Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 - Restoration Mod (PC)

So.. the new Star Wars movie (Episode 7) was released a few weeks ago and it was a huge disappointment. I have literally never watched a movie so full of plot holes and it is definately one of the worst high budget movies Hollywood has ever produced! Still, it awoke my nostalgia and desire to immerse myself into the Star Wars universe, so I installed Knights of the Old Republic 2 - a game which left me with a lot of mixed feelings upon finishing it 10 years ago. My problem with KOTOR2 always was that it was released unfinished, resulting in a very rushed ending and quite a few bugs. In order to get a more complete experience I even installed the Restoration Mod, which supposedly fixes some of the problems I had with the game.

Knights of the Old Republic 2 vs Restoration Mod

For the most part there is no big difference and the game plays pretty much the same as the original. It adds some character interactions that were missing and a few new levels (most notably the droid factory for HK-47), but it also introduces bugs of its own - like movie sequences which don't fit into the story anywhere. These bugs led me to the conclusion that the mod actually ruins more things than it improves, so I actually regret my decision to install it - despite enjoying the game more than I did on my first playthrough. You see, my biggest problem with the original was always the rushed ending, and the mod doesn't fix that at all. On the other hand, almost all improvements come before the last quarter of the game, which I never had a problem with. So I think it is fair to say that the mod failed to address the biggest issues, while it introduced a plethora of its own problems.

But why did you enjoy the game more this time?

To put it quite simply my expectations were considerably lower. Namely, you have to understand that 10 years ago - when I played the game for the first time - I was coming from a period of the golden age of roleplaying games. Having just finished titles such as Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, Fallout, original KOTOR, etc... I was expecting KOTOR2 to be just as good. Furthermore, the first 3/4 of KOTOR2 were even superior to its predecessor, so when I was forced to deal with the rushed ending, it literaly came out of nowhere and I was completely unprepared for it. This lowered my overall enjoyment of the game and it explains why my second playthrough was much more enjoyable.

The good

The game definitely stood the test of time and it reminded me of the golden era of roleplaying games. The story is true to the Star Wars spirit, characters are well written and they participate in dialogs with their own morality or perspective. They can be influenced or inspired by your actions and there are quite a few choices and consequences in the game - the kind that really matter. When it comes to these aspects, KOTOR2 surpasses its predecessor and is in fact one of the best games I have ever played. 

There are also many items, upgradable weapons, minigames, interesting puzzles and more - all of which add another layer of depth to the game. I particulary liked the swoop races which is KOTOR's version of pod racing. It is small details like these minigames that raise the overall score for me. Namely, you could take them out and you would still have a pretty good game. But when the developer makes that extra step to introduce something completely different from their main gameplay mechanic, it serves not only as a nice distraction, but more importantly it is a sign that the developer really cares.

The bad

I already adressed my biggest issues with the game at the start of this entry, but there are also a few things that need to be mentioned and that stem purely from my personal preference. Namely, when I play roleplaying games I want to play a character who is a blank slate. I do not like it when RPGs force me to play characters with well established histories, and unfortunately both KOTOR games suffer from this problem. Furthermore, I never liked the interface in KOTOR games and I am always bothered when my characters - that can be on completely different planets - share inventory and can exchange items between them. It breaks immersion and the inventory becomes an unorganized mess!

Another thing that bothers me is the combat. Its not bad or anything, but after playing Baldur's Gate with a party of 6, having a party of 3 is just disappointing - and this disappointment is further enhanced by very limited AI options. Namely character AI always tends to do something stupid or visually displeasing. Furthermore, some areas are clearly unfinished and are severely lacking detail, but all of these are small problems in an otherwise excellent game.

Final thoughts

As I said, the game definitely stood the test of time and it reminded me of the golden era of roleplaying games. Character writing is among the best I have ever seen, the story is great, the setting is true to the Star Wars spirit, the music does an excellent job despite being its own thing, there is the paazak card game and excellent swoop races that break the monotony, plenty of choices and consequences, and much more. The combat while a bit clunky does the job - and beyond the rushed ending there is very little to complain about.

Final score: 8.7/10