This game is still a blast decades after release. Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 graphics may be dated but they don’t diminish the challenge one bit, and they are a step up from the predecessor. This one did include more save options to it. The story is loads of fun and so is the gameplay.
Personally I find the cut scenes still pretty decent – they had better story than some modern stuff for one thing. I’d love to see them upgraded (but not altered) but don’t know if that is possible. I still think they work really well, considering their age.
There are mods that can improve graphic textures but I still find the old game graphics have a certain retro charm. After all if Minecraft and Pokemon Quest can do the ‘square’ style why not? The gameplay has more ‘play’ in some ways than games heavy on the cut scenes. You get story but it doesn’t feel like a huge interruption from playing.
“Katarnisms” re one of my favorite things in Dark Forces 2. The man does talk to himself and often it echoes what I’m thinking as the player. “Not another thing to fall from!”
Synopsis
Kyle Katarn is back and the stakes are higher than ever. It’s time to go after the man that killed his father. But Kyle Katarn’s legacy is that of the Jedi. His father knew a dangerous secret, a legendary place that the Jedi had lost. And at all costs, the fallen Jedi who killed him must not be allowed to claim it, or a new and even more powerful man may claim the throne of the Empire. Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 gives him a shot at becoming a Jedi and a force for good. But there is a risk he will die, or even fall to the Dark Side himself.
The Levels of Dark Forces 2
As Kyle Katarn you start off on Nar Shaddaa, meeting 8D88, a droid who has the secret to who killed his father. But this is a double cross. Kyle wasn’t meant to walk away alive.
Pursuing 8D88 through the mazes and heights of Nar Shaddaa with Imperial Stormtroopers and bounty hunters in the way, Kyle has to grab the data disk, and escape Nar Shaddaa alive. There are plenty of puzzles to solve and heights to fall from if you don’t get shot or blown up or loss before reaching the rendezvous with Jan Ors in Dark Forces 2 on Nar Shaddaa.
While recovering from his injuries at the rebel fleet, Kyle has a vision of a Jedi Master, Rahn, who was killed by Jerec. The spirit warns him that the dark Jedi Jerec seeks the Valley of the Jedi. Morgan Katarn, Kyle’s father, knew the secret. This game is called Jedi Knight, Dark Forces 2 for reason! That leads back to Kyle’s boyhood home on Sulon, a moon of Sullust.
He has to find what his father left in a wild chase against tusken raiders and some truly nasty flying creatures. But Jerec and crew have already gotten the map itself, though Kyle has gotten his father’s last message from the old farm droid, Weegee and a lightsaber that was left to him. Now he has to get to the nearby town of Baron’s Hed, into an imperial fortress and follow his foes onto a starship to get back that map.
Finally, Katarn has to infiltrate the Valley of the Jedi, defeat Jerec’s followers and finally, defeeat him to free the spirits of the Valley.
The Actors:
This game has the unusual choice of actually filming real actors for the cut scenes. People may gripe that they look low budget but for the time it came out they were cutting edge. Though this was not done for the rest of the series, their computer versions still are based off their appearance in these cut scenes.
While there are full cast audio dramas, the actors in the game did not all reprise their roles. These are the actors in the in game cut scenes and voice overs:
- Jason Court played Kyle Katarn
- Angela Harry played Jan Ors
- Bennet Guillory played Qu Rahn
- Christopher Neame as Jerec
- Valerie Wildman as Sariss
- Rafer Weigel as Yun
- Time Winters as Boc
- Morgan Hunter as Maw
- Danny Delk as Pic
- Jacob Witkin as Morgan Katarn
Screencaps:
In game has always been hopeless, even though it has that feature. The feature is saving to bmp format and its just a nuisance having to convert. However, with OpenJKDF2 I was able to use windowed mode and screenshot both in game and cut scenes with Bandicam.
The Gameplay
You have to set the difficulty level at the start of Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2. The first game let you choose it per level, which is one of the few things the older game has over this one. I’ll warn for those like me that have issues with timed levels: there is one. Choose your difficulty carefully!
You start on Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 on Nar Shaddaa with the same skills you had in Dark Forces. You have your handy Bryer pistol, your fists, and whatever weapons and ammo you pick up along the way. Unlike the original, its absolutely critical because they give you stars that you invest in your Force abilities. So you have to begin right from the first level. The Objectives Screen will tell you not only your current mission but how many each level has and how many you’ve found so far.
Kyle Katarn is on his way to becoming a Jedi, starting off on Sulon when he is given a lightsaber, left for him by his father and Rahn. You start with Force Speed. And it’s the first one you really will need, in getting into the Imperial Fortress.
Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 base powers are Force Speed, Force Jump, Force Seeing and Force Pull. I found the first two critical between getting into the fortress and the location of some secrets (not to mention accidentally falling and only exit being high up.)
After that you have a choice between light (the green ones) and dark (the red), but I think to beat Jerec (the final boss) you might need to go all or nothing. At least, one day I tried dividing them up but the final skill (Force Protect or Deadly site) isn’t available unless you go all in. That made it impossible for me to survive Jerec.
The biggest threats are AT-STs, Rail troopers (or trandoshans), grenade throwers (if you don’t see them in time), and sometimes auto turrets. These are the common ones, until you get to the boss battles against Jerec’s Dark Jedi. There is also just the simple issue of heights. I’ve often figured if the graphics were too good Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 could create a acrophobia in people! You have great risk of falling to your doom in places, and that is so even if you aren’t getting shot at or battling a dark Jedi.
LIght Side VS Dark Side
Light side is the Expanded Universe canon ending of Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 but you do get a different one if you choose dark side powers. I’ve heard if you kill his Father’s old droid (and his sometime friend and babysitter) Weegee, he hears from Rahn that it was a dark side choice.
It is however likely that you may kill some innocents by accident. I haven’t played dark but I’ve never been really dinged. Ugnaughts sit on explosive barrels while Imperials are shooting at you, Sulon’s Baron’s Hed residents get in the way as your trying to deal with the mercenaries (who are actually harassing them.) Droids blunder into battle zones. Friendly fire does happen in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2!
My Gameplay
My most recent playthrough was using Open JKDF2 to allow the game to work better on a modern monitor setting. I highly recommend it. It’s supposed to work with the enhanced graphics mod, but for me the game crashed using the latter as soon as I picked up and fired a new weapon. I gather this is not true for everyone (or even the majority) and may have something to do with the Gog version. However the game itself played fine straight through to the end. For the first time ever I was able to use Bandicam to get screencaps.
Windowed Mode is my preference in any game and Dark Forces 2 is no exception. I’m happy it worked because I have need to tab to browser and now it doesn’t screw up my resolutions doing it. I do use both written and video walkthroughs to find the secrets (hence the tabbing out). I might like exploring but the secrets are too important to the final levels to miss. For that matter, even on Sulon you need it to get into the Imperial Fortress.
My last go around was on easy, though I do recall going on a medium mode. I’m sure I never did hard, simply because one level is timed and I know for sure I’m not great at timed levels in any game.
I also reprogrammed some of the function keys. I’m too used to jumping being spacebar to do well with the default in Dark Forces 2 so I put the basic jumping there.
I also moved Force Jump and Force Speed to be easier to reach. I guess this depends some on your keyboard (and the length of your fingers) but when I’m being attacked by Dark Jedi I found the Function keys less than convenient places for them. I did that in later levels, when whatever I was overwriting wasn’t likely to be needed as much.
There is a lot of running, jumping and some of the secrets are in vary dangerous and deadly locations. For instance, the back of an exhaust vent that will blow you out over a canyon. Or at the back of a building ledge where the ground is so far away you can’t see the bottom and it’s windy to boot. You are everywhere in this game from great heights, to underwater, to caverns under the ground.
Useful Help Guides to Secrets and Navigating the Levels of Dark Forces 2
The Tie Ins
You can read the light side ending in the novella’s Rebel Agent and Jedi Knight, Book 2 and 3 of the trilogy by William Dietz, there is also an audio drama version with full cast. The only real difference is it gives you some background and Weegee (the Katarn droid) is along with Kyle for the initial escape from his farm. But the gameplay leaves Weegee essentially ‘offscreen’ (so he can’t accidentally be ‘killed’ nor can he be used to help your player Katarn) He is there for cut scenes. The audio cast actually adds some interesting extra bits regarding the other characters, both set before and during events in the game.
Kyle’s journey as a Jedi continues in Mysteries of the Sith (Expansion to this) and then Jedi Outcast. Finally he is an instructor in Jedi Academy, the game, at Luke’s Jedi Academy on Yavin 4.
The Valley of the Jedi can be read about in the Darth Bane Trilogy by Drew Karpashyn and Jedi VS Sith comic arc written by Darko Macan and published by Dark Horse comics.
For how Dark Forces Saga Influenced the galaxy, I have an article here.
