Not giving anything away, but I just don't think the sequal lived up to the original.
The strong points are the story, LA is usually pretty good in this department. New powers and weapons as well as added fighting techniques. Cameo's by the older characters was nice (a certain pair of the 'darker' ones still rock. ).
However, there are noticable bugs, particularly in the interaction and dialog. The game tends to get confused if you're male or female at times. I've noticed the frame rate drop dramatically in large combat sequences. And as usual, the end bosses are next to unbeatable unless you find some glitch to exploit.
Overall, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5. Its still a good game (I am playing through a second time), but just didn't live up to the original in most aspects. I guess sequals are dissapointing because I expect more from them.
I'd say if it weren't for the bugs KOTOR 2 would meet or exceed the original. As to the bugs they mainly consist in 3 categories, cinema troubles and gender confusion in the dialogue and inventory. The gender confusion only occurs if you pick female for your self or Revan. The problem with the cinema is they use the actual in game characters. This came to be a problem where I once led some enemies somewhere they weren't suppose to be and didn't kill them when a cinema seen concerning a certain one handed member of my team occurred these enemies interrupted the cinema and killed the people involved in the cinema leaving me stuck in that level as the cinema has to end so you can go to the next level. This happened only rarely but was a pain when it did. As far as the items go it's possible to duplicate light sabers if you know the trick to it and I for got to mention there is one area where there are infinitely responeing enemies so you can exploit that for experience.
Beyond the fact it angers me that this game was kept from perfection by a month of bug squashing I would still say the developers did a good job and they were probably rushed by the developer. I would recommend Kotor 2 to anyone who likes starwars or RPG period. I'd say it deserves 4 out of 5.
Well I never had the ingame cinema problem you described.
Still I would recommend it for purchase, it took me about 36 hours to complete the first go around, which was equal to the oriniginal. And it was certainly worth the money I spent on it due to the replayability using different gender/force affiliation.
spoliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The story begins five years after the end of Kotor with you being a jedi who served as a general in the maladorian wars who served under Reven untill the final battle at Malacor V where you lost your ability to use the force after the planets destruction. You've been wondering around in the outer rim for the past ten years. Upon returning to known space you find out about Revan defeating Malak then disipearing not long after, leaving the republic to pick up the pieces. Upon all that you find out there is something about you that pisses all the remaining Sith lords off making no end of trouble for you.
Actually, couple of more spoilers... . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . A big part of this game is telling the whole "What happened to Revan?" story. Your choices during in game dialog decide whether Revan ended up jedi or sith, and even male or female. And depending on which it is, you can have any number of different cutscenes.
Also, your characters own gender will affect your party (1 character will appear if you are male, a different if you are female).
And as a last added tidbit, unlike the 1st game where your group more or less had your best interests in mind...well, just don't expect that this time around. Each character has his/her own agenda this time.
).
