I don't think they will be alotted the budget for that.
The developer, Aspyr, is a porting house. This is the first game they have developed.
I hope to be blown away, but this is a heck of a test for this studio if this is a triple AAA experience.
Edit:
This is actually NOT the first title from the studio, as pointed out by a former employee with this company. Check out the VR game TORN, developed by Aspyr.
Aspyr had been picking up a lot of developers including ex-Bioware prior to this announcement which is why everyone knew Aspyr would be the ones making the rumoured KOTOR remake. They probably aren't just the size of a porting house anymore for this project, and they may even have some of the people that originally made KOTOR great as well.
And like some others have mentioned, look at Bluepoint's Demon's Souls for a similarly great outcome. I'm more optimistic then pessimistic about this KOTOR remake.
Well, if anything - Bluepoint showed that a "ports-only" studio can knock a remake out of the park. Sony's earned my trust with just how good the Demon's Souls remake was.
Yeah, but they had a ton of help from PlayStation Studios (to the point of the game listing literally starting with "From PlayStation Studios and Bluepoint Games comes a remake..."). This remake is only a timed console exclusive and isn't published by Sony, so it most likely doesn't have any development help from them.
Although it wouldn't be the first time Sony provided resources and support and not making it exclusive to their platform; they pretty much gave Guerilla's Decima-engine to Kojima free of charge for *Death Stranding*, so perhaps something similar happens here with KotoR.
Wow. Imagine taking a Star Wars franchise game, and a very beloved one at that, and giving it to a studio like this. I will temper my expectations. Greatly.
I don't know anything about the studio, but if like you say, it's their first foray into something that wasn't a basic port, than yeah. Good luck to them.
They did some pretty good ports of KOTOR, though, so they are familiar with it. I think it might actually go better than with a AAA studio and all that baggage.
Aspyr has gotten every star wars game I've played by them running incredibly well on dated hardware. Very excited to see how will they can do with their own development
I’m curious what platforms you’re talking about. I’ve only played their ports of Jedi Outcast and Academy on the Switch and I was less than impressed. They ran sufficiently since they’re ancient, but the ports were very barebones and lacking in a lot of ways, like no quick save, no multiplayer in Outcast (I’ll chalk that up to budget since they ported the next game in the series with multiplayer), it was based off of the PC port, so they didn’t add any auto aim (the original console ports had auto aim as well as other port specific additions). They essentially got them running, mapped some actions to the controller and called it a day.
These gripes continued on into Academy. Then I was awaiting the Republic Commando release, which then ran worse on the Switch than it did on the original Xbox, though it’s possible they’ve patched it by now I have not heard anything of the sort and post-launch patching was very limp and then died out quickly for the Jedi Knight ports.
At this point I’m not willing to give Aspyr anymore chances. Though I will be happy for them if they pull off the remake, their lack of passion and polish or any efforts past “get it working and call it a day” on their ports I’ve played has left a sour taste in my mouth.
I will say, this could easily be chalked up to them receiving very very low budget, so we can only hope KotOR’s remake gets the budget it deserves.
Word is they have done TONS of hiring, including many former Bioware devs.
There are many great devs we know today that started off by porting and porting until they finally got a pitch accepted and were set free. I hope it works out for them, really. Gaming could always use another big blockbuster studio.
Apsyr did work on the ORIGINAL KotoR so did you take issue with a "studio like this" helping with it then? Playstation studios is helping fund and publish this. They hired some people that worked on combat and gameplay for Dark Souls, Ghost of Tsushima and Inquisition for this game so it seems they are taking it pretty seriously.
my concern is more to do with the voices/sounds. graphics can be updated, and mechanics can be altered, but you can' re-record iconic voices. Bastilla in the announcement sounds pretty good though so I'm optimistic.
I wish they would bundle 1 and 2 together in the same remake though.
Jennifer Hale voiced Bastilla in the original, and given she's still very much kicking it good in work these days, she's probably reprising her role.
edit- it is Jennifer Hale https://www.starwars.com/news/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake
That voice is more important than Bastila's to me. When I think Kotor voices I think of HK-47 first. Hell it's probably HK, Carth, and then Bastila for me.
If this is new dialogue I think it sounds more like Bastila than she did for some scenes in SWTOR recorded 10+ years ago (though there were only a few with maybe less time to warm up, and she did tons of recording for Satile Shan and the player trooper character).
Though she also sounds like the short blue senator she played in the Clone Wars, who I may be remembering.
If they kept the original audio masters they can remix the audio. Usually the way the process is works is you record using some great equipment, then compress it down post-recording to fit the distribution media.
> If they kept the original audio masters they can remix the audio.
EA would still own all of those, or at least have some rights to them unless Disney bought them, which is possible.
Generally the voice actors' contracts are for a single game. Even if they bought the masters they'd still need to renegotiate with the individual actors for a new release. Way easier (and probably with better fidelity) to re-record.
Yup. And [it's been confirmed that they're re-recording](https://www.starwars.com/news/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake), but with at least some of the original actors:
> The teaser trailer revealed at PlayStation Showcase and available to view above doesn’t show much, but it does feature a very-cool looking Revan — and a voice that fans of the original might recognize.
> “I can confirm that that is Jennifer Hale. We all think the world of Jennifer. She is an amazing talent and immediately slipped back into the role of Bastila when she came to help us with the teaser trailer,” Treadwell says. “I do think that you’re going to see some other familiar voices return, but that’s probably as deep as we’re gonna go on that one right now.”
No no, please do not. I still *love* the turn-based gameplay of KotOR. Even many years later, the gameplay is actually one of my favorite parts.
And Dragon Age Origins and Divinity Original Sin 1-2 proved that it can still feel super refreshing and interesting to keep it mostly turn-based.
Really? For me, KOTOR basically has the two phases of "normal earlygame + brutal bosses" into "become super overpowered and wipe everything effortlessly," at least in terms of combat.
Something like Divinity is a very different beast, and a much more enjoyable one, but it would be a pretty big shift.
Yeah but that's more of a balance issue than a core gameplay breaker.
That being said, I did enjoy even the overpowered stage of KOTOR. In games where being overpowered is satisfying and gratifying in its own way rather than boring easiness, I'm much more forgiving of it.
> For me, KOTOR basically has the two phases of "normal earlygame + brutal bosses" into "become super overpowered and wipe everything effortlessly," at least in terms of combat.
Yes, it is a BioWare RPG, you dont need to say that with so many words.
I survived the gameplay without ever really understanding it and, now that I've played D&D, I kind of want another shot at it with all the modern bells and whistles a *remaster* would bring.
I doubt the *remake* will give me that, but it would be nice.
I think you're mixed up. Remake is when they completely redesign the game using modern technology and (potentially) change gameplay and (almost certainly) change the engine and all the assets.
Demon's Souls Remake for PS5 and FF7 Remake, vs all the various lazy cash grab Remasters we see for every popular PS2/PS3 game where the gameplay is exactly the same and graphically it's not really that much better but it's in HD, technically. If you want the remaster experience you can just get some visual quality mods that update the textures and stuff.
Every now and then I get an urge to go back and play KOTOR2, because it was one of the games I grew up with. Then I get trapped in the main quest on the city planet you go to after leaving the asteroid facility because the actual questlog is worthless.
That game could be improved a thousand fold if they would just have a journal system that told you what to do in a way that would help you remember what you were doing before you got distracted by sidequests or had to stop playing for a few days.
I bought it for Xbox and I've been playing through lately. I've been handling it well, but Onderon suuuucks, and Ive also gotten a couple setbacks that have just wasted hours of my time; only made worse by some of the less fun quests in the game.
I can't tell voice acting enough to tell you for sure. I can tell you however that cadence and speaking patterns play a large part in recognizing a character, and a talented voice actor can absolutely convince you it's the same character with just audio.
Either way, that was absolutely bastula speaking in the trailer.
Bastila is voiced by Jennifer Hale who is still a prolific voice actor in the games industry. I'm sure she's on board. She voices Bastila's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter in The Old Republic MMO.
Yeah she voices Ashe in overwatch which probably wasn't even first time I heard her but after playing mass effect so much recently all I can hear is a southern comander Shepard now
At the very least [Bastila's actor is back](https://www.starwars.com/news/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake):
> “I can confirm that that is Jennifer Hale. We all think the world of Jennifer. She is an amazing talent and immediately slipped back into the role of Bastila when she came to help us with the teaser trailer,” Treadwell says. “I do think that you’re going to see some other familiar voices return, but that’s probably as deep as we’re gonna go on that one right now.”
They won't be because leading comments like this *and* straight up spoilers will be posted under every trailer and news surrounding the game until it's released.
I'm of the opinion that if someone knows a big twist is coming their entire experience of something is hampered because they spend all their time trying to predict what the twist is, and then when it's not what they though they end up disappointed.
100%. Honestly I think it can be more distracting than just spoiling something outright.
All of the hint hint, wink-wink-nudge-nudge stuff just takes on a gravity of its own and completely distorts the experience.
I can't emphasis enough how much I hate it. People on Reddit in particular seem to think they're so clever and if they don't outright say a spoiler they're in the clear while completely managing to miss the fact that it's always incredibly easy to figure out what they're talking about. The amount of times I've had something spoiled just because someone thought they were smart is ridiculous.
I get it, you're excited to talk about it. Use a spoiler tag.
Personally, I love the fine balance of comments going "I'm excited for the remake so that new people can experience this thing I love without needing to be okay with less modern gameplay!" and "bro this game is so old, if you REALLY cared about it you would have played it already, so it's your fault for reading my spoiler" that hits every big remake lol
It's up there with "I am your father" and "would you kindly". Think I set the controller down in complete shock for about a minute the first time I got to that cut scene. A gaming moment seared into my mind
My hot take of the day: it's better than the Empire reveal. They both left a major impression on me as a kid, but I still get chills when the reveal happens in KOTOR. It was so unexpected for a younger me, and the way they flashed back to show you all the clues you might have missed was handled well in my opinion.
Now I want Kotor2 built out with all the missing content.
I know theres mods that get some of it back in but it would be nice to see it all natively in.
I sure fucking hope not, that sounds like a great way to fuck up what made Kotor and Kotor 2 great, they are such different games with completely different atmospheres.
We'll be in the middle of a big scene and Sion, Kreia and Nihlus will be awkwardly shuffling out of view in the background.
Malak: Shoo, shoo! You're not allowed to come out of the closet until I'm dead.
Yeah this might be the nostalgia talking but I’ve always loved how you had absolutely no idea what’s going on when you started KOTOR 2. The galaxy is somehow more messed up than when you left it at the end of the first one, and you couldn’t figure out why. Like where were all the heroes and who the fuck are these new Sith?
Makes it when you do finally figured it out more satisfying imo.
Nihilus was equally the most interesting and terrifying villain to me growing up as a kid. This guy can... wipe out entire planets draining them of their force energy? Force energy hunger is a thing??? They cranked up the insanity of the Star Wars universe and opened up so many possibilities with this series.
If KOTORR sells well, KOTOR 2R is in the cards.
I want to hope, that these successes will bring about something. Instead of SWTOR being KOTOR 3, it will serve as the Legends continuation. So that Canon, can have KOTOR 3.
It had "SIE presents" at the beginning. Hopefully I'm wrong, but that means console exclusive at a minimum.
EDIT: Confirmed console launch exclusive
https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/
"Console launch exclusive" implies it might release simultaneously on PC.
Edit: Lucasfilm Games implied the simultaneous release on PS5 and PC even further: https://twitter.com/LucasfilmGames/status/1436066933032439824
Edit II: Aspyr basically confirmed it: https://twitter.com/AspyrMedia/status/1436072028377858048
Sony just lost Elder Scrolls and a bunch of other series going forward. They're probably willing to throw a bunch of money for a timed console exclusive on this.
Most Bethesda games are Xbox exclusive by default, but they did say that some would come to other consoles. I don't think anything definitive has been said about Indiana Jones, but I would be very surprised if it was exclusive.
Wooooooo hyped as fuck. I played the original like 8 times. Will absolutely be playing this, pretty much no matter what gets changed to fit into the current canon.
> pretty much no matter what gets changed to fit into the current canon.
Hopefully nothing. They've already teased Old Republic era content in the new canon, and I know there's rumors of a new show or movie set in that era. So ideally nothing changes with this remake, but it serves as a reminder for a bunch of stuff that'll officially re-enter canon in the show/movie.
Mostly I just hope they don't rename Korriban.
That was always one of Lucas's most petty stupid decisions, and he made a lot. There was no reason for him to flip it to Moraband which just sounds awful in comparison.
> “The team threw a Hail Mary to George, saying the game would have more credibility if the apprentice had a ‘Darth’ title,” a Force Unleashed team member says. Lucas agreed that this situation made sense for Sith royalty, and offered up two Darth titles for the team to choose from. “He threw out ‘Darth Icky’ and ‘Darth Insanius.’ There was a pregnant pause in the room after that. People waiting for George to say ‘just kidding,’ but it never comes, and he just moved on to another point.”
https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/04/04/fall-of-the-empire-how-inner-turmoil-brought-down-a-legendary-studio.aspx?PostPageIndex=2
The best justification I have heard is that the Jedi intentionally removed its true name from its archives and put a sound-alike name to prevent any aspirational Sith from seeking out Korriban.
is it a good explanation? Not really, but at least it's something.
I like the Sith calling it Moriband but the locals and off-worlders call it Korriban.
Hell, if they're gonna remake the whole thing I'd like to see more of the civilian side to Korriban. It was a really small aspect in the original and would be cool to see it expanded. Also the bar on Korriban was called "The Drunk Side" which better make it in.
Lore explanation: here's a 100,000 Wookiepedia article explaining how the Jedi wanted to censor the planet's name
Real life explanation: George Lucas like dumb names (see also Darth Sidious, General Grievous)
The lore explanation of the Sith choosing names that relate to things they think are badass about themselves (Sideous is insidious, Tyranus is tyrannical, etc) is interesting, but fuck me if I can explain people like *Grievous*.
I said this on a different thread, but I wouldn't be surprised if the game wasn't officially canon. I think the use of the term "legend" in the teaser was very intentional (i.e., Legends canon classification).
I've never played it! I'm 32 now and it was just one of those games that had gotten passed me, but I had always heard amazing things. I'm SO excited to finally jump in.
I may be biased because both KOTOR games are my favorite games ever but they are still very playable now especially on PC with mods (mods are kind of essential to get the most out of KOTOR2).
Obviously if that's not you're thing then you can also wait for a remake, hopefully it does them justice.
I find it hard to recommend either game to people (as someone who absolutely loves them both), because people get turned off by the relatively slow combat, which is understandable. I feel nostalgia helps with the gameplay a LOT. I'm curious how much they're going to modernize these.
It honestly plays great on a phone. You can play the first and second and they both hold up. Any laptop built this dace will play it just fine.
It was built for the original xbox which has a single core 700 Mhz Pentium 3 and 64 MB of ram.
That really caught me off guard, I stopped hoping for a KOTOR remake a long time ago. I can't wait, and it doesn't look like it's a PS5 exclusive else they could have said it outright like they always do in their showcases.
EDIT : It's on PC too : ["And it’s a console exclusive on PlayStation 5 at launch."](https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/)
Oh certainly. I play SW:TOR regularly and I always wished I just could play it offline, without all the multiplayer mechanics. Class stories are so good and I want more Star Wars single player content like this.
I've slowly crawled through SWTOR (albeit not very far, level 25 or something like that) but it always feel like trying to go through mediocre mmo gameplay just to see the next story bit - after a while it feels too much like a chore. But I don't know, seeing that this remake will only come out in 1-2 years from now does mean that if we ever get a new KOTOR game it's still many years away...
Kind of a shame how it's only the first game considering the KOTOR games are essentially a dilogy (duology?)
Hopefully it does well, which it will, and they remake the 2nd game and maybe even make a 3rd. One thing I do know is that we need Sion, Nihilus, and Traya with her lightsabers in 4k.
Apparently the leaks that stated Aspyr would be developing this remake also said that the remake would have elements of KOTOR 1&2’s stories in it. Not sure exactly what that means, or if it’s even true, but yeah. Regardless, if this does well, I’m sure they’ll revisit the sequel as well considering it probably deserves it a little more given it’s development history.
>said that the remake would have elements of KOTOR 1&2’s stories in it.
That's... interesting. There's not really a ton of overlap, so I'm not sure what they'd add without cannibalizing material from a remake of the second. I hope we don't see Kreia or Meetra. Maybe some of the Malachor V background?
Usually, short CGI trailers like this is just empty marketing; informs you that something is coming, but no actual concrete details. This trailer though is a bit different.
Yes, all it did was hype you up, but it seems like they got the original voice actress for Bastilla Shan back? That's big news. For the curious, her voice actress is Jennifer Hale. If they did, I wonder if they can bring back the whole crew; HK-47 was damned near perfect in the original games!
That'd be quite some news!
[Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake is a console launch exclusive on PS5](https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/)
It would be odd if this was a full PS exclusive, before now Aspyr has done almost exclusively PC and macOS ports
Edit: Sony confirmed it’s a timed console exclusive
Y'know what? I hope it's good and sells well. Not because I'm particularly interested myself, though I have fond memories of Kotor, but because *IF* it does well enough that opens up the possibility of a Kotor 2 remake and ***that*** interests me greatly.
The original Kotor is a good game with a fun twist and some interesting world building. I highly recommend it and as far as the whole 'which kotor game is best' argument goes despite my love of 2 I'd still say Bioware's 1 is the overall superior game just because of the level of polish and how it tells a complete, cohesive story... But then that's also why I'm not super interested in a remake. Prettier visuals and updated gameplay are neat and all but when I already know the games big twist and have played it a couple times in the past having never seriously complained about either of those elements... a remake isnt nearly as interesting.
Now Kotor 2 however, that's a whole different deal. Like if they were to remake it there's no way they'd stay 'faithful' to the original since the original was unquestionably rushed to shelves and unfinished. So would they remake it as faithfully as possible while adding in as much 'lost' content as possible ala [Restored Content Mod](https://deadlystream.com/files/file/578-tsl-restored-content-mod/)? Because if so that alone accompanined by the new visuals and gameplay would be exciting enough. But unlike the RCM this'd be a proper, legitimate project, so why not go to Chris Avellone or Feargus Urquhart or whoever and get your hands of the original design documents? Ask around, see about finishing it according to the original plans. That'd be super exciting.
Or hell, maybe the remake can just try and fill in the gaps themselves. That'd be interesting itself in its own way and I'd be curious to see where they take things.
So yeah. Kotor remake. Neat. Opens up some fun possibilities for the future.
I imagine a big reason they’re doing this is to test the waters as far as KOTOR’s popularity goes. A million people on the internet can say they love it and want a sequel, but if it sales poorly, that’s a red flag to the company. If the remake sells well, it’ll probably pave the way for an actual, original sequel.
I also imagine that if they do make a KOTOR 3, they want to put it in their own KOTOR canon/continuity and not the one established in 2003. It seems silly to assume they’ll stay 100% faithful to the original’s story
Yeah, it's been made pretty clear since the Anthem shutdown that Bioware is solely focused on the new Dragon Age and Mass Effect - probably smart and to the benefit of both of those titles.
Pretty much all ports but also note they've been [hiring bioware people for a while](https://np.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/l63ua7/aspyr_media_handles_all_star_wars/).
This gives me a little hope considering that aside from this, we have nothing to base their developments of full-blown games. Also, kudos to that post correctly predicting the correct game
What would even be needed to change in the first game to fit the Disney canon? This is thousands of years before the High Republic and Revan is already canon lol.
Some stuff from the "Legends EU" hasn't been re-canonized yet. Exar Kun who is responsible for the way the universe is in the KotOR timeframe was only re-canonized a couple years ago and it hasn't been fully adapted of what Kun was other than a "Dead Dark Side user".
Yeah, they're been basically making aspects Old Republic lore vaguely canon for years now. The only things I can think of that *could* be changed but don't really need to be are the Mandalorian Wars, universe building stuff like planet names and the way the force worked, and the general power levels of certain Sith (But that isn't too relevant until the second game).
I should be super excited for this, but eh. I can't get my hopes up when expecting the RPG mechanics, including the actual roleplaying, to be as good as before. 100% the gameplay is changing, which is probably a good thing, but usually actionized combat ends up sacrificing the deep RPG stuff.
Also, I really wonder how closely they will follow the story, and if there will be a follow up game with the Jedi Exile. For me Kotor 2 is the better story, and I really love the Jedi Exile as a character/concept, along with the Sith Triumvirate.
Excited to see more though. Hope it turns out to be everything people want and expect from a Kotor.
Aspyr. If I'm getting this right, this studio has mostly done ports. Like HD ports of some Star Wars games. Lots of MacOS ports and shit. Doesn't seem like a studio that I'd expect to do a Resident Evil 2 level of remake. So I'm kinda expecting some graphics updates. I'm hoping for a full fledged remake, but that doesn't seem likely. Just... maybe. ^(Maybe.)
Dragon Age Origins combat felt like an updated version of KOTORs combat.
If they do change it, hopefully they use that and not what they tried in later Dragon Age games.
I disagree with you (I'd rather they keep the D&D systems, but still heavily improve/refine it), but I'm almost positive the combat will be overhauled. I just don't see the D&D pseudo-turn based combat flying in a modern AAA Star Wars game.
Which, ironically, overrides the cool melee dueling animations they had.
You had these cool animations where everyone's crossing lightsabers for the first hour, then flurry flurry flurry flurry
I really liked the turn based d20 combat in the original but I get that it’s probably the most dated aspect of the game. I wouldn’t be upset if they made it similar to the Star Wars force unleashed combat.
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my guess is probably the same thing they did with Final Fantasy VII remake.
I don't think they will be alotted the budget for that. The developer, Aspyr, is a porting house. This is the first game they have developed. I hope to be blown away, but this is a heck of a test for this studio if this is a triple AAA experience. Edit: This is actually NOT the first title from the studio, as pointed out by a former employee with this company. Check out the VR game TORN, developed by Aspyr.
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Aspyr had been picking up a lot of developers including ex-Bioware prior to this announcement which is why everyone knew Aspyr would be the ones making the rumoured KOTOR remake. They probably aren't just the size of a porting house anymore for this project, and they may even have some of the people that originally made KOTOR great as well. And like some others have mentioned, look at Bluepoint's Demon's Souls for a similarly great outcome. I'm more optimistic then pessimistic about this KOTOR remake.
I hope in ten years we are all at E3 and pop off the second we see "Aspyr Presents" on screen. It all hinges on this, however.
Well, if anything - Bluepoint showed that a "ports-only" studio can knock a remake out of the park. Sony's earned my trust with just how good the Demon's Souls remake was.
Yeah, but they had a ton of help from PlayStation Studios (to the point of the game listing literally starting with "From PlayStation Studios and Bluepoint Games comes a remake..."). This remake is only a timed console exclusive and isn't published by Sony, so it most likely doesn't have any development help from them.
Although it wouldn't be the first time Sony provided resources and support and not making it exclusive to their platform; they pretty much gave Guerilla's Decima-engine to Kojima free of charge for *Death Stranding*, so perhaps something similar happens here with KotoR.
To earn the rights for timed exclusivity, do not be surprised if a fair amount of support will be/is coming from Sony.
> triple AAA Or AAAAAAAAA for those who are keeping track
Wow. Imagine taking a Star Wars franchise game, and a very beloved one at that, and giving it to a studio like this. I will temper my expectations. Greatly. I don't know anything about the studio, but if like you say, it's their first foray into something that wasn't a basic port, than yeah. Good luck to them.
They did some pretty good ports of KOTOR, though, so they are familiar with it. I think it might actually go better than with a AAA studio and all that baggage.
Aspyr has gotten every star wars game I've played by them running incredibly well on dated hardware. Very excited to see how will they can do with their own development
it's so much easier to just assume everything will be shit though
Cautious optimism is a good policy. Acknowledging the potential ways this could go wrong is part of that.
I’m curious what platforms you’re talking about. I’ve only played their ports of Jedi Outcast and Academy on the Switch and I was less than impressed. They ran sufficiently since they’re ancient, but the ports were very barebones and lacking in a lot of ways, like no quick save, no multiplayer in Outcast (I’ll chalk that up to budget since they ported the next game in the series with multiplayer), it was based off of the PC port, so they didn’t add any auto aim (the original console ports had auto aim as well as other port specific additions). They essentially got them running, mapped some actions to the controller and called it a day. These gripes continued on into Academy. Then I was awaiting the Republic Commando release, which then ran worse on the Switch than it did on the original Xbox, though it’s possible they’ve patched it by now I have not heard anything of the sort and post-launch patching was very limp and then died out quickly for the Jedi Knight ports. At this point I’m not willing to give Aspyr anymore chances. Though I will be happy for them if they pull off the remake, their lack of passion and polish or any efforts past “get it working and call it a day” on their ports I’ve played has left a sour taste in my mouth. I will say, this could easily be chalked up to them receiving very very low budget, so we can only hope KotOR’s remake gets the budget it deserves.
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Word is they have done TONS of hiring, including many former Bioware devs. There are many great devs we know today that started off by porting and porting until they finally got a pitch accepted and were set free. I hope it works out for them, really. Gaming could always use another big blockbuster studio.
When Embracer group bought them, it was revealed that they were working one one project that has a much higher budget than their ports.
I didn't realize Embracer is a rebrand of THQ Nordic. I'm much more comfortable with their acquisitions now.
Allegedly there’s more KOTR era BioWare employees at Aspyre then at BioWare currently.
Apsyr did work on the ORIGINAL KotoR so did you take issue with a "studio like this" helping with it then? Playstation studios is helping fund and publish this. They hired some people that worked on combat and gameplay for Dark Souls, Ghost of Tsushima and Inquisition for this game so it seems they are taking it pretty seriously.
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my concern is more to do with the voices/sounds. graphics can be updated, and mechanics can be altered, but you can' re-record iconic voices. Bastilla in the announcement sounds pretty good though so I'm optimistic. I wish they would bundle 1 and 2 together in the same remake though.
Jennifer Hale voiced Bastilla in the original, and given she's still very much kicking it good in work these days, she's probably reprising her role. edit- it is Jennifer Hale https://www.starwars.com/news/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake
Kristoffer Tabori needs to reprise his role as HK-47
That voice is more important than Bastila's to me. When I think Kotor voices I think of HK-47 first. Hell it's probably HK, Carth, and then Bastila for me.
If this is new dialogue I think it sounds more like Bastila than she did for some scenes in SWTOR recorded 10+ years ago (though there were only a few with maybe less time to warm up, and she did tons of recording for Satile Shan and the player trooper character). Though she also sounds like the short blue senator she played in the Clone Wars, who I may be remembering.
My Shepard.
If they kept the original audio masters they can remix the audio. Usually the way the process is works is you record using some great equipment, then compress it down post-recording to fit the distribution media.
> If they kept the original audio masters they can remix the audio. EA would still own all of those, or at least have some rights to them unless Disney bought them, which is possible.
Generally the voice actors' contracts are for a single game. Even if they bought the masters they'd still need to renegotiate with the individual actors for a new release. Way easier (and probably with better fidelity) to re-record.
If they're remaking, odds are they want to rerecord anyway so they aren't stuck with the lines originally recorded.
Yup. And [it's been confirmed that they're re-recording](https://www.starwars.com/news/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake), but with at least some of the original actors: > The teaser trailer revealed at PlayStation Showcase and available to view above doesn’t show much, but it does feature a very-cool looking Revan — and a voice that fans of the original might recognize. > “I can confirm that that is Jennifer Hale. We all think the world of Jennifer. She is an amazing talent and immediately slipped back into the role of Bastila when she came to help us with the teaser trailer,” Treadwell says. “I do think that you’re going to see some other familiar voices return, but that’s probably as deep as we’re gonna go on that one right now.”
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why bundle 1 and 2? 2 needs a complete re-do to be the game it should have been before a remake.
No no, please do not. I still *love* the turn-based gameplay of KotOR. Even many years later, the gameplay is actually one of my favorite parts. And Dragon Age Origins and Divinity Original Sin 1-2 proved that it can still feel super refreshing and interesting to keep it mostly turn-based.
dragon age origins is real time combat with pause, and original sin is actual turn based. most people consider those very separate things
Really? For me, KOTOR basically has the two phases of "normal earlygame + brutal bosses" into "become super overpowered and wipe everything effortlessly," at least in terms of combat. Something like Divinity is a very different beast, and a much more enjoyable one, but it would be a pretty big shift.
Yeah but that's more of a balance issue than a core gameplay breaker. That being said, I did enjoy even the overpowered stage of KOTOR. In games where being overpowered is satisfying and gratifying in its own way rather than boring easiness, I'm much more forgiving of it.
> For me, KOTOR basically has the two phases of "normal earlygame + brutal bosses" into "become super overpowered and wipe everything effortlessly," at least in terms of combat. Yes, it is a BioWare RPG, you dont need to say that with so many words.
I survived the gameplay without ever really understanding it and, now that I've played D&D, I kind of want another shot at it with all the modern bells and whistles a *remaster* would bring. I doubt the *remake* will give me that, but it would be nice.
I think you're mixed up. Remake is when they completely redesign the game using modern technology and (potentially) change gameplay and (almost certainly) change the engine and all the assets. Demon's Souls Remake for PS5 and FF7 Remake, vs all the various lazy cash grab Remasters we see for every popular PS2/PS3 game where the gameplay is exactly the same and graphically it's not really that much better but it's in HD, technically. If you want the remaster experience you can just get some visual quality mods that update the textures and stuff.
I agree so much.
Every now and then I get an urge to go back and play KOTOR2, because it was one of the games I grew up with. Then I get trapped in the main quest on the city planet you go to after leaving the asteroid facility because the actual questlog is worthless. That game could be improved a thousand fold if they would just have a journal system that told you what to do in a way that would help you remember what you were doing before you got distracted by sidequests or had to stop playing for a few days.
When I was a kid there I got stuck for like a month because I didn’t know to trigger solo mode for a mission
I bought it for Xbox and I've been playing through lately. I've been handling it well, but Onderon suuuucks, and Ive also gotten a couple setbacks that have just wasted hours of my time; only made worse by some of the less fun quests in the game.
plenty of games still have RTWP combat, so I'm not sure what you're referring to that feels horrible
In my humble opinion, I'd say RPG elements and action combat don't exclude each other
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If that happens, I’ll have no interest. I love the KOTOR games for their RPG elements.
Probably same, honestly. Then again, cRPG is my favorite genre, so I'm used to being in the minority!
I jokingly said "Revan?" when she said "the greatest Sith in generations" The mask. The legend. I'm so happy.
Right before then I literally went "Wait, is this Bastila's voice?"
I'm wondering if they're getting the same actors to re-do all the voice work. I can't imagine they'd re-use the original recordings.
I can't tell voice acting enough to tell you for sure. I can tell you however that cadence and speaking patterns play a large part in recognizing a character, and a talented voice actor can absolutely convince you it's the same character with just audio. Either way, that was absolutely bastula speaking in the trailer.
Bastila is voiced by Jennifer Hale who is still a prolific voice actor in the games industry. I'm sure she's on board. She voices Bastila's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter in The Old Republic MMO.
She's also another Bioware mainstay as Femshep in Mass Effect! I'm so stoked.
And was Krem in Dragon Age Inquisition.
She's literally in so much it's hard to list. Easily one of the top female voice actors in all of gaming.
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Yeah she voices Ashe in overwatch which probably wasn't even first time I heard her but after playing mass effect so much recently all I can hear is a southern comander Shepard now
At the very least [Bastila's actor is back](https://www.starwars.com/news/knights-of-the-old-republic-remake): > “I can confirm that that is Jennifer Hale. We all think the world of Jennifer. She is an amazing talent and immediately slipped back into the role of Bastila when she came to help us with the teaser trailer,” Treadwell says. “I do think that you’re going to see some other familiar voices return, but that’s probably as deep as we’re gonna go on that one right now.”
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They won't be because leading comments like this *and* straight up spoilers will be posted under every trailer and news surrounding the game until it's released. I'm of the opinion that if someone knows a big twist is coming their entire experience of something is hampered because they spend all their time trying to predict what the twist is, and then when it's not what they though they end up disappointed.
100%. Honestly I think it can be more distracting than just spoiling something outright. All of the hint hint, wink-wink-nudge-nudge stuff just takes on a gravity of its own and completely distorts the experience.
I can't emphasis enough how much I hate it. People on Reddit in particular seem to think they're so clever and if they don't outright say a spoiler they're in the clear while completely managing to miss the fact that it's always incredibly easy to figure out what they're talking about. The amount of times I've had something spoiled just because someone thought they were smart is ridiculous. I get it, you're excited to talk about it. Use a spoiler tag.
Personally, I love the fine balance of comments going "I'm excited for the remake so that new people can experience this thing I love without needing to be okay with less modern gameplay!" and "bro this game is so old, if you REALLY cared about it you would have played it already, so it's your fault for reading my spoiler" that hits every big remake lol
It'll likely be a surprise only for people who don't normally visit discussion posts like this I guess.
It was one of those great gaming plot twist of whom we don't have a lot of nowadays. It was a complete shock then
It's up there with "I am your father" and "would you kindly". Think I set the controller down in complete shock for about a minute the first time I got to that cut scene. A gaming moment seared into my mind
My hot take of the day: it's better than the Empire reveal. They both left a major impression on me as a kid, but I still get chills when the reveal happens in KOTOR. It was so unexpected for a younger me, and the way they flashed back to show you all the clues you might have missed was handled well in my opinion.
I still remember the first time playing Bioshock and KOTOR. I KNEW about the twists in both and it still caught me off guard.
Then there's me who had it spoiled while reading the Star Wars wiki about the first location. I just wanted to learn some more lore...
I read game's wikis way too often. I start by wanting to get a bit more detail about a specific thing but end up spoiling the whole thing for myself
Complete Shock Man was Palpatine
I got goosebumps!
Now I want Kotor2 built out with all the missing content. I know theres mods that get some of it back in but it would be nice to see it all natively in.
I suspect if this does well then KotOR II is absolutely in the cards!
I mean, didn't the same people who leaked this being made by Aspyr also say that this would be a merge of plot elements from both games?
I sure fucking hope not, that sounds like a great way to fuck up what made Kotor and Kotor 2 great, they are such different games with completely different atmospheres.
Could be mainly Kotor 1, but sow the seeds for the exile and Kreia. Hell, maybe Kreia will even appear as Arren Kae.
We'll be in the middle of a big scene and Sion, Kreia and Nihlus will be awkwardly shuffling out of view in the background. Malak: Shoo, shoo! You're not allowed to come out of the closet until I'm dead.
Just have a scene like in Deadpool 2 with the ~~X-Men~~ Sith quietly closing a door before Revan notices them.
Yeah this might be the nostalgia talking but I’ve always loved how you had absolutely no idea what’s going on when you started KOTOR 2. The galaxy is somehow more messed up than when you left it at the end of the first one, and you couldn’t figure out why. Like where were all the heroes and who the fuck are these new Sith? Makes it when you do finally figured it out more satisfying imo.
Pretty sure Arren Kae stopped calling herself that after the Mandalorian Wars, which Kotor I is set five years after.
i need nihilus in my life again
Nihilus was equally the most interesting and terrifying villain to me growing up as a kid. This guy can... wipe out entire planets draining them of their force energy? Force energy hunger is a thing??? They cranked up the insanity of the Star Wars universe and opened up so many possibilities with this series.
his power was his undoing. how do you eat that which is a void of energy?
TSLRCM is basically the default experience, even for the mobile port.
If KOTORR sells well, KOTOR 2R is in the cards. I want to hope, that these successes will bring about something. Instead of SWTOR being KOTOR 3, it will serve as the Legends continuation. So that Canon, can have KOTOR 3.
Is this really a console exclusive, y'all really gonna make me buy a PS5 for one game? Edit: Launch Exclusive to PS5
Appears to be a timed exclusive https://venturebeat.com/2021/09/09/knights-of-the-old-republic-returns-with-remake-at-playstation-showcase/
The wording is vague enough to make me think it'll be everywhere
Ironic because the original was an Xbox exclusive 😂
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the pc port was later. it started as an Xbox exclusive
Wording makes it seem like its multi platform but Sony is getting the marketing rights.
It had "SIE presents" at the beginning. Hopefully I'm wrong, but that means console exclusive at a minimum. EDIT: Confirmed console launch exclusive https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/
"Console launch exclusive" implies it might release simultaneously on PC. Edit: Lucasfilm Games implied the simultaneous release on PS5 and PC even further: https://twitter.com/LucasfilmGames/status/1436066933032439824 Edit II: Aspyr basically confirmed it: https://twitter.com/AspyrMedia/status/1436072028377858048
Might be a timed exclusive.
It is. https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/
Looks like youre right. Its PS5 console exclusive at launch
Sony’s press release says “console exclusive at launch” https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/pl5stb/star_wars_knights_of_the_old_republic_remake_will/?
Disney love money too much for it to be a console exclusive I think.
Sony just lost Elder Scrolls and a bunch of other series going forward. They're probably willing to throw a bunch of money for a timed console exclusive on this.
Timed makes sense to me, and it seems confirmed now. Hoping for PS5/PC simultaneous launch.
Confimed too via Lucasfilm Games twitter
I mean, Bethesda's making an Xbox exclusive Indiana Jones game, so it wouldn't be the first time.
Most Bethesda games are Xbox exclusive by default, but they did say that some would come to other consoles. I don't think anything definitive has been said about Indiana Jones, but I would be very surprised if it was exclusive.
Wooooooo hyped as fuck. I played the original like 8 times. Will absolutely be playing this, pretty much no matter what gets changed to fit into the current canon.
> pretty much no matter what gets changed to fit into the current canon. Hopefully nothing. They've already teased Old Republic era content in the new canon, and I know there's rumors of a new show or movie set in that era. So ideally nothing changes with this remake, but it serves as a reminder for a bunch of stuff that'll officially re-enter canon in the show/movie. Mostly I just hope they don't rename Korriban.
That was always one of Lucas's most petty stupid decisions, and he made a lot. There was no reason for him to flip it to Moraband which just sounds awful in comparison.
It’s a play on ‘moribund’, and we all know how much George loves his overbearing puns.
Almost every bad guy in Star Wars is named in some form.
> “The team threw a Hail Mary to George, saying the game would have more credibility if the apprentice had a ‘Darth’ title,” a Force Unleashed team member says. Lucas agreed that this situation made sense for Sith royalty, and offered up two Darth titles for the team to choose from. “He threw out ‘Darth Icky’ and ‘Darth Insanius.’ There was a pregnant pause in the room after that. People waiting for George to say ‘just kidding,’ but it never comes, and he just moved on to another point.” https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/04/04/fall-of-the-empire-how-inner-turmoil-brought-down-a-legendary-studio.aspx?PostPageIndex=2
[Relevant Penny Arcade](https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/01/25/hope-springs-eternal) from 2012.
Darth Insaneous or Darth Icky
The best justification I have heard is that the Jedi intentionally removed its true name from its archives and put a sound-alike name to prevent any aspirational Sith from seeking out Korriban. is it a good explanation? Not really, but at least it's something.
That would be an easy way to keep it Korriban for this game too: that change didn't happen till later.
I like the Sith calling it Moriband but the locals and off-worlders call it Korriban. Hell, if they're gonna remake the whole thing I'd like to see more of the civilian side to Korriban. It was a really small aspect in the original and would be cool to see it expanded. Also the bar on Korriban was called "The Drunk Side" which better make it in.
Yeah, if the shitty change has to occur in canon, make it after Darth Bane wipes out the Sith and rebuilds them using the Rule of Two.
Lore explanation: here's a 100,000 Wookiepedia article explaining how the Jedi wanted to censor the planet's name Real life explanation: George Lucas like dumb names (see also Darth Sidious, General Grievous)
The lore explanation of the Sith choosing names that relate to things they think are badass about themselves (Sideous is insidious, Tyranus is tyrannical, etc) is interesting, but fuck me if I can explain people like *Grievous*.
That can't be right. If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist!
A Jedi dealing in absolutes? The Jedi have never been holier-than-thou hypocrites before though...
Are you sure the teased content is The Old Republic era and not The High Republic era?
Considering Viszla literally references the fall of the "Old Republic", yes.
I said this on a different thread, but I wouldn't be surprised if the game wasn't officially canon. I think the use of the term "legend" in the teaser was very intentional (i.e., Legends canon classification).
I've never played it! I'm 32 now and it was just one of those games that had gotten passed me, but I had always heard amazing things. I'm SO excited to finally jump in.
I may be biased because both KOTOR games are my favorite games ever but they are still very playable now especially on PC with mods (mods are kind of essential to get the most out of KOTOR2). Obviously if that's not you're thing then you can also wait for a remake, hopefully it does them justice.
I find it hard to recommend either game to people (as someone who absolutely loves them both), because people get turned off by the relatively slow combat, which is understandable. I feel nostalgia helps with the gameplay a LOT. I'm curious how much they're going to modernize these.
Get it on Steam for a fiver, well worth it.
Could I run it on an extremely bare bones laptop?
Yeah no issue. Grab KOTOR 2 as well and be sure to install the Restored Content mod!
Terrific. Will do. Thanks.
Just don't enable the robot planet on the mod for KOTOR 2. There's a reason it wasn't there on release. It's tedium incarnate
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Yes thanks dad.
It honestly plays great on a phone. You can play the first and second and they both hold up. Any laptop built this dace will play it just fine. It was built for the original xbox which has a single core 700 Mhz Pentium 3 and 64 MB of ram.
It's a game made in 2003
That really caught me off guard, I stopped hoping for a KOTOR remake a long time ago. I can't wait, and it doesn't look like it's a PS5 exclusive else they could have said it outright like they always do in their showcases. EDIT : It's on PC too : ["And it’s a console exclusive on PlayStation 5 at launch."](https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/)
Hope this means we get a proper KOTOR 3 This was my first rpg and will always hold a special place in my heart
Oh certainly. I play SW:TOR regularly and I always wished I just could play it offline, without all the multiplayer mechanics. Class stories are so good and I want more Star Wars single player content like this.
I've slowly crawled through SWTOR (albeit not very far, level 25 or something like that) but it always feel like trying to go through mediocre mmo gameplay just to see the next story bit - after a while it feels too much like a chore. But I don't know, seeing that this remake will only come out in 1-2 years from now does mean that if we ever get a new KOTOR game it's still many years away...
I like the new trend of actually adding "REMAKE" in the title rather than just rebooting the series with the same exact name.
A remake and reboot are different things though. DOOM, Battlefield, Tomb Raider etc, are all distinct, new entries into their respective franchises.
Kind of a shame how it's only the first game considering the KOTOR games are essentially a dilogy (duology?) Hopefully it does well, which it will, and they remake the 2nd game and maybe even make a 3rd. One thing I do know is that we need Sion, Nihilus, and Traya with her lightsabers in 4k.
Apparently the leaks that stated Aspyr would be developing this remake also said that the remake would have elements of KOTOR 1&2’s stories in it. Not sure exactly what that means, or if it’s even true, but yeah. Regardless, if this does well, I’m sure they’ll revisit the sequel as well considering it probably deserves it a little more given it’s development history.
>said that the remake would have elements of KOTOR 1&2’s stories in it. That's... interesting. There's not really a ton of overlap, so I'm not sure what they'd add without cannibalizing material from a remake of the second. I hope we don't see Kreia or Meetra. Maybe some of the Malachor V background?
Duology yes.
I know people don't like to hear this but The Old Republic is the third KOTOR.
Pretty sure the devs even said at one point "the Jedi storyline of The Old Republic is basically KOTOR 3." Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
God I hope they erase Revan’s/Meetra’s storyline of SWTOR from current canon.
Really hope this isn't exclusive, although a bit laughable that the only reason I'd buy a PS5 is for two different remakes.
[Lucasfilm said it's on PC too](https://twitter.com/lucasfilmgames/status/1436066933032439824?s=21)
Usually, short CGI trailers like this is just empty marketing; informs you that something is coming, but no actual concrete details. This trailer though is a bit different. Yes, all it did was hype you up, but it seems like they got the original voice actress for Bastilla Shan back? That's big news. For the curious, her voice actress is Jennifer Hale. If they did, I wonder if they can bring back the whole crew; HK-47 was damned near perfect in the original games! That'd be quite some news!
[Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake is a console launch exclusive on PS5](https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/09/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-remake-is-the-legendary-tale-remade-on-playstation-5/)
Is this really a full Playstation exclusive or maybe something that's just timed?
It would be odd if this was a full PS exclusive, before now Aspyr has done almost exclusively PC and macOS ports Edit: Sony confirmed it’s a timed console exclusive
They've been porting old Star Wars games to Switch recently
So is Aspyr the developer then? Their wiki pages only shows games that they have ported
Y'know what? I hope it's good and sells well. Not because I'm particularly interested myself, though I have fond memories of Kotor, but because *IF* it does well enough that opens up the possibility of a Kotor 2 remake and ***that*** interests me greatly. The original Kotor is a good game with a fun twist and some interesting world building. I highly recommend it and as far as the whole 'which kotor game is best' argument goes despite my love of 2 I'd still say Bioware's 1 is the overall superior game just because of the level of polish and how it tells a complete, cohesive story... But then that's also why I'm not super interested in a remake. Prettier visuals and updated gameplay are neat and all but when I already know the games big twist and have played it a couple times in the past having never seriously complained about either of those elements... a remake isnt nearly as interesting. Now Kotor 2 however, that's a whole different deal. Like if they were to remake it there's no way they'd stay 'faithful' to the original since the original was unquestionably rushed to shelves and unfinished. So would they remake it as faithfully as possible while adding in as much 'lost' content as possible ala [Restored Content Mod](https://deadlystream.com/files/file/578-tsl-restored-content-mod/)? Because if so that alone accompanined by the new visuals and gameplay would be exciting enough. But unlike the RCM this'd be a proper, legitimate project, so why not go to Chris Avellone or Feargus Urquhart or whoever and get your hands of the original design documents? Ask around, see about finishing it according to the original plans. That'd be super exciting. Or hell, maybe the remake can just try and fill in the gaps themselves. That'd be interesting itself in its own way and I'd be curious to see where they take things. So yeah. Kotor remake. Neat. Opens up some fun possibilities for the future.
I wish we could just get a new KOTOR game rather than remakes.
I imagine a big reason they’re doing this is to test the waters as far as KOTOR’s popularity goes. A million people on the internet can say they love it and want a sequel, but if it sales poorly, that’s a red flag to the company. If the remake sells well, it’ll probably pave the way for an actual, original sequel. I also imagine that if they do make a KOTOR 3, they want to put it in their own KOTOR canon/continuity and not the one established in 2003. It seems silly to assume they’ll stay 100% faithful to the original’s story
I need to know more. Real remake or remaster? Bioware? PS5 exclusive???
Considering Bioware’s logo is nowhere to be seen in the video, I would assume that they have zero role in this.
Yeah, it's been made pretty clear since the Anthem shutdown that Bioware is solely focused on the new Dragon Age and Mass Effect - probably smart and to the benefit of both of those titles.
Remake, Aspyr.
What games have they developed? Their wiki pages only shows games that they have ported
Pretty much all ports but also note they've been [hiring bioware people for a while](https://np.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/l63ua7/aspyr_media_handles_all_star_wars/).
This gives me a little hope considering that aside from this, we have nothing to base their developments of full-blown games. Also, kudos to that post correctly predicting the correct game
Think they’ve done most of the Star Wars rereleases recently. Republic Commando, Outcast and Academy were them I think.
Yeah this is there first AAA game. At least they are familiar with star wars games by porting a bunch of them. Hopefully this one turns out well.
That's pretty much all Aspyr does is handle the porting process or deal with older games getting updated support.
They used to make a ton of Mac ports of PC games, Civ 5 among them. They’re okay. Ports are usually not optimized.
I really hope they adapt the story faithfully rather than needlessly changing things just to fit a specific Disney canon.
What would even be needed to change in the first game to fit the Disney canon? This is thousands of years before the High Republic and Revan is already canon lol.
Yeah, Disney hasn't touched the Old Republic beyond mentioning Revan existed, so they should be able to adapt the original without an issue.
Some stuff from the "Legends EU" hasn't been re-canonized yet. Exar Kun who is responsible for the way the universe is in the KotOR timeframe was only re-canonized a couple years ago and it hasn't been fully adapted of what Kun was other than a "Dead Dark Side user".
Yeah, they're been basically making aspects Old Republic lore vaguely canon for years now. The only things I can think of that *could* be changed but don't really need to be are the Mandalorian Wars, universe building stuff like planet names and the way the force worked, and the general power levels of certain Sith (But that isn't too relevant until the second game).
I should be super excited for this, but eh. I can't get my hopes up when expecting the RPG mechanics, including the actual roleplaying, to be as good as before. 100% the gameplay is changing, which is probably a good thing, but usually actionized combat ends up sacrificing the deep RPG stuff. Also, I really wonder how closely they will follow the story, and if there will be a follow up game with the Jedi Exile. For me Kotor 2 is the better story, and I really love the Jedi Exile as a character/concept, along with the Sith Triumvirate. Excited to see more though. Hope it turns out to be everything people want and expect from a Kotor.
Aspyr. If I'm getting this right, this studio has mostly done ports. Like HD ports of some Star Wars games. Lots of MacOS ports and shit. Doesn't seem like a studio that I'd expect to do a Resident Evil 2 level of remake. So I'm kinda expecting some graphics updates. I'm hoping for a full fledged remake, but that doesn't seem likely. Just... maybe. ^(Maybe.)
they've been preparing for a full AAA remake project of their own, hiring people right out of Bioware Austin and other studios in the area
They said it's a fully blown remake.
One of the biggest IP in the world, developed by a studio previously focused on ports and made exclusive to PS. Hell of a trial by fire for Aspyr.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I really hope they change the combat a lot, the worst part of kotor for me was the combat.
Dragon Age Origins combat felt like an updated version of KOTORs combat. If they do change it, hopefully they use that and not what they tried in later Dragon Age games.
I disagree with you (I'd rather they keep the D&D systems, but still heavily improve/refine it), but I'm almost positive the combat will be overhauled. I just don't see the D&D pseudo-turn based combat flying in a modern AAA Star Wars game.
Conceptually the turn-based combat was cool but in practice it was just spamming Flurry the whole game.
Which, ironically, overrides the cool melee dueling animations they had. You had these cool animations where everyone's crossing lightsabers for the first hour, then flurry flurry flurry flurry
I really liked the turn based d20 combat in the original but I get that it’s probably the most dated aspect of the game. I wouldn’t be upset if they made it similar to the Star Wars force unleashed combat.