Jedi by Knight

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

Our tenth installment of this series will be our last, and it ends on a good note because the ending of KOTOR II was not as bad as I remembered.  It wasn’t life-changing or anything.  But I did not feel the urge to throw anything this time.

The Sith Triumvirate has reformed and it’s our job as the last of the Jedi to stop them, one by one.

First, Visas Marr, Mandalore, and I must stop Darth Nihilus from bombarding the crap out of Telos.  We get aboard the Ravager and plant some bombs, which would have taken much less time if I hadn’t missed one stupid computer in a corner, which I instead scoured the ship looking for, only to backtrack to a room I’d been in multiple times already.

We make it to the bridge to face Darth Nihilus.  Visas Marr helps me take down her former master, and she and Mandalore even come to a kind of understanding.

On the Ravager bridge

Visas Marr confronts her Master

One Sith down, two to go.

Darth Traya has re-opened Trayus Academy on Malachor V; she and Darth Sion await us there.  So it’s time for me to face my demons and return to the site where I caused so much destruction at the end of the Mandalorian Wars.  Fate (or perhaps the Force?) is pulling me back to Malachor.

Darth Traya and shadowy Sith warriors

Sion and his Master, Traya

The Ebon Hawk crashes into the remains of Malachor V, and, finding myself alone on the planet’s surface, I make my way to the Trayus Academy.

Should I be more scared by the random corpses, or by the giant empty monster egg shells?

Entering Trayus Academy.

In the meantime, Mira faces down her rival from Nar Shaddaa, the bounty hunter Hanharr, and Bao-Dur sends his remote to re-activate the weapon that destroyed Malachor before, so that Trayus Academy will be permanently  obliterated.

So at that point I got to control the remote, and had to go back through the entire map of Malachor that I’d already been through with my main character.  But the remote is pretty speedy, and it was worth it for the twist at the end: G0-T0 tries to stop the remote, but is in turn stopped by HK-47, being the badass that he is.

Zipping around as Bao-Durs remote.

Back in the Academy, we’re now on a deadline.  Literally.  Before the planet blows up.  My Force-sensitive companions decide to face Traya, but it does not go well for them (which really is not too surprising, considering I never got Mira, Bao-Dur, or the Disciple to tap into their Force powers during my playthrough).

Atton takes on Darth Sion and (easily) defeats him, and Sion is able to finally let go of his hate and let himself die.  Controlling Tyria again, I’m able to free my companions as I fight my way through Trayus Academy.

But facing Traya is something I have to do alone.  She’s been using me, a “wound in the Force,” for her crazy schemes that go beyond even Jedi vs. Sith.  I have to stop her, and I do.  Then I defeat her crazy floating lightsabers.

Before she dies, Traya tells me what she has glimpsed of the futures of my companions.  I still don’t get much closure in this area, but it’s better than nothing.  Then I head out alone into the unknown regions to continue the search for Revan, and Malachor V is destroyed.  Again.

The combat in this last part was shockingly easy.  I had no trouble beating any of the three Sith lords, and I never even bothered leveling up all the way.

All in all, I thought the Restored Content greatly enhanced the ending, fleshing it out more and giving my companions a bigger role, which was one of my complaints about the original.  It still felt a little abrupt, but not nearly as bad as before.

I liked how philosophical the end was, but it was a little confusing because I didn’t get the full backstories of my companions due to lack of influence with them, so I wasn’t quite sure how some pieces fit together.  I definitely did some searching on Wookieepedia to fill in some gaps.

Keep in mind that I played my Exile as Light Side the whole time, so my ending reflects that.  I’m not sure how the end would play out if I’d gone Dark Side.  Or even neutral—this game actually doesn’t penalize you as much for staying neutral as the original KOTOR did.  There are even some items solely for neutral characters, like Jolee’s Robe.  That’s great from a roleplaying perspective.

I had a lot of fun doing this replay of KOTOR II.  I completed the game in about 48 hrs 45 min.  Who knows, I may even play it again in the future.  But I’m also looking forward to moving on to other games, maybe getting back into The Old Republic, or trying some of the Final Fantasy games my husband has been bugging me about.