Knights of the Old Republic II is a role-playing video game played from a third-person view that features pausable real-time combat. Combat and interactions with the environment and non-player characters in Knights of the Old Republic II are based on the d20 System as in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The game starts with a character creation screen with several choices to make, and there is also an option of letting the game do it automatically. There are 30 new Force powers, which are manifestations of the Force, in Knights of the Old Republic II. Like its predecessor, the game has several minigames, including swoop bike racing and a card game called Pazaak. The interface has been streamlined from the original game and party management has been made easier; for example, the player can switch between two selected weapon sets in the menu. As in the first game, the player can choose to align with either the light side or the dark side. Choosing dialogue options that are respectful and empathetic gives the protagonist light side points, while options that are egotistic and evil result in dark side points.
The combat of Knights of the Old Republic II is identical to its predecessor. Several new lightsaber forms were added to the game. Each of them is useful for a different situation. For example, one is best for enemies using blaster weapons, while another would be good for recovering from using Force powers. The player can use a variety of melee and ranged weapons, including swords and firearms. Fighting unarmed is also an option. A new addition to the game is "prestige classes", add-ons to the Jedi classes that were established in Knights of the Old Republic. They allow the player character to practice in lightsaber combat or Force powers, depending on player choice.
The player can travel with up to two party members at a time, who gain experience points at the same rate as the player character. Equipment and perks for party characters can be selected for different statistical effects or abilities. Players can loot corpses and various environmental objects. The protagonist also has the ability to "influence" their party members; by doing things that impress them, the player increases their influence with them. Depending on the level of influence, party members may support the player character unconditionally or turn against the protagonist. The player can also exploit high influence by drawing party members to either the light side or the dark side, and some characters can even be trained to use the Force.
Synopsis
Setting
The game takes place five years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic and 4,000 years before Episode I: The Phantom Menace, in a time when the Jedi have been nearly exterminated by the Sith. The player's character, a former Jedi Knight exiled from the Jedi Order, is referred to as "The Exile" or "Jedi Exile". Throughout the game, the Exile restores their connection to the Force while, with the help of playable companions, setting out to stop the Sith. The player makes choices that turn the Exile to either the light side or the dark side of the Force, and they travel to six planets to either help or hinder the Republic's efforts to bring peace and stability to the galaxy.
New playable locations in Knights of the Old Republic II include Telos IV, Onderon and its moon Dxun, Nar Shaddaa, Malachor V, the Peragus Mining Facility, and various starships such as the hijacked Republic cruiser Harbinger, the Sith cruiser Ravager, and Goto's yacht orbiting Nar Shaddaa. Two planets featured in the original game, Korriban and Dantooine, are revisited, both with ravaged buildings and intensified problems. The Ebon Hawk, the main character's ship in the first game, is also the player's transportation in Knights of the Old Republic II.
Characters
The Exile's backstory reveals that the character served under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars and ordered the activation of a devastating weapon in the climactic battle over Malachor V. The deaths that ensued created such a substantial "wound" in the Force that the character was forced to sever their connection to the Force to survive, and the Jedi Council ordered the character exiled from the Jedi Order. As the game progresses, the Jedi Exile rebuilds a connection to the Force and creates unusually strong Force Bonds with other characters and places, while unknowingly sapping Force powers.
Among the characters who join the Jedi Exile are Kreia, who acts as the Exile's mentor; pilot and former Sith assassin Atton Rand; technician and Mandalorian War veteran Bao-Dur and his droid remote; the criminal droid G0-T0; and the Sith apprentice Visas Marr. T3-M4 and Canderous Ordo (now identified as "Mandalore"), both featured in the first game, also join the Exile's team. Other characters join the Exile's party under certain conditions. HK-47, who appears in the first game, joins the quest if the Exile collects and uses the parts necessary to reactivate him. Depending on the player's alignment, the Exile will either be joined by the bounty hunter Mira (light side or neutral) or by her rival, a Wookiee bounty hunter known as Hanharr (dark side). Depending on the player's gender (canonically female), the Exile will either be joined by Mical the Disciple (female Exile) or Brianna the Handmaiden (male Exile).
The game features three main antagonists: Darth Traya, a mysterious assailant who remains in the dark through most of the game; Darth Sion, an undead Sith Lord with a murderous hatred for Jedi; and Darth Nihilus, a Sith Lord whose physical being was destroyed due to his immense affinity to the Force.
Plot
While hiding on the Harbinger, a Republic cruiser, the Exile is sedated by HK-50, an assassin droid, to be delivered to a crime syndicate called the Exchange, who have put out a bounty on live Jedi. The Exile is rescued by Kreia, with whom the Exile forms a Force Bond, and the droid T3-M4 on the Ebon Hawk, and the three flee the Harbinger as it is hijacked by a squad of Sith assassins. However, their ship is damaged during the escape by the Harbinger's gunfire, and they eventually arrive at the Peragus Mining Facility. Teaming up with smuggler Atton Rand, the group escapes to the planet Telos IV. While hiding out on Telos, they encounter Atris, a surviving member of the Jedi Council who sentenced the protagonist to exile ten years prior. After settling a dispute regarding the Exile's past sentence, Atris forms an uneasy alliance with them, instructing them to seek out other surviving Jedi in order to rally against the Sith. The Exile then travels to four worlds to find reclusive Jedi Masters and either beg for their aid or kill them in revenge for being exiled, depending on player choice. As the Exile continues their journey, they are joined by several individuals in their quest.
After finding all the Masters, the Exile travels back to Dantooine and learns that the countless deaths at Malachor V resulted in the Exile unconsciously giving up their connection to the Force, which then became the teachings of the new Sith. If the player aided the Jedi Masters, they prepare to strip the Exile of their Force connection permanently, as the Masters fear that these teachings could result in the actual death of the Force, but Kreia reveals herself to be the former leader of the Sith and murders them all in retribution. If the player killed the Jedi Masters, Kreia attacks the Exile and leaves. Tracking Kreia to Telos, the Exile fights and defeats a corrupted Atris, from whom it is learned that Kreia plans to strengthen a massive wound in the Force made ten years prior. This wound had been created by the Exile during the Mandalorian Wars, when they activated a superweapon in order to end the battle on the planet Malachor V, causing mass death and destruction. Before following her to Malachor V, where Kreia had since rejoined the Sith as Darth Traya, the Exile stops a Sith invasion of Telos, defeating one of Traya's former apprentices, the Sith Lord Darth Nihilus. On Malachor V, the Exile is separated from their companions and fights through hordes of monsters on the planet's surface and the inhabitants of a large Sith Academy who survived the cataclysm. On the final floor of the academy, the Exile kills the Sith Lord Darth Sion and confronts Darth Traya in the planet's core.
