Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords | |
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Release | |
Single-player |
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is a
The game uses the
Knights of the Old Republic II starts five years after the events of the first game and follows the story of The Exile, a Jedi Knight who was exiled from the Jedi Order. During this time, the Jedi Order has been almost completely wiped out by the Sith. The game begins with the protagonist waking up from unconsciousness on an asteroid mining facility. After the player escapes with the help of their party members, they find the person who exiled them ten years ago, who sends the protagonist on a mission to seek out the remaining Jedi to fight against the Sith.
The game's critical reception upon its release was generally positive; praise was given to the story, characters, and writing, which were noted to be more gray than the original Knights of the Old Republic. The game was included in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. Particular praise was given to the character of Kreia, with GameSpy naming her the best video game character of 2005. However, the game received criticism for being too similar to its predecessor in terms of graphics and gameplay systems, as well as being launched in an incomplete state.
Gameplay
Knights of the Old Republic II is not a turn based game, but is a
The combat of Knights of the Old Republic II is identical to its predecessor.[6][7][8] Several new lightsaber forms were added to the game.[9] Each of them is useful for a different situation.[10] For example, one is best for enemies using blaster weapons, while another would be good for recovering from using Force powers.[10] The player can use a variety of melee and ranged weapons, including swords and firearms.[10] Fighting unarmed is also an option.[10] A new addition to the game is "prestige classes", add-ons to the Jedi classes that were established in Knights of the Old Republic. They allow the player character to practice in lightsaber combat or Force powers, depending on player choice.[1]
The player can travel with up to two party members at a time, who gain
Synopsis
Setting
The game takes place five years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic and 3,919 years before Episode I: The Phantom Menace,[14][15] in a time when the Jedi have been nearly exterminated by the Sith.[16] The player's character, a former Jedi Knight exiled from the Jedi Order, is referred to as "The Exile" or "Jedi Exile". Throughout the game, the Exile restores their connection to the Force while, with the help of playable companions, setting out to stop the Sith. The player makes choices that turn the Exile to either the light side or the dark side of the Force, and they travel to six planets to either help or hinder the Republic's efforts to bring peace and stability to the galaxy.[17]
New playable locations in Knights of the Old Republic II include Telos, Onderon and its moon Dxun, Malachor V, the Peragus Mining Facility, and various starships such as the hijacked Republic cruiser Harbinger, the Sith cruiser Ravager, and Goto's yacht orbiting Nar Shaddaa.
Characters
The Exile's backstory reveals that the character served under
Among the characters who join the Jedi Exile are
The game features three main antagonists: Darth Traya, a mysterious assailant who remains in the dark through most of the game;
Plot
While hiding on the Harbinger, a Republic cruiser, the Exile is sedated by an HK-50 assassin droid to be delivered to a crime syndicate called the Exchange, who have put out a bounty on live Jedi. The Exile is rescued by Kreia, with whom the Exile forms a Force Bond, and the droid T3-M4 on the Ebon Hawk, and the three flee the Harbinger as it is hijacked by a squad of Sith assassins. However, their ship is damaged during the escape by the Harbinger's gunfire, and they eventually arrive at the Peragus Mining Facility. Teaming up with smuggler Atton Rand, the group escapes to the planet Telos IV. While hiding out on Telos, they encounter Atris, a surviving member of the Jedi Council who sentenced the protagonist to exile ten years prior. After settling a dispute regarding the Exile's past sentence, Atris forms an uneasy alliance with them, instructing them to seek out other surviving Jedi in order to rally against the Sith. The Exile then travels to four worlds to find reclusive Jedi Masters and either beg for their aid or kill them in revenge for being exiled, depending on player choice. As the Exile continues their journey, they are joined by several individuals in their quest.[17]
After finding all the Masters, the Exile travels back to
The Exile defeats the Sith Lord, but before Traya dies, she delivers a prophetic vision of the future pertaining to the player's companions and the worlds that were visited over the course of the story. Depending on the Exile's alignment, they either order the destruction of Malachor V, escaping before it is destroyed, and travel into the Unknown Regions in search of Revan (light side), or remain on Malachor V as the new Dark Lord of the Sith (dark side).[17]
Development
Knights of the Old Republic II was developed by
Development of the game began in October 2003.[25] The overview of the game's story was originally drafted before the first Knights of the Old Republic was released, after which it saw many revisions and also some major redrafts.[26] In preparation to write Knights of the Old Republic II, lead designer Chris Avellone tried to learn as much about the Star Wars universe as possible. He read many books, guides, modules, and graphic novels, and the Obsidian team also relied on the first Knights of the Old Republic and the original Star Wars films for inspiration.[2] Avellone said that Obsidian recognized one of the things that made Knights of the Old Republic great was the story and the companions, and that they tried to expand upon this by adding more depth to them.[25]
Knights of the Old Republic II uses the same d20 System as the first Knights of the Old Republic with some changes, and the level cap has also been removed.[2] For the most part, the team didn't want to redo any of the design elements from the first game, as they felt that there was no need to change anything that had already proved successful; instead, they opted to look for areas that could be improved and expanded upon them in a way that retained the base style of Knights of the Old Republic.[27] Obsidian put much work into the game's graphics, including the appearances of non-player characters.[2] Other technological improvements include the lighting and weather effects, in addition to increasing the level sizes.[2][28] Knights of the Old Republic II's lead artist was Aaron Meyers; he decided which people would join the art team after looking through "tons of applications, resumes, and demo reels", and he said that he was pleased with the number of people who wanted to work for Obsidian.[29] Meyers also complained about the short deadline the development team had to deal with.[29] Obsidian's COO, Chris Parker, said that the schedule set for the development team was "extremely aggressive", and that the team felt a lot of pressure because they were "making a sequel to the game of the year for 2003".[25]
For the music, the development team felt that symphony orchestra would work best for Knights of the Old Republic II.
When Obsidian was preparing to present Knights of the Old Republic II at
When looking back at Knights of the Old Republic II in a 2013 interview, Avellone said that because of LucasArts forcing Obsidian to finish the game in a short time frame of 14 to 16 months, the game ended up being in an "unfinished" state.[22] However, Avellone said that Obsidian was at fault for this due to not cutting out enough things; he noted that all minigames should have been removed, and also said that there were too many in-engine cutscenes.[22] Obsidian's co-founder, Feargus Urquhart, said that the game was originally going to be released in 2005, but it was later moved up to December 2004 after E3; according to him, Obsidian had to choose between "get[ting] in trouble or get[ting] it done".[35] Due to this, several cuts had to be made; one of the most major was the droid planet M4-78, which was entirely removed from the game after the 2004 E3 event when the team realized that they wouldn't be able to fit it into the schedule.[36] M4-78's designer, Kevin Saunders, explained that he moved assets from that planet to Nar Shaddaa's yacht level in order to complete it on time, which was prior also likely to be cut from the game.[37]
The Xbox version of Knights of the Old Republic II went
Along with several official
Reception
Commercial performance
According to
By early 2006, Knights of the Old Republic II had sold almost 1.5 million copies.[55] Its sales in the United States alone reached 1.275 million by 2008.[56]
Critical reception
Aggregator | Score | |
---|---|---|
1Up.com B[10] | | |
Computer Gaming World | 90/100[57] | |
Eurogamer | 8/10[58] | |
GamePro | 4.5/5[8] | 4.5/5[59] |
GameSpot | 8.5/10[60] | 8.5/10[1] |
GameSpy | 4/5[61] | |
GameZone | 8.9/10[7] | 9.3/10[62] |
IGN | 8.7/10[14] | 9.3/10[63] |
Knights of the Old Republic II was met with positive reception upon its release; on Metacritic, it has an aggregate score of 85/100 and 86/100 on the PC and Xbox versions respectively, indicating "generally favorable reviews" according to the site.[66][67] IGN said that there is a bulk of pressure involved with developing the sequel to a game from a different developer which won several "Game of the Year" awards, and that Obsidian delivered.[63] The review also said that it will not disappoint fans of the original game and that it is mostly similar to it in terms of the model.[14][63] GamePro praised both the first and second Knights of the Old Republic and said that the second game continues the series' tradition of not fixing what is not broken.[59] GameSpot echoed this statement, also saying that both the good things and the shortcomings from the first game are present in Knights of the Old Republic II.[1]
The combat was generally well-received, with some reviewers noting that it is mostly unchanged from the original Knights of the Old Republic.
GameSpot criticized Knights of the Old Republic II's graphics, calling them "lackluster".[1][60] GameSpy's reviewer felt that the game's graphics were disappointing, calling them "a little dated" and "half-baked".[61] The reviewer further criticized the graphics for looking the same as they were in the first game of the series, saying that they could only be considered "good" during the release of that game.[61] GameZone said that the game looks exactly the same as the original Knights of the Old Republic[62] and that it does not compare to the majority of mainstream games released at the time.[7] GameSpy called the music in the game "excellent"; however, the reviewer noted that some of it is re-used from the first game of the series.[61] The GameSpy reviewer also said that while the majority of the voice-acting is good, there are "a few more examples of bad voice-acting" than in the first Knights of the Old Republic.[61] GameZone said that the "top-notch" voice acting complements the game's very well-written dialogue, and also praised the game's sound effects.[62]
The game was criticized for its glitches; several players reported having problems with pathfinding bugs.[14] 1UP.com's reviewer condemned Knights of the Old Republic II for having the same bugs and technical issues as in the first game, saying that his party "still had a tendency to warp and skip around the map at times", and he also criticized the pathfinding in the game.[10] GameSpy said that the game's bugs are "hard to forgive", and that these issues did not occur in the first Knights of the Old Republic.[61] In a different article, GameSpy said that the game is incomplete, and attributed this to its rushed deadline.[68]
GameSpy called Kreia the best video game character of 2005, saying that she was "easily the most intriguing, complicated, enigmatic, well-designed and nuanced character in a video game this year".[69] The game received runner-up placements in GameSpot's 2004 "Best Role-playing Game", "Best Voice Acting", "Best New Character" and "Best Game Based on a TV or Film Property" award categories across all platforms.[70] In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[71]
References
Footnotes
Citations
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External links
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords at IMDb
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords at MobyGames
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki