STAR WARS: Knights of the Old Republic (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.3 Update

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) is a media franchise of space western role-playing video games created and developed by BioWare, which have seen releases on the original Xbox, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, IOS, and Android. The franchise takes place in the fictional universe of Star Wars by George Lucas.

The first title, and subsequent massively multiplayer online role-playing game series, was developed by BioWare while the second was done by Obsidian Entertainment per LucasArts’ request. All were published by LucasArts. The video game series is based on an earlier comic book series; the franchise includes a subsequent new comic book series. Both comic series were published by Dark Horse Comics and act as prequels to the video games.

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 the end of each round.

The alignment system tracks actions and speech – from simple word choice to major plot decisions – to determine whether the player’s character aligns with the light or dark side of the Force. In the first game, the player’s speech and actions do not affect their teammates. However, the player influences their companions in The Sith Lords, the player’s actions determining not only what side the player is on, but their teammates as well.

The influence the player has on another character can be minor, from converting a character from the dark side to the light to something as major as teaching them the ways of the Jedi themselves. Influence can be lost, however, if the player makes an action inconsistent with past decisions, causing the player to pay very close attention before reacting in any way. The series includes “Gray Jedi” who tend to follow their path as far as the Force is concerned rather than obeying the light or dark side.

PLOT

Four thousand years before the Star Wars films, Darth Malak – Darth Revan’s apprentice – has unleashed a Sith armada against the Republic. Many Jedi, scattered and left vulnerable by Malak’s aggression, die in battle while others swear loyalty and allegiance to Malak. The game opens with the player’s character awakening aboard a doomed Republic capital ship with no recollection of their past. After escaping the ship and crash-landing on Taris, the player gradually gathers companions and pieces together their past while attempting to stop Malak’s forces. To accomplish this, the main character and their 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 they align with the light or dark side of the Force. Depending on the character’s alignment, they eventually reach 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 their companions are hailed as saviors and heroes; a dark side character stands before the remaining Sith forces as the new Sith Lord.

The Sith Lords takes place five years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic, in a time when the Jedi have been nearly exterminated by the Sith. The player’s character is a former Jedi Knight exiled from the Jedi Order, referred to as “the Exile” or “Jedi Exile”. During the Mandalorian Wars, the Exile served under Revan who ordered the activation of a devastating gravitational superweapon – the Mass Shadow Generator – that caused so many deaths to the point where they stripped themself of all connections to the Force unconsciously to save themself, and was removed from the Jedi Order.

Throughout the game, the player’s character restores a connection to the Force while, with the help of their new companions, trying to stop the Sith. Unlike the previous game where your actions affect the fate of the galaxy, here your actions affect only the planets you visit. You can choose to either help or hinder the Republic’s attempt to rebuild these planets. In the end, if the character is light-aligned, the Mass Shadow Generator is activated and destroys Malachor V and the Exile goes into an unknown space to find Revan. A dark-aligned character, however, takes over the Sith academy on Malachor V, and the Mass Shadow Generator is destroyed.

The Old Republic takes place 300 years after the previous two games, shortly after the establishment of a tenuous peace between the re-emergent Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. The Jedi are held responsible for the success of the Sith and chose to relocate from Coruscant to Tython, where the Jedi Order had been initially founded, to seek guidance from the Force. The Sith controlled Korriban, where they re-established a Sith Academy. The game begins as new conflicts arise.