KOTOR 2 and romance (some spoilers)

[PowerKristals]

In my opinion KOTOR 2 has the best romance subplot in any game of recent memory. The reason being that there really wasn't one but you could tell there was a sexual tension between the characters but the reasoning behind it with the writing is whats truly exceptional. Note moderate spoilers ahead.

Ok so the character's you can enter a pseudo romantic relationship with are, if I am not mistaken, Atton, Handmaiden, Visas, and the Disciple. With the exception of Visas these are all characters who are force sensitive and you can train in the ways of the force but you travel with them and begin building relationships with them before you begin training them. So the romantic feelings between the two characters begin to develop while the two are still travelling together, still relative peers. Once you begin their training the relationship between the characters change from peer/peer to master/apprentice. Once this relationship changes a true romantic relationship carries a certain stigma. The feelings that developed in the time before the master/apprentice relationship begins still persist, this is why you end up with this pseudo romance. Now you may be saying to yourself "but LemonLime, Visas already had control over the force" which she did but she was also a Sith. If you take the light side path you become her teacher of the ways of the light side of the force and if you take the dark side path you teach her of why she was doing the dark side wrong so the master/apprentice relationship persists. And that is why KOTOR 2 has the best written romance subplot.

[The_Machiavellian]

It was an interesting subplot - especially the implication that the companions never had a choice in the matter. It is implied that the Exile has a strong influential hold over others on a subconscious level. He/she admids this to their chosen romantic interest near the end of the game (except Handmaiden, who is a traitor through and through). They might say that they didn't care about being manipulated, but you can never know what was and what was not their true feelings. This is why the Exile was such a great General: because he/she could inspire loyalty, and people just wanted to follow the Exile even if it meant their deaths.

This game actually has a really deep plot. That's one of the reasons why I like it more than KOTOR I.

[Mrmedusa]

That and KOTOR II expolres the fact that both sides of the Force (light and dark) are dangerous when taken to the extreme. KOTOR I was just dark=bad light=good. With the exception being Jolee Bindo and the lessons he tries to teach you through his stories, (especially love). One of my other favorite plot points was when Kreia suggested the reason why so many Jedi fell to the dark side was because the Jedi Masters and their code was flawed. Their blind belief in the infallibility of that code could have been the thing that destroyed them.