I'm ashamed to admit this, but...

[WindupAtheist]

It's 2007, and I just played through the original Knights of the Old Republic for the first time.  Between my well-founded disdain for the Star Wars "expanded universe" and the initial disgust I felt years ago upon hearing that the game would use those terrible hoary old Dungeons & Dragons mechanics for combat, I just never got around to it.

Yes, it was awesome, etcetera.  Rather than heap praise upon a game everyone else got over years ago, I'll just ask a couple questions of anyone who feels like replying, for the sake of comparison.

A)  First time through, light or dark?
B)  Most disappointing aspect?

I ran toward the dark side so fast that the inability of the Jedi to notice that I was a black-clad mass murderer with a red lightsaber became comical.  And I was really, really, really disappointed that I didn't get to murder Carth.  Seriously, I end up butchering half of my own party, and Carth survives?  I decided I wanted to kill him after the first thirty minutes of play.

Anyway, this concludes me catching up to four years ago.  For the moment.

[Big Gulp]

Seriously, I end up butchering half of my own party, and Carth survives?  I decided I wanted to kill him after the first thirty minutes of play.

There's a moment of comic brilliance from HK in the sequel where he mocks Carth and whoever your pain in the ass girl sidekick was.  Pure gold.

[Ironwood]

You can turn Carth Dark tho, can't you ?  I seem to remember doing that.

That's much worse than killing the fucker.

KOTOR was an above average game that was made exceptional merely by the inclusion of HK-47.

:)

[Fabricated]

I would suggest light myself, since dark requires dogged determination to keep being the asshole in the top hat at every opportunity.

KOTOR2 is amazing until towards the end when the games incredible writers decided to go vacation and leave the end for an intern to wrap up.

[Ironwood]

I disagree, I think KOTOR2 was worse than the original at every stage but really, really, really blew chunks towards the end.

[eldaec]

Light first time through - the game doesn't give you enough excuses to go dark.

Combat toward the end was just too trivial.

5 minutes of exposition around how awesome splendid this battle is going to be, then 'Flurry' 'Flurry', oh, villian dead, again.


EDIT:

In the immortal words of Edmund Blackadder, KOTOR2 starts off badly, tails off in the middle, and the less said about the end the better.

Do not play KOTOR2.

[Big Gulp]

Light first time through - the game doesn't give you enough excuses to go dark.

Yeah, the first game only really let you choose between Dudley Do-Right or Satan's cabana boy with regard to moral choices.  The second one was far more morally ambiguous.  I truthfully felt that the sequel was better until you got to the piss-poor unfinished ending.

[SnakeCharmer]

Despite being a Star Wars nerd, I have yet to play either of these games.  I have KOTOR2 sitting shrinkwrapped on my shelf.  Perhaps I should pick up KOTOR1 when I get my new rig together.

[Roac]

Yeah, the first game only really let you choose between Dudley Do-Right or Satan's cabana boy with regard to moral choices.  The second one was far more morally ambiguous.  I truthfully felt that the sequel was better until you got to the piss-poor unfinished ending.

Well, you could ignore people.  That right there was really your choices. 

*Random guy walks up to you*
Guy: Hey, can I borrow a few bucks?
A) Give him ten times that amount and offer to escort him around on his daily chores.
B) Tell him to go away.
C) Impale him, eat his entrails, and order your party to make a necklace out of his body parts.

The story was good enough on its own to look past those sorts of 'choices', but it remains probably the weakest part of the game.  Still, it was a good game overall.

[Sky]

KotOR, originally played it on the xbox. 60 hours first run-through as Jedi, 40 hours second run as Sith. Great game. Probably played it too much, totally burned out by the time the pc version came out. Now I know to wait a few years for Bioware to pop out the pc version.

Gizka is 3 minor bugs away from the next build. I'm hoping to play KotOR2 by xmas.

http://team-gizka.org/wip.html

[Morat20]

KotOR, originally played it on the xbox. 60 hours first run-through as Jedi, 40 hours second run as Sith. Great game. Probably played it too much, totally burned out by the time the pc version came out. Now I know to wait a few years for Bioware to pop out the pc version.

Gizka is 3 minor bugs away from the next build. I'm hoping to play KotOR2 by xmas.

http://team-gizka.org/wip.html

I've been watching that -- I have high hopes for the Gizka rebellion. :)

KOTOR was pure awesome, though. HK-47 had much to do with that, I admit. I'm thinking of trying the game again to see if I can actually force myself to get through the game without switching to a pure Jedi party by the time I get Jolee off Kashykk.

Speaking of the ending -- when Darth Whats-His-Face sends everyone after you, he's not fucking kidding. On the bright side, three patient Jedi with Force Wave makes life fun. :)

[WindupAtheist]

Carth first annoyed me with his habit... his habit of stammering... stammering whenever he was agitated.  His constant whining about how he couldn't trust anyone turned that irritation into genuine dislike.  But blurting out something to the effect of "Fighting under an assumed name is a good idea since we're hiding from the Sith!" right in the middle of the cantina, right in front of the hutt that was signing me up for the arena match?  That throwaway bit of dialogue was what made me hate him.

And he never turned it around.  He continued to be a whiny Dudley Do-Right bitch throughout the entire game.  His crowning moment came when everyone realized I had turned to the dark side, and that he and Mission were the only surviving party members who weren't cool with it.  He doesn't draw his gun and try to buy her time to escape.  He doesn't even deliver any cliche "Keep me but let the girl go!" lines.  Nope, he just starts running without a word, pausing only briefly to yell over his shoulder that she should run too.

Wow, real fucking heroic there, Carth.  I hope you came back after I left and felt like a shitheel when you found her mangled little corpse.  I'd have let her come along as part of Team Evil if she had been willing, but I wouldn't have pissed on Carth if he were on fire.

 

[Rasix]

I thought Carth tries to come back? I remember curb stomping in the end, even after his cowardice.   Maybe if it's only if you're female and Carth is your love interest. 

I played light first (dude), then dark (chix).  Dark was hard for me, but had some truly great moments. 

I wasn't disappointed with KOTOR at all really.  KOTOR2 with its dangling plot lines, technical hiccups (still the only game to ever crash on my xbox), and shitbox ending (last level + resolution) had me feeling empty when it was done.

[McCow]

KOTOR was pure awesome.  I was lucky enough to avoid KOTOR2 as I was busy with other things at the time. 

I have high (ULTRA HIGH) hopes that Mass Effect turns out to produce the same kinda of experience that KOTOR did.

Meatbag.

[Kail]

A)  First time through, light or dark?

Light.  I don't like playing "evil" characters in general, and in KOTOR it just seemed stupid.  You weren't being "I will conquer the galaxy and enslave all it's people" evil most of the time, you were just being a dick.

B)  Most disappointing aspect?

Combat.  Run in, autoattack.  Depending on your numbers, you might have a special attack that you'd want to spam endlessly instead.  Occasionally there's a force ability to use if you're a Jedi, or an item if you're not, but usually you're just playing the numbers.  Hope you didn't roll up your character thinking that playing a high int/dex scoundrel was going to be a possible option just because it looks that way up until you've beaten a quarter of the game, that kind of thing.

Cutscenes bugged me too, but Mass Effect looks a thousand times better in that department, so at least they're getting better (I think).

[WindupAtheist]

I'm playing through again as an evil chick.  I need to kill Carth.   :-D

[Mazakiel]

A.  Light side.  As mentioned by many, the dark side choices were too Snidely Whiplash most of the time.  There were some good moments playing dark side though, like having the Wookie murder Mission because she wasn't going to stay with you once you revealed your evilness. 

B.  Being forced to spend 8 levels as a non-Jedi, assuming you didn't just not level past 2 until you got to the Jedi Academy. 


Overall, I liked KOTOR 2 alot more than the first one though.  It was easier to skew dark without having to kick puppies around, as I recall at least.  The ending sucked, yeah, but the game up to that was golden. 

[fnddf2]

1.  Light side.  I always like being the good guy, and never had the urge to go dark.

2.  I played the PC, so the most annoying thing for me was that it kept crashing every once in a while on XP.  I'm not sure if anyone else had this problem, but every once in a while it would crash while loading a saved game.  I never finished it because I got tired of the crashing towards the end.

[stray]

I started Light Side, then slowly broke down after the midway point. By the end, my character totally flipped out and killed Carth (I think...? Maybe he ran away. I don't remember).

[Triforcer]

I have the same problem with the KOTORs that I had with baldur's gate 2.  I never could quite muster the nerve to make the truly evil choices like selling people into slavery and whatnot.  I always wanted to do them all darkside (BG2 in particular) but I guess I am just wimpy or something. 

[Strazos]

I played through as a light side int/dex monkey scoundrel. And yes, it's not only entirely possible, but also pretty easy if you're good at these sort of games. Stealth + Crit Strike = lol 1-shots.

[WindupAtheist]

Playing a dark side male who was never particularly nice to Carth, I didn't get to kill him.  He ran away like a pussy shortly before Mission's little "You'll just have to kill me!" routine.  And to me, Mission's last stand was probably the most powerful moment, story-wise, in any RPG I've ever played.  I mean, I liked Mission.  Sure she was just the Imoen of Star Wars, but I found myself genuinely hoping she would give in once it became clear that Zaalbar wasn't going to break his life debt.

When I had Zaalbar kill her, it wasn't a case of "Haha, melting faces and being a prick is funny!" like most of the other dark side events were.  It wasn't even a dramatic lightsaber-swinging throwdown like when I took out Jolee and Juhani.  It was more like "I really wish she hadn't dared me to kill her, because I cast my die before I even got here and now I have to follow through."

It was the only choice I made in the game that succeeded in making me feel bad, and it finally made the dark side seem like something besides a fun carnival ride of owning faceless peasants that I didn't like anyway.  It gave the entire climax from that point on a certain narrative urgency.  Like, my urge to take over the galaxy meant this girl had to die, so I had damn well better succeed in taking over the galaxy.

[Strazos]

I mean, I liked Mission.  Sure she was just the Imoen of Star Wars

Aww, come on, you gotta like Imoen and the other imitators. Also, the movies would probably have benefited from such a character.

Also, it would have been funny if, "Heya! It's me, Mission!" had been a line in the game.

[Sky]

^

WUA's best post evar

[caladein]

First time through is usually light side for me: it lets me see all these people's incredibly moving life stories for when I slaughter them as dark side next go around.

For disappointments, I can't really think of many, although compared with KotOR2 the dark side was really underdeveloped. Turning Mira dark side blows pretty much anything with Bastilla out of the water. The most annoying thing about playing through as dark is that you develop these close bonds with other people and when it comes down to the "UNLIMITED POWER" sort of moment: you have to kill them. Your followers in KotOR through dark either don't give a shit, or stay with you merely to save their own hides... you never get to actually turn them yourself.

With KotOR2, you actually got to use your relationships with people to make them side with you. Then Jade Empire basically turns the idea on its head and lets you say, "Haha! Your souls are mine, puppets!" which is equally a great option.

[WindupAtheist]

The most annoying thing about playing through as dark is that you develop these close bonds with other people and when it comes down to the "UNLIMITED POWER" sort of moment: you have to kill them.

While it would have been fun to have a character or two around whom you could influence to the dark side, the bottom line is that your party had a number of light side Jedi and dedicated Republic types in it.  You certainly weren't going to convert ALL of them.  If you want to play through as one of the ruthless murderous Sith, it's entirely reasonable for the game to ask you to ruthlessly murder some characters you otherwise liked.

In other news, I give up on playing an evil chick.  I can't spend thirty or forty hours of gametime being nice to Carth.  Not even for the chance to kill him.  Bleh.

[Strazos]

But that's balanced out by the crazy stuff you can do to Bastilla if you play an evil chick. Not only can you make her confused over her allegiances, but you can also make her sexually confused. It's pretty funny.

[Bunk]

Played Darkside as Scoundrel/Conselar(?) Chick. Not going combat monkey makes for a more challenging game - unlike Kotor2, where if you went force monkey you could just fry every enemy in a room in three seconds.

Played with Bastilla and Mission for 95%, using a mod to make the game allow a lesbian romance with Bastilla, clearly in order to satisfy my 8th grade level fantasies...

Bastards, let me bring Bastilla to the Darkside, but made me force Chewie-clone to pop Mission's head off. That was just mean.

Kotor2 is not a total waste, some of the storyline was really well done, and they do give you some less extreme options on the whole alignment development. The last planet was an absolute travesty though.

[Morat20]

I played a high-dex Scout/Sentinel light-side Jedi in KOTOR. Of course, I stopped leveling scout at level 4. (I did take the third level implant feat). A few things of note -- first, the light-side gear scattered through the game (up to and including the Star Forge Robes) means lack of wisdom and charsima means jack shit. I was a fucking god. My stats were insane. Nobody could fucking touch me.

Secondly, the 'extra content' -- the Yavin Station -- was well worth the visits, especially once you blew up the Trandoshans and beat the guy 10 times in Paazack. Not only did he buy everything (including racing bonds) for a fuckton more than anyone else, but his high-end gear (after the Trandoshans) and his discount (after the Paazack wins) meant you were going to be using some seriously top-notch shit. Kinda made the game too easy.

The only fight I even considered moderately difficult was the end fight, because my Jedi wasn't kitted out for either full combat or full force. I was forced to dip into the giant supply of stims I had. :)

[WindupAtheist]

I found that the huge number of medpacks I had made combat trivial.  Anything that couldn't instapwn me in one round was basically fucked.

[Murgos]

I found that after the first portion of being a Jedi in KOTOR the combat became trivial.  There was never any real risk of losing so fights went on just as long as it took to whittle the enemies hit points down.  The main reason I finished the game was simply the story telling.  I never finished KOTOR2.

[Strazos]

Dual-wielding + Critical Strike + forged lightsabers fitted for more crits and extra crit damage = lolz

[stray]

I found that after the first portion of being a Jedi in KOTOR the combat became trivial.  There was never any real risk of losing so fights went on just as long as it took to whittle the enemies hit points down.  The main reason I finished the game was simply the story telling.  I never finished KOTOR2.

QFT. Though I'd say this is a problem with all Bioware games.

[WindupAtheist]

I had so many dark side points that the mana cost for most dark abilities was insignificant, even as a guardian.  Whenever there was a crowd of enemies, I would just wade in and spam Force Storm.  I'm pretty sure a max-dark consular spamming Death Field would be invincible.

[Strazos]

You're somewhat correct.