Knights of the Old Republic II

A long time ago, on a writing platform far, far away, I wrote a review for Knights of the Old Republic. It was part of my Star Wars content for May 2024. My final verdict on that one was that it was great fun. It wasn't perfect, but I had a great time playing it. Now, it's time to look at the sequel - yes, there's a sequel.

Let's discuss Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.

A Second Chapter...

Development began in October 2003, soon after the original game was released. The lead designer, Chris Avellone, read through as many Star Wars-related books, graphic novels, and so on to learn as much as possible about the Star Wars universe.

The dev team at Obsidian used the first game as a blueprint, making a few changes to the appearances of characters, animations, and levelling structure. They also added some weather effects to certain areas (stuff like rain, for example).

Upon its release, the game was met with a positive reception and was included in 2010's book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

The Story of a Knight Errant...

Set five years after the events of the first game, Knights of the Old Republic II follows an exiled Jedi knight who had served with Revan in the Mandalorian Wars, in a quest to find other Jedi masters, re-establish a connection to the Force, and defeat a Sith invasion. All this alongside a colorful assortment of characters.

Where does Knights of the Old Republic II Shine?

So...where does Knights of the Old Republic II shine? What does it do well?

• Firstly, the visuals are lovely. The colors are vibrant, and the character models are very nice.
• The story is well-written and nicely paced.
• The characters are interesting.
• Combat is pretty good.
• There's some great humor in the game, especially from the HK Assassin droids.

Where does Knights of the Old Republic II Stumble?

Now that we've looked at what works, let's look at where this game stumbles.

Let's start off slowly and talk about the combat for a second. I said before that it was pretty good, and I stand by that. It's very satisfying - most of the time. There are points where it seems far too similar to the previous game. The introduction of new lightsaber forms is great, but there's no visible difference in the combat.

Knights of the Old Republic II introduces a new crafting mechanic where you can build whatever equipment you need, medi-packs, weapons, battle stimulants, etc. If you have the right components, you can craft what you need. The problem here is that it takes forever to get what you need, and you can only build one saber - you scavenge the others that you get. It would've been nice to have each of your Jedi students use the crafting system to build their own sabers instead of having to use cast-offs.

The other thing I didn't really like was the fact that the Jedi keep their cloaks on throughout the game. It's kind of silly, I know, but it would've been a nice touch for the Jedi characters ditching their cloaks before major fights (i.e. high-level bosses). Now, I'm pretty sure those long robes would pose a serious problem.

The last thing we'll discuss is the music. The music is very nice, but it becomes repetitive very quickly.

Is Knights of the Old Republic II worth your Time?

So...is Knights of the Old Republic II worth your time? Yeah, it is. Whether you're a long-time Star Wars fan or a newbie just getting into the franchise, Knights of the Old Republic II is definitely worth your time. You don't need to have played the previous game, either; it stands on its own two feet without needing the previous game to prop it up.

If you haven't played this one, I'd say give it a shot.