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.

Comments

I know I'm being negative...

[rsilvergun]

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.

Re:I know I'm being negative...

[gmhowell]

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).

Re:I know I'm being negative...

[Shihar]

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.

Re:I know I'm being negative...

[Babbster]

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."

Re:I know I'm being negative...

[MagicDude]

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.

Re:IGN?

[Randolpho]

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

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