The force can do terrible things to a mind.
There's a lot of hopeful thoughts that goes into being a fan of the game's industry; lots of pinching those cheeks and wishing upon stars, lots of bold assumptions, and just heaps of tickets for various, destined-to-be-derailed, hype public transport. It's all a part of the experience, we're teased a game and left to fill in the blanks for ourselves, usually to everyone's disappointment once the real thing launches. Unless that game is Elden Ring, apparently, but I wouldn't know about that since I haven't played Sekiro yet and it appears I have an unspoken rule to only play a Souls Game when the next one has come out. (As least for Sekiro and Ring that practice won't cut me out of some thriving online scene.) All of which is to explain that whilst we graciously accept the gift that is the upcoming Knights of the Old Republic Remake with one hand, we must grasp and grab for a threequel with the other; because it's about darn time that we get things back on track.
Which isn't to say that I'm not stoked on KOTOR being remade. It's literally my third favourite game of all time, I love the very concept of a numbers-action-rpg based Star Wars world, I adore the story and I grow all nostalgic about the cast. All I bemoan is the fact that we don't have more of that game, and now with a full remake it's highly likely that we will get that so much more which we need! (Provided it's still a stat-based action RPG game. Which it is going to be, right? They wouldn't take that away from us- would they?) But everything we're going to see made, and even the additions I hope they'll throw in along the way, all fall under the category of 'expectable content'. We know the breadth of this story; we know the major players, the winners and losers, the places we'll mostly visit and the strange trails we'll face there, and most of all we know that galaxy shattering twist in the third act. It's all expected; and what I'm looking for is the unexpected.
KOTOR 2 often doesn't get the praise it deserves as a supremely well written Bioware RPG, and that's mostly because the unfinished nature of the story and world stand out on full display. Like every Bioware game expect for Mass Effect, number 2 takes the brunt of studio complications from around that time, with efforts split so much that entire sections of the narrative had to be narrowed down into railroad sections and, apparently, the endings of the game were totally chopped off the package. Which is to say that KOTOR 2, whilst a good game, doesn't quite live up to being the successor to KOTOR that we needed all those years ago, and this remake is only going to fuel the flames for a new title even more. Now could this lead to a KOTOR 2 remake which fixes all the problems and restores the original vision? Almost certainly not, but I would spin like a top if that did happen; what's more likely is we're going to get a return to this world for something totally new.
And when you look around at the state of Star Wars gaming right now; that really is what we need right now. Back before the Disney acquisition, Star Wars was one of the healthiest gaming franchises you could think off, working with dozens of contracted companies, all of whom were eager to work on the licence, and putting out enough content to sooth every possible player itch. Then the unthinkable happened and all of that was halted, or straight cancelled, on the spot in favour for EA exclusivity. What we have right now is a much narrower market for these sorts of games that typically has a high standard of quality to them (I think it's been a while since a truly godawful shovelware title with a Star Wars label on it was published) but less wide appeal. Sure, Jedi Fallen Order was a great game and a ton of fun... provided you liked tough action Souls-like games: Otherwise you'd be crap out of luck.
From a wider perspective, we need different genres and game types to spice up the fandom of Star Wars once again and reach out to people who'd otherwise never be interested in the franchise. It's a goal I think all franchises with loft aspirations should shoot for, but one that not many have the reach to ascertain. Would people really buy a Fallout-themed Virtual Novel? I mean I would; but what about actual normal people out there? Probably not. But a Star Wars one? Well, Quantic Dream are going to put that question to the test themselves when they release 'Eclipse' a couple of years or so from now! Diversity expands your reach, which expands the fan pool, which increases resources to make even bigger and better games. A perfect cycle of symbiotic dependency. But also very clean, and spreadsheet-friendly. What about the more specific reasons why KOTOR 3 needs to happen?
Because D&D-esque mechanics translate super well to the Star Wars brand! With all the sci-fi weaponary, Jedi arts and Lightsaber duels, this seems like a world absolutely made for numbers-RPG games and we rarely get to see that taken advantage of. I'd love to see a Star Wars game take this to an extreme, like Pathfinder does, where you can have entire class builds and specifically generated wave encounters, all to push players to the brink of their talents. We've only touched upon the potential of D&D Star Wars with the KOTOR titles and it's a well of infinite possibility if only it were given a chance. Can you imagine the incredible medieval themed super-boss Sith Lords we could be fighting in a totally expansive Role Playing game with Baldur's Gate level scale to it? We can shoot for that sort of project in this modern age, if only Disney will give such an idea the go ahead.
And then there's the health of the franchise as a whole. Right now there's only really one avenue of this incredibly big series that is holding everything together: the time immediately following the Galactic Civil War. The Clone Wars have been tapped dry, the sequel Trilogy is dead-on arrival and The High Republic has it's fans, but is still largely niche among the Star Wars universe. (Maybe 'Eclipse' will change that, maybe 'Eclipse' will further cement that franchise segment's ostracization from the rest of the community) The Old Republic is there, it's proven, it's loved, and it has such a space for new stories that is seems silly not to work it. You have a period of Jedi-Sith warfare, of European Medieval thematic influence, rampant endemic betrayals and a general darker shade on the world of Star Wars that isn't explored nearly enough.
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