Quote Originally Posted by AntiochusIII
Here's hoping KOTOR2 would be improved in a similar way. Talk about unfinished that one. They kept adding companion after companion and none of them have any story to tell.
I think that's unfair - the companions in Kotor2 have more backstory and personality than 90% of the companions in other CRPGs.

To get the full background with some, you do need to have high influence with them - which does take a bit of work.

What I got from the characters:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Kreia - I am sure I don't need to argue this one. Perhaps the most unconventional but successfully done companion in a CRPG.

Atton - Jedi killer background has a big reveal in Na Shadaar; I loved the "Why does Atton play pazaak in his mind?" stuff.

Bao Dur - fills in a lot of background about your character and Malachor V, adding a lot of depth and mood to your character.

Visas - tells you a lot about "No face", I mean Darth Nihilus. If you do it right, you can squeeze everything out of a first, exhausting conversation but still a very nice NPC.

Handmaiden - tells you a lot about Atris and the "do not mate with the Echani/betrayal!" business from Kreia was fun.

Mandalore - has the whole "last of the Mandalorians" vibe going and was Canderous in kotor1, how cool is that?

Go-To - unfinished yes, but the whole "robot running the Exchange running the Republic" idea is rather interesting concept.

HK - never got the influence, but has some depth.

T3-M4 - ok, I'll give you that one.

Mira - also underdeveloped, but the Hanharr vendetta was fun, especially as you get to live it out in two parts of the plot.


You can't really compare the above with Bloodlines, as there are no recruitable NPCs in Bloodlines. But I think they hold up well with even the NPCs in Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate 2, which are about the apotheosis of party based CRPGs.

BTW, I hated the "tell me your story, a piece at a time, after I level up" idea of KOTOR and NWN. It forgot the basic rule of drama - show, don't tell. If they had added incidents during the story that unveiled the backstories, it would have been so much better. KOTOR did this a little, but not enough.