Gamers universally love Knights of the Old Republic, the old action-RPG for PC and the OG Xbox from BioWare and LucasArts. The game received a sequel from Obsidian Entertainment, but what if BioWare had done the sequel instead? Well, we finally learned what sort of story the developers would have pursued for Knights of the Old Republic 2.
Eurogamer managed to speak with the original lead designer on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, James Ohlen, who was working with BioWare on the classic action-RPG. Ohlen explained...
The initial twist in the first two-page concept we had for Knights of the Old Republic 2 was you were going to be trained by a Yoda-like figure, someone from the Yoda race. That character was going to train you in the first part of the game but then you were going to discover this Yoda figure was actually not the good Yoda you expected...He was training you to essentially be his enforcer, a Dark Lord to conquer the universe, and he was going to become the main villain.
I'm sure some gamers might be saying "Wait, isn't that kind of the inverse of what happened with the original Knights of the Old Republic?" In a way, it's true that the sequel does seem to tread on familiar territory, but at the same time it's also quite different.
Revan and Malak were trained as Jedi and then eventually turned to the Dark Side, becoming extremely powerful and a massive threat to the galaxy after amassing their own fleet. The big twist was that Malak betrayed Revan, and the latter had suffered from amnesia. Revan became good again after being retrieved by Republic forces.
What it sounds like is that, for the sequel, BioWare would have had players taking on the role of another Jedi apprentice, only this time instead of the apprentice growing up and betraying the Jedi Knights, the trainer would turn out to be evil.
So, why didn't this game come to fruition? Well, it all boiled down to licensing.
When you're making licensed products based on other properties all the royalties and residuals go back to the license holders. BioWare wanted to create its own properties, hence everyone who would have been working on KOTOR 2 was moved over to work on another blockbuster franchise: Mass Effect.
James Ohlen took his expertise and began fleshing out the Dragon Age brand while Obsidian took on the task of making KOTOR 2.
Both Mass Effect and Dragon Age went on to become top-selling franchises for BioWare under the Electronic Arts publishing label.
And, even though Mass Effect: Andromeda resulted in a misstep for BioWare, the company is back to working on its very own IP in the form of Anthem.
Of course, this still doesn't assuage the needs of Star Wars fans who have been craving for another entry in the Knights of the Old Republic saga. For now, those fans will have to settle on getting their fill from the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, which still contains the story-oriented elements that made the series popular in the first place.
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