Bioware is one of those companies that share a unique and prestigious title with Blizzard: they haven’t really made a bad game. Anyone who has played their RPGs and Action titles can attest to that. Great titles such as the Baldur’s Gate Series , Neverwinter Nights (and its expansions), the old-school play style of MDK 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Quite an impressive list of grade-A titles. So is it a doomed idea to hand over the responsibilities of a sequel to another developer, Obsidian Entertainment?
If you’ve played the first one on either the Xbox or PC you can surely appreciate this fantastic news. The original KotOR was awarded by many publications as the best RPG of 2003, and with good reason too. The new game will take place 5 years after the adventure that took place in the first title. As a Jedi outcast you are trying to get back into The Republic after it’s plunged into turmoil from the Revan/Malak war of the original KotOR. The Jedi Order is hiding out in Dantooine and you want back in.
Some of your old party members such as HK-47 will appear and your character from the first title will be around as well, but not as a playable character, which leads me to mention there will be no save game import from the original. You will also run into the Ebon Hawk as well, but not many other details are known at this time.
The game will be running on the same engine, so the mechanics will, no doubt, be similar but with some slight upgrades. Nothing to look down on of course, as the first title was graphically amazing in many facets. One of the additions we do know of is the emergence of a new playable class, the Jedi ‘Prestige’ class. We will still have the regular Scout and Soldier classes, too. The title of the game is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords and it’s scheduled for a February 2005 release. We will let you know more as and when we learn it.