KotOR 2 is a Real Game Now!

[Solid Snake]

(NOTE: There are some minor KotOR 2 spoilers here: tread lightly if you haven't played the game yet.)

A few of you own KotOR 2 on PC, right? Possibly? (http://deadlystream.com/forum/topic/240-tslrcm-17-released/)

I had given up on ever playing a halfway decent version of KotOR 2 after Team Gizka shot itself in the ass. Fortunately, however, they weren't the only ones working

The current version of the Mod, 1.7, restores more than an hour of KotOR 2's lost content...a heck of a lot of stuff, mostly in the form of additional cutscenes, particuarly near the ending.

Here's a summary of the Highlights:

* The HK Factory on Telos has been restored.
* You can now actually participate in the Battle of Khoonda on Dantooine as opposed to just seeing a few cutscenes. Your decisions influence whether you are attacking or defending.
*An additional sequence of fights has been reincorporated into Nar Shaddaa. Atton and two other party members apparently fight at one point to rescue the Exile; before this was skipped, now it's included.
* B-4D4 and T-1N1, a pair of droids from Telos, now make a reappearance on Nar Shaddaa.
* You now not only face off against Revan in Korriban but also a doppleganger of the PC.
* The fight with Nihilus on the Ravager has been expanded. The PC can even choose to become Nihilus' protege and kill Visas, but doing so doesn't change the fact that you still fight Nihilus. Also, there's a new cutscene of a fight between Visas and Nihilus.
* Bao-Dur now upgrades HK-47.
* An additional subplot between Mandalore and Bao-Dur's been added, in which the two basically dislike each other because of their involvement in the past war.
* You can actually get max influence with Mandalore in-game. If you have sufficient influence with Mandalore you can now speak to him about his past experiences with Revan in KotOR 1 and 'watch' a hologram recorded by T3.
* LOTS of additional content in the ending:

Completion of the HK Factory quest enables different results in a confrontation between HK-47 and Goto. The Disciple and Atton might fight. The Handmaiden and Visas might fight. Atton, if LS-aligned, fights Darth Sion (the player controls Atton.) If he wins he's fine; if he loses, he loses an arm and eventually dies. If the Handmaiden or Visas likes the [male] PC enough, they'll ask to travel with the PC and the PC will decline their offer.

All in all, the entire sequence on Malachor V presumably feels a heck of a lot more like an ending.

* Lots of additional snippets of conversations that were cut out have been reinstated into the game. It'd be difficult to summarize them all as so many are completely optional and dependent on choices made throughout the game.

Note that all of this restored content is, well, still kind of buggy. The Restoration folks generally recommend you make a fair deal of saves so you don't lose all your progress if you trip. General consensus, however, is that the Mod is playable and that the restored content more than outweighs the additional bug or two.

All of this means I'm going to do something I've been waiting to do ever since I actually originally purchased KotOR 2 years back...

...I am going to actually play through KotOR 2 and beat it.

YAY

(Also seriously why did absolutely none of you create a thread about this or tell me when it was released)

[MSperoni]

...I am going to actually play through KotOR 2 and beat it.


I did that, actually. I'm ashamed to admit it. I thought for the whole time it would actually get better.

[Solid Snake]

I did that, actually. I'm ashamed to admit it. I thought for the whole time it would actually get better.

Well now it did actually get better!
...A whopping six or seven years after its release, but whatever!

[Overcast]

Alright you're on, I'll give this another shot and see if this restoration unites my soul in those good feelins.

[MSperoni]

Well now it did actually get better!
...A whopping six or seven years after its release, but whatever!

Better late than never I guess :D

[greed]

Hah glad you found it after I mentioned it Snake. Also really it wasn't bad without the restoration mod, the writing was still amazing enough that I enjoyed unmodded KotoR2 more than KotoR1.

[Overcast]

I'll admit to that. Obsidian is that sort of developer, I never get tired of their writing so no matter how often people pan against them I will always buy a game they had their hand in.

[greed]

This said I would be much happier if they could keep their game quality up with New Vegas. Seriously they should stick with Bethesda/ZeniMax, they obviously don't screw over Obsidian, like Lucas, Atari and SEGA did.

Edit: You know what would be amazing? If after Skyrim came out Bethesda got Obsidian to make a TES game set in some part of Nirn that Bethesda hasn't got any plans on doing anything with for like a decade or so. I knock Bethesda's writing a lot but when it comes to worldbuilding they did a pretty ace job (a bit too good sometimes, still pissed they changed the Imperial Capital from a Roman Angkor Wat to fucking Middle Earth clone #3367689) and seeing Avellone and co deal with CHIM and the Daedra and Mannimarco? That would just be sweet.

[Overcast]

*crack! crack! crack!*

Fucking hell. I ran through the intro chapter and just got fucking slammed by the disappearance of every single one of my saves. I may have had the spark initially but I'm going to need a day or so to get it back and play through that damn shit again.

[Toast]

Trying this out now. Oddly enough, I'm running into more little glitches with the mod than I ever did on just a basic install. It's all little stuff though, mostly the camera pointing into a wall rather than at someone during a dialogue or moving npcs getting hung up on doorways. Funnily enough, talking to Atton on the ship while heading to Telos the first time, he repeats his sitting down animation each time the camera switches to him during the conversation.

[greed]

I had a similar glitch happen to me today in New Vegas. Boone kept on repeating his reloading animation during conversation. It was actually kinda cool in an intimidating way. Fit him perfectly.

[Solid Snake]

*crack! crack! crack!*

Fucking hell. I ran through the intro chapter and just got fucking slammed by the disappearance of every single one of my saves. I may have had the spark initially but I'm going to need a day or so to get it back and play through that damn shit again.

Ah. I probably should have specified that upon installing the Restoration Mod, all your preexisting saves with non-Restoration Mod versions of KotOR II are no longer accessible.
...I just assumed no one had played KotOR II so recently as to have incomplete saves they were still working on with the original game.

[Overcast]

You misunderstand me Snake, I was playing and apparently this is the only game that doesn't ask to make changes without me personally forcing it to run as administrator and as such all saves created were deleted when I stopped using them, aka after I quit the game, total progress loss.

[Krylo]

WINDOOOOOOOWS!

[Overcast]

The ending still felt like someone running up on me with a baseball bat and shattering my kneecap. Sudden, painful, and confusing. Though I guess it is a step up from before, it no longer shares par with Indigo Prophecy on my, "What the fuck just happened?" List. But not by enough to be truly fixed. It still feels as busted as the first time, and only inspires me to play the first one, or one of Obsidian's more complete games to remind me why I love them.

[Yrcrazypa]

I actually highly enjoyed KOTOR 2, even with all the cut content. I played through the entire game five times trying to figure out what I kept "missing" before I actually did much searching to find out that the answer was nothing. KOTOR 1 "only" had the honor of three playthroughs.

I might be alone here, though.

[CABAL49]

The funny thing is, I recently re-installed KOTOR 1 on my computer cause I was going through this whole nostalgia thing. As soon as I finish it again I will do this. I enjoyed a lot of the gameplay changes Obsidian made, but the game frustrated me cause of how it ended. This changes everything. Also, I wonder if they ever fixed the swoop bike glitch.

[Marc v4.0]

KOTOR 1 is great for a few extra playthroughs with a patch/mod that lets you start as a Jedi. It blends really well.

[Overcast]

You can also just find a save online for after the prologue and just edit it to your playstyle to save yourself the headache of doing what I'm sure you did many times before.

[Marc v4.0]

You played the custom-tailored Jedi-intro that is actually a fair bit different from the regular intro many times before?

[Overcast]

...no. I was unaware of this. Does it affect your integrity as far as the whiny republic soldier? Because it would have to be pretty well put together.

[Marc v4.0]

Does it affect your integrity as far as the whiny republic soldier?

I am unsure of your meaning

[Overcast]

Waaaaaaait do you mean that there is an introduction that makes you a Jedi prior to the crash landing? Or is it you being a Jedi in lieu of the first planet?

[Marc v4.0]

You pick a jedi class instead of a regular class, and then you have a Jedi guy guide you through the ship tutorial instead of that soldier dude

[Solid Snake]

You pick a jedi class instead of a regular class, and then you have a Jedi guy guide you through the ship tutorial instead of that soldier dude

Where might this mod be found?

I wonder if I can download it and have it work with my Steam version of KOTOR

[Marc v4.0]

Yeah, should work no problem

The trick is I have no recollection of where I found it

[Solid Snake]

I'd really dig it if only because the whole uselessness of Scroundels, Scouts and Soldiers for PCs in the scheme of things really makes Taris a less fun prologue than it should be.

So find it, Marc. The force is with you!

[Marc v4.0]

OK! Quick searcharound and I came up with this

This is the one I used before (http://knightsoftheoldrepublic.filefront.com/file/Jedi_From_the_Start;114029)

I think, in the later game stuff, there is some story inconsistancy with your jedi training and some of the dialogue, but there are few ways to avoid that stuff.

[Overcast]

Alright, we shall give this a try. Honestly the only class I truly felt comfortable with from the start like that was scoundrel anyway since I was more interested in their absurd skillcount than being king of murder mountain or blasting people with force abilities.