knights of the old republic

beat that game for the third time today. i know by now the game is old, but i thought i should make some comments on it.

the storyline has a great twist to it. who would have thought that you, the main character, is the dark lord herself? i've been using females as my character, simply because they're hot, yo.

darkside and lightside has different endings, as it should be. i just finished playing using the dark side, and damn, it has a much better ending than the light side. plus the picture of yourself in the character sheet looks so much cooler with the red and black background flame.

also, the gradual of the character's face if you use the dark side is amusing. at first i thought it was just some graphic error. then i thought she had some kind of skin problem. but then after the light-dark meter arrow ended up way down at the DARK level, her eyes turned red, and her skin problem seemed to be getting worse. so apparently it's not some kind of skin problem or anything; it's the transformation back to being the dark lord of the sith. that's one thing you don't get when you use the light side.

since my character is a female, and bastila, who toward the end turns against darth malak and follows my character as an apprentice, is also a female, i had this kinky thought inside my head when i was playing. two female dark lords. damn, lesbian scene is gonna be hot, if there's any. haha.

here's some tips, if you enjoy this game as much as i do, or if you're thinking about trying it, now that i've mentioned something about two hot chicks with lightsabers running around killing people. these are in no particular order of importance; i just spit something out whenever i remember it.

~ keep one interface visor around with you. it gives +4 modifier to computer use, demolitions, and security. this is going to be extremely useful to reduce the number of spikes you would need to slice computer systems, to disable minor and average mines, and to open locked doors when you are forced not to have any droids with you.

~ whenever you're given a mission to infiltrate to a base, or anything that is not outdoor, it will be handy to have the map of the place with you. make sure T3-M4 is one of your party members; its security and computer use skills are much more useful than interface visor.

~ my suggestion for your main character's skills would be to NOT focus on security, repair, or computer use. first of all you have the interface visor that can give you +4 modifier instantaneously. secondly, you've always got T3-M4 that you can pick from party selection in the map screen.

~ when you just started and are asked to pick attributes for your character, i suggest you focus on strength and constitution. you would need strength when you start playing because all you have is melee weapons. and trust me, melee weapons are much more reliable than blasters. strength attribute basically adds modifier to your melee weapons, making it much easier to knock down people you have to fight. constitution relates to your health, you get more hitpoints the higher your constitution is. but do NOT spend all your attribute points on these two. later on in the game, you don't get attribute points when you level-up as often as skill, feat, or power points. so it would be wise to give a good share of attribute points to wisdom. YOU WILL NEED WISDOM if you want to make sure your force power works. if your wisdom is low, even small creatures like gizkas can easily resist your force powers. it's embarassing to not be able to force push a small toad like the gizkas. so give a good share of attribute points to wisdom.

~ in case you're wondering, dexterity relates to your reflexes when avoiding blaster shots or other enemy attacks. charisma relates to how persuasive you are. but don't worry about this. stick with the if-they-cannot-be-persuaded-then-kill-them strategy. besides, spending points on wisdom pays off more in the end. in the beginning of the game, most of the conflicts can be solved easily without persuasion, but toward the end, it would be hell if you don't have force persuade handy. force persuade does relate to charisma, but if you have lotsa wisdom points, you can force persuade basically anyone you want, because at this point it's no longer persuasion; it's the force coming into play. lastly, intelligence. i would not suggest you focus on this since you've got droids with you. intelligence adds modifier to your security, computer use, and demolition skills, but then again, why do it yourself if you've got T3-M4. you will only be wasting attribute points. the whole point of playing with a party of three is so that you have people with different skills that you lack to complement each other.

~ how you want to spend your skill points as you level up is up to you. but be sure to manage it between the crew. again, no need to focus on repair, security, computer use, demolitions, or stealth skills. the first four is what you should focus on T3-M4 or HK-47, not yourself. and the last one (stealth) is just simply useless. the only place where stealth would be useful that i could think of is when you're fighting the rancor beast down in the sewers of the underworld in taris. but then again, mission is a part of your party and she IS a scoundrel, so she automatically has good stealth skills. use her instead to sneak poison grenade on the corpse. other than that, stealth is simply useless. instead i usually focus spending my points on awareness and treat injury. awareness allows you to notice enemies from distance where they haven't noticed you. that way if you've got a bunch of enemies, you can get a head start by throwing a bunch of grenades at them before they even notice you. it also lets you be aware of remains, where you can get a bunch of useful stuff. treat injury is extremely helpful as a backup, especially if you're off on a solo quest or you have no jedi with force heal or cure, since the higher your treat injury skills are, the more hitpoints your medpacs recover.

~ the way you spend your power points depends on whether you're planning to go lightside or darkside. just remember not to choose (or use if you had already chosen) light-side powers when you're doing darkside and vice versa. using opposite's power costs more to your force points and before you know it, your force points will be depleted and you'll end up relying only on your weapons. also, it is not wise to focus on force heal or cure. while it is true that they give you back your hitpoints, force cure does not heal that much, while force heal takes up 2 power points, which you can allocate to more useful powers. let your jedi companions get force heal and force cure. that way, they can heal you and you can use your power for something else. also, do not worry about running out of medpacs. usually by the end of the game, i still have about twenty life-support packs, over one-hundred advanced and regular medpacks, and about fifty antidote kits. there's plenty to use.

~ no matter what side you are using, spend your power points on force immunity, and burst of speed. force immunity helps you resist annoying paralyzing enemy force powers such as fear - horror - insanity, wound - choke - kill, slow - affliction - plague, shock - lightning - storm, push - whirlwind - wave, drain life - death field, stun - stasis - stasis field, and other forces i can't remember. basically force immunity helps you resist enemy's force powers. burst of speed - knight speed - master speed are not that much useful in a combat, but they do help whenever you need to move fast from places to places, run away from a combat to heal yourself with a medpack, or to run around while waiting for your force points to fill back up.

~ if you're using the light side, make sure you have at least lightsaber throw power. advanced lightsaber throw isn't that much more useful, so it's better to use the extra power point for something else. the reason you would need to be able to throw your lightsaber is that in the end, when you fight malak, throwing lightsaber to the pods where malak stores dead jedi will prevent him from draining the jedi's life and healing himself. that way you only have to beat him twice. otherwise you'll have to fight about eight or nine malaks because he just keeps healing himself everytime you strike him down. another power you should have is force shield, or force armor. force aura doesn't do shit, but force shield or armor protects you from blaster shots when you have to fight four dark jedi being backed up by five elite sith soldiers and a couple droids. or you can use the energy shields you've been stacking up in your inventory. the problem with energy shield is that they usually run out before you can make your third move, especially if you've got a bunch of blaster rifles focused at you. another one you should definitely have, is force valor - knight valor - master valor. how they are useful isn't very obvious, but they increase your attributes, and more importantly, increases the saving throws for some short period of time. this way there's a greater chance of you to resist enemy's force powers, in case your force immunity is being force breached. last but not least, always focus on the stun - stasis - stasis field power. they don't hurt the enemies, but at least it gives you a chance to reduce the number of enemies attacking you at the same time.

~ if you're using the dark side, the game would be much easier in terms of your personal strength. what i mean by that is if you're using light side, you always have two other jedi who can back you up in everytime until you have to face bastila and revan in the starforge, so no matter how many enemies you've got, it's always three jedi against however many enemies. if you're using the dark side, you, personally will be stronger, but now there's only two people who have control of the force: you and bastila, trying to take over the starforge. now you're thinking, it's only one person less, that doesn't seem like it'll make that much difference. well, you've just lost one-third of your killing power, and the number of enemies does not decrease.

~ if you've planned on going to the dark side since the beginning, make sure you spend bastila's power points on force heal. this power will stay with her even after she turns to the dark side and will come in handy in fights. sure, it costs a lot to bastila's force points, but at least it's not yours. the powers you should have if you are using the dark side is shock - lightning - storm, drain life - death field, force supression - force breach, and fear - horror - insanity. storm is really useful in long-range early attacks. a successful force storm can take away up to 1/4 of the enemy's hitpoints. death field is like force heal, only better. not only you get your hitpoints back, the enemy also loses his hitpoints. now, this can be resisted and saved and aren't always successful like force heal, but at least there's a chance of hurting the enemy. whereas force heal, you'll have to heal yourself and then go attack the enemy again. it's like throwing trash into a trashcan; the reason you throw it is so that you don't have to walk over. it's like gambling: if you made it, you're good. two islands in a row. but if you missed, you're gonna have to walk over, pick up the trash and put it in the can. force breach is extremely useful especially if you're fighting top-notch dark jedi (like malak). breach cancels out all the forces they apply to themselves. say you're fighting someone who just applied force immunity, force speed, master valor, and force armor to himself. BREACH. boom. they're all gone. he's got no protection now. even if you have force immunity, force breach can still cancel it out, making you susceptible to force attacks. that's why i'd like to praise force breach as one of the most useful forces in this game, especially when fighting malak, which is basically a force fight. force insanity acts pretty much like a stasis field; it paralyzes the enemy and lets you do whatever you want with them.

~ about feats, it is definitely much better to fight with two lightsabers or with a double bladed one. this way you deal twice the damage or less. so unless you wanna be the-guy-with-a-single-lightsaber type of character, spend your feat points to get master two-weapon fighting. this will reduce the penalty of having two weapons. if you still want to go with just one lightsaber, spend feat points on master dueling. since you will be using lightsabers and not blaster pistols, do not spend any point on power blast, rapid fire, or sniper shot. don't even think about being a hot-shot and try to take down the dark jedi with blasters. they can deflect your shots and kill you before you even know it. spend feat points on weapon focus: lightsaber, or weapon specialization: lightsaber, since they add +1 modifier bonus to your attacks. you can only get the specialization feat if you're a jedi guardian. jedi consulars get only up to focus. not sure about sentinels. spend feat points so you can get master critical strike and master power attack. power attack are very useful against heavily armored enemies since they their heavy armors affect their dexterity, and hence slowing them down in dodging your attack. critical strikes are useful against enemies with no armor protection, since their weakpoints are exposed and thus the critical threat of your weapons can be maximized.

~ other feats are optional, pick the ones you think is right for you.

~ if you pick a scoundrel as your character, sneak attack feat that is given to you as you level up is extremely useful. use it together with critical strike and stasis. basically sneak attack allows you to deal more damage to enemies who can't fight back because if stun or stasis. and as we all know, more critical damage is better than just more damage.

~ using two lighsabers instead of the double bladed one gives advantage to you since now you can have four different crystals that power up the lightsabers. i would personally suggest using bondar as one of your four lightsabers. bondar has no significant attack modifier or bonus, but it has 25% stun chance. so if your enemy resisted your force, the lightsaber can still end up leaving them stunned.

~ krayt dragon pearl powers up the lightsaber the most. if you kill the twi'lek hunter whom you helped killing the krayt dragon in tatooine, you can steal another pearl from him and now you've got two.

~ i used two lightsabers, both has one krayt dragon pearl in it. the other crystal i can't remember, but bondar used to be one of them until i replaced it with something else before heading toward starforge. i think opila was one, i'm not quite sure. the best way is to go to the workbench, strip every lightsaber off their powering crystals, and try different combinations to see which combo gives you the most damage. damage dealt can be checked in the equipment screen. both of my lightsaber deals 14-28, which is the highest combination i could get. if you know other combinations that deal more damage than that, let me know. when you use bondar, you get less damage, but you get stun chance.

~ when you fight malak in the end, and you're using the dark side, after he starts drain-life-ing the dead jedi, activate burst of speed and death-field the rest of the dead jedi, but spare two of them. do NOT spare one, because when you beat up malak, he'll run to take one and you just can't stop him because it's a movie, not the actual fighting. this way after he took one, you can death-field the other one and boom, you've got full hitpoints and forcepoints. if you're using the light side, activate burst of speed and throw lightsaber to all of them, do not spare any since you cannot make use of it anyway.

~ advanced cardio-regulator is useful to increase your fortitude. high fortitude will allow you to resist enemy force powers.

~ if you see light radiating inward to you, most likely in the fight with malak, that means you've been force breached. it will be obvious if your burst of speed is active since you'll slow down to your normal speed instantaneously. immediately activate force immunity again because after that malak usually activates force insanity and this will render you paralyzed long enough for him to deplete your hitpoints.

~ even if you're using light side, i would not suggest spending power points on destroy droid. let jolee or juhani get it, and use them to destroy annoying droids. you can use three power points for something else more useful than that. if you're using dark-side, stasis field and destroy droid are completely useless since they take up more forcepoints than normal and you've got insanity and storm that basically do the same thing.

~ in the beginning of the game, in taris, when you go on the dueling ring, use melee weapons, by all means. the fastest and easiest way to defeat your enemy is to invest on concussion grenades. pay attention first though; if your enemy has a blaster, he will start shooting at you and will NEVER move from his place. so right when the fight starts, throw a concussion grenade to him. this will most likely stun him. then run toward him and attack with critical strike. two critical strikes are usually enough to beat them. if your enemy uses melee weapons, don't even bother wasting concussion grenades since he will be running here and there trying to approach you.

~ after you meet mission in taris, use her vibroblade and the prototype vibroblade that you own as your weapon. don't forget to upgrade these melee weapons with upgrade items you find along the way.

~ a reminder: in manaan, you will be given the option to inject toxic that will kill the progenitor fish and all the kolto underwater, or to destroy the machinery that's been attracting the wrath of the fish. if you play darkside, you'll tend to do the first one, since it's evil. but be aware that after you get back to the surface, you will be taken to the court and no matter what your responses are, you will still be banned from the planet. so if you have quests you want to complete, do it before you inject the toxic.

~ in kasshyykk, do not kill frerwyrr or however you spell that one wookie name. if you kill him you'll get less people to kill and hence less experience points to level you up. let him go back, then you can kill the rest of chuundar's wookies and the czerka soldiers.

~ in korriban, after you passed the test in the naga sadow tomb and earned yourself a sith lightsaber, you will encounter uthar wynn and yuthura ban who will ask you which side are you on. unless you're very confident on yourself i would not suggest responses such as "i think i'll just kill you both" or something along that line. you will end up killing both of them, but take one side first. that way you won't have to fight two people at once. sure you're playing the dark side, and sure you're strong, but even the world's strongest dark jedi has to use his/her brain sometimes. strong will and brute force sometimes don't work.

~ lastly, remember: knights of the old republic is a first-person rpg style game. you take turns when fighting and you use items to make yourself more powerful. so be sure to use all of the items you've found or stolen. however, the fights are real-time, unlike in final fantasy. so don't be hesitant to pause and queue your strategy.

damn, that's one hell of a long post.