TSLRP impressions

I've given up on TSLRP.

Completely.

I don't exactly know what I was expecting from this thing... I suppose after three years in development I'd hoped that KOTOR 2 would be significantly different. There are a couple of differences I've noticed (including one extra character) but the only major difference I've noticed is that the influence system now appears to be completely broken.

There are odd restored lines of dialogue here and there... the problem is it's quite obvious why most of them were cut in the first place. Most of them are either unnecessary exposition or mystical Star Wars bullshit.

As far as the actual game goes, nothing has changed. This isn't like the Wesp patches for Vampire Bloodlines where there are dozens of gameplay tweaks to make things more streamlined or pleasant for the player...

This does kind of vindicate everything I've been saying about how they should have released this damn thing incrementally. There's no way I would have given up on this mod two years ago, or even possibly a year ago. The problem is, now KOTOR has been so completely outclassed in terms of story, characters, atmosphere (which were the only real plus points to this game in the first place) by Portal, Call of Duty 4, Braid, Dark Athena etc. etc. etc...

KOTOR 2 is like a teenager who has a bunch of really witty jokes at school and TSLRP is like a friend who has been giving him a bunch of new jokes for university to impress new friends and keep old ones entertained. He's been working on the routine for absolutely ages but it's only when he finally trots them out that we all realise they're the same jokes as previously with a tiny bit of spit and polish, and is thoroughly outclassed by people who've spent their time thinking up new jokes.

I know that TSLRP is supposed to kick in properly when you get to the end part of the game (where most stuff was cut) but I was so disheartened by the lack of new material in the mid-game planets, coupled with the disappointing gameplay and irritating star wars universe, I'd rather play just about anything else right now.

So, in conclusion, TSLRP adds very little to the dialogue/atmosphere/plot but does break the game in several places. The combat is still bollocks, there are still a lot of bad gameplay decisions and all in all, it's a project that has been thoroughly outclassed by its more modern counterparts.