Happy New Year everyone! And here we go again with another year of Game Tumour.
So what did I play over my Christmas/New Years break? None other than Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic!
Okay so yes I did get sucked into the hype over the new movie and yes it is in anticipation for giving the oft-maligned KOTOR 2 a look (and with the Steam release promising restored content and achievements how could I refuse?) but I made it a point to revisit KOTOR 1 due to several points of interest.
Firstly, I last played this game in 2009 on the original Xbox. This time I played it on Steam and with a better idea of what I was doing. Seeing as it's been seven years between drinks, it is interesting to see the game from such a perspective. And I can safely say that KOTOR 1 still holds up well - it's still fun and engaging and I even encountered some content I missed the first time around. And even with the knowledge of the big plot twist, it still comes across as well-orchestrated that you never really see it coming.
Secondly, I am playing this game when the ownership of Star Wars has changed hands to Disney - and subsequently slit the throat of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. This move is something I have mixed feelings about: On one hand, the EU was nothing short of huge and could be intimidating to newcomers - so scrapping the EU and starting again does invite a tightly controlled, and more coherent, continuity. But on the other hand, the end of the EU does mean that some quality material will be left by the wayside - and KOTOR being one of them.
Which is indeed a shame as KOTOR is easily one of the strongest entrants in Star Wars and could certainly show anyone working on the new continuity how it's done. It manages to achieve that difficult balancing act of being new and familiar - something that eluded the grasp of the prequels.
Thirdly, it is interesting to see this game now that Force Awakens has descended down from Heavens in a golden chariot. Much has been made that how this Star Wars has gone out of this way to have plenty of diversity in it's cast (not least Finn and Rey) but somehow that attention may have been better directed at KOTOR who did it first. There's no shortage of diversity in your companions (Bastila, Mission, Juhani and Jolee) but there is a real freedom being offered in who the PC is and how the player creates them. In fact, I find it funny how people rave about Rey being the strong female character that the Star Wars franchise needed when my character, Nicst Elhob, did it first.
In addition, the new Star Wars films have the unenviable task of being new and familiar at the same time. Whilst I did find Force awakens to be both enjoyable and an apology letter for the prequels, it still seemed to be leaning on the A New Hope a lot - at the expense of having something of it's own to say (hopefully Episode VIII doesn't fall into the same trap and be a retread of Empire Strikes back)- unlike KOTOR who again, certainly had something to say and within the context of the Star Wars universe.
And finally, KOTOR still represents the prequels that should've been. It's been said that there was a germ of an idea in them that sadly got overlooked. But that wasn't a problem with KOTOR: So Anakin Skywalker was truly The Chosen One who was meant to bring balance to the Force? So what - Nicst Elhob did just that. Yep, within the field of a RPG, I had the freedom to be precisely the Jedi I wanted to be. I got to make decisions that swung in the directions both good and bad. An why wouldn't I? This is an RPG, where the players are free to mould their character in the way they seem fit. Furthermore, the lack of a Mass Effect conversation reel yields no indication of how certain conversation responses will go over - therefore it becomes impossible to do a 'pure' light side character and, to me, makes the game better for it.
Personally, if I was charged with making a new Star Wars movie, or even a reboot of the prequels, I would look to KOTOR - because it got so much right it wasn't funny.
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