Playing Betrayal at Krondor

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Have not played this game for a decade or perhaps more, thought it was time and while trying to search the world wide web for hints on how to play it this thread popped up.
*rat resurrection pic*

 

[Incendax]

Betrayal at Krondor is one of the best RPGs out there. Not quite PS:T level, but consistently shows up on top lists of RPGs that go back that far. But be aware of what it is, and what it is not.

It has an excellent and coherent story, a decent combat system, good resource management and item usage, and memorable characters. But it is very linear in a general sense, the characters are pre-made, and there is very little choice and consequence because you are... playing out a novel.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I fought a few battles but then my autism took over and I've spent 2 hours raising haggle, still can't remember a damn thing about this game.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

If I remember correctly, I tagged 3 skills per character. Owen was magic, haggling, and barding. His skills got very high in those areas as early as chapter 3. Mucho dinero. I remember that they got high enough to where I switched him to sneaking and lock-picking. His magic even maxed out to the point where I could use the...focus orbs? to boost his magic accuracy to like 130%. Total bad-ass of the party.

 

[flushfire]

I remember most of the music even today. First played it back in 97 I think. One of the few RPGs where I can recall the music. Writing is one of the best, and it was used in unconventional ways. Click on an enemy in the distance and your party will have something to say IIRC. Food and item durability was implemented well IMO.

Never really had an issue with no character creation or lack of c&c. Never really had to micro still tagging either.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Thanks to you both, very good tips( in the hints&tips sense and not the penis tip).

I may have sat up all night playing.

 

[Barbalos]

Fantastic game. There was a site long ago, the Betrayal at Krondor Help Web, that had every piece of information about this game you could possibly imagine. It's no longer online, but it is available for download:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/dnf2uu7q1deu067/Betrayal+at+Krondor+Help+Web.zip
(To use the site correctly, extract, open index.html manually, then select krondor.html from the list)

I used to use this site constantly when I was playing that game. There's all kinds of interesting tidbits even without getting into straight-up spoiler territory.

 

[Zerth]

It's fascinating how the writing complements so well both game's graphics and audio. For instance, instead of a regular descriptive "x dice roll action success/failed" on screen text, BoK displays a manuscript that gives context to the action performed and the outcome of it, like when your party attempts to gain initiative through stealth, haggling,taking long trips, etc. The lute's practice sessions are one of my favorites, because both the audio and writing join together to eventually tell a tale about a guy that goes from awkwardly strumming the lute's strings to properly play a bard's song.

Feels quite just like reading a fantasy novel and imagining the setting as you go through the paragraphs. Also, the soundtrack is awesome.

Btw, how can you maximize skills such as haggling,scouting and assessment?. I haggled a lot with Owyn but I don't know how many times I can attempt to haggle in the same shop, I always left only scouting and stealth toggled while exploring, whereas I toggle assessment when a character inspects the foe. The Magician and the Riftwar cycle are worth a read?.

 

[octavius]

The Magician and the Riftwar cycle are worth a read?.

It's good as juvenile/entry level Fantasy. I thought the writing in the game was more mature.

 

[Sergiu64]

The biggest bonuses in the beginning are a couple training sessions you can pay for. One is for Melee, one for Defense and one for both at the same time. Make sure ONLY that skill is tagged before you get the training, you get a lot more points if so.

I remember the Defense trainer one was weird, like you had to start to gamble, but then back out at the last second and then the defense training option would appear.

Anyway, the helpweb site download the guy linked a few posts above has all you need.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Be aware that, AFAIK, both the CD and the patched floppy version of the game have a bug which makes it impossible to get the Mind Melt spell, because the relevant quest is broken. The unpatched, original floppy disk version works, though. It might be possible to edit game files in the other versions to fix the issue, make sure to research the matter if it affects you.

Depending on which version you have, a certain unique, named artifact sword might have a glitch. It has a high damage output PLUS it comes blessed (at least in the floppy version). If you use a certain type ofconsumable item on it to further improve its damage, a math bug causes the sword to HEAL the enemy.


Also, gameplay SPOILER:

Spoiler

When you go to the elven lands, buy enough Amulets of the Upright Man to push your Lockpick skill to 100%. You'll thank me in the last chapter.

EDIT: As for the spell bug, turns out you don't even have to go very far for a fix: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/betrayal-of-krondor-glitch.93948/

 

[Rhuantavan]

And I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about the game... oh, how wrong I was. Thanks bros.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Just remembered:

Back in the day, I delved a bit into the game's resource file. It was something like 2 Mb, and most (maybe all) of the in-game text, descriptions, dialogues, etc., were there in plain text format. Apparently, two programmers used the file for a bit of private correspondence, and one left the other a note about work schedules, a boss and a puppy named Satan - and it was left there in the release version. Much later, I tried to find it in the resource file of the CD version, but apparently it was taken out.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Ok, so either I'm fucked in the head, or the Chapter V is totally fucked. At the start of every combat encounter the characters are placed in the most absurd formation possible and I don't know if there's anything I can do about it:

I mean look at this shit. 2 Melee fighters are clumped at the right side of the screen, while the magician is placed all the screen away from them and one square closer to the frontline. Who came up with shit?

 

[Arrowgrab]

Ok, so either I'm fucked in the head, or the Chapter V is totally fucked. At the start of every combat encounter the characters are placed in the most absurd formation possible and I don't know if there's anything I can do about it:

I mean look at this shit. 2 Melee fighters are clumped at the right side of the screen, while the magician is placed all the screen away from them and one square closer to the frontline. Who came up with shit?

Welcome to Chapter 5.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Classic Patrus.

and I don't know if there's anything I can do about it:

The best you can do is mitigate this with successful ambush checks and stealth spells.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Classic Patrus.

and I don't know if there's anything I can do about it:

The best you can do is mitigate this with successful ambush checks and stealth spells.

And very liberal use of various potions by all of your characters to give them the edge they need to keep the old fart alive. Seriously, I've used more potions in that one chapter than in the rest of the game combined on all of my playthroughs.