Reviewing KOTOR, aka Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ส.ค. 2024
- kotor 2, my favorite jrpg
full spoilers in video
Welcome longtime KOTOR fans - this video isn't really for you. I'm not much of a Star Wars buff, and I've barely interacted with its associated media - even the films. Still, patrons voted for KOTOR, so I'm doing KOTOR. I had more fun than expected, but it took a while to get on board. I'd say 2 really takes it over the top.
It's hard to talk about the games because, frankly, some people are vast repositories of information about the series, and I'm just here to talk about my experience. And that experience was minimal! Switch ports, no lost content patch, this is not how these games are traditionally played. But it's worth noting that it'll be how some number of new fans plays the games, so let's examine what we've got - ya can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Told short, I was blown away by the sequel's narrative - specifically getting to show that old hag Kreia a thing or two about hope and jrpg protagism. Check it.
If you'd like to help support the show, find me here: / kbash
*note for any potential new patronage, I'm using May to upload 1 very large video (KOTOR was supposed to be at the end of April) and it won't be a traditional KBash piece. After May it's back to business as usual.
for the medley in the intro: • Star Wars Medley
Morbius Art:
/ watermelonie4
/ jokobart
/ copymirror
0:00 celestial body battles
2:07 psy-op game
23:48 peak fiction
#kotor #knightsoftheoldrepublic #kbash - เกม
KOTOR is like Neverwinter Nights - get three quarters through on the first try, give up and start again with knowledge of how the game works and then spend the next ten years doing the first couple of areas with different builds.
Me playing Deus Ex
Interesting. I beat 1 a few times, but i mustve cleared 2 a fozen plus.
hate how accurate this is
Facts
Restartitus
Khaye Baasch is the best Star War character, so glad he's finally getting some recognition
Khaye means testicles in Persian
The reason the center path doesn’t ultimately lead to anything is because it cannot. The chaotic nature of the force resists it, human nature strays from it, ultimately if you use the force sight on Kreia in the final fight she shows up not as the mostly balanced near-grey she has been for the rest of the game, but instead as a solid red, even her failing at her principles
I thought she looked like pinkish or something. Because in the games code Darth Traya has a set alignemnt thats not even halfway to the capped max darkside
That's not how narrative works, lad. If a developer uses a human model as a base for elves, that doesn't necessarily suggest that elves descend or evolved from humans canonically.
@@keklord4128
Feels amazing when Kbash covers one of your favorite video games
may the force be with you fellow intellectual 😎
DOESNT ITTTTT
@@niteriemcfarlane5285 likewise, my brother in force 🤝
@@Hempherovideos lol it really does
Until he roasts your favourite game and you know he's spitting facts 😭
The thing with Kreia is that she'll call you choice wrong no matter what. If you don't help the gy, she'll berate for it too. You have to show you're thinking about the consequences of your actions to gain influence with her.
It doesn't always work well with the clunky dialogue system, but once it clicked for me it made love her character.
I think the most interesting part of her character is that morality isn't a two sided coin and that it's more important to view morality in context rather than as an absolute. Contrary to Kbash, I don't think her view on this is myopic and what makes her evil. He didn't need to go into her backstory to find out why she's evil either to do so, the actual tells beneath the surface aren't important. Visuals in Starwars matter, it's probably the strongest symbolism in a series overloaded with symbolism down to the names ffs. Just her silhouette is telling you she's an evil witch.
I feel so vindicated when I hear KBash give glowing praise to KOTOR 2. It's always been my favorite for the reasons he stated. Obsidian really knows what they're doing when it comes to complex choices in western RPGs.
This truly is one of the three good Obsidian games.
@@SonicTheFrenchHorn Fallout New Vegas, Kotor 2 and?
@@Dagowit KOTOR 2, Pillars of Eternity, and The Outer Worlds. New Vegas is awful.
@@SonicTheFrenchHorn I'd argue that Outer Worlds is fairly mid, but I'll check out PoE, thanks
@@SonicTheFrenchHorn hot take my guy, hot garbage but still
Kreia did nothing wrong.
She's the absolute queen
Meetra Surik did nothing wrong either.
Truely she is a good character. Hard to please and fully understand like a true jedi. And sith lord.
@@thezenithrage1006 being a contrarian to almost every dialogue choice isn't deep or "well written"
@@JustSkramClearly someone either didn't play the game or didn't understand her. She's not being a contrarian. The game just railroads you into taking one of two years extremes in order to hammer in her teachings
This is the KBash RPG content I wanted.
Thank you for your passionate examination of these games. I hold these series very dearly and I think you did an excellent job slicing up the good and the bad of it all 😄
Jade Empire would be neat to look at in relation to these
This series was made to be engaged with in your format, glad you gave it its proper due.
Can be really tempting to power through or gloss over stuff that dated but i appreciate being able to experience it for what it is, where it is.
By doing so you've added some more insights to my own understanding of the series, thank you
KOTOR was such a rad series
I'm glad that, despite the numerous technical issues behind the games (which is especially noticeable these days) AND having no real connection with Star Wars as a franchise you were still able to come out of KotoR with some amount of appreciation for the characters and the story being told. I'll admit as a SW fan, I've always enjoyed being able to explore the smaller details and the nuance behind the different characterizations of the force in SwtoR 2. Kreia especially had me question my actions as a teen, always trying to do good but never understanding why I would strive for that. That and the fantasy of having your own lightsaber color as well as being able to train and influence companions was big for me.
It's a bit of a shame that you didnt get to experience handmaiden as I enjoyed her character quite a bit with the way she struggles with wanting to be a jedi but still having to deal with her lineage (and Atriss). Its a huge moment when you convince her through your dialogue, fighting, and actions that Atriss is wrong. I'm sure theres many characters like her these days, but back then it just hit different for me.
Overall thanks for making this and suffering through some buggy messes for our entertainment and opinions! Always happy to hear the takes of others as we all have different approaches and mindsets and the information from such differences is valuable and appreciated!
Hey there, I stumbled into this video after seeing you were also in Eurothug's video on Siren!
Very glad that this game series is getting attention - I'll say that KotOR 2's restored content patch *does* end up padding out the pacing by a fair margin. I personally love it to bits, but this is also a Nostalgia Trip for me.
I love how you came to completely different conclusions than I did about KotOR 2's story and plot, and read many of its characters in a completely different way to me. My own read on it is that the "wound in the force" is a metaphor for trauma and PTSD, and the game is Therapy-With-Lightsabers for you and all your companions. While I could say "Ooh, yeah, I disagree with THAT take", the fact is that the text is deep enough and the artistry is well-enough crafted to totally support alternate readings - and I really appreciate and love that about it!
Thank you for giving me a video to spend a cosy 47 minutes of my Monday evening in!
KBash uploading a video on Star Wars KOTOR on May the 4th is extra cheeky
The important aspect of the restored content mod is that it… adds the ending again. The droid planet is at least on computer a seperate mod and I believe that one is the thing that is generally considered cut content that was not necessary to add back in, but yeah, restored content mostly fixed it by putting back in an ending
Loved the first. Blew me away back in the day, but I never got around to part 2 despite always "meaning to go back to it."
My girlfriend also laughed out loud when Anakin screamed "I hate you!" so I know you're good people.
I genuinely don't understand how you can say that a bad translation is "incidental" to a game, story is one of the most important parts of an RPG and if it has a bad translation you might as well just not play it.
If they gave Xenoblade a shitty translation with broken English that would absolutely ruin the experience and bring down the games quality.
Did he claim to have played xenosaga with a bad translation? And be OK with it? Doesn't look right
@@VashdaCrash He mentions Xenogears having a bad translation and thinking that's fine since the "game" part is what matters.
Xenogears is enjoyable even with the translation issues but that doesn't change the fact the translation isn't that good (most JRPGs around that era had poor translations).
@@shironori8436 Thank you for the response, I agree that a bad translation can't be a minor issue with this kind of game.
I hate Xenoblade english dubs, they are terrible.
@@nanasenoah8139 oh, I thought they were popular. I don't care one way or the other, I can change them whenever.
Nah I feel ya, Aspyr lied about the Switch version getting a patch/mod of all the fixes and additions
the up to date versions had but they went weirdly silent and we haven't heard anything from them since.
so I feel you, you def aren't the only one and I wish I was smart enough to help you.
Also wtf bro I LOVE Jade Empire , I thought I was the only one!
Please you have to find me before it's too late only we can save the world because we're drift compatib-
Not sure what you mean. Gray Jedi playthrough has you practically overpowered by the end because of all the bonuses kreia gives you for following her teachings.
Also with RCM you can still sequence skip and kill mini bosses on accident. RCM just makes the game less glitchy and adds in some dialogue that fleshes out the story.
I think he could've made his life easier with the patches, the stuff added was mostly optional right?
@@VashdaCrash oh some of it is optional but it's got tons of dialogue that had to be cut for time constraints
Even the devs insist you get it
I do find it funny that he's playing a switch port for both games and then complaining about bugs as if it is the fault of the game and not the port.
@@jimlahey6330 One could argue that a port is still a game, I think that's how the average player would see it. Playing old games is tricky.
@@VashdaCrash Fair enough, I think most people would play Kotor through steam though. I ran into 0 issues that way and none of my friends have either, but that's a limited sample size.
The thing I really liked about these games is them not having in-game codex. If you wanted to learn about the world you needed to ask someone about it (usually someone who actually seen it) or trust item descriptions. Souls games don't really do this the same way, they are much more... Mean about it's lore, in kotor people sometimes lied but most information was actually there. I don't say it's better way to do it, I just think it's neat. And I prefer it over lore spreadsheet in more modern RPGs
I agree, it feels more organic to have characters tell you the lore through questions and follow ups.
I love KoTOR 2 and Kreia in particular because so much of the game and Kreia is left up to interpretation. I've seen multiple researched, hours-long videos about Kreia and what she believes with very different conclusions. But what makes it cool is that there's always something interesting in whatever take you have.
Personally, I always had the belief that Kreia was lying during most of her encounters, even at the end. I think she WANTED the player character to turn to the Light Side, and be unwavering in their devotion, to be able to combat the 'hidden Sith threat' she constantly alleges to. The entire game is about her training and confronting the player character with conflict to forge a Hero that can turn the tide of Destiny. She never WANTED to kill the player character, it was just a show, to force them to grow.
But if you saw her as a character that simply saw the player character as something completely opposed to her own beliefs, that she disliked or despised, that's also, at least a little, more interesting than most video game villains.
I also believe this interpretation, for two reasons: 1) She *was* a Jedi first, which leads me to believe that, however deeply it may be buried, there is idealism in her heart of hearts.
2) Her actions and word choices always rang with a sense of grim resignation, like one would have if theyre committed to doing something they dont actually *want* to do but must do anyway.
Although I dont actually think she's lying. I think she believes in her myopia because her experience has reinforced that mindset time and time again. But with the Exile, she had hope that she could finally find the answer to the question that has always plagued her: without the hand of the Force weighing the scales, would the galaxy tend towards chaos (the dark side/betrayal) or order (the light/repentance)? By turning the Exile into the physical incarnation of the ideology opposite to hers, whoever wins the final battle becomes universal truth.
Alright but your hair looks real real good dude. Like, good work taking care of it like that
man I was having such a bunk day and this is just what I needed. thanks kbash.
I’m a massive Star Wars fan and I gotta say, seeing someone who’s not all that invested in the IP review a beloved title is extremely entertaining. It can be difficult to look past your own fandom sometimes, so seeing an outsiders perspective is awesome.
KOTOR 2 is a perfectly written example of why we love the world of Star Wars so dearly.
Great stuff dude 🤟🏻
The big issue with the restored content mod is that while it does make the ending slightly better, it absolutely murders the pacing in some cases. I think the biggest cardinal sin here is that people have confused the fact that all of the unfinished content was meant to be in the game, without recognizing that some of the stuff is cut for a reason not because Obsidian ran out of time.
Star Wars fans would never complain about Bastila having a different lightsaber color because they would know that the color of the lightsaber a Jedi has indicates what type of Jedi they are.
He was really grasping at straws with that one. It smacked of, "Stick it to those rotten incels!"
Bastilla is not even remotely close to being the first female Jedi in Star War media, nor are yellow lightsabers a creation for her character.
The reason so many people find Rey in the sequel movies so unpalatable is precisely because there are many *many* female force using characters in Star Wars with very well written and much beloved stories- Bastilla included. Yet none of them made the cut for Disney, or even served as inspiration. What they made was a bog-standard, perfect-in-every-way superhero and then called critics incels, misogynists, woman haters and every other insult.
Before watching anything I have to do what all of us star wars fans do and rage. HOW DARE YOU WROOOONG. Okay I'll go enjoy your content now.❤
Its kinda funny when i played kotor 2 the last time something kinda crazy for me happened. I started the game on the dark path but when i got to the snow planet and talked to atris. I realized how much i actually cared about doing something good in the game. She tells you you were wrong for trying to go and actually save the galaxy. She and the jedi council wanted to sit around and do nothing while the mandalorians who were literally a threat to the galaxy started a war. And for me games like this never give me a good reason for the most part to follow the good route but this one did in such a compelling way. I absolutely love both of these games.
now THIS is swoop racing
Play the SWTOR mmo, it's good. It's not too bad of a grind, and the base game with most of the interesting writing in it is spread across the unique intro planets and quests. I'd say do all of them once to get a feel and then go with the character you feel the most attachment to.
never played kotor and never will but i will rewatch this video at least 10 times in the next month god bless Kbash
You know I would've found Bastilla annoying too, but Jennifer Hale is also the voice of Naomi from Metal Gear, so having grown up with that character I was kinda already used to that voice talking down to me lmao
Excellent review. Appreciate the candor and honesty on what worked and didn't for you. A game series so beloved but that didn't cause you to play nice so to speak to not enrage the fans. Great stuff.
Another rad vid from my fav youtuber. Thanks dude
Jade Empire is a hidden gem, if you like Bioware ARPGs you gotta play Jade Empire.
I can't believe he said the KOTOR 2 characters weren't interesting. I'd really like to know what he considers an interesting character
love ur vids thanks for making them
I never heard anyone say that they don't like Bastilla. Maybe those that only played the beginning and didn't get to see her development.
Watching these unoptimized builds is really funny in a good way. Also, Canderous Ordo is a powerhouse, especially in the first game. He may not have Jedi powers, but he's going to drop a lot of bodies
Gotta be honest, I don't think this video has the Kbash oomph that most of your videos do. It feels really dry and technical, I feel like you described the game (both technically and gameplay wise) but didn't link back to either something personal or comedic (there were a couple moments I liked but I think talking about these games and not talking about star wars as a larger thing just doesn't work so good).
Still excited to see more, hope this doesn't stick in your craw so to speak.
have you ever thought.. the world could be beautiful.. christ man why you gotta do me like that i'm dying here
The mobile port for Kotor 1 is great! Bluetooth and wired controller support, and no bugs that I've run into on several devices, a heads up for you n others thinking about it.
The android version has some problems but the I pad one is perfect
Kotor was the first game I ever beat, 100% as a kid. I made GI Joe, a sentinel, as my main character. I had never been so invested and so fully immersed in any games characters as I was in Kotor (especially the first). Thank you kbash for talking about them. ❤
see you next year for SWTOR review (he'll play the 8 origins stories + 2 factions specific expansions + 5 expansions)
Man, I loved kotor. It introduced me to crpgs as a kid. I only knew jrpg style games and it was a whole new world to me.
Excellent video. Well written.
Even when I'm not trying to talk about Persona, it finds a way in. Jokes aside though, I agree with your thoughts on Bastilla and I think the Yukari comparison is really good. Also the Exile only has amnesia if you want them to (So basically your first play through since the player shouldn't know the Exile's past) but you always have the option to act like you know. It makes the Exile feel more like an actual character than Revan in KOTOR 1 which is good because she is featured in a lot less material after this game
Not many know the secrets of the open palm and the closed fist.
Sure to be a KBASH CLASSIC
Not kept up with Star Wars? What a lucky opportunity to watch Andor in blissful ignorance of so much of the other stuff 😅 Although it’s just as rigid in a lot of ways I feel like Kotor fulfilled so many of the promises Neverwinter nights never quite lived up to. I don’t know if it was the beginning of design catering to consoles or the increased focus on 3D spectacle, but compared to earlier crpgs everything that followed was just less granular - in terms of world interaction, itemization, party dynamics, actions in combat, etc. but somehow kotor 1 and 2 still managed to surprise you when they transgress the bounds of those limited expectations. Enjoyable watch as ever, cheers.
YOOOOOOOOOOOO
I hope this doesn't get claimed.
Thank you for mentioning the issues with the restoration mod for KOTOR 2. I'm glad it exists and have nothing but respect for the people who restored the content. Playing the game without it is perfectly valid. Some stuff was cut for a reason.
It's nice to meet someone else whom isn't a massive Star Wars fan. Gotta be the first time I've ever seen a non-fan review a Star Wars title in any shape or form.
correction. the jedi exile does not actually have amnesia. they know full well what is going on they just keep it form the player until it is relevant.
A verified Kbased classic
It’s me. I’m “people”. Thank you for doing this!
Jedi: We rehabilitated you and removed your libertarianism.
My Revan: Taxation is theft, fuck you. *force storm intensifies*
As the kid who made wookie noises in middle school... Because wrrrrooooorrrr fun.
Nice, a KOTOR essay that doesn't tiringly whine about the Jedi
I can't believe there's actually a game I know more in depth than Kbash
The dark side path for KOTOR is so satisfying because you get to kill all those awful boring party members. Ordering the wookie to murder the tentacle hair women is a cherished gaming memory
31:34 Yeah, because people love to boink aliens with a head that looks like an artichoke for some reason.
Not a star wars fan but I am a Kbash enthusiasts lol. You got anything to say about Armored Core? Since the new one is coming out and you have covered the souls stuff I wonder if you have any experience in that arena. Keep it up man your videos are awesome.
Quick take this [ENGAGEMENT]
Also liked the intro
I am a real gamer, I played Kotor 1 5 times on the mobile port only.
Honestly, I've always enjoyed Star Wars, I watched the original trilogy as a kid with my dad, I had toys and enjoyed some of the games (super Star Wars, Jedi Knight games, X-Wing, Kotor 1). But Knights of the Old Republic 2 made me fall in love with Star Wars.
What feels funny to me is how people saw these games as a step down in complexity from baldur's gate and the other pc rpgs, and for little kid me, it was a whole complicated and new type of game that really wowed me lol I really miss the type of combat that these games and dragon age origins had. Bring it back!
Thank you for your service playing the games I will otherwise never touch.
bruh the sneaker sounds made me chuckle haha XDD
Great video 💯 great Hair 😍👏
I've been playing these games and they're great.
'No Redemption'
You can actually redeem one of the Sith on Korriban and convince her to rejoin the Jedi.
There's an NPC in the MMO who has the same last name implying that might even be Canon and had descendants.
One of my few complaints with these games is the lack of Species choice.
I'm playing a game about Space Wizards with countless cool Alien Species, why do you force (Pun Not Intended.) me to pick the Wheat Bread Option?
Fun Fact, The Disciple replaced another character that was planned, a character way cooler than him, a Devaronian Jedi who Hunted the Sith who was slowly falling to the Dark Side, I'm guessing you would have had the option to either reverse the fall or make him fall.
So of course we got The Disciple instead because..............I don't fucking know.
2:32 feels like a full on rite of passage Went through this myself recently on May 4th
DEW IT.
DEW Knights of the Old Republic online. Dew it
Grew up playing this game, beaten it at least 5 times, how the hell did I not know that lightsabers can spawn on Taris…
Best time I had with KotOR was playing blaster build and without Jedi companions.
The timing is crazy I just loaded this game up and wanted to see a modern review 😭
Everyone said you were a muppet but after watching 5 seconds of this video I don't see it.
...Wait I just watched another 5s and completely agree.
i absolutely adore KOTOR2. genuinely top 3 favorite games of all time.
9:52 dawg 💀💀💀
16:48 So close but Infrablue Zedbeddy Coggins is a canon character who appears in Episode 7.
9:19 ThorHighHeels
14:34 also ThorHighHeels
I just saw Baten Kaitos and I instantly wondered if you have tried that series. I personally enjoyed Origins a lot.
I know it was . Probably obvious to everyone else . But when I played the first game I didn't know you'd be a Jedi . So I went full blaster build but then everything kinda just pushed you to be a lightsaber guy . My whole build became obsolete and I couldn't respec
18:32 I did not know that was possible
Something tells me the comments ate gonna be wild in this one.
Holy shit the end names are hilarious 😂😂😂😂
You definitely should do swtor the mmo. That's the one I played, I never played Kotor 1 & 2. Hoping to get the chance with the remake.
I’ve played it through 3 times and no matter what I do, Kreia shits on my decisions.
Hey your hair looks good in this ep, Kbash
While i dont always agree with his takes. I enjoy the commentary on gaming culture, video editing and humor. This however is the first time I completely disagree with his take. Kotor is in my top tier rpgs. Maybe i played it young and have rose tinted glasses, but I've played it many different times though out the years and it holds up. My favorite twist ending in a video game. Oh well lol great video as always.
I played KOTOR 2 cut content and it's cut for a reason at least droid planet. Part one is dear to me cause it has that optimistic SW feel and couple plot twists about redemption, I was hyped to KOTOR 2 Kreia but at the end got similar sentiment. You really missed on HK-47 thou.
16:48 did you just use YIIK music
and why did I recognize it's form YIIK
I have never had a sith playthrough in these games because I don't want to hurt these fictional characters.
Okay there was this one time...
Yeah, you give SWTOR the full treatment and I'll sub to your patreon for a bit.
Revan didn't need to be rehabilitated, he was never evil to begin with as him being sith was to get the jedi to stop being complacent.
Maybe because I played it till it was in the ground, but I love the shit out of KOTOR 1, even more so than the second.
It's ridiculous that naga shadow piller puzzle still isn't patched. It was reported years ago. Aspyr says if you want the poison sword just use the console command lol. It wasn't a surprise when they canceled the restored content dlc for kotor2. At least the pc version of kotor2 has native controller support, so for me at least there isn't really any reason to get the switch version.