Markus Ramikin

Well, asking on this forum you're bound to get an answer biased in favor of Kotor 2 . I think both games are very good. I rate Kotor 2 highly but much of that decision is based on its potential - had the game been polished off, it would have been a masterpiece, one of the very best games ever; as it happens, it's an inferior brother to Planescape Torment in my eyes. It did have better writing and more interesting characters than K1 overall (compare Hanharr vs Zalbarr). It had Kreia, the best written character in the history of all computer gaming, Atton, the former assassin and sadist (the dialog where he gets serious and angry as you talk to him about his past was just delicious), Bao-Dur, the soft-spoken badass with a history, Hanharr, the psycho with a curious worldview... even HK is better in K2 than K1, even more so now that the Factory has been restored. And as has been said, K2 had more interesting and mature themes and a less black and white morality. Suffice it to say when I discovered Scorchy's Let's Play of the game - the original Something Awful thread, which had something like 80 pages to it - I read it all in one go. On the other hand, you have two issues. One is the bugs and the unfinished content, which even TSLRCM will never be able to fix entirely because of lacking audio files. Kotor 1 is just more polished. Kotor 2 had more potential that only came close to realisation with TSLRCM (though, again, it will never be fully realised). The other thing is that Kotor 2 isn't a very good Star Wars game. Kotor 1 pays off a good deal more if you're looking for a game that lets you play as one of the Jedi of the ancient order which "were the guardians of peace and justice in the Republic for a thousand generations", and face off against the Sith of old. It has typical Star Wars morality and a typical Star Wars plot and characters. A black and white morality isn't necessarily a bad thing, if executed well, the original Star Wars pretty much had it and it's a classic. Kotor 1 does execute it rather well, too. Kotor 2 introduces themes and ideas and the way it handles the Force that makes things interesting in its own right, but as a Star Wars story it's a bit off. This doesn't really bother me, but I imagine it explains all the SW fans whom you hear praising K1 over K2 because K2 didn't pay off on their expectations. I recently replayed Kotor 1, and it's very enjoyable. Paradoxically, I enjoy K1 more after playing K2, due to the retconning of Revan which makes me aware of just how radically awesome this character I am playing is. In K1, everyone notices your strength and is in awe of your history, but in the end you still kind of feel like a pawn (why was there no identity crisis after Revan realizes he's been mindwiped? why is there no questioning as to whether his redemption counts/is really his choice, if he's LS?). On the other hand Revan shines more in his reflection through HK-47, Atton, Kreia and Mandalore than he does in his own game, as the true manipulator with a great understanding of people and of war. If you pay attention to the echoes of his manipulations, you realize just how much he made everyone his bitch, including the Exile and even Kreia. One thing I really prefer about Kotor 1 than 2 is the combat balance. It seems to me there is less level-scaling in K1, and more finely-tuned balance which they were able to do due to the level 20 restriction. The level restriction also makes you plan your character more strategically, you don't end up with a gazillion spells like a level 26 Consular in K2 but you have to choose wisely. Force Storm isn't as broken as in K2, since it caps to effectively half the power it has in K2. And it is very possible to run out of Force Points in fights, especially if you take on the Star Forge with a less than optimal party, and are playing a Force-oriented char rather than a Guardian. Good luck running out of FP in K2, once you're past the early levels... Overall I rate K2 higher than K1, but ultimately they are different games, both very good.

Oh, good. That certainly was an godawful idea, glad it got dropped before I even noticed it. EDIT: and I can't type today.

No worries then, and thank you.

Where did my WCA mod go? I think some others are missing, too.

Eh, if you look up the Jedi Exile on Wookiepedia, it's only canonical because some obscure official guide book decided it really needed to use a gender-specific pronoun, out of "editorial necessity". I don't think anyone really needs to feel compelled by this "canonicity". Nicknacks: it's always been this way. You need to gain enough influence to make this possible, though. Or lose enough - it doesn't matter if they love or hate you, apparently, as long as they feel strongly one way or the other. And you may also need to visit specific places in the game to trigger specific events.

File Name: Kill The Ithorian File Submitter: Markus Ramikin File Submitted: 26 Dec 2010 File Category: Mods TSLRCM Compatible: Yes 1. Description This is an updated version of the Kill the Ithorian Mod. Posted with Doctor's permission. On Telos, there is a caged Ithorian in the Exchange office, mistreated and unfed. Originally, after dealing with the local crimeboss, you could free the prisoner, or leave him in the cage. This had no impact on anything, such as your Light/Dark alignment, and there was no XP reward. This mod gives you an Experience + Lightside Points reward if you free him. Moreover, it offers an option to overload the cage and kill the flatworm, for Experience + Darkside Points. Version 1.1 is essentially the same, but with bugs fixed: - the infinite rewards exploit - the computer skill check not working. 2. Installation To install: copy the two files into your game's Override folder: Deadly_Cage.ncs, term_slusk.dlg. To uninstall: delete these files from the Override folder. This mod works fine with TSLRCM 1.7. 3. Compatibility. Works with TSLRCM, but it does overwrite term_slusk.dlg. This causes no problems. 4. Credits Original author: Doctor (Stream) Version 1.1: Markus Ramikin Concept: Murdrax 5. Disclaimers The usual stuff applies. The mod is provided as-is; by installing it, you accept all liability for any game instability or damage caused. Distribute freely, as long as you give due credit. Click here to download this file

Coughcheaterscough

Yeah, neither lightsaber nor Force forms have a critical impact on anything. Pretty much the only form I ever bother with is Force Potency when playing Consular, because it increases the damage of Force Powers noticeably, and contrary to its own description it is more cost-effective (with damage-dealing Powers) than normal Force use.

Did you shut down the HK-51 line? or overloaded or started charging their stations? or did you shut down the HK-50s production line and therefore the HK-51s are already active? Any of those will cause you to be unable to link with them. For you to be able to upload, they need to be dormant in their stations, basically you need to do that as the first thing.

What weapon are you using? Have you created upgrades for that weapon at a workbench? Are you using Master Speed to get additional attacks? Do your attacks succeed but for low damage, or do they mostly miss? And yes, Force Powers can be of use against Nihilus, though as a Guardian you should be able to defeat him with physical attacks just fine. Oh and unless I'm missing something, TSLRCM doesn't mess with Nihilus' difficulty. Or pretty much anyone else's.

I've said it before, but why not: my main benefit from this mod is: - the awesomeness that is HK factory ("Please shoot me there repeatedly until I die.") - seeing GO-TO die. (Oh, yes please. Shoot him again, HK.) I like the Khoonda battle, too, though that still needs a lot of w... *slap self* right, positive thread. Atton vs Sion is another favorite bit of mine. Sure, it leads to additional content if he loses, but mostly I like it because it means one of the NPCs I've trained can actually prove himself against a Sith Lord (instead of just being Kreia's bitches and getting captured after attacking an unarmed old woman). I enjoy developing the NPCs as real characters that have futures of their own - so it's always a good moment for me when they get to prove themselves without the Exile being there to do the heavy lifting. For the same reason, I like the Bao + Atton + third choice vs Bounty Hunters, on Nar Shaddaa. There's a ton of stuff which is minor in itself but appreciated. It would require serious effort for me to make a list now, because by now I've replayed TSLRCM so many times I can't help but be used to them as an obvious part of the game. Which only goes to show how successful those little changes were. And last but not least, I like all the little improvements that I either suggested, or actually made and submitted The extra influence hits come to mind. It's good to know that I've been able to contribute even a little bit, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. So yeah. Waited years and years for Gizka, and you guys delivered instead. Thank you. (I vote that the TSLRCM forum subtag get changed to Mandalore's line: "Been waiting for this for ten years. It's just time to do things the old fashioned way." )

Sorry to necro, but I put a link to my "guide" thing for beating Malak with Force Powers in this thread, and this might be as good a place as any to discuss developments. This was written with the assumption that I don't regenerate Force Points at all during combat, or at least very slowly. It certainly seemed that way last time I played the game. However, I reloaded some K1 saves today to check some things (oh, the pain of getting K1 to work on Windows 7) and I noticed that my Force Points were in fact renegerating during combat. In the Malak fight, they were regenerating crazy fast, so I was at zero risk of running out no matter what I did. That's kind of sad, really, because I expect it will remove the difficulty and therefore the fun from the pre-Malak near-infinite wave of enemies if I ever choose to replay K1... but I digress. I am wondering if this game suffers from the same problem as some of the very old DOS games, where some effects are directly tied to processor speed, and the better your computer, the faster they will happen. Anyone here able to shed some light on the matter? EDIT: or is it because I am playing the game patched this time, so the regeneration from items works? EDIT2: no wait, I don't have any items with +regen...

Oh, and don't worry too much about playing male vs female. Both can be perfectly satisfying playthroughs, so go with whatever you feel like. But if you intend to play both and explore a lot of options, I recommend playing your female as physical combat-oriented, and your male as a Consular and focus on Wisdom and Force powers. This is because only males can get Battle Precognition, which adds your Wisdom bonus to defense. Or just go with whatever the hell you want. The game is comfortably beatable with any basic setup.

Yeah, you can jedify all meatbags except for Hanharr and Mandalore. I recommend you get influence where you can. Some characters require more effort than others; for instance Mira you can do immediately if you converse with her the right way. After that there's little point wasting INF opportunities on her. Also there are some influence opportunities that are character-specific, and you won't benefit from it unless you have the right character. For instance, when you're finding the atmospheric sensors for Saedhe on Dantooine, you might want to have Bao-Dur with you. There are influence guides on the Internet if you don't mind spoilers. Mostly they're still accurate for TSLRCM, although some INF opportunities have been added (I had something to do with that ).

Jedi Bao-Dur is a beast even without robes. Master Force Speed, Jump with a properly upgraded lightsaber, and he's instant death. I think combat-wise it pays to Jedify everyone, because at the very least they can increase their damage output rather significantly with Knight and Master Speed. However, what is most important to me is that Jedifying them means additional story content. Kotor 2 combat isn't very interesting, in terms of skill or difficulty. It's the story stuff that matters - to me, at least.

Not that I'm a fan of SW cliches, but, I have a bad feeling about this...

Uh. I think I am in cautious agreement with Hassat Hunter here. Your ideas are... er... what's the word I'm looking for.

Or..... was I?

*nod* I heard about that. Still, at least the line "I was the one who asked him to be exiled" needs to be seriously reconsidered, IMO. It does bad things to the Kotor 2 story, on many levels. For instance, part of the lesson Kreia wanted to teach was to show that the original decision of the masters to exile the Exile was an important error. Instead of trying to understand what really happened to him, they send him away - out of fear of what he represented and brought, to avoid letting him have an impact on them. It was symptomatic of the flaw Kreia wanted removed from the Jedi Order and its teachings. Realizing this made Zez-Kai quit the order, or at least claim to (until Vrook turned them all around I guess?). In any case, it's a pretty big theme, in the unmodded game anyway. But if now that decision is not really the Masters' any more, but Kreia's, it takes away from all that. It makes their decision meaningless as a choice, and thus makes it impossible to carry a moral.

Sorry to clutter the forum with this, but... VP, clean your mailbox!

Mandalore vs Esok Any idea why my Exile ended up naked after the fight was over? Also, could Esok perhaps get a gun or sword? It's kinda weird to be shooting him in the face while he tries to punch me. (And he clearly doesn't have the unarmed combat feats, given the damage output). In fact, all unarmed Mandalorians in the game should get weapons of some sort; isn't it revealed in the dialog with Kumus that being unarmed is against their code? Kreia and Atris dialog "No, I could not bring myself to tell him. It would have changed nothing." Wouldn't it only make sense if you failed the "[Persuade] If you know, tell me" check with Atris? Also: the in-game dialog log shows this to be spoken by... Kreia. Would this be another dialog branch from the earlier idea of Kotor 2, which was cut on purpose because it didn't fit the final vision of the story (rather due to time constraints)? The Visas-Mandalore scene right after killing Nihilus I don't know if you guys changed anything, but now Visas doesn't kneel over him at all, just stops a good few steps from him. EDIT: ah, it happens if I click before Nihilus' body disappears. When I have a moment I'm going to play with finding the Minimum Necessary Unskippability to make this work well no matter what. Most certainly not. The Gand's accomplishments are not worth mention. Is this correct English? Or should it be "worth mentioning"? If so, a .tlk issue (StrRef 115559).

That's why I use Aurora's Rebalance. Though I kind of don't care any more. Kotor 2 is a combat round-based game and therefore doesn't require skill, so who cares anyway. For a single player game with some challenge, and one where things like "class balance" matter, I go to Risen or its predecessors, Gothic 1 and 2. Kotor 2 I love for the characters, dialogue, atmosphere, subtleties of the story and background. Similar to Planescape Torment, where combat was even more irrelevant.

Any "pro" player?

Restore-able lines after Freedon Nadd's tomb "Did something happen on Dxun? You seem a little calmer than normal." After an NPC of yours led an assault on the Freedon Nadd temple, and faced temptation there, if they managed to resist it you'll get to ask them this. After asking "What did you learn?", usually there are two responses (except with Visas). For instance, with Mira: - Unjedified: {Casual, but not being mean about it}It's not important - maybe some other time we can talk about it. - Jedified: I learned why you act the way you do... and I learned that maybe I can have that kind of strength, too. (some more dialogue follows) The problem is that Mira is the only NPC for which this is scripted properly. For Atton and Handmaiden (as well as Bao-Dur) there are no conditionals, so the second option is never available. It's a shame, really. Could those lines be restored please, by adding the conditonals? EDIT: oh and for Disciple, too. Wasn't Bao-Dur meant to be one of the possible leaders of that assault? See above, he has dialogue for afterwards too. Hm, I can't find any content for this in Kelborn.dlg. Any of you more knowledgeable modders have an idea if his possible response to being selected as a leader exists anywhere?