KotOR: Eres un hardcore??

Sois unos hardcored? Capaces de ir al asalto de la estrella de la muerte con un cortauñas??

Pos esto es para vosotros. Curioso. Sacado de xbox.com (si tengo tiempo lo traduciré).



Hardcore’s Hardcorner:
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic


By Hardcore

Are you hardcore?

When Hardcore asks “Are you hardcore?” Hardcore wants to know if you’re ready to take the hardest path to victory. If you’re looking to get the most kills in any given game, be it Soldier of Fortune II or WWE RAW 2 or Fairly-freakin’-Oddparents. If you never take the easy way out of any situation. If you’ve never used a cheat code unless it meant smaller bikinis, flying kidneys, or maybe both. If you know that there’s really only one difficulty setting—difficult as all hell.

If that’s you, you came to the right place. Here in Hardcore’s Hardcorner, we’re going to show you the most challenging—and if at all possible, carnage-inducing—ways to play the best Xbox games.

If You Only Knew the Power …
Right. First up, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (if you already figured that out from the title, give yourself a peanut). Of all the games on Xbox right now, there are few if any that give you these kind of hardcore choices.

First, you’ve got the choice between light side and dark side—are you going to help the Jedi save the galaxy, or side up with the Sith? From what you’ve read, you probably think Hardcore’s going to recommend dark side. And you’re right. But you don’t necessarily have to follow that path, the light side can be just as challenging as the dark side in its way. Maybe more so—in a galaxy at war, folks are always suspicious and spoiling for a fight, which makes it a little easier to slide into evil. But we’re going dark here simply to rack up the body count.

Oh, and there might be some minor spoilers ahead for the game. Deal with it.

Am I Evil?
KotOR’s storyline is pretty involving whichever way you go, so if you haven’t got the stomach for some of the following, go running back to the Council and let them send you out for Force donuts.

* Wipe them out. All of them. There’s usually a dialog-based way to attack (or prompt an attack from) many quest-spouting NPCs, especially those you would normally befriend when playing a soft and cuddly light-sider. Insults lead to injuring. You’ll be missing out on a few heroic quests that net XP, and a few items those characters might have given you won’t get given. As a servant of evil, you’ll need to make up the difference with slaughter, prying the items and experience from their cold, dead appendages. See? Balance to the Force, baby.
* If they could be turned … So you say you’ve racked up the dark side points with abandon, but your Jedi pals are still all up in your face about protecting the innocent and not eating them and stuff like that? Bring ‘em over to the quick and easy path (or so that lying Obi-Wan said) by giving them as many Dark Side powers as you can.
* Walk away from the light. When it comes to you, “give in” to the Dark Side. Dark side force powers are going to be violent and aggressive by their very nature. So, even though light side powers are often the ones that enhance your fighting skills and restore health, don’t chicken out! Resist the desire to take the Cure power or Force Valor; those will only slow your slide into darkness. Wait for Drain Life, a higher-level dark side power that restores your health while Lestat-ing those points away from your enemies. Until then, rely on equipment for defense and healing. You’ll have more credits as a dark-sider from all the corpses you’ll be picking over, so stock up on energy shields, battle stimulants (you’re going to become a stim junkie, accept it) and medpacs.
* Keep one hand free. Yeah, Darth Maul had a double-bladed lightsaber, and ooh, ah, wasn’t that cool, Johnny Fanboy? Sure, but it’s a little tired. Hardcore dark siders specialize in the Dueling feats and leave the Two-Weapon fighting to Bastila and Carth. You’ll have better attack and defense scores, but miss out on the extra attack per round. That means longer, more satisfying one-on-one fights, but it also means you’ll have to be a lot more choosy when it comes to saber crystals.
* Play dress up. Early on, you’ll have a chance to nab some Sith armor. To see how everyday folks react to the silvery Sith (and spook ‘em a little, maybe even into attacking you) keep wearing the armor or put it on Carth, just to give the “haircut” the heebie-jeebies. People on Taris can be the most gullible people in the galaxy.

Quick and Easy, My Butt
As Hardcore has repeated over and over, the difficulty setting can only do so much in terms of ratcheting up the challenge. Keep the following in mind if you want to be not just evil, but hardcore evil.

* Choose a strength and stick with it. Don’t take the default attribute settings when building your character, that’s for unimaginative suckers. In KotOR, your stats are divvied up into physical stats (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution) and mental stats (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). Strength affects melee and lightsaber attacks, Dex will give you better defense and skill with ranged weapons—guns and grenades. If you try to raise both evenly, you’re not likely to reach your maximum deadly potential. As a rule of thumb, soldiers should max out Strength and keep Dex low (Dexterity-reducing armor will make up for it) and scoundrels should do the opposite. Scouts can go either way. And whatever class you choose, no dark-sider should start with a Con below 12, you’ll need the VP for all the fights you’re going to start.
* There’s hardcore, and there’s stupid. Don’t be stupid. Only an idiot goes into a vibroblade duel with a hold-out blaster. There’s challenging, and there’s suicidal. Remember, hardcore players meet challenges and succeed.
* Auto-pause, or not-a-pause? There’s two schools of though on this one—setting the auto-pause options to stop at the end of each combat rounds gives you amazing fine control in combat and the chance to change your mind in mid-fight, especially when the Wookiee fur starts flying. It’s a very direct and, yeah, hardcore way to play. But Hardcore prefers the added chaos and difficulty—remember, this is about challenge, junior—of the free-flowing game. And if you get in a really tight spot, it ain’t like the white button’s fallen off the controller. Just pause already and stop whining.
* A load of poodoo. Finally, and this is almost as controversial as the auto-pause issue—do you save after every fight and before each challenge? Or do you bull through and accept the consequences, even if it means missing a quest. Well, yes and no. Personally, Hardcore saves and reloads for two and only two things in KotOR—duels and swoop races. These are special cases that are more like athletic competitions. And if you ain’t competitive, you ain’t hardcore. On the other hand, Hardcore never reloads a “botched” conversation. For one, ain’t no such thing, all conversations in KotOR have some result (even if it’s not the result you’re looking for, to coin a phrase) and two, there’s just no challenge if you can go back and make things turn out another way. What’re you, Marty Mc-freakin-Fly?

You Got a Problem with That?
You probably have your own opinions on what’s hardcore and what ain’t. This is more than turning the difficulty to eleven, Johnny. Hardcore’s a method, not a setting, and what Hardcore tells you ain’t always the only way. If you think you’re so smart, Hardcore wants to hear from you, if only to make fun of you or steal your ideas. Send you hardcore tips to hccorner@hotmail.com. Hardcore might even credit you, but don’t count on it.
Hate mail’s also welcome. Hardcore can always use a good laugh.

Yours in gaming,
Hardcore