Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Gameplay

Knights of the Old Republic II is an action role-playing video game played from a third-person view that features pausable real-time combat. Combat and interactions with the environment and non-player characters in Knights of the Old Republic II are based on the d20 System as in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The game starts with a character creation screen with several choices to make, and there is also an option of letting the game do it automatically. There are 30 new Force powers, which are manifestations of the Force, in Knights of the Old Republic II. Like its predecessor, the game has several minigames, including swoop bike racing and a card game called Pazaak. The interface has been streamlined from the original game and party management has been made easier; for example, the player can switch between two selected weapon sets in the menu. As in the first game, the player can choose to align with either the light side or the dark side. Choosing dialogue options that are respectful and empathetic give the protagonist light side points, while options that are egotistic and evil result in dark side points.

The combat of Knights of the Old Republic II is identical to its predecessor. Several new lightsaber forms were added to the game. Each of them is useful for a different situation. For example, one is best for enemies using blaster weapons, while another would be good for recovering from using Force powers. The player can use a variety of melee and ranged weapons, including swords and firearms. Fighting unarmed is also an option. A new addition to the game is "prestige classes", add-ons to the Jedi classes that were established in Knights of the Old Republic. They allow the player character to practice in lightsaber combat or Force powers, depending on player choice.

The player can travel with up to two party members at a time, who gain experience points at the same rate as the player character. Equipment and perks for party characters can be selected for different statistical effects or abilities. Players can loot corpses and various environmental objects. The protagonist also has the ability to "influence" their party members; by doing things that impress them, the player increases their influence with them. Depending on the level of influence, party members may support the player character unconditionally or turn against the protagonist. The player can also exploit high influence by drawing party members to either the light side or the dark side, and some characters can even be trained to use the Force.

Synopsis

Setting

The game takes place five years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic and 3,919 years before Episode I: The Phantom Menace, 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 Exile restores their connection to the Force while, with the help of playable companions, setting out 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 they travel to six planets to either help or hinder the Republic's efforts to bring peace and stability to the galaxy.

New playable locations in Knights of the Old Republic II include Telos, Onderon and its moon Dxun, Malachor V, the Peragus Mining Facility, and various starships such as the hijacked Republic cruiser Harbinger, the Sith cruiser Ravager, and Goto's yacht orbiting Nar Shaddaa. Two planets featured in the original game, Korriban and Dantooine, are revisited 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 Knights of the Old Republic II.

Characters

The Exile's backstory reveals that the character served under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars and ordered the activation of a devastating weapon in 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 their connection to the Force to survive, 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; Atton Rand, who pilots the Ebon Hawk; 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 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 him. Depending on the player's alignment, the Exile will either be joined by the bounty hunter Mira (light side or neutral) or by her rival, a Wookiee bounty hunter known as Hanharr (dark side). Depending on the player's gender, the Exile will either be joined by Mical the Disciple (female Exile) or Brianna the Handmaiden (male 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 who once served under Exar Kun in the Great Sith War (as seen in Tales of the Jedi); and Darth Nihilus, a Sith Lord whose physical being was destroyed due to his immense affinity to the Force. These three Sith Lords are leaders of a loose affiliation of warriors and assassins leftover from Darth Malak's empire from the previous game. Between the events of that game and this one, the Sith have launched a largely successful genocide campaign against the Jedi Order. Another major antagonist is Atris, a former member of the Jedi Council whose unethical efforts to thwart the Sith come into conflict with the Exile.

Plot

While hiding on the Harbinger, a Republic cruiser, the Exile is sedated by an HK-50 assassin droid to be delivered to a crime syndicate called the Exchange, who have put out a bounty on live Jedi. The Exile is rescued by Kreia, with whom the Exile forms a Force Bond, and the droid T3-M4 on the Ebon Hawk, and the three flee the Harbinger as it is hijacked by a squad of Sith assassins. However, their ship is damaged during the escape by the Harbinger's gunfire, and they eventually arrive at the Peragus Mining Facility. Teaming up with smuggler Atton Rand, the group escapes to the planet Telos IV. While hiding out on Telos, they encounter Atris, a surviving member of the Jedi Council who sentenced the protagonist to exile ten years prior and plans to rebuild the Jedi Order on her terms. After settling a dispute regarding the Exile's past sentence, Atris forms an uneasy alliance with them, instructing them to seek out other surviving Jedi in order to rally against the Sith. The Exile then travels to four worlds to find reclusive Jedi Masters and either beg for their aid or kill them in revenge for being exiled, depending on player choice. As the Exile continues their journey, they are joined by several individuals in their quest.

Through the game, clues and characters imply the events of from the previous installment, where the Jedi Knight Revan turned to the dark side and waged war against the Republic, were actually part of a greater plan to unify and strengthen the Republic against a true menace. Revan discovered the Mandalorian Wars were staged all along by a hidden enemy, leading him to turn voluntarily to the dark side and conquer the Republic to ready it. These hidden enemies are hinted to be Sith hiding in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy building up their own Empire.

After finding all the Masters, the Exile travels back to Dantooine and learns that the countless deaths at Malachor V resulted in the Exile unconsciously giving up their connection to the Force, which then became the teachings of the new Sith. If the player aided the Jedi Masters, they prepare to strip the Exile of their Force connection permanently, as the Masters fear that it could result in the actual death of the Force, but Kreia reveals herself to be the former leader of the Sith and murders them all in retribution. If the player killed the Jedi Masters, Kreia attacks the Exile and leaves. Tracking Kreia to Telos, the Exile fights and defeats a corrupted Atris, from whom it is learned that Kreia plans to strengthen a massive "wound" in the Force made ten years prior in Malachor V. This "wound" had been created by the Exile during the Mandalorian Wars, when they activated a gravitational superweapon, the Mass Shadow Generator, in order to end the battle on the planet Malachor V, causing mass death and destruction. Before following her to Malachor, where Kreia had since rejoined the Sith as Darth Traya, the Exile stops a Sith invasion of Telos, defeating one of Traya's former apprentices, the Sith Lord Darth Nihilus. On Malachor V, the Exile is separated from their companions and fights through hordes of monsters on the planet's surface and the inhabitants of a large Sith Academy who survived the cataclysm. On the final floor of the academy, the Exile kills the Sith Lord Darth Sion and confronts Darth Traya in the planet's core.

Development

Knights of the Old Republic II was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic, and it uses the same Odyssey Engine as the original game. BioWare suggested that Obsidian, which was a newly formed studio at the time, should be offered the Knights of the Old Republic license due to their familiarity with Obsidian's past work and the good relationship between the two developers, as well as due to finding LucasArts' development schedule for the sequel to be too tight. The game was released in PC and Xbox versions, but due to the Xbox version being released two months prior to the PC version, it has multiple unfixed bugs.

Development of the game began in October 2003. Obsidian had only seven employees when work began and, because its contract with LucasArts had not yet been finalized, initially did not have access to a release copy of the first game. The development team later expanded to around 30 people. According to lead designer Chris Avellone, the overview of the game's story was originally drafted before the first Knights of the Old Republic was released and based partly on assumptions about BioWare's game, which Avellone discarded after eventually playing it. In preparation to write Knights of the Old Republic II, Avellone tried to learn as much about the Star Wars universe as possible. He read many books, guides, modules, and graphic novels, and the Obsidian team also relied on the first Knights of the Old Republic and the original Star Wars films for inspiration. Avellone said that Obsidian recognized one of the things that made Knights of the Old Republic great was the story and the companions, and that they tried to expand upon this by adding more depth to them. The story would see many further revisions and also some major redrafts.

Knights of the Old Republic II uses the same d20 System as the first Knights of the Old Republic with some changes, and the level cap has also been removed. For the most part, the team didn't want to redo any of the design elements from the first game, as they felt that there was no need to change anything that had already proved successful; instead, they opted to look for areas that could be improved and expanded upon them in a way that retained the base style of Knights of the Old Republic. Obsidian put much work into the game's graphics, including the appearances of non-player characters. Other technological improvements include the lighting and weather effects, in addition to increasing the level sizes. Knights of the Old Republic II's lead artist was Aaron Meyers; he decided which people would join the art team after looking through "tons of applications, resumes, and demo reels", and he said that he was pleased with the number of people who wanted to work for Obsidian. Meyers also complained about the short deadline the development team had to deal with. Obsidian's COO, Chris Parker, said that the schedule set for the development team was "extremely aggressive", and that the team felt a lot of pressure because they were "making a sequel to the game of the year for 2003".

Release

The Xbox version of Knights of the Old Republic II went gold on November 23, 2004; it was later released on December 6, 2004 in the United States, and the PC version was released on February 8, 2005. In Europe, the game was released simultaneously for both platforms on February 11. The game was later re-released in August 2012 on the digital distribution platform, Steam, and in January 2015 on GOG.com. On July 21, 2015, OS X and Linux versions were released along with new support for Steam Workshop and other Steamworks features, controller input, and modern widescreen resolutions up to 5K. Backward compatibility for the Xbox One was announced in April 2018. An iOS and Android version was released on December 18, 2020. The Nintendo Switch version of Knights of the Old Republic II was released by Aspyr on June 8, 2022. The release was marked with a major bug that rendered the game unbeatable. A hotfix was later released on June 30, 2022.

Reception

Commercial performance

According to The NPD Group, Knights of the Old Republic II sold 458,000 copies in North America during the month of December 2004. It entered their chart for the month at number 11, and at number 3 on the Xbox-only chart. After its North American release on Windows, it debuted at number 2 on the PC chart for the month of February. In the United Kingdom, the game debuted at the top of the weekly chart, beating Blizzard Entertainment's much-anticipated online game World of Warcraft, which was released in the same week. Eurogamer reported that in the UK Knights of the Old Republic II sold much more in its first week than the first game, which the website speculates was helped by the former's simultaneous release on Windows and Xbox in PAL regions, as opposed to the latter's initial Xbox-only release. During 2005 alone, the Xbox version sold more than 60,000 copies in the region.

By early 2006, Knights of the Old Republic II had sold almost 1.5 million copies. Its sales in the United States alone reached 1.275 million by 2008.

Critical reception

Knights of the Old Republic II was met with positive reception upon its release; on Metacritic, it has an aggregate score of 85/100 and 86/100 on the PC and Xbox versions respectively, indicating "generally favorable reviews" according to the site. IGN said that there is a bulk of pressure involved with developing the sequel to a game from a different developer which won several "Game of the Year" awards, and that Obsidian delivered. The review also said that it will not disappoint fans of the original game and that it is mostly similar to it in terms of the model. GamePro praised both the first and second Knights of the Old Republic and said that the second game continues the series' tradition of not fixing what is not broken. GameSpot echoed this statement, also saying that both the good things and the shortcomings from the first game are present in Knights of the Old Republic II.

GameSpy compared the game to The Empire Strikes Back from the original Star Wars film trilogy in that it is the best of the series in terms of story, and also said that the game has the best story in a video game since Planescape: Torment. 1UP.com wrote that Obsidian surpassed the original Knights of the Old Republic in terms of the writing, saying that the plot is more consistent, the dialogue is edgier and the moral choices are more significant; Computer Gaming World agreed, writing, "your decision making, as you pursue a light or dark path, is more ambiguous, with more unexpected consequences". Eurogamer said that compared to the original game, Knights of the Old Republic II's plot is "far more grey". The review also said that planets are "better developed and paced". GameZone wrote that the game is a "Must Buy" for people who like well-written characters and story.

The combat was generally well-received, with some reviewers noting that it is mostly unchanged from the original Knights of the Old Republic. GameSpot compared the combat from the first Knights of the Old Republic to the second, saying that it is not well-balanced in both; however, the reviewer wrote that it helps the combat remain spontaneous. GameZone said that the combat is not changed from the first Knights of the Old Republic to the second, but that this is a good thing since the combat in the original was enjoyable. IGN praised the game's AI, saying that it is easy to control the main character alone without controlling the party members. GameSpy's reviewer, on the other hand, said that he encountered problems with the combat AI that were not present in the original Knights of the Old Republic.

Modding

Along with several official patches, a notable fan-made mod called The Sith Lords Restored Content Modification or TSLRCM serves as an unofficial patch by fixing around 500 remaining bugs, along with restoring most of the content that was cut from the game. There were also methods found by the community for improving compatibility on modern PC operating systems.

The mod was endorsed by Aspyr and set to be released with the Nintendo Switch version of the game as free DLC. However, in June 2023, Aspyr announced that the restored content was cancelled without giving a reason. In December 2025, after a lawsuit involving Aspyr went public, it was revealed that Aspyr was unable to secure permission from all 22 people involved with the original mod and that Disney preferred to credit the developers' original names rather than their gamertags.