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

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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
Kotor2logo.jpg
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords logo
Studio United StatesUnited States Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher United StatesUnited States LucasArts
Senior Developer Chris Avellone
composer Mark Griskey
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 Xbox
NA December 6, 2004
EUR 10 February 2005
Windows
NA February 8, 2005
EUR 10 February 2005
OFF February 15, 2005 August 23, 2012 Linux, Mac OS X July 21, 2015
world

world
platform Xbox , Microsoft Windows , macOS , Linux
Game engine Odyssey
genre Computer role playing game
Game mode Single player
control Computer keyboard
system advantages
preconditions
medium Compact disc , download, digital distribution
language German , English
Current version 1.0b
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended for ages 12 and up

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords ( KoTOR 2 for short ) is an RPG set in the Star Wars universe . It was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by LucasArts , a division of Lucasfilm, between December 2004 and February 2005 for Windows and Xbox . It is the successor to the role-playing game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic .

The plot of The Sith Lords is set about 4,000 years before the events of the Star Wars movies and five years after the events of the predecessor. The game tells a story that is largely detached from its predecessor. The player takes on the role of an outcast, male or female Jedi knight who has lost his special powers due to a cause unknown at the beginning . Chased by the Sith who want to eliminate the Jedi, the character is now trying to re-establish its connection to power. To do this, she goes in search of some Jedi masters from whom she hopes to help with her project.

Given the extremely positive reception of the predecessor, the release of the game was linked to great expectations. However, after its publication, trade magazines complained of numerous program errors and a lack of innovations. In contrast, the plot of the game was viewed positively.

The sales of The Sith Lords were weaker than its predecessor. It is estimated that around 1.37 million copies of the Xbox version have been sold. No information is known for the Windows version.

In 2015, The Sith Lords was ported to the Mac OS and Linux operating systems by Aspyr Media . In the course of this, it was slightly modernized and received support for 4K and 5K resolutions , among other things .

action

The plot of the game is divided into two elements. One represents 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.

Classification in the Star Wars universe

A cosplayer disguised as Darth Nihilus

The plot of The Sith Lords takes several thousand years before the events of the film Episode I - The Phantom Menace instead. The starting point is the Mandalorian Wars , a military conflict between the militaristically minded people of the Mandalorians and the Republic. The Mandalorians planned to expand their sphere of influence and invaded the republic to do so. The militarily superior attackers quickly brought large parts of the galaxy under their control. However, two Jedi , Revan and Malak, managed to organize the remnants of the Republican forces so that they could turn the tide and ultimately defeat the Mandalorians at the Battle of Malachor V.

Then there was a conflict between Revan and Malak, as a result of which they both fought . Revan prevailed and then apparently disappeared from the known galaxy without a trace. Two previously unknown Sith , Darth Sion and Darth Nihilus, then began a campaign against the Jedi. They succeeded in largely eliminating the Jedi and weakening the republic, which was recovering from the consequences of the Mandalorian wars.

Game plot

The player takes on the role of a Jedi knight who fought as a general at Revan's side in the Battle of Malachor V. In the game, the name, appearance and gender of the character are not given, but can be freely selected by the player. Game characters consistently refer to the main character as the exiled or the exiled . In the novel Revan , published in 2012, author Drew Karpyshyn described the main character of The Sith Lords as female and named her Meetra Surik, which was picked up in the following media.

As a result of the battle, Surik was expelled from the Jedi Order. The highest body of the Order, the Jedi Council, disapproved of Revan and Malak going to war against the Mandalorians against their instructions. He also accused Surik of having led a large number of soldiers and Jedi to their death. In addition to being condemned by the council, the heavy casualties in battle caused Surik to lose her connection to power , a spiritual source of power that gives Jedi strength.

After several years in exile, Surik is on the way to a meeting with representatives of the republic. This meeting was arranged by Jedi Master Atris. She intended by the return of Surik to provoke the Sith, who had hitherto been mostly clandestine, to an open attack on the Jedi. Shortly after Surik was picked up by a Republican warship, the Sith Darth Sion, who had already identified the Jedi, attacks this ship. With the help of Kreia, another outcast from the Jedi Order who Surik wants to take in as a new student, both manage to escape on board the ship Ebon Hawk . The Hawk is badly damaged in the process, so that it has to make an emergency landing at the Peragus mine. This station had recently been infiltrated and captured by an assassination droid that is hunting Surik independently of the Sith. When the assassin attacks her, she destroys him and then escapes with the help of Kreias and the smuggler Atton, who she found in the station as the only survivor of the droid attack. Meanwhile Kreia begins to train Surik to be a Jedi again, so that she can face the Sith who is pursuing her. The group then travels to the planet Telos, a base of the republic. There she meets the Jedi master Atris, who supported Surik's banishment into exile. After a brief dispute, the two of them form an alliance against the Sith. Atris assigns Surik to find more surviving Jedi. Surik then travels with her companions to the four worlds Dantooine, Nar Shadaa, Onderon and Korriban, each of which she suspects is a Jedi. With the exception of Korriban, which was home to a Jedi but has already been found and killed by the Sith, Surik meets a Jedi Master on every planet. She convinces them to assemble in the ruins of the Jedi Temple on Dantooine to coordinate further action against the Sith.

Game locations within the Star Wars galaxy

After the three Jedi Masters have gathered on Dantooine, they decide to cut Surik off from their power skills, fearing that Surik's strength poses a threat to the Jedi. Shortly after this procedure has started, Kreia, who identifies herself as a Sith, steps in, accuses the Jedi of ignorance and kills them. Surik, weakened from treatment by the Jedi, leaves them at the academy. Kreia is captured by Atris' guards and brought to her. However, Kreia manages to manipulate Atris in such a way that she surrenders to the dark side and lets Kreia travel to her Sith Academy in Malachor V. When Surik arrives at Atris' academy looking for Kreia, Atris attacks her. Surik succeeds in defeating her opponent and recognizes Kreia's manipulation. In the meantime, Darth Nihilus, who with Kreia's help located the academy, is attacking the planet. Surik leaves Atris in the academy so that they can rebuild the Jedi Order, and breaks out to fight Nihilus. After defeating the Sith's ground forces with local security forces, she infiltrates his flagship, the Ravager, with the help of canderous and visas . There she faces Nihilus in a duel and kills him.

Surik then travels to Malachor V to conquer Kreia. She invades the academy and defeats the Sith there. Before she can attack Kreia, her pupil, Darth Sion, stands in the way. After defeating Sion, Surik attacks Kreia, knocks her down and destroys her Sith Academy.

An alternative ending occurs when Surik does not gather the Jedi on Dantooine, but kills them when they first meet. She also defeats the three Sith Lords, but then takes over Kreia's Sith Academy to lead the Sith Order herself.

Gameplay

General

The game builds on the concept of its predecessor. The core element is the development of one's own character, which is typical for role-playing games . The only game mode The Sith Lords offers is the campaign, in the course of which the story of the game is told. At the beginning the player configures a character. To do this, he first selects a character class , with three to choose from, Jedi Knight, Jedi Ambassador and Jedi Guardian . These classes differ in terms of their combat skills. Then the player is given a contingent of points with which he can develop the central characteristics of his character, for example his physical condition or persuasiveness. It is largely up to him in which properties he invests the points.

The goal of the player is to find the Jedi Masters Kavar, Vrook, Kai-El and Vash to fight the Sith with them. To do this, he travels and explores several planets. Almost every one of these locations has numerous characters that the player can interact with in various ways. Some of these characters are hostile to him, such as criminals or Sith, and force him into a combat situation.

In the course of the game, the player develops his character into a powerful warrior. He is supported by Kreia, who regularly teaches him new skills. While the character explores the planets, you meet several people who join her. At the beginning of the game, the group consists of the main character Meetra Surik and their droids T3-M4. Further figures, such as Kreia or the HK-47 known from its predecessor, whose components are distributed throughout the galaxy and must first be put together, as well as Canderous Ordo, who now bears the title of the Mandalore , are added in the course of the plot. During a mission, the character can be accompanied by up to two companions, who can be played independently, at the same time. Here, too, the player has to weigh up which characters he will take on the respective missions based on their skills.

As in the predecessor, the player's personal ship, the Ebon Hawk , serves as quarters. The figures who have joined him gather on it. In the cockpit there is a map of the galaxy, with the help of which he can travel to different places with a click of the mouse. The order in which these locations are visited is loosely dictated by the plot and can therefore be largely freely determined by the player.

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 . This concept was adopted largely unchanged from its predecessor. The player can upgrade his character when he has collected a certain amount of experience points . He receives this by defeating opponents or by informing himself about the events in the republic after Surik's exile. When upgrading, the player receives a certain number of points with which he can improve his character's attributes or learn new skills. In the same way, the player can also upgrade the properties of the other members of his group.

The game provides a detailed overview of their properties for each character belonging to the player's group. These traits are divided into attributes , skills and talents and, as in the previous version, are very similar to the attribute system in Dungeons & Dragons . Attributes include rudimentary character traits, for example physical strength or fighting skills. Abilities represent special talents, such as the ability to heal other players or to hack computer systems. These two groups are represented by numerical values ​​that can be increased when upgrading. Talents, on the other hand, represent unique characteristics that can be learned, such as special fighting styles or bonuses for attack and defense.

The character learns new fighting styles and power techniques both from the Jedi masters he meets in the course of the game and by choosing a prestige class. The latter is possible when the player has reached a certain level with his main character and one of the two sides of the force has come closer.

Like its predecessor, The Sith Lords includes a mind system . This is represented by a scale that shows how much a figure is inclined to the light or the dark side of power. The main character starts with a neutral orientation, so is neither inclined to good nor bad. In the course of the campaign, the player has numerous opportunities to develop in one direction through actions or statements. This development affects the character's fighting skills. Characters facing the dark side have strong offensive abilities. Figures that tend to the light side, on the other hand, have defensive bonuses that benefit the individual figure but also the entire group.

A novelty of The Sith Lords is the possibility of influencing other characters. Influence represents the relationship between the main character and a companion. The influence takes place through actions of the main character, to which his companion reacts positively or negatively. With great influence, the player receives certain advantages, such as additional dialogue options or experience points. With certain characters, he is also given the opportunity to train them to become Jedi or Sith. In addition, romances can also develop.

Exploration

In the course of the campaign, the player travels and explores several planets. These are divided into individual, extensively designed sections in which the player can move freely. There are many options for action here. On each planet, the player has an overarching goal, usually the search for the Jedi Masters. To achieve this goal, the player explores the areas and comes into contact with numerous characters.

Interaction with other characters takes place through dialogues, which are carried out by the player walking up to another character and starting a conversation. During a conversation, the player is given various dialogue options to choose from, which control the course of the conversation. In some dialogs, the player has additional answer options available if he has developed certain skills and attributes. For example, a character with strong persuasion is given the option to negotiate purchase prices. In the case of his companions, the player receives additional dialogue options if he has a great influence on his interlocutor. Behavior in dialogue affects the player's alignment in power.

In addition, characters regularly ask him for help. These searches include finding lost objects, tracking down criminals or mediating between two conflicting parties. Some of these missions are required to move forward in the storyline; others are optional. As a reward for successfully completing an assignment, the player receives equipment or money.

In the course of the game, the player meets several characters who are ready to accompany him. These are then available to the player in almost all situations via a menu. They point out dangers to the player, help him with negotiations and support him in combat situations.

In some areas you can find the mini-games known from the predecessor , the card game Pazaak and pod racing . The player can win money in mini-games. With the money he has earned, he can purchase weapons and equipment from dealerships that he also meets in the game world. In addition, there are boxes or similar objects in most towns that the player can loot . The content of these containers is determined by means of a random generator. Mostly it is equipment, sometimes money. The player takes found objects in his permanent inventory.

Equipment and armament

Different lightsabers

In the course of the game, the player comes across numerous objects with which he can equip his character and his companion. These items are kept in an inventory. The player receives items by completing orders, buying them from a dealer or by looting.

Equipment primarily includes weapons, their components and armor. There is a large selection of weapons, ranging from close combat weapons such as swords and axes to pistols and rifles . However, the focus of the player's equipment is his lightsaber . He receives this after he has discovered the necessary components in the game world.

Many items can be upgraded, making them more effective. The player can also find the components required for this in the game world, either as looted goods or as merchandise. He can also dismantle objects and use the individual parts obtained from them to construct new objects.

Combat situations

While the player travels the game worlds, he is regularly involved in physical disputes. These can be local disputes that the player gets caught in, or assaults by criminals or Sith.

The principle according to which these fights take place has been adopted almost unchanged from the predecessor. A battle is made up of round and real-time elements . A fight begins when the player makes visual contact with an opponent. If this happens, the game is paused first. Three buttons appear above the opponent, with which the player can plan his attack. He can choose from special close-range and long-range attacks - depending on which weapon he is carrying - and the use of grenades and mines. The player can also coordinate the combat operations of his companions according to the same principle. If the selected character is a power-gifted person, special fighting skills are available to him. Which these are in a specific case and how effectively they can be used is influenced by the development of the character and his attitude.

After the player has planned his attack, he and his opponent take turns carrying out their combat operations. Meanwhile, the other participants carry out their actions in parallel in real time. To re-coordinate his group in the battle, the player can pause the battle at any time and issue new orders. He can also give them a certain fighting behavior, so that they primarily provide support fire or involve the opponent in close combat, for example.

Depending on the combat-related character traits, there is a certain probability that every attack will miss its target. A strong defender is also able to evade attacks or repel them.

GUI

Schematic representation of the user interface in a battle sequence

The user interface contains the same elements as its predecessor, only their arrangement has been changed. It shows a reduced map of the current playing area, an overview of the members of the current team, fields with battle-related information 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 slightly offset behind the currently selected character of the player, which the camera is always pointing at. It can be swiveled up and down and rotated around the figure.

Development history

Procurement

During the development of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , LucasArts planned to release a sequel to this game. The studio responsible for the title, BioWare , had meanwhile been busy with other projects and had no free resources to work on another game. In addition, the studio found the development period provided by LucasArts to be too tight. Instead, BioWare recommended the newly founded studio Obsidian Entertainment, whose founders BioWare were known from previous projects, as developer. As a result, Obsidian took over the contract from LucasArts.

development

Chris Avellone

Work on the game began with a few drafts for the plot that the seven-person development team prepared before the release of the predecessor in June 2003. As head of the project acted Chris Avellone , who already Fallout 2 , Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment participated. Like its predecessor, Mike Gallo acted as producer.

Initially, the development team only had the information about the game they were supposed to tie in to that they could get from BioWare's official announcements. LucasArts declined to pre- release copies of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic . As a result, the developers' first drafts went wrong and they had to revise them after the BioWare title was released.

Obsidian finally began development of the game in October. In order to work out the plot, the studio prepared detailed biographies of the main characters. As a focus of the game, the developers saw the plot and the characters, which were already the strengths of the predecessor. Avellone planned to create a darker atmosphere in the plot than it did in the previous one and to give the characters more depth. The content of the plot should also be differentiated from other Star Wars scripts; for example, the element of power should be examined from a more differentiated perspective. The figure Kreia should play a central role. Avellone based their design on a character from Planetscape , Ravel Puzzlewell.

Feargus Urquhart

LucasArts intended to release the game in late 2004, so development time was tight. Some developers complained about this, including senior graphic designer Aaron Myers and Obsidian's COO Chris Parker. Due to this time pressure, the studio decided in the course of development to reduce the originally planned scope of the game. To do this, the development team removed numerous elements, including characters, dialogues, missions and a location from the game. In addition, some storylines have been simplified or deleted, especially from the final level on the planet Malachor V.

In retrospect, the managing director of Obsidian, Feargus Urquhart , saw the cause of this time pressure in a management error. Obsidian began with the requirement to deliver the game in time for Christmas 2004. A prototype submitted to LucasArts in spring 2004 met with great approval and led to the informal agreement to extend the development period to 2005. Urquhart therefore worked out a new schedule that provided for a larger project scope. However, he did not keep this agreement contractually. After the presentation at E3, however, LucasArts changed its specifications one more time and now demanded compliance with the original delivery date. Since Obsidian feared severe contractual penalties in the event of a delay in completion , they complied with the publisher's request by reducing the content. Avellone complained that Obsidian set wrong priorities in development and spent too much time working on ancillary features.

The game received its first public presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2004 in Los Angeles . There they demonstrated three largely completed levels and some new game functions in a five-minute presentation. A few days before the exhibition, Obsidian released a demo version of the title. A trailer followed at the end of July . In October 2004 a homepage of the game - which has since been switched off - went live.

technology

The technical basis for the game was provided to Obsidian by BioWare. Therefore, the game uses the Odyssey engine developed for its predecessor . Obsidian limited himself to adapting individual elements of this engine, which is now several years old, to the current state of the art, such as the lighting effects. They also increased the efficiency with which Odyssey carries out calculations, for example to shorten loading times or to be able to display livelier game environments.

Like its predecessor, The Sith Lords is 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 d20 system regulates the processes of some basic game mechanisms and performs calculations, for example for the chances of success in combat operations.

Sound and synchronization

Kelly Hu (Visas Marr)

The game music was composed by Mark Griskey . He used orchestral music, which is composed of recordings of John Williams ' film music and pieces from the predecessor, but also from new creations. Work on the composition lasted from June to July 2004. At the beginning, Griskey designed a concept with more than 4000 pages. This was the basis for a nearly seventy-minute soundtrack. In addition to Williams, he named Erich Korngold and Bernard Herrmann as influences for his composition . Griskey developed themes for many characters and locations . In August of the same year, recording began in the chapel of Bastyr University in Washington . The subsequent mixing of the sound took place in the Skywalker Sound studio .

Like its predecessor, The Sith Lords contains numerous dialogues that are fully set to music. Their recording was directed by Will Beckman and Darragh O'Farrell, who already coordinated the setting of the predecessor. Several actors were hired as voice actors, including Sara Kestelman , Nicky Katt and Edward Asner .

The recordings for the German version were made in the Toneworx studio in Hamburg . The company did not provide any information about the required voice actors.

character English speaker role
Kreia (Darth Traya) Sara Kestelman Surik's mentor, antagonist of the game
Atton edge Nicky Katt Smuggler
Bao major Roger Smith engineer
Visas Marr Kelly Hu Darth Nihilus' student
GO-TO To Norris Leader of the barter dealers
Brianna Gray DeLisle Atris' student
HK-47 Kristoffer Tabori Assassination droid Revans repaired by Surik
Mira Emily Berry (actress) Bounty hunter
Darth Sion Louis Mellis Darth Traya's pupil
Mical Greg Ellis historian
Atris Elizabeth Rider Jedi Master
Mandalore John Cygan Mercenary, leader of the Mandalorians
Master Vrook Edward Asner Jedi master
Master Kavar Tom Kane Jedi master

publication

Launch and re-releases

The game was released on December 6, 2004 for Xbox in North America. This version did not appear on the European market until February 10, 2005. In the same month, the Windows version was released in North America, Europe and Australia. The parallel publication of both implementations was originally planned, but the work on the graphics of the latter version took more time.

In spring 2012 a compilation of both KoTOR titles was published exclusively for Windows. On August 24th of the same year the game was republished on the online platform Steam by LucasArts. On July 21, 2015, Aspyr Media released ports of the retail version of The Sith Lords for Linux and Mac OS. For these implementations, the company retrofitted support for 4K and 5K resolutions. Aspyr also made it possible to incorporate modifications - additional, player-created content - from the offerings of the Steam workshop. For users of the Windows version published on Steam, Aspyr made the innovations available via a free update .

Sales figures

Neither Obsidian nor LucasArts commented on the sales of The Sith Lords . According to the market research institute NPD Group , around 458,000 copies of the Xbox version were sold on the North American market in December 2004. When the game was launched in Great Britain, more units of both versions of the game were sold than the predecessor. This was also due to the fact that The Sith Lords appeared in Europe in parallel for both platforms, while the Windows version of its predecessor was only released well after its Xbox version. Due to the high sales figures in the following months, Microsoft included the game in the Platinum Hits series, which includes Xbox titles with above-average sales figures. It is estimated that around 1.37 million units of the Xbox version were sold worldwide. No sales figures were published for the Windows version.

The game took first place on the cross-platform sales charts in the UK in its first week of sales. In North America, the Windows version achieved second place after the online game World of Warcraft .

reception

Preliminary reporting

In an early preview of Eurogamer magazine , editor Tom Bramwell provided some information about The Sith Lords . He described the playful innovations as convincing, although the game takes many elements from its predecessor. In particular, the player's ability to influence the characters who travel with him is interesting. Ricardo Torres from the video game website GameSpot praised the game's approach to reproducing the storyline of the predecessor through the interaction of the main character with various characters.

Tal Blevins from the online magazine IGN wrote following the presentation of the game at E3 2004 that the game could keep up with its predecessor in terms of depth and fun. When testing an almost ready-to-sell version of the Windows version, Jason Ocampo from GameSpot praised the fact that this implementation looked more promising in terms of graphics.

Reviews

reviews
publication Rating
Windows Xbox
1UP A. B.
4players 82% 82%
Computer picture games 1.90 k. A.
Edge k. A. 7/10
Electronic Gaming Monthly k. A. 88%
Eurogamer 8/10 8/10
GamePro k. A. 91%
GamePro k. A. 4.5 / 5
Gamereactor 8/10 k. A.
GameSpot 8.5 / 10 k. A.
GameStar 88% k. A.
GameZone 8.9 / 10 9.3 / 10
IGN 8.7 / 10 9.3 / 10
Maximum pc 8/10 k. A.
Official Xbox Magazine (US) k. A. 9.2 / 10
PC format 89% k. A.
PC Gamer UK 87% k. A.
PC Games 90% k. A.
Play Magazine k. A. 88%
TeamXbox k. A. 9.2 / 10
Meta-ratings
GameRankings 85.72% 85.82%
Metacritic 85% 86%

The Sith Lords received mostly positive reviews from critics. The ratings for the individual implementations differed only marginally. The aggregator GameRankings , which collects test reports and calculates an average value from the ratings, calculated an average of 85.72% for the Windows and 85.82% for the Xbox version. The website Metacritic came up with similar values.

The plot was widely praised as an outstanding element. IGN's Steve Butts wrote that their quality almost rivaled Star Wars films. One drawback is that the plot builds up its tension very slowly. However, this is offset by the fact that the actions and decisions of the player cause noticeable changes in the game world. Greg Kasavin of GameSpot remarked that the plot of The Sith Lords does not stick to the Star Wars- typical scheme of good and bad, but offers a morally more ambiguous plot by encouraging one to question what seems to be clearly good behavior. However, some logic errors and jumps accumulate later in the game. Jörg Luibl criticized the 4Players website for the fact that the plot didn't feel independent enough. By falling back on the locations and characters of the predecessor, it offers too little new. Christopher Buecheler from the online magazine GameSpy described the plot initially as being well structured, and even more promising than that of its predecessor. However, the later levels and the end of the game drop significantly in quality. Buecheler saw the reason for this in the tight deadlines imposed by LucasArts on Obsidian.

The game mechanics also received praise. Robert Schlesinger described the game in a test by the Washington Post as at least as successful as its predecessor. Some testers noted, however, that the game brought few innovations and that it hardly differs from its predecessor in terms of play. Markus Schwerdtel, on the other hand, praised the varied tasks in the game magazine GameStar . However, the game is not developing in a balanced way. While the entry is too easy, the level of difficulty increases abruptly in the later course of the game. Norman Chan also praised the missions in a test for Maximum PC magazine . These are very well interwoven with the plot. Charles Herold of the New York Times , on the other hand, described the tasks of The Sith Lords as not nearly as exciting and varied as those of the predecessor.

Thomas Weiss of the German magazine PC Games described the interaction with other characters as the greatest strength of The Sith Lords . A successful improvement over the predecessor is the influence system. Schwerdtel praised that the characters are much more complex and interesting than in the predecessor. A verdict that was also shared by GameSpy's Allen Rausch. The magazine also awarded Kreia as the best video game character of 2005. She is an exceptionally complicated, scheming and enigmatic character and thus gives the plot a deeper seriousness and meaning.

According to Rausch, the game environments are monotonous and unimaginative. The developers have given away many opportunities to make the game world appear animated, so that many places appear unnaturally sterile. Instead, they designed many environments in a similar way and thus dragged them out. Kieron Gillen from Eurogamer , on the other hand, described the levels as well developed and balanced. Some references to works like the film The Seven Samurai or its predecessor fall pleasantly . However, it seems sobering that some levels have been put together from those of the predecessor.

Some testers criticized the fact that the game looked like its predecessor and that it had not developed any further graphically. According to Luibl, The Sith Lords could n't visually compete with other current titles like Half-Life 2 or Halo 2 . In addition, the game is not stable. The display on the Xbox jerked, the Windows version suffered from frequent crashes. Another problem of the game is the artificial intelligence . The computer-controlled characters often act incomprehensibly. Butts described difficulties in finding their way and problems with the camera, which was sometimes aimed at the wrong figures. Rausch complained that the allied characters too often stand in the player's way, especially in combat situations. It is incomprehensible that the game has many bugs despite the old and now mature engine.

The sound is more convincing. Critics praised both the quality of the sound effects and the high level of English dubbing. Eduardo Zacarias from GameZone wrote that the game music fits every level and contributes to an excellent staging. The performance of the speakers attests to the same high quality. The German synchronization was also well done. Luibl noticed, however, that it does not come close to that of the predecessor.

Nominations and Awards

IGN magazine recognized the game with an Editor's Choice Award. The Xbox magazine Team Xbox also presented such an award. The game also received a Satellite Award nomination in the Outstanding Game Based on a Previous Medium (Film / Television) category . It was also nominated for the 2006 Saturn Award in the Best Video Game Release (Science Fiction) category.

Modifications

After Obsidian discontinued support for the game in 2005 after several patches that fixed some bugs, the Sith Lords community tried to restore the elements by which Obsidian had cut the final version as part of an active modding scene. In doing so, they took advantage of the fact that Obsidian had cut the content from the course of the game, but left the necessary files in the Windows version. The modders could fall back on these resources. They also worked on fixing the remaining bugs. In 2009 the first version of the Restored Content Mod was finally released , a project that was supposed to restore most of the cut content with the exception of one other location. The makers of the Restored Content Mod worked on the restoration of this location, the planet M4-78, as part of their own project, as Obsidian had produced few resources for the planet. Therefore, the modders had to develop some content themselves and even make their own sound recordings. The project was published in 2012 under the title M4-78 Enhancement Project . In the same year the final version of the Restored Content Mod appeared .

The Restored Content Mod was received positively by players. On the ModDB site, an archive for modifications, it was named one of the Mods of 2014 in a vote by users of the site. Writer Nathan Grayson of Rock, Paper, Shotgun hailed the completion of the project. It will restore the game to the state Obsidian originally planned. Developer Chris Avellone also commented on the modification. He expressed his respect to the programmers of the modification for their work and praised the fact that they made many elements that Obsidian had to delete available to players again.

Retrospective review

Sara Kestelman (Kreia)

Phil Owens of the Kotaku blog compared the plot of The Sith Lords with that of its predecessor in a report published in 2014 . The first-mentioned title offers a more demanding plot. While the predecessor falls back on typical Star Wars plot components and the fight of the main character against an overpowering enemy, the successor focuses more on the main character's struggle for survival. Another aspect that makes the plot of The Sith Lords more interesting is its morally ambiguous plot, which is expressed in the biographies of the key characters and in Kreia's regular teaching units. Nathan Grayson also agreed with this judgment. The Sith Lords appear more interesting because the game often questions the player's actions and adds a few shades of gray to the Star Wars- typical scheme of good versus evil used in the predecessor . In a review by Official Xbox Magazine, the editors mentioned that a special feature of the game was that it viewed the Star Wars universe not only from the perspective of the Jedi, but also from the perspective of the ordinary citizens of the galaxy. The role of the companion of the main character has convincing and weak elements. The approach was successful in giving them complex background stories, which they gradually reveal in dialogue with the main character. However, you can also tell that the developers have not completed a lot and that some characters refer to events in conversations about which the player has not learned anything until then.

In 2013, Jordan Rivas wrote an assessment of Kestelman's portrayal of Kreia. He described her acting as one of the best dubbing works of video game characters. Her choice of speed of speaking is particularly impressive, as it often fits her statements exceptionally well.

In a brief analysis of the game, the author Jake Muncy drew parallels between the main character and the concept of homo sacer in the sense of the philosopher Giorgio Agamben . A special feature of the game is that the main character takes on the role of an outcast. Already through their presence they bring unrest into the existing order. As a result, she is in constant conflict with the society she is trying to save. This conflict culminates in the attempt of the Jedi to permanently cut off the protagonist from power, as they see in her a danger to the power and balance in the galaxy. At the same time, this fear of the Jedi stems from Kreia's interest in Surik. She sees in her the possibility of destroying the ideologies of the Jedi and Sith, which she regards as the cause of past wars.

successor

Knights of the Old Republic 3

After The Sith Lords was released , Obsidian made designs for a successor. This was intended to be the final part of a Knights-of-the-Old-Republic trilogy. The game should cover Meetra Surik's search for Revan. LucasArts, however, did not decide to approve the project despite urging from Obsidian. Therefore, no direct successor to The Sith Lords has appeared so far .

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Old Republic logo

In 2008, BioWare introduced a new role-playing game called Star Wars: The Old Republic at the Electronic Entertainment Expo . BioWare designed it as an online game, a so-called MMORPG . The developers saw it as the spiritual successor to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and The Sith Lords and referred to it as Knights of the Old Republic 3 to 12 due to the desired scope . It was released for Windows in December 2011.

It takes place about 300 years after the events of the two KoTOR titles and deals with the Cold War between the Republic and the Sith Empire.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

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This article was added to the list of excellent articles on November 22, 2015 in this version .