I wanna thank everyone who liked my Last of Us 2 Review. By far my most liked review and really the only eyes I've ever gotten on one of these reviews. I should follow it up by reviewing something topical and new. Perhaps a controversial Slay the Spire 2 review. I don't know what I was thinking playing a 23 year old game to follow up such a masterpiece review, but here we are, having just finished Knights of the Old Republic. KOTOR is a classic Bioware RPG through and through and with that comes a laundry list of complaints and annoyances which we will surely get into. But underneath its aged design, lays a foundation that is superb.
[h2]Quality of Life[/h2]
It feels weird to complain about quality of life in a game that was released over 20 years ago, so I will proceed with grace. Most of these are nitpicks but they do make the game unbearable at times. For one, the game lacks an effective autosave. Something that can be quickly remedied by pressing F4 every few minutes, but my wandering mind forgets every once in a while, leading to upwards of 20 min of my progress being erased. I hate backtracking, it's one of the reasons I fear getting into Elden Ring. But where in that game it's part of the charm, here it's frustrating. Another gripe was NPC movement AI. On dozens of occasions, my companions would stop moving, leaving me to have to trek back to get them to follow me again. Why they wouldn't just teleport with you to the next part of the map is beyond me, perhaps that technology was not ready yet in 2003. My last major nitpick was the use of Jedi powers. Being the class that utilizes force powers over lightsaber combat, I always found it frustrating that you couldn't put a force power first in the pause menu. I would try to stack Force Valor and Force Speed, but would have to do an attack first in order to automate it. These powers could be used in real time, but planning around force powers while paused was difficult. Again, complaining about quality of life in a game from when I was a toddler is low hanging fruit, but still worth mentioning.
[h2]Story[/h2]
Where this game lacks in modern polish, it makes up for in a pretty amazing, albeit standard heroic story. Luckily I was not spoiled, so the big reveal near the end of the game caught me genuinely off guard. You play as a nobody soldier, who just crash landed from a ship that was overrun by Sith. The first planet, Taris is a strong and memorable introductory planet for the player to explore. It is the largest and longest planet, where you meet most of the side companions, including Carth, Mission, and Canderous. As you progress through the planet, you search for Bastila, the Jedi who crash landed with you on Taris. Eventually you find her, and the two of you have a shared vision about a map that could lead to a powerful forge deep in the unknown galaxy. Thus starts the main journey of the game, piecing together the map by visiting planets throughout the galaxy to stop Darth Malak from harnessing the power of the Star Forge. On your journey you visit classic worlds like Tatooine and Kashyyyk, along with lesser known planets like Manaan and Korriban. Korriban contains the game's best side content as you infiltrate a Sith Academy. Other standout quests include the people quest line on Tatooine and of course the finale, which ramps the difficulty up immensely.
[spoiler]Near the end of the game, you are captured by Malak and it is revealed that you were once the feared Sith Lord and his master, Darth Revan. It certainly caught me off guard, although the signs for some Sith involvement are definitely sprinkled throughout. This reveal really makes you question your allegiance to the Jedi as they essentially brainwash you into doing their bidding. This game really does a great job at showing the pull that the dark side has, with characters such as yourself and Bastila falling to its influence. In fact, if the game wasn't so strictly good and evil in its decision making, I might have drifted away from the Jedi. I've never been a fan of their whole code, I think it's the sole reason that everyone has fallen to the dark side. Ultimately, if you decide, you can overcome the Sith and save the galaxy, but you can also join Malak and submit to the dark side.[/spoiler]
[h2]Companions[/h2]
I found the companions in this game to be pretty good, but not nearly as exciting as those in Mass Effect. By Mass Effect 3, I was bonded to those on the ship and while I maybe started to get that feeling here, with only one game it's hard to grow a connection. For me, the standouts are Canderous, Jolee, Bastila, and Carth. Canderous and Jolee are both humorous older characters with wisdom to impart on the player. They speak of old battles, lovers, and philosophy which was always fun to listen to. Canderous in particular goes through his own mini arc in this game, which was pretty heartwarming. Bastila and Carth are essentially the 1A and 1B companions. They sit with you in the cockpit and are central to the story. Carth is tough to crack and his trust is earned, but by the end of the game he'll do anything for you. Bastila is the game's only real love interest, and teasing her throughout the game is fun. Her own internal battle with the Sith gives her her own plot and motives throughout. The rest of the companions, except for maybe Mission, were weak. Still 5 solid companions is nothing to scoff at.
[h2]Gameplay[/h2]
Classic Bioware games are a super weird juxtaposition. On one hand, you're slogging through worlds that while interesting in their lore and imagination are fundamentally very boring to play. Reused assets and character models are everywhere. Maps are barren, small, and lack detail. Exploration is slow and a fixed camera angle keeps engagement at a minimum. There isn't much to find, only people to talk to and no real environmental storytelling. The turn based/real time hybrid gameplay is fine, but as a modern gamer, either give me Mass Effect 2/3 gameplay or the refined gameplay of Baldur's Gate III. And to be completely honest, most of the side quests are just ok. Near the end I lost interest in most of them in favor of the main questline. Still despite everything, it has almost a hypnotic charm. You put up with so much in a classic Bioware because there's a flow to them. Talking to companions, walking through barren wastelands to complete a high stakes mission to save the galaxy. It's janky, but it works and I'm about to put up with it all over again in KOTOR II. For that it gets my respect.
[b]7.5/10[/b]
