Video Game Argument

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic released in 2003 and its impact is felt across all of gaming. The characters are all fantastic, the story is compelling, and while the combat is outdated, it’s still fun to play. Where Knights of the Old Republic shines is its story of how you are your own person and how your past doesn’t define you. The game is truly a big inspiration for me and many others and is one of the best star wars stories ever made.

The game starts off with an introduction about how the sith lord Darth Revan was supposedly killed and right after hearing that you (the player) wakes up and doesn’t remember anything. Throughout the game you go to different planets working for the republic and the jedi to find star maps that will pinpoint a location to the star forge, which is a giant forge used to make powerful ships for a huge army. While on this journey, you meet companions as well as head to different planets which will help get you immersed into the world. One of my favorite planets is Taris, which also serves as the first planet you arrive at in the game. The planet is under control by the sith and is sectioned by the upper city and lower city. The Upper city is where you see the Sith patrolling and the lower city is where a lot of crime bosses are as well as people who don’t agree with the Sith ruling. The antagonist of the game is Darth Malak destroys Taris once you escape, showing how much of a threat he really is. After that you go to other planets to try to find star maps to take star forges with Darth Malak on your tail the entire time. At the halfway point of the game, you find out that you are Darth Revan. This entire time, you were told how much of a threat and bad person he is just to find out that you are him.

This reveal is shocking as you get told that jedi wipe your mind and use you and your power to defeat the sith. It’s a giant gray area because the sith aren’t good but the jedi used you. This causes one of your companions Bastila to fall to the dark side as she sees the cracks in the Jedi Order that were set up in the prequel trilogy (the game came out in between the prequel trilogy). Knowing the information you know now sheds light on characters actions as now some of your companions don’t trust you and some do. They all feel like real human beings, not just strips of code. 

From that, you can choose to go down the dark side to be who you were, a sith lord,  or who you’ve become, a jedi knight. You conclude your path as at the end of the game, you face Darth Malak for the final time and as he’s down on the ground defeated you can choose if the power of the light side or dark side defeated him. I chose the light side and it shows to Malak that the light side will always be stronger, in the end redeeming his character, at least to me. 

This game means a lot to me and shows that no matter what you’ve done, you can always come back and make the right choices and how you can always change and move on as a person, and I love that message.