Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

KOTOR is a redirect to this article. For the Montenegrin city see Kotor .

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic logo
Studio	BioWare
Publisher	LucasArts
Senior Developer	James Ohlen
composer	Jeremy Soule
Erstveröffent- lichung	Xbox NA July 15, 2003 EUR September 12, 2003 Windows NA November 19, 2003 EUR December 4, 2003 Mac NA September 7, 2004 EUR September 2004 iOS May 30, 2013 Amazon Fire TV February 27, 2015
platform	iOS , Mac , Android , Windows , Xbox , Xbox One
Game engine	Odyssey
genre	Computer role playing game
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse & keyboard , gamepad
system advantages preconditions	OS : Windows 2000 / ME / XP CPU : 1 GHz RAM : 128 MB Graphics card : 32 MB Storage requirement (HDD) : 4 GB
medium	CD-ROM , download
language	English , German
Age rating	USK PEGI

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ( KotOR for short ) is one of the earliest computer role-playing games to be set in the Star Wars universe . It was developed by the Canadian company BioWare and published by LucasArts , a division of Lucasfilm , in 2003.

The game is Star Wars -Context some 4,000 years before the action of the first film Star Wars settled. The storyline is told from the perspective of the former Jedi knight and Sith lord Revan. In Knights of the Old Republic the player takes control of Revan and explores several largely freely accessible planets in search of five ancient maps that should lead to his former student Malak and his fortress. Most of the storyline is told in dialogues in which the player can direct the development of his character and the plot himself. The title was unanimously well received by the trade press. The website Metacritic , which collects and evaluates test reports, calculated meta scores of over 90 out of 100 points for the various platforms. The title was also commercially successful, particularly on the Xbox video game console . It is estimated that over two million copies have been sold.

The successor Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords , published in 2005, was no longer developed by BioWare, but by the American studio Obsidian Entertainment .

action

The plot of the game is divided into two parts. One is the active game action in which the player is directly involved. In addition, there is the storyline, which describes the events before the game began. The player is initially in the dark about this background. Only through frequent interaction with other game characters is the player increasingly informed about previous events.

Star Wars background

KotOR is about 4000 years before the history of the Star Wars films. It is set a few years after the Mandalorian Wars, a military conflict between the militaristic Mandalorian people and the Republic that embodies the democratic leadership of the galaxy . The Mandalorians planned to expand their sphere of influence and raided the republic. The militarily superior attackers quickly managed to bring large parts of the galaxy under their control.

Two Jedi Knights, Revan and Malak, decided to field against the Mandalorians. They led the remnants of the Republican forces in such a way that they could turn the tide and ultimately defeat the Mandalorians.

After the war, both Jedi and their forces disappeared from the known galaxy without a trace. Months later, they returned, but under the flag of the Sith , ancient enemies of the Jedi, and began to go to war against the Republic themselves.

The Jedi Council assembled a task force led by Bastila Shan to board Revan's spacecraft and take out the Sith Lord. Malak then began to fire on Revan's ship to eliminate him and the Jedi. However, the Jedi managed to escape in time with Revan, who was incapacitated by the fire, from board and from the battlefield. Believing that both Revan and some of the most powerful Jedi had fallen, Malak made himself sole leader of the Sith and continued the campaign of conquest.

A cosplayer disguised as Darth Revan

Game plot

The Jedi Council deprived Revan after his arrest using the power of his memories and power abilities. He cannot remember this process or the entire time before it at the start of the game, he suffers from a kind of amnesia .

At the center of the plot are the events surrounding Revan after his capture. Even the player is not informed about the true identity of his main character at the beginning and instead assigns a self-chosen appearance, a gender and his own name. The revealing of the true identity is the central turning point of the plot. Since the game can end in different ways, LucasArts established a Star Wars canon, according to which Revan was male and followed the light side.

For the first few minutes of the game, Revan is aboard a frigate that is tracked down and attacked by Sith forces. Since the Sith troops are superior, the crew, including Revan, the officer Carth Onasi and Bastila Shan, use escape pods to flee to the planet Taris. After her capsule crashes, the latter is captured by a local gang of criminals, the Black Vulkar.

Carth and Revan therefore try to find Bastila again and discover a way to escape from the planet. They are forced to infiltrate a Sith barracks and intervene in a gang war. The Twi'lek smuggler Mission Vao and her friend, the Wookie Zaalbaar, and the Mandalorian mercenary Canderous Ordo, who himself fought against the Republic in the Mandalorian Wars, join them on their missions. In the meantime the group learns where Bastila is being held in a base of the Black Vulkar . To free them, Revan joins a rival gang and competes for them. He wins and finally gets into an argument with the leader of the Vulkar, whom he then kills in self-defense.

After Bastila is freed, the group gathers in their shelter and gives advice on how to escape from the planet. She decides to steal the smuggler ship Ebon Hawk owned by the underworld boss Davik Kang . During this mission, Malak begins the bombardment of Taris, as he does not want to risk Bastila fleeing. The crew of the Ebon Hawk manage to escape the fire and escape from the star system.

Possible sequence of scenes within the Star Wars galaxy

The group first travels to the planet Dantooine, where the headquarters of the Jedi Order is located. There Revan receives basic training to become a Jedi Knight and is given various examination tasks. At one point he comes across the escaped Jedi student Juhani, who has approached the dark side of the Force. This can either convince Revan to join him as a Jedi, or strike down. Later he finds an old, incomplete star map in a temple ruin. After passing the trials, he is named a Jedi Knight. He is then tasked with finding four more cards that show the way to a Sith weapon, the Star Forge .

In his search, Revan travels through the forest world and home of the Wookies Kashyyyk, the water planet Manaan, the old Sith core world Korriban and the desert planet Tatooine in any order and discovers the other parts of the star map. On the way he occasionally meets Sith troops who hunt him and his companions. He is also joined by other allies, such as the exiled Jedi master Jolee Bindo and the assassin droid HK-47.

After Revan has collected three map pieces and wants to travel to the next planet, he and his companions are intercepted and imprisoned by Malak's flagship, the Leviathan . However, they manage to break out of prison, but they have to leave Bastila in Malak's hands. On their escape from the ship they meet Saul Karath , a former admiral of the Republic and current commander of the Sith fleet. After a brief skirmish, Karath and his escort are overwhelmed by Revan and his companions. The dying admiral then reveals that the protagonist is the former Sith Lord Revan.

Without Bastila and knowing that their leader is the former Darth Revan, the group escapes from the Leviathan and finds the missing piece of the star map on the last planet.

With all the star maps in his possession, Revan is able to determine the coordinates of the star forge. The group then travels on to the Star Forge, which hovers in orbit of the previously unknown homeworld of the Rakata, a largely extinct species that once ruled large parts of the galaxy. The Rakata received their culture in the form of holograms and artificial intelligences. On a large temple there is a confrontation with Bastila, who has converted to the dark side through Malak's torture. This fight and Bastila's attempts to persuade Revan require the player to choose the light or dark side and thus determine the outcome of the game plot. In any case, Revan then infiltrates the star forge with his (remaining) companions and finally meets Malak, whom he kills in a duel. The Star Forge is then destroyed by a Republic attack fleet, defeating the Sith army.

In an alternate ending, which occurs when Revan follows the dark side, he kills Malak, but then takes control of the star forge himself and, with the help of Bastila, subdues Malak's influence and torture during his imprisonment dark side, the republic.

Gameplay

General

The core element of the game is the development of your own character, which is typical for role-playing games. At the beginning of a campaign, the player chooses a character. He can choose from three classes, soldier, crook and scout . These differ in terms of their fighting skills. Then the player receives a certain number of points, which he uses on his central properties, e.g. B. Constitution or Attention. In the course of the game, these properties are constantly expanded. This also includes the later choice of a Jedi class. As soon as the player has chosen one, he has access to numerous other abilities, which are known as power abilities and which significantly increase the combat strength of their own character.

The player's goal is to locate five star maps and destroy the star forge, a Sith base. To this end, he travels and explores several planets, stations and spaceships. Almost every one of these locations has numerous characters that the player can interact with in various ways. Often the player also encounters hostile people and groups such as robbers or Sith. Then there are fighting situations.

In the course of the game, the player builds a team that accompanies him on his missions. The characters who join the team meet him in different places, often in the course of missions. The player's group can consist of up to nine characters that are fully playable. When the player explores areas with his character, up to two companions can accompany him to support him at the same time. Due to the various skills and character traits, the player must always weigh up which character to take on the respective mission.

The player's headquarters are his personal ship, the Ebon Hawk. The characters who have joined him gather on it. Some of them can make certain equipment for the player, such as grenades or medicine. In the cockpit there is a map of the galaxy with which he can travel to different places with a click of the mouse. The order in which the player travels to planets is only partially dictated by the plot. In the main part of the campaign, the search for the maps, the player can visit planets at will, but also leave them without having found the respective map.

Character development

In the course of the game it becomes necessary for the player to make his character stronger in battle. This is done by leveling up . These are made possible by collecting experience points. The player receives experience points by defeating opponents and for completing missions. Each time he is upgraded, he has a contingent of points with which he can improve his central characteristics and learn new skills. In the same way, he can also upgrade the properties of his companions.

The game offers a detailed overview of their talents and skills for each character belonging to the player's group. These are divided into natural predispositions, which can be expanded over time, and into unique skills that can be learned.

The characters in the game have attributes , skills and talents . Attributes include the rudimentary character traits, e.g. B. the physical strength. Skills are more subtle characteristics, such as the ability to heal wounds. These two groups are represented by numerical values ​​that can be increased as the game progresses. Talents, on the other hand, can be learned once. They include, for example, permanent attack and defense bonuses as well as special forms of combat.

The initial choice of class has a direct influence on the development of the character, as the classes bring their own skills and encourage the development of certain attributes, abilities or talents.

For all playable characters there is a scale that shows how much the player is inclined to the light or the dark side of the Force. This principle corresponds to a system that can also be found in other role-playing games; it is usually referred to as a system of attitudes . The player starts with a neutral orientation, so is neither inclined to good nor bad. Actions and dialogues decide in which direction it will develop. If the player behaves unselfishly, he develops to the light side, if he acts aggressively, he is on the way to the dark side.

The orientation of the player affects his chances in combat. Players facing the light side have strong defensive bonuses that their companions can also benefit from. Dark characters, on the other hand, have strong attack skills.

Exploration

In his search for the cards, the player explores several worlds. In order to find the map they are looking for on a planet, the player must usually first explore the areas and complete numerous tasks of varying size. The planets are divided into individual, spaciously designed sections in which the player can move freely. The player has numerous options for action.

In each section there are numerous boxes or similar objects that the player can loot . The content of these containers is determined by means of a random generator. Mostly it is equipment, sometimes money. All objects found are added to the player's permanent inventory and are available to him from now on.

In some areas there are mini-games such as card games or races. These can be important for missions, but they are primarily used to make money. The player needs money to buy weapons and equipment from dealers.

In many regions, the player also encounters civilians with whom he can interact in various ways. They often ask the player for help in an emergency. In the dialogue there are usually several answer options available. These vary in the questions of whether he promises help at all or how he intends to help. In some dialogues, the player has additional answer options to choose from if he has developed certain skills and attributes. For example, a character with strong persuasion can easily bargain down purchase prices. The conduct in dialogue and the decisions made influence his orientation in power. More complex tasks can also have an impact on the future course of the game.

Also, every now and then, the player comes across characters who are ready to join him. A total of nine people can join him as a companion, one of whom, Carth Onasi, is available from the start. Others are, for example, the Jedi Bastila Shan or the astromech droid T3-M4. A maximum of two companions can walk with the player at the same time. The player can also interact with his companions through extensive dialogues. These dialogues in particular vary greatly depending on the attitude, specific decisions or the gender of the player.

Equipment and armament

Different lightsabers

The player has an inventory in which he collects all objects that he discovers while exploring, takes from fallen opponents, buys from traders or receives as rewards for orders. The equipment is varied, including body armor, masks and implants. The choice of weapons is also large. During the game, the player discovers blades, metal swords, axes, but also long-range weapons such as pistols, rifles or crossbows. The player's main weapon, however, is the lightsaber , which he constructs in the course of the campaign.

Many pieces of equipment can be upgraded and specialized, making them more effective in combat. The player can also find the necessary components in the game world, either in lootable containers or at dealers. He can also dismantle objects and use the individual parts obtained from them to construct new objects.

Combat situations

Often the player gets involved in conflicts while wandering through the individual locations. This could be a dispute between locals that the player gets into or robberies by pirates and robbers. Then there are fighting situations. They start when the player has visual contact with an opponent. Then the game is paused. Three buttons become visible above the opponent, with which the player can combine his attack. The player can choose from special melee and long-range attacks - depending on which weapon he is carrying - and grenade throws. If the selected character is a person gifted with power, special attacks and defenses are also available. Which these are in a specific case and how effectively they can be used depends on the development of the character and his disposition. Characters with light side skills are strong at protecting themselves and their companions from attack. Attacks that come from the opposite orientation are characterized by the fact that they can cause great damage to the opponent.

Combat consists of round and real-time elements. At the beginning of a battle, the game is paused and the player is given the opportunity to plan his attack and that of his companions. Once he has completed this, the actual fighting begins. There all those involved carry out their actions in parallel in real time. To re-coordinate the group in battle, the player can pause the battle at any time and issue attack orders.

Depending on the characteristics of a character, with every attack there is a certain probability that the attacker will miss his target. A strong defender is also able to repel attacks automatically.

GUI

Schematic representation of the user interface in a battle sequence

The user interface shows during normal play a scaled map of the current area, an overview of the members of the current team, fields, mines and shields available to display and buttons for the main menu functions. This includes an overview of the characters, showing their characteristics and orientation in power, as well as a screen in which the playable characters can be equipped with weapons, body armor and the like.

The characters are played from a third-person perspective . The camera is located slightly offset behind the character, towards which the camera is always aimed. It can be swiveled up and down and rotated around the figure controlled by the player.

Development history

development

Greg Zeschuk

The Canadian studio BioWare, which had already produced the successful role-playing games Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights , was responsible for developing the title . The first official confirmation of the development of the game came in July 2000 with the announcement by the CEOs of BioWare, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka , that they would be working with LucasArts on a Star Wars role-playing game. The game was one of the first to emerge from the cooperation between LucasArts as licensor and a well-known studio as developer. LucasArts had previously either developed the game itself or commissioned smaller studios to develop the game under close supervision. The team involved in the game consists of around 40 people. The science fiction writer Drew Karpyshyn , who had worked on BioWare titles such as Baldur's Gate 2 since 2000, was largely responsible for the plot .

Ray Muzyka

One of the first details of the game to be made public was the decision to set the plot 4,000 years before the Star Wars films. Alternatively, LucasArts offered the plot of Episode 2 as the basis for the new title. However, the developers saw greater creative leeway in a completely new scenario.

The first official presentation took place during the E3 2001 game fair in Los Angeles . At this point the game had been in development for almost half a year. During the presentation, the lead developer, James Ohlen, presented some concept drawings and a brief description of the scenery. LucasArts stated that the target release date was winter 2002.

In May 2002 a first demo version for the Xbox was released. Its scope was kept quite short, it only demonstrated the introduction to the game, the player's ship, a rudimentary character system and the concept of combat situations. In the fall of 2002, LucasArts announced that development of the game was delayed and that it would not appear until 2003.

The last major presentation took place at E3 2003, where the developers, who had previously been reluctant to reveal game details, presented the exact functionality of the combat system.

technology

From a technical point of view, the title is a new development. While the combat system is reminiscent of the earlier BioWare title Baldur's Gate , the other components have been completely redesigned. All objects and figures were modeled three-dimensionally. The camera shows what is happening from the third person and can be rotated largely freely. The aim of the developers was to combine the strategic concepts of earlier role-playing games with visually appealing and action-packed scenes. One difficulty in the development phase was to find a balance between graphics performance and speed, as the game environments were extraordinarily large and lively for the state of the art at the time.

A new engine , code-named Odyssey, was developed for Knights of the Old Republic . This engine specializes in rendering role-playing games with 3D graphics. A special technical feature is the display of fine ambient particles and natural effects, such as dust and the movement of grasses caused by wind. It is also the first engine from BioWare to develop a role-playing game for a console. However, it was not widely used. Besides KotOR , she should only use one game, the sequel Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords .

BioWare developed versions for Windows and for the Xbox. Mike Gallo stated that the reason for choosing the Xbox was that both systems were similar from a technical point of view, which could reduce the development effort. BioWare was also about to implement one of the first role-playing games for the Xbox.

The Windows version has a higher graphics performance because it is designed for higher resolutions . Therefore, the textures are sharper and more detailed. The Xbox version, on the other hand, has an optimized rendering behavior, which improves the reflection behavior of surfaces.

Parts of the game, especially the combat system, are based on the d20 system from the game manufacturer Wizards of the Coast . D20 is the basis of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons , which in turn is the basis for the processes of modern role-playing games. The system is used to establish basic rules in the game and to calculate random game events based on these rules.

Sound and synchronization

Jeremy Soule composed the game music.

Since Knights of the Old Republic consists to a large extent of dialogue, extensive sound recordings were made. Unlike the rest of the game, LucasArts directed the soundtrack instead of BioWare.

The music for the game was composed by the award-winning Jeremy Soule . In parts, the music should be based on the original pieces by John Williams , the composer of the film music for all Star Wars parts. Nevertheless, the game should be given its own composition to distinguish it from the previous Star Wars media. Commenting on the need for stand-alone music, producer Mike Gallo :

"It will be a Star Wars score, but it will all be original, and probably the things that will remain will be the force themes and things like that. But there's so much that's character driven that we can't really use that stuff. "

“It will be a Star Wars soundtrack, but it will be its own. The things that are likely to stay are the power-themed pieces and the like. However, there are so many character-related pieces that we cannot use them. "

- Mike Gallo : Interview with GameSpot

The sound engineers faced major challenges with technical limitations. They only had a MIDI system with eight megabits per second , so it was not possible to process an entire orchestra playing at the same time. They circumvented this problem by skillfully mixing individual orchestral instruments.

According to the responsible coordinator at LucasArts, Darragh O'Farrell, over 15,000 lines of text were synchronized for the approximately 300 characters. About 100 professional voice actors and actors, including Ed Asner , Raphael Sbarge , Jennifer Hale , Ethan Phillips and Phil LaMarr , have been recruited for the original English sound. Since many roles consisted of only a few lines of text, the speakers usually lent their voices to several characters.

Sound recording began six months before the game's beta release. The script was almost finished at this point. The sound engineers corrected any discrepancies that occurred later at the end of the recording. The recordings were made within five weeks, which, according to O'Farrell, was unusually fast.

The following table gives an overview of the speakers for the main roles and their role in the game.

character	English speaker	German speaker	role
Bastila Shan	Jennifer Hale	Celine Fontanges	Jedi knight
Carth Onasi	Raphael Sbarge	Till Demtrøder	republican soldier
Darth Malak	Rafael Ferrer	Holger Mahlich	Antagonist of the game
Canderous Ordo	John Cygan	Marco Kroeger	mandalorian mercenary
HK-47	Kristoffer Tabori	Robert Missler	Assassination droid built by Revan
Jolee Bindo	Kevin Michael Richardson	Henry King-Abel	Jedi Hermit
Juhani	Courtenay Taylor	Kristina von Weltzien	Jedi student
Mission Vao	Cat Taber	Mia Diekow	resident smuggler on Taris
Master Vrook	Edward Asner	Jörg Gillner	Jedi master

publication

Launch and re-releases

In July 2003 Knights of the Old Republic was released for the Xbox in North America. In September of the same year the title was also published in Europe. The version for Windows followed in November and December 2003, first in North America and then in Europe. According to the developers, this version includes an improved menu navigation as well as an additional location that offers new characters and equipment. The add-ons were later offered as additional content via Xbox Live for console implementation. Both versions appeared in physical form in stores. Shortly after the release of Windows multiple patches have been published that criticized some of the testers and players bug and should resolve performance issues.

In September 2004, a port for the Apple operating system Mac OS was released in North America and Europe . In 2006, the title appeared in the five-part game collection Star Wars: The Best of PC. In 2012 the Knights of the Old Republic Collection appeared , which includes Knights of the Old Republic and its successors. In May 2013 , Aspyr , which specializes in Macintosh porting, released a version for the iPad . A version for the Amazon Fire TV was released on February 27, 2015 .

Sales figures

From the day it was released, Knights of the Old Republic achieved very good sales. Within four days, LucasArts was able to sell over 250,000 copies of the Xbox variant, Microsoft reported in a financial report. More than 270,000 copies had been sold by early August. Simon Jeffery, President of LucasArts commented:

"The game clearly has conquered the North American market and we're certain it will perform just as well when it launches in overseas territories in the next few weeks."

"The game has clearly hit the North American markets and we are sure it will sell just as well when it launches in overseas markets in a few weeks."

- Simon Jeffery : statement from LucasArts

Later this version also hit the one million unit mark. Due to the good sales figures, the title was included in the Xbox Platinum series. This is reserved only for titles that have sold over a million units. According to unofficial estimates, a total of 2.19 million units of the Xbox version were sold. No official figures have been released for the Windows version.

In the UK, the game took first place on the sales charts in its first week of sales. Even after a month it was one of the best-selling titles there. In Germany, the entry-level Windows version took seventh place according to the GfK charts. In North America, it moved up to first place in June 2004 after a price cut.

reception

Preview reports

The first reports on the game were published during the brief launch at E3 2001. Amer Anjami, editor at GameSpot , wrote that the game suggests a large number of interesting ideas. The graphics are progressive, which is particularly evident in the animations of the individual figures. The author sums up that the game has the potential to become one of the best Star Wars titles.

In a later test, Thomas Weiss of the game magazine PC Games wrote that the title offers an extraordinary amount of game content and will likely come up with a complex plot. The elements of the character system shown are also extensive and profound. The game environments, which the author judged to be too monotonous, are less impressive.

At the last major presentation at E3 2003, editors commented on the combat system. Rich Rouse wrote for IGN that this was much more demanding than conventional action games. The player would have an extremely wide range of attack options, the main challenge being to combine them effectively.

Reviews

reviews publication Rating iOS Windows Xbox 4players k. A. 92% 91% Computer picture games k. A. 1.78 k. A. CGW k. A. 100% k. A. Electronic Gaming Monthly k. A. k. A. 95/100 Eurogamer 9/10 k. A. 9/10 Game Informer k. A. 95/100 95/100 GamePro 87/100 k. A. 4.5 / 5 Gamereactor 5/10 k. A. k. A. Game revolution k. A. A- A- GameSpot k. A. 8.8 / 10 9.1 / 10 GameSpy k. A. 5/5 5/5 GameStar k. A. 92/100 k. A. GBase k. A. 9.5 / 10 k. A. IGN 8.8 / 10 9/10 9.5 / 10 PC Games k. A. 92% k. A. Meta-ratings GameRankings 89.08% 93.25% 94.21% Metacritic 88/100 93/100 94/100

Knights of the Old Republic has received high praise from game magazines since it was first launched. The official ratings after the game was released were unanimously positive. The Xbox implementation tended to do a little better. The website Metacritic has calculated an average of 93 out of 100 points for the Windows version from 33 individual ratings. For the Xbox version, 94 points were calculated from 72 ratings.

The author Aaron Boulding of the online magazine IGN called the game one of the best Star Wars games of all time. It offers a deep storyline with interesting characters. The author sees the dialogues as the main motivating factor in the game. These are branched out and linked in a complex way, offer a lot of choice and therefore encourage you to play the game several times. From a technical point of view, they were also well done, Boulding rates the setting and the music composition as outstanding. He only sees defects in the rest of the technical implementation of the game. The game suffers from non-reproducible crashes and image errors. Furthermore, the artificial intelligence is flawed. Often she has difficulty finding her way .

GameSpy's Raymond Padilla gave the Xbox version the maximum rating of five stars. The game plot makes the game captivating and varied and can keep up with the quality of the Star Wars films. However, especially at the beginning, it is unnecessarily lengthy and too often occupies the player with simple running back and forth. As a further strength of Knights of the Old Republic the author sees the development of the character, which inspires due to the numerous possibilities to play through the game more often. The Windows version received the same rating, the author Allen Rausch rated the title as an all-round success, only the levels were designed too monotonously.

Markus Schwerdtel from the German game magazine GameStar praised the fact that the players are given great freedom in their approach. Numerous sections and tasks can be solved in different ways, so that you never get bored. The Windows version is superior to its Xbox counterpart, as it has more precise controls and better graphics.

Characters

The main characters of the game, some of whom were themselves honored with prizes, received special attention. Many authors classified the interaction with other characters as a central component of the game, which is also the largest part of the game's motivation. In his review, IGN's Aaron Boulding praised the multi-layered and unique characters. The assassination droid HK-47 was particularly successful and had the funniest dialogues. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin endorsed the verdict, writing:

"The most entertaining of the bunch is probably HK-47, who's like a homicidal and slightly insubordinate C-3PO ."

"The most entertaining of the group is probably HK-47, who is like a murderous and slightly disobedient C-3PO."

- Greg Kasavin : Review of the game

Kieron Gillen from the online magazine Eurogamer described the individual partners as beautifully written and carefully developed. They consistently inspire sympathy and compassion. Even in a test of the iOS version of the game released in 2013, the earlier praise was followed. So the protagonists were described as memorable and valuable for the fascination of the game.

In a compilation of the 100 best characters from the Star Wars universe by IGN, Bastila Shan took 62nd place. HK-47 was ranked 38th. In an opposite ranking, Adam Rosenberg of UGO Networks rated Juhani as one of the worst Star Wars characters beyond the original films. The author commented: “Juhani is neither good nor bad per se. She is just absolutely pointless.” (“Juhani isn't really good or bad per se. She's just utterly pointless.”). However, it received attention in a study. In a study on gender and sexuality in computer games, media scientist Arne Schröder highlighted Juhani as one of the first homosexual (secondary) characters in a role-playing game.

Nominations and Awards

Because the game was well received across the board, Knights of the Old Republic received numerous award nominations, some of which it won. In the first year alone it was awarded over 40 prizes. In addition to awards from various organizations, the title has also received numerous awards from leading video game magazines such as IGN and GameSpot.

He has also been featured in several retrospective leaderboards. For example, in 2012 Time Magazine published a compilation of the 100 best video games of all time. Knights of the Old Republic was one of those titles.

Award ceremony	category	result	date
Game Developers Choice Awards	Game of the Year	Won	March 2004
	Original Game Character of the Year	Won
	Excellence in game design	Nominated
	Excellence in Writing	Won
British Academy Video Games Awards	Xbox Game	Won	March 2004
Satellite Awards	Game of the Year	Won	January 2004
	Most Innovative Story Design	Nominated
GameSpot's Best of 2003	Best role play game 2003	Won	January 2004
IGN's Best of E3 2003	Best PC Game	Nominated	May 22, 2003
	Best roleplay game	Nominated
IGN Xbox's Game of the Month	Best Xbox Game	Won	July 31, 2003
G-Phoria Awards	Game of the Year	Won	August 2004
	Best adaptation	Won
	Best RPG	Won
	EB Gamers' Choice	Won
IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time	27th best game of all time	Won	2007
IGN's Best Games of the Decade	3rd Best Game of the Decade	Won	2010
Interactive Achievement Awards	Computer Role-Playing Game of the Year	Won	March 2004
	Console Role-Playing Game of the Year	Won
	Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development	Won
	Outstanding Achievement in Game Design	Nominated
	Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering	Nominated
	Console Game of the Year	Nominated
	Outstanding Innovation in Computer Gaming	Nominated
	Outstanding Innovation in Console Gaming	Nominated

Modifications

For KotOR , players developed several modifications that added additional figures, models and sometimes even levels. An extensive project called Solomon's Revenge went so far as to replace the campaign with another one that explores the history of Knights of the Old Republic . For this purpose, the developers made their own character models, game environments and sound recordings. In a test of this modification, Andreas Bertits and Marc Brehme wrote for PC Games magazine, among other things: "The voice output is as convincing as if professional voice actors had been at work."

Retrospective review

In a test published in 2011, a tester from Computer and Video Games magazine compared Knights of the Old Republic to later published role-playing games such as Mass Effect 2 . According to the author's opinion, KotOR has a better array of characters and game elements. Likewise, the plot is still exciting and offers a surprising turnaround. In terms of graphics, the title is clearly out of date, but this is by no means a hindrance to enjoying the game.

On the occasion of the publication of the online multiplayer role-playing game The Old Republic , Erich Sherman tested the now eight-year-old KotOR and related it to The Old Republic . The game has many concepts that can be transferred to a multiplayer game, such as the way in which orders are placed. However, the core component of the game, the extensive dialogues, is difficult to transfer to a multiplayer format. This affects less the conversations with civilians and clients, but above all the interaction with one's own companions.

Evaluation of the new edition

After around ten years, a new edition of the game appeared for the iOS mobile system . The tests of the trade press were largely positive. The GameRankings website calculated a meta-rating of 89.05% from 13 test reports. Metacritic came up with a similar value.

Many testers praised the fact that the game is still good and, above all, that it shines with an entertaining and varied story. First and foremost, authors only complained about the sometimes complicated touchpad controls and the lack of German synchronization.

One of the few magazines that expressed major criticism was the Scandinavian publication Gamereactor . The author commented that the game was out of date. The game pace is significantly slower and more monotonous compared to modern titles. The situation is similar with the levels, which are no longer graphically up to date. In addition, the control is much too cumbersome and imprecise. Patrik Nordsiek from the Swiss magazine GBase also criticized the graphics and controls in a short test. Nevertheless, due to its concept and plot, he still saw the game as engaging and motivating.

analysis

Action structure

The literary scholar Hans Joachim Backe examined the plot structure of Knights of the Old Republic . He wrote that this had achieved a dramaturgically high level. This is difficult to achieve in role-playing games, as the player often moves away from the central storyline through side missions. KotOR solves this problem by making the secondary tasks short and selective. The mini-games are designed according to this principle, some of which are integrated into the plot, but are sometimes also optional. When integrating the companions into the action, the tasks that the characters give the player are decisive. The interaction with them has a profound effect on the course of action.

According to Noah Wardrip-Fruin , an American professor of computer science, this structure of the task system is what makes the game so fascinating. Not only is the abundance of secondary goals interesting, these are also varied and tell their own little story that often fits into the main storyline. An additional incentive is created by a variety of rewards that the player receives at the end of side missions, as these occasionally open up new solutions in the main plot.

In a study of the universe built up in Star Wars media, media scientist Andreas Rauscher came to the conclusion that Knights of the Old Republic portrayed both sides, the good and the bad, in a comparatively balanced manner and dispensed with the typical exaggerations of the opponents. This can be seen, for example, in the fact that the Sith, usually presented stereotypically in the films, receive a detailed background story, which is illuminated from several perspectives. In a study on computer games as a learning tool, the linguist and educational scientist James Gee praised the theming of the fields of identity development and responsibility for one's own actions, whereby he particularly raised the question of the extent to which the purified Revan could be responsible for his earlier deeds as a Sith Lord.

The authors Kevin and Brent Moberly examined the extent to which medieval elements and concepts from games set in the Middle Ages have been realized in KotOR . They see an example of such structures in the construction of Taris, which is ordered by feudalism . In addition, medieval elements have also been integrated into the types of tasks, such as fighting a plague-like disease or protecting a rural settlement from attacks by wild animals. As a further aspect, the author mentions the dominant position of two orders, the Jedi and the Sith, which are presented in the game by their own temples, large numbers of followers and codes.

Mind system

Another subject of investigation has been the game's mind system, specifically the concept of freedom of choice. The dialogue behavior is decisive for the character's attitude. In this context, the various dialogue options were criticized by media scholars. These usually only offer the player a limited choice between moral, value-neutral and amoral. The authors saw this as too simplified and one-dimensional. More profound dialogues, which would also be interesting from an ethical point of view, would be avoided. Authors saw a further problem in the development of character associated with the system of attitudes. The closer you get to one of the two extremes, the stronger the player becomes. Orientation towards ethical points of view and moral discussions, which would rather lead to a middle way in the mind, is almost impossible.

Media based on the game

Knights of the Old Republic developed into the basis of several games and novels . Within a short time, LucasArts hired the Obsidian Entertainment studio to develop a successor to the successful title. Several authors have also been recruited for book and comic book series, including John Jackson Miller , Drew Karpyshyn and Paul Kemp .

successor

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

→ Main article : Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Logo of The Sith Lords

Shortly after the publication of Knights of the Old Republic , the development of a successor began. This was named Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 - The Sith Lords and was designed by Obsidian Entertainment. The game was released on December 4, 2004 for Xbox in North America. The Windows version and the European Xbox version followed in early February 2005.

The Sith Lords takes place about five years after the events of the first part and puts the player in the role of a Jedi knight who had been expelled from the Jedi Order, who had joined Revan in the Mandalorian War and was banned by the Jedi Council for this. A special feature of the game is the so-called influence system, which enables the player to influence the attitudes of his companions through dialogue and behavior and to be able to bring about a change. This also changes the behavior of the companions and their attitude towards the player.

The successor performed slightly weaker in test reports from the press. Metacritic calculated 85 points for the Windows and 86 points for the Xbox version. Technical errors were consistently complained about, some of which lead to serious impairments when playing. In addition, the game offers few new features in terms of play and graphics compared to its predecessor. Occasional authors criticized the fact that the plot dragged on a little too much, especially at the beginning. Apart from that, The Sith Lords, like its predecessor, is a very good and motivating role-playing game.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3

After The Sith Lords was published, Obsidian began work on a sequel that would form a trilogy with the two predecessors. However, this title was already set in the early development phase - concept drawings and a rough course of the plot had already been worked out - at the decision of LucasArts. The conceptual drawings of individual characters and locations were published in a non-fiction book, but further details, such as the plot, remained secret.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

→ Main article : Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Old Republic logo

At E3 2008 in Los Angeles , a new RPG title called Star Wars: The Old Republic ( SWTOR for short ) was presented. For two years, there had been hints from the developers and numerous speculations from game magazines. This time the developer was BioWare again, with LucasArts acting as the publisher.

In contrast to the previous parts, however, it is a pure multiplayer title, a so-called MMORPG . The action is set 300 years after The Sith Lords . Its scope is significantly larger, but it is based on the same principle of missions, battles and exploration.

Book and comic series

In addition to the video games , numerous novels and comics have been published by various publishers under the direction of the Lucasfilm literary department, LucasBooks . In these, the plot of the game was expanded and further developed. In early 2006, Dark Horse Comics began publishing a series of comics entitled The Game. After 50 volumes, the series written by John Jackson Miller was discontinued in 2010. First and foremost, she built the background to the storyline.

In 2011 the novel Revan, written by Drew Karpyshyn, was published in English. This follows on almost completely from Knights of the Old Republic and represents a substantive connection between the KotOR games and The Old Republic . In addition to Revan , numerous other books have been published that deal with the plot and the characters of the online game.

Web links

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic at MobyGames (English)
• Official website of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ( January 1, 2005 memento in the Internet Archive )
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in the German-language Jedipedia

Individual evidence

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This article was added to the list of excellent articles on November 30, 2014 in this version .