For example, the summer of '95 was a really special one for me, for a number of reasons, and all those memories are bound to Everclear - Sparkle and Fade, Neil Young - Mirror Ball, Mad Season - Above, White Zombie - Astrocreep 2000 and more. I couldn't tell you when, exactly, a lot of things happened, but I can tell you what was in my Walkman, and later, my phone, at that general time.
Which is why it was so puzzling to me, the other night, that I associate Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic with Velvet Revolver and Melissa auf der Maur. Contraband and Auf der Maur, I was certain, came out a couple years after KotOR.
And I was right. KotOR hit in 2003, but I wouldn't touch it. I also didn't have an Xbox.
Now, I'm also not someone that views nostalgia as a good thing, in fact, I tend to have a pretty low opinion of those that are hung up on nostalgia, as if all good things stopped happening after they turned 18, so I tend not to dwell on the past.
As such, I was fairly surprised and amused when I thought through the events that led me to KotOR.
There was a time, pretty much from sixth grade (when I got the first Final Fantasy the day it came out at the local Wal-Mart after going ga-ga about it from Nintendo Power previews), all the way through high school, that pretty much all I played was JRPGs and other Japanese console games. Western development and PC gaming were nowhere on my radar.
Then, the transition from Final Fantasy IX to Final Fantasy X happened. It was a really hard time. Personally, from 1996 to 2001, I had a pretty substantial 'growing up' transformation, but also, the gaming landscape changed dramatically. JRPGs hit their peak, the Final Fantasy movie happened, Sakaguchi was tossed out of Squenix, and we were handed the very bland Final Fantasy X. It's not a bad game, and actually has some very strong points, but overall, it served as a death knell for the genre and the series.
In that time, a funny thing happened. Microsoft entered the console race. I initially sneered at this, since at the time, I knew Bill Gates and Microsoft were little more than the Borg manifested in reality.
I played through Final Fantasy X, despite the story and characters and overall bland experience (though combat was pretty rad), I tried Final Fantasy XI, which I hated (I'd never played an MMO before), I actually kinda dug X-2, mainly because it had great systems and didn't feature the heavy-handed pseudo-angst of X, while slowly, western RPGs started to creep into the console world.
I remember a roommate showing me Morrowind on his PC during this time. It was ugly, different, and weird. I just flat-out ignored it.
I remember seeing KotOR get previewed in EGM, GamePro, and a few other magazines. I remember seeing it on gaming websites, which were still kind of a new thing for me then.
I remember seeing it, thinking it looked more like an action game, and since it wasn't turn-based, I wasn't even going to look at it.
I remember all this stuff, and I smirk and shake my head. Ah, youth (despite being in my 20s at the time).
I did my undergrad in Chicago. One weekend, I went back to St. Louis (where I've spent most of my life) to visit family and friends. One particular evening, a very good friend, whose tastes I've come to trust, told me about being at another buddy's house and watching him play that new 'Knights of the Old Republic' game, and it was super-awesome, because there was this part where you had to clear a room of Sith, and you could either hack a computer to blow shit up in there, or you could reprogram this droid, and there were all these choices throughout the game that got you light and dark side points, and it was so awesome.
So, I mulled it over, then went out and bought KotOR for PC. And my PC wasn't beefy enough to run it. So I went out and bought an Xbox and KotOR. This was 2004.
Bear in mind, this was my first BioWare game. I'd ignored PC gaming all through the 90s, so this kind of game was just mind-blowing.
Having a JRPG junkie, I was very much accustomed to the 'illusion of choice' that JRPGs gave, and which, years later, BioShock would point out is actually in nearly every game. While KotOR definitely had some of this illusion going, the order of magnitude was far less, in terms of how much of it was illusion. Choices actually produced multiple and seemingly profound outcomes. Companions reacted to me. Situations had multiple approach vectors. AND I HAVE A FUCKING LIGHTSABER.
I was in love, and at a very key time. Some personal things had completely fallen apart, and at a critical juncture. Long story short, I was a free agent, on all fronts, but I needed to go home (St. Louis) and take care of some things there. While St. Louis and Star Wars were all-too familiar to me, they'd also changed a lot in my absence, and I needed that combination of familiar and new.
I played the hell out of this thing, still managed to graduate that spring, and then during my move back to St. Louis, the HDD in the Xbox was damaged, and I was heart-broken.
I went to my local GameStop (one of the old FuncoLands I'd run as a managed, actually), and got a brand-new Xbox and a trial for Xbox Live. I bought the Xbox-exclusive DLC for KotOR (some station where you rescue a guy and you can buy shit), and started my game over. Replaying all the stuff I'd already done was actually more fun than I thought it would be. I actually made some different choices that time around, completed some things I hadn't before, and marveled at how some of the companions reacted a little differently.
That summer, I started to hear about KotOR 2, which was coming from a different developer, but they were friends with BioWare or something, and it was going to hit that holiday. So, I accelerated my play even more, to make sure I was ready.
Anyway, playing through KotOR was a transformative experience, and one that I am so glad happened. It really did forever alter my trajectory, not just as a gamer, but as a developer, and person. My narrow tastes were expanded greatly, and there was so much more out there for me to enjoy. I went back through BioWare's back catalog, same with Obisidian and Black Isle, and then eventually found my way to Bethesda, and on and on.
Also, JRPGs, Final Fantasy XII aside, seemed to go straight into the shitter. I guess I do like Final Fantasy XIV, as well.
Anyway, as you may know, KotOR 2 got a big update out of nowhere, which led me to finally mod up my KotOR1 install to 1920x1080, and I've been replaying it. As I said, I tend to look down on nostalgia quite a bit, and I still do, but it's been interesting to hear echoes of the past as I talk and fight my way through the underbelly of Taris. It's also interesting to compare my more recent adventures on Taris in SWTOR with what I'm seeing now.
I've also found it interesting to see, first hand, just how far BioWare has come as a developer since the release of KotOR in 2002. And not only from the obvious technology standpoint, but in terms of how they implement that technology, and how design sensibilities have evolved, both in terms of development choices, but also how those choices have shaped consumer expectations.
I have many more thoughts on this that I'll share here, but not right now. Time and trying to avoid the 'mega-post' are constraints right now.
Oh, and I don't even have time to talk about the amazing mods out there for KotOR2.
Anyway, I'll be replaying KotOR, KotOR2 (TSLRCM), and then the Jedi Knight story in SWTOR, and I plan to post some thoughts as I go. I might even stream some of it on Twitch. I'll let you know.
Do you have any particularly fun or interesting memories regarding this series? Any plans to replay any of these great games?
And I was right. KotOR hit in 2003, but I wouldn't touch it. I also didn't have an Xbox.
Now, I'm also not someone that views nostalgia as a good thing, in fact, I tend to have a pretty low opinion of those that are hung up on nostalgia, as if all good things stopped happening after they turned 18, so I tend not to dwell on the past.
As such, I was fairly surprised and amused when I thought through the events that led me to KotOR.
There was a time, pretty much from sixth grade (when I got the first Final Fantasy the day it came out at the local Wal-Mart after going ga-ga about it from Nintendo Power previews), all the way through high school, that pretty much all I played was JRPGs and other Japanese console games. Western development and PC gaming were nowhere on my radar.
Then, the transition from Final Fantasy IX to Final Fantasy X happened. It was a really hard time. Personally, from 1996 to 2001, I had a pretty substantial 'growing up' transformation, but also, the gaming landscape changed dramatically. JRPGs hit their peak, the Final Fantasy movie happened, Sakaguchi was tossed out of Squenix, and we were handed the very bland Final Fantasy X. It's not a bad game, and actually has some very strong points, but overall, it served as a death knell for the genre and the series.
In that time, a funny thing happened. Microsoft entered the console race. I initially sneered at this, since at the time, I knew Bill Gates and Microsoft were little more than the Borg manifested in reality.
I played through Final Fantasy X, despite the story and characters and overall bland experience (though combat was pretty rad), I tried Final Fantasy XI, which I hated (I'd never played an MMO before), I actually kinda dug X-2, mainly because it had great systems and didn't feature the heavy-handed pseudo-angst of X, while slowly, western RPGs started to creep into the console world.
I remember a roommate showing me Morrowind on his PC during this time. It was ugly, different, and weird. I just flat-out ignored it.
I remember seeing KotOR get previewed in EGM, GamePro, and a few other magazines. I remember seeing it on gaming websites, which were still kind of a new thing for me then.
I remember seeing it, thinking it looked more like an action game, and since it wasn't turn-based, I wasn't even going to look at it.
I remember all this stuff, and I smirk and shake my head. Ah, youth (despite being in my 20s at the time).
I did my undergrad in Chicago. One weekend, I went back to St. Louis (where I've spent most of my life) to visit family and friends. One particular evening, a very good friend, whose tastes I've come to trust, told me about being at another buddy's house and watching him play that new 'Knights of the Old Republic' game, and it was super-awesome, because there was this part where you had to clear a room of Sith, and you could either hack a computer to blow shit up in there, or you could reprogram this droid, and there were all these choices throughout the game that got you light and dark side points, and it was so awesome.
So, I mulled it over, then went out and bought KotOR for PC. And my PC wasn't beefy enough to run it. So I went out and bought an Xbox and KotOR. This was 2004.
Bear in mind, this was my first BioWare game. I'd ignored PC gaming all through the 90s, so this kind of game was just mind-blowing.
Having a JRPG junkie, I was very much accustomed to the 'illusion of choice' that JRPGs gave, and which, years later, BioShock would point out is actually in nearly every game. While KotOR definitely had some of this illusion going, the order of magnitude was far less, in terms of how much of it was illusion. Choices actually produced multiple and seemingly profound outcomes. Companions reacted to me. Situations had multiple approach vectors. AND I HAVE A FUCKING LIGHTSABER.
I was in love, and at a very key time. Some personal things had completely fallen apart, and at a critical juncture. Long story short, I was a free agent, on all fronts, but I needed to go home (St. Louis) and take care of some things there. While St. Louis and Star Wars were all-too familiar to me, they'd also changed a lot in my absence, and I needed that combination of familiar and new.
I played the hell out of this thing, still managed to graduate that spring, and then during my move back to St. Louis, the HDD in the Xbox was damaged, and I was heart-broken.
I went to my local GameStop (one of the old FuncoLands I'd run as a managed, actually), and got a brand-new Xbox and a trial for Xbox Live. I bought the Xbox-exclusive DLC for KotOR (some station where you rescue a guy and you can buy shit), and started my game over. Replaying all the stuff I'd already done was actually more fun than I thought it would be. I actually made some different choices that time around, completed some things I hadn't before, and marveled at how some of the companions reacted a little differently.
That summer, I started to hear about KotOR 2, which was coming from a different developer, but they were friends with BioWare or something, and it was going to hit that holiday. So, I accelerated my play even more, to make sure I was ready.
Anyway, playing through KotOR was a transformative experience, and one that I am so glad happened. It really did forever alter my trajectory, not just as a gamer, but as a developer, and person. My narrow tastes were expanded greatly, and there was so much more out there for me to enjoy. I went back through BioWare's back catalog, same with Obisidian and Black Isle, and then eventually found my way to Bethesda, and on and on.
Also, JRPGs, Final Fantasy XII aside, seemed to go straight into the shitter. I guess I do like Final Fantasy XIV, as well.
Anyway, as you may know, KotOR 2 got a big update out of nowhere, which led me to finally mod up my KotOR1 install to 1920x1080, and I've been replaying it. As I said, I tend to look down on nostalgia quite a bit, and I still do, but it's been interesting to hear echoes of the past as I talk and fight my way through the underbelly of Taris. It's also interesting to compare my more recent adventures on Taris in SWTOR with what I'm seeing now.
I've also found it interesting to see, first hand, just how far BioWare has come as a developer since the release of KotOR in 2002. And not only from the obvious technology standpoint, but in terms of how they implement that technology, and how design sensibilities have evolved, both in terms of development choices, but also how those choices have shaped consumer expectations.
I have many more thoughts on this that I'll share here, but not right now. Time and trying to avoid the 'mega-post' are constraints right now.
Oh, and I don't even have time to talk about the amazing mods out there for KotOR2.
Anyway, I'll be replaying KotOR, KotOR2 (TSLRCM), and then the Jedi Knight story in SWTOR, and I plan to post some thoughts as I go. I might even stream some of it on Twitch. I'll let you know.
Do you have any particularly fun or interesting memories regarding this series? Any plans to replay any of these great games?
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