Finally finished Betrayal at Krondor

[Gangrelrumbler]

Finally finished! One of the few RPG Codex classics I've never managed to beat. Great adventure, charming characters, some of the best writing I've seen in an RPG. Truly one of the best western RPGs.
Here is my take on the game, as you can see there are much more cons than pros, but even though numerous the bad parts are not enough to outweigh the strengths of the game:
+Story: one of the best I found in RPGs, I completely expected it to fall apart at the end, but nothing of such happened. Intelligent intrigue that avoids usual problem with convoluted plans that is if even one person died at the wrong time the entire scheme would be ruined.
+Characters: all of them are pretty great, the writersmanaged to find a balance between characters being too over the top and comical (which often happens in jRPGs and Bioware games) and them being realistic but also dry and uninteresting (fault of many western RPGs, Eternity being the worst offender)
+Good worldbuilding. Pretty interesting despite following the usual fantasy cliches.

Spoiler

Chapter 8 is a highlight. Suddenly switching standard, generic fantasy realm for a post-apo Dark Sun/Barsoomian world was a welcomed surprise

+Simple but fun combat system. I especially liked the health/stamina system which added more tension to battles as well as the way the magic was balanced. With wizards being incredibly powerful and often being able to finish encounters in one turn, but at the same time powerless when standing next to an enemy. Very gamey, but works extremely well.
+Chests and traps. Can't say much about that. Both riddles and trap puzzles are very fun and superior to their equivalent in other RPGs
+The "game as the book" gimmick. I only found in tiresome in some places (like getting info about being poisoned), very well done, makes the game much more enjoyable and gives it an unique feel.
-The dungeons are extremely simplistic, just a bunch of corridors with enemies and instakill holes
-The audiovisual side didn't age well in some places. Oveworld exploration and combat looks a bit messy
-The main worldmap is too lineal, it's mostly just a one big round road. Wildness feels like huge corridor. Chapters 6-8 feel much better to explore
-The navigation itself is a bit awkward. I had to constantly switch between the three modes of navigation (FPS, map, worldmap) to get around. And none of these felt good to use.
-Diagnal movement was a mistake. First of all it allows you to cover greater distances when moving diagnally since it still counts as one step. Secondly it limits strategy, you can't pin-down enemy by surrounding him and you can't protect your own guys by not letting enemies reach them since everyone can just slip through the cracks
-As DR review said, the magic could use some balancing.
-I found crossbows to be completely underwhelming
-I hated the party switching gimmick.

Spoiler

Finishing the chapter and switching to Locklear and CO just felt tedious. Losing all the progress I've gained and having to look after completely different set of characters was just eh. I also hated having to get through Owyn/Gorath sections with just two characters and dealing with limited inventory space. The game just became so less enjoyable after the split in chapter III and I would strongly prefer to just lose Locklear forever and just go on with Owyn/Gerath amd James. And fuck Patrus. Not only is he terrible, he also starts the combat away from the team and right in front of enemy's melee fighters. FUCK THIS CUCK. Other people will probably won't find it as annoying as I did since I even hate when the books jump between multiple sets of characters.

-The game is extremely lineal and has less gameplay value than your typical jRPG. You can't select your party members, you can't really "build" your characters, equipment progression is lineal, there are no choices whatsoever. I don't see myself replying the game any time soon.
-/+The game could use some optional party members/hirelings/summons maybe. Units that wouldn't but in into the story, but provide more tactical depth to the combat and let the players customize their party in some way

If I had to give the game a note I'd give it 8.5/10. But it's wouldn't be fair. There are not many games like that, I don't think any RPG does better what this game does. Every RPG fan should play it despite any flaws the game could have.

Thanks to Darth Roxor for recommending the game 10 years ago, thanks to all the Codexers who voted it so highly in all the RPG Codex "best of lists"and all the best to Rhuantavan in his effort to make more games like BaK.

 

[Buster]

Crossbows have their use! but the only one worth your while after the first part of the game is in the Northlands.

Replayability can be found in doing different sidequests in the early chapters, some are mutually excusive, and assembling Glamredhel's Revenge...stuff like that.

 

[garren]

Regarding the negatives, I too think the map itself is a bit linear in places, sometimes there's pretty much just straight road to follow, however there's usually something cool hidden off the main path in many places and there's some leeway to wander, and the paths interweave frequently. I think the dungeon design is the biggest weakness of the whole game myself, hopefully Rhuantavan makes them a bit more interesting in Call of Saregnar. Just the same wall graphic repeated endlessly with straight pathways with pitfalls and cubic rooms with a bit of loot and enemies. Also, because the dungeon music is super dreadful sounding at times, it can sometimes mean a really boring slog through the dungeon, and you just cant wait to get out.

Thankfully there's some cool scripted encounters in some of the dungeons to spice them up, like when you wander the dwarven mines and encounter the kobolds that give you a quest with a nice stat boost reward, that was cool.