(no subject)
I finished KOTOR 2! Aren't you all glad I haven't been blogging it? Probably because there was no romance.
Which is actually one of the things I liked about it - if you're not going to do it right (and by 'right' I mean '♥Alistair♥' and 'f/f options'), I would MUCH rather you not do it at all. I'm still bitter about the romance options in KOTOR 1. I would have been mildly annoyed if Soldier Dude was the only option for female PCs, but it really bugged me that they made f/f romance possible ONLY with the creepy slightly evil cat-person. I am the goody-two-shoes of the Old Republic! I do not date evil people. WHY CAN'T I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. Anyway, in KOTOR 2 I was pretty apprehensive about the first companion I picked up, who spent the early game asking every new companion I got what they thought about his chances with me, like he didn't know I could overhear cut-scenes or something, and I was making plans to freeze his balls in carbonite if he tried anything, but then he just dropped it. Phew! There was one companion my character sort of fancied, but her conversational options were super boring (Obsidian apparently a lot less interested in that sort of thing than Bioware; I remember having much more interesting party interactions in KOTOR 1), so I never got invested.
Other things I liked:
1. Solvable puzzles. I mean, I totally went to the walkthrough anyway, because lazy, but I could have solved them with a bit of thought, unlike one bit in KOTOR 1 which is explained so badly in-game that I had no chance without cheating.
2. Being able to do the planets pretty much in whatever order I wanted. The planets weren't as well thought out as they were in KOTOR 1 (I remember being totally ~blown away by Kashyyyk), but there was plenty of fun questing, and they put in a couple of quick transit mechanisms, which I appreciated. I also appreciated my super-speed power when I got it, because running around is BORING.
3. NO COMPULSORY POINT-AND-SHOOT SEQUENCES HALLELUJAH. I am TERRIBLE at point-and-shoots. That one bit in KOTOR 1 where you have to shoot a bunch of enemy ships to get off your first planet? I tried like ten times and eventually had to get my flatmate to do it for me. There was a bit early on in KOTOR 2 where I thought I had to shoot down a bunch of assassins, but it turned out that it was actually better to miss them, because then they got on to the ship and I got to kill them for XP. \o/ Rewarding me for sucking at point-and-shoot = A++++.
4. Mira, my ranged rogue or whatever they call rogues in the KOTOR-verse. Mira is awesome. Even though she wouldn't talk to me. Jedifying all my companions was fun, too, and almost made up for the stupid influence mechanic. I also found myself using nearly all my companions, which is one thing it did better than Dragon Age - in DA the characters who tended to approve of me also made up half of a well-balanced team, so I spent pretty much the whole game with Alistair and Wynne.
5. The combat. It works really well for a turn-based system, though playing it after Dragon Age makes it really obvious that a cooldown system is a massive improvement. Also the armour looks slightly less ridiculous than in KOTOR 1. Most of it. I did have to spend half the game in a quilted lurex bathrobe and Geordi LaForge's visor.
Things I didn't like:
1. The stupid influence mechanic. Whose idea was it to link it to the alignment mechanic so that I couldn't suck up to half my companions without getting massive Dark Side points? Uncool. I couldn't even bribe them or talk them around.
2. Not being able to tell if a weapon was enchanted upgraded without taking it to a workbench. Lots of laborious weapon-inspecting every time I saw a workbench, which is exactly what I look for in a gaming experience.
3. Boring conversations. Good writing is not the enemy, people! The best cut-scenes of the game were between Mira and the evil Wookiee Hanharr (they have History), which just made me bitter I couldn't have him as a companion.
4. The traditional KOTOR Ridiculously Easy Underlings and Fucking Impossible Boss Fight. Srsly. By the last area, I had all my Force-boosting equipment on and the one good Light Side area-effect power, and was basically mowing down entire rooms of Sith Commandos with one wave of my arm. Which was a blast, don't get me wrong, but then I got to the final boss, who rolled nothing but saves against my Force powers and was basically unhittable even with my awesome DEX, and I was totally flashing back to the eight hours I spent trying to beat Darth Malak. In the end I just changed the game difficulty, which is cheating, but I have other things to do with those eight hours.
TL;DR: It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I finally got to play it, but in conclusion, I am totally excited for Bioware to do KOTOR 3. I'm going to try not to start any computer games during November, because I'm doing wrisomifu and would like to finish the story I started LAST wrisomifu, and then there will be Yuletide to do. We will see how that goes. Wesnoth is already singing the siren song of new user-generated content. /o\
I made not-exactly-falafels last night, and again tonight with the rest of the mixture, and they were awesome. I usually hate chickpeas, so that is a win.
1 tin chickpeas (420g), drained and rinsed.
2 soup-spoon-sized globs tahini.
1 handful parsley and a few chives, chopped.
1 carrot, grated finely.
2 cloves garlic, chopped.
1/2 tsp chaat masala. (If I hadn't had chaat masala, I would have used cumin and coriander and it would have been fine, but I really like chaat masala.)
Juice of half a lemon.
Salt and pepper.
Breadcrumbs.
My blender is a pain to get out of the cupboard, so I mashed it by hand. It worked, but do yourself a favour - mash the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and spices BEFORE you add the carrot and herbs, or your potato masher will just get gummed up with bits of parsley. Anyway, mash it all up, mix the herbs in, make little patties and roll them in breadcrumbs, and fry for about two minutes each side (or until brown). Eat with yoghurt and pita.
Also posted at Dreamwidth.
Which is actually one of the things I liked about it - if you're not going to do it right (and by 'right' I mean '♥Alistair♥' and 'f/f options'), I would MUCH rather you not do it at all. I'm still bitter about the romance options in KOTOR 1. I would have been mildly annoyed if Soldier Dude was the only option for female PCs, but it really bugged me that they made f/f romance possible ONLY with the creepy slightly evil cat-person. I am the goody-two-shoes of the Old Republic! I do not date evil people. WHY CAN'T I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. Anyway, in KOTOR 2 I was pretty apprehensive about the first companion I picked up, who spent the early game asking every new companion I got what they thought about his chances with me, like he didn't know I could overhear cut-scenes or something, and I was making plans to freeze his balls in carbonite if he tried anything, but then he just dropped it. Phew! There was one companion my character sort of fancied, but her conversational options were super boring (Obsidian apparently a lot less interested in that sort of thing than Bioware; I remember having much more interesting party interactions in KOTOR 1), so I never got invested.
Other things I liked:
1. Solvable puzzles. I mean, I totally went to the walkthrough anyway, because lazy, but I could have solved them with a bit of thought, unlike one bit in KOTOR 1 which is explained so badly in-game that I had no chance without cheating.
2. Being able to do the planets pretty much in whatever order I wanted. The planets weren't as well thought out as they were in KOTOR 1 (I remember being totally ~blown away by Kashyyyk), but there was plenty of fun questing, and they put in a couple of quick transit mechanisms, which I appreciated. I also appreciated my super-speed power when I got it, because running around is BORING.
3. NO COMPULSORY POINT-AND-SHOOT SEQUENCES HALLELUJAH. I am TERRIBLE at point-and-shoots. That one bit in KOTOR 1 where you have to shoot a bunch of enemy ships to get off your first planet? I tried like ten times and eventually had to get my flatmate to do it for me. There was a bit early on in KOTOR 2 where I thought I had to shoot down a bunch of assassins, but it turned out that it was actually better to miss them, because then they got on to the ship and I got to kill them for XP. \o/ Rewarding me for sucking at point-and-shoot = A++++.
4. Mira, my ranged rogue or whatever they call rogues in the KOTOR-verse. Mira is awesome. Even though she wouldn't talk to me. Jedifying all my companions was fun, too, and almost made up for the stupid influence mechanic. I also found myself using nearly all my companions, which is one thing it did better than Dragon Age - in DA the characters who tended to approve of me also made up half of a well-balanced team, so I spent pretty much the whole game with Alistair and Wynne.
5. The combat. It works really well for a turn-based system, though playing it after Dragon Age makes it really obvious that a cooldown system is a massive improvement. Also the armour looks slightly less ridiculous than in KOTOR 1. Most of it. I did have to spend half the game in a quilted lurex bathrobe and Geordi LaForge's visor.
Things I didn't like:
1. The stupid influence mechanic. Whose idea was it to link it to the alignment mechanic so that I couldn't suck up to half my companions without getting massive Dark Side points? Uncool. I couldn't even bribe them or talk them around.
2. Not being able to tell if a weapon was enchanted upgraded without taking it to a workbench. Lots of laborious weapon-inspecting every time I saw a workbench, which is exactly what I look for in a gaming experience.
3. Boring conversations. Good writing is not the enemy, people! The best cut-scenes of the game were between Mira and the evil Wookiee Hanharr (they have History), which just made me bitter I couldn't have him as a companion.
4. The traditional KOTOR Ridiculously Easy Underlings and Fucking Impossible Boss Fight. Srsly. By the last area, I had all my Force-boosting equipment on and the one good Light Side area-effect power, and was basically mowing down entire rooms of Sith Commandos with one wave of my arm. Which was a blast, don't get me wrong, but then I got to the final boss, who rolled nothing but saves against my Force powers and was basically unhittable even with my awesome DEX, and I was totally flashing back to the eight hours I spent trying to beat Darth Malak. In the end I just changed the game difficulty, which is cheating, but I have other things to do with those eight hours.
TL;DR: It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I finally got to play it, but in conclusion, I am totally excited for Bioware to do KOTOR 3. I'm going to try not to start any computer games during November, because I'm doing wrisomifu and would like to finish the story I started LAST wrisomifu, and then there will be Yuletide to do. We will see how that goes. Wesnoth is already singing the siren song of new user-generated content. /o\
I made not-exactly-falafels last night, and again tonight with the rest of the mixture, and they were awesome. I usually hate chickpeas, so that is a win.
1 tin chickpeas (420g), drained and rinsed.
2 soup-spoon-sized globs tahini.
1 handful parsley and a few chives, chopped.
1 carrot, grated finely.
2 cloves garlic, chopped.
1/2 tsp chaat masala. (If I hadn't had chaat masala, I would have used cumin and coriander and it would have been fine, but I really like chaat masala.)
Juice of half a lemon.
Salt and pepper.
Breadcrumbs.
My blender is a pain to get out of the cupboard, so I mashed it by hand. It worked, but do yourself a favour - mash the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and spices BEFORE you add the carrot and herbs, or your potato masher will just get gummed up with bits of parsley. Anyway, mash it all up, mix the herbs in, make little patties and roll them in breadcrumbs, and fry for about two minutes each side (or until brown). Eat with yoghurt and pita.
Also posted at Dreamwidth.