I love the Jedi Knight storyline. I know it's had a pretty mixed reaction over the years, and as much as I enjoy it, I can definitely understand why some people think it plays things a bit too safe with telling a "traditional" Star Wars story. But even so it's a lot of fun to play through.
With that said, I can't help wander what it might have been if, instead of being molded in the format the other class stories had to be (you go to these planets in this order and go to these areas on these planets, you only get five companions all spread out in a very specific way, etc.) the Jedi Knight storyline was given the full, independent game treatment the way the original KOTOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins were. Here's just a few ideas of how it may have been different.
Spoilers for the Jedi Knight story as you probably guessed.
1. Companions. This seems the most obvious limitation of the artificial limits being imposed on the story. There are a lot of really interesting side characters such as Bengel Morr, Praven, Galen, REMO, Ranna and others that seemed like they would have made fascinating companions... but you only get five, so a lot of interesting characters get left by the wayside. That's not to say you'd need to pick up a new companion on every planet, but it'd make sense to have around 9-10 companions like the first two KOTOR games, if not a full dozen like in Mass Effect 2. Heck, the whole heart of the story in Chapter Two is you going around the galaxy recruiting Jedi for a special mission... except they don't become companions, they're just NPCs who are doing things off screen during that mission.
2. Expand companion stories/other supporting characters. Tied somewhat to Point 1, but an expanded story would give us more time to talk to and get to know not only our companions but other key NPCs in the story. Characters like Satele Shan or Var Suthra or Tol Braga. Allow us to develop a closer bond with Orgus, >!so that his death hits that much harder and feels like we're losing a beloved character. !<That goes for the villains too. As one example, in the codex on the Desolator weapon, it makes mention of "an affectionate series of messages" between Darth Angral and his son, adding, "Whatever their evils, the Sith feel family bonds as acutely as anyone." >!So... why not show those messages? Give us a glimpse into the type of relationship Angral and Tarnis had? And give us more insight into Angral's history the same way we got with Loghain or Saren (at least in the tie-in works) so that we see what's driving him to destroy entire worlds rather than him just being a crazed genocidal madman to be defeated. !<
3. Expanded scale. The other half of this would allow Chapters Two and Three to have as much time devoted to their story as Chapter One did, fitting into the same format as Chapter One, KOTOR, Mass Effect and Dragon Age of having an opening segment for Act 1, traveling to 4-5 planets for Act 2 for the main story, and then having the endgame for Act 3. Granted, this scale would probably necessitate multiple games, or making it the largest Bioware game to date, with the end result being something to the effect of 60-100+ hours based on if players lean more towards focusing on the main story or towards being completionists.
4. Diverging Paths. Last but certainly not least, being an independent game would allow it to allow your choices to have major ramifications on how the story unfolds, including different endings based on your choices and how light/dark you are.
So, how would you expand the Jedi Knight story? What would your ideal companion list look like? How would you expand or change the stories of the three chapters to make them full campaigns? What possible endings would you want to see?