Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

aka: KotOR, Star Wars: Caballeros de la Antigua República, Xingji Dazhan: Jiu Gonghe Wushi
Moby ID: 9734
Xbox Specs
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Description official descriptions

Four thousand years before the events depicted in the Star Wars movies, the political and ideological situation is not much different from what we have seen in the prequel trilogy: the Republic and the Jedi Order are fighting against two powerful Sith lords, Darth Revan and his apprentice, Darth Malak. It is said that the former was successfully defeated by the Jedi, and that Darth Malak betrayed his mentor and is planning to take on the Republic by himself. His aggression is so successful that some Jedi have decided to join his ranks. A seemingly ordinary soldier of the Republic is traveling aboard a space ship that is attacked by Darth Malak's minions. Narrowly escaping, the soldier meets a female Jedi named Bastila, one of those who have fought Darth Revan in the decisive battle. With her help, the soldier must learn to become a Jedi, stop Darth Malak, and discover the truth about his or her own past.

Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing game that uses the Star Wars D20 rule system, which is similar to the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Character development and combat are handled similarly to BioWare's previous RPGs such as Baldur's Gate series. Combat engine follows similar "real-time with pause" rules. There are only three active combatants on the player's side (as opposed to six in Baldur's Gate). Several characters join the party and can be switched at the player's will.

Eventually, the protagonist will have to train at the Jedi academy to earn a lightsaber and force moves. Force powers include stun, force pull (which pulls opponents or objects toward the player-controlled character), the Jedi Mind Trick, which persuades people to see things the player's way, and many others. The player has various weapons at his or her disposal, from the lightsaber to blasters, grenades, ion rifles, etc.

Throughout the game, the player will visit many Star Wars locations that appeared in the movies, such as Kashyyyk, the homeworld of the Wookiees, the desert planet of Tatooine, and others. Interacting with characters in various ways and performing side quests influences the protagonist's stand with the forces of Light and Darkness. The player can turn the main character into a flawless Jedi, a ruthless Sith, or anything in between. Some of the player's choices influence major events that occur within the storyline.

Spellings

  • 星际大战:旧共和武士 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 星際大戰:舊共和武士 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (Xbox version)

293 People (246 developers, 47 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 92% (based on 122 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 337 ratings with 18 reviews)

"Strike Me Down And I Will Become More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine"

The Good
A Star Wars RPG seems only natural. However it would be years before we ever would get one. It must have been the late 90’s when it was rumored that LucasArts was shopping around the idea. Star Wars fans every where were horrified when it was being whispered that Squaresoft would make the game. Nothing came of this until years later Bioware announced that it was working of such as game for Microsoft’s new Xbox. Would it be the game Star Wars fans have been anticipating?

In Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, you make your PC, to suit your styling. From the get go you can be a Soldier, Scoundrel, or a Scout. Set about 10,000 years before the films it is quite a different galaxy than that of the films. As the game opens the ship you are on is under siege from the Sith. After an initial game tutorial you are thrown into action. From here the ship crashes on the planet Taris. You along with new companion, Carth Onasi, most find the Jedi Knight Bastila. The plot thickens as you rescue the Jedi, and must stop the Sith invasion of Taris. And the Sith Lord Malak.

Later in the game you train to become a Jedi Knight. More specially you can be a Jedi Guardian, Sentinel, and Consular. Each has pros and cons, as well as there own light saber color. Don’t like the assigned color? Than you can change it later.

During your travels to follow in Revan and Malak’s footsteps and gain the “Star Maps”. You will gain the aid of 9 others. And travel to 7 worlds and other places. You can also complete side quest for your self and companions. Including a love quest with the lovely Bastila. If you are a female it is with Carth.

You can choose to follow virtue and the light side, or succumb to the evil of the dark side. Two ends reflect your choice as well as the fates of your party.

The game plays as we have come to expect from an RPG. You explore areas, talk to NPCS and fight. Gain experience, level up, all that good stuff.

Combat is unique. Not unlike other Bioware games like Baldur’s Gate, the combat is turn based in real time. And also based on a dice roll. You have more options here. You can attack, try for a critical attack, a flurry, or power attack. You can use items, and defend. And Jedi can use force powers. Such as heal, force push, and many others. The combat can also be paused at any time. You can also set up a queue of attacks, and what not. You can also switch to the other two in your party at any time.

The fights look more real compared to that of Baldur’s Gate. With characters always in motion. Unlike in most Console RPGS, except maybe Skies Of Arcadia. The combat is also quite fun. More so when battling Sith.

There are also great mini-game including an outer space dog fight!

Thanks to the raw power of the Xbox, this is one good looking game. The inhabitants of the galaxy look realistic. As well as otherworldly when necessary. The areas are all well designed. If a little small. The facial features are astounding. As are the light effects of clashing light sabers.

The Music is pure Star Wars. With tunes directly taken from the films. As well as new music from Jeremy Soule. The composer behind Icewind Dale’s epic score, as well as that of Morrowind and Oblivion.

The voice actors do an amazing job. And there are quite a few famous VO actors here. The sound effects are taken directly from the legendary films. And still sound great.

The Bad
The restrictions of using a dice roll are evident. And special attacks are pretty much useless against regular foes.

Many areas seem tiny. They could have been bigger. There is a plot twist midway in the game that is quite lame. And another bad one towards the end. Why Bioware?



The Bottom Line
Overall this is easily the one of the if not the best Star Wars games out there. It is also on the PC. Star Wars and RPG fans could do worse than this epic set along time ago in a galaxy far far away.

Xbox · by MasterMegid (723) · 2006

Bioware – you can only admire those clever wizards!

The Good
The people at Bioware have to be true masters in the philosophical art, that is game-design. "Knights of the old Republic" is the most powerful proof therefore, the design of that game is so clever, so smart, it's hard to believe sometimes. One of the most impressing things about this Bioware-baby is actually, how versatile it is, how intelligent it serves the needs of many completely different types of game-consumers...

"Knights of the old Republic" certainly has more mainstream-appeal than all previous Bioware-releases. Remember only "Baldur's Gate". You had to know the quite complicated AD&D-rules-system to have a chance in that game, otherwise you would have been lost without hope. Even then, combat was everything but easy, challenging you to the max. That sure was fun for experienced RPG-players, but frustrating for others.

"Knights of the old Republic" is much more flexible, offering the player three different grades of difficulty. Furthermore, the experienced RPGer can manually determine for each character of the party, which of the numerous attributes, skills, feats and force powers should be further developed – while others simply let an automatic routine do the work. Same goes for inventory-management: the newbies can simply click on a button to dress up the best way possible, while others have room to experiment.

To be honest, the tactical depth of the fights is on neither of the three difficulty-grades as high, as it was in "Baldur's Gate". But more important is, that you always feel, the designers are in control of the difficulty: there is a noticeable learning curve and the game feels always well balanced – this is certainly not a matter of course in roleplaying these days! And I haven't even mentioned, how great those battles are presented. "Knights of the old Republic" uses the well proven "Infinity Engine", which means real-time-combat, that can be paused at any time, to give orders to your party. And watching those combat-scenes sure is a blast, as they manage to resemble the well known movie-scenes in quiet an astonishing way.

But combat is in my opinion not the only thing that makes role-playing interesting. The game also features a really interesting RPG-system with quite numerous possibilities to shape your main-character the way you want. Apart from violent skills you can also learn, for example, to hack into computers for shutting down the security-systems of enemy-bases. Or you can reach your goals by persuading people, instead of killing them. The best thing about the RPG-system is actually, that it reflects the moral choices, you make during the game. Followers of the dark side will develop entirely different force powers as servants of the light. Last but not least, the opportunity to upgrade your equipment is executed brilliantly and allows nice experimenting.

"Knights of the old Republic“ is one of the very rare games, that I truly hold in high regard and that at the same time sold really well. Of course it is likely, that the name "Star Wars" on the box has contributed a lot to the games commercial success – but I don't believe that to be the only reason. Equally important is in my eyes, that people with less time or will to dive deep into the material, are this time not excluded from the joy. And the game manages to stay interesting for the hardcore-fraction as well – I consider myself an experienced RPGer and I can tell you, I had a lot of fun!

Let's go further and reflect about the things, the presentation of a game is important for. I would say, the presentation of a game should create and by all means adhere to a specific illusion. In this case though, the presentation rather recreates a specific illusion – the illusion of the Star Wars movies. And "Knights of the old Republic" does even more: it enriches this illusion quite significant.

A good example is the soundtrack. We hear a lot of familiar themes while playing, as the brilliant score by John Williams is used to a great effect. But there's also a huge amount of original music featured, that hits the typical Star Wars style perfectly – like the beautiful theme, we get to hear on Dantooine. Sound effects also do a lot to enhance the atmosphere: from the buzzing of the lightsabers to the bleeping of the droids, everything is there.

The graphics are beautiful. The game uses a better version of the graphics-engine already seen in "Neverwinter Nights", which means 3D-environments instead of an isometric view. I remember being on Tatooine, that desert planet you know from a couple of movies, and I really had the feeling of entering the world of Star Wars. Landing on Tatooine, you actually arrive in a mining colony first. Building stands next to building, there is a feeling of narrowness somehow. But that's used to a great effect, when you finally leave the colony and enter the vastness of the desert, giving you a fantastic view. And there is an image, that will evoke familiar feelings in the minds of all Star Wars fans: a giant, heavily damaged sandcrawler, just like we witnessed it through the eyes of Luke Skywalker in the very first movie. That giant object in that flat, beautiful landscape serves not only as quite an impressing image, it also recreates the atmosphere of the movies by discreetly referring to them.

So, the images, the game creates, truly breathe the atmosphere of Star Wars. But it does more than only citing the movies. We also visit planets never seen in any cinema, the most impressing one probably being Rakatan. I really felt like walking through a piece of art, instead of just standing in front of it. (I only wished, the Neverwinter Nights engine would allow me more freedom of view, while exploring this wonderful landscapes...)

Of course, the game world is not only depicted through images. You can speak to many interesting characters, you can complete an enormous amount of non-obligatory side-quests, you can always stop and enjoy the many amazing details. The movies simply had no time to show their world in such detail, as they had only about two hours to tell their heroes-save-the-galaxy-tale.

"Knights of the old Republic“ truly outshines the movies when it comes to attention for details. Let's take the games characters for example. Bioware was always great, when it came to characterization – and this time they really outdid themselves. As the game takes place 4000 years before the events of the movies, you won't meet any characters you already know. And trust me: you won't miss them at all, as they will appear flat in comparison to the ones you get to know in this game.

Darth Malak is a great example for a very well conceived main villain. He's not just someone you kill in the end, he's a distinct and almost tragic personality. A character, that can remind you of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" sometimes, as he is indeed a very intelligent person, who became terribly misguided and now spreads tyranny over his world.

The most convincing characters are of course those, that follow you on your journey. They all come with their own background-stories and they talk a lot to you. I was really surprised, when Carth Onassi, a soldier for the Republic, suddenly suspected me of being a traitor. It really gave me the impression of dealing with a living, self-thinking individual – something I rarely felt within the boundaries of a video game.

Adding to that is an absolutely convincing cast of voice-actors, that truly suit their particular roles. Mimics and gestures were also stunningly naturalistic – gotta give credits to the animators. But the most important thing are the dialogues, which are written with perfect style. I found it a pleasant surprise that some great humorous attempts found their way into this overall quite serious game as well. Love that crazy droid HK-47! And really funny are the conversations with the Jawas on Tatooine: those little guys had very amusing ways of expressing themselves...

I still haven't lost one word about the main-story, yet. I haven't forgotten about that. I just wished to spare the best part for the very end of this section.

Well, you could certainly summarize, that you once again have to stop the evil plans of some evil guys. But that is not, what the story is really about. The real theme of the story is quite actually ethics. That theme is at the bottom of every little quest, it hides in nearly every dialogue and is the centre of every single of the countless little stories, the game tells within its big one.

I recommend, you also read the review by JazzOleg, as it is most interesting, what he wrote about the ethical conflict and the behind-standing philosophies, comparing the Jedi to Chinese monks. However, my own thoughts went into completely other directions, as I found it most surprising, that even your worst enemies, the Sith, follow their own moral code – something, the movies never told us.

You actually not only fight the Sith, you get to talk to them, as well. And in doing so, you will discover, that they are still human, that they have still feelings, after all. They are misguided. "Knights of the old Republic" strongly emphasizes on the fact, that everyone can fall to the dark side, every person has that potential. The Sith are often portrayed as extremely selfish, they are actually quite focused on their career. A lot of their thoughts circulate around intrigues, around ways to climb up the ladder in their hierarchy. It fits to their Darwin-like philosophy of a natural selection, where only the strongest survive. That philosophy – the fact, that there's always danger from the lower ranks – makes sure, that only the strongest stay in leading positions. And when only the strongest are in leading positions, it strengthens the Sith as a whole.

It is actually quite easy, to see some parallels to reality here. We live in an achievement-oriented society, that works in many ways quite similar. And I believe, our society also tends to teach young people, to care for themselves mainly. So, were the movies basically just a science-fiction-fairy-tale, you can easily establish a more down-to-earth-like view on "Knights of the old Republic" and actually see "the dark side" more or less as a metaphor for self-centered real-life-behaviour.

What I was often asking myself, while playing, is the following: is it possible, that a game with such a strong emphasis on moral decisions can also lead to reflections about your behaviour in real life? And when that is true, can such a game actually teach people something valuable – especially the younger ones? I'm not sure about that. But nevertheless – call me crazy, if you want – I really see some deeper value in "Knights of the old Republic". Even if it's just a Star Wars game, it definitely goes beyond pure entertainment.

The Bad
There really isn't much to say in this section, at least nothing really important. But for the sake of completeness...

The role-playing-system is quite interesting and well executed, but not to be called perfect. There is a number of talents, that proofed to be rather useless. Why invest points into "security" (nothing but lock-picking), when you could easily bash everything open by using your weapons? Putting points into some passive force powers like "Force Immunity“ or "Force Energy Resistance“ was close to waste them, either.

I already mentioned, that the engine doesn't feed you with as much freedom in view, as I would have liked it. Also, the exploration of the planets was often restrained by rather ridiculous limitations. There you stand sometimes, having gained the maximum level in your "Force Jump“-ability, and a tiny little rock has the means of blocking your way. Very strange...

The Bottom Line
You might have already realized, that I'm extremely enthusiastic about this game. Normally, I don't use superlatives in such an inflationary way. But it just seems appropriate to me, when it comes to "Knights of the old Republic" - I simply call it a triumph for the video game industry.

You should really check this out, even if you don't like Star Wars. Even if you're completely new to the genre, this is no hindrance, as the game really takes not-so-experienced players by the hand. The only thing you should be sure of is, that you really have the time for this game, because it really is absorbing and once you're into it, it can be hard to find back into the real world.

Windows · by micnictic (387) · 2008

All Time greatest

The Good
Everything was great about this game accept a few things. They had great story lines, amazing characters, and gameplay was fun.

The Bad
Well, the graphics arent that great. Uhhhh, Thats about it. With it being a RPG its replay value isnt that great, you only want to play it once or twice.

The Bottom Line
AMAZING. It is a turn based RPG. You pick your attack, and he does it. It isnt like some turn based games though, in most if you dont pick your attack your opponent dosent pick their either, your at a mini attack screen, but in this if you wait to pick your attack the game automatically picks your weakest attack against your opponent. It has a great storyling with an unpredictable twist, and amazing characters. You and 9 other people (well, 5 people, 1 wookie, 1 Twileek, and 2 droids) go on a quest for the Star Forge to either save, or destroy the galaxy. You can only travel with 2 at a time but 3 of them are jedi so you are able to have your whole party as jedi. It is an amazing game, now a platinum title for the Xbox ($19.99) so go buy it and have a blast.

Xbox · by Ray Caukwell (1) · 2007

[ View all 18 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
KotOR for teh cheaps! Should I? Slug Camargo (583) Oct 4, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Development

  • Bastila Shan's character was originally meant to be Vima Sunrider, a Jedi from Dark Horse Comics' Tales of the Jedi series. The name Bastila was originally meant for Juhani's character. Eventually, it was decided to create a different character rather than use Vima Sunrider. The new character was named Bastila, while the other character who bore this name was named Juhani.
  • Master Vrook Lamar is voiced by Ed Asner, of Lou Grant fame.

Endings

There are two different endings, based on the choices your main character makes. A third, funny ending can be accessed by pressing a button combination just before the final confrontation with Darth Malak.

Inconsistencies

Despite the nature of Hutts seen in the Star Wars films and various literature, none of the Hutts met in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a kingpin of organized crime, and most have almost nothing to do with criminal activity at all.

Juhani

When the player first meets the female Jedi Juhani, they can choose whether to turn her back to the light side or kill her. When doing the latter, the player will have a showdown with another female Jedi who claims to be her lover (she also makes an appearance later in Korriban in which she makes a final attempt to avenge her lover). Furthermore, when playing as a female character and taking her with, she will occasionally flirt with the player in classic Baldur's Gate II fashion and, by the end of the game, confess to have romantic feelings (which the player can return). These two females are thus the first homosexual characters in the Star Wars universe.

Juhani is actually a boy's name in Finland and Estonia.

References

Naturally the game features numerous references to the Star Wars movies: * The line "My name's [your character's name], I'm here to save you", which is what was said by Luke Skywalker when saving Leia Organa. * Mission Vao says "I have a bad feeling about this" at least twice. This is an homage to a repeated line in each of the Star Wars films. * Probable ancestors of characters seen in the films can be seen in this game or are at least mentioned in literature. Examples include: Galduran Calrissian - Probable ancestor of Lando Calrissian, Cassus Fett - Probable ancestor of Jango and Boba Fett, Komad Fortuna - Probable ancestor of Bib Fortuna, Admiral Forn Dodonna - Probable ancestor of General Jan Dodonna. The wealthy Organa family is also mentioned early on in the game. * T3-M4 and Ebon Hawk are modeled in part after R2-D2 and the Millennium Falcon respectively. * Darth Malak was modeled in part after Darth Vader. The game programmers wanted to create a Dark Lord of the Sith who would instill images of Vader's character without being a near-complete carbon copy. Malak was given a cybernetic vocal implant, and the rest of his body was left alone. * On Taris, the player has a goal to capture Bendak Starkiller. Starkiller was the name that Lucas originally wanted to use for Luke before changing it to Skywalker.

Secrets

Some droids are doing the robot dance. They pivot at the waist and jerk their arms in a style that emulates the popular 80s dance.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2003 – Best Console Game of the Year
    • 2003 – Best Console Role-Playing Game of the Year
    • 2003 – Best PC Role-Playing Game of the Year
    • 2003 – Best Console Story of the Year
    • 2003 – Best Console Voice Acting of the Year
    • 2003 – Best PC Voice Acting of the Year
  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2004 - #1 Game of the Year 2003
  • Computer Gaming World
    • March 2004 (Issue #236) – Game of the Year
    • March 2004 (Issue #236) – Role-Playing Game of the Year
    • March 2004 (Issue #236) – NPC of the Year (for HK-47)
    • March 2004 (Issue #236) – Best Story of the Year* GamePro (Germany)
    • February 13, 2004 - Best Xbox Game in 2003 (Reader's Voting)
  • GameSpy
    • 2003 – Game of the Year
    • 2003 – Xbox Game of the Year
    • 2003 – #3 PC Game of the Year
    • 2003 – PC RPG of the Year
    • 2003 – Xbox RPG of the Year
    • 2003 – Xbox Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2003 – PC RPG of the Year (Readers' Vote)
    • 2003 - Best Music of the Year (PC)
    • 2011 – #16 Top PC Game of the 2000s
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • February 13, 2004 - Best PC Game in 2003 (Reader's Voting)
    • February 13, 2004 - Best PC RPG in 2003 (Reader's Voting)
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2003 - Xbox Game of the Year
  • PC Gamer
    • March 2004 - Game of the Year 2003
    • April 2005 - #19 in the 50 Best Games of All Time list
  • PC Games (Germany)
    • Issue 02/2004– Best Adventure Game in 2003 (Readers' Vote)
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 06/2005 - #10 Likeable Secondary Character (for HK-47)

Information also contributed by MegaMegaMan, PCGamer77, piltdown man, Rabbi Guru, Scott Monster and Zovni.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

Macintosh added by Corn Popper. iPad added by GTramp. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Windows added by Trunks. Xbox One added by Kennyannydenny. Android added by Kabushi. iPhone added by LepricahnsGold.

Additional contributors: Rebound Boy, Unicorn Lynx, Indra was here, Zack Green, Apogee IV, Zeppin, Paulus18950, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack, Evolyzer.

Game added July 16, 2003. Last modified February 16, 2024.