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Combat Talking is a method for temporarily canceling combat, allowing you to talk to NPCs even when combat would normally prevent it. This can allow certain fights to be skipped completely.
To perform Combat Talking, first stand near the NPC with whom you want to talk. Quick Save your game, then Quick Load. As soon as the game loads, pause your game; this pause should happen immediately after the load screen disappears, before the fade-in from black. Click on the NPC to talk to them, then unpause the game. Your conversation should begin soon after unpausing.
Combat Talking works because KotOR assumes you aren’t in combat when a game is first loaded. Thus the Quick Save/Quick Load combination effectively cancels combat, and by pausing the game immediately after the Quick Load, you have enough time to talk set up a Conversation Queue to an NPC or party member before you are attacked again.
Combat Talking is mostly used as a backup strategy when other methods fail. There is one current use in All Quests runs (Unrestricted and NMG):
The following uses of Combat Talking are backups:
Combat Talking can be used to talk to Bastila before killing Brejik. This skips the Brejik fight completely, and because of the way KotOR codes Bastila’s conversation, you still get the loot from Brejik. This can be used as a backup for the preferred Hard Buffer method, which also skips the cutscene before the Brejik fight.
Combat Talking can be used to talk to the Elder Warrior before killing The One and his rancor minions. It is possible to reach the Elder Warrior without ever entering combat, but if you are attacked on the way to the warrior, Combat Talking can be used to talk to him immediately.