One of the best RPGs ever made, and one of the worst.

[Rhuantavan]

Feel free to ignore Betrayal in Antara. Betrayal at krondor though is certainly one of the best RPGs ever made.

[N1tr0]

Agree. Betrayal at Krondor is the best RPG in my life. Too sad, that there is no good sequel.

[Rincewind]

Antara is really that bad?

[Nuoragh]

Originally posted by Dim-Steelers:

Antara is really that bad?

It might be one of those games you either loved or hated. Also think a lot of people that loved Kondor hate Antara more than anyone else.

I honestly consider Betrayal in Antara to be one of my favorite games of all time. Loved it when it came out 20 years ago, and still enjoy it a lot. Finished it about 4 times over the years, and that is despite the game having a bit too many bugs (especially in the re-releases), but its far from unplayable (unless this steam version is worse than previous re-releases). I'm working on my playthrough right now, so far 1 sidequest is bugged, which seems to be an old bug related to this steam version missing a patch (personally havent experienced this bug before because I've finished my previous playthroughs with the original discs and patches).

Some might find the story to be a bit straight forward, but I personally think the story that is being told is really good, and worth the time. No it doesnt give you the freedom to play 200+ sidequests that have nothing to do with the story, but I still lets you explore in a sense that feels sufficient.

Hope that helps give you a different opinion.

[Rincewind]

Thank you for the long review! So I'll give it a try as soon as I'll finish Krondor! I undertand the feeling you have, a lot of my favourite games are often "hated games"

[Rhuantavan]

In case anybody's interested, I'm making a game very much inspired by Betrayal at Krondor. Since there isn't anything comparable out there, and the sequels were all a let-down for me, I've decided to make my own.

https://www.patreon.com/rhuantavan

In regards to Antara, I found the characters paper-thin and childish, the voice acting terrible and way too many trash combat encounters.

[Andvari]

I would probably put Betrayal at Krondor somewhere in my top 5 list of best RPGs of all time. I never played Antara, but I did play the Return to Krondor, which was rather mediocre, unfortunately.

[Mellarius]

Originally posted by N1tr0:

Agree. Betrayal at Krondor is the best RPG in my life. Too sad, that there is no good sequel.

+++

[X Afro]

The game itself was fairly clunky but the fact they used actual author to write the story is what made the clunky engine worth it. All the details of emotions and environment brought the whole game together. Antara was like high school drop out wrought it trying to emulate the original,, not the same.

[Rhuantavan]

Originally posted by X Afro:

The game itself was fairly clunky but the fact they used actual author to write the story is what made the clunky engine worth it. All the details of emotions and environment brought the whole game together. Antara was like high school drop out wrought it trying to emulate the original,, not the same.

Actually Feist did not write the story (at all), but Neal Hallford, one of the designers behind the game.

[RetroRentsAl]

Originally posted by X Afro:

The game itself was fairly clunky but the fact they used actual author to write the story is what made the clunky engine worth it. All the details of emotions and environment brought the whole game together. Antara was like high school drop out wrought it trying to emulate the original,, not the same.

Yeah to follow on to what @rhuantavan said (and seriously, check out his game above) Neal wrote the story, with some guidance from Feist to ensure canon to his work at the time. It's what inspired me to become a writer. For me, BaK is one of the best games ever made :)

[Space Dog]

Betrayal at Krondor is something a lot of modern game developers should play.

Fantasy novel style storytelling and a very realistic take on fantasy combat - this is a magical formula for creating an immersive fantasy world. Just "open world" enough to let you get a sense of adventuring and traveling.

BaK feels fresh again in today's gaming where everything is more or less dumbed down to grindy MMO-style mechanics that have become "necessary" for video games. RPG's don't have to be so videogamey. Immersion is much more important. Even though you can count the pixels on the screen, BaK is somehow more immersive than anything that came out in 2023.