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I started playing this a few days ago, with my new rig and a need to blow off some steam with work heating up I've decided to put my new rig through its paces with games that were nearly unplayable on my old computer. HalfLife2 was really enjoyable but now I've come to Knights of the Old Republic.

So far I'm liking it a lot, I'm only at the first planet right now, exploring and just did my first duel as the Mysterious Stranger as well as trying to pick up a Sith Trooper and being invited to an after hours party.

Now the game hints and suggests that I may be a Jedi in the future and I hope this is true as I skewed my stats accordingly in the hopes this would happen (Currenlty level 3 Scout)

Can you guys give me some hints, suggestions, etc on this game but please any hints should be light on the plot spoilers. For instance I assume that I'll get uniforms at the after hours party to get to the undercity. Am I barking up the wrong tree? And what do you guys suggest as Feats and Skill concentrations?

And finally is it a good game overall?

You've been living under a rock, I see.

Yes, it is a good game, yes, you become a Jedi, yes, you get a uniform at the party.

Stats wise, focus heavily on melee combat. Blasters are grossly underpowered for some odd reason. Pump up your Strength and Dexterity; since Jedi can't wear heavy armor without losing force abilities, Dex really helps give you a big boost to AC. Strength affects your melee damage and to-hit chance, and is a no brainer for lightsaber wielders.
Also, a list of the strengths and weaknesses of the Jedi classes you'll get to pick later on:

If you want kickass Force powers, pour points heavily into Wisdom and choose the Counselor class. The downside is, you suck at melee combat.

If you want to be a melee powerhouse, pick the Guardian class. They have the best health and base attack bonuses of the Jedi classes.

If you want a balanced class with lots of skill points, choose the Sentinel.

A note on items: Always invest heavily in medpacs and grenades. They will save your life, many, many times.

Tips from Dak:

Look up the Star Wars d20 RPG... it will help you gain a better insight into the game, if you cannot find a suitable venue for the SWd20RPG... look towards D&D for some basic suggestions...

Now, as someone who's played this game many, many times, do not look at any storyline spoilers whatsoever... Needless to say that this game has one of the best storylines of all time, and some of the greatest characters I have ever seen.

But, after the game is finished, consider including a character or two from this in Starcrossed.

Tips because the follows the d20 system like Baldur's Gate followed D&D. Not at all.

1. Pick up very very basic lockpicking(Secutrity) and then loads of Computer Operations and repair. Both are useful and give much easier handling later on and oh yes, there are mini quests with partners for free experience.

2. Dual weilding is good.

3. Strength matters, Dexterity means shit in this game as Armor is near useless if you can kill fast enough. When attuned to the Force, go for pure Wisdom, in fact put all points into Wisdom as there are more then enough Strength buffs in the game to make your guy/gal kick ass in that department.

4. Melee rules this game like nothing else. Grenades are the only thing of worth ranged wise. Guns suck and the only people that should touch them are your partners.

5. Also when making choices remember which side you want to be. If going for good, the game wants you to be ultra goody, thus giving money, helping any scrub, etc. Same applies for being bad, be very very bad.

6. Skills and use

-Computer Use: Constant and should be on person. Relying on others is okay but detrimental later on.

-Demolitions: pointless, it can be used but eh.

-Stealth: Cool principle but near useless given how combat and layout of areas are.

-Awareness: Odd skill and does have a little use

-Persuade: Number one skill as people can be persuaded to do loads of things that even vaunted powers won't do.

-Repair: Get this to 18, after that don't care. Leads to the best subplots involving a droid.

-Security: Eh...it helps.

-Treat injury: Helps with your PERSONAL med pac skills...does not apply to others.

Since you have not gotten to the next levels of gameplay, ask when you get there if having trouble or just fiddle around.

Stravo wrote:And finally is it a good game overall?

Personally, I think it's among the best computer RPGs ever made for any platform. Extremely engrossing experience. You're in for a real treat, as KOTOR improves dramatically after you get out of Taris. Since you and your party members should be using plenty of melee weapons later on, I suggest investing your XP on melee combat instead of ranged weapons, as others have said.

- When you get to the point where you can decide to which planet to travel to, I recommend going to Korriban last. Otherwise, you might miss plenty of storyline bits related to your party characters.

- Persuade is one of the best skills in the game.

- ALWAYS talk with your party characters, especially after finishing bigger quests. New chat topics appear on regular basis. I don't want to spoil too much, but if there's a reply that lets you say something witty and funny, it's usually best to say that. Results are often funny and extremely rewarding.

- You just gotta buy that droid on Tatooine

- After finishing KOTOR, the next logical step is to try another approach with a different character and/or buy KOTOR 2

- Bastila is hot

Stravo wrote: And finally is it a good game overall?

Very much so. For all it faults in some ways(let's just say there are just some assbackwards pointless things you have to go through)and some characters just being either jackasses or morons(Let's just say the love interest for the opposite sex is either sheltered or blithering).

There are a few gems(One purchasable droid is by far the saving grace of most of the game) and the twist is decent.

Once you get past some of the flaws the game is well above average and makes for a far better piece of EU story then most of what is out there.

Ghost Rider wrote:4. Melee rules this game like nothing else. Grenades are the only thing of worth ranged wise. Guns suck and the only people that should touch them are your partners.

After building up Carth's gunnery skills for the entire game and constantly giving him the best pistols available, he was able to make slight impact on some battles towards the end of the game. That is, the Jedi Guardian main character with two upgraded lightsabers would bust in with master speed, massacring eleven out of twelve enemies with the master flurry attack in five seconds. During this time, Carth would manage to eat half of the remaining guy's HP. Whee.

Does your initial character choice make a big impact down the road? I chose Scout because I didn't want to be a tank (for once, I always chose fighter/paladin type characters in RPG's) but did not like to play the scoundrel type. Does choosing a soldier give you a big advantage throughout the game especially when you become a Jedi (Guardian without looking back would be my choice) or does it really only matter in terms of the style of game play? So far I'm pretty happy with my Scout but wanted to know if I'm missing out on something.

Alot of you are recomending playing it again. Is it a long game in terms of it taking days or weeks to finish?

And does anyone else find it really hard to play the bad guy? I see some of these responses (ie. when you save the old man from being killed by Bounty Hunters one response is "Give me all your money" I couldn't imagine bringing myself to make that choice) yet the most fun I had playing a bad guy was when I did the Dark side campaign in Jedi Knight II. That ending with you as the new Emperor was simply awesome.

Pablo Sanchez wrote:

Ghost Rider wrote:4. Melee rules this game like nothing else. Grenades are the only thing of worth ranged wise. Guns suck and the only people that should touch them are your partners.

After building up Carth's gunnery skills for the entire game and constantly giving him the best pistols available, he was able to make slight impact on some battles towards the end of the game. That is, the Jedi Guardian main character with two upgraded lightsabers would bust in with master speed, massacring eleven out of twelve enemies with the master flurry attack in five seconds. During this time, Carth would manage to eat half of the remaining guy's HP. Whee.

He did that good for you?

Wow, for me, I practically loaded the dork up and he still couldn't keep up with the walking Rug let alone me.

Stravo wrote:Does your initial character choice make a big impact down the road? I chose Scout because I didn't want to be a tank (for once, I always chose fighter/paladin type characters in RPG's) but did not like to play the scoundrel type. Does choosing a soldier give you a big advantage throughout the game especially when you become a Jedi (Guardian without looking back would be my choice) or does it really only matter in terms of the style of game play? So far I'm pretty happy with my Scout but wanted to know if I'm missing out on something.

as intial classes go, not really. Scouts for me at least have skills which the other two lack and Scoundrels are near paper tissue quality anyways.

Alot of you are recomending playing it again. Is it a long game in terms of it taking days or weeks to finish?

Once you know everything 40 hours...50 hours normal, spread that how you will.

And does anyone else find it really hard to play the bad guy? I see some of these responses (ie. when you save the old man from being killed by Bounty Hunters one response is "Give me all your money" I couldn't imagine bringing myself to make that choice) yet the most fun I had playing a bad guy was when I did the Dark side campaign in Jedi Knight II. That ending with you as the new Emperor was simply awesome.

The ending for being bad is pretty cool, but there are far more opportunities to being bastardly then being angelic.

Alot of you are recomending playing it again. Is it a long game in terms of it taking days or weeks to finish?

Long: Yes.

Worth it: Most definitely.

KotOR is one of the most complex and intrigueing storylines of all time, along with some memorable characters, multiple paths through the game and the massive killer:

Multiple Endings!

When it comes to Jedi Business, I prefer to use a Single Lightsabre, it feels more like the film that way, and you get more defence than you would with two Sabres.

As for when you are a Jedi...your former class only matters upon which particular feats you chose, and even then. My Scout/Consular with Master Speed, and two sabers was able to carve the end boss in seconds and able to laugh at most of him, on hard. Also going one handed sucks since +3 attack and defense is piddly. You get more out of your extra weapon once you get three levels in Dual Wield, and Flurry at three levels. At that point add in Speed, and you'll carve through hordes before your buddies kill 1 maybe two enemies.

Another thing of note...if the game gets ugly, just lower the difficulty on battles, and if you want a tad bit more spice just up it.

Stravo wrote:Does your initial character choice make a big impact down the road? I chose Scout because I didn't want to be a tank (for once, I always chose fighter/paladin type characters in RPG's) but did not like to play the scoundrel type. Does choosing a soldier give you a big advantage throughout the game especially when you become a Jedi (Guardian without looking back would be my choice) or does it really only matter in terms of the style of game play? So far I'm pretty happy with my Scout but wanted to know if I'm missing out on something.

I wouldn't say that's the case.

Picking Soldier at first does give you a slight advantage if you plan on picking Jedi Guardian, because your hitpoints increase faster during the early game and you get more feats, which are more important for a melee character like the guardian. However, the soldier doesn't get as many skillpoints early on, which does limit your options. The scout, on the other hand, has good skill progression. The game is designed such that you can have fun and win the game with any choice of character. The difference is that taking certain specific paths will make your character into a beast instead of just being acceptable.

To wit, you can take the dual-wielding Guardian path. You start as soldier and focus on the flurry and dual wielding feat paths first and foremost. When you become a jedi, you sink points into force speed powers as fast as possible, and carry two single-hilt lightsabers with upgrades. Bingo, by the end of the game you're getting an unholy number of attacks per round for massive damage each.

Alot of you are recomending playing it again. Is it a long game in terms of it taking days or weeks to finish?

It does take a long time, yes. But it's a lot of fun to play repeats, taking different paths.

And does anyone else find it really hard to play the bad guy? I see some of these responses (ie. when you save the old man from being killed by Bounty Hunters one response is "Give me all your money" I couldn't imagine bringing myself to make that choice) yet the most fun I had playing a bad guy was when I did the Dark side campaign in Jedi Knight II. That ending with you as the new Emperor was simply awesome.

I took the bad-guy path on my second play. It actually does make you feel a little shitty because your choices are put right up in your face, whereas in Jedi Knight all you had to do was randomly kill civilians. But I stuck to it and became quite, quite evil by the end of the game.

I finished the game first time by doing everything like I would do it in real-life if I were the main character, so I ended up taking the light side path. In a way, it made the ending bit more rewarding, especially the mushy romance stuff. The second time around I finished the game as a darksider, and while at first it was indeed difficult to be such an asshole, my "ethical dilemmas" soon disappeared. There were couple tricky situations later on, when I had trouble bringing my character to do some truly evil things.

One of the great things about KOTOR II is that you can decide in the game which path KOTOR's protagonist took and many of the events and discussions in the sequel reflect this choice.

Burninator's list of recommended feats:

The flurry attacks. My favorite attack. The power attacks are all right, too, but you get only one attack with it normally, thus increasing the odds of missing.

The toughness feats. Increases max VP.

The Jedi defense feats. Increases chances for saving throws, IIRC, more than...

The conditioning feats. Increases chances for saving throws.

If you're going to be duel wielding or using a two handed weapon, the two handed weapon feat. I missed almost every attack when I was using two weapons until I took this feat.

The melee weapon and lightsaber specialization feats.

The implants can be pretty useful, so if you have an extra couple of feats available, go for them.

Odds are, you won't be able to get all of these, given the level twenty cap, so choose wisely. Oh, and don't bother with the armor feats. Armor stops you from using most of the good powers.

Speaking of which, here's Trog's list of recommended powers:

The speed powers. These are a must have. The first one is kind of meh, but those after that gives you more attacks every time you...attack. Also, it makes getting around the bigass maps quicker.

Force heal/cure. Doesn't restore as much VP as you'd like, but at the very least it'll save you a crapload of med packs.

The anti-droid powers. Droids with shields are the anti-good. This'll fry 'em good. Make sure at least one of the Jedi in your party has the 3rd level of this power.

Affect/Dominate Mind. Especially useful if you have a low persuade, this can get people to do stuff they otherwise wouldn't.

Lightning. The 3rd level of this power can fry a bunch of people at once and it's just plain cool. Beware if you're a light side Guardian, though, as this can sap your Force points exceedinly quickly.

Death field. Can be very useful in quickly restoring your VP if you're vastly outnumbered.

Other random tips:

If you go Jedi Guardian, USE THE FORCE JUMP! It's an awesome power, and you can kill some enemies before they can even react.

Make Bastila fall in love with you.

Grenades aren't really useful in the later stages of the game (except thermal detonators), so don't bother hording them for the end.

Don't expect the Jedi to actually dress like Jedi. You'll need to get KOTOR2 if you want that.

Do upgrade your lightsabers with crystals.

If you've got the PC version, don't neglect the Yavin station. Trust me.

Don't be lazy and use computer spikes to blow up every power conduit you can to avoid fighting five guys. There's always something better to use them for.

Getting stunned sucks, especially by enemy Jedi, so try and get something that'll make you immune to mind affecting powers.

Remember, Force healing doesn't work on droids.

Use the damned stimulants and shields.

Don't freak out when you see really expensive armor or whatever. If you want it, just sell some of the crapload of stuff you've collected.

BUY HK-47!

Certain combinations of characters can lead to amusing conversations.

Make sure you play the game twice to get both endings. It feels good to be good, but it also feels so good to be bad.

I also recommend not leveling too much before becoming a Jedi. With the level cap, the more levels you can get as a Jedi, the better. When you're replaying it, do just the plot stuff for the early part of the game, not the unnecessary sidequests (unless you find them too much fun to give up).

1. Plan if you're going to be a light or dark sider. Don't try to middle of the road this game, its not worth it. Make sure the majority (recommended is all) of your Force powers are in tune with your alignment, since otherwise they will suck your Force pool dry. Play two separate games (one as light and one as dark) since trying to change later on will be all but impossible. And trust me, you'll want to play it again after you beat it. If you think the light side ending sucks though, don't worry, the dark side ending one is amazing.

2. Try to hold off on being a Jedi as much as you can, so you get to work on your Force powers as much as possible. I find that I can (with some tricks) win in the Challenge Pit at level 6 (a ton of money and XP, very worthwhile). You may also want to try Pazaak and Swoop Racing, if you get good at those you can make quite a bit of money in the game (money won't be a problem as a dark sider, but you'll probably give away a lot as a light sider).

3. Take every single side-quest you can possibly find. If you're not completely leveled up at the end of the game, you will have a tough time. In my last play-through, I did absolutely every quest in the game (checked against walkthroughs and such) and its possible to max out your levels on the second last planet, so if you miss a few quests, you'll be fine. However, if you skip too many quests like I did the first time around, you'll end the game, like me, at level 18. Very tricky to beat the last locations like that.

4. Remember, there are only 20 levels, so plan stuff out so you get everything you want.

I've played through a couple of times, my favorite thing to do is go with scoundrel and then consular, maxing the mind (force powers, persuation)

It's a bit more challenging at the beginning, but at the end, I had my powers to the point that the final boss never even touched me.

The best build in the game is an 8 Scoundrel, 12 Consular. Why do you ask? Well, Scoundrels get Scoundrel's Luck, which gives you a +6 dodge bonus (or +4). Dual wield pistols. Right hand should be upgraded Carth's Pistol for the beginning of the game, left hand should be Bendak's Blaster. Bendak you get from killing all the guys as the "Mysterious Stranger". You have to challenge Bendak to a death match to do this. You will get dark side points for it, but do it anyway because let's face it Bendak is a bad guy and you will get more than enough lightside points to make up for it. Eventually you get a better pistol called Cassius Fett's Heavy Pistol on Korriban, but that is much later.

Now, this Scoundrel eventually has 5 attacks per round, and sneak attack. Sneak attack adds 1d6 for each level of the feat, and eventually you can get a bonus 3d6 (or 4d6 I forget) with level 8 Scoundrel. So, you will be killing Dark Jedi in a single round. Like the saying goes, "Hokey religions are no match for a blaster at your side". Also, the feel to the game is totally different playing with this build. You can laugh at stupid Dark Jedi as they run up to you like Klingons and get massacred. You will do more damage than a lightsaber because of sneak attack, and because you are using two weapons you will have 1 attack from natural, 1 attack from rapid shot, 1 attack from second weapon, and 2 more attacks from force powers for a total of 6 attacks per round that deal between 30-50 damage each shot! You will also run around naked. Why naked you say? Well, because you want 40 armor class, which you can get wearing normal clothes and using all your force powers and the Scoundrel's Luck bonus combined with 18 Dexterity. You also don't want armor check penalty so you will probably run around naked. So choose a girl, unless you're a girl and rather stare at a guy's ass all day.

I max/minned my character. Eventually I ended up with 40 dexterity (with drugs), and 40 armor class buffed (or more I don't remember). Now a Jedi Guardian has around +32 attack bonus maxed out, with 1d20. So that means even the fearsome Darth Malak will be missing half the time. A normal Jedi wears robes, which suck because they have a maximum of 8 dexterity bonus, and you will have much more than that with items, drugs, buffs and 18 natural starting dex. I got every dex enhancing item in the game for this.

All in all this creates a better feel for the game, more "Star Warsey", because you're using a blaster and leaving the lightsabering to real Jedi. You will have trouble fighting the bosses though, because your friends aren't around for you to take advantage of sneak attack. No problem though, because there's medipacks. And since when do you see anybody but the bad guys wearing a shitload of armor? I played the game through before wearing Maldalorian armor, and it didn't feel like Star Wars to me.

If anybody wants to replay the game, I suggest you replay it with a dual blaster wielding assassin. The good thing is with Carth's and Bendak's blaster, you never have to change weapons until Korriban, and you'll only use three weapons the entire game. In the Star Forge, they were running up and dying like Klingons. I wish I still had the game installed, or I'd post some pictures.

<edit>Oh and if you're wondering if this kind of character can solo, don't. You just need to use stasis field, or better yet go dark side and get insanity or use an NPC that has this power. Then sneak attack works all the time. And, I forgot to mention this, but force powers work on bosses most of the time, except for the final boss. So sneak attack will work on almost every boss. I defeated every boss in the game in a few seconds, except for the final one.</edit>

Brian

Stravo wrote:And finally is it a good game overall?

I'll say this: I just wish I could play it again for the first time.

1) I have never found that Jedi robes restricted Dexterity bonuses to defence. The descriptions say they do, but it doesn't seem to work that way in the actual game.

2) For a Jedi, Strength is useless; go for Dexterity instead. Lightsabres use the Dexterity bonus to hit if it's better than Strength, and Dexterity also adds to Defence. You sacrifice a bit of damage, but lightsabres do enough damage in any case that a point or three less won't make much difference.

3) Force Valour is your friend: get it to level 3, and it'll boost every Attribute by 5.

4) As you're playing a Scout, you'll be getting Implant feats for free; these are great. If you have the PC version, then there'll be one available at Yavin right before the final planet which gives you +5 Dexterity.

5) Speaking of Yavin, visit it frequently; the owner restocks periodically, and he sells by far the best gear in the game. You can also get superb prices for stuff there.

6) If you're any good at Pazaak at all, play Suvam Tan (the owner of the Yavin space station) as much as you can. He's very good at it, but he'll bet up 750 credits per game, and if you beat him ten times, he'll give you a 20% discount on all his stuff, and pay you even more for stuff you sell him.

7) Likewise, if you're any good at Swoop racing, race on Tatooine for as long as it takes to beat all three tiers. You'll get a total of 120 racing bonds; these sell on Yavin for 156 credits. Each. You'll never have trouble buying anything outside of Yavin again.

Galvatron wrote: I'll say this: I just wish I could play it again for the first time.

Ditto. Now, if only I could keep my knowledge of the game mechanics and the kind of character build I like, while getting rid of all my knowledge of the plot...

Ditto. Now, if only I could keep my knowledge of the game mechanics and the kind of character build I like, while getting rid of all my knowledge of the plot...

Now that would be brilliant beyond words...

In fact, there's only the one specific plot detail, that I'd like to forget, so I could play through the plot again...

The Dark wrote:I also recommend not leveling too much before becoming a Jedi. With the level cap, the more levels you can get as a Jedi, the better. When you're replaying it, do just the plot stuff for the early part of the game, not the unnecessary sidequests (unless you find them too much fun to give up).

Naa do all the quests and stuff in the first part, just do not "Level Up", you can have the lev up arrow in the portrait and gain xp, I finished the first part as a lev 2 soldier, and the only part I did not do was the duel to the death.

HK-47: He's great for dialogue, but its your JEdi that are going to be the fun characters to play

Play as a Dark Side character at least once! It's absolutely entertaining.