Will I understand it?

You should be fine. I've played it for a week or so now and haven't seen any of the films and know very little about Star Wars but still enjoy and understand the game fine. You'll learn a lot about the universe though the game too.

 

The plus side about The Old Republic is that the historical events and characters are taken place right before any of the known Star Wars films happened. That's right - the game's storyline is a prequel to all of the films. So if you play the game; learn the history and lore; and get to know the characters or major events in depth then basically you will get to know the foundations of the Star Wars Universe.

In the game, you have the Sith Empire. This Sith Empire and its philosophies would be the blueprint to the villains of the Star Wars franchise and the Galactic Empire as seen in The Empire Strikes Back will be its legacy.

So if you are heavily into Star Wars lore, The Old Republic would provide crucial historical info as well as character development. And in case you get lost in all the plot and mythos, use Wookieepedia (the Star Wars Wiki) to help you guide through the Universe that is Star Wars.

Affectionately,
Antiquarian.

 

Yeah, I can also vouch for the fact that it's still enjoyable for non Star Wars fans. Like me personally, I'm not really into Star Wars, I think the movies are pretty lame. The game is quite good though.

 

I would strongly recommend that you play through the first two Knights of the Old Republic games. They're kind of old, but they're still very playable and the stories are top notch. They're pretty cheap and on sale on Steam right now. It will help you understand the universe better, and you'll pick up on a lot more stuff from SWTOR if you have the background.

 

I completely agree with this, you will learn much more of this universe by playing these two games than by watching all 6 movies, although the games take longer to finish...

 

The First Two KOTOR games will teach you anything and everything you need to know ahead of time. They are pretty cheap these days too. The games are fantastic and some of the best story based games you will ever play.

 

Also, if you get the second game, make sure you get the fan made patch. Obsidian was rushed for a holiday release so the game is unfinished and missing huge chunks. There's a thing called the restored content mod that adds a lot of the stuff back. Without it, the game will have a horrible ending and won't make as much sense.

 

It's not like obsidian had a choice in the matter though. They said "Oh sure we'll extend the release date into next year no problem." and then when it came down to it they decided to go back on their word and force them to cut out massive amounts of the game at the very last second.

 

It really is quite unfortunate. Kreia is probably my favorite video game character of all time. The story of KOTOR 2 was original, fresh, and deserved to be told to its full extent. Makes me angry thinking about all the great content that I missed because of corporate greed.

 

KOTOR 2 is my favorite is my second favorite star wars story besides the original trilogy itself. It was so human and realistic with it's portrayal of greed and the corruptibility of humans. It also created or atleast expanded upon the idea of a Grey Jedi.

 

I liked it because it portrayed Jedi and Sith as something other than good and evil. It showed both orders as flawed institutions that exploited and abused people to meet their own goals instead of Jedis just being valiant heroes. I love stuff like that. I think it's a lot more interesting than the first game since it makes you think about your decisions more.

 

Exactly the whole good and evil thing is thrown out the window and they are shown for what they truely are and that was beautiful and made for one the most amazing stories ever written and in video game form no less.. I think I'm going to go replay it now...