I wrote an article after playing KotOR recently, beating it for the first time. Figured this would be a good place for interested parties to chance upon it.
KOTOR: A Study in Gaming Longevity
Criticisms, constructive or otherwise, are greatly appreciated.
The intro reminded me of my first time playing KotoR back in 2004... On a very outdated PC even by those standards. Old Athlon XP 1300 MHz processor, NVidia GeForce 2 with 16MB on board, 128MB RAM, 4GB hard drive... The game would lag tremendously on lowest settings in 800x600. And yet I was so enthralled by the game, I didn't care about these things at all. I just played, played and played, until it was 10 PM and I remembered that I had a 3 hours long homework to do for tomorrow. I finished it and started another playthrough right after that. 3 playthroughs in a row, I think.
The game might looks very outdated now, but at the time of release it was unanimously recognized as one of the best looking games ever made!
In the end, you say that people claim KotoR 2 to be worse than its predecessor... It is a bit more complicated. In terms of polish, it is, indeed, worse, unless you use the Restoration Mod - then, I'd say, two games are similarly polished. In terms of the main story, it is probably a bit more boring. However, in terms of characters and conversations with them, I'd say, this game blows KotoR 1 out of the water. Kreya alone will mess with your moral compass more than once, and it will take a long time to understand what she really means.
I can echo your sentiments even today, which I think is a pretty powerful statement. Even with the game crashing and all the issues I had, I never really thought about dropping it for something more modern because it was still fun even by today's standards.
I've started playing KotOR 2 and intend to do a follow-up piece on it. It's clear as day from the get-go that the game was rushed. The story does seem a bit more complex, but honestly I'm a little disappointed by Kreia so far. At least right now - I'm in the abandoned military base on Telos - her arc seems so obvious, but maybe I have it wrong and the game goes in another direction.
As for the boredom problem, I think it actually stems from the complexity. Practically every single quest is multifaceted and nothing is quite as it seems, which is nice and intriguing the first few times, but wears thin after a while and serves to unnecessarily elongate sideplots to the point where you're thinking, "Can we just get this over with already so I can get to something else?" I think it's a pacing issue, but I like to reserve any judgments or opinions until after I've beaten a game. Right now I honestly couldn't say which one I like better.
I will say the first conversation with the HK 47 on the Mining Facility was hilarious and very well written.
With Kreya - wait until you move from Telos further on, and you will see that there is WAY more to her than meets the eye! Many people call her the best character in RPG history for a reason, but it takes some time for her to open up to the player enough to become intrigued by her philosophy and motives.
Also, like many other things in this game, Kreya has different reactions from players. Some people absolutely adore her. Some people hate her for annoying the player with her teachings. Some people are indifferent to her, seeing in her little more than a tired old woman angry at this world for her hard life.
For the story, the problem with KotoR 2 is that, although in reality not exactly true, it doesn't feel as... "epic" as KotoR 1. In KotoR 1 everything was simple: we were saving a galaxy from an evil Sith Lord. In KotoR 2, well, essentially we again are saving the galaxy, but it is not a heroic battle we take part in - rather, we are trying to catch something lurking in the shadows. KotoR 2 story is definitely less cliched than KotoR 1 one, but sometimes being cliched is what people want from a game.
I don't want to add anything so as not to spoil the story for you; let's just say that KotoR 1 story feels like a high budget Hollywood movie, while KotoR 2 story resembles more an independent niched film which you either love or hate.
Agree on the HK: droids in KotoR 2 are no less funny than in KotoR 1. 
So I got off Telos and went through everything at Dantooine, and Kreia definitely got a lot more interesting.
You're not the first person to note that difference in overall feel between the two stories. It's definitely something I plan to address in the follow-up. The main review part of the article will probably focus primarily on KotOR 2's comparison to the first.
KOTOR is more true to Star Wars as we know it. You could say that it's a more straightforward story, and this is true. KOTOR is dealing with an overarching story of a great war. The focus is less on philosophies of the Force, the light and the dark side. Its more about the big picture. This was the first KOTOR and it was very important to make it work like a true Star Wars experience. You can look for more depth and you'll find it, but it's not as prevalent as in KOTOR II, which had the freedom to more closely investigate the subtleties of the Force.
KOTOR II takes a lot of liberties in my view. They do veer away from the traditional Star Wars setting, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, I think they went too far with it, but I won't go into that now. The great thing about KOTOR II was that it had the freedom to explore the Force more thoroughly, for instance the ethical and moral implications of choices - and questioning established truths.
I think KOTOR did a better job overall, and although I understand why they didn't have the space to implement more complexity with regards to morality and ethics, there certainly were moments in KOTOR where you could witness the more mature aspects of Star Wars. KOTOR II is great and it introduced a lot of interesting concepts, but in my opinion KOTOR was a stronger Star Wars experience.
After all the comments I've seen on the article, the fan split certainly seems to be down the middle.
I'm about done with KotOR 2, on the handmaiden battle during the return trip to the Telos Academy. I'll probably beat the game today and have the follow-up ready and posted by either tomorrow or Wednesday.
I agree with Spacepunk01 on the notion about liberties. The way I see it, the goal of KotoR 1 developers was to create an amazing Star Wars game, while KotoR 2 developers wanted to create a deep philosophical game, using Star Wars setting to help them in storytelling. I myself do prefer the "grey" to light vs dark: in classical Star Wars movies, light is good and dark is evil, but in KotoR 2 both are bad, in a sense. However, I am not sure if this (the morals and the forces not being black and white) is what Lucas had in mind. At least, in the original trilogy the force struggle was described as resisting the temptations of the dark side, which is the light side - while in KotoR 2 both dark and light side are just seen as extremes, both disastrous in perspective.
I personally see it as strength of the game, it gives the player a new perspective on the Star Wars lore. However I can understand many Star Wars fans that were disappointed by the game stepping away from canon.
Honestly, Kreia makes KOTOR 2 for me, precisely because she IS so upfront with you, but, because you're so used to the genres and tropes of the Star Wars universe, you're expecting some big surprise, the 'I am your father' moment, and that's not coming. She even chides you for expecting that there near the end: "There is no great revelation, no great secret." KOTOR 2 is about deconstructing the tropes that make up the Star Wars universe. I figure if Obsidian had managed to put out a KOTOR 3, they would also have reconstructed them as well, but that never came to pass.
KOTOR is cookie cutter Star Wars - Chosen One narrative, evil Empire versus a band of ragtag misfits, galaxy-threatening superweapon, evil overlord going "mwahaha!" and probably marking out specific time in his schedule to kick puppies and steal candy from babies. KOTOR 2 tries to tell a more complex story of betrayal and redemption and sacrifice and pain, and, honestly, I think the biggest fault of the game is that forces outside their control pushed the game out the door too soon. I mean, another month of development time would probably have gotten us the HK factory out in the base game, rather than it being left for modders to rebuild. Two or three could have gotten a lot more of what was ultimately cut implemented seemlessly. Because of the shove out the door, KOTOR 2 fails on several levels - if you know what's missing, you understand what was going on, but without it, you're lost.
Mr. dgcatanisiri (try saying that 5 times fast) has the right idea here.
KOTOR1 was made to play and feel like a Star Wars film:
KOTOR is cookie cutter Star Wars - Chosen One narrative, evil Empire versus a band of ragtag misfits, galaxy-threatening superweapon, evil overlord going "mwahaha!" and probably marking out specific time in his schedule to kick puppies and steal candy from babies.
It's easy to see who's the good guys and who's the bad guys. Light is good, dark is evil.
You don't need to think to understand what's happening, and that's not a bad thing.
The plot twist was, is, and forever will be one of the greatest moments I have ever experienced.
KOTOR2 is a thinking person's game.
To be clear, KOTOR1 did not fail by any means, and it's not as if KOTOR1 is lessened by KOTOR2, but KOTOR2 has made me really think like no other game that I know of.
Kreia especially is by far the most memorable companion I have ever had in any party in any game. She may not be my favorite, and I wouldn't necessarily want her watching my back, but she has the distinction of staying with me no matter what game I play.
I can hear her now:
*help the orphan find his parents*
"You should have let him struggle on his own, by robbing him of that experience you have weakened him!"
- Influence lost: Kreia -
*Attack the bandits outright*
"I would look at all the possibilities, see the strings, instead of severing them all outright!"
- Influence lost: Kreia -
Especially with the Restored Content Mod, KOTOR1 and KOTOR2 are the ONLY games that I will actually buy twice.
I had them on CD, loved them, but then the CD's didn't work, so I bought them digitally.
I don't buy the same game twice, but I did for KOTOR1 and KOTOR2.
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