4.8 hours played
Written 29 days ago
Kotor feels like an ancient ruin with cracked pigment lines along the long dusty halls. All of its flaws shining from sun beams through the fallen roof of a forgotten estate. It feels advanced for its release date but by modern standards it feels like an indie game you could pick up for $5, It’s feels like your grandparents closet, it’s filled with memories you cherish and you can’t just let it fade into existence.
It’ll never be as good as it was, and that’s just something you’ll have to accept. you’re playing for nostalgia or to see the beginnings of a renowned company. It's comforting, it’s easy going and feels like a kiss from a grandparent. It makes you warm and fuzzy but also it’s kind of sad from seeing something stray so far away from its former glory. You have to be gentle and just take it one step at a time. Being open to a good story and just seeing where it goes is the best advice I could give. You’ll know if this game is for you in the first hour. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s because it isn’t. It’s got a great amount of jank, but it’s also got a huge amount of passion and care.
Putting anything under a microscope in regards to KOTOR absolute overkill. There's horrors lurking right below the surface that could easily ruin a good time, thinking on them for just a mere second reanimates some ugly 2000’s game designs, and not the cool ones.
There isn’t anything to shine a light on, the sun is blaring and it's 115 degrees. The models are heinous, ugly and way too blocky but we won’t judge the game for the ages it’s passed through. The voice acting for the time is great but by today's standards it's less than ideal. Some mechanics from gamings past is meant to stay buried deep in the coffin, Clunky combat is the big one for me. It’s overdrawn and doesn’t feel satisfying or has any real weight behind it. It feels like numbers going down. Not being damaged or hit. Which really, felt like the case for games of the period.
On the plus side of battles, animations are still fantastic and you can see how much work went into the Melee actions. They add a lot to the combat and by far they're the thing that holds up the most. Having a duel play out real time is great when you're not constantly missing attacks. When you do go on a miss streak it's pretty infuriating. Sometimes the luck just isn't on your side and when it does happen it gives you a massive sense of unfairness. Luckily I didn't run into this issue that often. It didn't ruin my overall experience but I just wish it wouldn't happen to begin with.
This came out in 2003. Morality in games just wasn't a thing yet. THIS is the tester. A precursor to a better system. You can see the groundwork for dragon age and mass effect. You can see how it evolved into some of the greatest classics. The gameplay is ripped from any traditional table top. DC’s and armor rating. One attack at a time for each character. It's simplistic but engaging enough to keep it from being boring. If you liked the first Witcher this will keep you entertained.
Kotor is ugly, honestly! I could even consider it hideous by today’s standards but man does it got character and charm. It's a trope filled piece of Star Wars fan fiction. It’s goofy, doesn’t take its writing as seriously as other games which is great. It doesn't have to be an epic space opera akin to mass effect. It’s surface level battle of good and evil. Bad being bad and good being good you're either nefarious or a godly paragon, it’s boring but by the standards of 2003 it’s insanely far ahead.
There is ONE more option which is the worst of the choices, a middle ground, YUCK. You can be boring and have a slightly Grey outlook but it's near non-existent. Grey doesn't really have to exist when the writing is so much one side or the other, and you know what. It doesn't have to exist. This is star wars after all. It’s always about good vs evil.
Kotor is meant to be celebrated. It's a predecessor to mechanics of the most beloved games ever made. It's an ancient relic with brittle bones, barely able to walk, but when it does hold a stride it runs with it for as long as it's weak bones can support it. it’s up to you to decide if you’ll help hold it up through the marathon or just call it quits on grandpa and move on to the next thing from a bygone age of gaming.
