It pains me to write this, after raving about how much I enjoyed the first KoToR.
Is the story better than any movie or show Disney Star Wars has made in the last decade? Sure, but that's a pitifully low bar to clear.
Did I enjoy the game enough to play from start to finish? Yes, if nothing else so I could write this in good faith after giving the game a full chance.
Is there replay value? Insofar as different gameplay choices lead to different outcomes and story development, sure.
So why the negative review?
Well let's get this out of the way: if you're expecting this game to pick up where the last game left off and see what happens to your character, or any of your companions, after the events of the last game, then sorry, not happening. You play as a completely new character with a completely new backstory; I was hoping for a Baldur's Gate 2 or Witcher 2 where you load your save data from the first game so story choices and other things carry over. This means your choices in the first game actually matter. With this game, seemingly nothing mattered from the first game because you're playing as the alleged last surviving Jedi. One has to wonder if the "2" designation of this game is a slight misnomer because it implies continuity instead of a standalone story.
Yes, there may be "canonical" story outcomes and character fates in the greater Star Wars Expanded Universe mythos, but that's besides the point when playing a role playing game where you make material choices that lead to material consequences.
But even if you separate the story foundation aspect entirely from the game, there's still plenty to complain about.
Admittedly, there are some quality of life improvements from the first game like quick weapon changing, and most if not all knowledge from the first game carries over to this one. But after that, it's hard to bring up things to praise.
There's occasional camera glitches like rotating and shifting out of view, if you have a USB controller plugged in. Unplugging seems to resolve the issue but it's still a nuisance. And even when there's no controller plugged in, there are some wild camera angles during some dialogue where the character speaking either isn't in view or isn't facing the camera.
Some quests are not scripted well for continuity's sake depending on certain choices that you make, which slightly breaks the roleplaying experience. Like the Twi'lek who gambled his lady on a game of Pazaak; you can win her back over a game of Pazaak and she'll work for you as a dancer, but if you get some goons to beat up her owner she acts like she's still working off her debt to him?
There's still no rest mechanic in this game, so you either have to burn through recovery items, need equipment that has regeneration, or FP to heal.
This game somehow managed to have even less fast travel options than the first game. At least in the first game you could usually fast travel back to your ship but now that's no longer an option. Most places I've seen don't have any fast travel options even after finishing all the quests there.
Looping dialog takes you out of the roleplaying experience, especially when you can go through the entire dialog tree with little to no consequence. Some NPC's reset entirely after you finish a quest, as if you never interacted with them before. Some dialogue choices have infinite loops.
Over thirty hours into the game, I came across a grand total of five lightsabers, all double bladed so unless a Jedi character has the two weapon feat they are at a significant disadvantage if not outright useless.
In the first game, every companion characters had their own unique quest line which expanded their story and relations with the player character; in this game, companion characters have an influence system which seems to require them to be in your party in order for you to make choices that either increase or decrease influence with them, and only once you reach a certain threshold do more quest lines become available.
Some recorded dialogue is hilariously inaccurate with the subtitles.
And finally, the ending is completely anti-climactic and very few plot threads are resolved, including that of your companions. In fact, most of your companions don't appear at all in the endgame and only are mentioned through optional dialog in the very end. Come to find out, this game is notorious for having cut content, including cut endings. Yes, mods exist that attempt to restore cut content, but this review is based solely on what's available out of the box for this game.
So really, even though there are some positives with this game, and even though I'm glad my curiosity after the first KoToR is now settled, I can say if I knew everything above, I don't think I'd have bothered playing this game. If you really enjoyed the first KoToR, save your time and energy and leave the fate of your character and companions to your imagination, or just read any Old Republic Star Wars comics and books published prior to the Disney acquisition.
