I started playing it on Saturday - while I was dying over a hangover after my work Christmas party the night before.
Once I got back from work I got into some indoor clothes, chilled and loaded it up to start a new game. By time I reach Telos, it was about 9 or 10 o'clock.
Better Than Kotor 1
Comparing the two I don't think is very fair, because while both games feel dated, the first one feels like it was made an entire decade before the second one.
Movement, combat, cutscenes, sound design, graphics, UI, controls in general, and I'd nearly go as far as saying the writing far exceed the first game.
Now, in saying all of that, I don't think the first one is bad. It had a lot of charm and I still love the game, but if I was the choose one that is better, or infact, if I had to guess which one would hold someones attention - especially a new comer to this series - I'd say the second game is the one.
So far, I haven't noticed much, story-wise, that would require someone to play and complete the first game. In fact, I've noticed some dialogue where there seems to be a bit of unfaithful narrator used. Namely a conversation with Atton where you and him discuss whether Revan was a man or woman, as each heard different rumors concerning him and the war in general.
It makes sense too, because the war itself was over a decade ago, and as they say, "the galaxy is a big place," with that in mind, news would turn to rumors very quickly as it passes from person to person, and port to port.
My First Session
As mentioned above, while everything is much better in this game compared to the first, the one thing that isn't is the intro section.
I don't know if it's just Peragus in general, but I hated it and was actually getting some serious fatigue before even coming close to finishing it. Also, I kind of got lost, so had to get some assistance from Google to try and figure it out.
The fact that the entire place is deserted really adds to the dullness. I know they were going for a mysterious sort of who done it storyline, and while I did find it interesting, it was also a real drag at times.
In total it took about 3 - 4 hours +, now I probably could have done it faster, but that's how long it took me. Getting onto the Ebon Hawk never felt like such a relief, but by time I did I had enough of it for one night so ended up cutting the session short.
Since then, I have played some of Telos which is a fairly interesting world. I can't fully remember everything about the place, so I'm still doing a bit of exploring to tease out some decent quests, and continue my story.