I cannot concieve how people are calling this game a classic or whatever, its awful. I bought this on GOG expecting to get a game with ♥♥♥♥♥♥ graphics, average gameplay and a mind blowing story/ RPG experience based on reviews.

The gameplay is terrible, theres very limited strategic options. Could have ignored that if story was good. Makes me want to turn on easy mode and play the game as a visual novel.

Theres so many things that break immersion. First having the game controls explained to you by a story character during a key story part (they call it a tutorial but the whole story starts from this event) thats on the same level of stupid than 'Whats a paladin?'

Then youre given dialogues choice like '♥♥♥♥ the princess/queen im leaving this ship' then you realize it doesnt matter cause youre getting forced down a path.

Then you end up in some appartments and start bashing down thick plated doors with a ♥♥♥♥ing katana and it works, nobody bats an eye.

Then theres the metal swords that block lightsabers. The explanation? 'Special metal' , basically saying 'because its magic' in a science fiction set. This is extremely poor lore-wise and makes the game even more bland

You murder random ppl for bounties in public while being actively tracked down by siths who locked down a whole district looking for you.

A bunch of drunks pick up a fight with you for no reason and when they are low HP they dont surrender but fight to death instead. Again no reaction from authorities. This society somehow managed to evolve to flying cars and laser guns with people killing each other in the streets . wow so rpg, very realism -_-

You kill a bunch of siths with a sword that can stand lightsabers yet recover their intact uniforms and wear them to sneak past siths. These futuristic soldiers get killed in public and the alarm isnt raised? They dont have ♥♥♥♥ing radio contact in year 3056

Conclusion : I paid around 5$ for KOTOR 1 + 2 so I only wasted that. Not even mad for the 5$, just disappointed that a game labeled as a masterpiece couldnt scratch my itch for a decent cRPG. Honestly this game would have been so much better if it was 2D isometric rather than 3D, the budget would have been invested more on the story and gameplay rather than graphics to please the star wars fanboys.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

SW: KotOR is at least a "good" game (surely not perfect), too many people/critics love it to deny that, don't you think? Now, if you personally don't like it, for whatever reason, that is perfectly fine too. I know a few RPG fans that dislike the combat system, or gameplay in general myself. But no one is going to force it down your throat, taste is a thing. Everyone dislikes stuff that is otherwise universally acclaimed.

However, since you felt the need to write about your experience here in the forum, in detail, I feel free to discuss a few of your points, which I find petty at best.

First of all, from your examples I assume you never got off the first planet, Taris, which would mean you've never seen more than the looong introduction to the world and story, so I don't see how you could judge the story yet.
Then you're complaining about very standard tutorial stuff, like "being forced down a path" or a character existing only to explain stuff to you?
Knocking down doors with a weapon is really a deal-breaker for you, or fighting drunks in the street? I wonder how many games you're able to enjoy, since almost all have some sort of compromise of that sort between realism and gameplay and none are 100% realistic.
Besides, the Sith are searching for the Jedi Bastila and Republic soldiers, not you or Carth specifically.

I am sorry you feel like you've wasted your money and time, but maybe you're focusing on the wrong aspects.

Lastly, your last comment about 2D-isometric versus 3D makes me think you're someone who just hasn't played a lot of modern RPGs from the last years? In any case, suggesting that focusing on 2D graphics would have somehow magically made the rest of the game better in your eyes....

All in all, just stop playing a game if you don't like it.

First off thanks for taking the time to reply properly, thing that steam forums users couldnt do.

Honestly most of the hype around this game is the star wars label. I guess it was also good at the time of release compared to other games. Most of today's AAA games are highly liked by lots of people while still being sub par.

You are right I am still on the first planet. I figured the story would get better but progress was too painful for me. As for the doors, well, it does break the immersion and the role playing part of the game. Imagine if you could smash down brick walls with a mace in baldurs gate/skyrim/dragon age (games i enjoy with their flaws) with that kind of realism they might as well have made a 3rd person adventure/fighting game.For the drunks it just feels random that a character decides to fight until death for no reason.

What i meant with 2D is that it requires less ressources to create all the maps/visuals so the other aspects can get focused more (gameplay/story/content)

I don't think one can speak of hype anymore, the game is 14 years old, after all. You're certainly right that the Star Wars settings plays a role in it, especially regarding the very black-and-white morality system, but I wouldn't reduce it to that. I am not a particularly huge Star Wars fan myself, but count KotOR among my favorite games.
The first planet is a long part of the game, maybe ten hours? Many like it, many don't, but I can at least assure you, that the game gets way more open and interesting setting-wise after the that.

Again, of course it is nonsense that a drunk would fight to the death with a stranger in the middle of the street, or that you can knock down doors with nothing but a stick, but that's just part of the gameplay over realism, as I tried to point out. The characters don't have to sleep or go to the bathroom at any point either, but that doesn't bother you, does it? Of course the flaws you pointed out are more visible, but the same principle applies for me.

I'm reluctant to recommend this, but some of what you disliked isn't present in the second game anymore. Since you've paid for it already, maybe you'd like to give that one a try, for a few hours? It is a much more grounded story, less "Star Wars" and has a dark, gritty feel to it. You'll still encounter the doors that way and some of the NPC interactions are clunky though.

Well KotOR is a chock full of the expected video game idiosyncrasies as any other video game. What were you expecting? Perfect realism? In a video game? Puh-LEAZE!! :P

Game devs back then were even less interested in MUH REALIZM!! than they are today.

KotOR is a more than serviceable product. I get you on the combat though. It's kind of a slip-shod hacky-slashy mess but that makes it feel sorta raw to me I suppose.

Then you're "mind blowingly" naive. There is no such thing as an unbiased review. There is only one way to truly determine if a game is good in *your* eyes and that is to try it for yourself *WITHOUT* forming opinions based on third party information, nor comparing it to something else, even prequels. Every game should be judged on its own merits. To do otherwise is, as I said, incredibly naive.

All it means is that many people loved it. There's not much objectivity to it, same for movies, books, etc... I agree with him that much of its success and praise is tied to having the Star Wars label.

Still, I find KotOR to be a good RPG, despite not being that much respectful to the Star Wars lore as established in the movies (the second game even less so). It takes many liberties for the sake of gameplay and mass appeal. KotOR II takes that and takes liberties with the story as well. There's something there, but it's not Star Wars.

Well the comments on the gog page are praising this game so much. My expectations were legit. I bought many games on gog based on gog reviews and rarely got disappointed. And how the fuck should i judge a game on its merits if i DONT OWN IT???? Watching a guy on youtube play destroys the immersion aspect and cannot do much besides show graphics/gameplay.

Honestly I just realized the true reason why this game is bad : it was designed for consoles, basically a console port. Its so obvious when you see how the combat system works and the way you select your attacks is made to suit controllers. Silly money grab at the star wars fan-base. Both kotor 1 + 2 released between the movies episodes 2 & 3. The overall hype around the star wars universe was probly at its peak during that time hence why it got so much praise.

Your views are so full of preconceptions it's no wonder you don't like this game. I rest my case.

Honestly are you fucking retarded? Or you got a Wal-Mart plastic lightsaber stuck up your ass. What made YOU buy the game to start with if not for the reviews? The star wars label? Fanboy much? Still a preconception that the game would satisfy you.

Its not like i expected the game to be a very precise thing, just to be enjoyable overall. How stupid was I to expect a video game to be enjoyable, silly preconceptions...

It is NOT possible to buy a game without any preconceptions, Youre gonna base your purchase on something : Title, description, pictures, videos, reviews, word of mouth, price tag, etc...


Everything I wrote here was based on my actual in-game experience and opinion. It is technically post-conception.

This should have been a cereal box game.

I thought as much: not much between the ears.

thats a preconception, stop being naive

KOTOR takes place 4000 years before the movies, so I'm not sure why you expected them to be consistent. Then again, maybe the reason I loved it when it came out was because it was "not Star Wars". I bought it before reviews because I was bored, had an X Box, and liked Bioware. I own exactly 0 Star Wars games other than KOTOR 1 & 2, and have no desire for any.

For the original poster:

Star Wars is high fantasy in space, not science fiction. "A long time ago, in a galaxy far away," and 4000 years earlier than that to boot (talk about stagnant technology). That's why you have sword fights in the first place (light saber or not). The force is God and/or magic, depending on how you look at it. None of it is "realistic" -- the movies don't even remain self-consistent within the rules they present.

Also, there were lots of Star Wars games out at the time, and later as well. Why would this game be the only one "artificially inflated" due to Star Wars hype? The reason is that these games really were great console games. Maybe not the best PC game ever, but that's OK. I liked the PC games as well, although it was annoying that I couldn't cheat through the real time minigames any more. Most of the reviewers at the time that I was aware of gave this game a perfect score, with very little talk of Star Wars. The only one I saw which didn't knocked off a point for the sin of turn-based combat in a console game.

Maybe my view is affected by the fact that I first played it when it was still relatively new. I also obviously played the game differently. I never once found the need to bash a door, box, or anything else (that's what lock picking is for; even soldiers can just wait for Mission before going through locked or mined areas). I always got the uniform from the Sith at the bar (party), and didn't have to resort to killing anyone for it. Also, killing the drunks is evil, and I'm pretty sure I never did that (I can't play evil). Since I prefer playing fighter/mages, the game obviously got better for me once I got to be a mage (after the intro planet you can create a party of pure spellswords, and in KOTOR 2 you can turn all your companions except the crappy wookie [but why would you ever take the wookie instead of Mira?] into spellswords).

Yeah, the game has flaws (like everybody is way more important to the operation of the universe than they should be, like many epic RPGs). What game doesn't? Still worth way more than $5 (and my time), though.

On the other hand, I'll never understand the worship for Chrono Trigger. Oh well. I guess different people have different tastes, eh?

What game do you like? Not being snide. Some of what you said is true. Though I don't remember it is a port, I do hate the FPS aspects. But the art work is often great. The Valley of the Sith Lords is to me is really cool. Besides I've had fun. (If I remember correctly, KOTOR II, no so much.) So to me it is well worth the price of admission. But I am curious what makes the grade for you? (Torment?)

@darktjm About the part where I kill drunks, didnt mention in original post but you have 3 dialogue options 2 to avoid fight using the (persuade) skill and a 3rd to fight. That implies that without the proper level of persuade you are forced to fight. The joke is that even say they are upper class citizens and low class ppl like us should get out of the upper city, then they procede to fight to death and throw away their high society life.

@macAilpin I liked torment but didnt play more than a few hours because i got stuck and the game was lacking good combat (story was great). Baldurs gate 1 and fallout 1 blew my mind away, and I didnt even grew up on these games, they were already 10-15 years old when I picked them up so nostalgia was not a factor . The whole elder scrolls serie. Legend of grimrock (The immersion given by the introduction text) . Geneforge 1, Arcanum, Witcher 1.

I started a game of neverwinter nights 1 and I am not yet convinced if i like the game or not but it looks promising.
Tried dragon age 1, uninstalled and reinstalled several times, found the story to be bland.

Avernum 1 had possibly the best writing ive ever seen in a video game.

I really liked mass effect 1 and its the perfect game to compare kotor to. Everythink I disliked in kotor wasnt in that game. Combat was good and worthy of cranking up the difficulty (I see no reason to do so in kotor). Story was awesome and felt more serious, you dont see sheperd fooling around a bike race to save the universe. ME1 is like kicking ass and KOTOR is chewing bubblegum. Thats how I see things