one in which you control a character with a predetermined personality, along a single story path, finding the correct way to advance the game? Sounds a godawful lot like Final Fantasy to me.
Yes, KOTOR's role playing is fairly shallow, but your choices make a change to the character and the NPCs reactions to you. The world evolves (even in a minor way) to the way YOU define the personality of the character. Your choices affect the role. Hence, role playing game.
I think people need to just love games, and not get all pissed off when a game they don't like is popular and has the audacity to get classified in MY GENERA!!
For future reference, the word is "genre". Anyway, nowhere did I say that I don't like Final Fantasy. It's just not an RPG. I get pissed off because I do like games, and I don't like them being misrepresented. I would correct someone who said Tetris was an RTS too, even though it has elements of strategy AND is real time.