KOTOR 2 Non-spoiler Tips

KOTOR II Non-spoiler tips:

Note: this is just for the second game, KOTOR II. KOTOR I is different is several ways. Also, I mention a few things that happen in the game, but none of it gives away the main plot. Haven't played KOTOR 1 yet? Go do that and come back. KOTOR I is HEAVILY plot-based and KOTOR II gives away a lot of the KOTOR I plot. So if you play KOTOR II first, you'll mess up KOTOR I for yourself.

Disclaimer: the purpose of this document is to get you through a first playthrough without major regrets. It is not a detailed set of instructions on how to min-max every bit of XP/money/content. That would take a full guide, with heavy spoilers. Several things in here are intended as good general advice, but might be bad ideas for a seasoned KOTOR player trying to get every last bit out of the game. If you know the game well enough that you are spotting those sorts of things herein, then you probably aren't the target audience anyway.

Do NOT play the game without the "TSLRCM" mod. That stands for "The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod". Here's the deal: KOTOR II was originally released in a very unfinished state, because the publisher forced the developer into a release in time for Christmas that year. (If you asked the publisher, they'd probably say it was because the developer didn't have it done in time.) Whatever the reason, the original game was horribly broken in several important ways. Lots of things were buggy and didn't even make sense, and there was effectively no ending to the game. It was a huge mess. I played the original and remember being hopelessly confused. Fortunately, the developer had created a lot of the raw digital assets necessary for the release as it should have been, and packaged them with the game release. But that didn't do anyone any good because they weren't accessible. Years later, some of the developers got together with some community members and created a really ambitious mod to fix all that. And they did a pretty good job. Some things are still a little rough, and the ending still leaves a little to be desired. But it is WAY better than the original. Do yourself a huge favor and get TSLRCM.

Something non-spoilery to know about the plot: the main character was a high-ranking general on the side of the Republic in the Mandalorian Wars. All that happened before KOTOR I, but the KOTOR II main character is never mentioned in KOTOR I. So if you're wondering why some of the NPCs seem to know more about your character than you do, that's why. You're being inserted into the middle of the main character's story, which can be a little confusing. A lot of what you do as the main character is deciding how you feel about and deal with your own past. But you won't know much about your own past until the game explains it to you, little by little, through various conversations. If sometimes you're not sure what's going on, you're not doing anything wrong. That's just how the game is designed.

The plot of KOTOR II is a little darker, more introspective, and more philosophical than KOTOR I. Where KOTOR I was an epic Star Wars romp through the galaxy, KOTOR II is more an examination of how grand adventures by big heroes can mess things up for everyone else. You enter a galaxy essentially broken in pieces by the events of the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War and you have to deal with it. Don't expect anyone to pin a medal to your chest - it just isn't that sort of game.

This doesn't really matter for a first playthrough, but be aware that KOTOR II adds a LOT of details to the Old Republic era. Like, almost Tolkein-level worldbuilding (okay, not that good. But still impressive). The writers put a TON of thought into it and expanded on not only the history of the era, but also the backstory of Revan, the Mandalorian Wars (the Republic under Jedi Revan's leadership against the Mandalorians, before KOTOR I), and the Jedi Civil War (the Republic vs the Sith under first Darth Revan's and later Darth Malak's leadership, so more-or-less the events of KOTOR I). Kreia also has an enormously complicated backstory that intersects Revan's in multiple ways. All this affects the game world as a whole, and also the main character, who in many ways was an unwitting pawn in various manipulations and is now finally hitting a chance to have their own say in the direction the galaxy goes. But unless you're a lot more clever than I am, you won't pick all that up on a first playthrough. Most of it is hinted at, and never officially confirmed. Just recognize that a lot of the little things that people say, especially Kreia but also Atris and others, has a lot of subtle meaning behind it.

Sentinel was a horrible, terrible class in KOTOR I. But in KOTOR II, it is pretty good. If you aren't sure how you want to build your character, Sential is a great, very flexible choice. I'd highly recommend it for a first playthrough.
KOTOR II has an influence system with your companions. Different companions like (or dislike) different things. Getting to know each companion will help you predict how each companion will react.

Influence affects:

Oddly, minimizing influence can unlock things in the same way maximizing it can. Or at least I've read that, I've never tried it myself. But supposedly, making your companions really, really hate you makes them chatty in the same way as if they really, really like you. Whatever.

It is very difficult to completely unlock all dialog for all companions in a single playthrough, especially if you want to stick to Light Side or Dark Side. Some companions prefer one side or the other, so unless you look up online guides, carefully min/max all the choices, and intentionally move your alignment around at critical times, it can't be done. Maybe you do that on a second playthrough, or maybe you fully unlock various companions over multiple playthroughs. But don't do any of that for a first playthrough because it'll distract from the story and you'll end up playing the guide instead of the game. If you really feel like you are missing out but you don't want to replay the game, just YouTube the conversations after your playthrough is done.

Kreia is notoriously hard to please. Her influence is all over the place. If you really want to max Kreia influence, expect to either follow a guide or reload the game a lot, because it is hard to predict how she's going to feel about things. For a first playthrough, don't worry too much about it. Maxing her influence isn't necessary. And depending on your character's personality, you may have more fun irritating her.

Unlocking every dialog option for every companion isn't necessary, or even important. You could not unlock anything for any of them and still have a successful playthrough. So don't stress over influence, especially the first time you play the game.

If your main character is a male, you'll pick up a certain female companion on Telos. At a later point, you'll be attacked on your ship by a different female who then becomes a companion. If you gain too much influence with this second companion (the one who attacks you) before you finish the first companion's dialog, then the first companion gets mad at you and won't talk to you anymore (and you therefore won't be able to complete her dialog). The easiest workaround is to stop talking to the one who attacks you as quickly as possible and don't talk to her at all again until the companion from Telos is done. Then you can say whatever you want to either of them and it'll be fine. This probably means you won't get to use the companion who attacks you until around the time you complete your second planet, so you can decide if you care or not. None of this matters for female main characters, who don't get the female companion on Telos (they get a male companion on Dantooine instead, and he doesn't care about influence with anyone else).

Unlike KOTOR I, there are no companion "messenger quests", so you don't have to worry about taking everyone off the ship everywhere to trigger things. There is one Atton-related conversation that you have to have with an NPC on Nar Shaddaa to unlock certain important dialog options with Atton. Look for a Twilek in the refugee area, and make sure you have Atton with you.

Near the very beginning of the game, you will talk to someone who wants you to release them from confinement (you will, as you ultimately have no choice). They will talk to you a bit about Revan. This is how KOTOR II knows how KOTOR I ended for you. You can say whatever you like and it won't change much. So don't stress about it, and feel free to pick different options than how KOTOR I actually ended for you. But you do get to say (for example) whether Revan was male or female, and for the rest of the game the NPCs will refer to Revan in that way.

Unlike the KOTOR I, skills matter a lot. And unlike KOTOR I, bashing things open can damage the contents. Fortunately, you can often use your companions to do skill-related things for you. Like KOTOR I, it only makes sense to give Persuade to the main character. However, numerous other skills, and in some cases abilities like Intelligence or Wisdom, unlock additional dialog options. You can still complete the game with low skills, but you'll miss out on some things.

The starting area, where you are mostly solo, has a fair number of mines. So you might want some Awareness and Demolitions skill. There are also a number of locked containers, so some Security might not hurt as well. You will be fine if you don't take any of that, but it'll be slightly more challenging.
At the start of the game, you won't be able to pick which planet you go to, you'll have to follow the story. Same for the end - at a certain point you just have to go where the game sends you. But in the middle of the game you get to pick (much like KOTOR 1).

You don't have to do planets all in one go. You can jump around. Some quests will probably send you back to planets you thought you were done with. Nothing wrong with that.

You can do planets in any order. Here's a brief non-spoiler summary of each:

Common advice is to do Nar Shaddaa => Dantooine => Duxn/Onderon => Korriban. If your main character is male, you might do Duxn/Onderon before Dantooine, to get the Duxn/Onderon companion more quickly. If your main character is female, you might do enough of Dantooine to get the companion there (finish up the zone where you get him but don't start any new zones) then proceed as above.

When I say the final fight on Dantooine is really hard for low level Dark Side characters I meant it. My guess is that the fight was supposed to scaled based on character level, but in the rush to release they never finished that part. The fight is really incredibly super hard for a low level character. Like, almost unbeatable. At least it was for me. There's a point near the end of Dantooine where you'll have to pick which side to support, make some arrangements for a big fight, then tell whichever side you picked that arrangements are complete and you're ready for the fight to start. Make sure you save the game in a new slot before you say you're ready for the fight to start. That way, if the fight turns out to be too hard for you, you can reload that save, go do a different planet, and come back. The NPCs will act like there's a giant hurry, but there really isn't. They'll wait literally the whole game without anything changing, regardless of what they say. To be clear, if you make the Light Side choice, the final fight isn't bad, just if you make the Dark Side one.

Other than a few exceptions (like the Dantooine fight) the game isn't *that* hard. So you don't have to obsess about what class/feats/powers you take. With that said, there are a few good general rules: If you go with a STR/melee build, prioritize Force powers that aren't restricted by armor. You'll probably find you need to wear armor to survive, and it is a pain to pull it off every time you want to cast a Force power (and you can't change armor in combat).

On the subject of armor, most armor has a Max DEX bonus, meaning your bonus from Dexterity can't go above that value, regardless of how high your Dexterity is. However (and the game doesn't make this clear) that applies ONLY to defense, not skill checks, saves, or attacks. So you're not losing as much benefit from Dexterity by wearing armor as it seems like. (I THINK this applies to KOTOR 1 as well, but I haven't confirmed it)

It is essential that melee characters who special in Dexterity take "Finesse: Melee Weapons". Surprisingly, this also covers lightsabers, so "Finesse: Lightsaber" is completely pointless, and nobody should ever take it.
You don't have to level up immediately. If you save your level ups to use in combat, you'll get a full health bar. So one kinda hacky trick is to save level ups, wait until you're about to die in the middle of a hard fight, and level up then.

Like KOTOR I, you start as one class, and switch to a second class partway through the game. You have to be at least level 15 to get the second class, and also be sufficiently toward either Light or Dark. You trigger the change by talking to Kreia. You can continue in the first class past level 15 by not talking to Kreia about it (or by telling her you haven't decided yet). So you can get *more* levels in your first class if you want. But you can't get *less* than 15. So there's no point in saving levels like there was in KOTOR I (other than the health exploit mentioned above).

I never had any luck with swoop racing running the game on Mac using Steam. It was just impossibly buggy. It isn't necessary for the plot, so I just skipped it.

Like KOTOR I, playing Pazaak is just for fun (and a bit of money). Play it if you like it, skip it if you don't. And of course, if you play, save before each game in case you lose. :)

Save the game often, in different slots. That way, if you run into a bug or glitch you don't have to go back very far. Make a new save at least at the beginning of every planet. It doesn't hurt to make lots, so maybe make one at the beginning of every major area or when you think a big plot point may be coming up. Having lots of saves doesn't crash or slow down the game.

Unlike KOTOR I, there's no "return to the ship" button. But your health regenerates over time, so you won't really miss it. You can often switch your party out even while away from the ship. Sometimes you can't do this in hostile areas or when the plot forces you to not be able to. But a lot of the time it is possible, so if you want to switch companions try the party screen first. You might save yourself some running.

You can pause and save during combat. Sometimes useful in a long hard fight in case it goes bad at the end.

You can sell/breakdown mines, and they are are also useful to plant in preparation for hard fights. If you (or a companion) have sufficient Demolition skill, make sure to Retrieve mines you come across instead of just Disarming them.

There is no way to find the real Batu Rem. That quest is just buggy, even with TSLRCM. I know that's kind of a spoiler, but I didn't know how to say it without just saying it.

On Nar Shaddaa, the two Twileks apparently aren't smart enough to follow Atton if he runs behind the bar. Just sayin'...

Upgrade HK-47 in every way you can before finishing your last planet. You don't have to completely level him up (in fact, saving a few might be a good idea in case you need to use the full-heal trick). But make sure he has the best droid gear you have, the best weapons you can give him, and make sure those weapons are as upgraded as you can make them. In particular, make sure he's prepped for fights against other droids. Be sure to have a some repair/construction kits on hand, and some droid energy shields. You do't need hundreds or anything, but make sure you have at least a few. And bumping his Security to around 10 might be a good idea too.

KOTOR II includes the ability to craft items at workbenches and lab stations. You can break down items into their constituents and then create items (or more often, upgrades to items). The amount you get from breaking things down depends on Repair skill (workbench) and Treat Injury skill (lab station). An adjusted 20 is necessary to get the max amount, so don't bother breaking anything down until you get that. The main character doesn't have to do this - you can use a companion. Don't worry about creating anything until around the end of your second or third planet, because you won't have sufficient skill to make the best stuff and there's no reason to waste components on lesser stuff. But do, from the beginning of the game, make sure to retain "Fully Upgradable" weapons. Even if you don't use them right away, you may by the end. And it doesn't usually make much sense to sell items for credits. You can get plenty of credits in other ways, and items are more useful for breaking down.

Well, there's one exception to the wait-to-craft rule. Make yourself a nice upgradable sword in the starting area, as soon as you can. If your skills allow it, also make an Ionic Edge (extra damage against droids) and use that for the solo portion of the early game. Do this even if you plan to use ranged weapons the rest of the game. There are no decent ranged weapons in the starting area, and the crafted sword will make things go a lot more smoothly. And it requires so few components that you won't miss them later.

However, if you find crafting confusing, boring, or just not your thing, skip it. It isn't essential. You will be much stronger if you do it, and I strongly recommend upgrading at least any lightsabers you use. But it isn't a requirement and you can finish the game without it.