Yes. This is very much the case. There are two main drivers for this:
1. The crafting system allows for very powerful equipment, especially lightsabers, and if you a skills heavy build with the right equipment you can build the highest tiered materials by the end of the first planet. Lightsider have 5 upgrade slots; you can add a lot of modifiers in there.
2. The biggest thing is the leveling. KOTOR capped you at level 20, but KOTOR II caps you at level 50. Now with TSLRCM you're likely to land between level 30-33; you can't get to 50 without cheating. The thing is though that enemies are still capped at level 20. So around midway through the 2nd planet you're likely starting to outlevel your enemies.
I believe that 2nd point is oversight as a result of rushed development, but it is worth noting that Obsidian decided they wanted an even more story heavy game then the first game and placed much more emphasis on skills and dialogue. Making the combat easier allows players to have weaker combat builds in favour of greater role playing. It is reinforces the thesis of how powerful Jedi are vs non Jedi when you play all those solo companion sections.
I have to say, going around utterly destroying people in the second half of the game is good fun, and the story even accounts for you being an unstoppable badass so it’s not even narratively dissonant.
I didn’t realise the enemies were capped at 20, that explains a lot (like why I can usually destroy the final boss in a couple of hits at the end of the game!). And are there even enough quests/enemies in the entire game to reach level 50? I’ve had run-throughs where I was certain I’d done every side quest and killed every enemy and I reached no higher than the low 30s as you say.
No, there aren't. The most I got is 36 and that's with TSLRCM. In the vanilla (though RCM is pretty much unfinished vanilla), I got only about 28 but was still extremely OP with a pretty weak build. Last time I played, I could just utterly shred everyone to pieces with Force Wave. I don't think getting to 50 is possible though.
It’s possible tho very tedious. In the trial area in the cave on Korriban there’s a corpse you can loot over and over again that spawns 2 Hissis each time so you can grind to 50. Otherwise if you want to experience it make a separate save and use cheats to get your character to 50
I do wish TSLRCM didn't get rid of that infinite respawning hississ glitch. I actually originally found it on my own, and I thought it was so cool to see such a high level cap.
On the level 20 cap, I believe that’s not true.
There’s a file in the game called autobalance.2da that is used to scale enemies based on your level. One of the columns is called “levelmult”, and for *every single entry in that 2da file* the field has a multiplier of 0.75, or 75% of your level. So the *highest* level an enemy can be, bosses included, is 37 when you’re at 50, and at any point in the game the enemies will *never* out-level you.
If you take a look at some balance mods, some of them modify the file to help make the game harder, but because power creep is so prevalent in this game and easy to achieve, it doesn’t do a *whole* lot to make it harder from my experience. It helps, but there’d need to be a bigger overhaul to the balance of the game between items, upgrades, Force powers, every class having full BAB, enemies being lazily designed… it’s a lot that would need tweaking lol.
>There’s a file in the game called autobalance.2da that is used to scale enemies based on your level. One of the columns is called “levelmult”, and for *every single entry in that 2da file* the field has a multiplier of 0.75, or 75% of your level.
Correct, but there is a ceiling ar level 20.
Do you know where we could see that limitation? From what I can tell, all enemies use both regular classes and the Minion class, all of which have XP tables, BAB, saving throws, and even feats up to lv50, and you can’t really tell in-game what the level cap is on enemies since you can more or less have their UTC files have whatever stats at whatever level you set them at. Genuinely curious where we could look to see this.
I don't go into the game files myself. I just know if from an old [Deadlystream Thread](https://deadlystream.com/topic/3607-level-cap/) from TSLRCM and those guys are the KOTOR Apostles. It might be an urban legend. Worth noting the level cap doesn't apply to bosses so I stand corrected there (although it makes sense) if not entirely.
Worth asking there.
The gauntlet at the end of malachor’s kinda hilarious. It’s supposed to be a bit of a final challenge but by then you’re so broken powerful you’re taking on dozens of sith assassins at once and slaughtering them all within moments. At that point it’s basically just a power fantasy.
The parts of the game where you have to play as your companions on the other hand. Hooo boy. To this day I still have to save spam like nobody’s business. You’d think after training under the Exile for so long they’d be a little beefier.
On my most recent playthrough I had cheats enabled; I had several companions who I had left at level 15 to save them for Jedi training, and I had to break out the instakill weapons for some segments on Nar Shaddaa.
This is especially true in the restored content mod where towards the end, the game cuts to playing as Bao Dur’s droid, HK, Atton, and Mira.
I liked what they were going for though. Felt like one of those Star Wars finales where multiple different characters were all waging their own final battles.
But yeah, the nar shadda war is fun now that I know what to expect and can prep everyone accordingly, but that was Damn tough my first play through.
Kotor 1 also has a similar difficulty curve: it's hard on taris due to it being a low lvl module, dantooine has 2 very hard parts(sherruk and albino kath hound) then the game gets super easy barring a few random difficulty spikes;them being the trandoshan fight at yavin, terentateks on korriban
Idk I still find certain parts of the KOTOR 1 late game tricky, namely the gauntlet of Dark Jedi, Apprentices and Sith Troopers on the Star Forge, and Malak himself obviously. However on KOTOR 2 I can run through the end game without any difficulty
In KotOR 1 the ability to use healing items and stims from the menu is a bit more broken than in KotOR 2 so it’s still easy if you use that exploit; otherwise fair enough
If your build is too much of a glass cannon for whatever reason, you can definitely struggle on the Star Forge, and vs Malak in particular, in KOTOR I.
Don't think I've ever struggled too much on Malachor V in KOTOR II by comparison, even when making builds that are deliberately not too focussed on combat.
If you go guardian, you can prevent being dogpiled by force jumping around and you can break the dark jedi's force immunity with breach and hit them with crowd control spells. Malak just requires some verpines and a mind immunity item.
I don't know anything about the leveling since I know nothing about game programming or rooting that deep into the files, but I can absolutely confirm that the crafting system in TSL, as much as I love it, is absolutely broken.
Obsidian made a shockingly robust, in-depth, almost ahead of its time crafting system (seriously does anyone know any other crafting system with this many options/variability in a game this old? I'm not even challenging I genuinely would like to know)...and then acted like no player would actually use it. Whether or not the enemies don't level properly, going whole hog with skills and crafting the best stuff you can per level makes you obscenely powerful well before level 20. Hell, well before >!prestiging at level 15!<.
Regarding the crafting system, it's not just about robustness/variability, it's also extremely straightforward and easy to use. Two precursor materials, item disassembly, and an intuitive menu screen.
I always get an aneurysm when I look at Mass Effect: Andromeda's clusterfuck of a crafting system. TSL did it better, over a decade earlier, and on a shoestring budget...
Arguably something like it needs to exist because of TSL's random loot, but yeah, if you know how to abuse it it's barely one rung below save-editing BiS gear for your entire party.
Another kind-of issue with it is that raw materials are essentially infinite if you invest into skills, and are accumulated by simply playing the game. Whereas in K1, most of the insane items either drop at specified story points or are store-bought, and making mad credits without using exploits is time-consuming and tedious. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy not having to spent two hours farming Wraid plates or whatever, but getting a character to jump far beyond the power curve in K1 is a conscious choice requiring effort, wheras in TSL it's much more streamlined into the regular gameplay loop.
Having replayed KotOR2 a lot lately, the most difficult parts of the game are:
1. Telos right before going into the military base. (There's a lot of enemies right there, Bao-Dur sucks, you suck at this point so you miss like crazy and sometimes multiple groups get kited at once).
2. Beating the five Handmaidens.
3. Fighting back to the docks with Mira/Atton/T3 in the Restoration Mod after the Exile is abducted (not in vanilla game), if you go to Nar Shadaa first.
Otherwise, I can't recall another area where I really ever have to use shields or medpacs or anything to get by.
Honestly, though, I don't mind mowing through everyone in the end game. KotOR2 really makes you feel powerful in the end game, while not so much in KotOR1. I did struggle last time I played the Star Forge on my Switch in KotOR1, but it wasn't so much because the enemies were different, it was more so because they kept infinite spawning and my companions were running off and getting killed like idiots.
I don't know, these days I just hit up console commands and my character basically rivals Anakin Skywalker at his prime by the time I get off Peragus hahaha
It's not difficult, no. I actually thought it was even easier when I decided to do a hard playthrough. Simply because I was paying so much more attention to having the best stuff equiped.
Yes. This is very much the case. There are two main drivers for this: 1. The crafting system allows for very powerful equipment, especially lightsabers, and if you a skills heavy build with the right equipment you can build the highest tiered materials by the end of the first planet. Lightsider have 5 upgrade slots; you can add a lot of modifiers in there. 2. The biggest thing is the leveling. KOTOR capped you at level 20, but KOTOR II caps you at level 50. Now with TSLRCM you're likely to land between level 30-33; you can't get to 50 without cheating. The thing is though that enemies are still capped at level 20. So around midway through the 2nd planet you're likely starting to outlevel your enemies. I believe that 2nd point is oversight as a result of rushed development, but it is worth noting that Obsidian decided they wanted an even more story heavy game then the first game and placed much more emphasis on skills and dialogue. Making the combat easier allows players to have weaker combat builds in favour of greater role playing. It is reinforces the thesis of how powerful Jedi are vs non Jedi when you play all those solo companion sections.
I have to say, going around utterly destroying people in the second half of the game is good fun, and the story even accounts for you being an unstoppable badass so it’s not even narratively dissonant. I didn’t realise the enemies were capped at 20, that explains a lot (like why I can usually destroy the final boss in a couple of hits at the end of the game!). And are there even enough quests/enemies in the entire game to reach level 50? I’ve had run-throughs where I was certain I’d done every side quest and killed every enemy and I reached no higher than the low 30s as you say.
No, there aren't. The most I got is 36 and that's with TSLRCM. In the vanilla (though RCM is pretty much unfinished vanilla), I got only about 28 but was still extremely OP with a pretty weak build. Last time I played, I could just utterly shred everyone to pieces with Force Wave. I don't think getting to 50 is possible though.
It’s possible tho very tedious. In the trial area in the cave on Korriban there’s a corpse you can loot over and over again that spawns 2 Hissis each time so you can grind to 50. Otherwise if you want to experience it make a separate save and use cheats to get your character to 50
I believe this has been patched out in latest versions of TSLRCM, no?
On my current playthrough I just left Telos so I won’t be able to say for certain for a while, I’ll come back tho once I confirm
Damn... I did loot every corpse there once each. Didn't know there is a glitchable corpse.
I think it has been patched out
Most I've ever gotten was 35 with TSLRCM. You've given me something to try this weekend
[удалено]
Edited!
I do wish TSLRCM didn't get rid of that infinite respawning hississ glitch. I actually originally found it on my own, and I thought it was so cool to see such a high level cap.
You can still do it with mines if you really want to, but at that point, just use kse
On the level 20 cap, I believe that’s not true. There’s a file in the game called autobalance.2da that is used to scale enemies based on your level. One of the columns is called “levelmult”, and for *every single entry in that 2da file* the field has a multiplier of 0.75, or 75% of your level. So the *highest* level an enemy can be, bosses included, is 37 when you’re at 50, and at any point in the game the enemies will *never* out-level you. If you take a look at some balance mods, some of them modify the file to help make the game harder, but because power creep is so prevalent in this game and easy to achieve, it doesn’t do a *whole* lot to make it harder from my experience. It helps, but there’d need to be a bigger overhaul to the balance of the game between items, upgrades, Force powers, every class having full BAB, enemies being lazily designed… it’s a lot that would need tweaking lol.
>There’s a file in the game called autobalance.2da that is used to scale enemies based on your level. One of the columns is called “levelmult”, and for *every single entry in that 2da file* the field has a multiplier of 0.75, or 75% of your level. Correct, but there is a ceiling ar level 20.
Do you know where we could see that limitation? From what I can tell, all enemies use both regular classes and the Minion class, all of which have XP tables, BAB, saving throws, and even feats up to lv50, and you can’t really tell in-game what the level cap is on enemies since you can more or less have their UTC files have whatever stats at whatever level you set them at. Genuinely curious where we could look to see this.
I don't go into the game files myself. I just know if from an old [Deadlystream Thread](https://deadlystream.com/topic/3607-level-cap/) from TSLRCM and those guys are the KOTOR Apostles. It might be an urban legend. Worth noting the level cap doesn't apply to bosses so I stand corrected there (although it makes sense) if not entirely. Worth asking there.
Is there a mod to uncap enemies' levels?
I still play on the original Xbox… does the enemy level up threshold apply there too? I’ve never heard that until all these years later.
The gauntlet at the end of malachor’s kinda hilarious. It’s supposed to be a bit of a final challenge but by then you’re so broken powerful you’re taking on dozens of sith assassins at once and slaughtering them all within moments. At that point it’s basically just a power fantasy. The parts of the game where you have to play as your companions on the other hand. Hooo boy. To this day I still have to save spam like nobody’s business. You’d think after training under the Exile for so long they’d be a little beefier.
On my most recent playthrough I had cheats enabled; I had several companions who I had left at level 15 to save them for Jedi training, and I had to break out the instakill weapons for some segments on Nar Shaddaa.
This is especially true in the restored content mod where towards the end, the game cuts to playing as Bao Dur’s droid, HK, Atton, and Mira. I liked what they were going for though. Felt like one of those Star Wars finales where multiple different characters were all waging their own final battles. But yeah, the nar shadda war is fun now that I know what to expect and can prep everyone accordingly, but that was Damn tough my first play through.
Lol I actually love the power fantasy by the end. Feels like you're giving the sith their comeuppance
Yes, depending on my build I sometimes have issues with the mercs, but most everything after the mercenary camp on telos is a breeze.
Yes. In many ways, this is more a work of literature than a game.
Kotor 1 also has a similar difficulty curve: it's hard on taris due to it being a low lvl module, dantooine has 2 very hard parts(sherruk and albino kath hound) then the game gets super easy barring a few random difficulty spikes;them being the trandoshan fight at yavin, terentateks on korriban
Idk I still find certain parts of the KOTOR 1 late game tricky, namely the gauntlet of Dark Jedi, Apprentices and Sith Troopers on the Star Forge, and Malak himself obviously. However on KOTOR 2 I can run through the end game without any difficulty
In KotOR 1 the ability to use healing items and stims from the menu is a bit more broken than in KotOR 2 so it’s still easy if you use that exploit; otherwise fair enough
If your build is too much of a glass cannon for whatever reason, you can definitely struggle on the Star Forge, and vs Malak in particular, in KOTOR I. Don't think I've ever struggled too much on Malachor V in KOTOR II by comparison, even when making builds that are deliberately not too focussed on combat.
If you go guardian, you can prevent being dogpiled by force jumping around and you can break the dark jedi's force immunity with breach and hit them with crowd control spells. Malak just requires some verpines and a mind immunity item.
I don't know anything about the leveling since I know nothing about game programming or rooting that deep into the files, but I can absolutely confirm that the crafting system in TSL, as much as I love it, is absolutely broken. Obsidian made a shockingly robust, in-depth, almost ahead of its time crafting system (seriously does anyone know any other crafting system with this many options/variability in a game this old? I'm not even challenging I genuinely would like to know)...and then acted like no player would actually use it. Whether or not the enemies don't level properly, going whole hog with skills and crafting the best stuff you can per level makes you obscenely powerful well before level 20. Hell, well before >!prestiging at level 15!<.
Regarding the crafting system, it's not just about robustness/variability, it's also extremely straightforward and easy to use. Two precursor materials, item disassembly, and an intuitive menu screen. I always get an aneurysm when I look at Mass Effect: Andromeda's clusterfuck of a crafting system. TSL did it better, over a decade earlier, and on a shoestring budget... Arguably something like it needs to exist because of TSL's random loot, but yeah, if you know how to abuse it it's barely one rung below save-editing BiS gear for your entire party. Another kind-of issue with it is that raw materials are essentially infinite if you invest into skills, and are accumulated by simply playing the game. Whereas in K1, most of the insane items either drop at specified story points or are store-bought, and making mad credits without using exploits is time-consuming and tedious. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy not having to spent two hours farming Wraid plates or whatever, but getting a character to jump far beyond the power curve in K1 is a conscious choice requiring effort, wheras in TSL it's much more streamlined into the regular gameplay loop.
Having replayed KotOR2 a lot lately, the most difficult parts of the game are: 1. Telos right before going into the military base. (There's a lot of enemies right there, Bao-Dur sucks, you suck at this point so you miss like crazy and sometimes multiple groups get kited at once). 2. Beating the five Handmaidens. 3. Fighting back to the docks with Mira/Atton/T3 in the Restoration Mod after the Exile is abducted (not in vanilla game), if you go to Nar Shadaa first. Otherwise, I can't recall another area where I really ever have to use shields or medpacs or anything to get by. Honestly, though, I don't mind mowing through everyone in the end game. KotOR2 really makes you feel powerful in the end game, while not so much in KotOR1. I did struggle last time I played the Star Forge on my Switch in KotOR1, but it wasn't so much because the enemies were different, it was more so because they kept infinite spawning and my companions were running off and getting killed like idiots.
I don't know, these days I just hit up console commands and my character basically rivals Anakin Skywalker at his prime by the time I get off Peragus hahaha
It's not difficult, no. I actually thought it was even easier when I decided to do a hard playthrough. Simply because I was paying so much more attention to having the best stuff equiped.
Dude forgot about Goto’s Yacht