23 replies to this topic

[Anaximander]

Well let's see. In Neverwinter Nights, you go on a quest to find pieces of some object that lead you to the truth of what's going on. You discover that the source of all this calamity is some object created by a long forgotten lizard-like creator race. During adventures, the female lead betrays you and joins your enemy.

In Knight of the Old Rebpulic, you go on a quest to find pieces of a star map that leads you to the truth of what's goin on. You discover that the source of all this calamity is the Star Forge, created by a long forgotten lizard-like creator race. During your adventures, the female lead betrays you and joins your enemy.

That's just off the top of my head. I'm sure if I replayed both games side by side, I could find more. The details are different, of course, but the gist of the story was a blatant copy and paste job. If KOTOR had been produced by anyone other than Bioware themselves, the writers would have been sued.

Forgive me for being a little vague in my description of the NWN story, as it's been a few years since I played it. Now, if we continue on this topic of conversation we should probably move it to another thread.

Edited by Anaximander, 24 June 2008 - 08:12 AM.

[Lord Ernie]

There are certainly similarities (the most glaring, I think, was Aribeth -> Bastila, even if they had different personalties), but to say 'they just wrote NWN in space' is unfair. For one, Kotor has been praised enormously for its story and world, whereas NWN's campaign has been heavily critiqued for being little more than a fetch-and-beat-things-up-along-the-way quest. Which is mostly true... Bioware has admitted pretty much that NWN's campaign was mostly an afterthought, a showcase for the possiblities of their engine. Maybe that's why they used some of the same story elements and worked them into Kotor?

Besides, "quest for the mighty artifact" is about the most commonly used main storyline anyway, in almost any game genre (admittedly, RPG's do it more than most).

[Anaximander]

For one, Kotor has been praised enormously for its story and world

Praise for the game does not change the fact that the main storyline is exactly the same as NWN's. The details are different. The characters are much more fully developed. There's voice acting, and cinematic cutscenes. Great. Bioware put a lot more effort into make KOTOR more presentable. The story is still copied and pasted from another game.

whereas NWN's campaign has been heavily critiqued for being little more than a fetch-and-beat-things-up-along-the-way quest.

How is KOTOR's campaign any different? You fetch pieces of the star map and beat up Sith along the way. Everything else you do is either a side quest or a mini game, and not necessary to complete the campaign.

Besides, "quest for the mighty artifact" is about the most commonly used main storyline anyway

Fair enough. However, the similarity between the main quest in NWN and KOTOR is too great for me to ignore. In both games, you must first find another object which has been broken into pieces and scattered around the world (or galaxy). I haven't played NWN for so long that I can't be sure, but I would bet that the total number of pieces you have to find in both games is the same. In both games, the quest for these pieces leads you to discover a long forgotten alien "creator race" that is responsible for what's happening in the present. In both games, this "creator race" made an object of terrible power which has been usurped by the antagonist for his own designs. The main quest in both games is more than just similar, it's identical. Only the names and locations are different.

Now that I think about it, Jade Empire's main quest has a remarkable degree of similarity as well. In Jade Empire, you quest to find pieces of the Dragon Amulet, which gets usurped by the antagonist for his own designs. All that's missing is the ancient "creator race" and their prehistoric weapon of mass destruction.

[Lysan Lurraxol]

Well Bioware have admitted on the Dragon Age boards that they have a standard plot formula and don't really deviate from it (and got really defensive when people suggested it might be an idea to move away from it. The Bioware boards are a good example of how not to do customer relations).

I really wish that Bioware would stop recycling character and plots over and over again (Carth has appeared on NWN OC, HotU, KotOR, JE and ME now) and would take a leaf out of Obsidian's book and take risks and do new things (OK, NWN2 OC was rather dull, but it had moments of brilliance and at least it tried, KotOR II, given a little more time would have been brilliant. MotB is brilliant). Compare the cast of BG2 with that of their later games. No contest, Bioware have never produced characters with the depth of Jaheira, Viconia or even Imoen since BG2, and instead have focused their energy on stock comic relief characters (in the vein of Jan and Minsc but without the wit). It's sad really, given the resources Bioware have how complacent and uninspired they've become.

BTW Should we start a new topic for this? It's getting a little off topic.