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New KOTOR2 Trailer Released

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the get-your-lust-on dept.

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.

19 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. IGN? by prockcore · · Score: 3, Informative

    Why link to IGN, which requires you to log in to watch the damn trailer.

    www.gametrailers.com has the same trailer and you don't need to log in.

    1. Re:IGN? by SeaEye420 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Heh, I sure didn't have to log in...Where were you clicking? :-)

      I even downloaded it, which used to be such a PITA when you weren't a subscriber.

      --
      Wort Wort Wort!
    2. Re:IGN? by xCepheus · · Score: 2, Informative

      I noted that the trailer was available on the LucasArts website but IGN had it in both WMV and Quicktime formats... so at least the IGN link gives you the option to choose a format that best suits you. Plus, as has already been stated you don't have to log into IGN to view or download the trailer.

    3. Re:IGN? by Randolpho · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nice of you to post a direct link. Try here:

      http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_knightsrepu blic2_demo.html

      --
      "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
      -Marilyn Manson
  2. I know I'm being negative... by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but maybe this time they'll make the dark side/light side choices something other than a) Kill innocent woman in cold blood or b) don't.

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    1. Re:I know I'm being negative... by gmhowell · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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
    2. Re:I know I'm being negative... by Shihar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I actually found light side to be sickenly over powered if you went the guardian rout. My guardian smuggler could have easily beaten the entire game by himself without breaking a sweat, but I know that my dark side guy was in pain for that last level. Few things are more badass then a speed/forcejump with full buffs. Most things died first round.

      As to your point about dark/light, I agree completely. Often times in KOTOR I would have to make a decision. Then sensible thing to do is the light side option. The stupid things to do is the dark side option. The light side offers the greatest reward, while the dark side offers and equal or lesser reward. I found it more then a little annoying that I would have to be a jack ass to be on the dark side.

      So, let's consider one of the earliest situations you run into in KOTOR. You find an alien getting kicked around by some Sith troopers. The Sith troopers see you, attack, and of course die. You talk to the alien. You can either rough up and kill the alien for no reason, mug him, or be nice. The two jack ass things to do would be to kill or mug the guy. Killing or mugging the guy nets you a few credits and is all around a worthless action. Why draw attention to yourself by killing or mugging a some poor bastard? That isn't the dark side thing to do; that is the stupid thing to do. The smart thing to do is to be friendly to the guy you saved and pump him for information that might help you in your mission to get off the alien world you know nothing about. What I would propose is that you keep the option to kill/mug him for the truly insane people out there, but also include the ability be friendly in a 'dark side' way. Namely, be friendly not because you are a nice guy, but because you know he is in debt to you and you can probably get some quality information if you just crack a little smile for thirty seconds.

      This same sort of dilemma presents itself all over the game. The sensible thing to do is the light side option, while the stupid thing to do is the dark side option. The game ignores that you might do something 'nice' for purely selfish reasons.

      Another thing that would improve dark/light decisions would be to make it so that the light side choice doesn't always resolve itself nicely, and have the dark side choice some times resolve better then the light side choice. So, a hypothetical example might be that you are tasked with stopping a terrorist from blowing up the shipping yard (for whatever reasons). The dark side option is to simply confront the terrorist before he attacks and kill him, thus completing the mission and saving the shipping yard. The light side option is to talk the terrorist out of it, believe that you have succeeded, but have the shipyard blow up anyways because the terrorist was just bluffing because he knew he couldn't beat you in a fight. The dark side decision in this case is the one that has the fewest consequences, while the light side decision makes you feel like a jack ass for letting the guy go. In this case the dark side decision saves the ship yard, gets revered by whoever sent them to do the task, and saves a pile of lives. The light side decision results in the deaths of innocent lives, no reward, and some people pissed that you didn't stop the terrorist when you had the chance.

      Basically, I am saying that you should be able to play the dark side without playing like you are some stupid and crazy maniac who would rather burn an orphanage and rape the charred bodies rather then complete a vital mission.

    3. Re:I know I'm being negative... by Babbster · · Score: 4, Informative

      In D&D terms, you're describing an option to be "Lawful Evil," which would indeed be more interesting than being (the only dark side option in KOTOR) "Chaotic Evil."

    4. Re:I know I'm being negative... by Shihar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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.

    5. Re:I know I'm being negative... by MagicDude · · Score: 4, Informative

      It would probably be closer to neutral evil, since your decision to kill someone would be based on how much it suited you at that given point. Lawful evil would mean that you wouldn't kill him, not because you didn't want to, but because the consequences of being caught were worse than you're willing to accept for the act, even though you really want to see him dead.

  3. Nice one! by BollocksToThis · · Score: 2, Funny

    The original was my fav non Final Fantasy RPG in recent memory, so I can't wait for this one.

    Ha ha, Final Fantasy an RPG! Nice one, CmdrTaco!

    --
    This sig is part of your complete breakfast.
    1. Re:Nice one! by Reapy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't get what makes it an adventure game. An adventure game to me is sam and max or monkey island. As far as I know, rpg games are roll playing games, meaning, you play a roll, with some stats.

      KOTOR has a shallow feature to let you help or kill everything. I fail to see how this somehow makes it a better rpg game? The combat system in kotor is baldurs gate ad&d translated to star wars. Nothing creative. Final fantasy comes out with a new scheme with every game. Usually with a bit more depth. In KOTOR I just use speed, jump, and destroy everything, then get free force heals. At liest it looked cool.

      They are different types of rpg games. Final fantasy is the product of consol rpg games, and sticks to the consol style rpg. KOTOR is the product of computer rpg games, and reflects those styles. Both are great games, but both are RPG games. Role playing... you play a role, get it? RPG doesn't mean flexability to kill everything on the map, that's a feature.

      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!!

      Games are good, varying features are good. Don't get all mad that both games are RPGs.

    2. Re:Nice one! by king-manic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      FF is more along the lines of "roleplaying" then wizadry 8 or ultima. FF is a role playing game, morrowind is more of a "exploit finding" game, or "how many ways I can mess with NPX's" game.

      Don't act so snotty. A RPG is a role playing game, and it also involves stats and choices. FF measures up. Your choices are just nto signigifcant tot he story, but arguably in Morrowind your choices are meaningless too.

      In essence, they all derive from the D&D idea, just think of FF as a DM thats a good story teller but makes you stict to the script, Morrowind is a DM that can't tell stories but is great at letting you customize your character and fallout is a DM with too much time on his hands.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
  4. Delicious evil side antics by Wylfing · · Score: 2, Interesting
    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.

    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.

    --
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    1. Re:Delicious evil side antics by DeepHurtn! · · Score: 2, Interesting
      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.

      This was one of my disappointments too. Juhani (the cat jedi) was a perfect example of this -- she starts off as Darkside, turns back to the light, and then during her side-quest you can encourage her to give in to her rage (in fact, most of the side-quests have a dark and light side solution). But does she turn to the dark side after that? No, she just whines about regretting what she did, or something like that. Would have been nice to be able to sway your buddies over to the darkside with you (or get Canderous to become light side).

    2. Re:Delicious evil side antics by Babbster · · Score: 2, Insightful
      In terms of his words (and his actions in fighting for the newly goody two-shoes Reven), Canderous does make a start toward the light side if you talk through his entire subquest and followup (lots of regretful words about being out only for war and glory). Of course, it's not reflected on his character sheet - then again, it would have no effect if it was since he's not Force-sensitive.

      To me, the biggest problem of the light/dark choice in KOTOR is that the story path remains essentially the same, with differences only becoming evident towards the end. What would be interesting is if different planets/quests were encountered according to one's alignment. Even more entertaining (for replay value) would be if a THIRD path was encountered by those going neutral (presumably this would be the more difficult to achieve). It would take a lot of extra work but the fans would eat it up.

  5. Is IGN's trailer the same as LucasArts'? by antdude · · Score: 2, Informative

    direct link. I assume it is the same.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  6. Re:could Obsidian = Bioware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You probably skipped their latest one:
    http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/56159 4.asp

    Black Isle:

    - Fallout 3: Cancelled
    - T.O.R.N. : Looked Crappy, Cancelled
    - BG3/Jefferson: Cancelled
    - LionHeart: Ugh

    - Icewind Dale: Nice, but not Baldur's Gate
    - Icewind Dale2: Nice, but not Baldur's Gate III

    Leaves:
    - Fallout 2 : Good, but no fallout I
    - Fallout 1 : Great Game
    - PS: T: Great Game

    While I have faith that Obsidian will be doing a good job on their games, I don't give a penny about their past as Black Isle, as they had more cancelled or canned games than released ones.

  7. Re:could Obsidian = Bioware? by Pausanias · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can expect a darker tone in KoTOR II compared to the original. The guys at Obsidian have experience designing morbid games such as Planescape: Torment. They are very good at what they do, and we can expect an outstanding storyline, but I wonder if it'll be too dark for my taste.

    They are hard workers. One of the developers read a ton of star wars novelizations (yuck), just so he wouldn't duplicate a story that was done before.

    Still, I am suspicious. These are also the people who put out the Icewind Dale series of bland dungeon crawls. I think, though, that it was due to pressure by their former employer, and not their own volition.