KotOR 2 - Chris Avellone Forum Q&A

Dhruin · October 16, 2009

Chris Avellone has posted his answers to a series of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 questions from Obsidian forumite, Joakim. Here's a sample:

1. K2 pretty much changed on how the force, the galaxy, the Jedi are portrayed. How did that work in terms that you were making a sequel to a very typical Star Wars game? (KotOR1, we have this evil dude who wants to blow up the galaxy just for the hell of it).

A lot of it came from deep-rooted feelings and opinions about the Star Wars franchise, both positive and negative, and especially what it would feel like to be a Jedi or Sith in that universe. I've always had an issue with the Force because of its predestination aspects, and I wonder if any Jedi or Sith would ever want to rebel against it entirely... and if they'd be willing to give up their ties of the Force (and all that power) to do it. Nihilus in K2 is a being who's wholly surrendered himself to what the Force is, and the fact he's completely consumed by the self-destructive Sith technique sums up my problems with the Force.

Don't get me wrong, though, I found a lot to enjoy in the Star Wars universe, much like the other franchises I've worked with. I do like to go into a campaign setting though and poke at the foundations a bit.

More information.

guenthar · October 16, 2009

If they want to make a Star Wars rpg that goes away from the requirement of good and evil with the Jedi and Sith maybe they should make one based in the time before the Jedi and Sith split. They were originally one group so having a "shades of gray" story during this time period should be easier and they could also explain the reason for the split.

Bedwyr · October 16, 2009

That's what I thought KotOR 1 was going to be before it came out.

SeanM · October 16, 2009

Interesting interview.

I never thought KOTOR2 fit in well with the style and story of KOTOR1. Though it made sense for Obsidian to make it in their own way rather than try to be an inferior copy of Biowares style. They did ok for the lack of time they had.

I thought the first game had a neat conclusion. It seemed too wierd to overcome the Sith. And then suddenly have the jedi order wiped out and assassinated.

I would have preferred a brief euphoria of peace and then the practical difficulties in rebuilding planets and institutions. There would be a power vaccuum, internal conflict, instability, opportunistic power plays, old rivalries and different ideologies emerging.

Maybe it could be inspired by either post WW1 or post WW2. Where after a destructive conflict, everything has changed and has to be put back together.

LuckyCarbon · October 16, 2009

Essentially, on Alpha Protocol the Obsidian design staff is now acting as quality assurance as well, playing the game frequently and just looking for new bugs since our bug queues are pretty low and most people have moved off to other projects.

Very interesting, most of the speculation about the AP delay was that it was full of bugs and not ready for release yet. But Avellone says it has very few bugs, and if most everyone has moved to other projects, it's doesn't sound like a major overhaul pushed by the publisher like some have speculated. Perhaps the delay really was to avoid the competition of DA, Risen & MW2.

Alrik Fassbauer · October 17, 2009

As far as I know the way the Force is presented in the game about Darth Nihilus provoked a few problems with the kind of "canon" view of the Force, at least what I read at Wookiepedia.

Me, I have developed an entirely different point of view of The Force, which isn't even less compatible with what they believe what "canon" is.

KotOR 2 - Chris Avellone Forum Q&A

Dhruin

SasqWatch

guenthar

SasqWatch

Bedwyr

Sentinel

SeanM

Watcher

LuckyCarbon

RollPGs

Alrik Fassbauer

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