Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

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Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
Developer(s) LucasArts
Publisher(s) LucasArts
Engine SITH engine
Release date(s) October 9, 1997
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen (T)
OFLC: MA15+ / M15+
Platform(s) Windows
Media CD-ROM (2 discs)
System requirements Windows 95 DirectX compatible computer, PCI Video card, 90MHz processor, 16MB RAM, Windows 95 compatible 16 bit sound card
Input Keyboard, mouse, joystick

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (often abbreviated JK by fans) is a first person shooter computer game released on October 9, 1997, by LucasArts based on the Star Wars franchise. It was both the first game in the Dark Forces series to include multiplayer capabilities over the Internet or a Local Area Network, and the first game to allow players to take control of a Jedi character using both the Force and Lightsabers. JK is also known for its use of live-action cutscenes to further immerse the character in the Star Wars universe. JK is the sequel to Star Wars: Dark Forces and is also followed by its expansion pack Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

[edit] Single Player

Kyle starts the game with no knowledge of The Force. As the player progresses through the game, Kyle gains Jedi abilities, known as "Force Powers." These powers fall in three general categories: Neutral, Light, and Dark. The game awards one "Force point" upon the completion of each level, and an additional point if the player finds all of the secret areas. These skill points can be allocated towards any Force power, boosting that power's effects or learning the power.

Jedi Knight is noted for the ethical decisions integrated into the gameplay. Kyle is a neutral character for most of the game, neither fully Light nor Dark. Actions against unarmed civilians throughout the game, as well as what Force powers a player chooses throughout the game, will sway Kyle towards the Light or the Dark sides. Eventually, the character Kyle must choose between Light and Dark; how he chooses depends on the player's actions throughout the game. A "Force meter" displays Kyle's progress towards either side during breaks in the action.

[edit] Multiplayer and Online

The full breadth of JK gameplay was truly explored in online, multiplayer arenas. Plot and the infused morality around "light" and "dark" became irrelevant as players were able to forego the game's rather poor Artificial Intelligence (AI) and instead engage in spectacular combat. It was also online that the unique aspects of Jedi Knight truly distanced it from other, otherwise apparently similar first person shooters. Single player did not significantly benefit from force powers, agility, and large weapons, whereas online play demanded attention to these remarkable attributes.

The game lacked a dedicated server and was hosted by the MSN Gaming Zone, although several "IP boards" were hosted on fan sites such as JediKnight.net and Ron Mercer's Qtracker (formerly hosted at stomped.com). Most games were confined to the Nar Shaddaa (Nar) game room which became a refuge for clan wars, recruitment, and challenge. Five game types were used almost exclusively: Full Force (FF) Battle Ground Jedi (BGJ) and Canyon Oasis (CO) and No Force (NF) Battle Ground Jedi and JI Oasis (an add on level created by the Jedi Infantry clan). Games varied from two-player to four-player, allowing free-for-all, teams, and head-to-head combat. Another popular game type was Capture the Flag (CTF).

The lack of dedicated servers created difficulties in lag time for online play. Messages sent were never centrally processed, and so a "hit" in one person's frame nearly never guaranteed an actual event. Players compensated for lag by shooting ahead of the opponent so as to register a hit on his computer.

At times the game suffered from extensive cheating, until the third party program known as "Kicker Helper" [1] was released to combat the cheating. JK's permissive checksum system was what allowed most of the "hacks" or "cogs" (as the cheats were commonly called) to work. The physics engine and force system of the game, however, were so permissive that many legitimate actions were construed as cheating. "Hypergrip", or "Supergrip", referred to using force grip on an opponent at a faster than normal rate (so fast, indeed, that a player might die in the first two seconds). This is performed simply by targeting an opponent with force grip and then repeatedly pressing the assigned Use Force Power key. Each iteration sends another pulse of grip, eventually killing the opponent. The same procedure can be used with force pull to repeatedly draw a weapon, often creating multiple copies within the level due to lag.

To this day, GameSpy Arcade and Qtracker support JK and MotS online play (and a few groups exist that meet up for games on IRC, plus one dedicated server at NarShaddaa.net), to its remaining devoted fans, and many mod projects keep interest alive.

[edit] Interesting Aspects

 The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Astonishing aspects of gameplay are the speed and agility with which characters move through space, especially when confined to the smaller, multiplayer arenas. (When released, Jedi Knight featured incomparably large single-player levels). With force powers enabled, for example in Canyon Oasis, a talented player could force jump across the entire level in a single bound, and with force speed would die instantly if he impacted a surface edge. The physics engine, SITH, allows players to change direction instantly while maintaining speed, so deceleration is largely unnecessary. Additionally, force sight allowed players to see each other's locations on an overlayed map.

On some levels (e.g. Canyon Oasis and Battleground Jedi), such breathtaking range of motion combined with knowledge of other players' locations allowed a player to reach his opponent in a matter of seconds, often less. Tactics emerged slowly to deal with such speed, favoring those who could navigate levels in complex patterns. Successful players often focused their movement around depriving the opponent of shielding and health, to the point of force pulling unused items so that they disappeared and did not regenerate until a minute or so later. Using timers, the best players circled levels through a variety of paths designed to appear random but intersect key items (full shielding, force surges, etc.) exactly as they appeared.

When a player dies online, his weapons and ammunition are stored in a "pack" which appears where died. Many players insisted on leaving these packs so that respawned players could immediately reload and be fully ready to compete. The focus, then, was not on which player could luckily pick up the biggest gun. Instead, the JK community stripped its combat of meaningless advantages. Players allowed each other to load before combat started, and similarly between each kill. Games to small numbers of points (e.g. 5 or 10) could last upward of an hour, while constantly progressing at a furious pace.

Attitudes such as this separated Jedi Knight from the other shooters of its time, many of which focused on vibrant graphics and loud explosions. The JK community responded by tuning its gameplay to focus entirely on speed, agility, aim, and the ability to out-think opponents. Levels such as JI Oasis (mentioned above) were created specifically so that weapons and ammunition could never be a problem; it was littered with the most powerful weapons in gross excess. With universally significant lag requiring players to fire ahead of their opponents, and the ability move at unbelievable paces, players spent much time learning others' patterns. Without understanding explicitly which way an opponent would turn next, firing was a useless gesture.

Jedi Knight features two viewing modes: internal and external. Internal view allows for a crosshair and more accurate aiming, but a naturally limited view of the environment. External places your character in space with your view behind and up from him. You can see much more terrain and gain greater perspective on surroundings. This is the preferred view for lightsaber combat (indeed, there is an option to switch to this view when you switch to the lightsaber), and most players eventually prefer it.

[edit] Plot and setting

The plot of this game places the player in the role of Kyle Katarn, who made his first appearance as a mercenary in Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995). Jedi Knight begins several years after the events in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. It begins as Kyle is meeting a droid named 8t88 ('88' for short) in a cantina on Nar Shaddaa. Kyle is informed by 88 that his father, Morgan Katarn, was killed by a Dark Jedi named Jerec. He escapes a gun to the head (from a Gran) and chases 88 through the streets of Nar Shaddaa for a stolen data disk meant only for Kyle from his father.

After recovering the disk, Kyle flies to his father's home and finds that it has been infiltrated by an Imperial force. He recovers a lightsaber from his father's workshop, compelling him on a journey to confront his father's murderers and to discover his own latent Force abilities. While on this journey, Kyle learns that seven Dark Jedi (Yun, Pic, Gorc, Boc, Maw, Sariss, and Jerec, the leader), his father's killers, are intent on finding the Valley of the Jedi, a focal point for Jedi power in the universe.

Kyle embarks on a journey to find the location of the Planet of the Jedi. He visits the city of Barons Hed, fighting numerous Imperial Probe Droids and other Imperial thugs. After progressing through the city's outskirts and the Imperial fortress he reaches 8t88 just as 88 has finished transmitting the coordinates for the Planet of the Jedi to Jerec. Before he can attack 88, Yun, the youngest Dark Jedi, intervenes. Kyle defeats Yun but does not kill him, allowing him to escape. After this Kyle fights his way out of the palace past numerous stormtroopers and a Kell dragon.

Kyle then tracks down 88 to a large Imperial ship and fights his way through the ship yards to reach the vessel. Progressing through the ship Kyle finally finds 88, but when he approaches the lifeless droid with his gun its head falls off; he then turns around to face Gorc and Pic (who were responsible for killing 88). The Dark Jedi twins attack Kyle at the same time, but he kills them both. Jan retrieves Kyle from the top of the ship and they fly back to Morgan Katarn's workshop. Kyle uses 8t88's head to recover the map to the Valley, as the original map had been destroyed by Yun before their duel.

Arriving at Ruusan, the Planet of the Jedi, Kyle makes his way through the vast Imperial defences confronted by Stormtroopers, flying scorpions, and man-eating fish. When Kyle finally does make it to the top of the Imperial tower he is confronted by Maw, and the two battle. Maw is knocked down, but continues to taunt Kyle about his father. Kyle strikes down Maw with tears in his eyes. Jerec appears; he has captured Jan. Jerec tells you to kill Jan to complete your entrance into the dark side. It is at this point where the game chooses whether the player will follow the light or dark side.

If the player continues on the light side, Kyle spares his friend and in anger Jerec shoots a destructive blast at Kyle using the force. Kyle falls down backwards, and crawls away to the cargo ship which begins to fall towards the valley floor far below. Kyle is stuck on the falling ship, but makes his way to the docking bay where his ship, the Moldy Crow, is docked and escapes. Kyle crash lands the Crow and is knocked unconscious. He awakens as the captive of Sariss, Boc, and Yun. Boc smashes Kyle's lightsaber. Sariss decides to execute him, and tells Boc to go inform Jerec that Kyle "will soon join the dead." But as she makes her swing, Yun blocks it and is mortally wounded by her. When Sariss asks why, Yun replies, "He is a Jedi, he deserves a battle." Kyle takes Yun's saber and defeats Sariss, and uses the same lightsaber for the rest of the game.

Kyle then proceeds through yet more Imperial defences to the Valley excavation site, making his way to the core. He finds Jan tied up and frees her, but suddenly Boc appears and duels Kyle. Kyle defeats him. At this point Jerec has already entered the core of the valley to meditate. As Kyle approaches it Jerec bursts out. The two have a final showdown. Jerec is defeated and has his saber knocked out of his hand. He beckons Kyle to kill him, but Kyle instead tosses Jerec his saber back. Jerec then seizes this chance and lunges at Kyle. Kyle raises his lightsaber and Jerec, carrying the momentum of his lunge, is cut into two. Kyle and Jan look on as the trapped spirits of countless Jedi fly around the Valley freed. Then as a last show of respect to his father he carves statues of his father and his father's friend Rahn (who was killed by Jerec in the game's opening cutscene) with his lightsaber.

If the player chose the dark side, the alternate ending is triggered: Kyle kills Jan Ors and then becomes the rival of Jerec, this time for dominion over the Valley. Kyle again retreats to the falling ship and escapes in the Moldy Crow, but this time doesn't crash land. Instead of fighting Sariss by the ship's wreckage he faces Yun again. He then makes his way through the Valley defences to the core and defeats Boc. When Kyle defeats Jerec, he becomes the new Galactic Emperor with Sariss at his side. This scenario, however, is alternate and not canonical as subsequent games show Kyle on the path of the Light side of the Force.

[edit] Weapons

Characters in Jedi Knight can carry all of nine weapons simultaneously. They are highly varied and each suits a generally different situation. Few if any become obsolete as the game progresses, even as enemies become increasingly better equipped. Most have both primary and secondary modes, and some can be "charged" to fire more shots, be thrown farther, etc. Many are similar, if not identical, to the weapons in the original Dark Forces. JK's weapons are, in the generally accepted order of presentation,

  • Fists - Only for close, melee combat and little else. No secondary mode.
  • Bryar Pistol - Small, compact, and accurate, it shoots individual laser pulses at a fairly slow rate. No secondary mode.
  • Stormtrooper Rifle - Rapidly fires shots but suffers from inaccuracy, and therefore most effective at close range. No secondary mode.
  • Thermal Detonators - Thrown explosives that deliver significant punch, but can be challenging to aim. Primary detonates on impact, but secondary after 3 seconds.
  • Bowcaster - The weapon of the Wookie people, charge to fire one, three, or five highly destructive bolts. Secondary bolts bounce off of surfaces several times.
  • Repeater Rifle - Fast, accurate, and deadly. Primary: fire a continuous stream of shots. Secondary fires 3 shots at a time in triangle formation.
  • Rail Detonator - Fires slow-moving projectiles that cause significant shrapnel damage. It is the most powerful weapon in the game with a direct hit. Primary shots detonate on impact; secondary shots attach to enemies and surfaces and explodes after a few seconds.
  • Sequence Charges - Land mines. Primary detonates after a few seconds; secondary is a proximity charge.
  • Concussion Rifle - Fires a fast-moving, powerful bolt that explodes on impact. Extremely deadly, extremely damaging. Speed makes this perhaps the most attractive weapon in the game. Primary shots are explosive and long range; secondary are short-range, weaker, and non-explosive.
  • Lightsaber - Powerful, elegant, and undoubtedly the hardest weapon to master. Many players use it almost exclusively. Primary is a simple swing combination; secondary is a more powerful double-swing.

[edit] Force Powers

As Kyle Katarn progresses through the game, he gains force points which can be assigned to different powers. Additional points are gained by discovering all of the secrets in a level. These give him abilities far beyond any enemies (except Jedi) whom he encounters, and allow him to combat large groups of foes simultaneously. Force powers distinguish Jedi Knight from its predecessor, Dark Forces, and, in a sense, form the basis for every other Star Wars shooter after it (e.g. Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy, aspects of Knights of the Old Republic, etc.).

[edit] Apprentice (Neutral)

  • Force Speed - Run at extreme pace.
  • Force Jump - Jump to extraordinary, variable heights. (Tap key to jump to full height; hold down to charge.)
  • Force Pull - Draw weapons and items toward oneself, even out of an enemy's grasp.
  • Force Seeing - See other players on the map, and those using force persuasion.

[edit] Light Side

  • Force Healing - Heal yourself of damage.
  • Force Blinding - Blind enemies to your movements.
  • Force Persuasion - Make yourself invisible to all.
  • Force Absorb - Absorb the force energy of attacks.
  • Force Protection - Cover yourself with an impervious shield of the force. (In online play, this requires character to have no neutral force powers.)

[edit] Dark Side

  • Force Throw - Throw movable objects at enemies.
  • Force Grip - Choke enemies, draining their health and stopping them from moving.
  • Force Lightning - Shoot lightning bolts. (Very short range.)
  • Force Destruction - Shoot an explosive ball of force energy. (Long range.)
  • Deadly Sight - Constantly burn all those around you. (In online play, this requires character to have no neutral force powers.)

[edit] Expansions and "mods"

The death of several Stormtroopers
The death of several Stormtroopers

Just four months after Jedi Knight's initial release, LucasArts released Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, an official expansion pack, created by the LucasArts team that worked on "Outlaws" (a spaghetti western themed first person shooter) which features the opportunity to play as Mara Jade for a significant portion of the game. This expansion significantly improved the original Jedi Knight engine (known as Sith) by adding aesthetic features such as colored lighting, new enemies, weapons and force powers (and more controversially, doing away with the Dark/Light side duality). Two new game modes were introduced (KFY: Kill the Fool with the Ysalamiri, a variant on "tag" and actually inspired by "KFC" a game mode from the aforementioned Outlaws; Lightsaber Training: a mode for ranked Jedi in saber combat in specific arenas; and "Personalities" a class based mode switch that could be applied to other game modes) except for Lightsaber training; and CTF was removed (although it was restored by a fan editor at a later time [2]).

There were several under-the-hood changes as well, the most significant involving COG, the programming language that Jedi Knight uses to create scripted in-game events and interactivity (doors, elevators, weapons, in-game cutscenes, etc.). The high budget FMV Smacker format cutscenes of the first game were replaced by a new proprietary format (SCN) that played back recordings (in software rendering mode) of the game engine generated characters interacting with voice and other additional effects. To save memory, the option to use "High Res" sounds was eliminated from the expansion. Some basic anti-cheat protection for Multiplayer was included as well. The MotS expansion was typically sold separately from Jedi Knight (but required the original game to install) and is now often difficult to come by unless specifically bundled with Jedi Knight.

[edit] Mods and custom levels

Over time, unofficial editing tools were developed for this game, thus attracting a wide audience of level editors that still make levels for this game today. Countless modifications have been made to Jedi Knight by way of software products such as Jed, the map editor created by Alexi Novikov (with help rumored to have been provided by at least one JK team member). Less popular was JKEdit, which was recently released free to the public. The first public level editor for Jedi Knight was actually Cybercraft's (now long defunct) ForceBuilder. Avid JK modders and fans have released new multiplayer levels, single-player levels, character models, weapons, and even force powers. Sites like the Code-Alliance (formerly DarkJedi.com) were host to lots of activity with regard to modding tools and enthusiasm. The most reliable source of these mods today is popularly-thought to be The Massassi Temple. A site with growing popularity is The Jedi Knight Editing Hub. Here, users show off different custom levels and mods.

Modders made significant strides over the years, most notably the discovery of a compatible 16-bit MAT (material) file structure. This enabled 16-bit textures to be used by nearly anyone capable of 3D acceleration. Originally, Jedi Knight made use of 8-bit textures and color maps, which limited the textures in a single level to 256 colors. 16-bit textures enabled more realistic textures to be used, immersing the player to new heights. Skyboxes were also made viable through the advent of 16-bit MATs.

Another notable contribution to Jedi Knight's editablity was the removal of the adjoin limit through a patched executable. Adjoins are the two-sided surfaces which connect two sectors, or convex polyhedra, which constitute each level. Jedi Knight contains a hard-coded adjoin limit which creates a hall-of-mirrors (HOM, as known by editors) effect if too many adjoins are visible on the screen at once. The patched executable did away with this limit, enabling the creation of never-before possible architectural complexity.

A third notable contribution to the Jedi Knight modding scene was a Jed plugin known as Lighter. Through Jed's robust plugin system, programmers can create tools to handle routine or complex editing tasks. Lighter cleaves each surface adjacent to a light in such a way as to create realistic shadows. Jedi Knight does not make use of a lightmap and instead relies on a primitive vertex lighting system. Thus, realistic lighting and shadows were difficult, if not impossible to create prior to the advent of the Lighter plugin.

Unlike many other FPS games, Jedi Knight still enjoys a wide fanbase even after nearly nine years, primarily due to the fact that Jedi Knight and its Mysteries of the Sith companion game are extremely editor-friendly (in how nearly anything about the JK engine can be changed or modified, with only a few exceptions, plus the wide enthusiasm of level designers at Massassi and at other groups). The other contributors to the game's longevity could be attributed to the large, expansive, and often "vertigo inducing" levels, the excellent third person option (within the context of a traditional first person shooter, a real novelty at the time of its release), the fast pace of online play, and the complexity of the use of force powers and melee combat (lightsabers) in the mix of more traditional first-person shooter combat.

[edit] Cast/crew

[edit] Trivia and Easter Eggs

This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into other appropriate areas of the article or removed, and the trivia section removed.
  • The game is notable for being the only member of the series to include nearly an hour of live-action full motion video.
The box for the Jedi Knight re-release, featuring Darth Vader.
The box for the Jedi Knight re-release, featuring Darth Vader.
  • The original box art for the game features Kyle Katarn in combat with Jerec. LucasArts later re-released the game packaged with Mysteries of the Sith; this package featured new box art that prominently featured Darth Vader, despite Vader not showing up at all in the game.
  • The game is one of the few Star Wars video games to feature lightsabers working underwater. This goes against the traditional lightsabers in the Star Wars universe. It has been established that lightsabers can be specially modified to work underwater (as seen in an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars), however this is a special circumstance. However, in the game's sequel, Jedi Outcast, the lightsaber does not work underwater; it instead automatically turns off once Kyle is submerged in water. This suggests that when Kyle built a saber for himself he did not modify it for this purpose in the way that his father (seemingly) had.
  • The lightsaber footage used in the live-action FMV of this game were the first new lightsaber scenes filmed since Return of the Jedi.
  • Continuing the tradition of Sam & Max cameos in Lucasarts games, Max can be found on the fifth mission, which takes place in the city of Barons Hed. He is hiding inside a house with a locked door - the female occupant of the house will leave the house once in the entire span of the mission, and the player must time this correctly in order to get into the house when she leaves. Oddly enough, he carries a Bryar Pistol that shoots powerful bowcaster bolts.
  • When the player must jump from the fuelling platform to the cargo ship, a mid-air turn will reveal Max's head superimposed on the retracting fuel pipes.
  • In the level that begins in Kyle's father's workshop with WeeGee the family droid, the player can kill WeeGee if taking the time to dole out an immense amount of damage to the droid. When WeeGee is destroyed, the voice of Rahn says, "For you, the path is the Dark Side." The player's scale is also maxed out to be completely on the Dark Side by this event.
  • In March, 2004, GMR Magazine rated Jedi Knight, the fourth best Star Wars game of all time.

[edit] External links

Official websites
General resources


v • d • e
Star Wars Jedi Knight computer and video games

Dark Forces • Jedi Knight • Mysteries of the Sith • Jedi Outcast • Jedi Academy
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