Talk:Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic/Walkthrough

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is currently #8 on the Most Wanted list on the Main Page (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is #3!), so I'd better get on with it... Onderduiker (talk) 18:45, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Below I'll keep notes on outstanding issues that come up as I work on the walkthrough. These will also have a lot of bearing on KotOR II, and possibly other BioWare or role-playing games on which I work in the future (Dragon Age: Origins is also in my library).

This is primarily for my own reference, but if anyone has any feedback, feel free to add it to the relevant section, or add it to the end of the page.

Images
There are currently over 500 images in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic images category, and that number is certain to increase: at some point I may create sub-categories corresponding to each of the sections below, but for now I'll use the All pages with prefix function to list them separately.

Icons
Icons where extracted using KotOR Tool and converted from .tga to .png format. 26 icons prefixed KotOR Icon have been uploaded: 10 32x32 icons for skills (including Bash) and dialog, and 16 64x64 icons for NPC portraits and on-screen updates. These will be used by the Dialog and Update templates.

100 32x32px icons have been uploaded for all feats, prefixed KotOR Feat, as have 44 icons for all Force powers, prefixed KotOR Force power. This was necessary since the Feats and Powers sections of the Abilities menu only display text descriptions for a feat or power when highlighted, and the icons are used elsewhere in the user interface. They'll also be used elsewhere in this guide, in templates for feats and powers within the NPC template to indicate which feats and powers an NPC has, the Item template to indicate On Hit properties, and in item lists to indicate when a feat is required to equip an item.
 * Feats and powers

Hundreds of 64x64px icons, prefixed KotOR Item, have been uploaded for items, although this was not necessary as the Equip, Party Inventory, NPC inventory and container menus always use text labels as well. Consequently many could be deleted, although icons for grenades, mines, medical items and stimulants are used elsewhere in the user interface, and some will be used in templates for items within the NPC template to indicate which items an NPC has. Once I've completed the walkthrough, I'll remove item images from the Appendices pages, and any unused files will then be marked for deletion.
 * Items

Maps
As of yet only 4 .png maps, prefixed KotOR Map, have been uploaded, and only the map notes are labelled on those: I intend to add more detail to those I upload. From screenshots of the Map screen, each map is 440x256px, although I may enlarge them to add detail and a legend. I plan to standardise presentation by centering a 480px thumbnail map at the top of each page in the space beside a floating Table of Contents. It would probably be a good idea to make a template for this...

The walkthrough needs at most 74 maps:


 * Star Map worlds

Some maps are so small or straightforward that they may be replaced by screenshots. This may come to include some of those listed above (for example, the Crystal Cave on Dantooine is a single passage with no branches, ending in a cave; in fact, that page might actually be merged with another (Sandral Grounds), as may some others).

Models
Only 12 .png images prefixed KotOR Model have been uploaded so far: 11 256x256px models of party members, and one 752x752px model of a Rancor (which is unusually large). These will be used by the NPC template.

Models for party members and merchants are fairly straightforward, but those for enemies are complicated by the fact that multiple enemies can use the same model, and the same enemy can be encountered in different locations with different equipment, some of which can change their appearance. I'm unsure whether to use a generic background (for example, change my character's model using KotOR Savegame Editor and take a screenshot of the Character screen: unfortunately some models are too big to fit), the background of their first location or upload images for separate locations if the backgrounds are jarringly different. This isn't something I really need to worry about until the walkthrough is completed, though.

Screenshots
25 1024x768px .jpg images prefixed KotOR Screenshot have been uploaded so far. Some of these will replace maps that are too small or straightforward to be strictly necessary:

This list may expand as I work on the walkthrough, particularly since some pages and maps may be merged (for example, I'm considering merging Woorwill's Home and Worrroznor's Home with Village of Rwookrrorro).

Others may have explanatory purposes on Get Started pages, although those which have already been uploaded lack Screenshot in their name.

The remaining screenshots will show points of interest throughout the game, possibly combined with action shots of party members (for example, HK-47 barbecuing dark Jedi with a Flame Thrower on the streets of Anchorhead, Canderous going man(d)o-a-man(d)o with fellow Mandalorians on Dantooine or Kashyyyk, Juhani deflecting blaster bolts and Carth and Bastila in action on the bridge of the Leviathan): I want to avoid including the main character, since appearance can vary. I plan to standardise presentation by centering a 640px thumbnail on the page, so another template may be advisable...

Templates
Currently, only the following five guide-specific templates are used in this guide:


 * KotOR Dialog
 * KotOR Item
 * KotOR Journal
 * KotOR XP
 * KotOR Party

I want to minimise the number of templates used and expand the possible parameters of each to achieve this. KotOR/Dialog is likely to be the most complicated, while the current KotOR Item, Journal and XP templates could be combined into KotOR/Update, and KotOR Party could be expanded to include enemies, repairable droids and merchants as KotOR/NPC.

I'm in two minds about whether to complete the walkthrough before working on templates and editing pages later to incorporate them, or work on them now and risk stalling. At present, 12 of the pages in this guide are in the top 50 longest pages and the use of templates may significantly reduce their length and make them easier to edit (and the contents of some pages may be merged), so I'm leaning towards the latter (although I may continue to work in tandem on Manaan up to Hrakert Station, on Tatooine up to the Dune Sea (or possibly the Sand People Enclave), Yavin Station and return to complete the optional parts of Dantooine).

Dialog
KotOR Dialog already allows the following:

It needs to be expanded to include Persuade and Force Persuade options:

Difficulty check (Always, Easy, Medium, Hard or Never) determines border and background colors, as well as icon label. The green and red border and background colours are derived from the Yes, Yes2, No2 and No templates and I'm happy with them; however I'm not happy with the yellow border and background colours, so I'll change them (they'll be used in other templates as well).

Difficulty check (Low (Affect Mind), High (Dominate Mind) and Impossible) determines border and background colors, as well as the icon and its label.

Alignment shifts are technically on-screen updates, but they almost always occur as the result of dialog choices. The nature of the shift (light or dark) determines icon and background colour, and the number of light or dark side points gained (#) is also needed.

There may also be special dialog choices, like those in the second Jedi trial:

The nature of the response (Jedi Guardian, Sentinel or Consular) determines border and background colours, as well as the icon and its label (and possible link).

All dialog is included for the sake of completeness (so people can check it to see if there's anything they missed before they start another play-through, and in many cases reveal the illusion of choice where different dialog options actually lead to the same response), but that which is optional or whose conclusion is the same regardless of options chosen is hidden in collapsible tables:

Dialog triggers a scene, and usually (but not always) involves choosing dialog options; comments are simply superimposed on the screen in blue text in a translucent window, with no further interaction. I should probably make a template for these collapsible tables, since they're used often and have a similar design to the NPC template.

Wherever possible mutually exclusive dialog options, or 'options' which lead to the same response, are placed in a row to conserve space: at present this is achieved by placing individual dialog boxes in a table (effectively mini-tables inside another table). However, options of varying length can lead to boxes of varying height, which I'd like to eliminate for aesthetic purposes. Aside from being of equal height (which should mean they need to be in the same table), each box in the same row would normally by of approximately equal width:

However, in some cases the default widths would need to be adjusted. For example, when some, but not all, mutually exclusive options lead to the same response:

Other than number of columns and row height, another complication is that dialog boxes in the same row can be of different types (usually due to being mutually exclusive, rather than leading to the same response). There have also been occasions where one column contains a dialog box spanning multiple rows in another (usually due to a party member responding, or two party members like Bastila and Carth going back and forth).

I think it would simplify things to remove border colours, ensure all dialog options use a single row and icon cells have the same background colour as text cells, and possibly use the prettytable template used elsewhere in this guide. This would have the most effect on current alignment shifts:

Space could be saved by moving the Light/Dark Side Points Gained text to the icon label, and the points (#) to the end of the text. However, if at all possible I'd like to remove the border between the icon and text cells (placing them in the same cell would result in text wrapping under the icon), and I'd like the style to be consistent with other templates.

NPC
The KotOR Party template already exists, for showing information about your party members when you they first join your party:

This could be expanded to include both friendly and hostile NPCs encountered in the game:

The only differences in appearance and organisation between the latter two are border and background colours, and the inclusion of Treat Injury or Repair skill rank (although neither is relevant unless the meatbag organic or droid can use med kits or repair kits, and at this point I'm becoming increasingly certain that neither friendly nor hostile droids use repair kits).

The differences with the party template are more numerous:


 * The table in the second column of the party template has rows for Location, Map, World and Inclusion, but omits Skills
 * The table in the fourth column of the party template has a row for Attack
 * The table in the fifth and final column of the party template contains skill information; that in the others contains Ranged and Melee attack information
 * The party template displays Remaining attribute, skill, feat and Force power points

However, there are still more than enough similarities to make it possible to use the same KotOR/NPC template for all three. I don't think the same applies to merchant inventories, though:

This would be the standard layout, but there are several merchants who offer conditional discounts (Suvam Tan on Yavin station offers two) so the option of multiple Item Cost columns would need to be enabled.

A KotOR/Link template could be created to make linking to items significantly easier: for example, it could replace this:

Blaster Pistol

With something like, or , to give Blaster Pistol. Given how often I insert links in this guide, this template could be expanded (much) further, or similar templates could be created.

That's speculative, but I'll definitely be creating KotOR/Feat, Power and Item templates to replace the icons in the NPC template...

Feat
The KotOR/Feat template would replace this:



With something like to display. However, there are 100 separate feats...

Power
The KotOR/Power template would replace this:



With something like to display.

Item
The KotOR/Item template would replace this:



With something like to display. Due to the sheer number items, it may be more manageable to create multiple templates for different types, though.


 * On Hit
 * Prerequisite:
 * Armor Proficiency: Light/Medium/Heavy
 * Droid Upgrade Class 1/2/3
 * Upgrade
 * Restricted to: Light/Dark Side
 * Light/Dark Side Points Gained

Skill
Outside dialog, there are three skills whose potential use is shown in the walkthrough: Awareness and Demolitions for mines, and Security for locks.

The quality of the mine (Minor, Average or Deadly) is one parameter, determining border and background colour, link to the Mines page and Difficulty Classes (and minimum skill rank); the type (Flash, Frag, Gas or Plasma) is another determining link to the Mines page, and the number of mines (#) is the final parameter (default 1, which wouldn't need to be displayed).

The name of the lock is needed, but doesn't affect anything. Whether or not a lock can be bashed open or unlocked affects border and background colour: if it can be unlocked, Difficulty Class (DC) and minimum skill rank (SR) are needed; if it can be bashed open, Resist and Vitality values (#) are needed.

Update
There are already KotOR Journal, XP and Item templates, but they share enough similarities that they could be replaced by a single KotOR/Update template.

Quest and Update are needed, as is the option of multiple columns (since updates can differ depending on how or whether or not a quest has been activated, and the same action can update multiple quests).

Experience can be received from an action (usually quest related), kill, or skill use. Action and skill use need an XP #, while kills require a Challenge Rating (it would be easier to add the number of enemies killed to the text where necessary, rather than including it in the template). That seems fairly straightforward, although to conserve space, adding additional columns should be enabled.

The container and a bullet-point list of items received are needed. At present there's no Item(s) Lost option, since almost all items lost so far have been quest items which are lost automatically, and have no other use beyond completing quests. However, I may include one for those few occasions where loss of items is optional (I can remember having the option to give a Med Kit to someone twice).

To conserve space, the options of additional columns and placing this in the same row as an XP update should be enabled.

Credits received or lost should also be added, and this should be fairly straightforward. In terms of style, I made the background colour of the icon cell black (and subsequently added a black border to the box) because I thought it looked ugly otherwise, but this may change depending on what I do with other templates.