Together Retro: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

[BoringSupreez]

So I am almost 100% light side now... while the powers and such is great, I am really getting tired of solving long drawn out side quests (currently the court drama on Manann).

These long bouts of taking and guestures of kindness is distracting me from the main story. I want to skip them, but feel that if I do I will be under powered later in the game.

It's not hard to max out your character prior to the end of the game. I hit level 30

halfway through the Star Forge

on my very first playthrough, without making a conscious effort to do so. Skipping a quest or two will be alright.

[MrPopo]

These long bouts of taking and guestures of kindness is distracting me from the main story. I want to skip them, but feel that if I do I will be under powered later in the game.

Now you see that evil will always win, because good is dumb.

[Xeogred]

Is Carth the Kaiden of KOTOR?

In that he is annoying, I treat him like crap, and deliberately ignore his development or equipment needs and send him out to die on a regular basis?

Yep.

Cool to hear. I guess he's good in combat, but other than that I'm failing to see what he can offer being among the party. Mission has way better computer/lockpicking skills. I'll probably switch Carth out with the Wookie and see how that goes.

The game is definitely getting awesome and growing on me as it goes. I find it somewhat funny coming out of playing Dragon Age Inquisition last year, how not much has changed. This almost feels like the same exact engine. Sadly it seems like Bioware never learned how to design good menu systems. That's one complaint I have here, especially the mission listing. And that's basically what Inquisition's menus were, long ass lists.

[Flake]

It all depends on the character you set up. I am running my character as a scoundrel which means that characters like Karth or Canderous become more viable - they add something my own character is severely lacking.

The downfall in game design is that playing a non-soldier character really doesn't reward you any and in fact punishes you. There are simply more fights to fight than doors to unlock or computers to hack. If I wasn't so far into the game I'd reroll my character.

[nullPointer]

Cool to hear. I guess he's good in combat, but other than that I'm failing to see what he can offer being among the party. Mission has way better computer/lockpicking skills. I'll probably switch Carth out with the Wookie and see how that goes.

If you're rolling with Zaalbar, I'd suggest having him as melee support (and dual wielding if possible). When Mission and Zaalbar join your party I think their skill and equipment load outs are a little misleading. Zaalbar comes equipped with a bowcaster and Mission comes equipped with a vibroblade. If you swap that equipment around (and subsequently build those associated skill sets) I think both characters become more effective in combat (although Mission never really does become all that effective). Mission just doesn't have the CON for the up close and personal stuff, and using Zaalbar as ranged support is a huge waste of his STR.

I like using Carth as ranged support, but Canderous is probably a bit more effective IMO (depending on loadout, stat building, etc.). As far as being a character that I "like" to have around, Carth probably ranks down there with T3-M4.

[nullPointer]

I've been meaning to mention this, but ... Pazaak sort of sucks. And that's really saying something being as I enjoyed playing (especially) Triple Triad (in FFVIII) and Tetra Master (in FFIX). So it's not that I'm against mini-games, it's just that I feel they should be well implemented and executed rather than a bolt on after thought. I would probably feel slightly different if Pazaak had more basis in skill than in luck and/or if it were a more effective means of generating funds. So how about it? Am I missing the finer points of the game? Just need a better deck. Any tips from the Pazaak card sharks out there?

Since posting last I've blown through Kashyyyk and Manaan.

So I am almost 100% light side now... while the powers and such is great, I am really getting tired of solving long drawn out side quests (currently the court drama on Manann).

I hear you about the excessive side questing and (particularly) dialogue heavy exposition. Is it just me or do the Selkath have suuuuuper annoying voices? Actually as I'm moving further through the game, I find myself growing more and more weary of listening to alien dialogue. The alien dialogue rambles on for far too long in relation to what's actually being said (and yes I do just click through it after quickly reading the subtitles), and I'm relatively certain each alien race just has one or two common voice tracks that play for every NPC of that alien race. It's a minor annoyance at worst, and there's not much else that could have been done in this regard, but after a while you get tired of hearing the same old alien voice(s).

Any hoo, I digress. Despite the repeated court room drama, I think Manaan might be my favorite planet thus far (of the mapped planets I still have Korriban to go). The tense dynamic of enemy forces co-located on a strictly neutral planet adds an interesting element to the proceedings (hacking your way through a Sith base FTW!), and even the court room stuff adds an interesting element to the Selkath culture. Then at the tail end of the Manaan story line I love the way it just flips the entire narrative on it's head and goes for sci-fi horror. There's not enough playing with alternative genre tropes in Star Wars, and I appreciate what they were trying to do there.

Onwards to Korriban! (AKA "Breakfast Club with Sith Apprentices ... in which Judd Nelson dismembers Principle Vernon with a lightsaber")

[MrPopo]

So Pazaak is based entirely around your ability to get the +/- cards and other interesting cards. Those replace your double down/split decisions from blackjack. I'd also say the game's enjoyment is based entirely on how much you like/dislike blackjack.

[Xeogred]

I'm assuming my build just doesn't work well with Critical Strike or something, because I feel like I wasted two good points on it. Power Strike has been consistently way better, even at level 1 compared to level 2 Critical Strike.

[Nemoide]

Progress has been super-slow for me: I haven't had much time for gaming lately. But today I got through the Undercity Sewers on Taris. Total time played so far = 4 hours.
(...yeah, I won't be beating this game before the end of the month.)

[ExedExes]

Progress has been super-slow for me: I haven't had much time for gaming lately. But today I got through the Undercity Sewers on Taris. Total time played so far = 4 hours.
(...yeah, I won't be beating this game before the end of the month.)

Same. But I'm glad this came up this year for TR. I'll continue to go at it long after this month is over.