Betrayal at Krondor: Difference between revisions

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While coming home from his cousin's wedding, a young magician named Owyn runs into an injured Seigneur Locklear, a squire of the Prince's court, and his strange [[Our Elves Are Better|moredhel]] companion named Gorath. After an assassination attempt by another moredhel, which is foiled by Gorath, Locklear forces Owyn to join them in a journey toward Krondor, capital of the Western Realm. It seems that Delekhan, the leader of the moredhel in the Northlands, is gathering troops for war, and Gorath must get this message to Prince Arutha to mount a counter-offensive, but there is more going on than it seems. . .

The game takes place over nine chapters. Due to the graphical limitations of the time, a lot of the game's plot is presented in text form, in a prosaic format that reads like one of Feist's novels. The game itself utilizes a first-person perspective as the party traverses a (primitive) 3D landscape representing the world of Midkemia and various cities therein, switching to a third-person view whenever the player enters combat.

 

 

Sierra published a [[Spiritual Successor]] [[Betrayal in Antara]] as well as a more direct sequel [[Return to Krondor]], although neither were as well-received as the original game. In 1998 Feist [[Novelization|novelized]] the game, and ''Krondor: The Betrayal'' became officially a part of the Riftwar canon.

Has a [[Betrayal at Krondor/Characters|character sheet]].

 

* [[Abandoned Mine]]: The Mac Mordain Cadal.

** The dwarves are trying to get it un-abandoned, though.

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The novelisation cuts away some of the less plot-relevant or dramatically-appropriate sidequests, such as the Quest for Ale.

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The backstory of Midkemia and the events of the first Riftwar and the Great Uprising. Also the information that Gorath had a human mother and is only half-moredhel - which, in the game, is only ever alluded to once, on a fake gravestone. Supposedly, this is why he is able to grow a beard. In Midkemia canon, however, bearded elves and half-elves are equally impossible, so it's just as well this never became a plot point. Especially since it means that he's trying to stay anonymous while sporting his most distinguishing feature in plain sight. Also, why does Moraeulf have a beard, then? Nah, it's better to just assume that Gorath has a beard because it [[Rule of Cool|looks badass]].

** Played straight with the pantathians, who do not appear in the game except as enemies. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] as they are genetically hardwired to single-mindedly work towards the purpose of restoring their master and creator, the Valheru Alma-Lodaka, to power.

* [[And Now for Someone Completely Different]]: This happens a few times, actually, but the most egregious is the beginning of Chapter 5, when you lose Owyn for the first time and instead get Patrus, whose stats are...well, he's a very old man.

* [[Ascended Fanon]]: The story was written by Neal Hallford, not Feist, despite the common misconception. Feist oversaw the production, gave his blessings and probably intervened to correct one thing or another, but the story ''is'' essentially a fanfic with the [[High Concept]] of "What if not all the moredhel wanted war?"

* [[A Simple Plan]]: Averted. Gorath's [[Zany Scheme|plan]] of {{spoiler|rescuing his would-be ally Obkhar from the napththa mines by pretending to offer Owyn into slavery, getting them both captured as slaves, finding Obkhar and swimming out through the underground streams}} works pretty much as he outlines before-hand, not counting the {{spoiler|unforeseen dependency on gas masks to keep from dying from the poison fumes, or Owyn nearly drowning after his mask slips off underwater.}}

* [[Bag of Sharing]]: Averted, as each character has his own separate inventory. This can get frustrating, especially at the end of certain chapters when the party members switch around. Was a certain member of your party carrying all the healing potions, or some rare artifact that lets you cast certain spells or poison your weapon? [[So Long and Thanks For All the Gear|Oops, he's gone now]], and in at least one case the leaving party member will ''never again'' be in the party with the two remaining members.

** This problem is addressed only once. At the end of chapter one the game switches out Locklear for James, but right at the beginning of chapter two James can rifle through Locklear's old inventory and take what he needs.

** Also, mentioned only once in a sidebar quest, is Nalar, the Mad God and Lord of the Void.

** The dragon statue at Malac's Cross that became a solid part of the canon landscape later on first appeared in the game.

* [[Cave Behind the Falls]]: There is a large one of these that plays a big role in Chapter 3.

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Chapter VI ends with Gorath and Owyn teleporting into a place they know nothing about save that Pug, the most powerful magician on two worlds, needs to be ''rescued'' from there. Chapter VII ends with James and Locklear seeing a flash of magic signalling the arrival of powerful enemy magicians through the rift. Both cliffhangers are followed by a switch to the other group.

* [[Informed Equipment]]: Owyn may be wearing the Dragon Plate Armor on his inventory screen, but in a fight it looks like he's still got just that robe on.

* [[Interchangeable Antimatter Keys]]: Justified somewhat in the fact that there ''are'' several different types of keys, and in the description for some of them it is mentioned that "they are manufactured by the hundreds."

* [[I Will Only Slow You Down]]: After a battle where one (but not all) of the characters enters [[Non-Lethal KO|near-death status]], the injured member will insist that the others go on without him - and will be told, word for word, that [[No One Gets Left Behind]]. ''No one.''

* [[Kill Us Both]]: {{spoiler|At the end of the game, Gorath and [[Big Bad|Delekhan]] grab the sword sticking out of the Lifestone - Delekhan trying to pull it out and Gorath trying to stop him - and nearly freeing the spirits trapped within. Owyn and Pug have to kill both of them to preserve the world, much to Owyn's regret.}}

* [[Locked Out of the Fight]]: Gorath stays behind while Pug and Owyn try and fail to reason with {{spoiler|the [[Big Bad]]. Pug convinces Gorath that {{spoiler|Makala}} would be more respectful and less likely to act rashly if confronted by fellow magicians, and the moredhel warrior would be more of a liability in a mage-versus-mage fight, and someone should stay and protect the Oracle of Aal, anyway. ([[Gameplay and Story Segregation]] is in play; the real reason is that the designers knew that Gorath would be able to harry the enemy magician and protect the magicians, which would make the fight a complete [[Anticlimax Boss]] by this point.)}}

* [[Long-Lost Relative]]: Lysle Rigger, long-lost brother of thief-turned-squire James.

* [[Mind Probe]]: Gorath is subjected to this by the [[Telepathy|telepathic]] Gamina (and Makala as well) when he first meets Prince Arutha to warn him about the coming invasion from the north. However, as a moredhel, he seems to have [[Psychic Block Defense|innate defenses]], so he's not let off the hook quite that easily.

* [[Mistaken Identity]]: James becomes aware of having a long-lost twin brother when he gets mistaken for him.

* [[So Long and Thanks For All the Gear]]: Averted in Chapter II, since when Locklear leaves he leaves his equipment behind (when he returns in Chapter V he has all new gear). Subverted at the end of Chapter III: while Owyn and Gorath don't ever get to legitimately trade equipment with James again, they can access the Northwarden area via a bug and pick up stuff James and co. left behind there, and in turn it's not hard for Owyn and Gorath to dump some surplus equipment in a puzzle box in the Dimwood for Jimmy's team to pick up in Chapter VII. You'll still need to decide which team gets to keep the Spider and the Spyglass, though. (Common practice is to give them to Gorath's team, since the first part of Chapter IV is [[That One Level]].)

* [[Spanner in the Works]]: The [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Makala}} imprisons {{spoiler|the magician Pug}} on an alien planet where magic can't be cast, to buy himself time to {{spoiler|study the [[Artifact of Doom|Lifestone]] without Pug's interference}}. [[Fridge Brilliance|Presumably]] he assumed that anyone looking to free the prisoner would either fail or not do so in time. The rescuer would certainly need to be a powerful magician, which few people are, and they tend to go on such missions alone, since non-magicians would just [[The Load|get in the way]]. If the rescuer went without preparation, the "no magic" problem and the hostile natives would make dead meat of them. If they scouted and found out about the "no magic" problem in advance, they'd sit and look for a solution before going there. Enter the [[Sword and Sorcerer]] team of {{spoiler|Gorath and Owyn}}, who just wade right in.

* [[Stupid Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Gorath's death arguably has shades of this. The most dangerous artifact on Midkemia is in the room and the two powerful magicians capable of disintegrating a puny fighter in an instant just let Delekhan get close to it? Exhaustion is only so much of an excuse.}}

* [[Sword and Sorcerer]]: Gorath and Owyn for much of the game, the only combo of characters to consistently stay together.

* [[Telepathy]]: Gamina has this ability.

* [[The Determinator]]: Gorath

* [[The Infiltration]]: There are several options to get past the guards in Harlech - the neatest one is finding the local witch {{spoiler|and Gorath's wife}} and getting her to teach Owyn a spell to make him appear moredhel, find out the password, and then just walk past them. At a different point, James and Locklear pretend to be Quegan mercenaries to walk into Delekhan's army and deactivate the {{spoiler|Rift Machine he's using to teleport more of his army to the Dimwood.}}

* [[The Lost Woods]]: The forest between Caldara and Elvandar is so thick that it's almost impossible to see anything in the normal view other than trees. Also, there are deadly sleeping glades and a few other supernatural phenomena lurking about. Plus, it's the home of the elves. Strangely enough, the other forest in the game, the Dimwood, is so sparsely vegetated that it can barely be called a forest at all.

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[[Category:Licensed Game]]

[[Category:Video Game]]