It's definitely a good game, but it does not live up to its predecessor, and in fact is a little depressing.
Then...the sequel.
No doubt, KOTOR 2 is still a really good game, it still runs on the same formula and has the same general idea...deciding your character's path and at the same time the fate of the galaxy, the universe, lies in your hands.
Too bad it doesn't follow that. Looking at the storyline of the game, not to give any spoilers, you don't have as much control over it as you'd think. I was expecting several endings, but it turns out, essentially there is only one. The game starts off immersing you, looking like it was going to be another perfect game, but it quickly proves you wrong. Much of the levels, environments, and even characters are depressing, and no fun to play in. I could not feel like I was this character, only that I was playing FOR this character.
The game is rittled with bugs, especially poor graphics and annoying framerate issues, three times worse than the first game. You can tell that the game was rushed. There are cutscenes that happen in the game that make no sense and have no effect on the game, but are just there to throw you off, I'm guessing.
Perhaps the biggest problems is in interaction with your group. Of the 10 characters you can take along with you, only about 3 have very good personalities, and the TK droid is one of them, sadly. Most of the rest are just tag-alongs, stupid, can't think for themselves, and have nothing quirky to say, unlike Carth, Jolee, Canderous, HK-47, Bastila, or Mission from the first game. These ones don't even feel like real people, more like one-sided robots. They even screwed up HK-47! For the love of God!
You can't get involved in their storylines, either. All you can do is ask about their pasts. What happened to showing, not telling? In fact, when you talk to most group members, you will get the same conversations over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Often you'll loop back to the same topic accidentally and have to go through it all again when you don't give a crap anymore. In the old game I'd always wait until I levelled up so I could have another deep conversation with each party member. Now, I'll always try to talk about something new but I get deja vu every time because there is never anything new to say.
Not only that, but in conversations with other NPCs you'll get like 3-6 choices of what to say but most of the time half of them lead to them saying the exact same thing, so there's not even a reason to include those.
Another thing missing is the love story. On both male and female in KOTOR you could fall in love and build relationships, and with more than one character too. Now I can't fall in love with anyone, just turn them all into jedis. Hooray!
Still, despite what I hate about it, it is great for an RPG, just not as a sequel to the greatest RPG ever made. It poses at least 40 hours through one play through, but you'll probably end up spending more than 100 hours if you like it and play through it multiple times. If you've never played KOTOR, it's probably better, because you won't understand what is missing in this game and you won't be expecting as much as I did.
If you like Star Wars or RPGs to any degree, buy this now, but play KOTOR 1 too, that game was much better.