I found the original KOTOR to be far superior to the second. The second suffered from terrible art (obviously, no chance to produce higher resolution textures for the PC), a slow, uninteresting storyline (you had things to compel you in KOTOR 1 - you were racing against time, you had party members with their own demons you had to help them with, you had to save Bastila...things that gave the game momentum), and a TERRIBLE ending.
KOTOR 1 was a beautiful example of pacing - it just kept building and building until it peaked VERY well on the Star Forge. And the Dark Side ending was utterly depraved (especially if you "engineer" your tragic fall, as I did
).
The only advantage KOTOR 2 had over the first in my opinion was the addition of party influence, but overall I couldn't bring myself to care about the characters or the plot. So I don't know who I am and I need to find out? Meh, so what? So Atton used to kill Jedi and regrets his actions? I really don't care. Carth lost his
son and wife to my very nemesis. That got me engaged. Bastila was my significant other and got KIDNAPPED. THAT will pull you into a game. The fact that one of my party members has bad blood with a wookiee bounty hunter is mundane by comparison.
I have additional rants. Characters are wasted. Darth Nihilus is played up through the whole game, his amazing power, his dark mystery and then you
kill him with little fuss. I have a feeling Obsidian had far greater plans for him that had to be cut.
Darth Sion was slightly better (and for the record, one of my favorite villians of all time), but still not given enough script.
Overall KOTOR 2 is a perfect example of a game ruined by rushed release. With another 12 months to simmer in the pot, I have no doubt it could've surpassed the original.
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