The remake of the beloved Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic RPG is reportedly being developed by Aspyr Media. While no release date has been revealed yet, fans of the 2003 release will soon relive their most cherished memories in modern-day graphical fidelity. Almost two decades have passed since KOTOR's original release, so the upcoming Knights of the Old Republic remake will likely look very different from the title that first enchanted gamers. One of the biggest rumored changes allegedly coming to the game is a shift away from its turn-based combat and towards a battle system that might resemble the one featured in Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
KOTOR's combat queue system was a defining characteristic of the release, but it was a bit too convoluted for uninitiated players. The interface was clunky and required users to cycle through several options before landing on the ability they wanted. It also didn't feature any real-time inputs players could make to turn the tide of battle. Square Enix's FF7 Remake featured a much more satisfying combat queue interface that fused combat features in KOTOR with hack-and-slash elements, which is why gamers are speculating the KOTOR remake could take after Cloud Strife's next-gen adventure.
YouTuber Matthew "MrMattyPlays" Schroeder published a video on April 21 diving into the recent news about Aspyr spearheading its development and speculating what it might look like. While there are no confirmed details about KOTOR's new gameplay, Schroeder holds that KOTOR will be "an action RPG of some sort." He anticipates that Aspry will be "walking away from that real-time, turn-based combat and doing something more along the lines of action combat." The YouTuber then name drops the FF7 Remake, which would make sense based on the existing similarities between the two games already.
How Final Fantasy 7 Remake Is Already Like KOTOR
Much like KOTOR, the FF7 Remake let players build a party of three characters that they could switch between in the heat of battle to command them to perform specific attacks. The biggest difference is that Square Enix merged its Active Time Battle queue system with hack-and-slash and fighting game mechanics. Players could parry enemies' attacks to create openings or cancel the animations of certain abilities to lead into another attack seamlessly.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's classic combat system is too passive for today's game standards. Adding a parry system and more free-flow movement to the remake, like what can be found in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, could seriously elevate tense battles in the game. Even boss battles in the original RPG felt a little too much like auto-battlers. Now, Aspyr has a shot at refining one of the most esteemed Star Wars games ever.
Source: YouTube/MrMattyPlays