Chris Avellone • KotOR2 interview.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

How did I get to this point in my life where I get dunked on by Chris Avellone?

[@The.Youtuber.with.no.Name.]

Hahahahahaha

[@marcelcummings7418]

@@The.KZbinr.with.no.Name. holy fuck it's .

[@DarkWraithKevin]

@@The.KZbinr.with.no.Name. oh wow I never knew you were here before lol.

[@78910idontknow]

14:22 "it would be weird if he (palpatine) just showed up as like, THE GUY" 3 minutes into ROS and palpy is full 200% schlock. Great interview! Thank you

[@raifthemad]

Me watching this from the future: "You poor bugger."

[@Dave-um7mw]

At the end, "As long as they learn from the things I do, how not to make games, and make better games. That's all I care about." Sounds like something Kreia would say if she were a game designer.

[@thehopelesshelper]

"Take what strength you can steal from me, that's all I need be to you."

[@kaspartambur]

​@@thehopelesshelper Yeah I feel you got it better - because Avellone finally would, in the steps of Kreia - be waiting to use your finished work. If being true to the teachings of Avellone, your work will hint to the existentialism of the game universe you had developed, that ushers in a new area of questioning the differences of RPG and simulation games and finally reaching to the idea of: the games we decide to not play with our lives. In you, he would see the end of all games, as if each game had their own need from you, but the game itself fails to ultimately achieve balance as an experience in life. That is why, Avellone despises games, because they seem to have a will, a direction for everyone, forced upon them. Even a sandbox is still a box in the end. Hahah, ok I love to have fun with this. :D :D

[@photosyntheticzee9915]

@@kaspartambur really excellent comment: games, or any artifice that we interface with, media and technology generally, are like the Force as it is critiqued in KOTOR II. Each human author/creator is a demiurge of sorts.

[@agroed]

What an incredible man. Truly a gift to the industry and humanity as a whole.

[@AesirAesthetics]

Yes I am. And also Chris Avellone.

[@mehrider7041]

This comment did not age well :))))

[@agroed]

@@mehrider7041 Eh. No evidence to support anything, as usual, and even if it turns out to be true, I'll still love the art even if I don't love the man.

[@DosingrProduction]

@@mehrider7041 Why that ? Are you refering to something recent ?

[@mehrider7041]

@@agroed Sure, man. I wouldn't express hate towards his works at all, & though there's a lot of solid accusations involved, you're right, there's a possibility that he's not guilty. I just thought that "a gift to humanity" thing was funny after the incident :))))

[@aniki6575]

*GRABS POPCORN WITH RELIGIOUS INTENT*

[@StoneColt45]

Kotor 2 is my favorite Star Wars story out of all of them in any medium.

[@mauriciofontes]

Colten Fry exactly, same for me

[@mattchew69er]

Any franchise for that matter, the whole idea of this game is ingenious I can't believe others didn't learn from 1 & 2.

[@aamirrazak3467]

same my favorite game of all time with restored content mod

[@NoName-fe5ne]

@@aamirrazak3467 I'm currently on nar shadaa, almost gotos yacht

[@aamirrazak3467]

@@NoName-fe5ne nice nar shaddaa is where the game got really fun imo

[@tushar1842]

Gosh! This man! His characters are so layered. I remember when I first met Kreia (I was in Gr. 7) and like now when I replay it, brings up so much and clears up so much. AMAZING WRITING OOOOF

[@Poet_Lorien]

My only regret is that you didnt get him on the Kreia = Arren Kae stuff

[@buek14]

I think it's better left unanswered, so there's a mystery to it. I'm almost sure it was his intent too. So I think it's pretty evident Arren Kae and Darth Traya are the same person. If you mix up the letters you got a similar sounding name, which is Kreia. Their pre-history align as well according to the game.

[@ChrisPoindexter98]

@@buek14 I guess now we wait for the possibility of Knights of the Old Republic 3 some day to be decancelled to find out?!

[@Rambit]

@@buek14 Kae R I=I am Kae

[@DarkWraithKevin]

Finally KZbin recommended something good lol. That's so cool of him to do this interview, good job of reaching out to him too

[@photosyntheticzee9915]

"I don't think palpatine will have much involvment in the new star wars movie." (not an exact quote) oof

[@AesirAesthetics]

Yeah......

[@Evilriku13]

that didn't age at all xD

[@resmarted]

duh

[@KiltLeo]

I can't believe you got to interview Chris Avellone. I love is work. Thanks for this opportunity Aesir.

[@K3gel]

My name is Mind your Mind and this is my favourite video on the internet. Really good work, thank you so much for this interview and thanks to writing genius Chris Avellone!

[@Jose-wq4zr]

Aesir is totally star struck in this interview lol still you did a great job! Chris has such a deep understanding and reverence for RPGs and star wars, kotor 2 was such an effective deconstruction because of that I think. He knew the rules before he broke them and because of that kotor 2 is one of the best games ever!

[@gogetta159]

Kotor, Dragon Age Origins, and Jade Empire are the only games I can think of that use the D20 system while still being a 3rd person game. To this day no other games have come close to giving me both interesting choices in dialogue but also my characters stats and skills.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

What about Neverwinter Nights?

[@resmarted]

Jade Empire doesnt use D20 system

[@DecieversFinery]

It's so funny hearing this post movie release. Love the interview!

[@notmynamedammit]

No fanbase ever came out of super buggy games? Have you met Elder Scrolls? Or Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines for that matter? There's times where I would say that at least on PC buggy games seems to somestimes inspire longterm dedication especially when they are flawed because the act of the fans fixing them deepens their emotional investment because they have poured time into it.

[@AesirAesthetics]

I was hoping no one would pick up on that lime. I said that to try to further the conversation we had that games should be finished but as soon as I said it I knew that there were numerous exceptions to it. I should have just said something like: "It's not good practice to have unfinished products be your trademark" and left it at that.

[@caffineandshiny]

*ARK fans laugh and then cry themselves to sleep over all the bugs that enabled other players to wipe out their year long build efforts*

[@ShamanMcLamie]

I think games like Elder Scrolls get a pass is they don't completely destroy the experience. One it's a single player game where you can save anytime prior. At worst you lose a few hours of gameplay if you're not saving regularly and most modern games have an autosave feature anyway to save the day. Unless it completely breaks the experience and prevents you from accomplishing your game goals the glitches that happen in games like Skyrim are somewhat more forgiveable and are seen more as absurd and hilarious than frustrating. I also think Elder Scrolls games get a pass as well because they're so big. The world is so massive it is a bit easier to forgive the occasional break in the physics. When everything else seems.to be working fine.

[@peppep7018]

Amazing interview and thankful for one to be recent 🙏 I find it so sad that a writer apart of 2 great games KOTOR 2 and New Vegas not getting another sequel or more recognition

[@OsiasArt]

Amazing. Thank you both for doing this.

[@AesirAesthetics]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@DosingrProduction]

One of the most well spend hour of my life. Thanks !

[@AesirAesthetics]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JamesCarmichael]

Would have loved to have gotten his opinion on the Mass Effect series. The challenges they had creating the first, the streamlining of the 2nd and the backlash to the 3rd and if he felt it was justified or not. Seems like a really chill guy with great insight and talent. Would have loved to have got his opinion on Disney Star Wars films too.

[@tylerolsonfilms]

James Carmichael agreed!!

[@raifthemad]

He tends to not want to criticize works and studios that he wasn't involved with. Probably as not to burn any bridges in the industry and also he comes off as pretty sociable so doubt he'd want to piss off anyone.

[@SirBlackReeds]

@@raifthemad Especially with the accusations that hit him.

[@geordiejones5618]

​@@SirBlackReedshe was cleared of all that right? Such a shame that happened bc he was working on Dying Light 2 which would have been way better with him leading the narrative.

[@denryuu3]

I am so on board with this guy, every answer I'm like yes! Awesome!

[@AesirAesthetics]

Me or Chris Avellone?

[@HailEveryoneAround]

Damn! As good as always. Thanks AesirAesthetics!

[@AesirAesthetics]

Enjoy!

[@UncleDeadly1031]

I LOVE YOU FOR THIS!!!! THANK YOU!!! My favorite games writer talking about my favorite Star Wars game. This will be pure heaven. Here’s hoping you mention The Last Jedi (because there’s not enough talk about that already on KZbin, right? Lol) and how it felt like it was trying some of the exact same deconstruction as KOTOR 2 but with far less success. (Just my opinion) Also doubt this will come up haha just thought I’d say it. Edit: Holy shit it pretty much came up!!

[@AesirAesthetics]

I think recall us briefly talking about tLj, nothing too in-depth though.

[@alexandrews2923]

This interview is fantastic! I actually am one of the few on KZbin that really loved the Last Jedi, AND KOTOR 2! I do think the latter did a more thorough job of Star Wars deconstruction, but that’s what will happen when you have 40 hours worth of content to flesh it out, as opposed to only 2 and a half

[@amaxamon]

The reason TLJ was less successful is that Avellone studied up on SW lore and RJ didn't. Also, Avellone was asking the same questions Lucas was going to ask in his ST, and was already building up to in the PT/TCW. RJ was just tearing everything apart to be "clever".

[@horeckilarion3310]

Great interview, ím admired this man for a long time and never heard of him speaking, now i do and im admire him even more

[@hassathunter2464]

22:15 As TSLRCM member, now I'm confused what that meant (as do the others). That TSLRP he saw? Or M4-78EP? Hmmm... Or the many fixes and stuff? So much wondering.

[@rrrrthats4rs]

If Chris has seen anything, it's probably M4-78EP. He sounds grateful that people like his work, but I'm sure that's a frustrating time for him and he's not gonna drop what he's doing to "Check out the restored Genoharadan quest" or whatever. None of it is novel to him because it's all ideas that were already in his head, and why disappoint yourself? For us fans its different because we don't know but for Chris its still all up there in his head exactly as it was originally conceived.

[@75JUNAKI]

5:55: Tbh I disagree that Darth Revan / or Prodigal Knight Revan would beat Darth Nihilus, due to my belif that Darth Nihilus would drain the Force from Darth Revan / or Prodigal Knight Revan. Meetra Surik (The Jedi Exile) was a wound in the Force and Darth Nihilus was (I believe but I’m probably wrong) drained himself cause he too is a wound. Strategic or not, Darth Revan / or Prodigal Knight Revan wouldn’t find a way to beat him because there is no way to beat him. Darth Nihilus can’t be stopped by combat (I think, not sure), this is my belif, I would be persuaded if there is good reasoning behind Darth Revan / or Prodigal Knight Revan being able to beat Darth Nihilus. 8:57: What detail’s exactly? 48:47 Clone Wars fighting was going to be in Knights Of The Old Republic 3 I’ll come back later, 28:30

[@jakegraham7692]

This was such a compelling interview. You said yourself that you arent very experienced but you did a good job keeping it conversational and he had a lot of interesting insights to your questions.

[@HoHhoch]

See, the difference between Kotor 2 and TLJ is that nothing was "torn down", but everything was put into question. Kotor 2 asks why. Why are Jedi teachings so flawed? Why do so many fall when so many believe what they do is right? Why do they preach peace, but wage war on a galactic scale? What is really the difference between the Sith and the Jedi when to just a normal observer, there's no difference? Hence the *Jedi* Civil War. Why did REVAN who embodied all of the Jedi's teaching fall? Why did he wage war against the Republic? Why do the Sith always rise and fall? Why does the force compel others to do this? After all, the force guides all living things. Then, when it raises all these questions that we've always had about the Star Wars universe, it sits back and asks what. What do you do with this new wealth of information? Do you fall into despair and try to control the force and others around you, succumbing to the Dark Side? Do you rise above it, living out the hypocrisy of the Jedi? Or do you try to stay neutral, neutering yourself from learning the light and dark aspects of the force? Which Kreia by the way, does not want you to do. And how will you deal with this new revelation? Kreia decides she will do none of it, and gives up everything to give the universe it's free will. To free you, and everyone around you from the force. To DESTROY the reason why these cycles keep repeating. The force itself. There were no legacies destroyed here. There were no characters twisted into something they never were, offscreen. It acknowledges the characters that come before it and their actions. Using those actions to try and describe what the force is. How it compels us to act. To rise. And to fall. What it all means to live when even the smallest action can leave an echo that reverberates throughout the galaxy. TLJ on the other hand, tries to (and poorly) use the characters by tearing them down to make comments about the force, before deciding to double back. Luke said it was time for the Jedi to end. Then the film ended with a new Jedi, and Luke dead having not even tried. It twists characters that many hold dear into shadows of their former selves, most of them regressing to before we met them in the films, which doesn't work. We saw what they were like in the films - they grew past the points we saw them in TLJ (and Force Awakens for Leia and Han). Kreia tries and fails with the cycle continuing. Which only proves how right she was. About it all. The force is a dick.

[@kaidenrisser5905]

HohHoch I watched this video on deconstructions, which focused on TLJ and KOTOR 2, and I disagree, KOTOR 2 definitely tore down what we knew, but the sole purpose was to build something new and better to replace the plain black and white lens we saw Star Wars in. KOTOR 2 is definitely my favorite game of all time because it completely changed the way I thought about Star Wars, and also managed to make Revan the deep character he was, to my knowledge, somewhat bland in 1. The second game raises the question of Revan sacrificing himself for the greater good, which provides a depth to the character that made him one of the best Sith Lords ever.

[@cyberninjazero5659]

@@kaidenrisser5905 I honestly think that Kotor 2 tore down what the *prequels* built or added but returned to the conceptualizations/implications of the originals. The originals presented being a Jedi as an attainable form of Enlightenment rather than a pre-determined factor of birth + joining a specific cult. Kotor 2 has the player recruiting what is essentially Luke's New Jedi Order. A group of people not indoctrinated from childhood but brought to belief as adults. To be fair both the prequels and the original movies saw the Jedi order as fallible with Luke proving them wrong for giving up on redeeming vader and their moratorium on love and seeming inability to understand it, left them unable to comfort Anakin's grief nor empathize in anyway making him easily corruptible.

[@SirBlackReeds]

Sure helped that KOTORII stayed far away from the films, taking place in the distant past of Star Wars.

[@darkanguiel]

Thank you so much for this!!! It's not so easy to find interviews on this amazing writer and game designer. Plus, you posed some very interesting questions and you were polite through and through. *Unlike that guy DANIEL*

[@V_Dgt]

Wow! The guy is truly into the SW. He knows movies, series, comics.. He seems like a solid SW fan to me!

[@DetourUnit]

Please reach out to Chris and see if he's okay. We haven't heard from him since he was canceled and that was almost a year ago. People are starting to get worried

[@elinicoritale6384]

I didn't know that. Why was he cancelled?

[@danieldimov8625]

​@@elinicoritale6384 2 women accused him of sexual assault with no evidence, which of course led to him getting fired from most of the studios he was working with. Luckily justice prevailed and he won a court case for defamation 3 weeks ago, 7 figure sum won and also the accusers admitted to lying.

[@darthmon26]

God I wish he just make KOTOR 3 team up with Larian Studios and make this game happen finally

[@OmnipotentPeaceMan]

Feels bad being called Daniel xD, great interview thank you.

[@KCCOmug]

Well those Palpatine speculations have not aged well.

[@kasch3288]

Get this man in touch with Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau. They need him. The holy trinity.

[@MrSantiagoandDunbar]

didnt know you guys hated kotors combat. i find it interesting and fun

[@photosyntheticzee9915]

It is fun, but it could be better. The ranged combat is kind of silly. No cover and you miss half your shots against most enemies by default.

[@andrealejandroleonalvarez6560]

The Daniel part was epic

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I am not feeling very epic.

[@NoMaloneUnturned2]

I wanna finish KOTOR 1 before I go through the second game. I just completed the part where you are on the ship and you find out that you are revan and bastilla distracts Malak as you escape. I was going to kooriban or however it's spelled. I've played quite bit of the second game. when I'm finished with the first game I'm gonna start a new character and go through the second game in it's entirety

[@Melanrick]

It's Korriban, the homeworld of the sith. When I played the game I played both of them at the same time. It was quite a ride. I will tell u that. A a lot of wtf moments.

[@NoMaloneUnturned2]

@@Melanrick dude this was so long ago I already finished both games where were you?

[@Melanrick]

@@NoMaloneUnturned2 lol. Sorry to disappoint. But I will tell you, it was the best way I've played a game already. Now, I've seen a french movie without knowing a word of French. Tout ci qui brille I think it was the name. So if u want a mind blowing experiency, do it. JUST DO IT! lol

[@NoMaloneUnturned2]

@@Melanrick I think the French was the only thing about that comment that made sense to me

[@dontreply8346]

Thank you for this

[@AesirAesthetics]

No problem 😊

[@jl4872]

I wish they’d have called Prey Neuroshock or something. The name really hurt it in the long run

[@gronndar]

He is innocent, he won that lawsuit

[@yesman9792]

Excellent answer. "Hmm alright"

[@SpaceMonke99]

God descends from Heaven to address us mortals once more.

[@GiganFTW]

Chris avellone is a really cool guy.

[@TehVaporSnake]

Mighty fine job on the interview 👌

[@younggrasshopper3531]

Today I learned about Babylon 5 😊 (I almost just typed that as Malachor 5 🤣)

[@revan2814]

Great Interview! Tho it would have been interesting to know if he would agree on creating tools in order to build new worlds in kotor2 for modders to expand the game even further.

[@SIRslipperyasp91]

I don't think that's something he'd legally be allowed to do unfortunately.

[@carlosrfonseca]

Oh boy... With Chris not being a fan of predestination, I'm sure he really liked the last film. Yeah...

[@MRFlackAttack1]

Someone, someday, needs to interview Sara Kestelman.

[@angelodewitt6336]

When they are talking about Darth sidious like THE BAD GUY would be lazy and poor un argument I was like: "Mmmmm... I don't like to Say how the things work on Disney. BUUUT.."

[@Dass_Jennir]

11:27 we were on the verge of greatness, we were this close.

[@sheep5514]

He was innocent

[@NoName-fe5ne]

Well, I'm just about to do the HK factory for the first time, I've played the game many times but I've never done the HK factory

[@SSangsen]

Chris Avellone strikes back! Check His twitter.

[@thorshammer7883]

What's your thoughts on the System Shock remake game and the System Shock 3 trailer?

[@AesirAesthetics]

Really excited!

[@d.c.beckendorff1323]

I’m heartbroken to hear the recent news about Chris Avellone - of course nothing is 100% confirmed yet but the accusations do appear to have weight to them. I’ve loved so much of this guy’s work and he’s genuinely been an idol to me in recent years. I feel empty now with what’s come forward.

[@gronndar]

watch this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iofCqaV7ipqiaMk

[@d.c.beckendorff1323]

gronndar Thanks for the link. I was trying to put this all at the back of my mind but it was worth seeing that. It’s hard to really conclude anything though, other than the fact his main accuser is clearly not trustworthy. Because there isn’t anything conclusive either way, I can’t believe her or disbelieve her. I hope it’s not true, of course, but I shouldn’t let a bias get in the way. Victims get ignored and denied their justice. Innocents get unfairly ostracised, cancelled and even convicted sometimes. Unfortunately, I’ve seen both happen first-hand, to people I know. If I can learn anything from this story, it’s never to start a Twitter. At its worst, Twitter is a dangerous, toxic platform plagued by self-centred, self-righteous attention whores. It’s also fuel for some of the most unethical journalism out there.

[@gronndar]

@@d.c.beckendorff1323 Yes. A respected man becomes a pariah because of couple of tweets. There should be legal action, this is just a hysteric mob playing witch hunt. I mean, you get fired from your job because of couple of tweets. That is not right. And those people who have actually suffered something like this, they also suffer because of this kind of attention whoring. This also proves how cancerous "gaming journalism" is. No one was defending Avellone, he was guilty before he was proven guilty. Its almost the same when Mitsoda was fired from vtmb2 project. No one asked why.

[@munfurai8083]

What are the authors he reccomended at the end? One of them it sounds like he says Ralph Causters? Coasters? Caulsters? at 1:05:58

[@zaphyra-]

great interview

[@carloswilfong4341]

Hey aesthetic’s can you do a retrospective the marathon trilogy please.

[@LilDurr]

I really wanna know what he said to you about kotor 3

[@AesirAesthetics]

Not my place to tell.

[@ReallyGoodandKind]

@@AesirAesthetics please tell

[@AesirAesthetics]

@@ReallyGoodandKind sorry but I promised him I wouldn't

[@zacharysweatman6755]

@@AesirAesthetics what can you say about it? Anything??

[@AesirAesthetics]

@@zacharysweatman6755 nothing

[@KoyaMusa]

Really enjoyed the interview, but I'm kind of surprised by your stance on long "complaint" videos. As someone who creates longform content yourself, I would have thought you could at least relate to the passion that drives someone to make a long video.

[@andrealejandroleonalvarez6560]

I think that was meant to be ironic, and as Aesir said in another comment, to further the conversation on the topic

[@AesirAesthetics]

What keeps me going during the production of my videos is genuine love for the material. I think I understand the feeling of being disappointed by franchises or releases but I find that many (but not all) those videos quickly devolve into negativity excess where it's more about hating everything about the product than observing it's flaws.

[@victorwagner2423]

Anger leads to hate, hate leads to top 10 videos

[@advancedlevelgaming]

Damn, Daniel.

[@raifthemad]

MCA, MCA, MCA!

[@JamesCarmichael]

Chris should have directed Last Jedi instead of Rian Johnson. It takes zero effort going online and seeing theories about your film and then just shutting them all down for the sake of subversion. JJ Abrams is just as bad for different reasons. It was interesting hearing you both talk about Rise of Skywalker considering what I saw in the theatre earlier today. All I could think to myself was "oh dear." :D

[@jumjalalabash]

Is Chris Avellone a secret EFAP watcher???

[@eyeofthetiger7]

23:00 Cyberpunk 2077

[@Troopertroll]

15:59 *LONG MAN BAD*

[@Emperor_Toxatine]

He breaks down each scene that’s how. Kind of disappointed to hear him take a shot at MauLer but I love how Chris backed him up somewhat

[@thehopelesshelper]

@@Emperor_Toxatine I agree. The fact is Mauler didn't actually cover all the issues in those 5 hours. That's how poor the quality was. I think if the quality is that bad then it gets the criticism it deserves. It's not that all these critics are to invested, it's just how bad/low the standards have been set.

[@subjectnivleis7572]

The prequels are so good

[@Melanrick]

Oh yeah. Five hours to be pissed off by the new crappy trilogy I'd way light. My anger on it is endless. I rank for a whole weak and still be really angry about it.

[@dreamermagister8561]

D:

[@bobbuilder7952]

How are you interviewing Chris Avellone but you haven’t seen Clone Wars or Rebels? Come on dude

[@HeatIIEXTEND]

bemp

[@BurghezulDjentilom]

how can you spend 5 hours being so out of touch with what makes a good movie, star wars or otherwise ? clowned on yourself there, buddy

[@doboi8121]

game was great. not kotor great though

[@Regularguy220]

@Bry-Fi kotor 1 is a star wars trilogy as a game. Kotor 2 is a entirely new type of story for star wars. I prefer kotor 2 but i get why people like kotor 1

[@SSangsen]

@@Regularguy220 K1 is A New Hope, K2 is Empire strikes back/Revenge of The sith.

[@Regularguy220]

@@SSangsen or k1 is original trilogy and k2 is the prequals