Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
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| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | |
| Missing image Kotorbox.jpg Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic PC box cover | |
| Developer(s) | BioWare |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts |
| Release date(s) | 19th November 2003 |
| Genre | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen, OFLC: G8+, USK: 12+, PEGI: 12+ |
| Platform(s) | Xbox, PC (Windows), Apple Macintosh (Mac OS X) |
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) is an RPG video game originally on the Microsoft Xbox platform and later for PCs running Microsoft Windows then for Mac OS X. The game was developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts and released in the 19th November 2003. Its tagline is "Choose your path".
It is set in the Star Wars universe about 4000 years before the Star Wars movies take place, during the time of the Old Republic. The story begins as a Republic ship, the Endar Spire, is ambushed by Sith fighters while in orbit around the planet Taris. As the ship is destroyed, the player and Carth Onasi land on the planet in an escape pod. Their priority is to find Bastila Shan, a young Jedi who possesses the rare power of Battle Meditation. One year earlier, Bastila led an assault against Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Revan; before she could engage Revan in battle, his former apprentice Darth Malak attacked Revan's ship and usurped the title of Dark Lord.
This Force Power allows her to make fleets of ships perform at the maximum efficiency, countering every enemy move quickly and effectively. With her battle meditation, even a small Republic fleet could win over the incredible Sith armada. Without Bastila, the Republic won't stand a chance. And thus the player becomes embroiled in an epic story spanning seven worlds, from his humble beginnings on Taris to a final showdown against Malak, the Dark Lord of the Sith, whose end will determine the fate of the galaxy. Throughout the game, the player gains numerous companions (although only two can be in your party at once) and experiences many startling revelations.
KotOR is the first computer RPG set in the Star Wars universe. It uses the d20 System, from the 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons rules. Although combat takes place in real-time, it is actually turnbased and can be paused when needed. The game also allows the player to either be good (light) or evil (dark) using an alignment system that tracks actions, from simple word choice to major plot decisions, based on whether they are aligned to the light side of the force or the dark side.
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Locations and characters
Kotor_8.png
Players also visit other locations:
- Ebon Hawk
- Endar Spire
- Leviathan
- Star Forge
- Yavin space station
Along the way the player also meets a great number other characters, some of which can be directly controllable:
Other characters met along the way include:
Voice actors
The following voice actors were used in the game:
- Jennifer Hale - "Bastila Shan"
- Raphael Sbarge - "Carth Onasi"
- Rafael Ferrer - "Darth Malak"
- John Cygan - "Canderous Ordo"
- Kristoffer Tabori - "HK-47," additional voices
- Kevin Michael Richardson - "Jolee Bindo"
- Courtenay Taylor - "Juhani"
- Cat Taber - "Mission Vao"
- Ed Asner - "Master Vrook Lamar"
- Ethan Phillips - "Empire medical droid," "Krantian governor," "Royal grenade trooper," "Frightened Manaan Mercenary"
- Cam Clarke - "Sith Diplomat," "Kono Nolan," "Gate Guard Trewin," "Junior Czerka Scientist," "Sith Student," additional voices
- Phil LaMarr - "Gadon Thek"
- Robin Atkin Downes - "Mekel," "Griff," "Vulkar Mechanic"
- Tom Kane - "Master Vandar Tokare," "Rodian"
- Frank Welker - "Sunry," "Jorak Uln," "Gar," "Swoop Fan," additional voices
Trivia
- The game mentions various characters that have ties to the original trilogy and could be interpreted as ancestors, including Galduran Calrissian (Lando Calrissian), Cassus Fett (Jango & Boba Fett), Komad Fortuna (Bib Fortuna), and Admiral Forn Dodonna (General Jan Dodonna).
- The name Bendak Starkiller is an homage to the name originally chosen for Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.
- Bastila Shan's character was originally named Vima Sunrider, a Jedi from the Dark Horse Comics' "Tales of the Jedi" series. The name Bastila was originally meant for the Cathar Jedi character. Eventually, it was decided to create a different character rather than use Sunrider and the Cathar Jedi would be named Juhani.
- Certain lines through out the game also pay homage to the original films: Mission Vao says, "I have a bad feeling about this" several times, referring to a line spoken repeatedly in the films. Additionally, the line "My name's [your character's name], I'm here to save you," is a homage to the line Luke Skywalker delivers when rescuing Princess Leia.
- The quest "The Trouble with Gizka" is likely a reference to the Star Trek episode entitled "The Trouble with Tribbles". Also, HK-47's line "Dammit, master, I'm an assassination droid, not a dictionary!" is similar to Dr. McCoy's frequent catch-phrase from the series.
- When the player is being tortured on the Leviathan and pressed to reveal the location of the Jedi base on Dantooine, a possible response is "Alderaan, they're on Alderaan". In Episode IV: A New Hope, Princess Leia lies that the Rebel Alliance base is on Dantooine to avoid Alderaan's destruction.
- At one point in the game Canderous Ordo tells of a ship he once chased until it crossed the boundaries of the galaxy; he says that the ship looked like an asteroid and spat fireballs. This sounds very much like a Yuuzhan Vong vessel from the New Jedi Order.
Critical acclaim
The general critical response was enthusiastic. KotOR has won numerous awards, including Game Developers Choice Awards' best game of the year, BAFTA Games Awards' best Xbox game, and Interactive Achievement Awards for best console RPG and best computer RPG.
- 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards
- Game of the Year
- Original Game Character (HK-47)
- Excellence in Writing
The game also won an Interactive Achievement Award for best story/character development.
In March 2004, Computer Gaming World and PC Gamer gave it the Game of the Year award.
Sequels
KotOR II: The Sith Lords was developed by a different studio, Obsidian Entertainment, using an improved version of the engine from the first game. It was released for Xbox in December 2004 and PC in February 2005.
Minimum system requirements
PC Version
- Pentium III
- OS: Windows 98 or better
- 256 MB RAM
- CD-ROM Drive Speed 4X
- 100% DirectX 9.0b compatible hardware
- OpenGL 1.4 compatible graphics card
Mac Version
- Mac OS X 10.3.4 or later
- PowerPC G4/G5, 1 GHz or faster
- 256MB RAM (512MB recommended)
- 4.2 GB free disk space
- 3D Graphics Acceleration required (ATI Radeon 8500/nVidia GeForce 2 or better)
- 32MB of VRAM
- DVD drive required to install and play
Bugs & other errors
The following bugs and other errors are known to affect the PC version of the game:
- Security Spikes/Security Spike Tunnelers are supposed to temporarily increase the player's Security skills, but they do nothing.
- Contrary to the manual and in-game statements, using or repairing a computer disrupts stealth mode.
- Saves can become corrupted.
- Certain quest-related enemies never permanently die and will regenerate after the player leaves the area and returns.
Additionally, certain graphics card drivers and OpenGL implementations are optimized poorly for Knights of the Old Republic, leading to poor performance, particularly on the Dantooine levels, as well as crashes on certain cards. On the Mac version, this appears in Mac OS X versions 10.3.8 to 10.4.1, with improvements expected in 10.4.2.
External links
- BioWare's official Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic site (http://www.bioware.com/games/knights_old_republic/)
- LucasArts' official Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic site (http://www.lucasarts.com/products/swkotor/)
- MobyGames' review (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,9734/)
- RPG Codex review (http://www.rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=86)de:Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
fr:Star Wars Knight of the Old Republic sv:Knights of the Old Republic