Why Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Was A Classic

Above all others, Knights of the Old Republic stands out as the quintessential epic Star Wars video game. There are brilliant ones, there are classics, and there are fan favourites. However, few have ever reached the heights of Bioware’s first game, to the point where even those who lack any knowledge of the Expanded Universe deem it a worthy successor to the films. It’s sequels are far more contentious, but that’s a subject for another day. Instead, I wanted to look back at the RPG and consider why it stands out. More specifically, why it managed to revitalise such interest in the franchise.

Naturally, there will be spoilers ahead, so please do not read until you have played this game. If you are wondering if you should, then the answer is yes, it still holds up well even today.

So, with that warning offered, let’s answer the question. Naturally, this is going to be an opinionated piece, but having looked at Star Wars media over the decades, the franchise’s greatest strength lies in its capacity to be loyal to itself. It’s not above experimenting, not above seeking to insert new changes, critiques or deconstructions of the universe as a whole. With that being said, a new work in this universe never seeks to completely destroy what made it great purely for the sake of being different (The Last Jedi not withstanding of course), and uses the classics as a basic starting point to forge its own identity.

In the case of Knights of the Old Republic, you can easily see where certain trace elements keep emerging time and time again. Notably in how key archetypes and older narrative devices remain constant within the work, but have been substantially altered. Take Revan, just to cite the most obvious of these examples. A masked dark lord who was once a Jedi, a powerful figure within a new regime ruled by the Sith, and he has a unique connection to the protagonist. One which only fully emerges thanks to a shocking revelation delivered at the story’s middle point. The story itself, for many players, was also one of redemption of this character as well and he ended it by slaying the other Sith who he had assisted in raising up the new Sith Empire.

If you think that Revan is too easy a choice, then consider the others for a moment. You have Jolee Bindo, an old hermit who has isolated himself from society. He knows of Revan’s true identity, helps train the protagonist, and even has a tragic history thanks to an apprentice falling to the Dark Side. Zaalbar is a Wookiee who is bound to another thanks to a life debt, serves as the partner in crime to a scoundrel, and is a talented gunman. You could even argue that Carth Onasi fills out a number of Han Solo’s distinctive traits, as he is a talented pilot, has a history with a major military force and is often at odds with the Jedi themselves.

Each character follows the same basic archetype, but the building blocks for them have been reconstructed until the events or character qualities end up seeming completely alien to their inspirations. This allows them to pay tribute and utilise the strengths of the original releases, but without wholeheartedly replicating them. It uses inspiration, perhaps the occasional nod or joke, but it never resorts to relying on nostalgia as a crutch to prop itself up. When something does emerge which compares the games to another part of the universe, it’s either relatively minor or so subtle that you can easily miss it. As a result, you end up loving KOTOR because it’s KOTOR, not because it is a remixed version of A New Hope. There’s also something to be said on how it uses this to also tap into the subconscious fondness or nostalgia for the classic heroic tropes while modernizing it, but that is worthy of an essay entirely to itself. For now, the idea put forward is simply that KOTOR was loyal to its inspirations, but it sought to always remain loyal to itself.

In the same vein as the above point, the game also sought to fall back on the familiar while expanding on what had been laid down before. The prequel trilogy had shown us a glimpse of the age of the Republic, what it had been like during its final years and the role the Jedi played. Yet, for all this, it was not quite the era some imagined. Not quite the same age of thousands of Jedi, thousands of Sith, each vying for power. This was something better reflected on in the Tales of the Jedi comics and, noting how crowded the Clone Wars era was becoming, Bioware opted to use this as their chosen time period. In doing so, and setting them in the wake of the comics, they were given far more leeway to explore and examine the galaxy as a whole. While the technology certainly lacked the more archaic design of its predecessors, it nevertheless helped to introduce people into a much greater universe. This was even done without completely shutting itself off from the comics, as the game offered a multitude of shout-outs and comments to the Tales series. It was simply that they were so unobtrusive that you could overlook them if you weren’t a dedicated fan.

You see, the franchise of Star Wars at this time was unafraid to expand its frontiers. It could still serve to fall back on the familiar, in elements so obvious as names to the visuals such as lightsabers, but it still sought to offer greater detail to the films. When Sir Alec Guinness delivered the line of how the Jedi were the defenders of peace for over a thousand generations, it could have been left at that. Yet, the franchise wasn’t afraid to offer more. Because of this you ended up seeing key points over that time such as this, where they had earned their legendary reputation and actions had shaped the future we saw. In what could have been a bare bones history, you instead could look at any point and find no end of information explaining and outlining the developments in galactic history. Yet, incredibly, it did so while escaping the risk of locking out viewers with too much continuity. Like many of the larger series, it isolated itself, establishing KOTOR as a chapter of a larger work; connected and yet easily accessible to those who could accept a few minor gaps in their knowledge. Just as the Clone Wars had originally been for those who watched the original films.

Finally, however, there is also the key factor of how KOTOR offered its players engagement and a first-hand look at what risks the setting posed for its heroes. For many, the threats of a Jedi’s fall stemmed only from temptation, a desire to use their power too rashly or to gain strength in order to overwhelm their opposition. By setting this within a game, this became all the more clear, and it was often combined with more subtle options. More than a few choices did boil down to “Remain the righteous man” or “DOOM HAS COME FOR YOU!” in a black/white situation, but this served to help the exceptions throw you off. A court trial, a moment where you could allow a man to take revenge for the death of his comrades, even a wrong line against the villain could alter your disposition. It helped to show that for all their power, those connected with the Force walked a tightrope. In order to follow one set discipline or another, their every choice had to be carefully considered and acted on accordingly. It meant that, while the Force opened many doors, it could also leave those connected to it following a set path.

These are just personal thoughts, as the opening said. They’re more reflections on the game, and something which deserves greater consideration some way down the line. For the moment though, I hope it’s made a few of you at least think back fondly on the first KOTOR and of the material which accompanied it. Star Wars might be recognised primarily by its films, but its supplementary material once meant so much more than a mere means to promote the next cinematic release.