Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
"KOTOR" redirects here. For the Montenegrin city, see Kotor.
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
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| Developer(s) | BioWare
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| Publisher(s) | LucasArts
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| Designer(s) | David Falkner
Steven Gilmour
Casey Hudson
Derek Watts
Drew Karpyshyn
James Ohlen
Preston Watamaniuk
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| Engine | Odyssey engine
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| Platform(s) | Xbox, Windows, Mac OS X
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| Release date | Xbox
PC
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| Genre(s) | RPG
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| Mode(s) | Single player
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| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T)
OFLC: G8+
USK: 12+
PEGI: 12+
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| Media | CD (4), DVD (Mac & Xbox)
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| System requirements | - PC: Pentium III or Athlon 1 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB OpenGL 1.4 & hardware T&L compliant AGP or PCI graphics card, DirectX 9.0c compliant audio device, 4X Speed CD-ROM drive, Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, DirectX 9.0c
- Mac: Mac OS X 10.3.4 or later, PowerPC G4 1 GHz or faster, 256 MB RAM, 4.2 GB free disk space, 3D Graphics Card (ATI Radeon 8500/nVidia GeForce 2 or better), 32 MB of VRAM
- Xbox: Xbox console and Xbox controller
- Also playable on Xbox 360 through Backwards Compatibility
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| Input methods |
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Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts. It was released for Microsoft's Xbox on July 15, 2003, for PCs running Microsoft Windows on November 19, 2003, and later for Mac OS X. KotOR is the first computer role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe. The sequel, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II The Sith Lords, was developed by Obsidian Entertainment at BioWare's suggestion[1] as BioWare wanted to focus on their own intellectual properties.
[edit] Gameplay
The game's system is based on Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game, which is based on the d20 role-playing game system derived from the Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. Combat is round-based; time is divided into discrete rounds, and combatants attack and react simultaneously. However, the number of actions a combatant may perform each round is limited. While each round's duration is a fixed short interval of real time, the player can configure the combat system to pause at specific events or at the end of each round.
The alignment system tracks actions and speech — from simple word choices to major plot decisions — to determine whether the player's character aligns with the light or dark side of the Force. Generosity and altruism lead to the light side, while self-serving or violent actions will lead the player's character to the dark side, which will alter the character's appearance, turning their eyes yellow and their skin grey and scarred.
The game takes place 4,000 years before the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Darth Malak, a Dark Lord of the Sith and Darth Revan's former apprentice, has unleashed a Sith armada against the Republic. Malak's aggression has left the Jedi scattered and vulnerable; many Jedi Knights die in battle and others swear allegiance to Malak. The game opens with the player's character, whom the player can customize to be either male or female (the gender is canonically male),[2] awakening aboard a doomed Republic ship. After escaping the ship, the player's character gradually gathers companions and pieces together his past while attempting to stop Malak's forces. To accomplish this, the main character and his companions search for Star Maps that together reveal the location of the Star Forge, an ancient space station that creates massive amounts of material for Malak.
The main character's actions and speech influence whether he aligns with the light or dark side of the Force. Depending on the character's alignment, he eventually reaches the Star Forge either to defeat the Sith (the light-side path) or to usurp control of the Sith from Malak (the dark-side path). A light-aligned character and his companions are hailed as saviors and heroes; a dark-side character stands before the remaining Sith forces as the new Dark Lord of the Sith.
[edit] Characters and locations
- Further information: List of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic characters
Eventually joining the main character's quest are the Jedi Bastila Shan, Jolee Bindo, and Juhani; pilot Carth Onasi; mercenary Canderous Ordo; assassin droid HK-47; the Twi'lek teenager Mission Vao and her Wookiee companion, Zaalbar; and the droid T3-M4. Antagonists include Calo Nord, Admiral Saul Karath, Darth Bandon and Darth Malak.
Action takes place on the planets Tatooine, Dantooine, Kashyyyk, Korriban, Manaan, Rakata Prime, and Taris; aboard the cruiser Endar Spire and Saul Karath's Leviathan; and on the Star Forge space station. A space station near Yavin is a playable location in the PC version of the game and is available to Xbox players via download from Xbox Live. Travel between these locations happens aboard the freighter Ebon Hawk, which is also a playable location.
[edit] Critical reception
The general critical response was extremely enthusiastic. KOTOR won numerous awards, including Game Developers Choice Awards' game of the year, BAFTA Games Awards' best Xbox game of the year, and Interactive Achievement Awards for best console RPG and best computer RPG.[3]
KotOR has seen success as the game of the year from many sources including IGN, Gamespot, Computer Gaming World, PC Gamer, GMR Magazine, The Game Developers Choice Awards, Xbox Magazine, and G4.[3]
Interactive Achievement Awards awarded it for best story and best character development.[3] IGN gave KotOR additional awards in Best Sound (Xbox category), Best Story (PC category), Xbox RPG Game of the Year 2003, PC RPG Game of the Year 2003, Xbox Game of the Year 2003, PC Game of the Year 2003, and Overall Game of the Year 2003 across all platforms. In 2007, IGN listed it at #27 on its list of the Top 100 Games of All-Time.[4]
At the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards, HK-47 won the category of
"Original Game Character of the Year". [5] In 2007, an event in the game was ranked number two in Game Informer's list of the top ten video game plot twists of all time.[6]
The game is also part of The Xbox Platinum Series/Classics for sales in excess of 1 million units.[7]
The Los Angeles Times listed Knights of the Old Republic as one of the most influential works of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.[8]
[edit] Partial cast
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series |
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