What we can learn from KOTR

This topic board has been started in order to discuss what we can learn from the video game KOTR I learned alot from jolee who is no doubt my favriote character within the game he was no doubt the smartest member of your little i suppose group of friends

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That Star Wars games are the best games :laugh:

When done right, anyway...(let's try to forget about KOTOR II :pinch: )

It's quite some years since I last played it now, so I can't remember many of the specifics unfortunately. I do remember though, despite this being a feature of many games, taking from it quite a profound sense of the importance (in terms of the consequences) of our choices. I guess that, in a game like KOTOR in which choices are explicitly linked to one's position on the Light Side vs Dark Side continuum, it forces you to be conscious that there is no such thing as a 'free pass' where our choices are concerned - they all have consequences and they all contribute to who we are.

I still sometimes deliberately bring KOTOR to mind when I find myself in those situations where I'm in danger of making a bad choice...

My favorite part of KOTOR:

Carth: So, Jolee, you decided to leave your little hermitage in the forest and come help us stop the Sith. I guess you realized this war was worth coming out of retirement for, huh?
Jolee: Yeah, that's right, sonny. The Sith are the greatest evil to hit the galaxy since, well, the Mandalorians. And they're the worst thing since Exar Kun. Blah, blah, blah, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Carth: Okay, old man, you lost me there. Are you trying to make a point?
Jolee: Look, everybody always figures the time they live in is the most epic, most important age to end all ages. But tyrants and heroes rise and fall, and historians sort out the pieces.
Revan: Are you saying what we're doing isn't important?
Jolee: Malak is a tyrant who should be stopped. If he conquers the galaxy, we're in for a couple of rough centuries. Eventually it'll come around again, but I'd rather not wait that long. So we do what we have to do and we try to stop the Sith. But don't start thinking this war, your war, is more important than any other war just because you're in it.

Never played it


But in support of "video games as legit media" - I quite enjoy the morality of early Fallout games (Help the Sheriff kick the casino boss out of town? Whoops, Sheriff becomes a tyrant!

Help the small town fix a powerplant? Whoops! Nearby town invades and wipes them out to steal their power.


Lessons in trying to be a "hero" all the time >_< )

Kotor was mind blowing but I find kreia from kotor II (if played right, and with the storyline mods in order for the end to make a bit of sense) to be the best developed and most inspiring character in star wars, despite the nonsensical return of darth traya (hene need for mods)(bought the game on steam just for that special release). No matter what choices you make in that game, kreia always finds a way to blow your mind and make you feel like an ignorant fool for choosing wrong.

I wonder who is responsible for her heavy wu-wei and existentialist influences, wouldn't mind having a chat with them.

TheDude wrote: My favorite part of KOTOR:

Carth: So, Jolee, you decided to leave your little hermitage in the forest and come help us stop the Sith. I guess you realized this war was worth coming out of retirement for, huh?
Jolee: Yeah, that's right, sonny. The Sith are the greatest evil to hit the galaxy since, well, the Mandalorians. And they're the worst thing since Exar Kun. Blah, blah, blah, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Carth: Okay, old man, you lost me there. Are you trying to make a point?
Jolee: Look, everybody always figures the time they live in is the most epic, most important age to end all ages. But tyrants and heroes rise and fall, and historians sort out the pieces.
Revan: Are you saying what we're doing isn't important?
Jolee: Malak is a tyrant who should be stopped. If he conquers the galaxy, we're in for a couple of rough centuries. Eventually it'll come around again, but I'd rather not wait that long. So we do what we have to do and we try to stop the Sith. But don't start thinking this war, your war, is more important than any other war just because you're in it.

I'm going to share this on Facebook (which I guess I don't really need permission for since it's a quote from a game and not from you, lol). But thank you just the same, because I had forgotten about that little exchange.

I like how Jolee has one (his own) view on the matter, and yet is still able to argue that what they're doing is and isn't super important all at once. It makes me think (as many things do lately) about this presidential election in the US. Whoever wins gets nukes and becomes our public face to interact with other world leaders who have nukes. But, even in a worst case scenario of everything getting nuked to hell, it reminds me THEN of Jurassic Park. Malcolm discussed that as important as it seems to stop the dinosaurs, the Earth would eventually find equilibrium and recover. Even if it were nuked and all life was destroyed, it may take millennia to recover, but it would eventually. Mankind is the most dominant concept in our solar system right now, but eventually something or someone else will take our place. It's just so hard to wrap one's mind around times of that length!