New KotOR goodness.

From IGN.

March 07, 2003 - With Halo 2 being delayed until 2004, the battle for Game of the Year 2003 becomes much more interesting. While many would instantly assume the open-ended RPG Fable would have first dibs on the prize, we'd like to throw Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's hat into the ring.

Granted, we haven't sat down and invested dozens of hours into either game. Heck, we don't even know of half the games coming out this year. But KOTOR is certainly shaping up to be a contender.

Developed by Bioware, one of the best RPG development studios in the industry, KOTOR takes place 4000 years before the Star Wars films. This unknown era was only briefly explored in a Dark Horse comics series, Tales of the Jedi. Beyond that, little to nothing is known about this era in the Star Wars timeline, giving Bioware the freedom to create a world instantly familiar to Star Wars fans, but also filled with things no one could expect.

When last we saw KOTOR, the game still had a lot of missing components and it wasn't clear when the game would actually be ready. But now, KOTOR is essentially complete, only needing some, fine tuning, full sound implementation, and any extra cool stuff Bioware can slip in at the last minute. KOTOR is pretty much a lock to ship in June for Xbox and in the fall for PC.

Aside from sound, which is missing from large chunks of the game (don't worry, it will all be in there when the game ships), the only noticeable sticking point is the framerate. While some worlds had no chop and managed to run at a smooth 30 frames per second, there were other areas where the game had notable stutter. However, Bioware is one of many companies who solve framerate towards the very end of the development process, so don't worry just yet. We're pretty sure it will run relatively smooth (if not perfectly smooth) by ship date.

Light Side? Dark Side? My Side.
Knights of the Old Republic is an open-ended RPG in the same sense as Morrowind. There's an overall quest to defeat the insidious Darth Malak, but there are hours upon hours of optional side-quests. But on top of this, your actions in the world will affect your character's balance in the Force. Be a jerk to people, make choices that are essentially malevolent, and you'll begin to walk the Dark path. Opt for a bit of harmony in your answers and existence and you'll tread the path of the Light side. Or play a more even mix and stay between the two.

Your affiliation with the Dark or Light side of the Force affects how characters interact with you, opens different paths throughout the game, changes your physical appearance, gives you a different game ending, and even opens up unique Force powers. While some Force powers may work for both Light and Dark Jedi, as you drift further to one side, specific powers will open up, such as Life Drain for the Dark Jedi.

Along with this, you'll be given lots of opportunities to complete goals in multiple ways. In fact, whenever a split could be made, Bioware made it. Each conversation (all of which have voice-over) offers you multiple response choices. The difference between the "good guy" response and the "evil dickweed" response is pretty clear.

For example, you might run into a situation where some poor guy tells you how his people are being murdered and that he's one of the few to survive these brutal attacks. The good guy responds by asking what he can do to help. The evil dickweed is less tactful saying something along the lines of, "Your people are spineless whimps, I'm glad they're being wiped out."

But there's rarely ever just one or two responses, from what we can tell. Every instance we saw (and we saw quite a lot during the hour and a half demo) showed usually a minimum of four responses. Each response may then open a new line of dialogue offering even more choices.

Another example of how gameplay often diverges: About two-thirds through the game, you'll come across a Sith Academy. By then your character will pretty much be aligned with the Light or Dark Side (unless you managed to remain balanced between the two). So, when playing the Light Side, you'll basically be sneaking around the Academy. On the Dark Side, you're effectively attending the Academy. Bioware even splashed doses of political intrigue throughout the game. As is the case with the Sith Academy, where you can stumble upon a plot to assassinate the head of the Academy -- and follow through with the insidious plan!

What's this all leading to? Bioware estimates KOTOR will take most gamers between 40-60 hours to play through one time. Having the ability to play scenarios multiple ways and follow the path to the Light or Dark side means the game has some quite apparent re-playability. Add to this that the game changes somewhat depending on which of the three character classes you choose to be and that things play different if you are male or female, and it's easy to realize that one could actually play through all of KOTOR a dozen times and get a dozen different experiences.

However, having not sat around playing the game for hundreds of hours, we can't say for certain how varied everything might be. A lot of it seems like it may be very subtle. But certainly there are larger divergences when it comes to the Light and Dark side.

Bioware shared one example, showing us the difference between playing as a male and a female. In a cantina, as a male, you run into a rather lecherous looking fellow. When you try and speak with him he brushes you off, saying you're interfering with his vibe and keeping him from the ladies. But come into the room as a female and before you can even take an action in the cantina, he's right up next to you hitting on you. Funny part is, he's really just after your money.

Build a better Jedi
As noted, there are three separate character classes to choose from when you create your character. Bioware, wanting to make this as painless a process as possible for the casual gamer, offers a variety of pre-created characters. If you're not interested in making your own, you can go that route. Otherwise, players can fully customize their character to fit their desires.

Each player has six stats, which mirror those found in tapletop D&D: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. Based on Wizard of the Coast's Star Wars tabletop RPG, Knights of the Old Republic uses a D20 ruleset which affects how skills and combat is resolved internally (don't worry, you'll never see funny numbers or rolling dice onscreen).

With this system, attributes can range up to and beyond eighteen, with ten being average. The more points you have in an attribute the more bonus you get with skills and feats associated with that attribute. It's not as confusing as it may sound, especially thanks to the healthy amount of text help included for every single entry in the character creation process. Heck, there's even a recommendation option if you're not sure where to put your points.

After distributing points to your attributes, you'll choose your non-combat skills. There are only eight total, which can be used by any type of character you create. However, each of the three classes (scout, soldier, and scoundrel) has "class skills" which are easier to learn and cost less points. The skills include: Computer use, demolitions, persuade, awareness, stealth, repair, security, and treat injury.

Then comes the selection of feats. There are over forty of these and include things like what type of armor you can wear, what type of weapons you can equip, whether or not you're ambidextrous, and on and on.

This is what it boils down to -- KOTOR is a tabletop RPG brought to life on Xbox and PC. Through and through, the character creation pretty much mirrors what tabletop gaming geeks have been doing for years. Those who are turned off by this idea, might be surprised to find out how cool it is when the game's actually placed in front of you. And as with any good RPG, you'll be able to earn new skill points, learn new feats, and earn new Force powers each time you level up.

'Cause you've got to have friends...
After creating your own character, giving him or her the look you want, and even slapping on your own authentic Star Wars name (I'm calling my Jedi "Dude Solo", far removed ancestor of Han), it's time to head out into the real world. As you adventure, you'll find new allies to join your cause. There are nine in total, and any and all can join your party whether you are Light or Dark Side. However, while you may be able to choose which path you take, your allies are already on paths of their own. Some will be good. And some will be on the Dark Side.

Though your character is the primary source for conversing with the locals, you can switch control of party members at any time. Your ship, the Ebon Hawk (which looks a heck of a lot like the Millennium Falcon) is your headquarters. There your gang hangs around. You can also improve items on your workbench or, when flying to another planet, hop in the gunner seat and shoot down Sith fighters.

You can only take two party members with you to any planet's surface and game tactics change somewhat depending on the character, simply because each team member has their own strengths and weaknesses. So will it be the sexy female Jedi you take with you or perhaps you want HK-47 Assassin Droid who has "physical abilities well above your average meatslab"?

Violence solves everything
The combat system, which has probably been the most enigmatic aspect of KOTOR to date, has finally been fully realized. Part of the confusion stemmed from the fact that, until a few months ago, Bioware was still changing the system, not happy with what they had originally created. We've wondered if the system was going to be action or turn-based. And in the end, it's both.

Players have two options while in combat. They can play it real-time or they can go to the pause command menu for turn-based combat. Either way you play, combat is not a matter of hitting a button a bunch of times to swing your lightsaber. Instead, even in real-time, you choose an action and then watch it performed. However, there are a variety of melee attacks, ranged attacks, skills, and force powers you can use, so your options aren't limited to just choosing "attack now" again and again.

In real-time, you control one character while your two teammates are controlled by the AI. However, you can quickly switch to any other character in an instant, so you can actually have a hand in each character during a battle.

Turn-based combat is similar to real time with two big differences. First, the game is paused so you can take your time to decide your course of action. Second, you can cue up to three actions for each of your three characters.

As with the real-time combat, you select an enemy to attack and then use the D-Pad to quickly scroll through the list of commands, which are all shown as nice big friendly icons. Then just hit the white button to unpause the game and watch the action happen.

The nice part is that you can transition between the two as much as you want. So you can do real-time combat, realize you are getting your ass kicked and need better strategy, then just enter turn-based combat. Once you finish cueing your attacks, the game goes back to real time. So it's up to you to hit the white button again to cue up more actions.

Sadly, our demo ran so long we didn't have time to try this out for ourselves. While it isn't a straight-out action combat system, KOTOR's form of combat seems quicker-paced than any of the standard turn-based RPG fare. It's certainly got those elements, but it doesn't appear to slow the gameplay down much, which is a welcome thing. We'll have to give it a try ourselves soon enough and see how well it plays.

One double-bladed lightsaber, please!
There are over 300 items in KOTOR, some of which can be modified at your workbench on the Ebon Hawk. The coolest of these modifications comes with your lightsaber. You can find or buy different crystals, which can change the color of your saber, its length, and its power. You can use two sabers at once (make sure you have the ambidextrous feat to avoid penalties) and you can even get hold of everyone's favorite Darth Maul-inspired double-bladed lightsaber. How will you kick ass?

Jedi diary
Bioware is also including a handy-dandy virtual journal, something that's become quite common for RPGs. The journal lists all your active quests and sidequests, and also keeps tabs on the last few conversations you've had. And if you find a quest item but can't remember what you needed it for, you can press X and jump right to the proper spot in the journal. Entries can also be sorted by date, name, and several other options.

Bite-sized pieces of gameplay
Along with a giant main quest that spans across seven planets and is expected to take upwards of 60 hours to play, Bioware decided to give gamers a few mini-games to enjoy. You know, in case you wanted to play KOTOR for 80 hours instead of a mere 60. We were shown three mini-games during the long demo, but there may be others in the game:

Gunner: Hop into the gunner seat of the Ebon Hawk and have some old-fashioned shooter fun taking out enemy ships whizzing by.

Pazaak: A unique card game to be played when you want to earn (or lose) some money.

Swoop Racing: You've got your very own customizable pod racer and you can take to the tracks if you feel the need for speed.

That is one sexy Jedi
The slowdown has already been mentioned, but there are lots of nice things going on visually in the world of KOTOR. There seems to be particles aplenty in every scene, whether it's a smoke-filled cantina or the sand clouds of Tatooine. The bump-mapping and reflective surfaces look great as do the large variety of creatures wandering about in the peripheral. The framerate is really the only visual knock we could see from the demo, which spanned several of the worlds.

Another cool visual extra was watching the lip-synching. Sure, you expect it when you see humans saying a line of dialogue, but a Wookie's lips are synched when he speaks his own language. In fact, all of the hundreds of NPC's are lip-synched with their own language. And there's over 14,000 lines of dialogue. Impressive, most impressive.

Outlook
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic can't get here soon enough. Honestly, there's another 10,000 words about this game just dying to be written. There's a lot going on and there's a sense of synergy between all aspects of the game that many games fail to achieve. KOTOR is definitely one to look out for when Game of the Year talks begin. Yeah, we haven't spent a lot of time with it -- We haven't fully explored the worlds, gotten a sense of the depth of story, or fully examined the combat system, but sometimes you just know a game is good.

Not to suggest that Knights of the Old Republic was low on our list, but after our journey through Star Wars' past, KOTOR has definitely established itself as one of the must-have games on our wishlist. It simply can't get here fast enough.

Keep your peepers on IGN for even more coverage of KOTOR in the coming weeks.

I can't freekin wait!

[Bond]

Yep, the game is shaping up to be one of the best RPGs this year. I can't believe there's 14,000 lines of dialogue, that's unheard of.

[DarkDemonic726]

It looks great.

[SPARTAN VI]

Looks great, sounds great, big promises. I like.

[Bond]

Speaking of new screenshots...

[Perfect Stu]

I don't really like the character models or animations (from what I've seen in video quite a while ago)

Other than that, (graphically) the game looks great.