Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

"Better than the original..."

Let me start by saying this is my first review.

Graphics (8/10): This game uses the same engine as the first game, so those expecting a vast graphical improvement will be somewhat disappointed. There is a somewhat greater and more detailed face selection for the PC. The game features a number of minor graphical improvements that are likely to go unnoticed by many players. There's an increase in particle effects, atmospheric details like mist, and the lightsaber animations are more varied this time around (though still not markedly different... different lightsaber "forms" in the game do little to change your visible attack style). I've listed mostly issues I had with the graphics here, so why give them an eight? Because the graphics in the first game were never bad to begin with, everthing gels well, combat is slick enough, and I wasn't expecting a graphical overhaul in this timeframe.

Sound (10/10): The sound is just as good as the first one. Featuring Dolby Digital surround, a soundtrack of mostly modified Williams, and a glut of voice actors... this game provides everything one would like to get from a game aurally.

Story: (10/10): The story in this game seems much better than the previous installment. The first game was widely heralded for having a good storyline. In reality, the story was rife with cliche's and much of the drama rested upon a plot twist.
--Characters:This game differs from the first in its attempt to make the characters more complex in demeanor. The main character has a troubled past as a participant in the Mandalorian wars. The rest of the cast is also complex, and the game avoids ascribing extreme good or bad tags to any of the characters. This could've been executed in a poor pop-psych sort of fashion, as is common in "troubled" RPG characters(Carth from the first one, for instance), however.. the writers managed to avoid this pitfall. The characters not only succeed in having depth of personality, but react fairly realistically to your main characters actions.
--Plot Arc:Some might be displeased with it, but the plot is generally less cohesive and linear than the first game. The leeway given to alternate paths for characters is most likely the culprit here. The game has a sense of starting in the middle, as your character already has a past, and the events of the first game feature prominently. I can also say without really spoiling it, that the ending(s) leaves a certain opening for a future sequel, and as a result, things feel not entirely wrapped up. On the whole however, the game "feels" longer than the first one to me. Certain areas are short, but the combination of side quests and potential character development provide ample time should the player find the desire.

Gameplay (9/10): This game mirrors the first in terms of general gameplay. Your time is spent doing two things basically, doing quests... in the sense of making decisions (in conversations) that will impact rewards and alignment, and combat.

--Combat remains identical to the first game. The autopause feature starts when a conflict arises, allowing you to select a primary action, and possibly queue up others. From there, you can repause, or select actions on the fly. Your in-battle commands contain: melee/ranged combat, force powers, item use, and some special abilities. Unarmed combat was made a more viable combat option in this game, but it doesn't really alter the flow of combat.

--Conversation/Quests have actually changed quite a bit. The designers decided to implement a much more detailed conversation system this time around. The first game provided basically two alternate options in conversations... persuade (which made the appropriate skill check), and force persuade (use the force, possibly in an evil way). This game has totally fleshed out the degree to which your character customization affects general play. The PC will find his both his skills and stats being checked constantly to afford various options in game. Is your character particularly wise or smart? Different conversation options may arise in either case (different for wisdom and intelligence no less). Conversely, if your character is an idiot, they may just never come up with the right things to say. Skills relevant to an issue also pop up, if a character is particularly skilled with demolitions, he/she may be able to suggest an option using explosives. This is one of the best features in the game, which I haven't really seen since Torment: Planescape (some of their programmers worked on this game). Skills also make themselves useful for their "original" purpose. Rather than mulitple skills solving the same problem, you'll find some doors only openable by demolitions. Some containers you won't be opening without security...etc. The only real weakness here is, as in the first game, you can usually just have a skilled companion help out with such matters, and the number of stat/skill raising devices in the game is such that even if you created an idiot character (like I did) and never attempted to rectify that at level-up... you'd still find them quite able to "be wise" or accomplish many skill related tasks simply by equipping a certain combination of items.

--Difficulty: The first game was not particularly difficult by most accounts. The second game is no different. The game has no level-cap that I've noted, and the amount of power your character accrues by the game's end is such that few enemies but the final boss (imho) provide any real challenge. It is possible to make things more difficult for yourself, but the item upgrade system allows you to easily craft lightsabers that are ridiculously powerful, armor that stops pretty much anything, and all the super health items you could possibly want. It doesn't mar the game, and the crafting system is a nice touch, but using it can trivialize much of the game. The game lets you use your companions for crafting purposes, which basically means you can have someone with maxed skills make pretty much anything as time goes on. This diminishes the importance of the main character's skillset, and detracts somewhat from a skill-based build replay. I think most people will enjoy themselves though, and the relative ease makes for good....

Replay (9/10): It won't be a completely different game, but they've taken pains to improve the replay over the first game by a lot. Items spawn randomly this time around, meaning you won't be seeing the same items drop from area to area in successive playthroughs. You have a choice of multiple classes, two genders, and evil or good "prestige class" versions of the first classes later in the game. There are many characters in the game besides the PC, what set of people you want to drag around with you can change from game to game. The game has different endings dependent on actions you took, though it's not clear how many really "distinct" endings the game actually has. All in all, one can expect to get a fair amount of mileage from this title.

Overall (9/10):

This game improves alot over the previous title. I'd almost be willing to give it the perfect ten, except for a few issues:
-the improvements are almost all around integrating stats/skills into the game, lots of other things remain unchanged... there could've been some work elsewhere
-as mentioned, the difficulty seems inherently low. While I don't consider myself a gaming novice, the game was VERY easy in my opinion, none of the bosses required a special strategy of any sort. I never had to buy any medpacs, weapons, or anything really... you can just find everything you need as you move through (considering there aren't many shops, this is probably a good thing). I was expecting more of a challenge, the only fight in the game that gave me any trouble wasn't plot related - and had no particular reward.
-this game has a fair number of glitches (more so than the first, which I manged to playthrough several times, before intentionally locating the glitches). Some of these are perhaps bad xboxs, or bad copies -- however there are definitely some issues that can arise. I haven't had any of the more serious ones people have mentioned, but all sorts of minor sound errors, quest bugs, looping cutscenes, and other annoyances popped up on a brisk playthrough. Considering this is a console game, and can't be patched... this is a very big no-no. If it weren't one of the best RPGs released in recent memory, it would definitely be losing more than a point from the overall for that.

In conclusion, it's a very solid game, and I'd recommend a purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/04