Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
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- "KOTOR" redirects here. For the town, see Kotor.
KotOR is the first computer role-playing game (RPG) set in the Star Wars universe. The game's system is based on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game from Wizards of the Coast, which is based on the d20 System, a role-playing game system derived from the Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. Combat system is round-based. Time is divided into discrete rounds and combatants simultaneously perform actions. The number of actions a combatant may perform in each round is limited. While the duration of each round is a fixed short interval of real time, the player can configure the combat system to pause at specific events or at the end of each round. The game also allows the player to either be good (light) or evil (dark) using an alignment system that tracks actions, from simple word choice to major plot decisions, based on whether they are aligned to the light side of the Force or the dark side.
Story
Knights of the Old Republic is set in the Star Wars universe about 4000 years before Episode IV takes place, during the time of the Old Republic. The story begins as a Republic ship, the Endar Spire, is ambushed by Sith fighters while in orbit around the planet Taris. As the ship is destroyed, the player and Carth Onasi land on the planet in an escape pod. Their first priority is to find Bastila Shan, a young Jedi who was accompanying them on the Endar Spire and who possesses the rare Force Power of Battle Meditation. One year earlier, Bastila used Battle Meditation to lead an assault against Darth Revan, the Dark Lord of the Sith; as she was battling Revan, Revan's apprentice Darth Malak attacked Revan's ship and usurped the title of Dark Lord. Now Malak seeks Bastila because he fears her power; he will either turn her abilities to his use or remove the threat she poses by eliminating her.The player's character is a male/female (depending on the player's choice), who escapes the attacked Endar Spire with fellow Republic soldier Carth Onasi. Their escape pod crash lands in the upper city of Taris where they begin the search for Bastila. The rescue of Bastila allows them to leave Taris moments before the planet is destroyed. The companions go to Dantooine where the player learns the ways of the Force. The Jedi Council gives the player and his/her companions a mission to find certain star maps which will locate a mysterious Sith weapon called the Star Forge that allows the infinite production of Sith warships. In the middle of their mission, a confrontation between Malak and the player reveals that the player is actually the former Sith Lord, Revan, who had lost his memory after Malak's initial betrayal. Also during this incident, Bastila is captured and eventually turned to the Dark Side.
After all the clues are found, the player travels to the unknown world of Rakata Prime where he/she crash lands. The player goes through difficulties with the natives but finally is able to reach the temple where Bastila is waiting. After a confrontation, the player chooses to go with either Bastila and take the throne of Sith Lord from Malak (Dark Path). Or the player chooses to not go with Bastila and help his/her companions reach the star forge and defeat the Sith threat.(Light Path)
Locations and characters
The game is played over numerous planets in the Star Wars universe:
Players also visit other locations:
- Ebon Hawk
- Endar Spire
- Malak's Leviathan
- Star Forge
- Yavin space station (PC version only. Downloadable Xbox content through Xbox Live.)
- Bastila Shan
- Carth Onasi
- Canderous Ordo
- HK-47
- Jolee Bindo
- Juhani
- Mission Vao
- T3-M4
- Trask Ulgo (temporary party member)
- Zaalbar
- Ajunta Pall
- Bendak Starkiller
- Calo Nord
- Darth Bandon
- Darth Malak
- Darth Revan
- Davik Kang
- Uthar Wynn
- Yuthura Ban
Voice actors
The following voice actors were used in the game:- Jennifer Hale - Bastila Shan
- Raphael Sbarge - Carth Onasi
- Rafael Ferrer - Darth Malak
- John Cygan - Canderous Ordo
- Kristoffer Tabori - HK-47, additional voices
- Kevin Michael Richardson - Jolee Bindo
- Courtenay Taylor - Juhani
- Cat Taber - Mission Vao
- Ed Asner - "Master Vrook Lamar"
- Ethan Phillips - " "Frightened Manaan Mercenary"
- Cam Clarke - "Sith Diplomat," "Kono Nolan," "Gate Guard Trewin," "Junior Czerka Scientist," "Sith Student," additional voices
- Phil LaMarr - "Gadon Thek"
- Robin Atkin Downes - "Mekel," "Griff," "Vulkar Mechanic"
- Tom Kane - "Master Vandar Tokare," "Rodian"
- Frank Welker - "Sunry," "Jorak Uln," "Gar," "Swoop Fan," additional voices
Trivia
- The game mentions various characters that have ties to the original trilogy and could be interpreted as ancestors, including Galduran Calrissian (Lando Calrissian), a Wookie legend about a wookie named Bacca (Chewbacca), Cassus Fett (Jango & Boba Fett), Komad Fortuna (Bib Fortuna), Admiral Forn Dodonna (General Jan Dodonna), and the Organa family of Alderaan (Bail and Leia Organa).
- When the player tries to enter a new area with party members, and they are not near the player character, a line appears reading "You must gather your party before venturing forth". This line appeared whenever the player tried to leave an area without the rest of the party in the other games that used Bioware's Infinity Engine, such as Baldur's Gate ( being the only exception). In the Baldur's Gate series of games this line was spoken by voice actor Kevin Michael Richardson who plays Jedi Jolee Bindo in Knights of the Old Republic.
- The name Bendak Starkiller is a homage to the name originally chosen for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. It is also a reference to the first ace in Wing Commander, also named Bendak Starkiller. Also, the name Bendak may be a homage to the Baldur's Gate series character in the Copper Coronet named Hendak.
- Bastila Shan's character was originally named Vima Sunrider, a Jedi from Dark Horse Comics' Tales of the Jedi series. The name Bastila was originally meant for the Cathar Jedi character. Eventually, it was decided to create a different character rather than use Sunrider and the Cathar Jedi would be named Juhani.
- Certain lines through out the game also pay homage to the original films: Mission Vao says, "I have a bad feeling about this" several times, referring to a line spoken repeatedly in the films. Additionally, the line "My name's [your character's name], I'm here to rescue you," is a homage to the line Luke Skywalker delivers when rescuing Princess Leia. Another instance occurs when Carth Onasi shouts "NOOOOOO!!!", a line that has been used in all six Star Wars films. When the player is being tortured on the Leviathan and pressed to reveal the location of the Jedi base on Dantooine, a possible response is "Alderaan, they're on Alderaan", the opposite of when, in Episode IV: A New Hope, Princess Leia lies that the Rebel Alliance base is on Dantooine to avoid Alderaan's destruction, saying, "Dantooine, they're on Dantooine." A few scenes before this one, Carth Onasi echoes Han Solo's line in : "We're caught in their tractor beam".
- The game contains a number of references to Star Trek:
- * The quest "The Trouble with Gizka" is likely a reference to the episode entitled "The Trouble with Tribbles".
- * HK-47's line "Dammit, master, I'm an assassination droid, not a dictionary!" is similar to Dr. McCoy's frequent catch-phrase from the series.
- * The number 47 itself has also been used in almost every episode of the different incarnations of the show since .
- * The actor Ethan Phillips who provides several minor voices in the game plays Neelix in
- At one point in the game Canderous Ordo tells of a ship he once chased until it crossed the boundaries of the galaxy; he says that the ship looked like an asteroid and spat fireballs. This sounds very much like a Yuuzhan Vong vessel from The New Jedi Order.
- The HK-47 assault droid is a direct reference to Bioware's first game, Shattered Steel, where the player's transport ship is named HK-47. The droid is also a possible reference to the AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle of modern-day Earth. The HK prefix could also be a reference to Heckler & Koch, a German firearms manufacturer. Another possible reference is the The Terminator films' robotic death vehicles (HK meaning Hunter/Killer). This is reinforced by a line by a Sith Trooper on board the Leviathan ("We've found an old hunter killer series droid on board [the Ebon Hawk].").
- HK-47's references to organic characters as "Meatbags" is rumored to be an homage to the character Bender from Futurama
- The LucasArts game that eventually became was initially going to be called "Knights of the Republic". The title was rejected as too generic.
Critical acclaim
The general critical response was enthusiastic. KotOR has won numerous awards, including Game Developers Choice Awards' best game of the year, BAFTA Games Awards' best Xbox game, Interactive Achievement Awards for best console RPG and best computer RPG, and has been named an Xbox Platinum Hit.
Reviewers, many also being hardcore Star Wars fans, have even commented that KotOR was better than the Star Wars "prequel trilogy", Episodes I–II in particular, which had alienated much of the hardcore Star Wars audience.
- GameSpy
- *Xbox Game of the Year 2003
- *Overall Game of the Year 2003, across all platforms
- 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards
- *Game of the Year
- *Original Game Character (HK-47)
- *Excellence in Writing
- IGN
- *Best Sound (Xbox category)
- *Best Story (PC category)
- *Xbox RPG Game of the Year 2003
- *PC RPG Game of the Year 2003
- *Xbox Game of the Year 2003
- *PC Game of the Year 2003
- *Overall Game of the Year 2003, across all platforms
- Gamespot
- *Best Game Based on a TV or Film Property
- *Xbox Game of the Year 2003
- *RPG Game of the Year 2003, across all platforms
- Computer Gaming World - Game of the year
- PC Gamer - Game of the year
- Interactive Achievement Awards - Best story/character development
- Official Xbox Magazine Game Of The Year 2003
The game is part of The Xbox Platinum Series, for sales in excess of 1 million units.
Sequels
was developed by a different studio, Obsidian Entertainment, using an "improved" version of the engine from the first game. Bioware was occupied with producing Jade Empire but they recommended Obsidian for KotOR's sequel. It was released for Xbox in December 2004 and PC in February 2005 to critical acclaim.Gaming websites such as IGN believe that a is currently in development with an estimated release of 2007 or late 2006 [link]. However, LucasArts and Obsidian have not announced anything regarding the possibility of KOTOR III's development.
Cut content
The following content was removed from the final game due to time constraints:- The planet Sleheyron along with its corresponding Star Map, mentioned as the volcanic planet in the Dantooine computer.
- An extension of the Taris Swoop Bike quest, in which a second level exists in the Vulkar base, and the player has to disguise himself as a Vulkar to infiltrate the level.
- The Taris arena fighter Deadeye Duncan, who survived the events of the planet, would show up in Manaan and ask for rights to use the name "Mysterious Stranger".
- An alternate ending for darkside females, in which the player can choose to kill Bastila Shan and die on the Star Forge along with Carth Onasi.
- A possibility to buy parts for the Swoop Bike
Possible live-action television series
At Celebration III, Lucas explained that if the Live-Action TV Series (scheduled for 2008), along with the planned 3-D Clone Wars Series (2007) is successful, more television series may follow. He explained that he has considered setting the time frames of these possible shows during time periods far away from his films. When asked by a fan at his AFI lifetime achievement ceremony if this may include the Knights of the Old Republic/Sith wars era, Lucas explained that that is always a possibility, and that he may be interested in taking the franchise to those story areas one day. [[Citing sources citation needed]]
External links
- [BioWare's official Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic site]
- [Official LucasArts' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic site]
- [Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic] at MobyGames
- [KOTOR on GameRankings]
- [Walkthrough for KOTOR]
- [Knights of the Old Republic Forums]
- [Knights of the Old Republic Fansite]
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