Hey, guys, Firebird here, giving my first ever retrospective. And what better way to start than to look back at one of my favorite video games of all time: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic? I can't believe it's been 10 years since it was released to the world (although the PC version would be released later that year) & would eventually become Game of the Year 2003. By the way, this retrospective WILL contain SPOILERS for those who STILL haven't played the game (although it's been a decade so everyone should know by now :P). Don't say I didn't warn you. Now let's begin shall we? Starting in a galaxy far, far away....
Introduction to the game
It all started when I saw an advertisement for KOTOR in an issue of "Star Wars Insider". At the time they were celebrating the 20th anniversary of "Return of the Jedi". At first I wasn't that interested....at first. In the same issue, they had a preview of the same game & my interest peaked.....just a little bit. But as time goes on & I kept hearing on how awesome it was, I decided that I wanted to get it. But at the time I didn't have an Xbox; I was mostly playing the hell on my brother's PS2 (mostly GTA Vice City, ah those were the days). Eventually for Christmas, I finally got myself an Xbox & a copy of Star Wars KotOR.....& Jedi Academy.....& Jedi Starfighter. Don't you judge me! :lol: Of course at that time, I didn't know who or what Bioware was & yes I know they made other great games prior to KotOR but at that time, I didn't have either internet or even a computer. That wouldn't come until about a year later.
Reaction to trying KotOR for the first time
Anyway the first time I tried KotOR, I was blown away. At the time, stunning visuals, incredible music,....& a combat system I wasn't used to. Of course this was my first RPG game & I never tried turn-based combat before. And before you ask: I only played a couple games on my brother's N64, both my brother & I barely experienced our cousin's Saturn, & we never had a PS1, a Dreamcast, or a GameCube. Back to the game: I was confused on the turn-based combat system (but over time I got used to it). I thought it was pretty hard & for a while I had NO IDEA what to do in the game; all I did was explored the Upper City of Taris for a while until I figured out that I needed to equip a certain armor just to get passed a guard. Derp. It was my first major RPG, so sue me. =P I always tried to get nothing but light side points. Yes I'm a boy scout in various RPG's while others love being evil. But I always liked feeling like an actual hero rather than a villain. Anyone can play a villain. =P
Thoughts on the Characters/Interaction
I absolutely love the characters & the interactions between them. First you got Carth Onasi, a veteran Republic soldier from the Mandalorian Wars who is always expecting the unexpected (in short, he has trust issues) mainly after his mentor, Admiral Saul Karath, defected to the Sith Empire & bombarded the surface of his homeworld Telos. This guy is a fucking tank; upgrade his melee & ranged attacks & he's almost unstoppable (provided you give him the right heavy armor/armor upgrades & weapons/weapon upgrades), even against Dark Jedi! His personal quest is that you have to find his son in the Sith Academy on Korriban (provided you've saved Korriban for last but getting ahead of myself) & prove that joining the Academy is a mistake by showing that the Sith lied to him. He's also a love interest for the female player & a lot of fangirls LOVE this pairing, though I don't know why other than "obvious" reasons :facepalm:. He approves of light side options but disapproves of dark side options & when you do choose dark, he's not afraid of speaking his mind. Because of his trust issues he starts out obviously not liking you but over time when he opens up, he starts to trust you (you can keep his trust or exploit it, which we'll get to later).
Next up is the "Jedi Princess" herself, Bastila Shan, gifted Jedi Padawan with the gift of Battle Meditation. People either love this character (well most of them are male ;)) or hate this character (due to her attitude). Me, well, I like her but not for "obvious" reasons, seeing how she's blessed with her "saucy" appearance. She can get a bit annoying at times due to her attitude & it's hilarious to tease her. XD However she does have a soft side & by talking to her enough will allow you to understand how she came to be a Jedi (and likely a reason for her attitude): She adored her father when she was little but hated her mother for seemingly pushing her father into treasure hunting just to stay living in wealth & later given to the Jedi by her mother. Her personal quest is her dealing with her mother & finding the holocron belonging to Bastila's father, while coming to terms with the fact that he's dead. Work to reconcile the two & there Bastila figures out that her mother is dying of an illness & Bastila tries what she can to make sure that she still has the last bit of her family left in her life, considering that Jedi are forbidden to form attachments.
Speaking of attachments, she's also a love interest for the male player & to me this makes more sense. The romance between the male player & Bastila Shan is mostly how the romance in Attack of the Clones should've been & even has some inspirations from Empire Strikes back as well. It all starts out with simple teasing & flirtations, some bits are hilarious I might add XD, but after you successfully complete her personal quest, it really starts to blossom into love, although she does keep mentioning the price of falling in love & even keeps resisting until the final moment until the male player & Bastila share a kiss on board the Ebon Hawk. But their love will be put into the ultimate test which I will get to later. Also if you do complete her personal quest successfully, you see a whole new side of her where she lightens up to you & starts to act more like a person around you. As for skills, she's pretty handy to have; she has some weird immunity to Force Stun attacks for some reason & is a balance of combat & Force so she's pretty useful to have. She always approves of light side options (always commending you when you do choose the light option) but strongly disapproves of dark options (like Carth, she's not afraid of reprimanding you for it).
Next up is a Cathar woman named Juhani. At first I didn't know what to make of her but over time I started to think she's cool. She suffers insecurities that everyone, myself included, goes through, & even struggles with her passions & temper, which I think makes her much more of a three-dimensional character. I mean sure she starts out as an antagonist for a quest on Dantooine (& you have the option to kill her, for you evil dark-siders) but redeem her & you get a valuable fighter who has a unique stealth ability. As for her past: her parents, along with Juhani who was a baby at the time, were among the only Cathar survivors when the Mandalorians attacked their homeworld for revenge after their loss in the war with Exar Kun. They could only go as far as Taris but it was a terrible place to live if you're not human. Her father was killed when he was intoxicated by stimulants & her mother later died when she worked as hard as she could to provide for both of them, but it wasn't enough when the Exchange enslaved Juhani after her mother's death but was freed shortly after & she swore to become a Jedi, in spite of her troubled childhood.
Her personal quest (I still have yet to complete it, along with other quests) involves meeting a Mandalorian slaver who despises Cathar, even though he loves taking in the females as "pets" & simply dealing with him & his two backup thugs (if you're dark & didn't kill her, you can goad her into giving in to her anger & killing him but if you're light, you can tell her to resist her anger). She was going to be a romance option for male & female (no I didn't stutter) but it just goes for female only (male option can be restored through hacking but only on the PC). Like the previous two, she approves of light side options but disapproves of dark options.
Next up is everyone's favorite blue Twi'lek, Mission Vao. Because of her personality, backstory, & even handy skills, she's pretty cool. She isn't a romance option, given that she's 14 years old. Talk to her enough & you'll find out that she came to Taris thanks to her brother Griff but in her eyes, Griff was taken away from her thanks to another Twi'lek dancer named Lena.....until you meet Lena & she tells him that Griff is a lazy con-artist with an IQ of a pebble. And when you save Griff from the Sand People on Tatooine, what do ya know? He really IS a lazy con-artist with an IQ of a pebble (it doesn't help that the Czerka officer giving out hunting licenses explains that he was complaining all the time & always trying to get out of work). You do have the option to kill him but I'm light-sided. Derp. You do have to help him get tach glands from Kashyyyk so he can get Tarisian Ale back on the market to pay off his debts, despite Mission's warnings. But in spite of it, he fails & you never see him again. For skills, she's VERY useful to have if your computer, demolition, or security skills or your other companions' are too low. Unfortunately she isn't perfect in all skills but who is? Of course she'll approve of light side options & disapprove of dark side options (even going as far as to calling you a "monster" when you choose a dark option).
Next up is a former Jedi named Jolee Bindo. He's a complicated man but also a fun companion to have around. He's more grey than anything, save that he has a bit of light side left in him. He's pretty much a veteran of the war with Exar Kun but he became disillusioned with the Jedi Order & just quit (he didn't join the Sith, he fought against them; this was AFTER the war we're talking about). Ever since then he just traveled around until he crash-landed on Kashyyyk & stayed for 20 years (until you find him, that is). He doesn't really have a personal quest unless you can count it's the trial of an old friend of his, Sunry, on Manaan. As I said earlier, he's fun to have around since, despite that he's a "crazy old hermit", he always jokes around to lighten up the mood. As for skills, he's VERY useful to have for Force buffs since he's a Consular. I'm sure he disapproves of dark actions but he's a mixed bag.
Next up is everyone's favorite assassin droid HK-47. This guy is hilarious & is a fan-favorite due to his somewhat twisted humor ("meatbag", nuff said). If you wanna know how you get him, it's simple: just buy him in a droid shop on Tatooine. He doesn't have a personal quest since I mostly don't get into it (though videos on Youtube show it). Because he's an assassin droid with his twisted & bloodthirsty sense of humor, he is a "darker" character, which means he strongly approves of dark side options but disapproves of light side options. He's also an excellent translator for when you DO NOT wanna kill all the Sand People in a mission on Tatooine. For skills, well since he's a droid he's handy in repair (that's how droids regain health by the way), but he's great with ranged weapons.
Next up is the Mandalorian mercenary named Canderous Ordo. Since he's also a dark sided character, he'll approve of dark options & disapprove of light options. He's probably the second-oldest of the group next to Jolee but he's still got some good years left in him. After he tells stories of the Mandalorian ways & his achievements on the battlefields, you start his personal quest when he runs into a former comrade named Jagi & he challenges Canderous to a duel in the Dune Sea. You can fight them but to successfully complete it, you need to convince Jagi that he's wrong & Canderous was right (but you need your persuasion skill to be pretty high, of course I ALWAYS put skill points into it until it's high enough for me.....Derp). Canderous is excellent in ranged attacks & with the right upgrades & equipment, he can be either a ranged tank or DPS or both. Even better he's got an implant that slowly restores his health over time. Despite that his people lost in the Mandalorian Wars, he'll admit that he nor his people hold a grudge against Darth Revan, which we will get to later. He pretty much doesn't have much in skills, I guess. He's just a fighter, nuff said. :P
Now it wouldn't be Star Wars without a Wookiee, so that's why we have Zaalbar, Mission's best friend. He was exiled from Kashyyyk after he attacked his younger brother, Chuundar, with his claws but there was a reason for it: he found out that Chuundar was selling Wookiees to Czerka in exchange for greater power. With Zaalbar exiled from Kashyyyk & exiling his own father, Freyyr, after convincing that he was "insane", Chuunder assumed total power with Zaalbar meeting up with Mission on Taris after being hassled by Black Vulkar gang members. His personal quest, like Jolee's, is pretty much a planet quest but unlike Jolee's, it determines the fate of the planet. If you go dark & kill Freyyr, Chuundar stays in power & the Wookiee village (I can't pronounce it btw & still can't) is sealed off for good. If you go light, Chuundar is killed & the planet is freed. I don't use him that much but I think he disapproves of dark options (he is a little light after all) & approves of light options. He's very good with melee & ranged weapons, given he's a warrior after all. He's kinda good with demolitions, I guess. :shrug:
Last but not least for the companions is the astromech droid T3-M4. He's mostly neutral but he's very, very good with computer, security, repair, & demolitions (pretty much anything that has to do with machines) which puts Mission's skills to shame. He can be a ranged fighter & is pretty good depending how much you upgrade him but I don't use him that much compared to the next game but that's for another time. I'm not sure how he responds to light or dark options to be quite honest since I barely use him in this game. He doesn't even have a personal quest. But whatever.
We have a main antagonist named Darth Malak. He's no Darth Vader but he's a nasty son of a bitch! He ordered the destruction of Telos AND Taris! The latter because he feared Bastila will get away & bring doom to his Sith Empire with her Battle Meditation. Otherwise he wanted to capture her & turn her to the dark side so nothing can destroy his Empire. He pretty much is a brute & despite his fears, he's a VERY tough fighter. He can take damage while dishing out a lot at the same time. As for why he wears that brace on his face: it's because Revan sliced it off some time before the events of the game & ironically he was the first to be called a "meatbag" by HK-47. XD Admiral Saul Karath was Carth's mentor who pretty much bombed Telos (under Malak's orders) & despite that he hesitated to bombard Taris, he's just as nasty as Malak. Plus he's voiced by the late Robin Sachs (RIP, we'll miss you :(). There are other characters I can talk about but there's way too many for this retrospective but I really love how Bioware put so much effort into the writing to make the characters more believable.
The Twist & Other Revelations
As I said this retrospective will contain spoilers so if you don't wanna see what I have to say next or if you wanna experience the game for yourself, then I strongly advise that you scroll waaaaay down now or click the "Back" button at the top of your browser right now.
....Here we go....
....Your character is Darth Revan....
Yes, you heard me right, your character, regardless if your male or female (although for Lucasfilm canon, Revan is a man), you're THE Darth Revan, Malak's master. Although there could be some "hints", when I first found out I NEVER saw it coming & I was completely shocked. Who'd thought that you were that guy or gal in the black robes & mask the whole time?! At least it also gave an explanation where the bond between your character/Revan & Bastila Shan came from; after Malak fired at Revan's/your flagship, she survived & struggled to use her powers to heal you/Revan, which created the bond as a result. You can lash out at her in anger for apparently "using" you or you can forgive her with Malak calling you "weak" as a result (weak, my ass). Me: I always forgive her. Derp.
I like how, after the shocking revelation, that your character comes to terms with the fact that you're Revan & even how it'll affect the other quests later, including your own companions. Jolee knew about it all along but he felt it wasn't his place to tell, though to him it doesn't change anything. T3 pretty much accepts it as is, Canderous respects Revan as a warrior, Mission & Zaalbar prefers to stick to the present instead of the past, Juhani is stunned that the person who redeemed her was the man/woman who freed her years ago & looks to him/her as inspiration. As for Carth....well he takes it pretty hard & is angry about it but he comes to terms with it eventually.
Story
Since it's full of spoilers here we go:
The Republic sent a trap for Revan & Malak with a small fleet & a Jedi strike team, with Bastila included, boarded Revan's ship in an attempt to capture Revan alive if possible. Unfortunately Malak sees this as an opportunity to eliminate his master & usurp the title of Dark Lord of the Sith for himself while ridding himself of his hated enemies at the same time & orders his forces to open fire on Revan's ship, including the bridge. Unfortunately for Malak, Revan was badly wounded & unconscious but alive (though barely) along with Bastila, who struggles to keep Revan alive & retrieved Revan & barely escaped. The Jedi Council, afterward, decided to wipe Revan's mind so he/she could help them locate the Star Forge, which is an ancient space station created by "the Builders" (which is a somewhat extinct race called the Rakata) capable of constructing massive fleets of starships in a short amount of time. Giving Revan the identity of an unknown soldier/scout/scoundrel, he/she is assigned to the Republic warship Endar Spire, which is attacked after it was ambushed by a Sith fleet above the planet of Taris.
The Sith quickly board the Endar Spire in the hopes of trying to find & capture Bastila Shan only to find out that she managed to escape in an escape pod. With an amnesiac Revan barely escaping the Endar Spire with Carth Onasi before the Endar Spire is destroyed, the pod crash lands on the surface & the two team up to try & find Bastla Shan. Along the way they meet & team up with Mission Vao & Zaalbar & they decide to help find Bastila after they find out that she had been captured by the Black Vulkars. You can either side with the Hidden Beks or the Black Vulkars (I always side with the Hidden Beks since the Vulkars are kinda evil with their leader Brejik in charge) but either way, you participate in the Swoop Race season opener & win Bastila with a prototype swoop engine accelerator installed. If you're siding with the Beks, Brejik accuses you of cheating (although he stole the accelerator to his advantage in the first place) & attempts to withdraw the prize (aka Bastila who's being sold as a slave). If you side with the Vulkars, he goes back on his word after finding out Bastila is a Jedi. After a brief fight with Brejik & his Vulkars, Bastila is freed & they return to Carth & co. to try & find a way to escape Taris. Canderous Ordo meets you in the Upper City Cantina with an offer: break into the Sith Base & retrieve the launch codes (any ship without them would be vaporized by the fleet orbiting the planet) & Canderous, after meeting him in the Lower City Cantina, will take him to Davik, his boss that he plans to betray, so they can "commandeer" his ship the Ebon Hawk.
Unfortunately Malak is growing impatient & orders the planet to be razed/destroyed so the fleet begins to bombard Taris to rubble, but not before Davik is killed & the Ebon Hawk, with the crew Revan teamed up with along with Canderous, escape Taris in the nick of time. After landing on Dantooine, Revan meets with the Jedi Council & retrains in the ways of the Force. He/She is told to do certain tasks to prove himself/herself before returning & is accepted as a Padawan. He/She & Bastila are sent to the ancient ruins where, after figuring out a couple of puzzles, they find a Star Map deep in the ruins & after reporting to the Council, they task Revan & his/her crew to find other Star Maps on Tatooine, Kashyyyk, Manaan, & Korriban (while doing other tasks to help & picking up other companions along the way). After finding 4 of the 5 maps in total, the Ebon Hawk is suddenly captured by Malak's flagship, the Leviathan, with the crew interrogated by Saul Karath himself. With one companion of the crew's choice, he/she frees the companions with Carth, Bastila, & Revan volunteering to go to the bridge & disable the tractor beam while the others head to the hanger where the Ebon Hawk is so they can escape. But they're short on time since Malak knows that Bastila & her crew are captured & is on his way.
After Karath & his forces are defeated, he tells Carth a secret before he dies from his wounds. Carth lashes out at Bastila in anger with Revan completely confused. Bastila convinces Carth to trust her until they get back to the Ebon Hawk with a promise that she will tell everyone. Just before they could get to the hanger, Malak stops them & shocks our hero by telling him/her that he/she is Darth Revan the whole time. After a fierce duel, Bastila intervenes & sacrifices herself so Carth & Revan can get away. After this revelation, they decide to put it aside, for now, to find the last Star Map. After finding the final Star Map & dealing with the last of the planet's aftermath from finding it, Revan & co. make a beeline for the Star Forge. Unfortunately the Star Forge is protected by a disruptor field (which has no effect whatsoever on the Sith ships for some reason) which overloads the Ebon Hawk's systems, causing it to land on a nearby uncharted planet & forcing them to look around for spare parts to repair the Ebon Hawk (fortunately for them there are other crashed ships so it's jackpot for them) while they find a way to shut down the disruptor field, which so happens to be inside a nearby ancient temple.
After an ambush by some Rakata warriors, they venture north to find more Rakata led by "The One" (he is obviously mad with power by the way) who reminds Revan that he/she promised to slaughter a whole group of Rakata called "The Elders" in exchange for help to get into the Temple. Revan then heads south to find the Elder settlement &, depending if you wanna approach with peace or slaughter, enters the compound & either makes a deal with them (the Elders were angry that Revan had broken his promise to destroy the Star Forge & are distrustful of him/her). If you kill the Elders, you can get a tome & bring it back to The One & he helps you in the Temple. If you side with the Elders, the One's group attack you & you're forced to kill The One & free one of the prisoners that is one of the Elders. Either way, the Rakata (Black or Elder) disable a force field (originally they wanted you to go in alone, but Jolee & Juhani, provided you spared her, appear & decide to go with you). Inside they deal with Sith forces & go into the Temple Catacombs to have an advanced computer allow them access to the Temple Summit, where they.....
....Encounter Bastila Shan who is now a Sith apprentice to Darth Malak....
This is the turning point in the story where you decide the fate of the galaxy. After Bastila makes some "WAH WAH WAH JEDI HELD ME BAWK, SITH ARE AWESUM, NOT ALLOWED TO DISAGREE WITH ME" comments & you, Jolee, & Juhani beat her, she then attempts to get you to join the dark side again. If you give in & say "I agree, the Jedi & the Republic have no right to exist", Jolee & Juhani will fight you & Bastila & you kill Malak to get your Dark Lord title back. However, if you say "screw the dark side, the Sith are a bunch of n00bs", Bastila reacts with a "NO!! YOU'RE AN IDIOT!! THE DARK SIDE IS DA BEST EVAH!! YOU CAN'T DISAGREE WITH THE SITH!! LIGHT SIDE IS FOR N00BS!!!" & flees to her ship to aid the Sith to completely destroy the Republic. Note that it's not exactly how that conversation will go in those exact words but it's pretty much how it is. lol
Either way, the disruptor field is shut down & you have to go back to your crew & tell them the truth. If you're dark, Carth is glad to see Bastila is alive.....until he realizes Jolee & Juhani aren't with them & is furious that you betrayed him after he finally decided to trust you. For more Dark Side points, you can either fight Mission & Zaalbar or "persuade" Zaalbar to kill Mission (only for it to bite you in the ass later) with Carth running from the scene. However if you're light, Carth asks if Bastila is alive & what happened, only to be told that Bastila betrayed them (so much for avoiding another betrayal). You can either plan to save her from the dark side or kill her. For me, I'm light so I always try to save her. =P After the Ebon Hawk is repaired & having a brief conversation with Master Vandar (one of the Council) & Admiral of the Republic fleet, Forn Dodonna, your forces board the Star Forge & plow your way through Sith droids, Dark Jedi, & Sith apprentices. Now we come to a boss before the final boss (Malak). If you're dark, you face against three pretty strong Sith apprentices, but not that strong against your companions. But if you're light, you face against Bastila herself who stuns your companions & forces you to fight her alone.
If you plan to kill Bastila, it's pretty much a straight forward boss battle. If you plan to save her, it's a little difficult. Best to choose your dialogue options VERY carefully. I don't remember what she says exactly if you fail (it only happened once & it was an accident). However if you succeed, she's redeemed & proceeds to use her Battle Meditation for the Republic against the Sith, & even better, if you're male & in a romance with her, she can finally tell you she loves you. :D Anyway back to the story. Regardless of the outcome, the Republic start to rout the Sith fleet or get shredded & you now have to face Malak himself, but he's deciding to pit a defense system of machines that spawn droids endlessly unless you use the terminals to disable the machines (& the droids if you get all) & even open the door.
After a brief conversation, Revan & Malak finally have their climactic lightsaber duel to determine the fate of the galaxy once & for all. But Malak's got a trick up his sleeve: He recovered some dead Jedi & hasn't let them become one with the Force & is siphoning what's left of their energy to replenish himself before resuming the fight (best way is to run around & destroy the tanks & allowing the Jedi to become one with the Force or siphon their energy for yourself, depending on which alignment route you're taking). Either way, Malak is struck down & after exchanging some words, Malak dies, Revan is hailed a hero or new ruler (depending on which story ending you choose).
The story is that classic good vs. evil that, if done & written right, is epic & never gets old. You can tell Bioware put a lot of effort into the story to make sure that it's an epic quest yet retains the feel of Star Wars. It's thanks to their writing that people still remember the story & characters to this day.
Sound/Music
Sound effects came directly from the Skywalker Sound library (along with other sounds from other sources) & everything sounds exactly as it should to keep that Star Wars feel & familiarity. As for music, I was skeptical with the score but after listening to it, it's now among the best I've heard & I applaud Jeremy Soule for putting so much effort to giving that Star Wars feel to the soundtrack. The voice-acting is also superb with so many of the actors in this game even voicing other Bioware games, such as the Mass Effect & Dragon Age series.
Issues/Nitpicks
Although I adore this game & it's among my favorite video games of all time, & even earned 2003 Game of the Year, it isn't perfect (of course what game is?). One problem I had is that, at the time, I was used to being in complete control of my character (blame Jedi Academy. Derp) rather than be restricted to only running, attacking, & talking to other NPC's (got used to it eventually but it would be fixed for Star Wars The Old Republic but that's another time) along with the fact that controlling vehicles was limited to only the turret mini-game & swoop-racing (again, this would be fixed for TOR but that's for another time). One nitpick I do have is that character movements are very limited (although it was a massive RPG at the time but still small compared to MMO's at that point) & would use the same animations over & over, in spite of any emotion. In fact, some actions are nonexistent & mostly fade to black to indicate a certain action. Fortunately for future Bioware RPG's that problem would be fixed but it would take a few years for them to get it right. I can understand the "fade to black & fade back in" to save time & money on animations but come on! I'm sure people actually want to see the protagonist & their love interest kiss to complete a romance! :lol:
Another issue I had is that, although the player assumes the role of protagonist, you can't get the head/face to be exactly how you want; you had to choose a head of your choice rather than customize it. Speaking of customization, it is pretty limited to unique weapons & armor only (lightsabers are customizable regardless but it would be taken to a whole new level in the sequel & the MMO, but again, that's for another day). One issue I had is this: Level cap is 20? Really? Why not increase the level cap to at least 25 or 30? Speaking of nitpicks, the lightsaber hilt designs are really scaled down compared to Jedi Academy. Although they have different designs for each (single, shot, & double-bladed), it's still the same hilt either way & applies to my nitpick/complaint regarding customization.
One issue that people to this day have is that every time you enter a new area, there's a loading screen. Fortunately it's nowhere near as bad or as long as the loading screens in Sonic 06 (geeze those loading screens were awful) but it was still an issue to see a loading screen every time you enter a new area. Fortunately none of the complaints or nitpicks ruin the game for me & although I have more, I'll save them for this next bit.
What I'd Like
Even though it has stood against the tests of time, I'm noticing that, thanks to the MMO, KotOR is now being released on mobile devices. As for me, what I'd like to see....is an HD remake. Now don't get it twisted; I love the game but if the passion & love & even demand for this game continues, eventually a future generation will want to play this either on their PC's or even on their consoles. On the plus side, the graphics would be heavily updated, the areas would be much bigger thanks to today's technology to make bigger environments with little to zero load times, with much improved or added animations (combat or otherwise) & even giving the player a chance to actually fly the Ebon Hawk for the first time. On the downside, it would pretty much be Star Wars The Old Republic on a console. But I have looked on various websites & some fans are wondering what KotOR would look like with HD graphics or at least updated & have gone as far as to make PC mods with updated visuals. The fans sort of got a glimpse as to what the characters would look like in HD graphics with the MMO "The Old Republic" where we get to see the outfits belonging to Malak, Bastila, Carth, & even Revan brought to life. As for the actual characters, that remains to be seen. Unfortunately, unless demand for a KotOR HD Remake skyrockets & fans keep demanding for one, it is likely there may not be an HD remake.
Legacy/Closing Thoughts
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic would later receive critical acclaim, the 2003 Game of the Year award, along with the characters even branching out to other stories. One such example is that Revan makes an indirect cameo in "Darth Bane: Path of Destruction" with Darth Bane using Revan's teachings as inspiration to create the "Rule of Two", while reimplementing the "Darth" title, & even going to the Temple of the Ancients to find Revan's Holocron. Revan would even be considered to have a cameo in the 3D "Clone Wars" series but that concept was scrapped, even though a character model was made. A sequel was made & released in December 2004 with mixed to positive results (but that's for another time). As for the fate of the characters, nobody knew what would happen until between 2009 & 2011 with "Star Wars The Old Republic" released in many books, comic books, & the MMO. I love this franchise & I love this game. I'll continue to play it for many years to come. Happy 10 Anniversary, Star Wars KotOR! Here's to another 10 years!
