But what if?

 Dreams in the night

Okay, so there I was just pouring heapings of doubt on any and all rumours pertaining to Knights of the Old Republic Three; but in doing so I inadvertently laid a seed. Because, much as I said yesterday, this game very much is my favourite RPG of all time, and even so much as reflecting on that fact is enough to breath that air of excitement into me once more. So although I'm very prepared for disappointment, and for this burgeoning rumour to turn out to be another stupid attempt at forcing a reveal out of a game studio (why did the Fallout people really think that was going to work?) I'll still use this as an opportunity to reflect upon what made that first game so very special and what can be done to continue it's legacy. To that end, this is going to be an even more selfish blog than the ones I usually write up, because this is going to be all about me and what I want out of the game, probably not even taking into account what's best for them or the future of the franchise. So there's that.

Firstly, I should elaborate that Knights of the Old Republic is not my favourite game of all time, that dubious honour obviously goes to 'Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater', nor is it my second favourite, that spot was taken up by whatever the last Bioshock game I played was. (Currently 'Infinite') But unlike with those top two, I cannot pretend there's a list of exhaustive reasons why Kotor fits in the number 3 slot, I don't even think it's the best RPG ever made, or even the best western RPG. But what Kotor unfailingly is, is the best Star Wars game of all time, and that should give you a pretty big insight to who I am and what I value, no? As much as I try to obscure it, Star Wars is probably one of my favourite franchises of all time, and although the movies have me a little estranged nowadays, (still haven't seen IX) I still find something personal and great in that world, even if it can be somewhat two-dimensional and unchallenging at times.

Knight of the Old Republic, however, managed to leverage that world and turn it into the grounds for a great party-based RPG that carried all that Bioware charm which we absolutely took for granted while it was still around, and entwined it with the space wizards we so love. It took that traditional RPG premise of a nobody shoved into situations above his/her station and turned it completely on it's head by the end in a way that never feels cheap no matter how many times I play it. It introduced a cast of unforgettable characters from Mission Vao the preppy teenage Twi'lek, to HK-47 the merciless assassin droid with a taste for murder with a side of sassy insults and to Bastila Shan, the paragon who steadily proves to a lot more fallible and human as her story goes on. And it even managed to cover a crazy amount of distance across both the lore and the galaxy, really cementing this sense of journeying across the wide cosmos and unearthing weighty chunks of the Star Wars Mythos by the end.

All that's without mentioning that it was also a darn solid RPG, with easy to pick up systems and abilities that never overwhelmed you in number or substance (The way that some RPGs do... Yes, I'm talking about 'Pillars') and a decent balance to the difficulty scaling so that you rarely hit a point of absolutely steamrolling everything or battling to the last man everytime. (And, just for me, they even have those crazy tough encounters here and there that brings everything down to the wire.) Unlike maybe other titles in it's genre, Kotor isn't even that long to complete, meaning I fully understand those who make it their pilgrimage to do one playthrough a year; and though it's not often talked about with the same reverence, Kotor 2 is actually quite good too. It's narrative composition is a little scatter-brain at the beginning, but the sequel does live up to the hefty bar which Bioware set. But then it was Obsidian on that game, they can make RPGs.

But what and where is left for a sequel to really take from the franchise, after all these years? I honestly don't know, because it feels like all of the source material has been left to the point of drying out. Alongside the release of the game, Dark Horse published a series of Old Republic era stories to help flesh out that world, and they were some of the greatest Star Wars stories that company has ever published. They ran with this sort of medieval-themed version of the Galaxy far far away, where all you take to be automatically true might not turn out as you imagine. The stories were subversive, explorative and engaging to a fault, to the point where it almost feels like there's nothing left to say. Although in the same breath I acknowledge that it's my protectionism which makes me feel that way, in truth The Old Republic didn't get nearly enough dues and we could certainly spend more time there, I'm just not entirely sure on what we should spend that time doing...

Although I'd personally assume that the games are the chief pieces of Media informing this era of the lore, since wherever Kotor 3 takes us, it should be somewhere new whilst feeling familiar. Recently I heard that Rise of the Skywalker made an offscreen reference to Darth Revan, meaning that moves have already been made to reintroduce our favourite Sith Lord back into the canon; but whilst I appreciate the move to reach out fans and let them know this legendary chunk of Star Wars storytelling is still important, I think moving forward perhaps a little distance is required. Yes, The Old Republic is inseparable from the story of Revan given that they were the catalyst which formed the Sith Empire, but I think it would be a mistake to turn this era into 'The Revan show' just as how the modern era has become 'The Skywalker show'. Branch out, put new and unrelated figures into the spotlight, and most importantly expand, don't reiterate.

In fact, my personal suggestion for when Kotor should take place is simple, right after The Old Republic MMO. TOR is a game from Bioware that set itself several hundred years after Kotor and navigated a new Jedi/Sith war that would consume the galaxy. Being an MMO, the story has never truly been wrapped up, but as far as anyone can tell: this was the last time that the Sith Empire consisted of such huge battlefleets and squadrons of saber wielding wizards. This was a time wherein the Jedi wars were at their most brutal, nuts to all that robot fighting which the prequels fuelled themselves on. (Battledroids are some of the most pathetic enemies in the galaxy, I think we can all agree. It would be an embarrassment for a Jedi to die by Battledroid.) So perhaps Kotor could tell the story of how the Jedi ultimately ended up winning the war, because think about it: wouldn't that be a story? Not only were the Sith Empire defeated, but they dwindled into practically nothing by the time of Darth Bane, which implies their back was broken with the sort of prejudice that one usually wouldn't expect from the famously lenient Jedi. But then, The Old Republic is a time where morals become fuzzy. Wouldn't it be cool to take part in a period of Jedi-led extermination that questions the good and evil of the Star Wars world in a real and intriguing manner, rather than in the wishy-washy "Meh, I don't like Jedi now" way that 'The Last Jedi' did?

Those are just my thoughts, at least. Half baked and regurgitated from several pages of much more in-depth notes I have on the topic (When I'm bored I write, Okay? Don't judge me.) but I think it's makes a least a little sense. In fact, though I have an issue with reboots, the one place where I would fine with it happening would be if perhaps the events of TOR were retold in a bit more of an accessible manner, maybe in a TV show if Disney are really dead-set on bringing The Old Republic back from the archives. Of course, this is all contingent of some amount of actual truth behind the Kotor 3 rumour. Which for the sake of my own sanity I refuse to ratify with my credence. But even then I think that'd be cool. If it were real. Which it's not. Probably. (God, I really hope it's real)