Kotor 2 T3 Upgrades

With KoTOR going super-cheap on Steam, I was tempted to pick that up again and replay it, because it's one of my favourite games ever. I love the atmosphere and the d20 and the story. Then I realised I've got it already and that I beat it not long ago.
So I started playing KoTOR 2!
Before I go off on my more technical rant about why skills are awesome in this game, let's go over the basics of why this game is awesome and if it holds up to KoTOR 1.
So, KoTOR 2 has the influence system. Awesome. Remember how in KoTOR 1, how you'd only have to wait x time to talk to your companion again to get more of his/her background story? Well, this time people don't open up to you if they don't like the way you ripped off the arm of a guy in the bar to get some credits. Awesome. I have to think about how my companions see me.
But is KoTOR 2 > KoTOR 1?
Naw. The story of the first is just awesome. And I find the atmosphere a bit more immersive. But the second game really sticks to the recipe and even upgrades it. So if it was just a bit more revolutionary, it'd easily be one of the greatest games ever. As is, it's the sequel to one of the greatest games ever, and doing a good job.
-tech rant-
I've played my fair share of tabletop d20, mostly Star Wars, so I'm quite ept at how to over-power classes in that system, which is why I ended up with a soldier/jedi guardian that could one-shot anything and take a death-star ray to the face and walk it off. This was easy in KoTOR 1 because intelligence and skills were utterly useless. If you brought along one tech-companion you'd be able to open any door and do anything, anyway.
KoTOR 2's got the whole workbench thing expanded and the main PC's skills determine a lot more of what shows up in dialogues. So this time I chose Jedi Sentinel at the beginning of KoTOR 2. Why? Because now all classes get a +1 to base attack modifier per level, meaning you won't have a hard time hitting stuff even not being a guardian. With the Lightsaber Finesse feat (using Dex as hit-mod instead of Str) makes it even more twinkable. But I did go for high strength, low dex.
My idea was to make a jedi that would get all hidden options in conversation and has high enough repair skill (20) to be able to break down any item at full efficiency, seen how it's the Exile's repair skill that determines this, that would be able to make all the most powerful lightsaber upgrades and really twink myself towards the end of the game to make up for the VP/str/raw power a jedi guardian has.
So far it's awesome. I've been able to solve conflicts in new ways, learn things about companions quicker and persuade everyone to just let me do what I want. What's awesome about this is that you actually feel your skills outside of combat, as opposed to KoTOR where all your skills boiled down to how you fared in combat. I think they did an excellent job making this game balanced for pretty much all approaches.
Do you go into hard-core mode when you roll your character in KoTOR? Do you take pride in making a Jedi Guardian that at the end of the game hits anything, has 30 str and does 5 attacks, each doing 200 dmg, per round? Or do you like a more stealth and finesse oriented play? Does anyone?