Betrayal in Antara

Betrayal in Antara is a computer Western RPG developed and published by Sierra in 1997. It is a Spiritual Successor to Betrayal at Krondor: it is based on the same game engine, but Sierra had lost the rights to use Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar world, so Antara takes place in a new world.

Outside of a small village, Aren Cordelaine, the son of an innkeeper, fishes, dreaming of far-away lands and adventures. Suddenly, he hears a strange noise, and rushes down to the beach to investigate, where he sees a noble trying to fight off a griffon while another man lies on the sand. Trying to help out, he ends up accidentally blasting the monster to ash. The dying man presses a strange medallion into the hand of the noble, and says his last word, "Consort." The noble introduces himself as William Escobar, youngest son of Lord Escobar. He offers to take Aren to his hometown so that he can apprentice under the family mage and learn how to control his newly-discovered magic. Aren agrees. Soon after, they help Kaelyn Usher fight off bandits in the woods, and she joins the other two to settle her debt with them as they try find a teacher for Aren and discover what has put the Imperial Consort in danger.

Like Krondor, Antara takes place over nine chapters. The game has a first-person perspective while exploring the 3-d world, and a third-person perspective during battles. Combat is turn-based and takes place on a grid of hexagons. At the beginning and end of each chapter, there is a voiced cutscene which is told through text and pictures in a book.

As it is based on Krondor‍'‍s engine, Antara keeps many of the gameplay mechanics. There are no experience points or levels; instead, characters gain points in a skill by using it. For example, a character improve the melee skill by using melee weapons. Spells do not use MP; instead, any spells cast use their caster's health/stamina points, although unlike Krondor, spells are studied over time instead of being learned through scrolls. In addition, the game utilizes some unorthodox RPG elements, such as day/night cycles, including simulation of light levels, puzzle-lock chests, and even a food system.

Tropes used in Betrayal in Antara include:

Action Girl: Kaelyn, and HOW.
Ambidextrous Sprite: Which hand a weapon is held in depends on which way a character is facing.
Anti-Grinding: Practicing skills raises their values, but only up to a certain cap. This cap increases in later chapters. One-time raise can increase a skill beyond the cap, but practice cannot.
Arranged Marriage: William, for political reasons. Neither he nor the bride is very enthused about the idea.
Bag of Sharing: Averted. Only money and food are shared between companions.
Bow and Sword in Accord: Both William and Kaelyn.
Breakable Weapons: Not quite. Weapons (except staves and one specific sword) and armor degrade with use, becoming less effective. They can be repaired with whetstones, beeswax, and armorer's hammers, depending on the kind. Shields, however, cannot be repaired.
- Except as a possible reward for a sidequest that's so early in the game that it doesn't matter.
Broken Bridge: The bridges aren't so much broken as blocked by guards or protesting masons.
- And in one incident, blown up.
Cast from Hit Points: Really doesn't help Aren's Squishy Wizard tendencies.
Chessmaster: Silverhawk. He manages to keep his very existence secret until the last chapter.
Expy: Aren - the blond, inexperienced, apprentice magician kid who's a foil to an older and more cynical character - bears more than a passing resemblance to Owyn Beleforte from Betrayal at Krondor.
Deadpan Snarker - William, mostly, though Kaelyn gets some pretty spectacular one-liners too.
Fantastic Racism: Against the Grrlf, and two-way with the Montari, Mehrat, and Chuman.
Flaming Sword: Done with lit oil, and it only lasts for one battle.
Friendly Fireproof: Averted. If your allies step on an area-of-effect spell, they are affected as well. Both the player and the computer can accidentally shoot an ally who is in front of or behind an enemy.
Gambit Pileup: The overall story.
Grid Inventory: The grid is invisible and automatically moves things around to make room.
Incredibly Lame Pun:
- To a locksmith's apprentice: "Good lock!" for "Good luck!"

"We've been seeing these old locks lately -" "-said the man, to the seller of last week's fish..."

- Talking to Misha, a whore:

"How's business, Misha?"
"It comes and it goes..."

Inexplicable Treasure Chests: Averted. The chests are explained to have been dropped when traveling parties died of illness, or have bandits or pirates defending them.
Informed Equipment: The player characters appear to fight in their street clothes, though the sound a blow makes changes depending on the armor the character is wearing.
In-Universe Game Clock: The clock is based on movement - advancing forward advances the clock.
Karma Houdini: Silverhawk. Apart from the loss of some of his agents, he gets away with his scheme completely unscathed.
Magic Knight: Aren, with his staff.
Nice Guy: Aren's a real sweetie.
Prophet Eyes: A prophet that can be found in one town has these.
Sequel Hook: In the epilogue, Aren figures out who Silverhawk is. But there's nothing the heroes can do about it, as they have no proof (In fact, they even ended up destroying the only proof they had that there was a mastermind behind the overall scheme in the first place). William states that he's planning to keep an eye on the man in case he decides to come up with another scheme (in the next game). No sequel ever came out.
Simple Staff: Aren and Raal.
The Storyteller: Scott the Joyman.
Squishy Wizard: Aren, full stop. Doesn't help that his magic is taken out of HP. And since early in the game at least, he'll be the only one who can do 25 guaranteed damage points a pop... GOD HELP YOU if you lose him early in a battle.
Trauma Inn: As in Krondor, characters can also heal by sleeping outside – but only up to eighty percent of their maximum health. In an inn, they can regain all of their health.
Unwinnable By Mistake: If a certain plot token is with the wrong character when the party splits up...
Vendor Trash: Gems, for the most part.
We Buy Anything: Averted. Every store specializes in some subset of items.
Wallet of Holding: Money (like all items) is weightless, but it is stored in a separate limited-space inventory.