The first KOTOR feels like it belongs in the original canon. It’s basically a perfect Star Wars movie with a bunch of game padding around it. It’s the most “Star Wars” Star Wars outside of the Original Trilogy.
KOTOR 2 did what Rian Johnson tried to do in deconstructing and subverting the usual Star Wars tropes, and did so a million times more competently than The Last Jedi. With the Restored Content mod it’s one of my favorite pieces of media ever.
I’ve always found the first KotOR to be in the vein of a typical Star Wars story (Like the OT one), it’s something fun to engage with and fun to follow but KotOR 2 made me a huge fan of the “we’ll deconstruct every thing you knew about Star Wars to its core and you’re going to like it.” approach and boy oh boy do I like it! That story left such a huge imprint on me, I’ve been yearning for another story as good as KotOR 2’s since I first played. Each playthrough, I’m always taken aback by how good it is. They really did craft a masterpiece with this one and it shows. Wish the final game was finished and wasn’t so buggy but we have TSLRCM for that ehhehe.
Have you played Obsidians other works? They love deconstructing tropes. It’s what they’re known for, aside from top-tier writing and being screwed over by their publishers.
Pillars of Eternity has a cleric party member who’s a bitter old man that openly hates his own god.
Alpha Protocol is a clusterfuck of factions allying with and betraying each other, and remains the single most reactive RPG ever made (nearly every choice has consequences, sometimes thirty hours later). It’s hard to recommend though because the gameplay is terrible and it’s probably their buggiest game (it was rushed out the door by Sega, who refused to pay for post-release patches).
Tyranny puts you into the shoes of an executive officer in the Evil Overlord’s army after they’ve already won. I haven’t played it but I’ve only heard good things.
And of course New Vegas brought the Fallout series back to its morally gray roots by having all sides be terrible, but giving compelling practical (if not moral) reasons to side with them anyway.
I really really want to check out their other works, especially FNV. I find it comical how both FNV and K2 were created in such a short time and because of that plagued with issues but both excelled in their writing, storytelling, world-building and as you mentioned, deconstructing commonly established tropes about the franchises (the cherry on top imo).
That final gauntlet of infinitely respawning enemies in the Star Forge must have ended so many non-Jedi/Sith challenge runs. If you don’t have crowd control abilities and high enough DPS to get rid of one group before the next makes it to you, they will wear you down.
On the other hand if you DO have force powers (which the developers clearly balanced the endgame for) and a decent team, it’s a cathartic march of triumph as you blast your way through dozens of what used to be somewhat challenging enemies while Malak panics in the background.
Yeeeaaahh, as a single target sniper it was all hell. Respeccing into something force was very nice! I woke up as a soldier, damn it, I was going to be a soldier.
I’ve found that the force wave and the group stasis force powers do wonders for crowd control. I wish the armour in KotOR 1 was like KotOR 2’s and I didn’t have to significantly trade defense points to be able to use these advanced powers but by that time in the game, I’m powerful enough to withstand it all… it’d just be nice if I could actually do that…
That perk you get from Brianna in KOTOR 2 that lets you add your wisdom modifier to AC when unarmored would have worked wonders in KOTOR. It’s weird that Jedi can’t get the definitive monk class trait in the first game.
Actually, a mod like Tale of Two Wastelands that combines the two games’ content would be amazing. They fixed so many balance problems in the second game (then snapped balance in half over their knee with the crafting system - as is tradition). Porting those improvements to the first would be sublime.
Ikr?! Some basic QoL things that got introduced in KotOR 2 made so much sense and on repeat playthroughs of KotOR I kept trying to do those things only to remember they don’t exist lol
I never could get kotor 2 to run on my machines. I did play the first one. Years and years after it released. Somehow not knowing the twist.
I still did very poorly as it turns out being a sniper was a bad idea for the uhhh ending.
Cheats enabled it was and a complete respec later, tada! Fun.
KOTOR 1 was good, but KOTOR 2 was a masterpiece if you can stomach the janky combat from the first. The writing is [chef’s kiss]
The first KOTOR feels like it belongs in the original canon. It’s basically a perfect Star Wars movie with a bunch of game padding around it. It’s the most “Star Wars” Star Wars outside of the Original Trilogy.
KOTOR 2 did what Rian Johnson tried to do in deconstructing and subverting the usual Star Wars tropes, and did so a million times more competently than The Last Jedi. With the Restored Content mod it’s one of my favorite pieces of media ever.
Basically this: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=OI2iOB8ydGo
That video has been in my aptly-named “Watch Eventually” playlist for ages. I should get around to actually watching it!
It’s insanely good, most things from him are great but I think this one may be my favourite.
I checked my playlist and it’s very nearly the oldest entry still on there. It’s definitely due for a watch by this point!
I’ve always found the first KotOR to be in the vein of a typical Star Wars story (Like the OT one), it’s something fun to engage with and fun to follow but KotOR 2 made me a huge fan of the “we’ll deconstruct every thing you knew about Star Wars to its core and you’re going to like it.” approach and boy oh boy do I like it! That story left such a huge imprint on me, I’ve been yearning for another story as good as KotOR 2’s since I first played. Each playthrough, I’m always taken aback by how good it is. They really did craft a masterpiece with this one and it shows. Wish the final game was finished and wasn’t so buggy but we have TSLRCM for that ehhehe.
Have you played Obsidians other works? They love deconstructing tropes. It’s what they’re known for, aside from top-tier writing and being screwed over by their publishers.
I really really want to check out their other works, especially FNV. I find it comical how both FNV and K2 were created in such a short time and because of that plagued with issues but both excelled in their writing, storytelling, world-building and as you mentioned, deconstructing commonly established tropes about the franchises (the cherry on top imo).
That final gauntlet of infinitely respawning enemies in the Star Forge must have ended so many non-Jedi/Sith challenge runs. If you don’t have crowd control abilities and high enough DPS to get rid of one group before the next makes it to you, they will wear you down.
On the other hand if you DO have force powers (which the developers clearly balanced the endgame for) and a decent team, it’s a cathartic march of triumph as you blast your way through dozens of what used to be somewhat challenging enemies while Malak panics in the background.
Yeeeaaahh, as a single target sniper it was all hell. Respeccing into something force was very nice! I woke up as a soldier, damn it, I was going to be a soldier.
Except, like, no. The game said no lmfao.
Clearly the problem was that you didn’t bring enough grenades!
Grenades do solve a lot of problems!
If the amount of explosives you use doesn’t replace your current problem with a new, even larger one, you didn’t use enough explosives!
Very true for the death match with Bendak Starkiller!
I wish the options were a bit more flexible in that regard ahaha, like if the game said a little maayyybeee, perhaps it would’ve been smoother.
I’ve found that the force wave and the group stasis force powers do wonders for crowd control. I wish the armour in KotOR 1 was like KotOR 2’s and I didn’t have to significantly trade defense points to be able to use these advanced powers but by that time in the game, I’m powerful enough to withstand it all… it’d just be nice if I could actually do that…
That perk you get from Brianna in KOTOR 2 that lets you add your wisdom modifier to AC when unarmored would have worked wonders in KOTOR. It’s weird that Jedi can’t get the definitive monk class trait in the first game.
Actually, a mod like Tale of Two Wastelands that combines the two games’ content would be amazing. They fixed so many balance problems in the second game (then snapped balance in half over their knee with the crafting system - as is tradition). Porting those improvements to the first would be sublime.
Ikr?! Some basic QoL things that got introduced in KotOR 2 made so much sense and on repeat playthroughs of KotOR I kept trying to do those things only to remember they don’t exist lol
That mod sounds really interesting!