So after doing the DA2 review, I’m here again to take another crack at this. This time it’ll be another Bioware game, well half Bioware half Obsidian Entertainment. The games I’ll be writing about are Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2.

Last review was also super long. Much longer than I wanted; but because I am writing about 2 games, this might be long too. Though I will try my best to keep it a short as I can (it’s still kinda long).

Also here’s a skeleton so it you want to jump around you can.

1). Intro (Written above)

2). Kotor 1

3). Kotor 2

4). Comparison

2). Kotor 1

Alright I got Kotor 1 for console when I was a kid and only recently got a version for PC. I have played none of the mods, but have done a 100% run of the game for both the light and dark side.

It can be argued that the story of Kotor is a pretty classic Star Wars story. Now that may seem kind of boring as everyone’s seen Star Wars so the game isn’t really doing anything genre defying. But the appeal and quality comes more from how the story is told as opposed to what the story is. It might be a simple story. But the characters, worlds, and dialogue pull the player in and develop in a way such that it there’s never a dull moment.

The story of Kotor requires some background lore first. Several years before the event of Kotor 1, there were the Mandalorian War with a people known as Mandalorians. They showed up and attacked Republic planets and were very successful at conquering worlds. The Republic tried to stop them, but The Republic was recovering from previous conflicts. So the Republic was doing poorly, and petitioned the Jedi for aid. The Jedi Council refused to help as they thought it really odd that Mandalorians were attacking out of nowhere; The Jedi Council wanted to understand “the true threat” before engaging in another war.

Two young Jedi, Revan and Malak Jedi disagreed with that assessment though. Revan and Malak then convinced a large number of Jedi to fight in the war. Turns out Revan was a strategic genius and was able to crush Mandalorian forces. The Republic even gave Revan at one point, control of one third of Republic forces. So after the Mandalorians are defeated and pushed back to the edges of the Galaxy, Revan and Malak decide to pursue them. Revan and Malak then disappear for several year; a few rumors arise about them being spotted on all sorts of planets, but those rumors are unsubstantiated. Anyways Revan and Malak eventually return to known Republic Space with an invading force, and throw the Republic into ANOTHER WAR: The Jedi Civil War.

It’s called this because this time the Jedi start to fight right away, and Revan’s forces begin what you could call a war on two fronts. One against the standard Republic, and the other trying to convert Jedi into Sith to fight for him. Revan does pretty well, until in one battle a Jedi strike team manages to board his ship and engage him in direct combat. Though before anyone could actually fight, Malak fired at Revan’s ship and kills everyone…except for one jedi named Bastila. She is one of the more unique jedi as she has the rare gift known as Battle Meditation; it’s essentially a morale booster, as it strengthens the will of her allies and demoralizes her enemies’.

Alright onto the actual story. It’s been a few years since Malak killed Revan to take control of the Sith. Your character wakes up on a ship under attack. The Ship is carrying Bastila but she has escaped to the planet below, you have to follow suit.

Side note: If there’s ever a game that has you doing a variety of things, then Kotor 1 has gotta be a top contender. Within the first hour of gameplay you can be a duelist in an arena, fight in a gang war, be a hot shot racer, and join up with a crime lord.

It should also be pointed out that you don’t start the game as a Jedi, even though your character is force sensitive; you even have visions of events through the force. Regardless, the Sith get tired of searching for Bastila and decide to just destroy the planet’s surface. You and the party you’ve gathered narrowly escape. The crew takes refuge at a Jedi Academy, where you are to learn how to be a Jedi. After having shared visions of some ruins on the planet. It’s also important to note that you are a full blown adult, and Jedi do not normally accept adults for training, but you are a special case as you are supposedly VERY strong in the force. The rate at which you learn new concepts is ASTOUNDING, your trainer even says that you can do in stuff in weeks that many other cannot do in years. Essentially you are a prodigy.

Soon the council has you investigate those ruins you dreamt of and there you find a map, or at least 1/5 of a map to something called, The Star Forge. The Star Forge is a factory powered by the dark side that mass produces tools of war. Malak is in control of it, and it explains how Revan and Malak amassed an army to fight the Republic so quickly. Knowing this, the council send you and Bastila to go find the other parts of the map. This is the majority of the main quest, but I won’t go into detail about each one; that would take too long.

After finding some maps though, Malak captures you and your crew. And it’s here that my 5th grade mind was blown. Turns out Revan is not dead. Revan survived because Bastila saved him from dying after he was shot at by Malak. Revan was taken to the Jedi Council and had his memory wiped and replaced. You, the player character are Revan. Now maybe many of you saw that coming, and the game did drop MANY hints. But I was 10 years old and that shit blew my mind. Anyways you escape from Malak, but Bastila is left behind to fend him off while you leave. By the time you discover the star forge, Bastila has turned to the dark side. Here’s probably where the greatest divergence in the two sides begins as the entire game you essentially have the same quests, albeit with different outcomes depending on your alignment; but depending on your choices you’ll have different party members, gear, dialogue, and a different boss midway through the Star Forge.

Either way you either redeem, kill, or join Bastila and go on to defeat Malak. Like I said it’s a pretty standard story you could expect from a Star Wars game. The story of a hero (or villain) defeating an evil force while exploring many different planets. If you ever wanted to feel like a bonafide jedi or sith, then this story will certainly accomplish that. Which is great because the journey there and the payoff has enough. While there is a twist, I wouldn’t say that the story does anything too complex; but you’ll like the characters and the worlds enough to enjoy the ride and the payoff. As previously stated it’s a simple story told in a simple way, like the films.

One of the reasons this “standard” story can feel so satisfying is that you as a player always have a goal in mind, and that goal is always something awesome. The main quest for each planet has you doing something that could be considered extraordinary. On Taris, you’re evading sith patrols and acting like a renegade to find a missing Jedi. On Tatooine you go up against a tribe of deadly warriors who’ve been raiding the local workforce and then you fight a fucking dragon. On Kashyyyk you decide the fate of an entire tribe of people. Whether to allow slavers to control the people or to throw them out; you also explore the forest floor, aka the shadowlands, a place teeming with savage animals. On Manaan you juggle political sides and infiltrate enemy bases; eventually you have to navigate through an underwater research facility that’s lost all contact to the outside and explore the ocean floor. Korriban might have the best story of all. You must enter into the Sith Academy and either pretend to be one of them, or just be one. Players have to access treacherous tombs of the ancient Sith Lords where only the strongest can succeed. Dantooine might have the most tame story of all, but it’s the planet where players unlock their force abilities; so they need time to digest that, and it gives them some breathing room to register their new powers. There’s always a task and it’s always something that’s fucking cool.

Another facet of the story that adds to the journey is the variety of tasks you engage in. Very rarely does the game have you do similar things to a previous planet. You will infiltrate a couple of shit bases, but other than that each planet has you fighting very different foes and doing very different quests. This gives everything a fresh feel and whatever task you decide to do, it never feels stale.

But more than that, it’s the smaller stories in the game that add on to the amazing things you do. I solves a legitimate murder mystery on one planet, then defended a man on murder charges on another. Both of those quests had twists and nuances that are so easily missed. The worlds do not always revolve around you the player; yet at the same time, everything you do has an effect on the world. I can’t think of a single side quest where someone or something is not permanently changed entirely due to the player’s actions. My Revan might’ve taken some drastically different actions than another player’s Revan. It gives the player a real identity in the Universe. They are apart of it and their actions have tangible effects.

The world just feels alive in Kotor. As I previously stated, a large part of this is because the worlds do not revolve around you. Things happen that players don’t control and there’s enough in each world to give the illusion that it’s a living breathing place. For example you can overhear a farmer complain about how the town is really going to shit; then you explore the town a bit and you can see that he’s not wrong, this town is a shithole. I know there are may other games that have this ambient dialogue, but it’s not so up in your face in Kotor. Because honestly how many people make direct comments to you when you walk down the street. In Kotor people only talk to you when you hit the “dialogue” button. Conversations aren’t overheard all that often, but there’s enough visual and audio stimulation in each location that it never feels empty unless it’s supposed to.

3). Kotor 2

ALRIGHT! If Kotor 1 was a standard Star Wars story, then Kotor 2 is the complete opposite. It takes place several years after Kotor 1 and is overall, a much darker and grim story. This time it’s a much more complex story told in a simple way. However I do think Kotor 2 has a weaker story. It has more thought provoking themes, but the way in which it is done it subpar. That being said I do enjoy the story for what it tried to convey and how it went about it.

Revan is missing, nobody has no idea where he (or she) went. You play as “The Exile” one of the Jedi who joined Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. There’s no plot twist here, you are from the outset a Jedi who knows her identity. I’m going to refer to the player as the Exile from this point on as instead of being a blank slate, you have a written past. After the Mandalorian Wars The Exile did not follow Revan to the edges of space, she was called back to the council to answer for some heinous shit that went down during the war. In the final battle, The Exile gave an order to use a weapon that annihilated a planet’s surface. Thousands of Jedi, Republic soldiers, and Mandalorians were slaughtered when the weapon activated. Thus the council kicked the Jedi Exile out of the order, and it’s how she earned her title. Seemingly because of the actions she committed during the war, when in actuality it was for something else entirely.

There’s something in the Star Wars universe known as force bonds. It’s the type of bond that develops between Jedi Masters and Apprentices; it connects the two and what one feels emotionally, physically, and mentally, so does the other; it’s almost like being one person. These bonds take years and lots of commitment to develop, but for the Exile it’s second nature. She creates these bonds so easily without even knowing that she is creating them. In the Mandalorian Wars she was able to force bond with so many of her ally jedis and soldiers. So when she activated the mass weapon that resulted in the genocide of so many connected people, their screams of pain and terror echoed back to the Exile and cascaded upon each other until it was all the Exile could feel/think/hear. She cut herself off from the force to survive.

By the start of the game, with Revan’s disappearance and all the wars the Republic has fought, civilization is on the brink of collapse. More Sith have risen up in place of the ones that died in the Jedi Civil War, but these Sith are different. They’re not the war fighting type, they’re the subtle behind the scenes type. But they’ve managed to kill nearly all Jedi in the galaxy. So the Exile is presumably the last of the Jedi and as such, she is being hunted by the Sith. Where the player first takes control is when she begins to reawaken her connection to the force, and guess what, one of the first things she does by form a force bond with the person trying to help her, Kreia. The game emphasizes this fact by having Kreia lose one of her hands and The Exile feeling the same pain that Kreia does.

The main quest this time around is trying to find the last of the jedi to either kill them out of revenge for being exiled, or to understand the reasoning behind the exile. Either way it’s a similar deal as with the last game. Players will visit all sorts of planets and do all sorts of quests along the way, though there are some great narrative changes this time around. Though the quests are much more personal to The Exile. Each planet holds something of value that The Exile can learn about. Whether it’s from the her past or a new experience entirely, each planet ties into the overall identity of who the Exile is.

Additionally The Villains are ones The Exile interacts with on a semi regular basis. Once The Exile gets to a certain point, a sith assassin boards her ship. The Exile learns that the assassin was sent by one of the game’s villains, Darth Nihilus. He is able to feel the presence of the Exile across the galaxy; and thus sends an assassin after her. The other villain Darth Sion is encountered in the first hour of gameplay, he also hunts for the Exile but for reasons that aren’t exactly clear to begin with. These two villains are responsible for much of the Jedi Order’s destruction, and each represents more than just a Villain, but a concept. Nihilus is the Lord of Hunger and is capable of consuming the life force of sentient beings. Sion is the Lord of Pain, he is able to revive himself from death, making him a relentless hunter.

Regardless, The Exile either gathers all the remaining Jedi Masters or Kills them. Either way your ability to make force bonds is then explained to you, and it is revealed that Kreia is also a Sith Lord, The Lord of Betrayal; and the former teacher of Sion and Nihilus, until they betrayed her.. It wasn’t a coincidence that Kreia of all people wanted to help The Exile restore her connection to the Force. Kreia’s goal the entire time was to find a way to end the force and it’s connection to all life and for that, she needed the Exile. See Kreia knew the shortcomings of the Jedi and the destructive tendencies of the Sith, and to Kreia neither were a path worth following. So she resolved to fight for a world devoid of the force. Knowing that it is possible to cut oneself off from the force, as The Exile did, Kreia hoped to use the Exile to achieve this on a galaxy wide scale; or at the very least, instill the idea that the force is unnecessary across the galaxy.

You as the Exile must stop her and the other two sith lords. Sion initially doesn’t really pose a galactic threat as he’s just one dude who can’t die. Towards the end though he seeks to follow Kreia, as he did in the past. Sion desires to kill the Exile almost as a sort of offering maybe to Kreia and also maybe out of some sort of jealous competition between you two. Over the course of the battle, the Exile manages to erode his will and cause Sion to let go of his seething rage and finally let himself die.

Nihilus on the other hand is barely even a person anymore. He, as his title suggests, consumes. He consumes the force energy of force sensitives, but he has become a prisoner to it. Nihilus needs to feed, and since the Jedi are gone he’s had nothing to feed on, least of all the Exile as she is more like a wound in the force than anything else.

So after defeating the lords of hunger and pain, you fight Kreia, and boy it’s a long fight. But nothing out of the ordinary, she does spawn 3 floating lightsabers, but tbh these come out of nowhere as there was never any mention that she could do this in the past. Kreia is defeated and as a final parting gift she reveals to the Exile the future she sees for the Exile’s companions. It’s odd as Kreia, unlike other villains has no ill will towards you, she sees in the Exile someone who is not bound by the force. In the end, Kreia does sorta win, she frees you not of your connection to the force, but of your obligation to it and the will it seemingly possesses. I had to play this part again and again to fully get it; and now that I do, I can say that it does improve the Story. However after this, the game ends, Kreia tells you some futures and that’s it. I’m not saying that it’s a bad way to end the game, it’s just too abrupt to provide a satisfying end. The Exile either stays or leaves Malachor and that’s it, the end lasts less than 2 minutes. In a way it’s the opposite of Kotor 1 where the plot point is great and unique but the execution is lackluster.

4). Comparison

So right off the bat I want to talk about plot points vs execution. I think these games do things in opposing manners. As previously stated, Kotor 1 has pretty standard plot points overall whereas Kotor 2 has some plot points that break the mold. But the way in which these points are carried out vastly differ in quality. Kotor 1 has you doing epic quests that are extrinsically awesome. Kotor 2 doesn’t have you doing nearly as many epic tasks, but each one relates to The Exile and her identity as it develops, it’s more intrinsically rewarding.

I would argue that Kotor 1 the story is about good vs evil. There are clear sides and Revan must choose which side to be on. Kotor 2 blurs the lines and argues that in the end it doesn’t really matter. Hell you can decide which events happened in Kotor 1 in the first 15 minutes of Kotor 2 and overall the game stays relatively the same. There’s a scene on Nar Shadaa where a beggar asks for money and the Exile can give him money or tell him to piss off. Either way ends the same and Kreia makes sure to let you know this. If the beggar is given money, he is accosted by another beggar who sees that the first has money and kills him to steal it. If he isn’t given money then the first beggar becomes the mugger and kills and steals money. If this was always going to happen, then what is the point in choosing sides? I really like how the game gives a rational course of events that demonstrates this concept.

And that’s really one of the biggest differences between the games’ narratives. Kotor 1 deals almost exclusively in the black and white, whereas Kotor 2 deals with the grey area of the force. Yes both games have a binary morality system where it’s either light or dark side, but Kotor 2 questions the very nature of having sides of the force to begin with. Chris Avellone, the lead designer of Kotor 2 wanted to have a very different take on the characters. He didn’t want them to be the standard good or evil characters from the films of the previous game. Kreia is perhaps the best example of this. Kreis supports neither Jedi nor Sith, and it’s not that she wants either side dead. She wants to wage a war of belief, to show the sides that their philosophies about the force are wrong. In the eyes of Kreia, picking either the light or dark side is moot as both sides are slaves to the will of the force. Jedi consciously submit to that will, and Sith are addicted to the power it gives. So in the end, both sides are entirely reliant upon the force, and Kreia’s POV is that the force should not control the destiny of people. It’s something that’s very rarely addressed in Star Wars; how both the Jedi and Sith fail in their beliefs. Kotor 1 has you decide which side to be on, and you never have an opportunity to question the ideas behind your allegiance. The only example i can think of where this type of questioning exists in the first game is with the murder trial side quest on Manaan. There is no way to gain light side points here, only dark side points; either way you are doing something immoral. But even then it doesn’t truly address the points brought up in the second game. Because Kreia isn’t immoral, she’s amoral. In Kotor 1 there’s no opportunity to set your own code. You have a binary choice of laws and values and you must pick one or the other.

Additionally I’d say Kotor 2 does a much better job than Kotor 1 with the mechanics as metaphor type gameplay. For example it is stated in both games that Revan AND the Exile can create strong force connections. It’s even rumored that Revan can also form force bonds the same way the Exile can (though never confirmed); regardless, both characters exert strong influence over others, whether through charisma or the force. People follow Revan and the Exile, without question and are influenced by them. But only in Kotor 2 do your companion’s alignment change based off of the Exile’s. It’s a mechanic that demonstrates your companion’s will is being affected by the Exile. One potential companions, Mira, even states that they are uncomfortable around you. Mira is a bounty hunter who always captured, never killed, her targets. Yet in-game there’s no option to not kill in combat. So if Mira is in your party, mechanically she has to kill people. She tells the Exile that she never used to kill, but whenever the Exile is around it becomes so easy to do that she doesn’t even think about it. Because the Exile (and the player) doesn’t even think about it, neither does Mira.

Another example of this is the leveling up system. Both games have you level up as you gain exp. One of the main ways you gain exp is through combat…killing. Though only Kotor 2 bothers to explain why the act of killing actually makes you stronger in the force when one of the Jedi Council members states that the Exile can feed upon the force and because all life is touched by the force, the Exile can feed upon all life. So by killing someone, she absorbs a little bit of who they are and becomes stronger for it. I thought it was an elegant way to tie in the mechanics of leveling up with the overall narrative. Kotor 1 has no equivalent, and it strikes me as a damn shame.

Now let’s talk about what Kotor 1 does better than its successor. The biggest thing Kotor 1 does better is set up the actions the player will do. In the first game on the first planet you’re exploring all levels of the city and getting yourself involved in the affairs of so many people. In Kotor 2 they try to have something to the same effect, but it feels flat as each quest is so simplistic in nature and there’s no deep overall idea or theme that ties the quests together. Kotor 1 gives you a greater sense agency and purpose: find Bastila, escape the Sith. In Kotor 2 your purpose is: ship’s been stolen, so work for these people who MIGHT be able to help but you gotta do some grunt work for them first. The work you do isn’t even work that can be done exclusively by you, literally anyone who is good at killing or negotiating can do what the Exile is supposed to do.

It’s a problem that’s reflected all over Kotor 2. Let’s look at each planet from each game: Kotor 1 on Tatooine you decide to confront Sand People because they might have info on the star map; so you have to find the way to get to them. Manaan, you want to thet to the ocean floor so you have the Republic prepare a way for you to do so and you help them accomplish it. Korriban, you need to access the tombs of the sith, so you choose to join the academy. Kashyyyk might be the one planet where the path you take isn’t set by you, but you do decide to follow it because one of your companions needs you to do so. Kotor 2, explore Korriban’s Sith academy for the Jedi Master, she’s dead though; but before you leave, explore this cave because it’s strong in the force. Dantooine, explore the Jedi Academy ruins because the Jedi Master might be there, then defend or attack the enclave there because other people want you to. Onderon, choose sides between Loyalists and Rebels because people on the street ask you about it. Also once the action starts rolling and you’re going to have to make some tough, leave because other people say it’s not safe to stay on the planet. Nar Shadaa is the only time I felt real agency because each quest you do is connected overall to the larger story. The Exile is intentionally trying to get the attention of The Exchange so doing quests that help or hinder them forms the storyline for that planet, and the Exile is also able to choose which quests she does out of a bunch of options. Overall it’s like I said. Kotor 1 has the player doing things because the player actively chooses to do them, and Kotor 2 has the player do things because the game forces the player to take an action.

The last point I want to make might be highly subjective (as if the whole essay isn’t subjective), but I never feel as accomplished in Kotor 2 as in the first game. Maybe it’s because they set up this one evil villain from the outset so all your focus is directed to the one villain as opposed to 3. But fighting through the Star Forge feels more epic and worthy of a final area than trudging through Malachor V; even though Malachor V has been hyped up the whole game as a graveyard of a planet where The Exile lost her force connection. Maybe it’s because the game never hinted that you would ever go to Malachor. Kotor 1, you knew that the Star Forge was the last place you’d end up as you spent the whole game searching for it. Kotor 2, I honestly had no idea I’d end up on Malachor. It also doesn’t help that you visit only 2 new planets. So when you get to Dantooine and Korriban, it might feel nostalgic and cool, but there’s a undercurrent of “been here done that” at least in my mind.

These are my thoughts on these two games. I really do enjoy both of them, even to this day regardless of some points that I’ve made against them. As always if you want to have a discussion about the games, feel free to message me. I’d love to chat more about it and hear other’s opinions on the matter.

Thanks.