sub, 24. srpnja '04 u 07:31
Evo nesto o KOTORU 2,ovaj put s Gamespya:When we last saw Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords, it was during the hustle and bustle of E3, where we had a chance to get a hands-on with the follow-up to our Game of the Year for 2003. Most of the stuff that we saw was a lot like the previous game, and most people agreed that this was a good thing. Anytime you give the keys to a franchise to a new developer - in this case, Obsidian Entertainment - there is always a risk that they'll try to change things too much and risk alienating the fans that made the game a smash hit. Thankfully, Obsidian realized that BioWare had created a great game, so there really wasn't much that needed to be changed.
At a press event earlier today in San Francisco's scenic Presidio, we were given another look at the game, and although we didn't get to try it out for ourselves, the developers were on hand to take us through some of the new additions. Before telling you about the new stuff, though, let's go through a little bit of the game's backstory, shall we?
KotOR II takes place approximately five years after the end of the last game, and the Jedi order has been nearly decimated, thanks to the efforts of some extremely pissed off Siths. You can't really blame them, though, since two of their beloved leaders were taken out by the Jedis. All that's left of the Jedi are a few outcasts, including your character, a nameless (so far) former Jedi that was kicked out of the order for some reason that hasn't been revealed yet. Have we mentioned yet that most of the story is shrouded in secrecy?
The first thing I was shown was a new planet called Onderon, which is ruled by a queen who is allied with the Republic. There's a bit of an upheaval going on right now, though, as half of the population feels that the Republic has done nothing for them but send their best and brightest off to die in an intergalactic war. The other half of the people believes that the queen is doing what is best for her people, and that her people should stand by her side.
The producer told me that you'll be able to pick a side and fight for them, play both sides against each other, or simply remain neutral. It's not really known if there are any advantages to any of these options, but that's part of what made the first game so great. You can choose to do whatever you want, and that's obviously the case here, as well.
While we really didn't get to see much of the planet itself (we simply got a tour of the starport), the producers told me that we can expect a lot more types of terrain in the game. He said they've added a lot of areas that are on different vertical planes, so that many levels involved running up and down slopes or ramps to get to other parts in the level. This was evident in the area leading up to the queen's palace, as the group ran up a few ramps, battling their way to the main throne area.
Speaking of battling, we also got a look at some of the sweet new force powers in the game. Both of the powers that we were shown were from the Dark Side, and they were definitely not for nice guys. Force Scream is a ranged sonic attack of sorts, as your character will let out an ear piercing scream that will either kill or stun any enemies in the blast radius. Unfortunately, the balancing hadn't been fully finished, so everytime we saw the power in action, it killed everyone nearby. The sound wasn't finished yet, either, so we only saw sonic waves radiate out from the character. Still, it looks like this will be a very powerful addition to any Dark Jedi's bag of tricks.
The second new Dark Side force power we saw was Force Crush. This one was pretty bad-ass, as you lift your enemy off of the ground, hold him aloft for a few seconds, then use your mind to crush him into a ball. The animation didn't seem to be completed, but it definitely looks like this will be one of the more brutal powers we've seen so far. Your enemy's arms and legs bend at impossible angles, and I can just imagine the sickening sound effects that will created to go along with the animations.
There was also one new character introduced today, and his name is Darth Sion. As you can probably guess by the "Darth" in his name, he's a bad guy, and he's a bit like Darth Malak, in that you battle him a few times over the course of the game. Darth Sion is definitely a candidate for "nastiest looking Star Wars character", as he's basically a rotting corpse that is being held together by the power of the Dark Side.
The character model is very detailed so far, with mottled, cracked grey skin, lots of rotting holes in his flesh, and one disgustingly milky eye. According to the producer, Darth Sion does not fear death, as death would be a blessing to him. It will be interesting to see why Darth Sion is being kept alive at all. I'd say that there's a good chance that it will be for some insidious reason known only to the Siths (and the insidious developers at Obsidian).
So far, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords is shaping up to be a worthy successor to last year's great game. While it's far too early to judge things like graphics and framerate, it looks like all of the core elements that made the first game great are only going to be better in the sequel. If things keep moving forward nicely, hopefully we'll be talking about KotOR III by this time next year!
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Darth_Maul-The Lord izmjenio poruku 24.07.2004, 10:06