
Ridiculous depth and polish make this game awesome.

For every thousand awful scripts and mechanical dialogue, one game emerges that tells us everything is going to be alright. This is that game. Every single tiny piece of dialogue (aside from your own) is fully voiced by tremendous voice actors. Even the fish-like Selkath people of Manaan have their language fully realized in the game (with subtitles, of course). In one sequence, a kid who made up her own language appears in the game and you have to learn to communicate with her. Even that has voice acting. Thankfully, the script itself is always engaging and realistic. Even asking different characters exactly the same question never results in the same answer. This makes for such immersion that you actually identify with certain characters based on your personality in real life. All nine possible party members have unique and worthwhile backstories that you learn about as the game progresses. In addition, the ten of you can interact and form relationships based on your behavior. Also, depending on the allies you have with you when you encounter NPCs, the story can and will change and develop differently as they chime in with advice, criticisms, and humor. One example is when your homicidal droid ally meets a Jawa whose friends have been enslaved. This is a direct quote when he translates the Jawa's message into English for you;
"Translation: 98% probability that members of the miniature organic's tribe are being held by Sand People, master. Doubtless he wishes assistance. 2% probability that the miniature organic is simply looking for trouble and needs to be blasted. That may be wishful thinking on my part, master."
This crap happens all the time and is always funny. Somehow all of this comes naturally and never feels out of place.
As for the actual gameplay, it too is very well done. Just about every task has multiple ways of being completed. How will you defeat the troops in the next room? Do you rush in guns blazing and kill them all? Do you negotiate, by using the force or otherwise? Maybe you should hack the computer to overload the power circuit near them, frying them all? Or you could reprogram a defective droid of theirs to turn on them. In addition to simple logistical questions, every major objective can be completed either in a nice way, gaining you light-side points, or in an evil way, gaining you dark-side points. Better yet, the choice isn't always cut and dry.
Combat itself is unique because you can control yourself and your allies in realtime, in a turn-based fashion, or in any ratio of the two. Weapons, armor, force-fields, mental implants, etc. all affect gameplay, and there is no "best" weapon, allowing for more variety. Also, customizing options exist for higher-quality weapons and armor. You level up and gain abilities as you proceed, and this is where the game truly feels like an RPG. Every character can be played in so many ways that playing through the game a second time is almost obligatory.
Not to be a complete fanboy, I have to point out a few issues. The game can lag pretty hard during big fights, the combat system isn't extremely intuitive unless you've played similar games before, and the quality of the character's textures close-up vary from so-so to ghastly, which can pull you out of the game. Sometimes the fantastic-looking levels can be disappointingly straightforward.
But those are all very small problems and should in no way keep you from buying and loving this game.
Review ID: 10000000014068756

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