Jedi by Knight

Start with the first post in this series here: Revisiting KOTOR II: (#1) A Fresh Start.

We’re in the home stretch with this KOTOR II series; these last 2 installments will be end-game content!  There will be some spoilers, but some things need to be said for the gameplay to make sense.  I promise you’ll still enjoy playing the game even if you read everything I’ve written.

We’re still hanging out on Dantooine, where my character, Jedi Exile Tyria Drace, arranged to meet the Jedi Masters.  Like most work meetings, things don’t go as positively as I was hoping.  

Rather than wanting to team up with me to stop the Sith, the Masters drop a philosophical bomb on me regarding my lack of Force powers after the Mandalorian Wars, and how I recently regained my Force connection: in short, they’re blaming me.  But isn’t it good that I can use the Force again? No, I’m an abomination who’s leeching off my companions.

Then Kreia shows up, despite the fact that I specifically on purpose did NOT choose her to come with me to the meeting.  She just can’t take a hint.  This is when things start going really bad, but the scene actually has some really great cinematography and voice work so it’s hard to be too upset.

As I’m trying to leave the planet, I discover Kreia has been kidnapped by the Handmaidens of the Telos Jedi Academy, at the same time the Sith also converge on that world to wipe out the last remnants of Jedi knowledge there.  Remember how Kriea left that Sith guy, Colonel Tobin, on Onderon alive?  Yeah, that’s coming back to bite me right now.

So that means I’m headed back to Telos.  I arrive at the Academy to find that Kreia is actually not there; she’s already left, but not before speaking with Academy leader Atris and helping her to realize that she has already fallen to the dark side.  Atris has been influenced by the Sith holocrons she collected and now can’t see the difference between Jedi and Sith.  Man, the sound those holocrons make is creepy.

So now I have to go stop the Sith attacking Taris.  But first…

Guess what else is on Telos?  That’s right, THE HK DROID FACTORY.  One of my primary reasons for playing the Restored Content version of this game.  You may remember that HK-47, a dark side assassin droid, is one of my companions who was introduced in the first KOTOR game.  He likes to shoot things and refers to humans as “meatbags.”

The HK factory managed to fulfill my every dream in terms of the story and snarky HK dialogue, while at the same time being the absolute worst slog I’ve ever had in terms of combat.  After spending HOURS on this level, I would recommend that if you ever want to play through the HK factory, instead just go to YouTube and watch an edit of the dialogue.  

You play through the factory as HK-47 solo.  I had to upgrade all his stuff, and equipped him with two modified blasters (there is a workbench in the level) to get the most firepower.  

The factory is being run by HK-50 droids, and not only are they pumping out more HK-50s, they are manufacturing a new line of prototype HK-51 droids.  The HK-51s still have a few…minor kinks to work out.

So I’m running around the factory, having an existential crisis about what it means to be an HK-47 assassin droid and trying ineffectually to shut everything down, because my programming does not allow me to harm other HK droids (as I found out before on Korriban).

I talk with the HK-50 droids, but they simply snark about how superior they are, and gloat about how Revan scattered them among the Republic fleet, where they have posed as protocol droids to ruin treaties and generally cause mayhem.

But it turns out the original model is best, because eventually I figure out how to cheat my programming to destroy the factory and gain the ability to attack the other HK droids.

As I venture into other parts of the factory, I find HK droids training in torture methods as well as how to mistranslate important matters of state:

Unfortunately, all this wandering takes an inordinate amount of time, because in every room there are between 3 and 6 HK units that I have to fight.  Remember, I am also an HK, so they have basically the same stats as me.  Therefore these fights consist solely of using a shield, queuing up 3 to 4 attacks, using another shield, etc. etc.

I was reduced to using Sniper Shot to raise my chance to hit, and for the criticals. I NEVER use Sniper Shot.

So as I said, the HK factory involved long, boring stretches of combat punctuated by great story and amusing quips.  I really appreciate that the Restored Content mod put this back in, but the combat is in no way up to commercial release standards.

We’re at 44 hours total play time.  See you next time to find out if the end is really as bad as I remember!

Continue on to the last part of the series here: Revisiting KOTOR II: (#10) A (kinda) happy ending