Revisiting A Classic: "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" (2003) - Part 1 of 10 - Endar Spine
Revisiting A Classic:
"Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" (2003)
Part 1 of 10
Hey guys! I haven't posted since my Elden Ring gaming adventure more than a few months back but I started gaming again. Long story short, I got all the endings for Elden Ring but stopped playing a little after the coliseum update but will probably return to the Lands Between when DLC arrives.
I was feeling nostalgic after hearing we might get a Playstation 5 remake soon of Star Wars game, "Knights of the Old Republic," a.k.a. "KOTOR 1," so I decided to replay the original 2003 game.
I'd got KOTOR on my iPhone years ago so I just went into my app store history and re-downloaded. It was $10 and KOTOR 2's price was $15 so I'll probably grab that game too when I'm finished with the first one.
Anyway, here we go ... time to replay this classic game. I'll divide my posts for this game between the story's multiple locations.
Part 1 - Endar Spine
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic starts 4000 years before the Star Wars films, during a period known as the Jedi Civil War, a conflict between the Old Republic and the new Sith Empire.
KOTOR's first level is an Old Republic space vessel called Endar Spine, which is kind of like the game's tutorial.
But before you start, KOTOR has you pick your character's class, face, attributes, skills, feats, and name.
There are three classes in KOTOR: Soldier, Scoundrel, and Scout. I'd say they're similar to most RPG's warrior, mage, rogue classes but it's more simple than that. Soldier focuses on close-range and sword or staff weapons, while Scoundrel focuses on long-range attacks with blaster pistols, rifles, machine guns, grenades, and mines. Scout is more of a medium-range fighter, or incomplete mix of both Soldier and Scoundrel.
I picked Scoundrel because I wanted to be a Han Solo type character with a blaster pistol, plus I remember last time playing a more melee-focused Soldier with dual swords.
Not a lot of options for your face but KOTOR's not bad for a game made is 2003.
Attributes are your main stats: Strength for short-range attacks and heavier damage, Dexterity for long range and increased hit rate and evasiveness, Constitution for health and defense, Intelligence for boosting side stat points and boosting droid healing, Wisdom for Force Powers and Force Healing, and Charisma for Force Points and Regular Healing. There's also status effects in the game and it looks like folks online say either Wisdom or Charisma determine how successful status effects are on your character. As a final note for Strength and Dexterity: a high Strength will miss almost half the time but has a chance to insta-kill enemies, while a high Dexterity means you'll land most hits and dodge half or more of an enemy's attacks but rarely ever insta-kill an opponent.
In other words, a Soldier type should focus on Strength and Constitution, while a Scoundrel should focus on Dexterity and Intelligence if they want to sneak around and set mines.
Skills are side stats divided into Computer Use for hacking computers with less cyber spikes and parts, Demolition for defusing higher level mines, Stealth for higher and higher levels of stealth so enemies can't detect you before your 1st strike, Awareness so you can see higher level mines and stealth enemies, Persuasion for more dialogue options and efficacy (this one only works for your character), Repair for repairing droids with less parts, Security for opening doors and locked chests (You can melee open most chests, with a high enough Strength stat, so I'd just pick one side character max Security and let other characters spend their Intelligence points elsewhere), and Treat Injury which effects how much healing you receive from items, which isn't necessary for Jedi characters later on because they have Force Healing which is effected by Wisdom and Charisma.
Feats are basically KOTOR's skill tree which do a bunch of stuff: decide if and how heavy the armor you wear can be, what level implants you can use, give you special melee and range attacks, increase health and defense, increase evasiveness, give bonus melee and range damage, increase hit rate and power of dual weapons, allow Jedi to deflect higher percentage of blaster attacks, and etc.,. There's a lot here and you get extra rows for Jedi characters too, plus the additional skill tree for Force Powers later.
Equipment is a whole other part of the game, that took me a while to figure out. There's implants but only if you have implants unlocked in Feats, Head Gear which can be Light Side/Dark Side specific, Gloves, Gauntlets, left-hand and right-hand weapons, armor, and your belt. These all boost your primary stats, like Strength and Dexterity, except for a few head gear, gauntlets, and belts that give you special abilities like Stealth and limited Blaster Deflect.
Here's the gameplay screen for exploration and battle in KOTOR. There's the map in the top-left, Play/Pause button and Solo button above my character pic and health bar. The empty bar beside my health is for Force Points but we won't get that for a while. Bottom right is for Force Powers, Healing Items, Status Buff Items, and a fourth slot I can't remember -- maybe special equipment items?
The game's battles are real-time but you can pause them to pre-set a series of different commands: attack, heal, grenade, special attack, force power, uff item, etc. Your characters and enemies attack each other in turns but certain abilities allow you to attack more than once per turn.
Now I know I stopped playing for a while: personally I have to be in a specific mood to play RPG games like this or Elden Ring. If I don't have the time or patience to fully-immerse in something like this, I'd rather play a quick fighting or shoot-em-up game.
Anyway, back to the beginning of KOTOR and it's first level: Endar Spine.
Four thousand years before the Star Wars story most people know, there's a war between the Old Republic and the New Sith Empire called the Jedi Civil War.
These two bad guys above are Sith-Lord Darth Revan (right) and his apprentice friend Darth Malak (left), the leaders of the New Sith Empire. These two are the main villains of KOTOR.
Before the Jedi Civil War, was the Mandalorian Wars where the armies of the planet Mandalore (Boba and Jengo Fett's ancestors's home planet) started conquering the Star Wars galaxy. But since the Mandalorians were only conquering far away outer-rim worlds, and not main Old Republic planets, the Jedi Council refused to fight them.
The villains, Darth Revan and Darth Malak, used to be Jedi who served the Jedi Council but disagreed with the Jedi Order's decision to not help the outer-rim worlds. When the Mandalorians attacked a main Old Republic planet and the Jedi Council still refused to act, Revan and Malak left the order with a few other Jedi and disappeared.
Later, Revan and Malak reappeared with a fleet of mysterious new ships and defeated the Mandalorians, devastating them so badly that their armies were reduced to mercenaries. After that, Revan and Malak announced themselves as leaders of a New Sith Empire and attacked the Old Republic and the Jedi Order, claiming that the two authorities were no longer fit to rule the galaxy.
KOTOR's first level Endar Spine takes place right after these events. I know that was a lot of information but when I replayed the game I had a weak grasp of what was going on story-wise so the last six paragraphs are what I can remember from researching the who, what, when, and why online from wookipedia.
The gist of Endar Spine is that you wake up with no memories in a room and an Old Republic soldier named Trask tells you what's up: we're on an Old Republic ship in space being attacked by the New Sith Empire over the planet Taris, and we need to help a Jedi named Bastila escape because she's got a special Force Power called Battle Meditation that the Sith want.
If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below. I'm sure I missed something about the gameplay and lore, and am always down to learn more!
So you grab some gear and kill Sith soldiers with Trask while heading to the escape pod hangar to join up with Carth the guy pictured before the above pic of a Sith soldier and Old Republic staring each other down. Long story short, Trask sacrifices himself by fighting a Dark Jedi so you can find Bastila with Carth.
By the time, you find Carth he's already rocketed Bastila off the Endar Spine to the planet Taris below. You two hop into an escape pod and follow after her but somehow get separated.
KOTOR's Endar Spine isn't the strongest opening level I've seen in a game but for something from 2003 it's not that bad. I think, speaking from 2023, I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to video games so I expected something more explosive and epic. On a positive note, I do like the Scoundrel class and fighting enemies with a blaster instead of a sword, since I'd rather settle for melee when I finally get a lightsaber later on in the game.
My Final Grade for this 1st Level of Endar Spine -- 6/10
A rather dull opener but I'm willing to keep on going ...
See you guys in Part 2!
If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them below. I'm sure I missed something about the gameplay and lore, and am always down to learn more!
Online Image Sources Below
KOTOR POSTER <www.gamerant.com>
Sith Soldier vs Republic Soldier <www.i.ytimg.com>
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So it's an old game.
The poster art amazed me for sure.
Yeah it’s an Xbox and PC game from 2003. It’s playable on mobile now at $10 on Google, iPhone, and Switch, but also available on Steam for desktop.
Yeah, the art for Old Republic and older Star Wars stuff is killer. Definitely captures that dusty, epic, space opera aesthetic.
I loved Kotor, I also like the fact that Revan's story is continued in Swtor! If you never played swtor, it has been long rumored that the JK story of the game was originally meant to be the story to kotor 3!
Yeah, KOTOR has been surprisingly fun. I was worried playing a long-range scoundrel would be less fun then a sword-wielding soldier but now that I’ve become a DS Jedi Consular I’m beginning to see the lure of the Dark Side lol.
I haven’t played KOTOR 2 or SWTOR but I’ve heard great things and loved the trailers. It’s a shame they never ended making a KOTOR 3, or an anniversary remake with BioWare and Disney. Would’ve been a familiar nostalgia product with a built-in audience, plus they love remakes now.
Revan's and the Exile's story is continued in the tie in book for SWTOR called SWTOR Revan. It shows Revan and the exile going up against the emp. The game then continues that story, and we got a full whole revan xpac called Shadows of Revan!
I honestly hope the KOTOR remake is actually good and does the original justice
That sounds awesome. I’m going to need to find this book SWTOR Revan. Sounds epic.
Yeah hopefully the remake is good. I’m wondering if they could do it without changing too much about the original. Seems like tweaking source material is a popular trend nowadays.
It's not too long of a read. It covers Revan and him going on the hunt despite the council's objection and it follows Scourage, a sith pure blood rising up through the ranks of the empire.
Scourge is actually a companion to the JK in SWTOR!
Waooo I didn't know about the existence of this video game, and I'm quite a fan of Star Wars. But it looks great!
Salu2 😎
Thanks. Yeah it’s a bit of an oldie but we might get a nice PS5 remake in the next couple years. It’s been so long since it’s release, it can be played on mobile lol
One of the best Star Wars games, I remember like it was yesterday I played it all night and when I realized it was 6 am, my mom scolded me and punished me, hahahahahaha what a time! Good post bro :D
Thanks. Yeah, this one’s gonna be trouble because I can just take out my phone anywhere and get lost in the good Old Republic haha. Gonna have to set a timer every time I play haha
This is the true Star Wars lore stories before Disney corrupted it. I want a remaster!
Yeah I still remember when George Lucas gave Disney treatments and outlines for his third trilogy and offered to consult but they reminded him that it wasn’t his anymore because he sold it. A billion dollars is a lot of money but a thirty year legacy project sounds like something a person would want to keep in the family as a generational investment.
It’d be nice to see KOTOR 2023 style
Yeah, George must have regretted it big time.
So true.. Yes a remaster would be awesome. Both KOTOR 1 and 2. And THEN they should at last should make the final game of the triology that was cancelled:D
Part 1 of 10?!!!
So you already know how your posts are gonna be. Did you finished revisiting already?
Yeah. My plan is to write ten posts for the ten worlds/levels that are part of KOTOR’s story. I’ve played Endar Spine, Taris, Datooine, and Kashykk so far and am halfway through Manaan. After that, there’s Tatooine, Korriban, Leviathan, Lehon, and Star Forge. So I’m almost halfway
I have to admit this game is pretty good compared to 2003, man. Much better than I expected. Graphics, character details and a lot of features that affect the game (power, skills etc) are pretty good in my opinion. I'm very curious to see how the next game will be.
Yeah for a 20 year old game it’s still rather captivating and has a fun-enough RPG style that makes me curious about other play styles. I’m curious about the differences of role playing a no-lightsaber Han Solo type versus a Jedi Guardian like Anakin, a Sith Sentinel like Kylie, or a force-power only Consular who’s either full Light or full Dark. Lots of replay-ability here but I’m probably only going to do it twice, once as a Jedi Guardian and the other as a Sith Consular.
I really enjoyed this game, too. I found it pretty difficult on every play through, after the first part of the first one, when I realized I could save my exp. and gain more jedi levels, but once I got there it was cake with extra icing.
The duels side quest was particularly difficult, but the right buffs and grenades helped a lot.
I can't remember the kind of jedi I chose, but it was the one that got the most force powers and force points. At high levels, not much could save against whatever he threw at them, and he could use dark side abilities, like life leech, with penalty and still have plenty of force power in reserve... not to mention getting to max out so many useful force powers full skill trees, and a fast force power recharge rate.
This is a game I miss. Not surprising, as it was made by bioware, and built on the same engine as Neverwinter Nights (D&D 3.0), which I played many years prior and loved more than any other game, ever. The game was great out of the box, but it had a magical community that created some very incredible mods. With all the downloadable content it was hands down the best RPG video game I've ever played. Once the mod that added all the 3.x prestige classes and/or templates (even Demilich!!), and the community started putting out some Epic level campaigns it was an entirely new game over and over again.
Edit to add... One thing I would complain about is that the really high level equipment seemed to favor specific builds, meaning to really max out a really strong force power build, to include the ability to wear the +5 wis/dex robes, once had to be light side, and to get to use the cool warrior enhancements one had to lean dark. I actually played this through an iphone app, so I didn't have access to cool community mods like NWN, but I bet it was the absolute bomb on PC.
Yeah, KOTOR is one of the best RPGs I’ve played as well. It’s up there with Skyrim and Dragon Age for me but it’s been a while since I played too.
It sounds like you might’ve played as a dark Consular with a Scout starting class for the extra Force Points and regen. That’s a fun one. Dark Side powers are a lot of fun. I’m playing as a Scoundrel Consular for the Sneak Attack bonus damage from Dark Side Powers and the extra defense and evasiveness. Can’t wait to try Plague and Death Field and Force Storm. Last time I played, I went the Light-Side Jedi Guardian route which was an unstoppable melee tank with Force Push and some more defensive perks.
I remember there being some late-game head gear that was for Light Side only and did decent Wisdom buff, while the Dark Side equivalent which might’ve been head gear too was rather lackluster in comparison. I guess they don’t want us having too much fun playing the Dark Side.
Can’t wait to play KOTOR twice and then check out KOTOR 2 which I’m fresh to since I’ve never played but I’m highly looking forward to.
I played KOTOR 2, and I think it could've been better, but was a good game none the less. I liked the way force powers worked more than the 1st, but I think it only matched the first in ways thst it could've surpassec so maybe I just had my hopes too high. Definitely worth the play, though.
Ah this takes me back. This (and KOTOR2) is possibly my favorite single player RPG's of all time, and actually what got me into the star wars universe in general – I remember playing these on my modded xbox 1.
I kinda agree the first tutorial level is a bit boring. But on the other hand also I kinda like the slow pace and linearity in the beginning. I think it's a good and slow buildup and introduction to the story you're about to immerse yourself in.
A sneaky melee based scoundrel sounds nice. It'll be interesting to see how he develops