FYI, BioWare just loaded tons of info on easter eggs, level walkthroughs and other goodies up at their web site:

http://www.bioware.com/games/knights_old_republic/game_info/game_secrets/

(You need to set up a free user account)

Jason

Good to know that people are playing it, but I'm still holding out for the PC version...

I'm not surprised at all at the response this game has garnered. It's Star Wars and a Bioware RPG for god's sake! But beyond all that, it's a fantastic game. Everyone has their own opinions about what makes a good RPG and what gives them the emotional resonance and gameplay that makes them classics, but I'll take this title over anything I've played RPGwise on the other 2 consoles (unbelievable, but true!). It's nice to see another Xbox game that approaches the quality and fun of a Halo.

Does anyone else find it silly that KOTOR takes place thousands of years before the films? I know it's sci-fi, and that's usually seen as a license to create absolutely anything... but imagine a person of today holding a conversation with a person from the year 1000AD. One thousands years makes a hell of a difference. Either the Star Wars Universe is completely stagnated (both in technology and evolution) or Lucas is willing to sign off on anything these days.

It's kinda sad that we've had to wait almost two years for an Xbox game of this quality. Halo was fantastic, then everything after it was just either ok or terrible. There's been nothing amazing for the Xbox in some time until Kotor.

My GF and I have a total of three games running on it. Mine (good girl), mine (evil guy), and hers (good girl). Interesting to see the AD&D rules wrapped around the SW universe.

It's great to see that not only is BioWare making hordes of new fans with KOTOR, but also that it's an RPG that's true to their particular style. (Their only previous foray into console games was MDK2) As for your question, the next thing they're going to finish is KOTOR for the PC. Then, they'll release Hordes of the Underdark, the second Neverwinter Nights expansion. After that... They're not saying, yet. They tend to keep their projects tightly wrapped until they're good and ready. The bad side, they only have a port and an expansion on the visible horizon, the good side, I've yet to see BioWare cancel an announced project. Two mega-hits in a row, cheers BioWare! Here's hoping KOTOR X-box gets some folks into Neverwinter Nights, maybe even the mod scene...

I have to agree with Quietmob - it's a pity that games of this quality only seem to come out every year or two for the XBox. But I'm thankful for the quality of this game in itself, and if it takes a couple years to produce games like these for the XBox, I see it as being no different than the two years I have to wait for a Star Wars sequel.

Also, due to the sheer amount of activities that this one game has, I'm glad that nothing else is distracting me from it.

Re: Joe's comment.

Personally, I don't find the 1000 year gap to be silly at all. I think it's a realistic scale actually. Think of it this way: In regards to our small, young planet we measure events and history in terms of centuries. So it seems quite valid for a sci-fi universe to measure events taking place across entire galaxies in terms of millenia.

Just read the review on gameforms.com and they say it's actually 4000 years prior to the films.

ZYirAh, I don't have a problem with the timeframe as it relates to plot and/or epic events... just that I have trouble accepting that humans and aliens of 4000 years ago can look identical to humans and aliens of today. I guess KOTOR is coming out against natural biological evolution!

But like I said, it's sci-fi, so anything goes. Alternate universe, not technically Earth humans, blah blah blah. This just strikes me as much more fiction than science. Especially since the Star Wars movies/books have always tried to keep things more grounded in physical reality than most sci-fi properties.

I kind of find it hard to believe that Halo was never in the top 10 faq pages (although maybe that's because everyone was busy playing the living daylights out of it.) My roommate used to have an Xbox, and I am considering purchasing one to play KOTOR, not to mention halo2 when it comes out, or project gotham 2. Methinks 2004 could be the year of the Xbox.

"just that I have trouble accepting that humans and aliens of 4000 years ago can look identical to humans and aliens of today. I guess KOTOR is coming out against natural biological evolution!"

this is totally off the record, hush, hush and on the qt: king tut had a tail!

Bioware is a first party developer for Microsoft, wouldn't they stick with the Xbox for their next game?

Bioware is a first party developer for Microsoft, wouldn't they stick with the Xbox for their next game?

In response to the "thousands of years silliness".

It's perfectly plausible that biological evolution isn't taking effect in the Star Wars universe. Consider this, the bigger civilizations get the lesser they tend to evolve. With more and more people saturating the gene pool it's only logical that a species would get to a certain evolutionary point and stagnate.

Scientists are saying that hunams on earth probably won't evolve much more if we can keep our way of life stable, and that the only thing that would prompt evolutionary change with humans would be some sort of global catastrophe or disaster.

Granted, we don't even know how long all the different species of the Star Wars universe have been cohabitating, so 4,000 years difference may not even mean much at all to them. :)

"By my count, it's taken over 18 months for an Xbox title to generate an active users-helping-users community"

Didn't you just use Splinter Cell as an example? Was there no active community around that until it was ported?

With regards to the 4,000 year comments. I can see how some people might find it to be a little to large of a time difference. However, if you get into the expanded universe of star wars much, you'll see that it explains a lot of the past that is often referred to in the novels, comics, etc. For example, it shows us the sith war. It explains a lot about mandelorians. If I'm not mistaken, jango fett was a madelorian. Although 4,000 years may seem a little TOO far in the past, they had to set it back far enough for the sith to exist. In case you might not remember, in star wars episode I, the council comments how the sith have been extinct for a milenia.

the sith are extinct as a species even in kotor. the sith of kotor are merely followers of the sith ideal.

stagnation of technological and evoltuionary changes happen over time. not to mention the setbacks faced in major galactic wars that preceded and followed our little chunk of time in kotor.

several wars following the timeperiod kotor was set in resulted in several spans of time that could almost be equated with dark ages. two such wars occured directly before the beginning of this game. the war with exar kun and the mandalorian war. there were even worse following. ones in which the jedi themselves were so concerned with survival, that the ideals of the order were sacrificed merely to insure the survival of the group.

i am pretty sure events such as these would probably slow down technological advancements. when your only concern is staying alive, you don't have as much time to ponder improvements on technology.

but largely i think the major advancements between kotor, and epsiode 1 deal with the expanding of hyperspace routes. in kotor times much of the galaxy is still unexplored.

but regardless of all this, i saw an obvious attempt to downgrade technology. compare the ebon hawk to the millenium falcon. or your utility droid (t3-44 or whatever his designation) to r2-d2. i think they did a fairly good job in making technology look older.