[Knights of the Old Republic Retrospective] The KOTOR Experience - Episode 1: Escape! From Taris
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Published 2023-09-11
UPDATE 05/2024: The success of this video enabled me to enter the YouTube partners program. However, the ~70 seconds of the Star Wars theme at 11:08 makes this 3-hour video completely ineligible for monetization. Any ad revenue goes to Disney. I did this as a passion project, so I never expected to make anything off this but if you wanted to pay back the 3 hours you spent with this video you can make a one-time donation of $3 to my ko-fi page (listed below among the links). Thanks!
Original description:
I've wanted to do a longform video on KOTOR for ~10 years. I hoped this would be one long video, but I discovered what I had written for just Taris was longer than most retrospectives. So here's Episode I of potentially three videos on one of my favorite video games of all-time Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
If you love Knights of the Old Republic, I hope this video provides some value. But what pushed me to finally make this video was to provide a "virtual tourism" of a game people have never played before — such as my many friends who can't get past the tutorial. Hopefully, one of them will watch this video.
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:04:13 - Part I: Character Creation
00:11:08 - Part II: The Endar Spire
00:39:32 - Part III: Taris
01:07:18 - Part IV: Below Taris
01:44:30 - Part V: The Swoop Race
02:13:53 - Part VI: Secure the Codes
02:39:16 - Part VII: Escape from Taris
02:53:07 - Review of Taris
03:03:49 - Post-Video
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#kotor #knightsoftheoldrepublic #starwars #bioware #kotor2 #kotorexperience #thekotorexperience #kotorretrospective #kotorremake #retrospective #saberinteractive #aspyr #lucasfilm #lucasfilmgames
All Comments (21)
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I assumed this was a complete essay, then about an hour through I realized this is a three hour video just on Taris, and I'm totally here for it. Taris is definitely underrated.
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Me: Oh cool a three hour retrospective on KOTOR sees "episode 1" Me: YAAAAAAAY Loving this, really looking forward to the continuation.
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Seriously I know the hard work may not feel worth it, but finishing this series you’ve started will be more than worth it!
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Honestly, I love that you give so much necessary context. It's both a retrospective, deep-dive, narrative exploration, and critique. It's fantastic.
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This video brought me from 0% invested in Trask Ulgo to 120% invested in about 3 hours. Marvelously done. I'll be keeping up with this series, I very much appreciate the insights! This is incredibly helpful for a KOTOR enjoyer, Star Wars fan, and player/DM like me.
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A criminally low viewcount for a video essay this comprehensive. Keep the series going!
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I’m looking forward to the next episode. Keep up the good work!
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Amazing video and as good a retrospective of KotOR as any to be found on YouTube. Totally agree about Taris, I love the way it grounds you in familiar iconography. Can't wait for part 2!
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Watched all the way through! Glad to see all this attention to detail on a great game. I totally agree about Taris. It's just fun to play starwars with a blaster for a little bit before getting the lightsaber. It reminds us that Jedi aren't the only characters that matter. Hope to see you make parts 2 and 3. Making me want to replay.
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This was a great way to re-experience the game for me. I played it 3-4 times myself over the years and while you say this game is better experienced, I would argue once it's been experienced, it's better analysed like you do. I'm not sure if you will ever make part 2, but if you do, I'd watch it :)
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I spent many an hour playing this back in the day, I loved how characters such as Misson and Zaalbar are important at the start but then not so much (T3-34 just exists just to open a door!), but the temptaton exists just to play as Jedis....which is a mistake!
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This video is exactly the kind of thing I love watching, I would love to see the full series
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Very thorough. I like the observations made around the accents, and that datapad for the rancor. Keen for the next episode
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Such a great retrospective, it's by far the best I ever saw. Thank you for your hard work.
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Commenting for the algorithm, but seriously I hope you continue this series!
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This is super well done! Thanks for putting this together. Excited to see the next parts!
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I accidentally played KOTOR. I was playing the Dark Forces / Jedi Academy series, and assumed this was an fps/3ps like they were. I was so disappointed, but used all my kid money to buy it so I was committed. It became the best game I ever played.
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I am two minutes into the Taris section and the Taris slander is crazy. Its one of my favorite parts of the game
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Thank you for the time to create this. This game has always been a gem. Looking forward to the next episode
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This is certainly the best video made yet on Kotor, I really enjoyed it. I just completed a playthrough recently, and I'd love to watch a follow-up. I also enjoyed Taris quite a bit, and I honestly wouldn't have minded if it was a bit longer. The atmosphere was good, especially the feeling of being fugitives on an enemy-held planet, and although being a sort of extended prologue it had a quite interesting self-contained story of its own.
