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Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

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Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
File:DarkforcesIIbox.jpg
Developer(s)LucasArts
Publisher(s)LucasArts
EngineSITH
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseOctober 9, 1997
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single player, Multiplayer

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (often abbreviated JK by fans) is a first person shooter computer game released on October 9, 1997, by LucasArts based on the Star Wars franchise. In addition to being the first game in the Dark Forces series to include multiplayer capabilities over the Internet or a Local Area Network. It was the first computer game to allow players to take control of a Jedi character using both the Force and Lightsabers in a multiplayer setting, JK is also known for its use of live-action cutscenes to further immerse the character in the Star Wars universe.

Storyline

Template:Spoiler The plot of this game places the player in the role of Kyle Katarn, who made his first appearance in Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995). Jedi Knight begins several years after the events in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. It begins as Kyle is being interrogated by a droid named 8t88 ('88' for short). Kyle is informed by 88 that his father was killed by a Dark Jedi named Jerec. He escapes a gun to the head (from a Gran) and chases 88 for a stolen data disk meant only for Kyle from his father. Afterwards, he recovers a lightsaber from his father's workshop, compelling him on a journey to confront his father's murderers and to discover his own latent Force abilities. While on this journey, Kyle learns that seven Dark Jedi (Yun, Pic, Gorc, Boc, Maw, Sariss, and Jerec, the leader), his father's killers, are intent on finding the Valley of the Jedi, a focal point for Jedi power in the universe.

Kyle starts the game with no knowledge of The Force. As the player progresses through the game, Kyle gains Jedi abilities, known as "Force Powers". These powers fall in three general categories: Neutral, Light, and Dark. The game awards one "Force point" upon the completion of each level, and an additional point if the player finds all of the secret areas. These skill points can be allocated towards any Force power, boosting that power's effects.

Jedi Knight is noted for the ethical decisions integrated into the gameplay. Kyle is a neutral character for most of the game, neither fully Light nor Dark. Actions against unarmed civilians throughtout the game, as well as what Force powers a player chooses throughout the game, will sway Kyle towards the Light or the Dark sides. Eventually, the character Kyle must choose between Light and Dark; how he chooses depends on the player's actions throughout the game. A "Force meter" displays Kyle's progress towards either side during breaks in the action.

Kyle embarks on a journey to find the location of the planet. Along the way he fights dozens of stormtroopers and the seven dark jedi. He first fights Yun, the youngest dark jedi. Kyle defeats him but does not kill him, instead letting him live. Kyle then tracks down 88 on a large ship, but when he sticks up the droid with his gun, its head falls off; he then turns around to face Gorc and Pic. They face Kyle at the same time, but he kills them both. Soon afterward, Jan picks Kyle up off of the top of the ship and they fly away. Kyle uses 8t88's head to recover the map to the valley, as the original tiles were destroyed by Yun before their duel. Arriving at the planet, Kyle makes his way to the top of the tower the ship is docked at. He is confronted by Maw, and the two fight. Maw is knocked down, but continues to taunt Kyle about his father. Kyle strikes down Maw with tears in his eyes. Jerec appears; he has captured Jan. Jerec tells you to kill Jan to complete your entrance into the dark side. It is at this point where the games chooses whether you will follow the light or dark side.

If you continue on the light side Jerec shoots a destructive blast at Kyle using the force. Kyle falls down backwards, and crawls away to the cargo ship which begins to fall towards the floor far below. Kyle is stuck on the falling ship, but makes his way to the docking bay where his ship, the Moldy Crow is docked, and escapes. Kyle crash lands the ship and is knocked unconscious. He awakens as the captive of Saris, Boc, and Yun. Boc smashes Kyles father's lightsaber. Saris decides to execute him, and tells Boc to go tell Jerec Kyle "will soon join the dead." But as she makes her swing, Yun blocks it and is wounded. When Saris asks why, Yun replies, "He is a jedi, he deserves a battle." Kyle takes Yun's saber and defeats Saris. Kyle then procedes to the Valley excavation site, making his way to the core. He finds Jan tied up and frees her, but suddenly Boc appears and duels Kyle. Kyle defeats him and unties Jan. Jerec had already entered the core of the valley to meditate. As Kyle approaches it Jerec bursts out. The two have a final showdown. Jerec is defeated and has his saber knocked out of his hand. He becons Kyle to kill him, but he instead tosses Jerec his saber back. The two make a swinging pass at each other, and end up facing opposite directions. Jerec falls down and turns into a small orb of light. Kyle and Jan look on, and the trapped spirits of countless jedi fly around the valley freed, as spots of light.

In case the player chooses the dark side, the alternate ending is triggered: Kyle kills Jan Ors and then becomes the rival of Jerec, this time for dominion over the Valley. Kyle again retreats to the falling ship and escapes in the Moldy Crow, but this time doesn't crash land. Instead of fighting Saris by the ship's wreckage you face Yun again. You make your way to the core and defeat Boc. Kyle defeats Jerec, and becomes the new emperor with Saris at his side. This scenario however, is alternate and not canonical as subsequent games show Kyle on the path of the Light side of the Force.

Expansions and "mods"

The death of several Stormtroopers

Just four months after Jedi Knight's initial release, LucasArts released Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, an official expansion pack, created by the LucasArts team that worked on "Outlaws" (a spaghetti western themed first person shooter) which features the opportunity to play as Mara Jade for a significant portion of the game. This expansion significantly improved the original Jedi Knight engine (known as Sith) by adding aesthetic features such as coloured lighting, new enemies and force powers (and more controversially, doing away with the Dark/Light side duality). There were several under-the-hood changes as well, the most significant involving COG, the programming language that Jedi Knight uses to create scripted in-game events and interactivity (doors, elevators, weapons, in-game cutscenes, etc.). The MotS expansion was typically sold separately from Jedi Knight (but required the original game to install) and was often difficult to come by unless it specifically came bundled with Jedi Knight.

Over time, unofficial editing tools were developed for this game, thus attracting a wide audience of level editors that still make levels for this game today. Countless modifications have been made to Jedi Knight by way of software products such as Jed, the map editor created by Alexi Novikov (with help rumored to have been provided by at least one JK team member). Less popular but somewhat more user friendly was JKEdit, which was recently released free to the public. Avid JK modders and fans have released new multiplayer levels, single-player levels, character models, and even weapons. Sites like the Code-Alliance (formerly DarkJedi.com) were host to lots of activity with regard to modding tools and enthusiasm. The most reliable source of these mods today is popularly thought to be The Massassi Temple. A site with growing popularity is The Jedi Knight Editing Hub. Here users show off different custom levels and mods. Unlike many other fps games, Jedi Knight still enjoys a wide fanbase even after nearly nine years, primarily due to the fact that Jedi Knight and its Mysteries of the Sith companion game are extremely editor-friendly (in how nearly anything about the JK engine can be changed or modified, with only a few exceptions, plus the wide enthusiasm of level designers at Massassi and at other groups. The other strengths and contributors to the games longevity with fans could be attributed to the large and expansive often "vertigo inducing" levels, the excellent third person option (within the context of a traditional first person shooter, a real novelty at the time of its release), the incredible fast pace of online play, and the complexity of the use of Force Powers and Melee combat (lightsabers) in the mix of more traditional First Person Shooter combat. Finally, the inclusion of the Dark/Light duality, morality scale and alternate endings made Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight stand out from the FPS crowd and made a lasting impression on many fans.

Online play

An often looked over, but extremely important part of Jedi Knight's longevity was the addictive online mode. The game lacked a dedicated server and was hosted by the MSN Gaming Zone, although several "IP boards" were hosted on fan sites such as JediKnight.net and Qtracker. Most games were confined to the Nar Shaddaa (Nar) game room which became a refuge for clan wars, recruitment, and challenge.

There were five game types. The choice of the 'elite' or those aspiring to be were, Full Force (FF) Battle Ground Jedi (BGJ) and Canyon Oasis (CO) and No Force (NF) Battle Ground Jedi and JI Oasis (an add on level created by the Jedi Infantry clan). A few clans also specialised in the Capture the Flag (CTF) feature but it much less popular than the other key settings. The greater learning curve of the game over most other FPS games of the time, due to the inclusion of extended melee combat (far advanced for the time) and the Force powers created something of a gap between skilled veterans and newer players. The "NF" servers tended to attract beginners who were more easily discouraged by the fast pace of "FF" play, and was a training area for those who wished to play "Sabers Only" (there was actually no lightsaber only gametype in JK, this was something added in the sequels) and many simple agreed upon their own made up rules in order to facilitate "saber parties," though these were generally loosely enforced.

While Canyon Oasis was undoubtedly the most played multiplayer map and generally well liked due to its variety of weapons/pickups and varied terrain (including water tunnels and ramps). It was also brightly lit, meaning stealth was a less viable tactic as it was in many of the darker maps favored by the development team and mod makers. Despite its huge popularity, there was a movement against its overuse as well to the point where a player group was formed with the slogan "Because we're sick of Canyon Oasis." [1]

Unfortunately at times the game suffered from extensive cheating, until the third party program known as "Kicker Helper" was released to combat the cheating. JK's permissive checksum system was what allowed most of the hacks or "cogs" (as the cheats were commonly called) to work, an unfortunate side effect of the ease of editing. In all, the cheating created an atmosphere of paranoia, in which accusations were much more common than the cheating itself.

To this day, GameSpy Arcade and Qtracker support JK and MotS online play, to its remaining devoted fans, and many mod projects keep interest alive.

3D Hardware-support

JK supports Direct3D hardware-acceleration only; proprietary rendering API's from the game's era like 3Dfx's Glide are not supported. For interests sake, at the time of the game's release in 1997, a 3Dfx Voodoo 1 such as the Diamond Monster 3D would have been the best graphics card to play Jedi Knight with.

Places visited

Cast/crew

Trivia

  • The game is notable for being the only member of the series to include nearly an hour of live-action full motion video.
  • While the cover box for the game features Darth Vader, he is at no point seen in the game. This version of the box bundles Mysteries of the Sith with Jedi Knight; the original box art features Kyle Katarn in combat with Jerec.
  • Perhaps the first non-RPG Star Wars game to feature a "morality scale" of Dark/Light Force alignment that changed depending upon how you played. This also changed the content of later levels and the ending of the game.
  • The game is one of the few Star Wars video games to feature lightsabers working underwater. This goes against the traditional lightsabers in the Star Wars universe. It has been established that lightsabers can be specially modified to work underwater (as seen in an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars), however this is a special circumstance. However, in the game's sequel, Jedi Outcast, the lightsaber does not work underwater; it instead automatically turns off once Kyle is submerged in water.
  • The lightsaber footage used in the live-action FMV of this game were the first new lightsaber scenes filmed since Return of the Jedi.
  • Continuing the tradition of Sam & Max cameos in Lucasarts games, Max can be found on the fifth mission, which takes place in the city of Barons Hed. He is hiding inside a house with a locked door - the female occupant of the house will leave the house once in the entire span of the mission, and the player must time this correctly in order to get into the house when she leaves. Oddly enough, he carries a Bryar Pistol that shoots powerful bowcaster bolts.
  • When the player must jump from the fuelling platform to the cargo ship, a mid-air turn will reveal Max's head superimposed on the retracting fuel pipes
  • Included on the original CD rom for Mysteries of the Sith was a secret level that simulated Luke's cloud city duel with Darth Vader in "The Empire Strikes Back".
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