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HK Manufacturing Plant
General information
Location
Builder(s)
Chronological and political information
Affiliation
The HK Manufacturing Plant was a factory located underneath the TelosMilitary Base.
HistoryEdit
After DarthRevan witnessed first-hand the abilities of the HK-47assassin droid he created, he decided that more droids of this design would make excellent agents for his purposes. HK-47 became the basis for a new model of HK-series assassin droids: the HK-50. Revan was captured and his memory was erased before this plan could be realized, however, and the production on the HK-50 model ceases for several years. Eventually, the crime lordG0-T0, who was in fact a planning droid previously assigned to Telos IV, discovered the HK-50 manufacturing facility and reactivated it, disseminating the new model assassin droids throughout the galaxy searching for the Jedi.[1]
During her travels Meetra Surik visited to the Telos factory along with HK-47. The assassin droid convinced the HK-51 models to join his cause. The combined droid forces later helped defeat G0-T0 in a showdown on Malachor V allowing for the planet to finally be destroyed.[2]
Behind the scenesEdit
The HK manufacturing plant was deleted from Knights of the Old Republic II, though many of the source files were included with the PC version.
The 'entrance' to the HK Manufacturing Plant however is still in game though the door is sealed shut. When the PC reaches the Czerka Military Base on Telos, a door labeled 'Sub-Level' is sealed. Beyond the door is supposed to be an elevator leading down into the sub level of the base where a number of control rooms are present to the base and then another elevator into the actual Manufacturing Plant.
The HK Manufacturing Plant was planned to be restored by The Sith Lords Restoration Project, and has been restored by The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod.
Cut ContentEdit
In the cut version of the factory the plant was run by G0-T0 to produce HK-50 and HK-51 assassin droids. HK-47 visited during Meetra Surik's journey to locate missing Jedi Council members.
During his time in the factory, HK-47 fought a large number of HK-50 droids, and a much smaller number of HK-51 droids. HK-47 had the option to persuade either the HK-50 or the HK-51 droids to join him and defeat G0-T0 on Malachor V. He also had the option to destroy all the droids.
According to Chris Avellone, Bao-Dur was intended to die while helping HK-47 reach and shut down the factory.[3]
AppearancesEdit
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords(Door and location only; backstory, function, and miscellaneous content were cut)
SourcesEdit
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia(See G0-T0)
Notes and referencesEdit
- ↑ 1.01.1Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide
- ↑The New Essential Guide to Droids
- ↑Chris Avellone's blog
Part 9: Telos: 'Good To Have You Back, General.'
Last update, we were making our way down to the surface of Telos to look for the Ebon Hawk, when this happened:
300mph crash we all get safely thrown clear. Thank god for those seatbelts!
This is Bao-Dur. He's an Iridonian, like Darth Maul, but he's generally a nice guy. He's also got a voice actor who recorded all of his lines in a bathroom, so all his dialogue sounds really soft and you can barely hear what he's saying half the time.
'My head.. feels like I've been ripped in half.'
'But it's only fair, I owe you more than one, General.'
'What are you talking about?'
'Too bad he's not a droid, huh?'
'We can't all be that lucky.'
'I can see how you'd forget me, being that I was the only one.'
'I don't want to talk about the war.'
'I'll agree to that. The less said the better. We all went through some tough times after Malachor, and maybe we all did a little forgetting.'
'Guess that's one thing we've got better than droids - they can't forget anything. But then, you give them a memory wipe and they forget for good.'
'How are the others?'
'They'll be fine. The pilot's more or less unharmed and the old lady, well, she's tougher than she looks.'
'Crashed a shuttle that time, too?'
'No, pazaak.'
Bao-Dur's got an energy thingy for an arm; he lost his other one during the battle at Malachor V.
Anyway this is Bao-Dur. He's his own class, a Tech Specialist, which means he gets tons and tons of skill points, but his defense doesn't increase much as he levels. You can turn him into a Jedi Guardian later, but since there's much better fighters elsewhere, I don't see the point at all. I'm just going to keep him as a Tech Specialist and make him the crafting bitch.
Someone's watching us.
'Who do you think shot you down in the first place?'
'Good point. Forget I said anything.'
The guys down here are a lot tougher than the ones on Citadel Station. They use energy shields, healing kits, and grenades, and the lack of cover in this area makes it hard to line of sight them.
I don't know why the guy's flying through the air.
Here's something we'll be seeing a lot of; enemies standing behind mines. It's completely aggravating because it takes advantage of your party's own retarded AI, as they're unable to avoid running over them.
Single Iridonian male, high income job, enjoys long walks on the beach.
For the record, I tend to agree more with Czerka than the Ithorians.
The Outer Rim worlds under the Republic were pretty much massacred during the Jedi Civil War, and Telos was suppose to be the Republic's flagship restoration project. If Telos failed, there would be no more money to help fund the restoration of other worlds.
The Ithorians sounded like good ecologists, and given enough time they would have restored Telos to the way it use to be, but it wouldn't have given the Republic enough of a return on their investment. In other words, they would have saved Telos, but they would have lost the Republic. Whereas Czerka sounded like they had a economic plan for the restoration of the planet, and while they didn't have the Telosian's best interests in mind, it would have been just what the Republic needed.
I liked that the Dark Side vs. Light Side choices in this game are more gray in nature than in the previous game; Dark Side isn't necessarily just robbing old ladies and eating succulent baby flesh. There's a similar murky dichotomy coming up with the political situation on Onderon, one of the next planets.
Some more mercenaries ahead. We could avoid them.. or we could kill them and get the XP and loot.
Tough choices, guys.
Quick shot of the nicely done sky here. The story is that during the first Jedi Civil War, Revan and Malak had the planet bombarded with some sort of weapons of mass destruction, enough so that the surface of the planet turned into a giant acidic cloud. The glowing pillars in the distance form a forcefield that hold back the poisonous atmosphere.
Unfortunately, we're playing on hard difficulty, and we've decided to wear the default armour for this playthrough, for aesthetic reasons. With that in mind, eating a bunch of grenades isn't very good for our health.
And pretty soon Atton is the only one left alive.
Good thing there's only one mercenary left too.
One last look at the beach and the force pillars.
Let's talk to Bao-Dur for a sec.
He keeps calling us General because he served under the Exile in the Mandalorian Wars. Shouldn't it be 'sir'? Ah well.
'I moved around for a couple years. Working as a starship mechanic got me from place to place. I wasn't ready to settle down after the war.'
'During my exile, I did the same thing.'
'Then you understand my restlessness. Though the war had ended, I couldn't find peace in anything. As long as I kept moving, I didn't have to think about what happened. Know what I mean?'
'I decided I'd do something constructive. I wanted to make up for the things I'd done in the war.'
'But Czerka ruined everything. I thought I could force Czerka out on my own, but I guess I can't fix everything myself.'
'All I wanted to do was send a message, but I couldn't even do that right.'
'Where did you pick up that remote, anyways?
Okay, enough with the chit chat, we have to find the Ebon Hawk still.
Kotor 2 Droid Planet Walkthrough
I haven't seen a game so doggedly determined to show you its own gameplay flaws as this portion of Telos.
I'm talking about the tendency of party members not under your control to rush forward at enemies as soon as they see them, no matter what's in the way. These minefields are perfect example.
There's turrets on the other side there, but we're not close enough to trigger them yet. So we'll get Atton to disable as many of them as possible.
As soon as we get too close though, the turrets will aggro. Next thing you know, Bao-Dur's rushing to shoot a turret, stepping on 2 or 3 mines in the process. Nevermind the fact that he has a gun, and could shoot it from a distance. There's no easy way to stop them besides putting them on stationary AI, but then they wouldn't be able to shoot the turret because of the poor targeting system.
Fuck you.
More of this standing behind a minefield bullshit.
This is the mercenary base on the surface.
'Corrun Falt did say you were dangerous.. maybe he does know what he's talking about.'
'Falt hired me to keep everyone out of the Restoration Zone.. you in particular.'
'You've done a miserable job of it so far.'
'We'll see. You may have caught a few of my boys off-guard.. but let's see how you fight now, 'Jedi.'
At close range and grouped tight together, they're pretty easy to disable with force CC.
Of course, Kreia managed to get herself stuck in a building.
Don't ask.
Bao-Dur isn't faring much better. He's not great in a fight in the first place, but since I refused to put armour on him, he's flopping over every fight.
'It looks like power is being drawn to generate a shield over a small area in the polar region, but nothing should be down there. Orbital cameras show.. nothing. Just an empty mesa.'
Kreia's keep her secrets again. She knows more than she's letting on here.
'How are we going to get to the polar region?'
'That's a little tougher. According to the computer, a shuttle is currently docked inside the research facility.'
So off we go to the underground Telos base.
With his cyborg arm, Bao-Dur can instantly punch through any force shields. They play it up like it's a big thing, but there's like only 2 places in the game you can use it. This being one of them.
This place doesn't get any more annoying. All those vents on the floor are filled with poison gas traps, which can't be disabled. Guess what: the turrets are on the far side again, so it's all you can do to keep your party from rushing onto the traps.
The correct way to do this is to use Stealth, walk around the floor vents to the center console, and use the computer to turn the turrets off.
There's nothing down here but droids. Lots and lots of droids. It use to be some sort of droid research lab.
'The hangar bay doors are closed. I don't fancy flying the shuttle through solid metal, so I'd say we need to find a way to get them open.'
That's a beautifully done model if I might say so.
5 or 6 droids sitting there waiting for the base to power up. Not good odds.
That should do it.
Now this is interesting.
There's a disabled HK unit sitting behind a locked door here. You can do anything with it other than to make it follow you.
Take another 10 steps, and all of a sudden the HK-50 unit goes..
..kaboom.
This makes no sense at all in the context of the game, but this is just more cut content. It's actually suppose to be foreshadowing, because in the next corridor over there's this locked door:
Which you can't get into.
This is actually the droid factory, and it's correctly sealed at this point. What's suppose to happen is HK-47 returns here during the siege of Telos later in the game, and has a solo mission in here. I'll include it at that point in the game, but I'll give a little preview:
HK-50 #1: 'Confused Query: Where are you going?'
HK-50 #2: 'Ineffectual Command: Stop.'
HK-50 #3: 'Ineffectual Command: We command you to stop.'
HK-47: 'You have just admitted your own weakness.'
HK-47: 'Conclusion: You have just shown me your soft, meatbag-like underbellies, and said, 'HK-47, please shoot me repeatedly there until I die.'
*HK-47 walks away*
The whole thing is a glorious HK-47 badass fest, and thankfully Gizka's restoring it in their mod.
At the end of the base is the reactor, which allows us to power up the hangar door.
Unfortunately it also opened up this door.
I didn't know they could make enemies this big with the KOTOR engine. It kind of reminds me of the Gargantua from Half-Life.
It's coming straight for us!
It's heavily shielded, so the best thing to do with two Consulars in the party is just to blast it with Disable Droid, Force Lightning, and Ion Grenades till it dies.
What the heck happened with this screenshot?
Holy shit!
And we're off to the Telos north pole.
Just don't tell me we let Atton fly again.
This the polar mesa in Telos that's giving off the energy signature. It kind of looks like..
Well, I have no idea what it looks like. An upside down chair?
This can't be good.
I don't like to post repeated shots, but this is just a great fucking focus pull in the cinematic. It pulls from the barrel of his gun right to the missile.
Atton!
Next Update
Let's Verbally Spar for 15 Minutes!
Onderon is on the verge of civil war with followers of Queen Talia wanting to stay with the republic and the followers of General Vaklu wanting to overthrow the queen and break with the republic.
You have two main goals here. The first is to free a man named Dhagon Ghent and the second is to get him to set you up with a meeting with a Jedi Master named Kavar.
1) Exit to Mandalorian ruins – You won’t be able to leave Onderon until you have completed your main quests and met with Kavar.
2) Port Master – when you enter Onderon you’ll be issued with your own personal Starport Visa. There are numerous people all trying to get their hands on a visa as it’s the only way you can leave Iziz. You’ll be able to find two more visas that need to decide who you want to give them to for credits, Light Side or Dark Side points.
Just behind the Port Master is a News Terminal. You can use the terminal multiple times to catch up on all the news.
3) Margar the Merchant – He’s just a regular merchant.
4) Beast-Rider – There are many Beast-Riders in the city of Iziz. They come from outside the city and have learnt to tame the animals. While talking to him one of his larger beasts escapes its cage. Once you’ve killed it you can threaten him for a 1,000 credit reward and Dark Side points or refuse the reward for Light Side points.
5) Exit to Merchant Quarter – As you try to enter further into the city of Iziz you’ll be stopped by Guards at a checkpoint. They’ll ask about your business but whatever you say they’ll let you through.
1) Exit to Iziz Spaceport
2) Captain Gelesi and Other Citizens – When you enter this area your Starport Visa will once again be checked. On this southern side you’ll also find a number of citizens. One of them is being harassed by the guards. You can convince them to let him go for Light Side points or have him arrested for Dark Side points.
Next in line is a lady called Terlyn with two kids. She desperately wants a Starport Visa after her husband was killed. You can give her one of your spare ones, once you have the, for Light Side points.
Next you’ll find Tolas who also wants a Starport Visa and is prepared to pay 2,000 credits (3,000 credits with Persuade) for it.
3) Captain Riiken – This is the captain that is guarding the tower where Dhagon Ghent is being held. You can talk to him now but won’t be able to free Dhagon until you have figured out a way to clear him of any wrongdoing by talking to people in the Cantina.
4) Gegorran the Merchant – Here is another merchant selling weapons although he is being scrutinized by a nearby soldier. Once you have more reputation in the city of Iziz after meeting the Jedi Master Kavar he will refuse to do business with you so buy what you need now.
5) Ponlar – This man is speaking to the crowd and trying to convince them to rebel. After you’ve met with Kavar Ponlar will incite the crowd into a riot and you’ll have to choose to fight with them, against them, or to not get involved.
6) Anda (Dark Side Only) – If you have followed the Dark Side Anda will be here and she has an important mission for you from General Vaklu. She wants you to remove three of the Captains. They are Captain Riiken at #3, Captain Gelesi who can be found in the Cantina and Captain Bostuco guarding the Sky Ramp at #7.
Anda will also give you a Military Security Card so you can access the consoles here. There’s one off to the right of her. You’ll recieve 2,500 credits for each captain you get rid of.
Captain Bustuco: Use the console to the right of Anda and check the Sky Ramp camera. Overload the terminal and Captain Bustuco will be killed.
Captain Gelesi: You’ll find him in the Cantina. Either Persuade or Threaten him to leave Onderon with his family.
Captain Riiken: You have two options here. The first is to try to get Riiken to talk about local politics. One of the guards will overhear him and once you’ve freed Dhagon Ghent he’ll be removed.
The second option is to confront him in the Western Square once you’ve freed Dhagon Ghent. Try to confront him away from any civilians otherwise they’ll start asking questions. Kill him and then go back to Anda for the reward.
7) Sky Ramp Guards – You won’t be able to get up there until later.
8) Exit to the Western Square
1) Exit to Merchant Quarter – As you enter this area you’ll be confronted by a number of Rodian thugs but they should be no match for your group.
2) Murder Scene – You’ll notice a patch of blood on the ground and a broken droid. Once you’ve learnt about Suulio’s murder you can come back here to search the droid for parts and find it’s head missing.
3) 1B-8D Droid Merchant – Use the Repair skill on the droid to reset the market values and to get more information out of him. He also sells a HK Droid Processor. You’ll need to come back to 1B-8D during the later part of the murder investigation to find the remaining droid parts.
4) Dhagon Ghent’s Laboratory – Speak with the Thug outside the laboratory to find out the Dhagon Ghent is being held in the tower in the Merchant Quarter, the one being guarded by Captain Riiken. Inside you’ll find a few small items in containers and a Lab Station.
5) Exit to Cantina
You main task here is to investigate the murder of Captain Suulio. You’ll need to speak with many of the patrons a few times as you uncover more information.
1) Exit to Western Square
2) Gormo and Captain Gelesi (Dark Side Only) – Captian Gormo needs a Starport Visa and will give you 500 credits for one. If you are following the Dark Side and have the quest from Anda this is where you’ll find Captain Gelesi.
3) Kiph, Sakarie, Xaart and Nikko – In the central room of the Cantina you’ll find a number of characters that you’ll need to interact with. First there’s Kiph, a slicer, who can fix Starport Visas so they can be used by anyone.
Sakerie is prepared to pay the most for a Starport Visa and will give you either 5,000 credits or the Qixoni Crystal which can only be used by Dark Side characters.
Xaart is on a mission from the Republic and also needs a Starport Visa to get off the planet.
Nikko, Ghent’s Friend – Nikko is Ghent’s friend and can vouch for his innocence. You an also play Pazaak with him for up to 250 credits per game.
4) Qimtiz and Swoop Racing – This is the Swoop Racing room and apart from talking with the other racers you can join in for a race for 100 credits per race. The reward for winning each of the rounds is 500, 2,000 and 5,000 credits. You can Persuade Qimtiz for an extra 500 credits.
5) Beast Riders Panar & Bakkel – At first Panar is here and once you’ve freed Ghent will be replaced with Bakkel, the leader of the Beast Riders.
Talk to the Thug outside Dhagon’s laboratory in the Western Square #4 to find out the Dhagon is being held in the Tower.
Visit Captain Riiken in the Merchant Quarter #3. He’ll tell you that Dhagon can’t be released until his innocence has been proven.
Head back to the Cantina and speak to Kiph who will tell you that Suulio and Dhagon where having an argument on the night of the murder.
Talk to Nikko about the argument and he’ll tell you that it was common for them to act that way and that they were just playing around.
Go back out to the Murder Scene in the Western Square #2. Search the Droid to discover its head has gone missing.
Return to the Cantina and speak to the Beast Rider, Panar. Ask him about the missing droid head and he’ll tell you that 1B-8D, the Droid Merchant may have it.
Pay the droid a visit in the Western Square and ask to buy the remaining parts for 25 credits.
Return to the Cantina and speak with Kiph. He’ll fix the parts and you’ll see what really happened to Suulio.
Go back to Nikko and show him the evidence. You’ll both go to speak with Captin Riiken and after a short exchange Dhagon Ghent will be released.
After freeing Dhagon you’ll agree to find the Holodisks so that you can arrange a meeting with Mastar Kavar. Bakkel has them and she’s in the Cantina with the Beast Riders. Whatever you say you’ll get into a fight. Kill them all and then search Bakkel for the Holodisks. She also has an open Starport Visa that you can give to someone who needs it.
Return to Dhagon Ghent with the Holodisks and you’ll meet Master Kavar in the Cantina. You’ll be spotted and a fight will ensue with Vaklu’s Thugs. It looks like you’ve overstayed your welcome and it’s time to hightail it out of Onderon.
Make your way back to the Shuttle. You’ll be faced with more of Vaklu’s soldiers and various Bounty Hunters along the way. The Turrets in the Merchant Quarter will be aimed at you as well.
Show your Starport Visa to the guards and take the Shuttle back to Dxun. At Dxun finish up any remaining quests and then take the Ebon Hawk to the next planet. In this case it’s Korriban.
Next: Korriban
Back: Knights of the Old Republic 2 Walkthrough
May 13, 2007: Make sure you get the patch to this mod! :D
http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.com/file/Droid_Planet_Mod_Patch;79006
When you’re a fanatic about any game, you want to learn as much about it as possible. In case of the Knights of the Old Republic game series, you learn that a lot of content has been cut, especially in the sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords when researching about the game. What is great with TSL is the cut content that was left behind by Obsidian.
One of the big things Obsidian left behind is elements of a planet that was cut from the game called M4-78. It’s a droid planet in case there are some people just learning of this.
Darth Shan thought it would be cool to do a little work on it and allow you to go to the planet and explore it and see what it’s all about. This is especially a great idea for those who are looking for something new to do in their TSL gaming. Let’s face it, new stuff leads to replay value and this mod is no exception.
There are seven different modules to explore in this mod. It’s best to just let you figure out your own experiences when playing a mods such as this, so if you want to know more, play it and find out to see if you like it. You have to get information about this planet in order access it. The readme explains what you need to get to know the planet’s location. Enjoy the mod! :D
Note: Please leave the author feedback, especially if you download this mod and use it. It really helps encourage the author to make more mods in the future.
-Shem
If you ask a bunch of folks which Star Wars video game is the best, more often than not you'll be told Knights of the Old Republic. The first one, not the second, of course. I disagree.
Download tsurezure season 2 sub indo. The first Knights of the Old Republic, developed by the acclaimed BioWare studio and released in 2003, feels like a rollicking blast of a Star Wars adventure. That's because it really is prototypical Star Wars.
Obsidian's Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords, on the other hand, is the evil twin from an alternate universe. It's not light or rollicking. It's ponderous and moody. KOTOR 2 is a deconstruction of Star Wars, rather than an attempt to emulate its most popular traits.
Star Wars is escapism. It's a space fantasy, rather than science fiction, and more often than not it attempts to paint a picture of a world that is easy to understand and feel comfortable with. That black-and-white portrait is a demonstration of how we wished our world would be, with good and evil and a clear dividing line between them. KOTOR 2 collapses that construct, humanizing evil and obscuring that dividing line. Whereas KOTOR 1 provides surface-level enjoyment, KOTOR 2 goes deep enough to be intellectually stimulating
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The difference between the two games is apparent in their basic premises. KOTOR 1 is about a galactic war you're trying to end, and KOTOR 2 doesn't even have a war. In KOTOR 1 you're running around the galaxy as a Jedi and representative of the Republic, and in KOTOR 2 nobody knows you nor cares about what you're doing. KOTOR 1 is fun and simple and earnest, and KOTOR 2 is heady and heavy and noir-ish.
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Unfortunately, KOTOR 2 is the obscured younger sibling of the series. It's not necessarily hated so much as disregarded, a side effect of being far less digestible than the original. The fact that it launched with some severe content cuts doesn't help. Released only a year and a few months after the original, KOTOR 2 had a number of new technical issues and parts were missing. Its development studio, Obsidian, created a lot of content that was cut from the game due to the game's tight development cycle. The game was rough. It ended so abruptly that fans were put off.
Kotor 2 Droid Planet M4 78
For years, though, some intrepid modders have been working on a mod for KOTOR 2 on PC called the Restored Content Mod that is attempting to include all that stuff Obsidian made but had to cut. It's been out for a few years, but the work continues; this editorial is making its judgments based on KOTOR 2 running with that mod.
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Both KOTOR games take place about 4000 years before the Star Wars films. The backstory for both involves the warmongering society known as the Mandalorians, who invaded the Galactic Republic essentially just to see if they could win. In order to ensure the full might of the Republic would come out to meet them, the Mandalorians committed all sorts of atrocities, including the genocide of all members of the Cathar race on that society's homeworld.
Jedi leadership was hesitant to get involved, but a pair called Revan and Malak lead a group to war anyway, and the Republic eventually put them in charge of all of its military forces. The Republic won, and then Revan disappeared into the Unknown Regions of the galaxy with a sizable portion of the Republic fleet. A year later they returned with an even larger force and invaded the Republic themselves, with Revan and Malak declaring themselves Sith. This was the Jedi Civil War.
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Warning: Massive KOTOR 1 spoiler coming up. Skip the next paragraph if you don't want to know!
Kotor 2 Droid Planet Mod
In KOTOR you play as Revan after he's been captured and memory wiped by the Jedi. He and his merry band are tasked with essentially retracing his steps in order to find out where the Sith's seemingly endless resources are coming from. You do that, either by taking the path of the Jedi or Sith, but regardless, once it's all over, Revan disappears back into the Unknown Regions in an attempt to reconstruct more of his memories and figure out what exactly happened out there.
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KOTOR is just another of the Star Wars, but KOTOR 2 is a meditation on that war, five years later. The Jedi Civil War was devastating for the Jedi themselves—100 or so were left alive once it was over, and most of them were picked off over the next few years by powerful leftover Sith, now operating in secret. The Jedi Civil War was given its name at this point by virtue of the regular folks of the galaxy not knowing the difference between Jedi and Sith; to normies they're all just dangerous, strange magic-wielders, and so few citizens of the galaxy are batting an eye at the lack of any of them wandering the streets these days.
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Enter the Jedi Exile, and the beginning of KOTOR 2. The Exile was the only one of Revan's Jedi to return to the fold after the war with the Mandalorians instead of running off with Revan and his mutineer forces, but she was immediately cast out by the Jedi Council. And so the Exile wandered through the parts of the galaxy where the happenings of the Republic don't matter, and returns to civilization by chance (or is it?) at the crisis point.
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In contrast to the opening of KOTOR, in which you must fight through a boarding party during a space battle gone bad, KOTOR 2 begins very quietly—the tutorial has you take control of Revan's old droid pal, T3, who must repair a badly damaged Ebon Hawk while the other passengers, including the Exile, lie unconscious. From there it stays quiet. The Ebon Hawk limps to an asteroid mining station called Peragus. When the Exile awakens there's no one around except a strange old woman who had apparently been the one to put you onto the Ebon Hawk in the first place.
You spend hours wandering the station, fighting off some malfunctioning droids and trying to figure out what happened so you can get out. And that's all it is. You're not trying to get out so you can go do something important; you're simply trying to survive and deal with your own shit. Like who is this old lady following me around? Why is there an assassin droid hunting me? Why does a conglomeration of gangsters have a bounty on Jedi? Who is that gross-looking Sith guy who showed up at Peragus?
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Once all is said and done, KOTOR 2 is definitely another grand quest to save the galaxy, but it just never really feels that way. In reality, it's an epic grudge match between the Exile and this secretive group of Sith, who you learn became what they are because of the Exile's actions at the close of the Mandalorian Wars. It's personal enough a skirmish to feel like an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger with one of Walker's personal nemeses as the villain. It's just played out in the Star Wars universe on the grandest scale. It's an almost mundane, personal mystery that concludes with brutal fisticuffs.
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The Walker comparison only goes so far, though, because the other, shocking appeal of KOTOR 2 is its moral ambiguity. Players see this in a number of ways, mostly through things the previously-mentioned old woman, Kreia, tells you but the game truly is awash in grey areas.
This is crystallized as soon as you arrive on Nar Shaddaa for the first time. As you step off your ship and enter the city proper, you'll encounter a panhandler. You can give him some credits or tell him to go to hell, and in either case Kreia will give you a speech about how you're doing it wrong. Becoming a crutch for a beggar, she says, won't help him in the long run and might actually hurt in the short. Cruelty will only beget more cruelty, which also won't help him.
At other points when some helpless stranger asks for your aid, she also loudly espouses the philosophy that mortal struggles serve as a cocoon for the beings who are experiencing them. Only if they force their way out of the cocoon themselves will they be fit to deal with their futures. It's not an unusual metaphor in literature and other storytelling media, but it's a concept that flies in the face of most of the Jedi teachings that proliferate Star Wars lore.
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Sometimes we have had Jedi espouse a 'help people help themselves' policy, but Kreia's stance is simply to just stay out of regular folks' business. You might say it's just a trick—Kreia, we learn, is a former Jedi instructor known for controversial teachings. She later became Sith before losing her connection to the Force—but listen to this from her:
'A culture's teachings, and most importantly, the nature of its people, achieve definition in conflict. They find themselves… or find themselves lacking. Too long did the Republic remain unchallenged. It is a stagnant beast that labors for breath… and has for centuries. The Jedi Order was the heart that sustained its sickness—now the Jedi are lost, we shall see how long the Republic can survive.'
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Her words make sense to me, even if they do sound like something that might be written in an editorial about those damn millennials in some print publication. Regardless, it's an appealing philosophy in Star Wars because it sounds like Real Talk. It's a practical philosophy, one that can be supported by our reality. Jedi and Sith never talk like real people, because they traditionally deal in moral extremes relating to whatever is happening in this exact moment. Kreia is talking about the long term, and not in black-and-white terms. That's nice!
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Beyond Kreia, you have a group of grey companions as well, folks you can sway to good or evil should you get to know them well. The first of these is Atton Rand, a Han Solo type who we learn was a Jedi hunter under Revan's Sith Empire. Atton tells the Exile why the Republic military followed Revan even after he turned around and attacked the government he had sworn to protect: 'We were loyal to Revan. That was enough. He saved us.' There are always reasons people follow evil leaders beyond those people themselves being evil; Atton puts a sympathetic face on those enemy hordes.
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Atton also serves as a contrast to Carth Onasi, the first companion you meet in KOTOR 1 after the prologue. Carth is an earnest soldier, always sincere, and sincerely good. In Carth's mind, the ideals of the Republic are everything, and he's got that 'we're better than them and we have to act like it even if we have to suffer for it' thing going in spades. He is secure in his convictions. He's a square. Atton, being a wayward soul full of conflict, is simply more interesting to talk to.
Atton is also the companion who explains how little the distinction between Jedi and Sith means to the average person, and it's through an ingenious conversation with him that you see how the events of the first game affect KOTOR 2 (there's no good alternate, Mass Effect-style way to do this, since there is no way to import a KOTOR saved game into its sequel). Essentially, the Exile and Atton argue about rumors and hearsay, and regardless of what is decided the message is clear: for regular people, whoever won doesn't matter. The galaxy in which Star Wars takes place has always seemed so small; this conversation with Atton is a rare reminder that it really isn't.
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The irony is that KOTOR 2 does matter to the people in its universe.
The Exile is facing down Sith who are not so interested in domination as they are committed to sheer destruction. Darth Nihilus 'feeds' on Force energy, which involves mass murder—he wiped a planet clean of life using only the Force, and his endgame is to consume all the people of the galaxy before continuing to feed elsewhere. Darth Sion is a more conventional Sith in terms of his approach—he kills like Darth Vader does—but his body, crushed by war and featuring hundreds of bone breaks, is held together entirely by his anger and desire to destroy. These Sith are just out to kill, and that's something that might actually end up mattering to everyone if the Exile doesn't succeed in holding them back.
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After playing KOTOR 2, the pure vanilla flavoring of BioWare's original is quite stark. That's not a flaw in KOTOR 1; BioWare created exactly the experience it wanted to, an emulation of the Star Wars movie experience. Just as the appeal of The Lord of the Rings films probably isn't going to be ruined after you enjoy the crass nastiness of Game of Thrones, you can enjoy both KOTOR games without irony.
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But KOTOR 1 is a fun, sweeping, unchallenging epic, and KOTOR 2 is the sort of adventure that manages to haunt long after it's done—the text of this game is likely Obsidian's greatest achievement in its long history.
It's a rare Star Wars story for the thinking human, and KOTOR 1 with all its mass appeal can never match it.
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Phil Owen is a freelance critic and journalist. Follow him on Twitter at @philrowen, and send hate mail to [email protected].