VIDEO How Well Does KOTOR Hold Up

It has been some time since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has come out and by this point the two games are really showing their age. Do you still play the KOTOR series and how does it hold up by todays standards. Has it aged out for you? Too old to play? Or is it still a magical fun Star Wars experience.

Personally I think the age has taken some of the fun away from it but it still is one of the best RPGs I've ever played and I still think its the best Star Wars game ever. It really captures the Star Wars feel so well.

 

The gameplay is a little stiff and the conversation system feels a bit basic compared to Mass Effect, but I'd say it's aged well. The character and environment designs are still excellent (though the environments feel a bit empty by modern standards). And the overall narrative is incredible.

I'd say it's aged better than most games of its era and I'd recommend it to anyone - with the caveat that it'll take an hour or two to adjust. The same applies to the second game, even though its unfinished state will always bug me!

 

I still think it's fun to play and that it holds up quite well.

The class and prestige class systems coupled with the feats and force powers add a really unique feel to the game. IMO, they're better than TOR's class system.

Meh. Mass Effect 1 I'd say has TOO much boring grinding. ME2 and ME3 I'd say are around KOTOR.

You could always use The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod if you're bugged by the unfinished state of the game.

 

I'm sure it has aged some, but it doesn't feel even close to a critical situation. Except that it can be difficult to get it running. Back when it was fresh, I used to have problems with the stupid AI standing in my way so I can't move out of corners and such, so some clumsiness was going on then already. I can't say for sure if I'm still displeased to see that happen, or if I'm actually already getting nostalgic when it comes up. They did a great job with the Star Wars experience, that's certainly not losing its edge. It would just be nice to see someone come close to that in the future.

 

Yeah, I feel like one of the best parts of the game is the genuine Star Wars experience that it is able to capture.I always thought the AI was pretty good in KOTOR, but that may also be because I like to micro manage in games like KOTOR

 

Extremely well.

KoTOR comes from the golden age of captivating storylines and characters, who are easy to become emotionally invested in .

 

A masterpiece. Time hasnt tackled it yet. Not sure it will ever.

 

Is it bad that I still thought of KOTOR as a "new" game I should finally get soon, until only a couple years ago?

 

Yes. VEWY VERWY BAAAAD

 

Very True. For me, 1996-2006 was the golden age of this, even though some of the games graphics of these years are laughable, it was the story, investment and interactions with the characters that make those the most memorable games. They pushed the boundaries but not for the sake of just doing it, only at a minor level as a nod to their older players, which was subtle in most cases.
KOTOR still holds up.

 

Jade Empire is highly recommended, if you love KoTOR. That game is impossible to put down.

 

I still like the game. I have beaten it about 8 times, and I know it like the back of my hand. It's getting a bit old,though. My best time is 7 hours.

SWTOR I like better because it takes forever to beat and there are so many storylines you can play.

 

I think that is another Bioware game

 

To quote from another BioWare franchise, "Still totally worth it."

If I do have a gripe about the original game, it was how nerfed blasters were at least early on; it seemed like most of the time on Taris it was better to just draw a vibrosword and go to melee range. Later on with proper leveling and gear Carth, Mission, Zaalbar, Canderous, and HK-47 could be effective gunfighters, but by then I was using my Jedi party members for most assignments.

KoTOR II was a different story; HK-47 and Mandalore were devastating with blasters. For the assault on Freedon Nadd's tomb I would put Visas on melee point and even though Atton and Mira were trained as Jedi (with TSLRCM installed, Atton easily wiped the floor with Darth Sion on Malachor), I would have them trailing behind with Atton slinging two blaster pistols and Mira using a rifle.

One thing I never really did was play around with all the possible classes; I think in KoTOR I stuck with Soldier/Guardian, started a Scoundrel/Consular playthrough but never finished, and finally did a Scout/Guardian as my last playthrough. Given that I played lightside and generally preferred to use my character as the prime heavy hitter in the party, it made sense to go with the class most focused on lightsaber combat.

 

Right, I felt like you don't have a really great tank in the game, Juhanni really isn't a great tank and even though big z has high vitality points he still isn't a great tank either. If you go soldier/guardian your going to take what was the biggest weakness of the squad and make it the strength of the squad. I feel like most combos other than that will fill a space that one of your party members already generally fills. However that is after having played the game for like 12 years. All the classes and combos bring something different to the game which is ultimately a good thing

 

Aside from the lack of other characters to fill the tank role; in both games you have several points where your player character has to handle a tough fight alone - including the final "boss fights" against Malak, Sion, and Traya. Playing on the dark side, Force powers alone might work since you have access to a lot of powerful offensive ones, but as a lightsided Consular your powers are mostly about buffing your defenses and negating enemy Force powers. The Sentinel is not a bad idea as the "jack of all trades," but really the only unique bonus there is the immunity to certain Force attacks.

I kind of liked my Scout/Guardian combo in KoTOR; he had a big bag of noncombat tricks (slicing, computer use, and repair being key ones) but could still slug it out in a lightsaber fight. Having Force Jump was also a major bonus, as by the end it allowed me to one-shot most lesser enemies and reduce my exposure to ranged attacks.

 

I like scout/guardian because your level 4 bonus is implant 2 and you start with rapid and flurry which I use the most, and your guard can still be a real monster tank and damage dealer, specially if you save your levels

 

Saving levels was a strategy I never tried; I found certain fights on Taris such as Bendak Starkiller and the fight before boarding the Ebon Hawk difficult enough as a Level 8 Soldier or Scout. Generally speaking 12 ranks of Jedi Guardian got me all the Force goodies I needed, and those 8 ranks of Scout gave me a nice little bag of tricks.

 

Replayed it last year and still found it enjoyable, though not as much as previous times. I think that the main reason for it was because I remembered everything and so no suspense, rather than it being old.

NB: Started today Neverwinter Nights, an another BioWare game which I haven't ever play, and so far seems to not have the magic of KOTOR (Or Mass Effect/Dragon Age for that matter).

 

Didn't want to start a new thread if this game already had its own; but I wanted to share this video of a special Carrie Fisher tribute in The Old Republic game.

 

I still adore this game, have replayed it more times than I can count. I still hate the Sith Temple puzzle with the electro-rods though.

The environment does seem empty by today's standards, and the NPC's aren't as detailed or unique as they are in Skyrim or other RPG's, but that doesn't take it down that much. The storyline was amazing, the character's deep and complex, and the graphics at the time were near perfect. To this day I remember the adrenaline I first felt with the speeder race for Bastila's freedom, and the fight against Davik for the Ebon Hawk. Landing on Unknown World and facing the Rakata was pretty wicked too.

I feel KOTOR will age perfectly, and stand just as strong as OOT and Majora's Mask does now.

 

I feel like they hold up very well still, I can see if someone disagrees though.

 

Imagine a KOTOR remake with todays graphics and Mass Effect gameplay. Man, what a dream.

 

That's pretty much what everybody wants, though I prefer the turn based combat, most people don't though.

 

Mass Effect gameplay wasn't all that fun or impressive. ME1 and 3 especially. ME3 cause of that really REALLY annoying shield gate(you couldn't one-shot snipe for **** like you could in ME2) and ME1 because you get Spectre weapons, upgrade them, hold the trigger down forever(not joking) and then hold it on top of an enemy until they die(which could take ages depending on difficulty, same thing in ME2 too). My complaint basically is that the enemies on higher difficulties were WAY too spongy, when they could've just upped the damage significantly and given minor health boosts. Really tiring when even average mooks in huge numbers take a whole thermal clip to die.

^Not even the newest Fallout's have enemies that are that spongy.

I'd prefer KOTOR with Outcast gameplay.