SW KOTOR Pt. 2

Check out Part 1 here

I love dialogue choices. It’s what makes gaming worth it for me. And it’s why I am a narrative designer. Some games have very limited choices or none at all, but others like KOTOR make the most of the narrative system. So, in this article, I am going to break down the narrative design system and analyze its use in gameplay and storytelling.

In one of my earlier articles, I broke down the two most common dialogue systems, Turn-Based and Dynamic. KOTOR makes the most of the Turn Based dialogue system, allowing players to make choices that directly affect the storyline and how other characters interact with the Player Character (PC).

The Story Begins

Let’s start with the engrossing storyline of KOTOR. You begin as a recruit to the Republic military, who has been assigned to the Endar Spire, a Hammerhead-class cruiser. Quickly, you come to find out that you’re all in trouble as the Sith are attacking your ship. However, both you the player, and the PC cannot remember much of your past. This leads to the eventual realization that you are suffering from some kind of Force-induced amnesia.

Now, we think of this narrative tactic as trite and overused, however, when KOTOR came out in 2003, it was still a rather new idea for a game to blend player and character experience with memory loss. When I first played it, I thought it was really cool, but I was 13. Now, as an experienced gamer and narrative designer, I can say that I would try to avoid this trope at all costs in any game I was going to make.

In this opening level, the game does a good job of introducing the player to the world as well as the game mechanics without too much obvious tutorial. Eventually, the level ends with your first companion, Trask, sacrificing himself for you to get away in an escape pod with your longtime companion Carth to the surface of the planet Taris.

On Taris you and Carth search for Bastila Shan, a Jedi Knight with a unique power called Battle Meditation. The Sith attacked your ship to try to capture or kill her, and now on the surface of a Sith-occupied planet you have to find clues and overcome obstacles to find her and get off the planet. I won’t go into all of the subplots here on Taris, but they include all the typical RPG and Star Wars tropes in the best way possible. From competing in a fighting ring to swoop bike racing there are plenty of mini-games to have fun with as you explore the city. On this first planet, you get to make some very important choices in developing your character and getting to know your morose companion Carth.

Throughout the game, the PC can make specific choices that take you down the path of the Light or Dark Side of the Force. Your progression in either direction is shown on a handy meter.

Many of the Dark Side choices include being cruel to random NPCs or intentionally taking the “easier” path in a complex situation. On the other hand, Light Side choices often help out NPCs in need or make the galaxy a better place for everyone to enjoy.

Often it seems that the Dark Side choices will get you what you want faster, but this is a trick. In the overall scope of the game, I think that the Light Side choices actually make the game easier, as they build comradery with your companions, even the Dark Side leaning ones.

After teaming up with a bubbly Twi’lek named Mission and freeing her best friend Zaalbar the Wookie, you must outsmart a rancor to infiltrate a dangerous gang’s base. These two characters have a great rapport but both are a bit closed off to the PC at first, only sharing bits and pieces of their backstories as the game progresses. But both companions have fun and interesting side quests that improve the storyline.

After winning the swoop bike race and saving Bastila, she joins your party. But the tension with her is palpable. She is overconfident and arrogant to you at first. You’ve got to prove yourself to her. And it kind of makes senses why once you find out more about your past.

Now, with her in your party, you infiltrate a Sith base, make friends with the mercenary Canderus, and steal a gangster’s ship, the Ebon Hawk, to escape the planet. All before the Sith fleet bombards the surface into rubble. Flying away on your very Millenium Falcon-esque ship, you and your crew head to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine to find out more about the mysterious bond between you and Bastila that is giving you visions from the future (or past).

Narrative Design

I’ll save the rest of the main storyline for next time, but for now I’d like to talk about the narrative design a little more before I sign off.

The thing I love most about games like this, many of which BioWare made, are the choices you can make. Firstly, they shape the story for the player, allowing them at least the illusion of agency throughout the game. As the game progresses, even if your choices don’t change as much about the main plot as they seem that they might, the character of the PC is shaped by each choice in the mind of the player. Each time I chose to be helpful and kind to another group of NPCs and side with the Light, even if it didn’t change the outcome of the game, it changed how I thought about my PC.

On top of this feeling of character development, I really enjoy the adversarial conversations with Bastila. She is not very nice to the PC when they first meet in the game (I wonder why?!?!), but over time as you prove both your worth in battle and your dedication to the cause, she starts to soften. These were the moments that I first started to have a crush on a video game character.

I was 13, ok! Give me a break.

Now, as I replayed the game, I didn’t get that same tingly feeling, but I did still really enjoy our tit-for-tat banter. Bastila is a boss, or maybe rather a boss bitch, keeping it 100% real and calling you out on your BS. I still really like that in a woman. So, maybe our first crushes from video games, TV, and movies do shape a lot of what people want in a partner… not going down that rabbit hole here though.

That’s a wrap for this blog post about KOTOR. But check back next week for another installment where I focus more on the overarching story, character development, and voice acting.

Til next time, may the Force be with you!