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[Jaydev]

Indeed it is one of the great legends from our beloved RPG world.

I loved the part of the story where you get to know about the mysterious evil Valheru. Sounds intriguing, a mighty race of ancient elven dragon riders that hated every other nation and conquered worlds...

[Tito]

I could never get it to work in my old computer, hope I can manage it with a newer one and DosBox. It seems to be a brilliant game.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by *Happy*@Oct 21 2005, 09:43 PM
And yeah, the sequel is crap. In a good part this is due to the fact that Feist didn't write the text for it.

I agree with everything you write, except this last part. I was involved towards the end of beta-testing the original BoK, and reviewed it, then reviewed both its successors, after interview/previews with the designers. Feist was heavily involved with Return to Krondor. He'd just simply written his approval for BoK, and accepted a check in exchange for use of characters, etc: supposedly didn't even know how really use a computer very well, at the time. But he took a strong interest in Technix's development of RtK for Sierra, demanded the implementation of a more-or-less standard magic system, and an almost Bard's Tale kind of attack system in the city. In other words, where BoK had plausible violence based on plot, RtK was a step backwards in which you just went door to door, for no particular reason, and got attacked in select locations. Feist *did* have a hand in the dialog and plotting, which I think was far superior in the original title. That said, RtK wasn't a terrible game. It was--nondescript. I actually liked the tweaks to mechanics of battle better, but it was far too linear, less well written and plotted, and felt very rigid. Technix's staff was absorbed into Sierra when the game went belly-up.

Betrayal at Antares, on the other hand, was crap, from start to finish. The VP at Dynamix who had fired the BoK team shortly after the game's release noted its popularity, and immediately gave responsibility for a successor to a competent programmer with no creative or game designing experience. It was the VP's belief that this way, he could simply turn out a game that was "more of everything" in BoK, everybody would love it, and the thing would come in on time, without hassles. Instead, it had the worst writing and plotting conceivable, and the balance was atrocious. It was universally panned, and with reason.

[Blood-Pigggy]

Return to Krondor wasn't bad at all.
I'd more likely say it was around "fair".
Saying it's crap is over-exaggerating and just insulting with poor judgement and hasty conclusions.
I doubt many of you played it past the first chapter, where it really starts getting good.
As for Betrayal, I always thought the combat was a bit glitchy and poor, I really enjoyed exploring the world, except for those bizarre random encounters, and I really wished there had been some visual que when you found someone or something in the wilderness.
The story was good, but a bit slow, and the game left too much in your hands when it came to your next goal, but otherwise the pacing and balance was perfect.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by Blood-Pigggy@Oct 30 2005, 11:31 PM
Return to Krondor wasn't bad at all.
I'd more likely say it was around "fair".
Saying it's crap is over-exaggerating and just insulting with poor judgement and hasty conclusions.
I doubt many of you played it past the first chapter, where it really starts getting good.

Who's saying RtK was bad, or crap? If you're referring to my remarks above, you might want to read them, again. As I wrote: "That said, RtK wasn't a terrible game. It was--nondescript. I actually liked the tweaks to mechanics of battle better, but it was far too linear, less well written and plotted, and felt very rigid. Technix's staff was absorbed into Sierra when the game went belly-up." I played through from start to finish before I did my actual review of the title. How otherwise could I seriously review it?

I said Betrayal at Antares was crap. I meant it, and I stand by it.

[Blood-Pigggy]

I wasn't speaking to anyone, I'm just annoyed by the general public's hate towards RtK, and this was the best place to post it.

[Borodin]

Originally posted by Blood-Pigggy@Oct 31 2005, 12:25 AM
I wasn't speaking to anyone, I'm just annoyed by the general public's hate towards RtK, and this was the best place to post it.

Fair enough. I think it's definitely a decent game, and frankly better than some of the hotly promoted stuff that's selling, lately despite far less gameplay.

Originally posted by Borodin@Oct 30 2005, 11:28 PM
I agree with everything you write, except this last part.* I was involved towards the end of beta-testing the original BoK, and reviewed it, then reviewed both its successors, after interview/previews with the designers.* Feist was heavily involved with Return to Krondor.* He'd just simply written his approval for BoK, and accepted a check in exchange for use of characters, etc: supposedly didn't even know how really use a computer very well, at the time.* But he took a strong interest in Technix's development of RtK for Sierra, demanded the implementation of a more-or-less standard magic system, and an almost Bard's Tale kind of attack system in the city.* In other words, where BoK had plausible violence based on plot, RtK was a step backwards in which you just went door to door, for no particular reason, and got attacked in select locations.* Feist *did* have a hand in the dialog and plotting, which I think was far superior in the original title.* That said, RtK wasn't a terrible game.* It was--nondescript.* I actually liked the tweaks to mechanics of battle better, but it was far too linear, less well written and plotted, and felt very rigid.* Technix's staff was absorbed into Sierra when the game went belly-up.

Ok, I guess saying it's crap is under-rating RtK. It's not THAT bad, but it really left a bitter taste after finishing the original - it just doesn't do justice to it.

Sequels are almost always worse than the first part that started them. I read enough negative reviews of Return to Krondor, so I didn't get it earlier where I intended to. It's just too bad that there wasn't a worthy successor for Betrayal at Krondor, everytime I finished it I wished it would continue in another game...