I may have mentioned once or twice that I am a Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) fanatic.  I’ve played the game at least half a dozen times, totalling hundreds of hours, with all different classes/alignments/etc.

Naturally after that I was ecstatic to get my hands on KOTOR II: The Sith Lords, which came out for PC 10 years ago this month.

I played it once.  When I reached the end of the game, I threw my computer across the room.

Ok, so maybe I just felt like throwing things.  Despite a few bugs here and there, I had mostly enjoyed the game up until then.  But that ending. Urgh.  It was so terrible it basically resulted in a huge giant rage quit from me.  I’m pretty sure I immediately called my husband and ranted about it.

But I have heard that some people (I have never actually met any of these people) actually like KOTOR II better than the first game.  To be fair, the game was notoriously rushed to get it out on console for the 2004 Christmas season, and since then some enterprising individuals have provided mods that add back in cut content, fix bugs, etc.  So having re-acquired the game a while back during a Steam sale, and with the Restored Content mods in place, I’m going to give KOTOR II a second chance.

If you’d like to come along for the ride, I’ll be doing periodic posts on my progress as I play through.  There will be a few minor spoilers, but I’ll try to avoid any major ones (for either KOTOR game).  This first edition will take us through character creation, the prologue, and starting Peragus.

I chose a female Guardian as my character; although I tend to like playing Force users better, I typically find it easier to play a melee fighter when I am not as familiar with the game.

I took the recommended attributes and skills and went through the random names until I found one I liked: Tyria Drace.  (I’m going to mostly take the recommended talents as I level up, especially for the companions, but I might personalize a little bit with the feats and especially the Force powers.)

As I played the prologue on the Ebon Hawk, I was surprised by how good the keyboard controls were and how easy it is to move around and select things–I didn’t even have a mouse and it was not a problem.  I did have to break myself of a few habits from playing The Old Republic MMO: I tried to jump by using the space bar, but that key actually pauses the game in KOTOR!  Also, I tried to use Tab to shift between targets in combat, as you would in TOR, but in KOTOR that actually shifts between player characters in your party.

I also had to figure out that screenshots in Steam are F12.  Not the normal PrintScreen, which just gives you big blocks of black if you try to then paste it in Paint.  Hmmm.  You guys almost got no screenshots of this first gameplay.  Luckily, I know how to Google.

Back to the story!  There are a lot of key character introductions in the beginning.  You play through the prologue as T3-M4, your little astromech droid, and then on Peragus you almost immediately meet the old woman Kreia.  Very soon after you meet the rogue Atton (while not wearing any clothing…), and then you meet an HK (Hunter Killer) droid as you explore Peragus.  My character thoroughly enjoyed making snarky comments to all of them.  Except for T3, they are all sooo easy to snark at.

T3 fixes the Ebon Hawk in the prologue

Tyria Drace awakens on Peragus

Badass HK. Who actually believes this is a protocol droid?

Meeting HK-50; I think you tell him to omit the word “condescending” from his openings

As you are talking to Atton (again, not wearing any clothes, which he remarks on if you’re female), you get the option to choose the ending of the first KOTOR game as regards Revan.  (The game leaves it vague whether Revan’s male or female under that mask…)

Peragus, an isolated mining facility, isn’t too bad of a setting to start the game, because there are a lot of mysteries going on that you investigate as you explore.  Why is Atton in jail when you meet him?  Where did your T3 unit disappear to? How did you even end up on Peragus in the first place?  And what does Kreia have to do with any of this?

I got so sucked in that I played until 1am—104 minutes so far in my first session.  I stopped because I hit a spot in the gameplay where it was not obvious what I had to do next, so I was kinda stuck trying to figure it out.  Also, I had to work in the morning, but why would that ever stop me?

Yeah, I was pretty tired at work the next day.

Until next time on Peragus!

Continue on the 2nd part of the series here: Revisiting KOTOR II: (#2) Get me off Telos!

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

The solution to my quandary at the end of my first KOTOR II session was actually pretty easy: I just had to go back to the security desk, which now had new options to help me progress the story.  From there on out, it was smooth sailing off Peragus…well, except for the HK assassin droids that keep popping up.

The only place we can manage to fly to is Telos, where we land on the Orbital Station and are promptly accused of blowing up Peragus.  Oops.  So we’re kind of under house arrest here.  And while in custody, the Ebon Hawk has gone missing, so we have to hunt for our ship again.  This is getting to be a theme.

Telos, also known as Telos IV, was mentioned in the first KOTOR as the homeworld of Carth Onasi.  The planet’s surface was destroyed in a bombardment by Admiral Saul Karath after he betrayed the Republic to join the Sith under Revan and Malak.  This betrayal was especially personal to Carth, who had previously served under Karath.

Telos is now undergoing restoration by the Republic, but there is conflict between the two groups working on the project: the Ithorians and the Czerka Corporation.  Currying favor with either of these two groups on the Orbital Station (as well as the criminal syndicate called the Exchange) can help you on your way.

I chose to side with the Ithorians, which eventually involved hijacking a Czerka droid to get access to their files, which reveal their criminal activities.

Playing as a Czerka protocol droid

Who knew protocol droids could be this devious?

I learned the hard way to be careful about dialogue choices—they can highly affect the direction of the game.  Twice I chose options that dropped me directly into combat, and I ended up wiping out the Exchange on Telos.  Not very diplomatic for a character trying to be Light Side.  Even Kreia got mad at me about that.

I also hit my first game glitch: when I was in the Exchange boss’s office, I could not get the camera view to shift around, which is how I direct my character’s movements.  So with my view stuck I could only run forward and backward, not turn at all.  It took me a while to get out of that stupid office!

Telos is a perfect analogue to Taris from the first KOTOR.  Both planets were bombarded by Saul Karath in service to the Sith.  On Telos’s Orbital Station, just as on Taris, there are plenty of random apartments to run around and steal things from–one guy actually gets mad at you for taking stuff from his room!

They’re also the places where the minigames are introduced in the cantinas (a good way to make money, which is a critical resource at this stage of the game).  Pazaak is a card game similar to Blackjack, but it’s hard to play at this stage without good cards, which are expensive.  You can play practice games with Atton to learn the rules.  Swoop racing is fun, but I’m having trouble with it because I have no mouse (also, I just suck).

Eventually, your quest for your ship takes you to the planet’s surface, where you gain technician Bao-Dur as a new party member.  He’s a calm, competent Zabrak that serves as your guide around Telos (seriously, you’re required to have him in your party).

Bao-Dur greets us on the planet’s surface

Current party member options

All the clues lead you to the polar region of Telos, where, after again being assaulted by HK droids, you discover a secret Jedi academy with ties to your past.  You also discover your ship!  Hooray! Finally.

Over these Telos sessions, I learned a lot about my character’s party members.  A talk with Kreia produced a cutscene that revealed a lot about her past connection to the Sith (I don’t remember getting that information this early in the game last time).  After we’re all captured by the Handmaidens at the Telos Academy, there’s a scene of her probing Atton’s mind and discovering something from his past that he’s hidden from my character.  There’s also a scene of her shocking poor T3 with Force lightning!  I don’t like Kreia very much right now.

I’ve been auto-leveling my companions for the most part.  For my character, I’ve been taking the recommended attributes and skills (except fewer points in demolitions, since like 3 characters have that skill right now).  I finally caved to taking the Two-Weapon Fighting feat after the game recommended it several times (plus double-bladed lightsabers are cool), but I am not taking Force Scream!!  Stop recommending it!  Force Scream is a Dark Side power; why would you recommend it for a character who’s so Light Side I’m glowing blue? Plus Kreia already has this power, too.

NO JUST STOP

Does not compute.

So, now we’re heading out in the Ebon Hawk to search for the remaining Jedi Masters to help in the fight against the Sith.  I’m currently at 13 hr 16 min of total play time.  I randomly decided to hit Nar Shadaa, home of the Hutt underwold, first.  See you next time in that wretched hive of scum and villainy!

Continue on the 3rd part of the series here: Revisiting KOTOR II: (#3) A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy, aka Nar Shaddaa