KOTOR 1 has a better story imo, but damn this one has great mind-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ going on. Thanks Kreia for making me wish there were no Force Users in the Galaxy. She was an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ but damn was she right.

5/10

The first game was great, but this one is mediocre. It's biggest weakness is the story and characters, which for a Roleplaying game is meant to be the biggest appeal. Many of the characters feel contradictory and lack nuance. The writing for them makes them all feel inconsistent and sometimes hypocritical. Besides that, the story itself is fine, but the way its told makes it feel less like a roleplaying game and more like the writer insulting your intelligence.

Remember how the light side/dark side system worked in the first game? Where you'd find a scenario to the facet of a wounded soldier and could choose between giving him medicine, not getting involved, and killing him yourself? Getting more attuned to light, neutral, or dark side respectively? Well in this game your actions don't matter. You get light/dark side points just based off if you're cordial/slightly rude to people, not based off your actual actions. I once said I wanted to kill a character in a dialouge, and the game gave me dark side points. When I got to the actual area the character was already dead. It didn't give me the choice to actually kill or save them, it gave me dark side point just for saying I had considered it. The same was true for saying I'd save them. There's no choice, no actual nuance, you don't feel like you're playing a character or assuming a role.. in a ROLE PLAYING GAME. Pretty much every "choice" in the game follows this pattern. The choices you make don't matter because they always reach the same conclusion no matter what.

The worst part about the dialogue is its complete lack of subtly. There's just no ambiguity, EVERY option is literally either "Don't worry stranger, I'll gladly risk my life to save your family!" or "Die you filthy peasant! I'll kill you and everyone you love! MUHAHAHA!" There's no subtly, no rational reasoning for any choice you're given... you're either an absolute hippy, or a cartoonishly evil mustache-twirling Disney villain. There is nothing in between.

There are no philosophical elements like there were in the first, it doesn't probe you to think deep or make difficult choices that test your moral compass, the characters don't respond in a realistic way when you talk to them about anything, their motivations don't make sense.

The combat is fine, they added more abilities and cleaned things up a bit so the gameplay itself is enjoyable, but it just doesn't make up for the lackluster storytelling. If you just wanna play a game about space wizards with laser swords then go for it, but this entry is nothing special. I'd recommend the first KOTOR game above this one as its more fun and has deep elements to it. If you're looking for a fun lightsaber/force power simulator then I'd reccomend Jedi Outcast or Jedi Academy, you'll have more fun and feel more like a jedi with those games if that's all you're looking for.

Great game; 10/10