Game Mechanics

By Alex McLain

There was a sort of communal silence when Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic launched over a year ago, as we all lay in shock at the beauty before us. It wasn't just a good Star Wars game; it was a great RPG that was also a Star Wars game. It fused that much-loved license with a rich RPG system, a story with a final twist that left us breathless, and a system for good/evil that made it virtually two games in one, with the experiences of the Light and Dark Sides diametrically opposed.

Strike a Light Side pose.

News of the sequel came shortly after the success of the original, and all was well with the gaming world. Then, rumors that BioWare had handed the development duties off to a little-known company called Obsidian spread. The rumors were true, but the anguish that accompanied them was without merit. Obsidian (made up of former Black Isle folks) knows what its doing. Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is every bit as good a sequel as you could have hoped for. The story is equally compelling, the dialogue trees are even better, the cast is superb, the voice acting is great, the character creation/customization is improved, and the pacing (crucial for a such an RPG) is superb. What's more, the good people at Obsidian were not complacent with the game's mechanics. There are tweaks, additions, improvements, and a general sense of refinement that blissfully blankets the entire experience. General adulation is of little importance, though, so let's dive into some specifics.

Filtering
We start with a small but very welcome addition. If there was a frustration to be found with the previous UI (User Interface), it was your inventory's total lack of organization. Everything was bunched into one general category. Buying, selling, and equipping items involved a lot of menu clicks and scrolling down and down and down until you found what you were looking for. No longer! You can now filter the items in your inventory into specific categories like armor, weapons, miscellaneous items, and more. This is also true when purchasing items, so if the merchant you're haggling with is loaded down, and you just want to see which weapons they have, a simple click of the Y button eases your search.

Strike a Dark Side pose.

Two Hands, Four Weapons
You can now assign two different weapons to each hand. You can still only carry one weapon in each hand at a time (otherwise it would just be weird), but you can now set a primary and secondary weapon and quickly toggle between the two. This solves the problem of shooting an enemy from afar and then having to go into your inventory to manually equip a melee weapon when you want to start slicing and dicing.

Crafting
The workbench has been significantly improved in KOTOR II as well. Not only can you upgrade items, but you can craft items completely from scratch. It's no small selection, either. You can craft grenades, mines, swords, blasters, armor, and upgrades for all weapons and armor, as well as medical supplies like stim packs, attribute enhancers, and med packs (this is done at a lab station). Also, you can take unneeded equipment (say you don't plan on using the 24 frag mines you've disarmed, but are toting around), and break them down into useable parts for creating new items.

*Cough* … *sputter* … *choke*.

Influence
In the original KOTOR, if you made a comment or did something generally opposed to the disposition of your party-mates, you might get chastised with a sharp word or two. KOTOR II takes your party's attitudes a step further. Nearly every bit of interaction with members of your party increases or decreases your influence over them. The more influence you have, the more you learn about them, and the more they acclimate themselves to your alignment (good side or dark side). The ramifications for gaining or losing influence are deep, but well hidden, which should make multiple play-throughs all the more interesting.

Prestige Classes
Your main character now has the ability to specialize in one of six different prestige classes as time goes by. Prestige classes offer a sort of high-level focus for your character. There are three prestige classes for the Light Side (Weapon Master, Jedi Watchman, and Jedi Master) and three Sith prestige classes for the Dark Side (we'll let you discover those yourself). Claiming a prestige class is not just an option in a menu. It's tied to a story element with one of your party members, so watch out for it.

Lightsaber Styles
As your main character grows in power with the Force, they learn different lightsaber styles. Each style befits a different situation (one may work with multiple enemies, while one may be better for deflecting blaster shots, and another might be better for dueling). These different styles offer different animations as well, which helps to visually shake up the combat.

KOTOR II is not just an extension of the original. It is in every way an evolution of the first game, and that goes for game mechanics as well. Every tweak and addition added feels natural, and, for a game being handled by a new developer, that's saying something indeed.