Let's Play: Betrayal at Krondor

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Let's Play: Betrayal at Krondor

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

One of the best things about this game is the dumb reasons the heroes invent for going off on sidequests and diversions well away from their actual critical missions. "We're doubling back to throw off pursuit, I swear! It isn't just for Sweet Sweet Loots."

E: I mean this sincerely, actually. When I played this as a kid, it blew my mind that they bothered to come up with in-character reasoning for all sorts of things. It adds a lot to the characters.

Night10194 fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Sep 10, 2021

# ¿ Sep 10, 2021 15:52

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:11

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Yeah, your characters are set and who is in what party actually changes between chapters.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2021 17:34

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Go after the Brakk Nurr

What could possibly go wrong.

Also, obviously you should double back to throw off pursuit and explore the north.

E: Also drowning in elves because there are multiple elven nations with different ideologies is a better reason than usual to be drowning in elves. Also note Gorath is loving huge and he's much beefier than any other PC you get all game, so not only can elves have sweet facial hair in this game but they can be buff as heck.

Night10194 fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Sep 10, 2021

# ¿ Sep 10, 2021 23:18

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

The CD audio is great though. BaK has a fantastic soundtrack, especially for the time.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2021 03:49

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I honestly prefer that they don't try to explain the exact mechanics of magic primarily because magic's existence and use in the various political struggles of the setting tends to be more important than the magic itself, especially in Betrayal. It's just a tool, it exists, magicians are an important resource and a part of politics and it takes a fair bit of training and intellectual curiosity to master it (like Owyn wants to), and then they go from there and get on with it. It worked well for the sort of story they're shooting for.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2021 18:13

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Sure, but that's Pug. He sucks. There's no rescuing Pug, especially after naming him after the sad cute ugly dogs who have trouble breathing.

For like, Owyn scale stories it works perfectly.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2021 18:23

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

It also helps that the actual underlying combat and gameplay engine is pretty solid.

One of the things you want to do is manage when you have the various skills 'focused' by clicking on the sword; that'll get them more EXP as they gain EXP. So like if you buy the Practice Lute you obviously want to select Barding and only Barding for that character. Also, getting thrown out of a tavern loving up Barding does get you EXP even though you failed. You can just keep sneaking back in to LaMut until Owyn has practiced to an acceptable level to get some money.

The game's soundtrack also has several variations of how badly the character butchers the hell out of the song until they finally play it perfectly competently at higher levels.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2021 19:11

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Ah, trolls. They are an immense bastard to fight legitimately, too. This whole area is, as you said, a big step up in danger but they're a tough enemy at all points in the game, not just now.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2021 14:36

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

If you can kill them fighting does get you more experience in Melee Accuracy and stuff, too.

Just they're tough as hell and hit like a truck.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2021 12:43

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

One trick I used to do as a kid solving the wordlocks (which my mother loved helping with, it was kind of adorable, but this was her idea) was write down every letter on each slot and see if I could puzzle out possible words from them if I was stuck. It helped!

# ¿ Oct 1, 2021 13:07

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

With Max James was being a dick to him because James is an experienced criminal and could already kinda sense this guy was doing some scammy bullshit with all the dire warnings about ghosts and his tons of newly acquired land, so he thought he'd call the guy's bluff for sport.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2021 17:05

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Ah, the Spider and the Spyglass. Two great tastes that taste great together.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2021 20:41

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Randalor posted:

So what happened between Owen and the magician? Was it just that Owen suspected/knew the last question was going to be antrick, so he faked being blind to hope he would ask if Owen could see him, or did he actually do something to Owen that Owen dispelled?

It's the first. You see other houses warning you that the third question is impossible and Owyn can tell a scam is in the offing anyway so he pulls a 'what's in my pocket' because Owyn's actually a very cunning lad.

Owyn and Gorath were absolutely my favorite characters in the game when I was a kid.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2021 14:12

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Remember always that Owyn gained his initial magical instruction after enacting a complex scheme to embezzle the money for his tutoring from his father's accounts.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2021 14:40

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I think he's just curious and can tell some important poo poo's going down so he wants to help and get involved.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2021 21:05

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Guildenstern Mother posted:

I love the gorath/owyn chapters, they're just an absolute delight. You'd think being down a person would slow you down but it never seems to be a problem, and even if it was, you'd barely notice because you go so many weird and cool places with them.

It helps that Gorath and Owyn are the two most powerful characters in the game, in part because they're in more chapters than anyone else and get more EXP.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2021 23:56

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Randalor posted:

How long would the chapters be if you didn't suffer from "Mainpathphobia" though? Because you've been wandering fairly far from the main path, by all accounts (though it does seem to be because the designers seemed to think "Hey, let's stick a side quest that can only be done in this chapter as far away from the main chapter beats as we can" was a good idea).

The thing is you don't really need to do the sidequests for the most part. Plus, there are some genuinely open-ended chapters like Spider and the Spyglass that are basically designed to have you wandering around to beef you up some while you try to figure out the chapter.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2021 15:45

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Oh, Patrus. So much worse than Owyn mechanically, but quite fun.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2021 21:10

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Chapter 5, notably, has basically no sidequests and is just 'go do this thing, then this thing'.

I kinda suspect it's one reason Patrus feels a bit weak, aside from his poor Speed. The old man is introduced in a chapter with basically no options for turbo-powering him.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2021 22:22

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Antara for a good look at a game that isn't particularly great but is trying.

I am down with Owyn being loving pissed at Pug for lecturing him 'not to be petulant' after telling him to murder his best elf bud. Poor Gorath. Killed by the plot necessity to have the renegade bad guy turned good sacrifice himself at the end.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2021 22:50

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:11

Night10194: Feb 13, 2012; We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Return to Krondor is actually a worse game than BaA, I think.

Like BaA is boring and it can't quite pull off what it's trying to do, and it has the issue of trying to introduce its setting while being 'distinct' from Midkeimia, but Return to Kronder is a mechanical and narrative pileup. I remember being very annoyed by it as a young Night, as a huge fan of the original.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2021 17:36

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Let's Play: Betrayal at Krondor