I remember that game, thought I don't remember much of what differed between the two endings.
Because there wasn't one. It was the most nihilistic bullshit I've ever seen in a video game. The first game has you deciding the fate of the entire galaxy, and there's a huge difference in endings, both pretty satisfying. The second game... well...
The biggest problem with KotOR2 is that it was rushed for Christmas. The meddling execs pulled a massive dick move and forced the game designers to rush the game in order to maximize their potential sales (yet another reason to hate both corporate execs AND Christmas, but I digress...) This caused massive problems, as huge bugs had to go unfixed or even untested, and the entire third act of the story arc was not only rush-jobbed, it was MASSIVELY cut down. As a result, plot points go unresolved, most of the dialog makes no sense, and the ending suffered horribly.
This is made all the more frustrating because the entire plot is basically made of Checkov's Guns and foreshadowing. In fact, there are plot twists so subtle and hard to spot, that years later, reading about them makes me spit-take. For example:
Ever wonder who Kreia is?Remember when, on Malachor V, the Remote goes off and activates the four computers needed to activate the Mass Shadow Generator, and G0-T0 pins the Remote down in a corner, and the scene just... ends? Ever wonder what the fuck Darth Traya is talking about when she says, as you enter the Trayus Academy, that you'll be faced with a choice? Ever wanted to know where all the HK-50s come from? How about more about just what/who the hell Nihilus is? Want to learn more from Mandalore?
All that, and fucktons more, was supposed to all be in the fucking game. You can even find files for it if you go searching through the KotOR2 folders. Including, get this, an entire unfinished planet. So many plot threads, resolved... dialog, finished... and it all got scrapped so the game could make it out the fucking door on Christmas, and ruin the holiday for me -I mean, huge fans of KotOR who thought the sequel would be good. And it would be. It'd be better than the first game... if only it was done.
Ugh, this game... I loved KotOR so much and the sequel could have been so much more. And the reason I know this is because I'm playing through the Restored Content Mod, which restores just about all the cut content they could (not the new planet unfortunately... not enough of it was done). I decided I wanted to play through it after reading the entire Let's Play that I linked to. It covers ALL the cut content from the game that there exist any files for, and I decided I needed some closure on this fucking disappointing sequel.
Unfortunately, like I said, I got the bad ending. That's because the scene with G0-T0 and the Remote ends with HK-47 barging in on the two. G0-T0 tries to summon some HK-50s to kill him, but HK-47's been through the
HK-50 Factory and instead brought with him new HK-51s who are loyal to 47, and blast the everloving fuck out of G0-T0.
That's assuming you actually unlocked the quest for it. If you're like I was, however, and didn't bother getting influence with HK (because a good guy getting influence with HK without cheating is freaking hard), and didn't go through the droid factory, HK gets his "mind" dominated by G0-T0 who goes and blasts the remote. The ending after that involves the Exile being trapped forever on Malachor V. Awesome.
If nothing else, I'd totally read through the Let's Play I linked to from the start if you like KotOR or are curious about KotOR2's cut content. It's a good read and the author's pretty funny.
