Betrayal at Krondor

Betrayal at Krondor is a system developed by Dynamix computer role-playing game published by Sierra Entertainment in 1993. It does (in particular the content ) collaborated in the universe of the writer Raymond Feist, who has become known for his books about the gap wars and actively participate in the development of the game.

Content

In this game you take on the roles of different known and new characters from Raymond Feist's Midkemia universe and experienced with their travel through Midkemia. The party can not choose freely, but is dictated by the plot. You control the course of the game nine different characters, maximum 3 simultaneously.

Betrayal at Krondor is similar in narrative style in broad terms of a book: it is divided into nine chapters, each of which has a main storyline and a number of neighboring strands. Thus, the player is limited in its imperceptible action scope, mainly reflected in the reduced range of motion and not accessible NPCs. Cutscenes are presented in film-like animated illustrations, and there is more or less extensive introductions and epilogues.

Development

The game was developed in 1993 by Dynamix and published by Sierra Entertainment in sales.

The original title of the project was Riftwar Legacy, based on the English naming of the Midkemia series ( Riftwar Saga ). Because developers Dynamix was not in a financial position to pay Raymond Feist for the design of a story concept as required by him salary of U.S. $ 1,000 per day, they agreed to a licensing process. Feist was the project mainly as a consultant to the side, his activities included the review of the act on internal consistency.

There was later a secondary publication on CD- ROM, which had an extensive and high quality setting. There is a three-volume book series The Krondor saga, the first volume is the conspiracy of the magician a retelling of the events of the game.

The game was temporarily provided by Sierra 1997 for free download to promote the sequel, so that at times became freeware. Since a permission to distribute, by a third party with the freeware release had not been granted, the game is now available again on gog.com only commercially on the Digital Distribution as example since 2010.

Technology

For that time, the game was on a high technical level. It is distinguished by a true 3D environment, you can tread free. The use of movements in the vertical direction (upward) was planned ( and are in a rudimentary form even in the game), but did not find their way into the retail version. The environment is shown in real time, also there is a day and night period. The CD version of the game features a soundtrack that can be played directly from the CD, some extra sound effects and a walkthrough and a video interview with Raymond E. Feist.

The fights will be shown in a tactical extra screen that partially the environment of the 3D landscape includes with. It is a turn-based system used on a phased into squares combat area, the turn order and the possible actions depend on both the properties of the figures as well as the conclusion of the meeting. There is little chance encounters, the enemies are normally visible from a distance visible or by special properties of the figures. The development of the characters is done partly automatically (with the possibility of an emphasis on particular development areas by the player ), partially offset by the players themselves

Another special feature of the game is the extensive and sophisticated system of objects ( given in% ) have a shelf life, their usability can be dependent on the breed and can be changed by magic or alchemy often.

The magic system is based on the classic game systems, the implementation within battles due to the round fights and so often random order in which the fighters get their turn, affects not always balanced.

In the game there are many scattered puzzle chests containing useful items or rewards. The player has to answer a riddle and provides the solution word on letters wheels. Each of these letters has wheels four letters, so that depending on the length of the word you are looking a lot of different combinations are possible. A typical puzzle sounds something like this: ". ? Enemies invade the castle What will be the Prince soon " Answer: "Dead. "

Reception

Betrayal at Krondor is true at least as one of the milestones in the role play area in terms of the narrative and the presentation for the player. It was founded in 1994 by the U.S. game magazine Computer Gaming Worlds awarded the Premiere Award for Role- Playing Game of the Year.

Successor

There are two games that directly or indirectly refer to themselves as successors of Betrayal at Krondor, although none of the three titles was economically really successful. Betrayal at Krondor attained the highest spread mainly through the CD version and the free release.

Both Succession Games hold in principle on the play of its predecessor. One moves back by a more or less limited 3D surface world and carries the fighting in tactical scale round of fighting. The nature of the development and compilation of figures was taken to be controlled, as well as the object management. Two successors was destined to be of minor importance for the RPG genre, which probably is also due to the small changes in spite of the now well-advanced technology and the high demands made the first part in terms of narrative and dialogue.

Betrayal in Antara

Betrayal in Antara is an ideal successor of Dynamix, the game finished in 1997 and featured also published about Sierra. It takes place in a new world, Raymond Feist had on the development of the contents of this game can not influence.

Return to Krondor

Return to Krondor is the official successor from the perspective of Raymond Feist. It was developed in 1998 by Pyrotechnics and appeared in the distribution of Sierra.

The events of the game can be found in outline in the 3rd volume of Krondor saga entitled The Tears of the Gods again.