TFA and KOTOR (big spoilers, do not read if you haven't seen the film)

Fardragon

As I mentioned elsewhere, I believe the inclusion of "Rakata Prime" in the official TFA galaxy map is a sheepish acknowledgment that JJ Abrams borrowed a huge amount from the KotOR game.

I'll start with the one that was noticed long ago. Kylo Ren's look is rather similar to Darth Revan. This extends to the theme of just being a mask an robe worn over a perfectly normal human. One of the faces available for the male PC even looks a little like Adam Driver.

Rey's look is very like Bastilla Shan. Change the robe from brown to sand, replace the sabrestaff with a staff. Face an hairstyle are similar, similar "cut glass" accent.

Plot device: galaxy map to the planet where the mcguffin is, broken into parts which must be reassembled.

Plot device: superweapon powered by draining energy directly from a star.

Scene: Rey/Bastilla strapped to a torture table tortured with dark side power by Ren/Malek.

Loose: love interest for protagonist is a soldier.

iKrivetko

However, Revan is an unstoppable force of nature while Kylo Ren is puny and helpless.

Fardragon

And there is more:

Plot device: force vision flashback reveals forgotten information to the protagonist about thier own background.

Fardragon

iKrivetko said:

However, Revan is an unstoppable force of nature while Kylo Ren is puny and helpless.

I said it "borrows" ideas from KotOR, not that it is a direct adaptation.

"Weakness" is (intentionally) the defining characteristic of Kylo Ren, which makes him more like Malek, or even a mirror-Bastilla. Rey is the Revan-analogue in terms of character. Costumes are reversed.

BelgarathMTH

@Fardragon , I only got to see the movie yesterday, so today is the first I've been able to see your thread. I think you have some interesting ideas.

@iKrivetko , I don't think Revan is "an unstoppable force of nature" at all, far from it, until you as the player play him through an entire game's worth of learning from experience.

In fact, his early arrogance is part of what made him so easily betrayed and defeated. He did not foresee Malak's betrayal coming, nor did he foresee the moment Malak would fire upon the ship he was on. He was captured easily by the Jedi Council, and was defenseless against their tampering with his mind.

I believe he thought he was doing the right thing to use the power of the Dark Side and the Star Forge to defeat the very real threats of Exar Kun and the Mandalorians. He had grand aspirations to be the savior of the galaxy by imposing order upon it. This sort of thing is par for the course for Star Wars villains.

I think a lot of people are making the mistake of forming opinions about material in Force Awakens based on incomplete information, not knowing the big picture yet, just as many people did with Empire Strikes Back in 1980, when you had to wait three years to find out what happened to Han Solo, and to finally meet the mysterious Emperor Palpatine, among other cliffhangers.

I liked the Kylo Ren character, and I foresee a fascinating character growth arc for him. My bet is that he will become an evil "unstoppable force of nature" by the third movie. Except that Rey will become a *good* "unstoppable force of nature", and we'll get to see irresistible force meet immovable object. It should be quite epic, and I'm looking forward to it.

I did not fully get the connection between Kylo Ren and Revan until I read @Fardragon 's post just now, though, so kudos to you for pointing it out, @Fardragon . I think that's pretty cool, and it will help me enjoy the end of my current KOTOR run all the more, although I'm playing a Revan turn to the Good Side.

BelgarathMTH

@Fardragon , I thought of another connection to KOTOR while playing today. The new Force powers. The moment I saw Kylo cast the equivalent of "Hold Person" on another character, I immediately thought, "Cool! It's Force Stasis from KOTOR!"

Also, the whole mind manipulation thing, including the

possible complete Force memory wipe of Rey

seemed straight out of KOTOR. And of course, as a KOTOR player, I found it all pure awesomeness.

The increased power of "Force Persuade", to the level of "Dominate Mind" - again, straight out of KOTOR.

CoM_Solaufein

Like the Kotor references. I don't know why Disney, seems odd saying their name in regards to Star Wars, don't know why Disney put the works before the events of the Star Wars movies as Legends, like they did with the Expanded Universe. I can see them doing that to events after RotJ but not before episode 1. Unless Disney is going to milk the hell out of Star Wars and make movies from the Old Republic era, which would be great. A Revan movie should be made.

Fardragon

CoM_Solaufein said:

Like the Kotor references. I don't know why Disney, seems odd saying their name in regards to Star Wars, don't know why Disney put the works before the events of the Star Wars movies as Legends.

Given that the film finished at the first jedi temple, that world is an alternative to Tython. Episode VIII will probably deal with the origin of the jedi. Even if the new history isn't very different to the old history, it's easier to say "It's all changed" than have to deal with the inevitable QQing that you would get from fans when the movie inevitably contradicted something from an obscure corner of the EU.

Fardragon

Rumour: Alan Tudyk is playing HK-47, or a very similar droid, in Rogue One.