| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Obsidian Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts |
| Designer(s) | Chris Avellone (Lead Designer), Kevin Saunders, Ferret Baudoin, Tony Evans, Michael Chu |
| Series | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic |
| Engine | Odyssey |
| Version | 1.0b |
| Platform(s) | Xbox, Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | Xbox
Microsoft Windows
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| Genre(s) | CRPG |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | CD, DVD |
| System requirements
Microsoft Windows |
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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KotOR II) is a role-playing video game released for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows. The Xbox version of this sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was released on December 6, 2004, while the Windows version was released on February 8, 2005. It was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by LucasArts. The music score was composed by Mark Griskey.[1]
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The game takes place five years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic,[2] in a time when the Jedi have been nearly exterminated by the Sith. The player's character, a former Jedi Knight exiled from the Jedi Order, is referred to as "the Exile" or "Jedi Exile." Throughout the game, the player's character, canonically a female,[3] although the player can choose to play either sex, restores a connection to the Force while, with the help of non-player character companions, trying to stop the Sith. The player makes choices that turn the Exile to either the light side or the dark side of the Force, and travels to six planets to either help or hinder the Republic's efforts to bring peace and stability to the galaxy.
The player chooses at the game's beginning whether the Jedi Exile is male or female. The Exile's back story reveals that the character served under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars and ordered the activation of a devastating weapon named the mass shadow generator at the climactic battle over Malachor V. The deaths that ensued created such a substantial "wound" in the Force that the character was forced to sever all connections to the Force, and the Jedi Council ordered the character exiled from the Jedi Order. As the game progresses, the Jedi Exile rebuilds a connection to the Force and creates unusually strong Force Bonds with other characters and places, while unknowingly sapping Force powers.
Among the characters who join the Jedi Exile are Kreia, who acts as the Exile's mentor in a manner akin to Obi-Wan Kenobi or Qui-Gon Jinn;[2] pilot and former Sith assassin Atton Rand; technician and Mandalorian War veteran Bao-Dur and his droid remote; the criminal droid G0-T0; and the Sith apprentice Visas Marr. T3-M4 and Canderous Ordo (now identified as "Mandalore"), both featured in the first game, also join the Exile's team. Other characters join the Exile's party only under certain conditions. HK-47, who appears in the first game, joins the quest if the Exile collects and uses the parts necessary to reactivate it. The Wookiee bounty hunter Hanharr joins if the Exile is aligned with the dark side of the Force; Hanharr's competitor, Mira, joins if the Exile is light-aligned or neutral. If the player's character is male, Brianna the Handmaiden can join the player's quest, while Mical the Disciple joins a female Exile.
The game features three main antagonists: Darth Traya, a mysterious assailant who remains in the dark through most of the game; Darth Sion, an undead Sith Lord with a murderous hatred for Jedi; and Darth Nihilus, a Sith Lord whose physical being was destroyed due to his immense affinity to the Force. New playable locations include war-ravaged Telos, a Telos bunker and the orbiting Citadel Station, Onderon and its jungle moon Dxun, Nar Shaddaa and Goto's orbiting yacht, Peragus, the starships Harbinger and Ravager, and Malachor V. Korriban and Dantooine from the original game are revisited, both now with ravaged buildings and intensified problems. The Ebon Hawk, the main character's ship in the first game, is also the player's transportation in this game.
The game is the sequel to BioWare's commercially and critically acclaimed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The change of developers came at BioWare's suggestion based on their familiarity with Obsidian Entertainment's previous work,[2] as BioWare was busy developing Jade Empire and started focusing on their own intellectual properties.[4] Development on The Sith Lords started around the same time of Knights of the Old Republic's Xbox release.[5]
The Sith Lords was constructed using an updated version of Knights of the Old Republic's Odyssey game engine, which Obsidian obtained from BioWare Company.[2] BioWare also provided technical assistance to Obsidian's developers.[2] New features include more combat animations and interface scaling.[6]
Producer Chris Avellone in an interview after the game's publication stated that he wished "there had been more time" to work on the game, and that a large amount of content — a droid factory, an entire planet, and other locations — was cut.[7]
There are four official patches for the game. The second and third patch updated the quality of the movies and music while the first and fourth fixed gameplay issues.
The game was generally well received by fans and critics alike. The game received high marks from several reviewers: 8.5/10 from Gamespot, 4.5/5 from Gamespy, and 9.3/10 from IGN. Based on 30 professional reviews, Metacritic gave the game an average rating of 85 out of 100,[8] compared to 93 for Knights of the Old Republic.[9] GameSpy called the Kreia character the "Best Character" of 2005.[10] However, the game was criticized for being incomplete due to a rushed deadline.[11]
In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[12]
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