I began to realize that Star Wars stories, from the old EU to the new Disney trilogy, have gotten into a bad habit of using the Force to hand-wave any questionable story decision. During the course of the story, the Force lets characters enter battle trances, deflect starship missiles, create lightning storms in space, lay dormant for centuries, create indestructible records and even transfer a consciousness into a new body. But characters in Dark Empire rack up Force abilities like they’re special skills in a video game. Granted, the Force should be mysterious, and its powers not fully defined. No, KOTOR 2 was ambitious, they say, but ultimately it’s too unfocused and ambivalent to reach quite the same heights as its predecessor. Not even the most comprehensive fan mod could completely fix its technical problems. Furthermore, KOTOR 2 was a buggy, unfinished game, with a ton of cut content and dangling plot threads. It’s dark, it’s deliberately paced, it’s about morally gray characters, and it ends on an uncertain cliffhanger. Knights of the Old Republic II, the KOTOR-boosters argue, is more like The Empire Strikes Back.

How Disney killed the most interesting thing about Star Wars.

Learn where to start if you want to watch the Star Wars movies in order.

It’s a straightforward story about good versus evil (or evil versus evil, if you pick the Dark Side path), with archetypal characters, a satisfying resolution and a narrative that really makes you feel like a righteous hero or a charismatic villain. People often say it’s because KOTOR is so classically heroic, much like the original Star Wars (or Episode IV, or A New Hope, depending how old you are). And yet, when we’re invariably forced to rank them, the first KOTOR game usually winds up on top.

Planet order kotor 2