Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (often abbreviated JK by fans) is a first person shooter computer game released on October 9, 1997, by LucasArts. This was the first game in the series to include multiplayer capabilities over the Internet or over a LAN. It was also the first computer game to allow players to take control of a Jedi character using both the Force and lightsabers in a multiplayer setting.

Plot summary
Dark Forces II Jedi Knight takes place a year after the second Death Star has been destroyed. The Dark Jedi Jerec and his six Dark Jedi seek the map to the Valley of the Jedi and captures the Jedi Qu Rahn for it. Meanwhile the mercenary Kyle Katarn chases the informant droid 8t88 for a data disc that belonged to his father. After retrieving the disc, Kyle return home to he planet Sulon where he is able to read the disc with his droid Weegee. He is granted a lightsaber and a quest to protect the Valley of the Jedi by a hologram of his father contained in the disc. Kyle receives help from his trusted partner and pilot, Jan Ors. During the game Kyle encounters the Dark Jedi and finds the map to the Valley of the Jedi. At the valley Jerec plans to absorb the ancient power that lies in the valley. His plans are however stopped by Kyle Katarn who arrives and finishes him off.

Kyle Katarn
Kyle returns from Dark Forces as the protagonist. Having helped with the retrieval of the first Death Star plans, Kyle is now several years later contemplating his dead father. Kyle is contacted by the droid informant 8t88 who reveals that he has a disc that comes from Kyle's home. 8t88 runs of with the disc when Kyle don't want to decipher it, resulting in a chase. Kyle retrieves the disc but is then caught up in his father's and the old Jedi Qu Rahn's wishes of becoming a Jedi and to prevent any harm to befall the Valley of the Jedi. During his quest he faces of against the seven Dark Jedi whose leader, Jerec is the man who killed Kyle's father. He is accompanied by his partner Jan Ors who pilots his ship the Moldy Crow, Jan is eventually captured by the Dark Jedi. Kyle travels to The Valley of the Jedi where Jerec is using the valley's power to become even more powerful. Kyle defeats all seven Dark Jedi and saves the captured Jan Ors. in their honor, Kyle erects statues of Qu Rahn and his father Morgan Katarn in the valley.

Jerec
Jerec is the main antagonist in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. He is the leader of the seven Dark Jedi who seek the power of the Valley of the Jedi. Prior to the game's start Jerec leads an assault on Morgan Katarn's home in search of the map to the Valley of the Jedi, and kills Morgan Katarn when he doesn't reveal anything. Years later his flagship chase down the old Jedi Qu Rahn from who he gains the information that the map is at the Katarn's home. jerec retrieves the map and heads for the valley of the Jedi. At the landing site he gives an offer to kyle Katarn to embrace the Dark Side and join him, the latter refuses and Jerec keeps Jan Ors as a hostage. The Dark Jedi then descends to the Valley and baths in its power. Kyle Katarn reaches him and in a climactic duel, Jerec is defeated and the power of the valley slips from his fingers.

Jan Ors
Ors is the trusted partner of Kyle Katarn and the pilot of his ship the Moldy Crow. Jan piloted Kyle to wherever his missions led him and bailed him out of trouble when he needed an escape. During the quest for the valley of the Jedi she was taken hostage on Ruusan by the Dark Jedi. Jerec, the leader of the Dark Jedi tried to use her to switch Kyle to the dark side, but failed. Jan was then taken to the Valley of the Jedi and was soon rescued by Kyle.

Sariss
Jerec's right hand and one of the antagonists in the game. Sariss accompanied her master and the other Dark Jedi to capture Qu Rahn. The Jedi however attempted an escape in which Sariss dueled against him for a short while before he was struck down b Jerec. Later, Sariss along with Yun and Boc retrieved the map to the Valley of the Jedi. She followed her master to Ruusan where she stood by her master in the confrontation with Kyle Katarn. Kyle made his escape but crashed with his ship. Sariss along with Boc and Yun ventured after Katarn, who they found semi unconscious. As Sariss attempted to strike Kyle down she was hindered by Yun, whom she accidentally killed in reflex. This bought Kyle the time to regain himself and took Yun's lightsaber and defeated Sariss in a duel.

Yun
The youngest of the Dark Jedi, he look forward to his first battle with the light side of the force. AS the game starts Yun followed his master and the other Dark Jedi to hunt down Qu Rahn. In the interrogation the old Jedi managed to steal Yun's lightsaber and attack the Dark Jedi. Rahn was however struck down quickly by Jerec. After the events Yun followed Boc and Sariss to retrieve the map to the Valley of the Jedi from the Katarn homestead. Yun stayed with the map at baron's head where 8t88 were deciphering it. There he faced of with Kyle Katarn but was defeated. Yun was however surprised that Kyle spared his life, and made his escape shortly after. He ventured with his master to Ruusan and watched the confrontation between Jerec and Kyle. And when the latter made his escape, he ventured with Boc and Sariss to kill him. But as Sariss was about to strike the semi unconscious Kyle down, Yun interfered and was killed by Sariss, explaining that Kyle deserves a battle.

Chase on Nar Shadaa
In a bar on the moon Nar Shaddaa, Kyle Katarn meets with the droid informant 8t88 in the hopes of finding information about his deceased father. 8t88 informs Kyle that his father was killed by a dark Jedi called Jerec. The droid then threatens Kyle unless he reveals the information on a disc he found in Morgan Katarn's home. Kyle retaliates but 8t88 has already escaped leading Katarn to hunt down the disc and 8t88. Kyle Katarn chases 8t88 over the Nar Shaddaa cargo docks and catches up to the droid when he's about to leave in his shuttle. kyle fires his blaster at the droid who manages to escape into the shuttle, but not without losing the arm with the disc to the blaster fire. A Tie Bomber appears after 8t88's shuttle leaves and fires at Kyle but is shot down by Jan Ors in the moldy Crow. Kyle informs his partner that he'll meet her at the top after he have gotten the disc and sets of. He finds the disc under the landing pad and proceeds through cargo storages, conveyor belts and other areas all the way to the top of the building. As Jan picks him up he is severely injured and has to spend the night in a medical frigate.

Returning Home to Sulon
Upon returning to his home on Sulon, Kyle noticed that an Imperial shuttle parked outside his old family house. He hid out of sight as Yun, Boc and Sariss were loading onto the pieces of map leading to the Valley of the Jedi. He continued to watch the Dark Jedi as they set of into the sky with the shuttle, and proceeded to his house when they were out of sight. To Kyle's disbelief his house was crawling with Grave Tuskens. Despite the uninvited guests, Kyle made his way through his old home but the path to his father's workshop had caved in. Though he did not despair for there was another way into the workshop beyond their water supply. As he entered the workshop it was in disarray, but he immediately spotted the family droid WeeGee. After he turned to droid on, Kyle inserted the disc he got from 8t88 and was shown a recording of his dead father Morgan. Morgan told his son that he had left two very important items for him, the first was a Lightsaber which had belonged to Qu Rahn. The second was the map to the Valley of the Jedi which was embedded in the stone ceiling. The ceiling was however what the Dark Jedi had loaded onto their ship, so Kyle made it his next mission to locate the map. He was however unable to go the same way back since he had entered the room from the ceiling and the exit was blocked. Kyle simply made his way through the irrigation channels and was picked up by Jan in the Moldy Crow eventually.

Barons Hed
Kyle and Jan set of to find the map which led them to the city of Barons Hed. The city had forcefully been taken over by the Empire and had now a giant fortress stationed in the middle of the city. Assuming 8t88 was in the top of that tower, Kyle made his way through the city. After a hard time to get into the fortress tower, Kyle used the elevator to reach 8t88's chambers. The droid had just finished sending the deciphered map to Jerec and were told his payment awaited him on the Sulon Star. Kyle demanded the map back when he entered the room, which 8t88 replied that it was all his for the taking. However, an elevator descended from the roof with one of the Dark Jedi. Yun, the newest of the Dark Jedi proceeded to make short work of the map by destroying it. He blasted Kyle with his force powers and exclaimed that he had expected more from the Light side. Kyle did however defeat the young Dark Jedi who told him to finish him off. Katarn did however spare his life which made the young man confused. Yun made his escape through the roof, and Kyle set of after 8t88. But Kyle was too late, as he reached the top of the tower 8t88 flew away in his shuttle. Shortly after Jan came to pick him up.

Single player
Jedi Knight is noted for the ethical decisions integrated into the gameplay. Kyle is a neutral character for most of the game, neither fully light nor dark. Actions against unarmed civilians throughout the game, as well as what Force powers a player chooses throughout the game, will sway Kyle towards the light or the dark sides. Eventually, the character Kyle must choose between light and dark; how he chooses depends on the player's actions throughout the game. This feature would later be greatly expanded upon in games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel.

Kyle starts the game with no knowledge of the Force. As the player progresses through the game, Kyle gains Jedi abilities, known as "Force Powers." These powers fall in three general categories: Neutral, Light, and Dark. The game awards one "Force point" upon the completion of each level, and an additional point if the player finds all of the secret areas. These skill points can be allocated towards any Force power, boosting that power's effects.

Multiplayer
Another part of Dark Forces II's gameplay was explored in online, multiplayer arenas. Plot and Force alignment became irrelevant as players were able to forego the game's Artificial intelligence and instead engage in multiplayer combat. It was also online that the unique aspects of Dark Forces II distanced it from other, otherwise apparently similar first-person shooters. Single player mode did not significantly benefit from Force powers, agility, and large weapons, whereas online play demanded attention to these attributes.

The game lacked a dedicated server and was hosted by the MSN Gaming Zone, although several "IP boards" were hosted on fan sites such as JediKnight.net and Ron Mercer's Qtracker (formerly hosted at stomped.com). Most games were confined to the Nar Shaddaa (Nar) game room which became a refuge for clan wars, recruitment, and challenge. Five game types were used almost exclusively: Full Force (FF) Battle Ground Jedi (BGJ) and Canyon Oasis (CO) and No Force (NF) Battle Ground Jedi and JI Oasis (an add-on level created by the Jedi Infantry clan). Games varied from two-player to four-player, allowing free-for-all, teams, and head-to-head combat. Another popular game type was Capture the Flag (CTF).

The lack of dedicated servers created difficulties in lag time for online play. Messages sent were never centrally processed, and so a "hit" in one person's frame nearly never guaranteed an actual event. Players compensated for lag by shooting ahead of the opponent so as to register a hit on their computer.

Canyon Oasis was a commonly-played map due to its variety of weapons/pickups and varied terrain (including water tunnels and ramps). It was also brightly lit, meaning stealth was a less viable tactic as it was in many of the darker maps favored by the development team and mod makers (such as Blades of Death). Despite its huge popularity, there was a movement against its overuse as well, to the point where a player group was formed with the slogan "Because we're sick of Canyon Oasis." 

At times the game suffered from extensive cheating, until the third party program known as "Kicker Helper" was released to combat the cheating. JK's permissive checksum system was what allowed most of the "hacks" or "cogs" (as the cheats were commonly called) to work. The physics engine and Force system of the game, however, were so permissive that some normal actions were construed as cheating. "Hypergrip," or "Supergrip," referred to using Force grip on an opponent at a faster than normal rate as to kill the opponent in seconds. This is performed simply by targeting an opponent with Force grip and then repeatedly pressing the assigned Use Force Power key. Each iteration sends another pulse of grip, eventually killing the opponent. The same procedure can be used with Force pull to repeatedly draw a weapon, often creating multiple copies within the level due to lag.

To this day, GameSpy Arcade and QTracker support JK and MotS online play. However, a more populated place to play is at IG Zone, which is a spiritual successor to MSN Gaming Zone's CD game section. A few groups also exist that meet up for games on IRC, plus one dedicated server at NarShaddaa.net, to its remaining devoted fans, and many mod projects keep interest alive.

Voice cast

 * Dan Bloom—Bounty hunter 1
 * Jason Court—Kyle Katarn
 * Denny Delk—8t88 (voice), Picaroon C. Boodle (voice)
 * Bennet Guillory—Qu Rahn
 * Dylan Haggerty—Bounty hunter 2
 * Angela Harry—Jan Ors
 * Morgan Hunter—Maw
 * Roger Jackson—Computer voice, Greedo (voice)
 * Christopher Neame—Jerec
 * Rafer Weigel—Yun
 * Valerie Wildman—Sariss
 * Time Winters—Boc Aseca
 * Jacob Witkin—Morgan Katarn

Crew

 * Scott Ewers—Director
 * Justin Chin—Writer
 * Peter Chan—Lead conceptual designer/Storyboard artist
 * Michael Burnett—Makeup

Alternatives in gameplay
In case the player chooses the dark side, the alternate ending is triggered: Kyle Katarn kills Jan Ors and then becomes Jerec's rival, this time for dominion over the Valley. Kyle again retreats to the falling ship and escapes in the Moldy Crow, but this time doesn't crash-land. Instead of fighting Sariss by the ship's wreckage, he faces Yun again, now in a match that could only end in death. He then makes his way to the core and defeats Boc. Kyle defeats Jerec, and becomes the new emperor of the Imperial Remnant, with Sariss at his side.

Game manual
The accompanying game manual is notable for providing the first name "Qu" for the Jedi Master Rahn. It also had descriptions of various enemies and Force powers, presented as quotes from Qu Rahn's journal.

Notable aspects
When a player dies online, his weapons and ammunition are stored in a "pack" which appears where died. Games to small numbers of points (e.g. 5 or 10) could last upward of an hour, while constantly progressing at a furious pace.

Attitudes such as this separated Jedi Knight from the other shooters of its time, many of which focused on vibrant graphics and loud explosions. With universally significant lag requiring players to fire ahead of their opponents, and the ability move at unbelievable paces, players spent much time learning others' patterns. Without understanding explicitly which way an opponent would turn next, firing was a useless gesture.

Jedi Knight features two viewing modes: internal and external. Internal view allows for a crosshair and more accurate aiming, but a naturally limited view of the environment. External places your character in space with your view behind and up from him. You can see more terrain and gain greater perspective on surroundings.

Expansions and mods
Just four months after Jedi Knight's initial release, LucasArts released Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, an official expansion pack, created by the LucasArts team that worked on Outlaws (a spaghetti western themed first person shooter) which features the opportunity to play as Mara Jade for a significant portion of the game. This expansion significantly improved the original Jedi Knight engine by adding aesthetic features such as colored lighting, new enemies and Force powers (and more controversially, doing away with the Dark/Light side duality). There were several under-the-hood changes as well, the most significant being that COG, the programming language that Jedi Knight uses to create scripted in-game events and interactivity (doors, elevators, weapons, in-game cutscenes, enemy behavior, and many other things in Jedi Knight are controlled by COG scripts) was expanded with new functions and capabilities, which the Sith Engine took full advantage of. In addition, while enemies in Jedi Knight would run away if stripped of their weapons, in Mysteries of the Sith they would attempt to fight with their fists. Mysteries of the Sith also featured new types of multiplayer action such as the gamemode KFY ("Kill the Fool with the Ysalamiri" based on KFC, "Kill the Fool With the Chicken" a fabulous "tag" based game mode from Outlaws), and included several new weapons, such as flash grenades, a seeking railgun, remote sequencer charges (mines), electro (sniper) scope for the E-11 blaster rifle, and a carbonite gun. A few Force powers such as Throw and Lightning were replaced with Chain Lightning (to attack multiple opponents), Force Push, Saber Throw, Projection (decoy), Defense (lessened Force attacks but without giving back Force mana like Absorb), and Far Sight (leaving one's body to spy, with the novel side effect of allowing a person to avoid damage from long falls by slowing his descent). Unfortunately, Mysteries of the Sith multiplayer never was as popular as Jedi Knight multiplayer because the Sith Expansion was typically sold separately from Jedi Knight (but required the original game to install) and was often difficult to come by unless it specifically came bundled with Jedi Knight.

Over time, unofficial editing tools were developed for this game, thus attracting a wide audience of level editors that still make levels for this game today. Countless modifications have been made to Jedi Knight by way of software products such as JED, the map editor created by Alexi Novikov (with help rumored to have been provided by at least one JK team member). JED was then changed with some bug fixes and other trinkets, and was renamed ZED. Less popular but somewhat more user friendly was JKEdit, which was recently released free to the public. Avid JK modders and fans have released new multiplayer levels, single-player levels, character models, and even weapons. Sites like the Code-Alliance (formerly DarkJedi.com) were host to a great deal of activity with regard to modding tools and enthusiasm. One reliable source of these mods today is popularly thought to be The Massassi Temple. Another source for Jedi Knight editing and modding is JK Hub. Unlike many other fps games, Jedi Knight still enjoys a wide fanbase even after nearly nine years, primarily due to the fact that Jedi Knight and its Mysteries of the Sith companion game are extremely editor-friendly (in how nearly anything about the JK engine can be changed or modified, with only a few exceptions, plus the wide enthusiasm of level designers at Massassi and at other groups. The other strengths and contributors to the games longevity with fans could be attributed to the large and expansive often "vertigo inducing" levels, the excellent third person option (within the context of a traditional first person shooter, a real novelty at the time of its release), the incredible fast pace of online play, and the complexity of the use of Force Powers and Melee combat (lightsabers) in the mix of more traditional First Person Shooter combat. Finally, the inclusion of the Dark/Light duality, morality scale and alternate endings made Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight stand out from the FPS crowd and made a lasting impression on many fans.

Reception

 * In March 2004, GMR Magazine rated Jedi Knight the fourth best Star Wars game of all time.
 * PC Gamer Magazine rated Jedi Knight the "Best Game Ever" of 1997 on its list of their 50 greatest games for the PC. In 1998, Jedi Knight was still on the list, but it was dethroned by Half-Life.

3D Hardware-support
JK supports Direct3D hardware-acceleration only; proprietary rendering application programming interfaces from the game's era like 3Dfx's Glide are not supported.