Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords Preview

We all know that Bioware resolved not to get involved with the development of the KOTOR follow-up. Fate smiled upon us gaming buffs once more when LucasArts revealed that the project is being handled by RPG veterans, Obsidiant Entertainment - acclaimed for titles like Planscape: Torment, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and the Fallout series (though they were all working at Black Isle Studios at the time - Ed). Recently, we got an opportunity to see an early build of the game (at the E3 of course), which gave us a good idea of where the whole project is headed.

I’ll chop you to pieces, you miserable pile of scrap iron!

Will somebody please remove this lousy hood off my head!

I should probably warn you that there are some plot spoilers ahead, so if you feel like they could ruin the surprise then don't venture any further. Otherwise, if you're an impatient, spoiled little brat, eager to poke your curious snout where it doesn't belong (like all of us here at the AT office), then read on.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Sith Lords begins five years after the first game and the whole affair with Darth Malak. The plot has a slightly different catch this time. Players aren't placed into the shoes of an influential character with Sith Lord heritage like in the original. Granted, you do start the game unaware of your true potentials. But in due course though, you will learn that you were a Jedi after all... exiled by the Jedi Council some years ago. In other words, your character missed out on most of the fun that took place in the previous chapter of the saga. The most important thing players will need to do at the initial stages of the game is to retune their Force abilities before they head down the path of the Jedi (or Sith).

Like I said, your character is unaware of his past. As it happens, you're the only known Jedi in the entire universe. But as the game evolves, you'll soon discover that other Jedi have in fact survived the great genocide from the previous game. Naturally, it will be entirely up to you to restore the traditions and beliefs that once defined the great Jedi order. The path ahead will be tricky, and full of danger and temptation. Once again, you decided the fate of the universe as well as your own destiny.

At the beginning, you find yourself at a medical facility located on Peragus Station. Realizing you're on a remote mining asteroid, the first thing that'll be on your mind is how to gather spare parts to fix the Ebon Hawk. That's right, everyone's favorite "bucket of bolts" (the equivalent of Han's Millennium Falcon) is back in this game to help you journey across the far regions of the galaxy. At this point, we don't know exactly how the ship wound up in your hands. The main character has nothing to do with the earlier story. Obviously, if this is in some way a connection to the original, we can understand why the developers are keeping a lid on the subject (shushhh! You'll spoil everything, you klutz!).

The narrative progresses in the same spirit as in the original. Although KOTOR 2: Sith Lords does not follow the storyline from the original directly, it does offer details on some unexplained plot issues. The entire story is still in the player's hands and everything is as (seemingly) open-ended as before. This was indisputably one of the key features that made the KOTOR so darn brilliant. It's good to know that Obsidian is working on the sequel with such crucial things in mind.

The gameplay runs the same as it did in the original game. Real-time combat may be paused at any time to distribute a variety of orders to characters. It's a flawless combat system, so why change it? (Hands down to the creative team at Bioware for that one.). For the time being, no interface changes were shown, but we hope there will be alterations to the one we saw in the original. The workbench, for one, received a cool new feature which allows you to take certain items apart and utilize their parts for creating more powerful weapons. Also, additional slots were added for upgrading and customizing your lightsaber.

The demo allowed us to try out only two ways of starting the journey (more options will be available in the full version of the game). We could either begin as a male Light side character or a Dark side female character. Both choices involved a variety of familiar Force powers, but also bring forth several new ones. The first one we saw in action was Force Sight, a nifty new ability used to spot characters through walls, rocks and other obstacles, simultaneously revealing their inclination (i.e. Light or Dark side). It appeared to be a rather interesting addition to the strategic portion of the game.

Besides Force Sight players may also enjoy other brand new skills such as Force Clairvoyance, Force Crush, Force Rage and even Battle Meditation. Yep, the very same skill Bastilla used to turn the tide of the final battle in Knights of the Old Republic. Your character will, unfortunately, only get to use it as a power buff. Next off, we were really interested to know more about Force Crush which is similar to Darth Vader's preferred Force Choke, only more lethal. Instead of strangling your opponents, you'll be able to crush their entire body (or, as an alternative, just cause a great deal of damage). Force Clairvoyance is another cool ability. It actually gives your character quick flashes of the future, to help him gather clues from events that are about to take place. Another great gameplay improvement no doubt.

Stop chewing my lawn!

Maybe this will restore your memory.

As we all know Knights of the Old Republic clings to a few D&D rudimental rules such as prestige classes. From what we found out, Sith Lords offers a similar range of standard RPG elements. Next to Jedi Guardian, Jedi Sentinel and Jedi Counselor, there will be completely new Jedi and Sith prestige classes for you to try out - Jedi Watchman, Jedi Master, Jedi Weapon Master, Sith Assassin, Sith Marauder, and Sith Lord.

As always, character development depends on the way you use your Force abilities in combat and the course you take throughout conversations with NPC's. But to make things a bit more interesting Obsidian increased the emphasis on other party members. That's why some tasks require specific capabilities of certain party members in order to be completed.

During the demo we were informed that Sith Lords allows you to explore up to seven huge worlds. The one on display presented the player's return to Dantooine, a planet that was once home to the Jedi Council. The surface of the planet has changed dramatically since Darth Malak bombed the crap out of it. Carth's home world, Telos, was also shown. The world is now being completely rebuilt after its unfortunate fate in the Mandalorian Wars.

The build running at the E3 show demonstrated another important facet of the sequel. For starters, the gameplay mechanics and the technology (meaning the KOTOR engine) stay true to the previous game. This goes to show that Obsidian is keen on preserving the successful recipe adeptly established by Bioware.