Which is better: KOTOR I or KOTOR II
- Jedi Of The Old Republic
- Apr 20, 2020
- 7 min read
Here we will be debating which Knights of the Old Republic is better. Which is your favorite? WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
Here we are debating which classic is better. As we know, both are great games, but is one ultimately better? Keep reading to find out.
This article contains spoilers, stop reading if you don't want want to know.
KOTOR I vs. KOTOR II
Ever had trouble deciding which one is better? Here are some reasons as to why which one might be better. If you do not agree, don't worry! This is just a simple opinion. Let us know what you think!
GRAPHICS
We all know both had graphics pretty advanced for there time. (I=2003 II=2004). Heck, it's even pretty good for this day and age all things considered. (Maybe games now are a little bit more advanced, but whatever). Though they both have good graphics, KOTOR II's are a bit more rounded and fluid, while KOTOR I's graphics are kind of boxy squared, and the video quality isn't as good, a bit more blurry than II.
Pictured above, Left KOTOR I, Right KOTOR II
Winner: KOTOR II
COMBAT
There isn't really a HUGE difference, they just may have a few different abilities in both. But otherwise, the combat is the same in both how you do it and most of the abilities.
Winner: It's really just a tie.
VILLAINY
Here is where I think it's interesting. In KOTOR I, do you consider the player (Revan) to actually be good or bad IN THE GAME. Not in his backstory, just while you play?
Anways, in KOTOR I, the bad guy is Darth Malak and kind of Revan? (depending on how you answered the question above). I honestly do not like Malak AT ALL. He strikes me as a whiny Sith Lord who wasn't all that powerful. He wasn't powerful because the giant Sith army was made by Revan in which Malak took in the end and let crumble. He even got his jaw cutoff by his master! IF you considered Revan as a bad guy in the game, he is a total badass that I don't really have complaints about. I like walking the path of light while playing the game, but if he was dark, it was still really good.
KOTOR II also had some good villains. Darth Sion, Darth Traya, and Darth Nihilus. Darth Nihilus was a really good villain (who I wish we saw more of) who ate death, the force, and even fed on planets. Literally. His voice too is a nightmare in talking form. Darth Sion wasn't a great Sith. He kind of was like a child, all he did was complain about his master Traya, and then basically got tricked into working for her, again, in the end. (And when you fought him towards the end and wouldn't die until you killed him like 7 times, and THEN died when you "talked" to him... That made me annoyed haha). Darth Traya was pretty good at munipulation throughout the game, but she got the dark side force stripped away from her. That wasn't the best part of the story by any stretch. She had some pretty good quotes though and ended up being the true villain.
This one was a pretty tough decision but I think the winner is...
Winner: KOTOR II
PLOT TWIST
As we all know, there are two main plot twists, one for each game:
In KOTOR I, the big plot twist is that the player ends up actually being no other than Revan himself. Throughout the game, the player is playing with a new identity after the Jedi wiped his mind. During a conflict with Darth Malak, he reveals the player was/is Darth Revan. This shocked EVERYONE. Me especially. It was even ranked on biggest plot-twists in games. And it definitely shows why. A great plot twist in most everyone's opinion.
In KOTOR II, the big plot twist (not really big) is that the wise, old Kreia, turns out to be the evil Darth Traya. (Who didn't see that coming) She was constantly leading the player to do bad decisions (which were obvious) threatened the crew members, and killed all the lost Jedi after you led them to her. If you played as a male character, she made the Handmaiden Brianna think you were in danger and went to Telos for Atris. Honestly, it was really obvious she was the Dark Lord, and even said earlier on she WAS a Sith.
Winner: KOTOR I
PROTAGONIST
I know most people are going to say KOTOR I right off the bat, but they both have their perks. In KOTOR I and II the player relearns being a Jedi, the main difference is one has their connections cutoff from the force and regains it while the other has no memory and goes blindly to the force. Being that Revan and his crew took down the Sith plus their army makes a stronger Jedi. The KOTOR II Jedi only takes down Sith lords with very minimal fleets. (Then again, we have heard awesome stories from both in the Mandalorian Wars). That being said, Revan is a fan favorite who is stronger than the other.
Winner: KOTOR I
PROTAGONIST BACKSTORY
One of the many great things the developers did for both games, is that they have both have a very well written, detailed, and overall amazing backstories.
In KOTOR I, Revan was a Jedi Knight along who fought along side Alek (Darth Malak), they went into the Unknown Regions defying the council, and both came back as Sith Lords that started to rule over the galaxy. When Revan went onboard a Republic Battlecruiser, Darth Malak betrayed his mentor and fired upon that ship thinking he killed him. The Jedi Bastila used her powers to help save him and bring him back to the council where they wiped his memory. He awoke upon a battlecruiser with a new identity as a Republic Soldier. As you play on the rest, you become a Jedi again, get a crew and defeat Darth Malak.
In KOTOR II, You WERE (notice I said were) a Jedi Knight who was expelled from the Order and stripped of your force abilities for doing some "non-peaceful" acts during the Mandalorian Wars. Some time later, you are on a ship that gets bombarded and kills everyone accept you and an old woman named Kreia. You awake on Peragus V, a mining facility, because you aren't completely stripped of the force. Then, a Sith fleet shows up and you escape to Telos. After you get off Telos, you go in search of the few Jedi remaining, those being the council members who expel you. You learn the force again and it turns out (shocker) that Kreia made you find the Jedi to kill them and then try to trick and turn you into her apprentice. It fails, and you go to kill Nihilus then her.
They both have really good backstories, I know many of you might pick I over II but I think they both have some good stuff:
Winner: It's a tie.
Ending
This one is pretty easy, and let me tell you why...
In KOTOR I, if you pick the light side, it turns into a fun celebration of you and your friends getting medals, and a nice ceremony about you saving the Republic. If you're dark side, It is also a celebration with you and a crowd of a Sith army while Bastila declares you the Lord of the Sith. Either way, they both have nice tie-offs and a good ending with no terrible cliff-hanger that confuses you.
In KOTOR II, Darth Traya tells you what will happen to you friends (though she doesn't really tell you what happens, just what it seems like) And it ends with you walking out of there, and then a cutscene of the Ebon Hawk flying away from an explosion. You don't get to see you and your friends together ever again. You didn't even get to see them together before. And not to mention it made us all sad that's the last we'll ever see the Ebon Hawk again.
I'm sure it was already obvious that KOTOR I was gonna take this one home because in II they really just didn't give an effort on that ending.
Winner: KOTOR I
CREW
They both had some really good crews. KOTOR II did a good job making a borderline parallel to some characters, but they didn't copy them exactly. A good example of this would be like Jolee Bindo and Kreia. They are clearly not the same, but they are seen as people with very good advice, wise, older, knowledgeable, and see perks of both Jedi and Sith. But they are really NOT alike.
But we also have to take a look at their backstories. KOTOR I added some details to people's lives, but not as much as we would've wanted. Like they never answered the questions: "What happened with Mission's parents" "Why was Zaalbar really exiled" "What was Carth's wife like" "Any story on T3-M7". KOTOR II I think did a better job with this as into going into detail with everyone.
This doesn't have much to do with it, but I like how KOTOR II kept T3 and HK around. They are like R2-D2 and C3-PO because of how they are there for it all.
Winner: They both did a really good job, it's a tie.
MOOD
By mood, I mean the feel, the aura, the setting, the situation, or how the artists illustrated the feeling.
In KOTOR I, not much is done about this at all. It was pretty much left out as a whole. It's still beautiful how they illustrated the world, but they didn't add much feeling or meaning to them. They didn't really need it then, because of how everything else was done. But I think more could've been done and they would have made more of a statement.
In KOTOR II on the other hand? They blew it straight out of the water. They really did a good focus on how everything was dark, barren, isolated, and just how the absence of the Jedi gave a really depressed and moody feeling. They even went as far as conveying it in the music too.
MUSIC
This one is one where it isn't even close. KOTOR I did a good job on their score... But the soundtrack for KOTOR II? Some of it is John Williams level, it makes you feel, it really puts you in the game.
Winner: KOTOR II
POPULARITY
This one is another easy one. KOTOR II was really fun don't get me wrong, but KOTOR I was just much more of a bigger game and more people played it. I think that's partly because it overshadowed KOTOR II and people maybe thought it wouldn't live up to KOTOR I but I could be wrong.
Winner: KOTOR I
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