Despite my fear that the ending will indeed suck as much as people say, I’m thoroughly enoying KOTOR II now I’m off Tarris Peragus Station. It’s like seeing an old friend who’s grown and changed, just like I felt when playing Metroid Prime 2. The coolest thing so far, and I hope it continues, is the influence system. Conversation choices don’t just affect how good or bad you become, NPCs react differently depending on your responses. So for example the old woman Kreia seems quite pleased if you ask her to teach you things, however start preaching Jedi ideals and she’ll get a bit shirty. Atton Rand is a bit of a rogue and doesn’t take too kindly too Kreia calling him a fool, so you can play to that too. The trick is that they remember, their attitude towards you is ongoing rather than just an isolated response to what you just said.

While I can see it being a lot more work to implement properly, more games should have this kind of thing and to greater leves of sophistication too. Deus Ex introduced a fantastic level of freedom in how you completed it but NPC interactions felt fairly linear. Imagine if an earlier conversation determined how an NPC treated you later on, and to varying degrees rather than just a yes/no decision. So they might help you in a fire fight but wouldn’t lend you money because you didn’t convince them of your trustworthyness earlier. Some games have taken a shot at this kind of thing but it’s always felt very basic.

So far in KOTOR II it’s almost been a puzzle to work out an NPC’s character and how to appeal to that in your conversations. Very cool stuff. I fear it might not turn out as deep and clever as it currently seems but it’s an excellent idea that I’d love to see elsewhere in games. The easier it is to suspend your disbelief the easier it is to immerse yourself in a game’s story and setting, and that’s exactly what we want to see, right?