Betrayal at Krondor

Betrayal at Krondor is a computer role-playing game developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra Entertainment in 1993. It takes place in the universe of the writer Raymond Feist , who is known for his books about the wars of splits and who was actively involved in the development of the game (especially the content).

content

In this game you slip into the roles of various well-known and new characters from Raymond Feist's Midkemia universe and experience their journey through Midkemia with them. The party cannot be chosen freely, but is dictated by the action. In the course of the game you control 9 different characters, a maximum of 3 at the same time.

Betrayal at Krondor roughly corresponds to that of a book in its narrative style: it is divided into 9 chapters, each with a main storyline and several secondary threads. This imperceptibly limits the player's scope of action, which is mainly expressed in the restricted freedom of movement and the inaccessible NPCs . Cutscenes are shown in film-like animated illustrations, and there are more or less extensive introductions and epilogues.

development

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

The original title of the project was Riftwar Legacy , based on the English naming of the Midkemia series ( Riftwar Saga ). Since developer Dynamix was financially unable to pay Raymond Feist the required salary of 1,000 US dollars per day for drafting a story concept, a licensing process was agreed. Feist stood by the project mainly as a consultant; one of his activities was to check the action for internal consistency.

There was later a second 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 of which The Conspiracy of the Magi is a retelling of the events of the game.

The game was temporarily made available for free download by Sierra in 1997 in order to promote the successor, and thus temporarily became freeware . Since permission for further distribution by third parties was not granted with the freeware release, the game is now only available commercially again via digital distribution, for example via gog.com since 2010 .

technology

For the times, the game was of a high technical level. It is characterized by a real 3D environment that you can walk freely. The use of movements in a vertical direction (upwards) was planned (and is still in rudimentary form in the game), but did not find its way into the retail version. The environment is displayed in real time, there is also a day and night period. The CD version of the game has a soundtrack that can also be played directly from CD, some additional sound effects and a walkthrough, as well as a video interview with Raymond E. Feist.

The battles are shown on a tactical extra screen, which partly includes the surroundings of the 3D landscape. A turn-based system is used on a fighting area divided into square fields, whereby the order of turns and the possible actions depend on the characteristics of the pieces as well as the occurrence of the encounter. There are hardly any chance encounters, the opponents are usually visible from a distance or recognizable by special characteristics of the characters. The characters are developed partly automatically (with the possibility of emphasizing individual development areas by the player), partly by the player himself.

Another special feature of the game is the extensive and well thought-out system of objects that have a durability (given in%), the usability of which can depend on the race and which can be changed in many ways by magic or alchemy.

The magic system is based on the classic role-playing game systems, whereby the implementation within battles does not always appear balanced due to the round battles and the often random order in which the fighters come to act.

Scattered around the game are many puzzle chests containing useful items and rewards. The player has to answer a riddle question and sets the answer word on the letter wheels. Each of these letter wheels has four letters, so that a number of different combinations are possible depending on the length of the word you are looking for. A typical puzzle sounds something like this: "Enemies invade the castle. What will the prince soon be?" Answer: "Dead."

reception

Betrayal at Krondor is at least one of the milestones in the role-playing field in terms of narrative and presentation for the player. It was awarded the Premiere Award for Role-Playing Game of the Year in 1994 by the US game magazine Computer Gaming Worlds .

successor

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

Both successor games basically stick to the style of their predecessor. You move through a more or less strictly limited 3D surface world and fight the battles in tactical round-the-clock battles. The type of development and composition of the figures to be controlled was also adopted, as was the object management. Both successors were given little importance for the role-playing genre, which is probably also due to the small changes despite the now far advanced technology and the high demands that the first part made in terms of narration and dialogues.

Betrayal in Antara

Betrayal in Antara is an ideal successor to Dynamix, who completed the game in 1997 and also published it through Sierra. Set in a new world, Raymond Feist had no influence on the content of this game.

Return to Krondor

Return to Krondor is the official successor from the point of view of Raymond Feist. It was developed by Pyrotechnics in 1998 and was distributed by Sierra.

The events of the game can be found in broad outline in the 3rd volume of the Krondor saga with the title The Tears of the Gods .

Web links

Betrayal at Krondor at MobyGames (English)
Help page Betrayal at Krondor (English)
Test report from the PC Joker 6/93

Individual evidence

↑ Craig E. Engler: Riftwar Legacy - Raymond E. Feist Talks About the Upcoming Computer Game . In: Computer Gaming World . No. 94, June 1992, p. 98. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
^ Matt Matthews: Frequently Asked Questions for Liberated Games ( English ) In: Liberatedgames.com . August 27, 2005. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved on April 9, 2012: “ Betrayal at Krondor is not redistributable freeware ”.
↑ Computer Gaming World 119, June 1994, pp. 51-58

[1] Craig E. Engler: Riftwar Legacy - Raymond E. Feist Talks About the Upcoming Computer Game . In: Computer Gaming World . No. 94, June 1992, p. 98. Retrieved October 12, 2011.

[2] Matt Matthews: Frequently Asked Questions for Liberated Games ( English ) In: Liberatedgames.com . August 27, 2005. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved on April 9, 2012: “ Betrayal at Krondor is not redistributable freeware ”.

[3] Computer Gaming World 119, June 1994, pp. 51-58