heirofforce: My problem with Kotor 2 is that Kreia told you to be neither too good nor too bad, but you have very seldom the possibility to chose this kind of option between the two extremes.

voidemissary: Many of the Dark Side options are cartoonishly evil. I accidentally got dark side points by tricking the Toydarian into letting us use his landing pad.

temps: I just completed KOTOR 2 for the first time doing a light side playthrough. People tell me playing a dark side character is really quite fun.

But... I'm guessing the ending is rather unsatisfying if you make all the dark side choices, isn't it? Like, I mean if you side with the attackers attacking the settlement on Dantooine, side with Czerka on Telos, etc.. seems like it would leave you with a really unsatisfying ending. I mean, isn't helping the Republic defeat Sith Lord Nihilus and saving Telos a lot more satisfying than helping the thugs wipe out Dantooine's settlement, helping the Czerka screw the Ithorians, and then in the conclusion, merely having one sith lord replace a few others (Nihilus, Sion, Kreia)? In the grand scheme of things, siding with the Republic seems more satisfying.

Granted... there are times where dark side actions can be a lot of fun in the moment. Like taunting some thugs attacking you in an alley or something and then blasting them... is arguably a lot more fun than the light side action, which typically involves attempting to de-escalate and placate them with phrases like "I don't want to fight you. Just let me go on my way" ... and that sort of thing.

So it seems like light side, overall, gives you a satisfying/happy ending, while perhaps denying you the fun of an occasional alley fight and taunting, or such similar pleasures... while a dark side ending gives you the satisfaction of such fights here and there throughout the game, but leads to an undesirable conclusion.

Seems like the most fun playthrough would be one where you don't go 100% light side or 100% dark side... where you indulge in some alley fights and dark side power usage (with fun things like Force Lightning), while siding with Telos, Ithorians, and Dantooine when it really counts. But unfortunately, that doesn't really make sense RP-wise (a Jedi using dark side powers and indulging in dark side actions while remaining aligned with the light side doesn't really make sense).

Star Wars is too binary: you're either light side or dark side, you're pressured to go all the way in either direction, and it leads to imperfectly satisfying games no matter which way you go.

temps: I just completed KOTOR 2 for the first time doing a light side playthrough. People tell me playing a dark side character is really quite fun.

But... I'm guessing the ending is rather unsatisfying if you make all the dark side choices, isn't it? Like, I mean if you side with the attackers attacking the settlement on Dantooine, side with Czerka on Telos, etc.. seems like it would leave you with a really unsatisfying ending. I mean, isn't helping the Republic defeat Sith Lord Nihilus and saving Telos a lot more satisfying than helping the thugs wipe out Dantooine's settlement, helping the Czerka screw the Ithorians, and then in the conclusion, merely having one sith lord replace a few others (Nihilus, Sion, Kreia)? In the grand scheme of things, siding with the Republic seems more satisfying.

Granted... there are times where dark side actions can be a lot of fun in the moment. Like taunting some thugs attacking you in an alley or something and then blasting them... is arguably a lot more fun than the light side action, which typically involves attempting to de-escalate and placate them with phrases like "I don't want to fight you. Just let me go on my way" ... and that sort of thing.

So it seems like light side, overall, gives you a satisfying/happy ending, while perhaps denying you the fun of an occasional alley fight and taunting, or such similar pleasures... while a dark side ending gives you the satisfaction of such fights here and there throughout the game, but leads to an undesirable conclusion.

Seems like the most fun playthrough would be one where you don't go 100% light side or 100% dark side... where you indulge in some alley fights and dark side power usage (with fun things like Force Lightning), while siding with Telos, Ithorians, and Dantooine when it really counts. But unfortunately, that doesn't really make sense RP-wise (a Jedi using dark side powers and indulging in dark side actions while remaining aligned with the light side doesn't really make sense).

Star Wars is too binary: you're either light side or dark side, you're pressured to go all the way in either direction, and it leads to imperfectly satisfying games no matter which way you go.

heirofforce: My problem with Kotor 2 is that Kreia told you to be neither too good nor too bad, but you have very seldom the possibility to chose this kind of option between the two extremes.