If you’ve never played Knights of the Old Republic, head over to Steam, plunk down your ten bucks, and download and play the game now. When you’ve finished playing the game, play it again.
The developers have stated that playing KOTOR is not a pre-requisite to playing The Old Republic, and that you need not have prior knowledge of that story to enjoy and follow the various stories in SWTOR. For example you don’t have to know anything about Bastila Shan to understand any stories relating to Satele-Shan. That said, having knowledge of Bastila Shan will add some depth and flavor to your enjoyment of events in SWTOR.
Now I just finished playing KOTOR for the first time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only is it a great story, but playing this game will give you some insight into what you can expect from SWTOR in terms of story, choice and companions. Here are some of my thoughts on these.
- I had a hard time choosing which companions I wanted to take with me.
- There were some I hardly got to know, and I felt bad about that.
- There were choices I made that were well received by some companions and not by others.
- Light side choices didn’t always feel like the right thing to do, even when they were.
- I couldn’t get enough of HK-47 and I can’t wait to see him in SWTOR.
I expect all of these elements to be fully realized in SWTOR and on a much grander and higher quality scale, and that has me excited. December 20, 2011 is still weeks away. If you have the spare time, I encourage you to give KOTOR a look. You’ll be glad you did.
