izigame.me

I have played this game (and its predecessor) over decades much, much more then Steam counter shows. For me it’s one of GOATs. It just hit me that KotOR series is basically a forerunner for Mass Effect. Of course, ME is using newer/better engine and gameplay is different, much more leaning to action game then RPG, but there are a lot of similar gameplay mechanics to be found.
For those not aware, the series is set ~ four thousand years before the original Star Wars films, telling the story of the conflict between the original (Old) Republic and the Sith Empire (or so you would think). But as one character explains, conflict was never between Siths and Republic, but between Siths and Jedi Order, and Republic is just collateral damage.
This timeline has some of the most memorable bad guys in all of Star Wars. One is Darth Sion, a “walking corpse” Sith Lord who is for all things and purposes immortal, shear force of his hate for everything, everyone and their mothers is keeping him alive/in one piece. Second is Darth Nihilus, essentially a Sith ghost, with very cool mask, who eats planets, or to be more precise, all the life from the hole planet, bacteria, and everything else included. There is excellent comic series published by Dark Horse comics, “Star Wars: The Old Republic” consisting of ~50 episode, that expands story of first game and explains some things that are happening in second one.
If you, like me, are fan of dark humour and irony in abundance, you will adore HK-47. That droid deserves his own (comedy?) show on Disney+. Writer(s) responsible for him should get some award for life achievement.
"Recitation: Yes, as I said, I am an assassin droid. It is my primary function to burn holes through meatbags that you wish removed from the galaxy… Master. Oh, how I hate that term."
"Mockery: Am I all right? Oh, yes, Master, why, I am fine. Statement: I mean, I have only just been re-activated, only to find that there are sub-standard duplicates of me running all over the galaxy, corroding my good name. But if they are, in fact, hunting you, then I look forward to the opportunity to meet these units—and educate them in proper assassination protocols." ~ HK-47
Contrary to the first game, in KOTOR 2 you explore the dark(er) side of the galaxy and results of the war from the first game. To some extent, dialogs get to be philosophical in explorations of cause and effect that is often overlooked in other Star Wars games and especially movies. You get to realise that to the rest of the galaxy Jedi and Siths are same thing. People of Dantooine despise the Jedi for things that the Siths have done. In their eyes these are “two factions of same religion”, to use that metaphor, as almost all Siths are fallen Jedi. KotOR 2 is, at least to my knowledge, one of few games that try to depict how conflict changes people and world/galaxy.
Mandalorian war, that predates events of first game was in essence covert campaign for converting Jedi to Sith. Jedi would be mentally broken (if not physically) as results of being surrounded with killing and death on such scale, after which they would just “slide” to the dark(er) side. Most of the game’s important characters are veterans or had their lives and identities shattered by warfare. KotOR 2 feels like the closest Star Wars ever comes to recognising the endless cycle of war, death, and destruction that the Sith and Jedi have doomed the galaxy to.
Only thing that was left for me to say, for any first-timer or someone who is returning after long time it that “TSL Restored Content Mod” is a MUST and with it opportunity to play one mission solo as HK-47 in quest “HK-50 factory”. “M4-78 Enhancement Project” is fascinating peace of moding, but it’s too buggy for my liking and I had a lot of problems with it :-/.
Other things that you should “install” are “KotOR 2 Remastered (AI Upscaled) Cutscenes”, “KotOR 2 Unlimited World Texture Mod”, “High Quality Skyboxes II”, “K2 Portrait Restored”, “Ultimate Character Overhaul -REDUX-“, “Ultimate Dantooine High Resolution”, “Ultimate Dxun High Resolution”, “Ultimate Korriban High Resolution”, “Ultimate Malachor V High Resolution”, “Ultimate Onderon High Resolution” and finally “Ultimate Nar Shaddaa High Resolution”.
Don’t expect to see Witcher 3 level of graphics after this texture packs are in place, after all this is game from 2005, but it is much nicer than original ones.
Over & out.