So we know, then, that Obsidian was planning a much more robust ending for the game. We know that the guys who work at Obsidian are responsible for some of the greatest stories in video-game history. We know that developers, in general, are aware when they're releasing something that's not done, and would largely prefer not to.

Oh, and we know that LucasArts is notorious for handing developers ridiculously short development timetables, and forcing them to shove things out the door before the holiday rush. It's the reason why most of the company's titles suffer in one massive way or the other. Jedi Knight II was relatively bug-free, for example -- Raven Software knows how to make its games work -- but the level design was abysmal, filled with look-the-same hallways and hidden doors. Why? Because they had twelve months to create the game from scratch.

Anyone in the industry will hear "12-month development schedule" and immediately grimace. You can't make a complete game in 12-months, not one of that scale, let alone one the size of KotOR II. It's not possible. So you get Jedi Knight II, a functioning game with mediocre content, or you get KotOR II, a broken game with great content that gets abandoned near the end.

This is symptomatic of most (all) major publishers, but LucasArts seems to have it down to an exact science at this point. I think the only reason KotOR managed to largely avoid these issues is that BioWare was simply too large, too established, and too concerned about its (excellent) reputation to allow LucasArts to bully them. A startup developer working on sequels doesn't have the same luxuries that the world's premiere RPG powerhouse does. I'll be curious to see whether Obsidian is given more time on Neverwinter Nights 2. 'Course ... I didn't like the first game, so I suppose it doesn't really matter.

In the end, it comes down to a pretty simple observation: LucasArts knows the Star Wars license is an excuse to print money. Always has been, and probably will be at least for the rest of my life. For the past several years, its policy has been to push out products in that franchise as fast and furiously as possible. Because of this, quality has been spotty, at best. It's an insult to the customers, but it doesn't matter, because the games are going to sell either way. This is a shame, because LucasArts used to invest an unbelievable amount of time and effort into making sure its games kicked ass.

LucasArts recently underwent a management change. New management stated that it was going to focus on fewer core titles. Then it laid off 32 people in preparation for that new mission. Let's hope at least some of those people were the ones responsible for the last five years of unrealistic schedules and rushed products.

KotOR II was on my "buy immediately, sight-unseen" list, a very sparse list in the last few years. The inevitable KotOR III? I'll wait for the reviews. What about you? Send me your thoughts.