After escaping the doomed ship Endar Spire, the game opens up some. VWS is able to run about and explore a very small section of the planet Taris, conversating (shush, made up words are fun) with various NPCs and generally getting in all sorts of trouble.
The year was 2003, and RPG renaissance darling Bioware was fresh off the success of Neverwinter Nights the previous year. Their next weapon against the social lives of geeks everywhere; Knights of the Old Republic. Their goal was to bring the strategic RPG gameplay of their previous games (such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter) and combine it with the visceral cinematic qualities of Star Wars.
