[Just another wretched fan]

from the force.net

KOTOR2: The Incompletion Controversy

Posted By Tom on March 6, 2005
After completing Knights of The Old Republic 2, more than a few fans have expressed anger over the final moments of the game.

While commercial game reviewers such as IGN and Gamespot gave the game high marks, many fans are now questioning the validity of those ratings.

Many fans suspect that the game was not completed in the manner originally intended and that much was cut from the game due to time constraints and pressure from LucasArts to have the game released before Christmas of 2004.

An outcry against LucasArt's time deadlines and the ramifications it has had on the quality of the game's final quests has been growing. Lately suspected cut material such as audio clips and scripts have surfaced on the internet.

Craig Dixon is one of those fans upset with KOTOR2, and he's taken the time to write an editorial for TFN. An excerpt follows.

According to the development team themselves in a recent interview with RPG Vault "...we had this incredible design for a planet of droids. We actually did the first pass on art and built the character models for the location. But we had to look at the schedule and make a big cut after E3. We cut the entire planet. " Not surprisingly, it was a planet you were to visit late in the game‘s progression. What was the reason for cutting it? Time constraints. This comment reveals just how damaging this deadline that LucasArts gave to Obsidian was to the development of a complete game with a fleshed-out story.

F#$*ing Lucasarts and their #!$$## deadlines. Ruining art. Whatever happened to Ars Artis. Art for arts sake.

[barend]

lucas hates anything that is related to his world that is better than what he can do... unfortunatley this is everything.

oh, well... keep that strangle hold tight George.

somebody get that dude a girlfriend so he'll stop fucking art!!!

[Helena]

While commercial game reviewers such as IGN and Gamespot gave the game high marks, many fans are now questioning the validity of those ratings.

Whilst I haven't played KOTOR 2 myself, from what I've heard about it this doesn't surprise me in the least. It wouldn't be the first game to be given an undeservedly high scores on the strength of being a high-profile sequel to an excellent game - Deus Ex 2 and Beyond Divinity come to mind. I was stupid enough to buy BD after the first rush of positive reviews and comments came out, ignoring those who tried to point out that the game had some serious flaws, and heartily regretted it - which is one of the many reasons why I'm so reluctant to buy KOTOR 2.

What it comes down to is this: LucasArts knew that whatever they did with the sequel to KOTOR, it would sell by the truckload and be praised to the skies by the fans. They could probably have stuck Jar Jar Binks in it and still not hurt sales very much. So they rushed out an unfinished game, gambling that it would still be well-received on the basis of its other strengths - which, indeed, is exactly what's happened. It seems that now, in the cold light of day, some people may be having second thoughts - but LA already have the great reviews and the revenue, so why the hell should they care?

[use the force]

It was perfect up until the ending. Malachor 5 looked like crap , the end bosses were easy. I mean its pretty much impossible to stop you once your pure darkside and just force crush people over and ver again til they die. And the only way to beat the 3 lightsabers of doom(cause its impossible to beat them in a straight up fight for some reason) is to run away, use force lighting, run away, repeat. OK so you just kiled the main sith, fade into space...end of game. YOu gotta be fuckin shittin me. What happened to the remote you were controlling? Not to mention your friends just disapeared into thin air all of a sudden. Why couldn't fuckin lucas arts give em a month or two to clean up that crappy ass whore ending.

[HK 47]

After having played KOTOR II intensely for the past weeks, I have to say that I agree with some of what you say. There are many, many great ideas and characters and I would give it very high scores, but it would have needed about 6 more months polishing the details. Too bad LucasArts don't have the same policy as Blizzard or Bungie. Their dates of release have always been: "When it rocks!" No wonder they're the best.

[Radu094]

: what they all said above :

except I did beat the 3 lighsabers. Actually I won too easily: didn't even have to load once.Ending sucks

[Supes]

After having played KOTOR II intensely for the past weeks, I have to say that I agree with some of what you say. There are many, many great ideas and characters and I would give it very high scores, but it would have needed about 6 more months polishing the details. Too bad LucasArts don't have the same policy as Blizzard or Bungie. Their dates of release have always been: "When it rocks!" No wonder they're the best.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is where Xbox Live comes in I'm sure. You'll be seeing updates, new levels, etc that will likely clean up some of these issues. A very Microsoft appraoch when you think about it. :angry:

BTW - Use the force I like your new avatar. Very action packed.

This post has been edited by Supes: 11 March 2005 - 06:36 AM

[Jordan]

Oh man, this sucks shit. I was looking forward to playing that game. I'm not buying it any more. I've heard enough, this is the final straw that broke this camels back. I'll stick with Simcity 4 and Rome Total War, thank you.

[HK 47]

I finally finished KOTOR II a few days ago and I have to admit it is clearly inferior to the original. Helena was correct about many of her reservations, The Sith Lords is excellent for the first half of the game but then it quickly goes downhill. The ending is *bad*. When I played the original KOTOR I was smiling ear to ear watching the ending. KOTOR IIs ending is weak and doesn't feel much like Star Wars.

[Jordan]

Well, I played it, and it was terrble. I already griped about it in another forum.

The story was just so weak and the ending was a slap to the face. I hated it so much, I actually laughed when the game ended.

"ha, wtf, that's the end?!"

Who were the Sith Lords? What the hell did they want? Was the old women a Sith lord? Was she really all that bad?

About 1000 loose ends. Arg. Pure frustration.

This post has been edited by Jordan: 07 June 2005 - 10:35 PM

[barend]

i haven't played this game, yet... I'm not paying more than 20bucks for it....

why couldn't they have been allowed to hold out?

Halo 2 was put off for like 2 years...
and it increased anticipation that it was all anyone talked about for ages... to purchase it in sydney by it's release date there was a big party in the CBD and preorders were available for purchase at midnight on a weeknight... (it was fun, i don't even have an x-box, i just went for all the freebies and dancing girls), absolute madness...

KOTOR 2 would have sold twice as many games if they postponed it's release...

[diligent_d]

Actually I found the entire story for this one made no sense. Though there are some fantastic features in it where you're entire party begins to look more dark and ominous depending on the choices you make. You can even "seduce" some of your party towards the less...straight and narrow path.

It's always fun to see how dark you can go in those games, just making every bastard choice you can. Your portrait gets pretty ugly, pretty quick.