Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

"It does not matter where we go. It is not the destination that matters. It is the journey."

- Kreia

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is the sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which was widely regarded as a major commercial and critical success. The original game, however, was developed by a different company, BioWare. According to the game's producers, the change of developers was primarily due to BioWare's occupation with other titles, such as Jade Empire and Dragon Age. BioWare is understood to have recommended Obsidian Entertainment as an alternative developer, having worked with many of Obsidian's key members when they were part of the now-defunct Black Isle Studios. The Sith Lords was constructed using an updated version of the original Knights of the Old Republic Odyssey engine, which Obsidian obtained from BioWare.

Conception
Development of The Sith Lords began at approximately the same time that the original Knights of the Old Republic was released for the Xbox, on July 15, 2003. From the beginning, the production team had decided that the general atmosphere of the universe would be much darker than in Knights of the Old Republic and that the situation for the Jedi would be grim. Chris Avellone, Lead designer for the project, felt that it would be a challenging task to create a sequel to what he felt was an amazing story that BioWare had developed for the original Knights of the Old Republic and that there would be a lot of pressure created for the team. He began with determining what was considered fun in the gameplay elements and what kind of story would have to be developed to complement those elements. The next step was to watch every Star Wars movie, read every book and comic book about the Expanded Universe and even sitting through the The Star Wars Holiday Special. To him, it was vital to understand what adventures had already been created, the parameters of the EU, and which bad ideas it was prudent to stay away from. Only then did he feel it was time to look at the overall vision of the project.

The first phase involved distinguishing the character, or the hero's motivation, from player motivation and how the story would develop to integrate the two. In The Sith Lords, the character was a disgraced veteran of the Mandalorian Wars who was the last known Jedi in the galaxy and the target of dark side assassins who were determined to eradicate all Jedi. Certain circumstances had severed the hero's connection to the Force, but the character was being given a chance to slowly regain that connection and rediscover what it meant to be a Jedi or Sith. The player motivation involved providing the teasers that would stimulate the player into wanting to continue the game and encourage the player to explore the story and locations fully. For example, this could have been accomplished by revealing critical information, introducing a new companion or acquiring new special abilities. It was felt that each stage of the game should ask and answer the question "Why should the player care?"

The following phase involved devising the critical story points and filling in the story to link those points together. The purpose was to throw the player for a loop, but allow enough foreshadowing so that the player would stay interested. After the overall story had been developed, the game outline was divided up between the designers who would then go about filling in the details of their particular section of the storyline. The main goal was to give the player high adventure, lots of alien races and new worlds to visit. The development team also wanted to create a story that would pull the player into seriously thinking about the difference in using the Force for good and evil and the consequences of those actions.

Plot summary
The game takes place approximately five years after the conclusion of the first game, and focuses on a mostly different set of characters. The conclusion of the first game varied depending on the choices of the player, with either the light side or dark side of the Force emerging triumphant&mdash;at the beginning of The Sith Lords, players specify which of these outcomes they wish the sequel to follow. Regardless of how the original game ended, however, the beginning of The Sith Lords sees the Sith having almost completely destroyed the Jedi Order. The character whom the player takes control of is a Jedi Knight banished from the Order after she went to fight in the Mandalorian Wars. The Sith believe her to be the last remaining Jedi, though in the beginning known simply as the Exile or Jedi Exile by characters in the game due to a customizable name.

Among the characters who join the main character are Kreia, who acts as a mentor to the main character; Mira, a bounty hunter (she only joins if the player is light-side aligned on Nar Shaddaa); Hanharr, a Wookiee bounty hunter (he joins only if the player is dark-side aligned on Nar Shaddaa); Atton Rand, a former elite operative for the Sith during the Jedi Civil War who turned to smuggling after leaving the Sith after finding out that he was Force-sensitive (Atton is the love interest of a female Exile); Bao-Dur, a Zabrak engineer; Brianna, an Echani Handmaiden (she only joins if the Exile is male and is one of the two love interests of a male Exile); Mical, a former Jedi Initiate turned historian (another love interest for the female Jedi Exile); Visas Marr, a Miraluka Dark Jedi apprentice to Darth Nihilus (she is the other love interest of a male Exile); and G0-T0, an interrogation droid. Several characters featured in the first game are also brought into this sequel, and a few can join the main character's party: T3-M4, an astromech droid; HK-47, an assassin droid; and Canderous Ordo (as Mandalore), a Mandalorian. Enemies include Darth Sion, a Sith Lord with a shattered body, held together with the Force and Darth Nihilus, a being of hunger that fed on Force-sensitive energy. The new planets which the character may visit include Telos IV, the environmentally destroyed home of Carth Onasi; Nar Shaddaa, the "smuggler's moon"; the planet of Onderon; Onderon's jungle moon Dxun; and Peragus II. Korriban and Dantooine, which also appeared in the original KotOR, are also revisited. The Ebon Hawk, the ship used by the main character in the first game, once again is the main method of transportation.

Synopsis
(Note: This is based on the canonical female light side version of the game. Gender, Force alignment, order of planets visited and other variables can differ depending on the input of the player.)

Escape from Peragus
It is the year 3,951 BBY, five years after the Jedi Civil War, and four years after redeemed ex-Dark Lord of the Sith Revan's departure to the Unknown Regions. Revan's ship, the Ebon Hawk, badly damaged, emerged in the Peragus system, with six passengers on-board: two droids that formerly belonged to Revan, T3-M4 and disassembled HK-47, two other droids, 3C-FD and an HK-50, and two Humans, the Jedi Exile, and an old woman named Kreia, both unconscious. T3-M4 managed to dock the ship into the Peragus Mining Facility, where the Exile was put into the medical bay of the Administration level, and Kreia, mistaken for dead because she was in a deep trance to survive the flight, into the morgue.

After awakening, the Exile found Kreia, as well as a smuggler by the name of Atton Rand locked in a prison cell. The three of them seemed to be the only beings alive in the entire facility, which was covered with dead miners and crawling with assault-programmed mining droids, which started "mining" organics. Eventually, the Exile discovered that HK-50 was responsible for the damage done to the facility, and destroyed the droid.

Meanwhile, another ship arrived at Peragus: the Harbinger, the Galactic Republic capital ship that was transporting the Exile to Telos IV before a series of events that resulted in them ending up in the facility. When the Exile, Kreia, and Atton&mdash;in an attempt to escape Peragus&mdash;boarded the Harbinger, they discovered that the ship had been overrun by the Sith, led by Darth Sion. As Kreia approached Sion, in an attempt to distract him, the Exile and Atton escaped through one of the ship's fuel pipes. Meanwhile, Sion severed Kreia's hand with his lightsaber, and the Exile discovered her newly formed Force bond with Kreia when she unexpectedly felt her pain. The Exile and Atton continued and met up with T3-M4, and after reaching the hangar bay, boarded the Ebon Hawk. As they were trying to stop the Sith from boarding, Kreia caught up with them after escaping from Sion, despite the loss of her hand. As they tried to escape the Peragus system, flying through an asteroid field surrounding the planet Peragus II, the Harbinger fired at the Ebon Hawk and missed, hitting one of the asteroids, which caused a sequence of explosions that completely destroyed the mining facility, asteroid field, and the planet itself.

Refuge on Telos


With the Peragus astrogation charts recovered from the Harbinger containing only the planet Telos, which is slowly recovering after Saul Karath's bombardment during the Jedi Civil War, the three had no choice but to board Citadel Station. There, they were immediately disarmed and detained by the Telos Security Force for the duration of the investigation on the destruction of the Peragus mining facility&mdash;not coincidentally, the main fuel supplier for Citadel Station, without which the station would not be able to maintain its orbit around Telos. During the investigation, a mysterious woman stole the Ebon Hawk with T3-M4 locked on-board. Chodo Habat, the leader of the Ithorian team responsible for the restoration efforts on Telos, offered the Exile to restore some of her lost connection with the Force, and provided a shuttle off Citadel Station in exchange for eliminating their rivals, Czerka Corporation. Despite Kreia's disapproval of an alliance with Chodo, the Exile accepted his offer, uncovered some details about Czerka's illegal business (certainly enough for the Telosian Council to drive them off the planet) and, together with her companions, flew to the surface of Telos.



On Telos, the shuttle was attacked and damaged by a Czerka air defense turret and crash-landed in a restoration zone, miraculously near a Zabrak named Bao-Dur who was a former technician under the Exile in the Mandalorian Wars. He refused to call her anything but "General". He also designed the Mass Shadow Generator, which played a significant role in the Mandalorians' ultimate defeat in the Battle of Malachor V, and currently worked for the Ithorians. Fighting their way through Czerka mercenaries, the Exile and her companions reached an abandoned Republic military base, where Bao-Dur pinpointed a breach in the planetary defense system in the polar region as the most likely location of the Ebon Hawk. Having boarded a yet another shuttle (in the process discovering the base was swarming with hostile droids), the Exile, Kreia, Atton and Bao-Dur headed to the polar region of Telos.

Hidden Academy


Upon arrival, the shuttle once again crash-landed on a polar plateau as a result of being shot down by three HK-50 droids. After dealing with them, the Exile discovered a Jedi Academy hidden within the plateau. When they entered it, the Exile's companions were locked in prison cells, and she was brought before Atris, one of the Jedi Masters (and, in fact, the only Jedi in the academy) who previously banished the Exile from the Jedi Order for fighting in the Mandalorian Wars. The Exile offered her help against the new Sith threat that had revealed itself on Peragus by finding any Jedi who may have survived the purge after the Jedi Civil War. Impressed that the Exile held no evil against her, Atris allowed her to take back her ship (the Exile learned was stolen by one of Atris' handmaidens) and freed her companions.

When the party assembled once again on the Ebon Hawk, T3-M4 "told" the Exile that he downloaded a holorecord of her trial from Atris' archives. It turned out that there were Jedi Masters in hiding. The Jedi Council members that exiled her, namely Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, Vrook Lamar and Lonna Vash. She decided to find them to discuss a plan of action against the new Sith and maybe even figure out why she lost her connection to the Force.

Dantooine
The first stop on their search was the grassland planet of Dantooine. Dantooine was devastated by the Attack on Dantooine perpatrated by Darth Malak several years before and was still recovering. The people had set up a government in the former home of the Matale family which they named Khoonda, with Terena Adare at its head. The people of Khoonda are fearful of the Jedi as over the years, it became impossible to distinguish them from Dark Jedi.

The Jedi Exile journeys to this world in search of Vrook Lamar, a Human Jedi Council member. She hears rumors that Terena Adare has had contact with a Jedi. She approaches Adare to inquire to his whereabouts. Adare realized some time ago that the Khoonda Militia would not be enough protection so she kept secret contacts with the Jedi Master. The administrator grants the exile permission to search the Enclave ruins for him. She fought through several waves of laigreks, scouring the enclave for any trace of him, finding none. Eventually, she ran into Mical, a former Jedi Initiate who once was going to be her Padawan before she left for the Mandalorian Wars. He was in the library, sent by Carth Onasi to find and protect any Jedi artifacts he can find. He agreed to join her group and help find the masters with her. The Exile also finds the corpses of several mercenaries in the library, one of them having a datapad that said Vrook has been caught.

They go to the Mercenary enclave in the crystal caves not far from Khoonda, finding that he had been captured by the mercenaries and is going to be sold to the Exchange. The Exile approaches the group and asks for his release. Her pleas fell on deaf ears and the mercenaries attack her. After defeating them, she releases Vrook. Vrook informs her that her actions just caused an all out war. He had allowed them to capture him so that they would leave and not attack Khoonda. He leaves to warn Adare of the situation. As the exile leaves the caves, she met Azkul, the leader of the mercenary groups. He asks her to join him in his campaign against the Khoonda. The Exile refuses and Azkul orders his men to attack her. After dispatching them, the Exile heads to Khoonda to help with the defense of the capital. She activates droids, security systems, gathers extra members for the Militia, anything she can think of to help defend the building. After rallying the troops, a long battle begins. Eventually the mercenaries make it inside and the Exile defends Adare from Azkul himself with the help of Lamar. With the mercenary threat averted, Vrook Lamar answers her questions about the galaxy's situation and teaches her a lightsaber form. The Exile leaves with the thanks of the people.

Nar Shaddaa
The second stop on their search was the planet of Nar Shaddaa. Nar Shaddaa was the "gaping maw of Nal Hutta." The massive population and large cityscape of the planet made it easy for one to hide and lay low for a while. Unfortunately, the Exile did just the opposite. In her attempt to find Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell, the Exile made an effort to cause much anger and distress to the Exchange, and get the bounty hunters off her back. When the Exile was captured, the famous bounty hunter Mira joined up with the Exile's party and they rescued her on G0-T0's yacht. During the rescue, the yacht's cloaking was sabotaged and the Republic quickly seized the opportunity and destroyed it, right as the Ebon Hawk escaped.

Finally, the Exile came back to Nar Shaddaa and found the Jedi Master. The Master confessed that he felt that the Jedi Order had much to take responsibility for, and their inability to do so at the Exile's trial caused him to leave. He answered her questions and taught her a lightsaber form. He then agreed to go to Dantooine and wait for her there.

Dxun
Immediately after Dantooine, the Exile sought out Jedi Master Kavar on Onderon. As the Ebon Hawk entered the Onderon system and joined the long line into Iziz Starport, Colonel Tobin fired on the ship and began a massive space battle above the planet. The Ebon Hawk took damage during the battle and was forced to crash land on the jungle moon Dxun. In their explorations of the moon in search of passage, the Exile encountered a large group of Mandalorians, led by Mandalore. Mandalore accompanied the Exile to Onderon on his own shuttle.

Onderon
Once the Exile landed on Onderon, she grew knowledgeable of the crisis that was brewing in Iziz. Onderon military General Vaklu declared martial law in the city and began subtly rallying support for his revolution against his cousin, Queen Talia. Mandalore's personal friend Dr. Dagon Ghent, after being cleared of charges for the murder of Captain Sullio, thanks to the Exile's investigation, found Master Kavar and made contact. At the time, Kavar was serving as a Jedi bodyguard and adviser to the queen, and he left the palace walls to meet with the Exile in the cantina.

Their meeting was immediately interrupted by Colonel Tobin and a squad of Onderon military soldiers. Kavar helped the Exile escape the cantina, and she then retreated back to Dxun.

Korriban
The Exile left Dxun on the repaired Ebon Hawk and departed the Onderon System, to be away until Kavar reattempted contact. The Exile went to Korriban, the last world she needed to visit, in an effort to find Master Lonna Vash, in the Sith Academy, located in the Valley of the Dark Lords. Unfortunately, the Exile was too late to save her from Darth Sion. Sion sealed the door to the academy and tried to have the Exile killed. With Kreia's help, the Exile escaped.

Return to Dxun
As the Exile departed Korriban, she received word from the Mandalorians on Dxun that Kavar had just made contact, and that she was needed back immediately. The morning of that day, General Vaklu declared Queen Talia guilty of treason and began the revolt against her. But the situation had now become far more complicated, because the Sith, led by Darth Nihilus had become involved and offered aid to Vaklu's Separatists. The Onderon Civil War had begun.

The Sith were using the Tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun as their main base. After repairing the telecommunications array, the Mandalorians had finally found it. The Exile handpicked a group of her party members to infiltrate the tomb and destroy the Sith forces there, while she would go to Onderon and help turn the tide of the Civil War.

The group hiked through the jungle, engaged the Sith on the field, and cleansed the tomb.

Return to Onderon
The Exile, along with Kreia took a salvaged Basilisk war droid into Iziz and interfered in the battle. They fought their way up the Sky Ramp and into the palace. With the help of Master Kavar, they got to the Queen before General Vaklu could kill her, and ended the Onderon Civil War. Immediately afterward, Kreia secretly revived Colonel Tobin from his state of unconsciousness and had him deliver a message to Darth Nihilus, informing him to go to Telos IV, and destroy the last of the Jedi.

Rebuilding the Republic
The Exile learned much about her companions' past, learning that many of them were Force-sensitive, and trained them in the ways of the Jedi. The Exile's apprentices would later restore the Jedi Order known as the Lost Jedi. Furthermore, she discovered that Kreia was Revan's first teacher, exiled by the Jedi and later by the Sith, and that Revan himself left known space to fight an unknown threat from his Sith days that continued its existence beyond the Outer Rim.

When visiting Dantooine and Onderon, the Exile was caught in the middle of conflicts between the weakened Republic and two powers aiming to weaken it further—the Exchange and Onderon separatists, respectively. By G0-T0's request (and having no other choice if they needed to contact the Jedi Masters), she stabilized the political situations on these planets, preventing them from being lost for the Republic, even though the resolutions led to two bloody conflicts known as the First Battle of Dantooine and the Onderon Civil War.

Kreia's fall
Finally, three of the surviving Masters&mdash;Kavar, Vrook and Zez-Kai Ell&mdash;gathered on Dantooine, in the rebuilt Jedi Enclave. The Exile learned from the Masters that the Council did not cut her off from the Force (as Kreia led her to believe). She instinctively caused herself to become deaf to the Force after activating the Mass Shadow Generator on Malachor V and being unable to withstand the Wound in the Force that she created by doing this.

However, the Exile failed to persuade the Jedi Masters to unite against the Sith. The Jedi Masters explained that this new Sith threat, which caught them unprepared, fed on Force users, so that whenever Jedi gathered, they inevitably died, and everyone and everything around them shared the same fate. This was what happened on Katarr, Visas Marr's home world and the location of the previous Jedi Conclave. The Jedi Masters explained to the Exile, that they believe she would eventually cause the death of the Force, and they feared that the Exile would lead the Sith to the Enclave. Therefore, the Jedi Masters refused to accept the Exile back into the Order and decided to separate the Exile from the Force; this time, forever.

The Exile submitted to their decision; but before they could begin, Kreia entered and severed them from the Force using an incredibly powerful version of Force drain, forcing them to endure the same loss the Exile faced on Malachor; not because they were Jedi, but because of their attempt to condemn the Exile and the truth she brought instead of understanding it. The masters, unable to live without the Force, died. The Exile retained her connection to the Force, but was lying on the ground, unconscious, as Atris' handmaidens ran into the Enclave and took Kreia to her mistress as a prisoner (If the Exile is male, Brianna will take Kreia to the academy). This left the Exile no choice but to return to the secret Telosian academy, as she believed that the Force bond between her and Kreia was fatal and, should Atris execute Kreia, she would die as well.

However, Atris did not execute Kreia. Even though Kreia revealed her Sith name, Darth Traya, she showed how much she and Atris have in common&mdash;in fact, Atris had already, not realizing that fact, fallen to the dark side, studying the knowledge of Sith holocrons. When Atris let her go, Kreia departed to Malachor V; when the Exile arrived, she finds only Atris, who revealed that Darth Nihilus was about to attack Telos, an event also orchestrated by Kreia, and believed that she was strong enough to face Kreia. Realizing that Atris had been corrupted, the Exile fought and defeated her, but spared her life.

Battle of Telos


The Exile arrived on Citadel Station to discover that the Battle of Telos IV had begun. By the collaborate efforts of the Exile and her companions, particularly Visas Marr, Canderous Ordo's Mandalorians, and the Republic fleet led by Admiral Carth Onasi, the Sith troopers attacking Telos, the Sith fleet, and Darth Nihilus are defeated by the Exile and her companions, securing the future of Telos and the Republic. Carth Onasi arranged an appointment with the Exile, retold the story of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and asked her to keep an eye out for Revan and to tell him that "Admiral Onasi is following his orders" to keep the Republic safe. After meeting the Exile, Carth met with Bastila Shan, who followed Carth to Telos. Bastila still longed for Revan's return, and Carth agreed with her.

The final battle: Malachor V


The Exile left Telos, heading to Malachor V, where she found the Trayus Academy and the two remaining Sith Lords&mdash;Kreia, a.k.a. Darth Traya, the headmistress of the academy, and Darth Sion, with his will broken, manipulated by Traya. Although Sion is regenerative while in a place of such high amounts of Dark Side energies as the academy, the Exile convinced him to give up fighting and die peacefully. Then she confronted Darth Traya at the core. Kreia explained her motivation: she tried to use the Exile to create another wound in the Force, so powerful that it would destroy the Force itself, rendering the Jedi and the Sith alike powerless, thus eliminating the constant conflict and bringing peace to the galaxy. This plan failed, and the Exile defeated Kreia, cutting off her remaining hand in the process.

Upon her defeat, Kreia remained benevolent to the Exile and answered her questions&mdash;most notably about the future of the Republic, the planets they visited, and her followers&mdash;and died, mortally wounded by the Exile, in the Trayus Core, where her path down the dark side began. She also revealed that Revan came to Malachor earlier, after the Jedi Civil War, and left the Ebon Hawk and the droids before departing into the Unknown Regions to fight an unknown threat. Meanwhile, Bao-Dur's remote powered up and reactivated the Mass Shadow Generator, despite G0-T0's attempts to stop him, destroying them both, as Malachor V collapsed upon itself, the Ebon Hawk arrived in time to rescue the Exile. The ship left behind the remains of the planet and the scattered debris from ships crushed by the Generator in the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars and disappeared into space to search for Revan.

Crew

 * CEO and Executive Producer - Feargus Urquhart
 * Producer - Chris Parker, Michael Gallo
 * Lead Designer - Chris Avellone
 * Design Team - Ferret Baudoin, Michael Chu, Tony Evans, Scott Everts, John Morgan, Kevin Saunders, David Maldonado
 * Composer - Mark Griskey

Art

 * Lead Artist - Aaron J. Meyers
 * Art Team - Aaron Brown, Trent Campbell, Doug Cope, Tim Cox, David Espinoza, Mustazar Essa, Lucas Feld, William Harper, Edward Lacabanne, Brian Menze, Dennis Presnell, Glenn Price
 * Additional Concept Art - T.J. Frame, Chris Appelhans
 * Additional Modeling and Texturing - Robert Giampa

Programming

 * Lead Programmer - Chris Jones
 * Programming Team - Adam Brennecke, Anthony Davis, Jay Fong, Frank Kowalkowski, Ben Ma, Dan Spitzley, Richard Taylor

Appearances
An asterisk ( * ) indicates a character who is essential to forwarding the game's plot. Two asterisks ( ** ) denote a character whose first appearance or mention was elsewhere in Star Wars continuity.

Alternative stories
If the player chooses to follow the dark side, they can throw Kreia into the core of Malachor V and assume the throne of headmistress of Trayus Academy. Meanwhile, G0-T0 destroys Bao-Dur's remote and deactivates the Mass Shadow Generator, keeping the planet intact.

Sequels
Both Obsidian and LucasArts have expressed desires to make yet again expand on the franchise, LucasArts representatives stating they have no intention on abandoning Knights of the Old Republic. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 was in development but was cancelled sometime in 2004 due to a difficult period in LucasArts. In March 2007, the news of a spin-off were made official when "Aristotle," owner of a Knights fansite, interviewed several staff members of LucasArts.

Later in the year, Electronic Gaming Monthly reported in the rumors section of their May 2007 issue that BioWare had hired an online team for work on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Knights of the Old Republic series. The game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, was finally and officially announced in July 2008 by EA CEO John Riccitiello.

Behind the scenes
In June 2009, in Kotaku Australia interview Chris Avellone revealed the "true Sith" planned to be remnants of Naga Sadow Empire, "orchestrating the collapse of the Republic from behind the scenes, interfering with key events to cause echoes through the Force and leave it ripe for invasion – hopefully without a shot even being fired."