KotOR speedrun in just over 2 hours -- Knights of the Old Republic Done Quick

2013-10-25 10:05:46 pm

King Wabasami

Only light or dark side ending.

Going a more Neutral approach just lets you use both sides of the force without one side costing a lot of FP to use.

audioflush

Edit history:

audioflush: 2013-11-04 07:17:10 am

audioflush: 2013-10-28 07:12:10 am

audioflush: 2013-10-28 07:10:22 am

audioflush: 2013-10-28 04:13:43 am

2013-10-27 09:18:09 am

I don't think Scout should have its own category. Personally I just enjoy Scout over Soldier since Scout has better free Skills and Feats compared to Soldier. Unfortunately Soldier is much more viable speedrunning-wise since speedrunning this game is so combat heavy which is better for Soldier.

P.S.
@Thinkshooter, but of course anyone else who runs this game can answer.
Is the planet order that you used on your run optimal? I came across this question when I was doing some KotOR planning and I was thinking that can X item, from planet Y, make Z planet faster. I don't remember from the top of my head that is there some great items in different planets that would affect the run significantly.
This is just a theory and I'm asking you that did you do some research for the planet order and came into conclusion that it is the fastest?

audioflush

Edit history:

audioflush: 2013-11-04 07:32:31 am

2013-11-04 07:28:46 am

Bumb.

I have done quite a few practice run on last few days and improved my time by 20 mins (2:23.89).
I've been trying to set my stream up but I have been experiencing quite a few problems, mostly hardware-wise. But I'm planning on recording my runs in the future now when I'm getting faster in this game.
I should get new parts for my computer in the near future, but until that I'm planning on just sticking into recording runs and posting them to this topic.

Thinkshooter

2013-11-11 08:07:58 pm

Runs: FCP, FC3, XWA, HD1-2, KotOR1-2

Oops, missed your latest updates Audioflush.

I wrote something like this about the planet order soon after I finished the run. Of course I researched that aspect Smiley

~
My choice of planet order was affected by the high cost of necessary equipment.
- I had to go to Korriban first, as that planet yields the most credits. Being at a low level helps start quests on that planet as well.
- Manaan is where the Stabilizer Mask was bought, so that's second.
- Tatooine is third, giving me the Krayt Dragon pearl, a powerful lightsaber upgrade before the Leviathan. This way my lightsaber is finalized early, before I face Saul Karath & his gang, and Malak for the first time.
- Kashyyyk doesn't yield any useful items, so that's last.
~

audioflush

Edit history:

audioflush: 2013-11-15 07:42:24 am

2013-11-15 07:38:25 am

Oh I guess I missed it then.

Been doing some practice on some areas of the game, and not so much full game runs lately. I realized that I can probably save minutes from my time by optimizing my menus/conversations.
And what comes to my streaming, I probably can manage to stream occasionally, when I can, but the stream quality will be at 480p.

glasnonck

Edit history:

glasnonck: 2014-06-12 05:58:38 pm

2014-06-12 05:58:03 pm

I recently started running this game in a single-segment format following Thinkshooter's route. I make use of the fake level-up glitch so the run is more consistent. I also use the segment skipping trick Thinkshooter uses in his KotOR II run to skip several difficult fights or cutscenes. For example, I skip the Davik fight (Taris), the training montage cutscene (Dantooine), and the Saul Karath fight (Leviathan). My current PB is 2:25:44.82 and it's recorded on my twitch channel.

I'm now looking into different items and classes, as well as taking out a couple of FLUs to speed things along. So, I was looking for someone to discuss things with. I was also wondering if anyone still runs this game.

letterswords

2014-06-12 06:17:50 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

I was planning on picking up KOTOR 2 back in like april/may, but that ended up being more work/time than I was willing to invest right now, although I did learn most of the stuff. I'm not sure how much the stuff I learned from that might be applicable, but I'll at least give you a follow and try to pop in some time.

Joshkaz

2014-06-12 07:06:52 pm

King Wabasami

I dont run it, but I do still play the hell out of it so I can help test some things.

AlecK47

2014-06-12 08:16:46 pm

I plan on learning this game for C4L next year, so it's cool to see somebody working on RTAs for it. I can't promise much in the near future (even after SGDQ I have other projects I want to get to first), but I'll definitely give you a follow at the least.

Thinkshooter

2014-06-15 04:06:24 pm

Runs: FCP, FC3, XWA, HD1-2, KotOR1-2

Hey guys. I watched your run Glasnonck and I liked it very much. I thought SS might be too risky for this game due to the bugs and the unpredictability of fights, but you overcame those. Congratulations!

DrApplesponge

2014-06-16 07:46:22 pm

Come check me out at twitch.tv/Drapplesponge, I've been running this game for a while and would love for y'all to watch me

Stream schedule is posted so you know when to come watch, feel free to follow (or wait, cuz i totally have some awesome shit if you follow when im currently live)

Hope to see you there!

glasnonck

2014-06-23 12:48:04 pm

So I've found a couple of things that you can do that are at least new to me. If your main character uses a force power at the beginning of any in-game cut-scene besides the first (because you can't have a force power by that point), you can cancel the start trigger and then walk around the stripped down map. I haven't found this to be useful aside from being somewhat amusing.

The second thing is very useful. If you click one of the menu options at the top of the screen during the short period of darkness after the cut-scene is loaded, you will open the menu system. If you go to the map menu, you'll see that the "Return to Ebon Hawk" or "Return to Hideout" is lit up indicating that it can be used. Using this option will allow you to skip certain cut-scenes.

The cut-scene skips that I've found to and to be beneficial are as follows:
Taris -> Dantooine
Dantooine -> Planet 1
Planet 1 -> Planet 2
Planet 2 -> Planet 3
Leviathan -> Planet 4
Planet 4 -> Unknown Planet
For each of these, I skip both the main dialog cut-scene as well as the pre-vision cut-scene (if applicable -- some don't have both). Skipping the main dialog will generally place you outside your ship on the planet you are departing from. Skipping the pre-vision cut-scene will generally place you outside your ship on the destination planet.

From my testing, these cut-scene skips save around 6.5 minutes. I've recorded a video of my most recent usage of these in a run, but I haven't uploaded it anywhere yet. I'll try to have it posted somewhere by the end of the week. (I got a 2:14:56 without fake level ups.) Try it out and see what you can come up with! By doing this after Bastila was taken on the Leviathan, I got her back in my party.

So I've found a couple of things that you can do that are at least new to me. If your main character uses a force power at the beginning of any in-game cut-scene besides the first (because you can't have a force power by that point), you can cancel the start trigger and then walk around the stripped down map. I haven't found this to be useful aside from being somewhat amusing.

The second thing is very useful. If you click one of the menu options at the top of the screen during the short period of darkness after the cut-scene is loaded, you will open the menu system. If you go to the map menu, you'll see that the "Return to Ebon Hawk" or "Return to Hideout" is lit up indicating that it can be used. Using this option will allow you to skip certain cut-scenes.

The cut-scene skips that I've found to and to be beneficial are as follows:
     Taris          -> Dantooine
     Dantooine -> Planet 1
     Planet 1    -> Planet 2
     Planet 2    -> Planet 3
     Leviathan  -> Planet 4
     Planet 4    -> Unknown Planet
For each of these, I skip both the main dialog cut-scene as well as the pre-vision cut-scene (if applicable -- some don't have both). Skipping the main dialog will generally place you outside your ship on the planet you are departing from. Skipping the pre-vision cut-scene will generally place you outside your ship on the destination planet.

From my testing, these cut-scene skips save around 6.5 minutes. I've recorded a video of my most recent usage of these in a run, but I haven't uploaded it anywhere yet. I'll try to have it posted somewhere by the end of the week. (I got a 2:14:56 without fake level ups.) Try it out and see what you can come up with! By doing this after Bastila was taken on the Leviathan, I got her back in my party.

Yourself

2014-06-23 01:25:28 pm

That's a very cool discovery glasnonck!

glasnonck

2014-06-23 09:15:24 pm

As promised, here's a video of the places where I use it in the run. I've also added a few notes within the video. And yes, I know there's hardly any audio. Don't worry about it. Cheesy

letterswords

2014-06-23 10:08:34 pm

twitch.tv/letterswords

Really cool developments. Too bad there is no return to Ebon Hawk in KOTOR 2 Sad

Thinkshooter

2014-06-25 12:13:51 pm

Runs: FCP, FC3, XWA, HD1-2, KotOR1-2

Brilliant find! I remember a similar trick that helped me skip the trial on Manaan. It's great that the same can be used elsewhere. Down with unskippable cutscenes!

glasnonck

Edit history:

glasnonck: 2014-07-21 10:27:56 am

2014-07-20 10:35:03 pm

After a lot of false starts and poor RNG, I got the run I was looking for today: a 2:05:03.71. A run on this route can still be improved with great execution and RNG, but for now I plan on taking a short break from the KotOR games. I'll probably start working on a single-segment run of KotOR 2 in the near future.

Here's the highlight of my run: http://www.twitch.tv/glasnonck/c/4708729

Thinkshooter

2014-07-21 03:46:51 pm

Runs: FCP, FC3, XWA, HD1-2, KotOR1-2

That's brilliant time, and in a SS! Congrats, you da man Glasnonck Smiley

glasnonck

2014-08-05 04:58:38 am

I got an incredibly good run of 2:01:17 earlier in the week. Here's the link:

After a passable Taris, I got a series of unexpected gold splits and good luck. This improves my previous time by about 3 minutes and 45 seconds. The only real mistakes that I made were on Taris, so that's where I'll be looking to improve in the future. I'll be shooting for a sub-2 hour run in the future, but for now I'll be running KotOR 2.

Kittastrophe515

2014-10-27 11:13:53 pm

I've been interested in speedruns this last year after watching a bunch of Awesome Games Done Quick 2014 videos. This may be one game that I think I could get some good times with practice, thanks to my hundreds of hours of casual play haha

glasnonck

2014-11-20 08:00:58 pm

That's great to hear! My experience playing casually helped me get into running KotOR pretty quickly since I already knew the major mechanics. I hope you decide to give it a try. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, and sorry about taking so long to respond! Tongue

fnbigindian

Edit history:

fnbigindian: 2015-01-28 10:15:46 pm

2015-01-28 09:53:39 pm

so im not sure if this is known or not but you can basically teleport forward pretty far if you are moving forward while quick saving, the best part about it is that it usually teleports your party forward with you. Adding to this, it only works if you are using the mouse buttons to move, there are some caveats of course, its kind of hard to control at times and theres usually no telling how far you wll actually go, also you can completely skip over entry points to different zones. Im pretty sure this would save a lot of time from walking in straight lines if used correctly.

AlecK47

2015-01-28 11:09:43 pm

I think you're talking about a technique that is already used to skip cutscenes and such, assuming I understand your message correctly. Regardless, I'd highly recommend watching the run glasnonck linked a couple posts above if you haven't already.

fnbigindian

Edit history:

fnbigindian: 2015-01-28 11:30:03 pm

fnbigindian: 2015-01-28 11:29:32 pm

2015-01-28 11:20:48 pm

While the cutscene thing is really cool, thats not really what im talking about. If you are moving forward and hit the quick save button you will basically warp forward really far. So instead of using force jump to move to enemies you can just use this technique to warp past enemies. im trying to make a video or something to show.

AlecK47

2015-01-28 11:35:52 pm

Hm... I may have to mess around with it then. Tomorrow though... sleep beckons.