A Very Distant Galaxy

It's like the first RPG based on a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It's kind of the game of the year. It's kind of one of the best games ever.

In fact, KotOR is a truly excellent thing. A role-playing game with a capital 'R,' and all that. What’s also important is that it is indeed a "role-playing" game, where there’s a real opportunity to act out roles, not just slice through enemies with a lightsaber to level up. Everything as it should be - branching dialogue, choices to make, multiple endings. In our time of universal simplification for casuals (read, ordinary people), it honestly is not such a frequent guest.

To admit, at first, the very idea that the action would take place some thousands of years before the first episode caused... a slight bewilderment and even disappointment. But then, getting to know the Old Republic better (besides the game, there are also books, comics, and Wikipedia, after all) - this era of Star Wars has sharply risen to the top for me, standing alongside the Imperial era. The Old Republic is a very intriguing time - there are still a lot of Jedi, and the Sith are also plentiful. That is, battles of 20 Jedi against 20 Sith were not uncommon at all. Plus, countless wars where power jumped from one hand to another. Ultimately, it was in the Old Republic that the Jedi and Sith orders themselves were actually born. So, the choice of this era by BioWare was quite justified.

On the other hand, the game itself. First of all, unlike many fans, I don’t go crazy over it. I know people who have completed it nearly 40-50 times. And often almost consecutively. The game is undoubtedly magnificent, but for me, it is like an amusement park ride - KotOR grabs you by the throat, and you simply can't pull away, but over time, it becomes a bit duller. Plus, the atmosphere of KotOR has never particularly impressed me. Too bright, light, colorful. Positive, if you will. KotOR is more like a beautiful and vibrant fairy tale. But here I just happen to be a supporter of darker styles, that's all. So, that's not a reproach to the authors.

The controls are not particularly comfortable. Console-like. Too many unnecessary clicks. Hence, the terribly inconvenient inventory. The battles are already more entertaining - there, the console mechanics work as they should. Battles, as I understood, are based on D'n'D, and that is their biggest flaw. You can, for example, witness the main character with a blaster in hand standing just a few steps from the enemy, shooting, and... missing. I call this a spectacular nonsense, and that’s why I don't like all these DnD things. Dice rolls are far from common sense - sometimes situations like this can be infuriating.

Mini-games, hmm... well, they can amuse a bit, but no more. They have boring concepts. And if I couldn’t care less about racing and shooting galleries in space, I genuinely feel sorry for the card game Pazaak. A little more effort and they could have made a game within the game. For example, adding card collecting like in many JRPGs.

The plot - interesting. It doesn’t offer absolutely anything new, but it’s executed with care. Thanks to that care, one wants to replay the game over and over again because the authors really tried to give players freedom of choice. Here, the companions of the hero are unusually well-developed. In many games, you regard these models with textures as nothing more than cannon fodder - here you can talk to each member of your team, learn about their past and sometimes even help them sort something out (or make it even more confusing). As a result, all these figurines truly become characters in the full sense of the word. This is called "attachment." I remember them all. Each one. I remember their stories that they told me. I remember what they taught me.

And importantly, the storyline traces a very interesting line, although the authors sadly couldn't carry it through to the end - the idea that Jedi are not such glorious guys and are ready to do a lot for personal gain, calling it a noble cause.

(by the way - as a reference, in the Old Republic, there was a race called the Sith, whose followers eventually became the present-day Sith. So it happened that this race was born on the dark side of the Force. They just didn’t call it dark - they were simply what they were. And the Sith could use the dark side to cast spells and practice alchemy. The Jedi caught wind of this - they flew to their home planet with a "peacekeeping" mission and exterminated everyone. There you have the light side.)

And the Sith are not necessarily bloodthirsty killers, but rather intelligent, well-read, and highly developed beings, who can very well be respected military leaders.

(by the way - many Sith whom we have come to consider Sith are not true Sith. A true Sith can only be one who can control their emotions and direct them, not one who is controlled by their emotions. Hence, Anakin is not a Sith at all; in a fit of rage, he almost killed his wife and lost the duel with Obi-Wan. The Emperor often chastised him for not knowing how to wield his anger. Darth Vader only learned to control his emotions over time and through training. Discipline is just as important for Sith as it is for Jedi. And speaking of bloodthirsty Sith - true Sith never killed innocents - simply because it was unnecessary to achieve their goals. Darth Vader killed generals for poor performance to keep the military in check. Palpatine rarely used his saber except in extreme cases and preferred weaving intrigues.)

In conclusion - the game is remarkable. A significant chapter in the history of SW, which also tells about the life of one of the most well-known and respected Sith - Darth Revan.

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