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Chapter I: Into a Dark Night Update 1: Introduction Update 2: An Encounter with Squire Philip, finding some chests and our first battle Update 3: Let's talk about the Backstory Update 4: Arrival into LaMut Update 5: Look but don't touch Update 6: Mac Mordain Cadall Update 7: Interlude 1: Treasures and Training Update 8: Interlude 2: Ratings and Skills. Also Locklear's Mustache Update 9: Yabon to Tyr-Sog Update 10: Whereupon the validity of the plan to knock on every door is questioned Update 11: Owyn deals out some fiery death of his own Update 12: It really is lovely this time of year down at Hawk's Hollow. Update 13: Reading is good for you! Update 14: My Dinner with Locklear Update 15: Just a slight detour, that's all Update 16:  PENDING
Snugglecakes fucked around with this message at Mar 25, 2013 around 17:45 |
| # ? Dec 31, 2012 18:57 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 02:20 |
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Update 1: Introduction  - What is Betrayal at Krondor? Betrayal at Krondor is a DOS based game developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra back in 1993. The game is based directly on the world of Midkemia, created by the author Raymond E. Feist. Originally, the events that took place were non-canon. It just happened to take place in the same setting, as if it were historical fiction. However, Fiest did have final editorial say during production and later made the events of the game canon in his novel Krondor: The Betrayal. There were various differences between the game and the later novel, such as Owyn's last name being Belefote rather than Beleforte, and the towns of Tanneurs and Eggley changed to Tannerus and Eggly. Additionally, the novel covered the main plot of the game and ignored most of the sidequests. - What is the gameplay like? The game designers created the game to present to the player a kind of interactive fantasy story, with nine chapters divided up as if you are reading a book. While each chapter has an overall goal that must be accomplished before there is plot progression, how the goal is accomplished is up to the player. The game therefore straddles the line between a completely open game world, and a linear world that railroads the player. Given that Fiest's world of Midkemia was originally created as an alternative to D&D and was the setting for a role-playing group, having the game be an open world to explore makes sense. Our 'narrator' is a kind of DM who describes the world, what you see and do as you go along. There are limits to where you can go and what you can do, but the game presents plenty of side quests, and in most cases you are by no means 'trapped' or are given a time limit on which to complete your goals. That's right, there is no time limit. Players aren't punished by not taking the direct the direct route. In fact, the first chapter of the game probably allows the most freedom to explore the Kingdom. The game's manual even encourages players to grind by killing monsters and finding treasure to prepare them for the tougher opponents they'd face as they get closer to Krondor.  - What if I don't know anything about Midkemia? That's okay. I'll be discussing some lore both in the game updates and in special 'lore only' updates where I'll be talking about various characters (particularly the ones that we control), the cultures and peoples who inhabit Midkemia, and the tensions they face. Fair warning though, I am not a scholar on everything Fiest, nor am I expert on this game. If other people want to chime in then they are more then welcome, but hopefully I'll be able to give some context to those people who don't know anything some idea of who is important and why they are important. For now, just be aware this is a fantasy game. Your basic fantasy concepts such as magic exist in this world. Magic also serves as portals not between just different places in the Kingdom, but also between worlds. We also have mythological / fantasy creatures such as Goblins, Trolls, as well as Dwarfs and Elves to interact with. In the timeline here, there is a rising tension and conflict between the human kingdom and what are essentially this game's Dark Elves, known here as Moredhel. - Why LP Betrayal at Krondor? When I was growing up and just beginning to explore fantasy literature, Fiest's books, especially his first two: Magician: Apprentice and it's companion Magician: Master were inspirational for me. The characters of Pug, and his friend Tomas, who grew up and took two vastly different paths in their coming of age was fascinating. When Betrayal at Krondor was released, I spent away many hours of the day playing it with my dad and my brothers and we'd try to work out the solution to many of the Moredhel wordlock chests. We'd also try to puzzle through some of the traps that the characters can encounter as well as fending off some very difficult monsters in the later chapters. Mind you, this was also back before you could simply Google the solution to many of the problems or enter a cheat code. I also grew quite attached to the character portraits presented in the game, even and especially when they look completely ridiculous. There is a certain satisfaction in taking a neophyte like Owyn and turning him into quite a competent mage.  - What do you intend to accomplish? I'd like to show off the game and present the story. I hope you like it. Another warning - I'm not playing it with the intent to break the game over my knee, and I won't show off absolutely everything there is to see. I am probably in way over my head already given just how large and long the game is. Hopefully with some audience participation, we'll be able to see the story through to the end, and you'll see just why this is such a fun game to play, and overall, just an enjoyable story. - Audience Participation? Limited participation.  I will every once in awhile put some decisions up to a vote, but for the most part you guys are coming along for the ride.- Get on with it! Okay! here is a very quick summary of where things have last left off just before the game begins. Ten years after the events in Fiest's 'A Darkness at Sethanon', Seigneur Locklear is serving at a northern Kingdom garrison when he saves Gorath of the Ardanien from an assassin. Gorath has brought a warning of an invasion planned by Delekhan, leader of the moredhel, so Locklear agrees to take him to see Prince Arutha in Krondor. Injured from numerous attacks, they ask for help from Owyn Beleforte, a young magician from Tiburn. The game begins in their camp north of LaMut.   In these cutscenes there is some animation that was breathtaking at the time back in 1993.  "You did --- fine," Seigneur Locklear replied, smiling approval before rolling down his sleeve. "it'll scar but it's good for a noble's reputation. Lets the kingdom folk know he isn't resting on his laurels and it impresses the ladies. I'll be sure to look you up in Tiburn if ever I need stitching up again." The boy accepted the compliment with a humble nod while he packaged away the rest of his medical supplies, his thoughts focused instead on a third man who slumped in the shadows across from them. Despite the manacles that bound the stranger's hands and the distance that separated them, the boy felt dreadfully exposed, his avenues of escape limited should Locklear's elven-looking prisoner decide to liberate himself. "What did he do?" Owyn whispered, jerking his head towards the man. "Gorath? Let's just say that he had the disadvantage of being at the wrong place at the wrong time," Locklear said cautiously. He snatched a green apple out of his knapsack, offering one to Owyn. "I have to take him to Krondor." "Did he kill someone?" Owyn asked. "No." "He attacked you." The Seigneur wiped apple juice from his mouth, shook his head. "no, no, not exactly." "Well, who cut you up then?" Before Locklear could reply...   We have here the first glimpse of our playable characters in chapter one. From left to right is Locklear, Gorath and Owyn. The positioning is a bit odd, since it makes it look like Locklear and Owyn were "whispering" about Gorath while standing directly in front of the Moredhel. Well, Gorath doesn't put up with poo poo like that.  I absolutely love the expression on Owyn's face as Gorath pushes him out of frame.  Serious scene ahead, let's take a look...      We've just barely started the game, and it has already been established that Gorath is amazing.  Fade to Black, and off to Chapter 1! As you can see from that map, our position is the blue triangle, the direction it is pointing is the direction we are facing. The brown and blue dots on the map represent towns or villages, the brown ones being small places that we interact with directly, whereas the blue dots are larger cities with their own special screen.  According to this map, we are right next to a small village, Yabon while the first larger city, LaMut is directly to our south. For purposes of this first update, we'll be heading down to LaMut, but there is plenty to do from there and it's no problem to backtrack to check out Yabon.  What you see here is the opening screen of the game. We now have complete control, and can go just about anywhere we want. The portraits below of our active characters (Locklear, Owyn and Gorath) and right clicking on those portraits brings up their inventory screen.    Not that they have very much. Locklear and Gorath are your typical kind of fighters, and so have slots available to them to use crossbows, whereas Owyn, as a magician, cannot use a crossbow or a sword, but has a staff instead. That's okay though, because generally we want to keep Owyn in the back while Locklear and Gorath tank and deal out damage to the enemies. The bubbles to the right of the portrait represent other commands, most of these are straightforward. In order from the top to bottom, we have the road (which we don't see just yet because we aren't standing on a road). Clicking on this bubble will allow you to 'lock' on to the road that you standing on, which helps if you are just taking a straightforward path from one city to the other. The second bubble on the top row brings you to the magic screen, which is Owyn's forte. At that screen he can cast adventuring spells, which differ from the ones that he'll be casting in combat. The third bubble is the campfire, which allows you to decide when and for how long your characters are going to sleep. I'll just note right now that if you are playing, you'll be seeing plenty of this screen as the characters need to sleep and eat in this game. They 'consume' their rations at midnight, so make sure you have enough otherwise they will starve and lose health and stamina. On the bottom row, starting from the left, are maps. Clicking on this will first bring you to see a map of the immediate area, which you can use for travel, but you can click again to bring up the world map to get a sense of where you are in the Kingdom. The next bubble is the bookmark, which is this game's quicksave option, and finally the scroll, which brings you to the main menu. What we see in front of us is the dead assassin who is lying on the ground. To our right is considered a 'small road', being the light blue path. Often this small roads will lead to homes, campfires or even treasure, and they are worth exploring. Main roads are brown colored, and we'll be seeing plenty of them as we continue on to Krondor. For now, let's loot Haseth's body, and then get to the main road.   Not impressive, just some lockpicks and rations. If you didn't know that, however, then you can always examine an item by right clicking on it in your inventory. Note that the 'right click as an examination' works on just about everything in the game, whereas a left click allows you to interact with the object or person.  We discover that these are indeed rations. The description and detail here is present for pretty much every item in the game. Of the items that you can examine, rations rank quite highly for reasons that we'll see later on in the game. Let's just say that you want to make sure that what you are eating is actually good for you. While I won't be showing descriptions for every item we pick up, I'll put up important items as well as descriptions on request if somebody wants to see it for whatever reason.  The game will select the active character who examines the item in their inventory. Here the lockpicks are in Locklear's pack, so he is checking them out. It's a nice bit of attention to detail that was put into the game. Now that we've looted Haseth's corpse, let's get to the main road and figure out where we'll be going. Of course, I only take a few steps and this pops up.   Looks like Gorath is all broody and has something on his mind. Hey Owyn, how about you see what is going on with him?  This is the the dialogue screen that characters will have with one another. When they speak with other non-party characters, you'll usually see a box of conversation topics to bring up, but for now, our characters are speaking to one another, and because it's plot, we should pay attention. I'll generally transcribe these conversations, but I want you to see their 'full portraits' for these first few shots, because it's another glimpse to see just what they look like.     ... "easier for you to defend yourself if your hands are free to swing a sword again." "You're not just going to set him free are you? I thought you said he was your prisoner." "He is my prisoner, Owyn, but the circumstances are terribly complicated. Even if he chose to sneak off, he'd be lucky to make it to the next town alive. This is the third such assassin we're run into since we left the Northland and I have a feeling that more will be waiting for us. He will be much safer with me and I with him." "As the boy would be. If he were to whisper the wrong word in the wrong ear, he could easily be the death of us." "Me? Who am I going to talk to? I'm not even heading in the same direction." "It wouldn't be a matter of who you talked to, Owyn. There will be ears listening for word of a moredhel traveling with a noble. Damnation. I should have thought about this when you entered camp... For the time being, you're my squire. Once we arrive safely at the palace, you'll be free to go your own way." "But I have pressing business in Tiburn..." "This is not a subject of debate! We must get to Krondor. My mission is of critical importance and I don't have time to improvise an easy solution. The only other possible option would be to silt your throat and leave you dying. I have absolutely no desire to do that. Now let's get moving before Delekhan's assassins catch our scent again. They'll likely come looking when Haseth doesn't return from his mission.That's it for this post. See you in Update 2: An Encounter with Squire Philip, finding some chests and our first battle. Snugglecakes fucked around with this message at Mar 24, 2013 around 20:57 |
| # ? Dec 31, 2012 18:58 |
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Update 2: An Encounter with Squire Philip, finding some chests and our first battle As you wander around the game world, you are treated to the occasional bird chirping in the background, but that is about it. There isn't music just playing off in the background as you walk around. In this way, it isn't intrusive, and allows you time to, say sort out your backpack or examine your characters. You'll then get a nice bit of action once you hit a combat, enter town, or go into a dialogue cutscene like we just saw in the last update. Later on I'll put up the first vote as to our destination and potential optional side quests to check out, but for now, I'm just having our three would-be heroes beat feet south to LaMut. Our supplies are pretty crappy at the moment, and we should look into restocking soon. Hey, what's this?  Oooh, a treasure chest! Gimme gimme gimme!   Get used to seeing this screen. Scattered throughout the land are these wordlock boxes, which have goodies inside of varying quality, but you have to solve the riddles in order to get to them.  It also so happens that they are written in Moredhel, so good thing that we have Gorath along for the ride, isn't it?  Anyhow, since this is our first introduction to Moredhel wordlock chests...  "What are Moredhel wordlock chests? I'll tell you!"In the Kingdom of the Isles, a farmer will occasionally stumble across a strange locked chest in his fields. Folk myth contends that these are “fairy chests” containing items lost by individuals who have somehow displeased Banath. They are actually boxes which traveling Moredhel use to pass messages back and forth. (Most kingdom couriers refuse to travel in the lawless Northlands and will not venture past Inclindel Pass or Cutter’s Gap.) In peace time, these locked chests contain only messages and harmless scribblings between mercenaries. When hostilities flare within the Kingdom, however, they are often used as secret highways to pass weapons, communiqués, poisons and other items of intrigue. Moredhel chests possess “wordlocks,” a series of small cylinders onto which have been inscribed letters of the Moredhel alphabet. Once the letters on the cylinders are rotated to form a pre-designated word (this is accomplished by moving the mouse up to a letter and clicking on it with the left mouse button), the catches on the box are automatically sprung. Most of these chests also have a steel plate (inscribed in Moredhel) affixed to them with a puzzlelike rhyme so that forgetful couriers can still make their appointed rounds. Ours reads: Prince Arutha, from his lofty perch, Will find our troops without a search. His men will fall, his castle too, And then what will Prince Arutha do? Answer: Die. "That's not very nice." "While most citizens dismiss the existence of these boxes as hearsay, there are a few scattered scholars who have been known to point travelers to sites where these boxes can be found. To read clue plates, someone in your party must be able to read Moredhel." "Like me."  There isn't much inside this box though, just a sword and some armor that I either didn't bother to screenshot or just forgot about. In any case, they are slapped onto Owyn so he isn't as hilariously easy to kill. Let's keep on going to LaMut.  Or not. Looks like somebody has caught up to us!  "Hold There!"Depending upon which version of the game you are playing, various characters that you run across will have a short voice file play. It's pretty cute. In Squire Philips' case, he just says "Hold There!" in his youngish voice. Also nice cover name for Gorath there. "Thorgath". Could have gone with "Steve" or "Kevin".   "Katherine took a liking to everyone at the party. She's as fickle as her mother. She'll likely marry a conDoin if she can find one not tied in the martial knot." "True enough. Say, I thought you said you were from Tiburn. Why are you taking this route home? Kind of a long way around isn't it? "Well yes, but I had to meet up with my ... uncle Locklear here. And my other friend is an elf, Thorgath. They decided that it would be nice for me to take a tour with them down to Kron... "Hawk's Hollow..." "...down to Hawk's Hollow. I hear it's lovely at this time of year. what are you up to?" "I'm looking to cash in a reward actually. When I was on my way to Yabon last month, I found a chest in this area but I couldn't pick the lock on the thing. I figured it wasn't meant to be and I left off. Thing is, all through the Duchess' party I couldn't help but think about it. I had chest on the brain. I don't really care what's in it, but I have to pick that lock."We can infer from this conversation is that there is a chest in the area with a lock on it that Phillip wasn't able to pick. This would be different then the one that we just opened (which has a wordlock, and is different) Perhaps later we can take whatever is in there for ourselves? Maybe we'll find buried gold! We won't!  Here we have our conversation topics. As we continue along, we'll sometimes unlock more topics to ask. The game is also generous enough to allow you to re-ask a topic, which usually gives you the exact same dialogue, though I think there are some occasions where the text might change depending on the circumstances. Often you'll want to re-select a dialogue open if it leads towards having somebody train your characters. We are going to ask Phillip about Nearest Town and Inns. "I'm afraid my senses of direction and distance are a bit off right now. We all had a bit to drink last night and we're still trying to shake off the effects. Which way is the nearest place we could get cleaned up?" "It must have been quite a bender if you're that confused! Head straight south along the main road and that will take you on into LaMut. If you're looking for good food, the Blue Wheel is a solid wager, though I warn you their Tsurani food can be a bit spicy." "I for one could do with a little less sleeping on the ground. Any good inns that you can recommend?" "There's the Blue Wheel Inn in LaMut or you might try the Dusty Dwarf in Hawk's Hollow. I suppose if you got really desperate you could try breaking into one of the abandoned houses out in that part of the country but I can't sleep well in a house that may fall on top of me. Of course, it may well be that the people have moved out for good reasons. I've heard that several people south of Loriel moved out after a contagion began spreading near there."This opens up a new conversation topic, Abandoned Houses, but we should also take note that the village of Loriel may be afflicted by disease. "Was anything left behind in ay of the abandoned houses you saw?" "Nothing of real value. Bits of food in a few cupboards, an occasional gold piece kicked beneath the foundation of the house. Lost items mainly. The majority of the places I visited had those unpickable locks --- what are they called --- Webber locks, yes. They had the Webber locks installed and so I wasn't able to get inside. "I'm not certain, but I think I may have mislaid a very valuable belonging of mine..." "I shouldn't worry about it. Depending on where you lost it, the chances are food it will still be there.This is just a hint that most chests with locks (whether normal or wordlocks) will left you safely stow away your items. Leaving items someplace else, like say on the middle of the road, won't be quite as safe. We've got nothing left to ask Squire Phillip, so we take our leave and continue south.  An example of an unsafe place to keep things: A hole in the ground.   Aventurine is good for maintaining or improving the condition of crossbows. It isn't much good to us at the moment since neither Locklear or Gorath have a crossbow, but we could always sell it I suppose. For now, it goes in Gorath's pack. I head down a little bit further south on the road and see a signpost, clicking on it reveals...  That we've reached LaMut! But let's hold off on going there for the moment and scout out the area first.  Why? Because in the distance, there is a figure moving about! I've circled him in red just in case you can't see what I'm talking about. Let's pretend we don't know what or who the guy is, and examine him by using our right click.  Ah, a Moredhel! A bit silly to think that he's just strolling about. While we could just walk over to the guy, better if we left click on him...  ... because now our characters are planning to attack him and so we will attempt an ambush. By not clicking on enemies on the main screen, they will ambush you, even if you (the player) are completely aware of their presence.   But our ambush attempt fails. Still, it's three on one in this instance, so unless this guy is Dog the Bounty Hunter or Hawk the Slayer then we've got nothing to worry about.  Alright, this is our first combat screen. While I'm mildly alarmed to discover that  Owyn doesn't have a lot of spells to choose from initially, but in the early game 'Despair Thy Eyes' will be your standard spell to cast. "A useful spell, it prevents the target from taking any action in combat. It only lasts a few rounds though, and unfortunately there are some enemies that it just doesn't work on."Note that using a spell does use up Owyn's Health/Stamina. Losing 2 points isn't a big deal in this case, but with some other spells - especially those that let you determine how much you want to spend in exchange for spell power - it can add up to quite a bit, so take care and note just how prepared Owyn is when casting spells. I have Owyn cast the spell which blinds our opponent. Locklear goes next, but instead of moving him forward just yet, I have him assess our foe using the scales bubble just below the magic one.  This will sometimes give you a sense of how difficult a foe we face. Othertimes, you might not be able to gleam much information about the enemy at all. In this instance, Owyn is twice as good as this guy (as far as stamina). His accuracy sucks, so we can easily mop him up.  I said easily mop him up, Owyn! <  >  Locklear, Gorath, kill! "Rarr!"   With our target blinded, the battle is easily won. I loot his body for another set of Kingdom Armor and a Sword, (more on weapons and armor later) and then turn back to head into LaMut. All hail the conquering heroes!  Next time we'll finally enter into our first city, LaMut, and meet a few interesting characters. Also, more plot and sidequests! "I may or may not get us kicked out of the inn due to my ineptitude with a lute!  "I'll be there too, hitting on the barmaid. My glorious mustache quivers in anticipation!"  "I find myself suddenly regretting my choice of traveling companions."  That's it for this post. See you in Update 3: Let's talk about the Backstory. Snugglecakes fucked around with this message at Mar 24, 2013 around 21:01 |
| # ? Dec 31, 2012 18:58 |
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Owyn is wearing standard issue Brown Fantasy Tights. This is slightly better than not wearing pants. Slightly. I played this game to death as a kid, I'll be curious to see if you show anything I missed.
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| # ? Dec 31, 2012 19:42 |
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This is probably my favorite CRPG of all time. I absolutely love it, and still do to this day. Will definitely be following this.
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| # ? Dec 31, 2012 20:46 |
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I played this game through at least three times, I'll certainly be following. Out of curiosity, how much wandering will you do? There's a lot of chapters where you can wander through a good fraction of the map and come across unique things.
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| # ? Dec 31, 2012 21:25 |
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Added Space posted:Out of curiosity, how much wandering will you do? There's a lot of chapters where you can wander through a good fraction of the map and come across unique things. A fair amount will be done offscreen, as I don't need to show off every chest I find while poking about in the mountains and hills, but I'll show the bits that are unique and/or interesting.
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| # ? Dec 31, 2012 22:07 |
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Oh, man, this brings back memories--though odd ones, probably. I remember when this game first came out and furiously begging my parents to get it for me, but never ended up having my own copy. I'd always want to play/see this game and I'm glad that I finally can (it took bloody long enough for me to...  )
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| # ? Dec 31, 2012 22:13 |
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Heard a lot about this game back in the day, never took the time to play it. So this should be interesting. 
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| # ? Dec 31, 2012 23:49 |
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I may have to replay this. They just utilized so many concepts to their full potential. The live-action video animations of the characters looks great for the time, and holds up even today. Durability and rations are done well, and aren't frustrating or out of place. Even the plot works well with the gameplay. They just did a shitload with the little that they had to work with.
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| # ? Jan 1, 2013 06:41 |
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This, exactly. Everything in this game just works. The characters and story work well, there's a ton of stuff to do, combat is fun, and I can't really think of anything in the game that's just plain bad.
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| # ? Jan 1, 2013 07:04 |
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I feel for Owyn. He just stopped to help a wounded man, and now he's being dragooned into a big overland journey.
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| # ? Jan 1, 2013 07:18 |
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Update 3: Let's talk about the Backstory The events of 'Betrayal at Krondor' take place 10 years after the events of 'A Darkness at Sethannon', but what does that mean? What can we infer about the characters and the setting because of that? Well, there are four books that encompass the story so far. We first have the events that take place in 'Magician: Apprentice' and its companion 'Magician: Master'. What I have put below comes from the game's manual, which provides a broad overview of the story so far. The other two books leading up the events of the game are 'Silverthorn' and 'A Darkness at Sethannon'.   Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master Crydee lies in the westernmost duchy of the Kingdom of the Isles. Here, an orphan kitchen boy named Pug was made an apprentice magician. An indifferent student of magic, he nevertheless rose to high station and became a squire of the court. With his best friend Tomas, Pug discovered the wreckage of an alien vessel from Kelewan, a world dominated by the mighty Empire of Tsuranuanni. After several of the Duke’s men studied the remains of the ship, they surmised it had come through a magical gate called a rift and feared warships would follow. Leaving his eldest son Lyam behind, Duke Borric and his younger son, Arutha, led a company of men south to Krondor to warn Prince Erland of the possible attack. In the woods they found themselves beset by Moredhel, but eventually escaped to the relative safety of the Mac Mordain Cadall, an ancient dwarven mine. During the trek through the Mac Mordain Cadall, Tomas became separated from the group and found one of the last of the golden dragons, ancient and near death. The dragon told of his life and his encounter with a strange sorcerer, Macros the Black. Dying, he left Tomas with a magical gift of golden armor that would forever change his life. When the anticipated Tsurani invasion came to pass, Borric took command of the Armies of the West and rushed into battle. Realizing the importance of learning more about the magical rifts, the Duke sent Pug into Tsurani-held territory, but the boy magician fell captive and was taken to Kelewan. Enslaved by the Tsurani, Pug began a new life and fell in love with a girl named Katala, but was snatched away from his slave owner when it was learned he knew something of magic. Immediately he was taken to the Assembly of Magicians and began training in the Greater Path, a magic nonexistent in Midkemia. Tomas matured into a warrior of stunning power, made so by his ancient armor, once worn by a Valheru — a Dragon Lord. Little was known of these legendary first people of Midkemia, save they were cruel and powerful and had kept the Elves and the Moredhel as slaves. Aglaranna, the Elf queen, feared Tomas was being consumed by the power of Ashen-Shugar, the ancient Dragon Lord whose armor he wore. The Riftwar raged into its ninth year. Arutha feared they were losing the struggle and went to Krondor to appeal for help from the Prince. Finding the city besieged, Arutha was captured by the guild of thieves and was befriended by a young pick-pocket named Jimmy the Hand, who would figure prominently in the future prince’s life. Pug attended the Imperial Games on Kelewan, commemorating the Warlord’s smashing victory over Lord Borric. Pug became enraged at the cruelty displayed at the games, especially the brutal treatment of Midkemian prisoners. In a fit of rage, he destroyed the arena, shaming the Warlord and throwing the politics of the Empire into chaos. Pug then fled with Katala and his son William back to Midkemia. In Midkemia, the war was going badly for the Kingdom of the Isles. During a mad offensive against the Tsurani, the King became mortally wounded and, lacking an heir, named Borric’s eldest son Lyam as the successor to the throne, also making Arutha the Prince of Krondor. Eventually the Tsurani and the Kingdom sued for peace and brought the war to an end, but during the ceremony Macros the Black appeared and closed the rift between worlds. In the process, he was assumed to be killed. All returned to the throne city of Rillanon for Lyam’s coronation, save Arutha and Pug who visited the isle where Macros had lived. A servant of Macros told them the sorcerer had destroyed the rift to avoid drawing attention to "the Enemy", a vast and terrible power known to the Tsurani in ancient times who could use the rift to find its way to Midkemia.  Silverthorn For a year peace reigned in the Kingdom, but violence erupted once more as a member of the Nighthawks guild of assassins attempted to take Arutha’s life. Having saved the Prince’s life, Jimmy the Hand was forced to leave the Mockers and became a squire of the Prince’s court where he met Squire Locklear. Despite the differences in their upbringing, they became lifelong friends and comrades in arms. Using Jimmy’s knowledge of the seedier elements of Krondor, the Prince created a plan to capture his assassins, but when confronted most of them chose suicide rather than surrender. One captive, a magically disguised Moredhel, rose up from the dead and called upon his master Murmandamus, the evil leader of the Moredhel Nations of the North. Alarmed, Arutha told his advisers of the danger but decided to proceed with his plans to wed Anita, daughter of the former Prince of Krondor. Unfortunately, a Mocker assassin slipped into the wedding and made a second attempt to kill Arutha. He struck the bride-to-be with an arrow tipped with a rare poison, Silverthorn. While on a quest to find the antidote to the deadly Silverthorn and save Anita’s life, Arutha learned the Moredhel were acting on a prophesy that they would rise to power once the "Lord of the West" was dead. They believed Arutha was the "Lord" in question. Pug determined that the dark forces behind Murmandamus’ incredible power were of Tsurani origin. The Enemy — the ancient terror mentioned by Macros’ servant at the end of the Riftwar — was attempting to find a way through the rift. In Elvandar, Tomas was reunited with Pug who told him the Tsurani Enemy was trying to find a way into Midkemia. Pug also said both Kelewan and Midkemia faced their worst threat since the days of the Chaos Wars. He asked Tomas to come with him. Tomas agreed and, using his special powers, summoned a dragon, Ryath, upon whose back they could travel between dimensions and times. Ryath took them to a being known as the Oracle of Aal who informed them that only Macros the Black knew the answers they sought. In search of Macros, they traveled to the City of the Dead Gods where they discovered countless monuments. Tomas pointed out the gods and their duties and explained that originally Ishap had created a hundred gods, but only sixteen survived the insanity of the Chaos Wars to become the gods of Midkemia.  A Darkness at Sethannon After he discovered yet another plot against his life, Arutha staged his death to throw his enemies off-track. While Krondor mistakenly mourned Arutha, he headed north to kill Murmandamus. At the boundary between the Kingdom and the territory of Murmandamus, the party was taken captive by strangers. They were led to the most militarily impressive city that any of them had ever seen — Armengar. They realized the city would be one of the first major targets that Murmandamus would attack before heading into the Kingdom. Pug and Tomas eventually found Macros in the garden of the mysterious City Forever, but also found themselves caught in a time-trap set by the Enemy who had stripped Macros of his power. They managed to outwit the Enemy and broke free from their temporal confinement. At Armengar, Murmandamus attacked the city. Realizing they would be unable to hold the citadel from the Moredhel, Arutha and the city’s Protector, Guy du Bas-Tyra, ordered the city burned in an effort to incinerate Murmandamus’s army. Unfortunately the Moredhel leader escaped the city unscathed and Arutha and the rest of the refugees headed for Highcastle, the next stop on Murmandamus’s path. En-route to assist Prince Arutha — Pug, Tomas and Macros passed through the Hall of Worlds, a place that gave them access to Midkemia. Tomas asked Macros about the Valheru. In response, Macros passed a hand over Tomas’s eyes and Tomas began to "remember" a past life as a Dragon Lord. Years before, when Tomas had received the armor, he inherited the powers and mind of Ashen-Shugar, father of all the Valheru, who once strode the lands of Midkemia. Ashen-Shugar, like the rest of his kind, was continually at war with every being that lived and was one of the most powerful entities in the universe. Tomas and Ashen-Shugar shared a mind-link that spanned centuries, both learning from the link and gaining qualities of the other. This was how Tomas had become a legendary warrior and how Ashen-Shugar learned the quality of compassion. Eventually the gods of Midkemia came into being and the Valheru warred upon them. In the process, time and space became warped. This was the time of the Chaos Wars, when the Valheru warred with thousands of different races on thousands of different worlds. Finally, one of the Valheru, Draken-Korin, forged a tool to use in the war, the Lifestone, an item tied to all life in the world. Since the gods were also tied to that life the Valheru hoped to extinguish the gods with the Lifestone and escape through time, returning later to reclaim their world. Ashen-Shugar would not allow it and slew Draken Korin. Later, as Ashen-Shugar grew old and tired, his life essence drained into his armor — the armor that was given to Tomas. Macros explained that Murmandamus was likely to be swarming over Highcastle on the way to Sethanon, a city built on the ancient site of the Lifestone. They realized the Enemy was not a single entity, but was the combined will of all the ancient Valheru trying to come back and take Midkemia. At Highcastle, the Moredhel armies massed for the assault and Prince Arutha discerned part of the Moredhel plan, though unaware of their goal. Realizing that Highcastle would be easily taken, he told the Baron to leave the castle; but the Baron insisted they could take anything the Moredhel threw at them. The battle went terribly wrong and the Baron was killed during a Moredhel raid. The Prince was finally able to convince the surviving Highcastle commanders to quit the castle and head for Sethanon. Pug contacted his daughter, Gamina, and summoned the magicians of his magical academy and the armies from Kelewan to meet him at Sethanon. Sethanon was under attack and the defenders attempted to hold out for the arrival of reinforcements. Confronting Murmandamus on the walls of the city, Arutha identified himself to the Moredhel as the “Lord of the West,” knowing Murmandamus was using this allegation to manipulate the will of his troops. Tomas, Macros, Pug, Arutha, and Ryath descended to the Lifestone chamber far below the city. Macros informed them that if the Moredhel reached the Lifestone, it would mean the end of all life on Midkemia. Murmandamus strode through the bodies of the dead and drew his magic from death itself. Steeped in power, he decided that he was now strong enough. He abandoned his monstrous army and headed to the chamber of the Lifestone. Protected by a talisman from Macros, Arutha began an incredible duel to the death with Murmandamus. Pug and Macros tried to hold closed the rift that the Enemy was attempting to open with the help of Murmandamus. After great effort, Arutha killed Murmandamus. In death, his true nature was revealed. He was not a Moredhel but a Pantathian snake priest, a race of beings dedicated to bringing their Valheru mistress, Alma-Lodka, back into the world. With his death, Pug and Macros felt a sudden surge of energy as the rift opened for a brief second, just long enough to let the ancient spirit of Draken-Korin into the room. Tomas/Ashen-Shugar intercepted Draken-Korin as the evil Dragon Lord strode toward the Lifestone and the two began a fearsome battle. Finally, when it seemed Draken was going to activate the Lifestone, Tomas killed him and drove his golden sword through the Valheru and into the Lifestone. For a moment there was a brilliant sparkle in the skies as the ghostly forms of the Dragon Lords appeared, but their power wasn’t equal to the powers of life that rejected them from the world. Suddenly everyone in the area was swept by a sense of joy and happiness. The Dragon Lords were defeated! King Lyam dispensed titles and honors to the heroes of Sethanon while Pug and Tomas said a reluctant farewell to Macros. Ryath was mortally injured in the battle and Macros placed the Oracle of Aal into the dragon’s emptied mind and placed her in charge of the future defense of the Lifestone. Slowly, the veterans of the war went their separate ways.  Peace reigned. For ten years, the Kingdom prospered. Prince Arutha’s twin sons Borric and Erland grew into rambunctious teenagers; Squire Jimmy matured, becoming a much respected Seigneur of Krondor’s court; Pug returned to his Academy of Magic at Stardock and began a program of information exchange with the Assembly of Magicians on Kelewan, though refusing information specific to the battle of Sethanon; and Squire Locklear briefly entered military service under a daring garrison leader named Baron Moyiet who watched the Moredhel with an unforgiving eye. His watch would not go unrewarded. Still bitter over their defeat at Sethanon, the Moredhel yearned, driven by a belief the Kingdom had tricked them and imprisoned their leader, Murmandamus. Battles raged between rival clans who sought to control the future of the Moredhel. Those who had migrated from the Green Heart during the Riftwar chafed to return to their ancient forests, but were captured or killed as various chieftains attempted to brutalize the clans into a fearful union. When at last a Moredhel chieftain named Delekhan seized control of the ancient fortress Sar-Sargoth, he vowed revenge for the wrongs done to the Moredhel as he unfurled a banner not seen for ten years... the battle standard of Murmandamus. War would soon follow... That's it for this post. See you in Update 4: Arrival into LaMut Snugglecakes fucked around with this message at Mar 24, 2013 around 21:10 |
| # ? Jan 1, 2013 17:31 |
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This is one of my favorite rpgs of all time and I still play it to this day. Considered lping this myself but didnt since I knew Id abandon it, I hope you finish it as its a game I think people should see.
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| # ? Jan 1, 2013 17:38 |
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This was one of my favorite games back in the day. Sierra released a free version as a promotion for Betrayal at Antara which was like a spiritual successor. It's funny but my brother and I started reading a lot of Raymond E Feist books after playing this game. This was also one of the few games I remember that have been extensively documented prior to the advent of the wiki. I think it goes without saying but there are spoilers at this next link. Please don't click on it if you like to be suprised. The BAK web contains a ton of information about mechanics and stuff that I would have otherwise missed. Amazingly it still exists. One of the nice things about this game is that you can take whatever path you feel like. If I remember correctly, in this part of the game you have the option of going straight to Krondor or circling around the Dimwood and approaching Krondor from the East. There are also the two different paths to approach from the North. There are some interesting rewards in the alternate directions, but you'll also miss out on some events that lie along the most direct path. Of course it's been so long that I could be recalling one of the later chapters.
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| # ? Jan 1, 2013 22:02 |
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DerpAlert posted:This was one of my favorite games back in the day. Sierra released a free version as a promotion for Betrayal at Antara which was like a spiritual successor. It's funny but my brother and I started reading a lot of Raymond E Feist books after playing this game. This was also one of the few games I remember that have been extensively documented prior to the advent of the wiki. Generally I find its best to go through the 2 northern paths and/or dimwood. Going East is definitely the hardest route since you get an early introduction to trolls plus if you talk to to many people in the East and look in the wrong chest it can screw up the flow of the story for chapter 3.
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| # ? Jan 1, 2013 23:47 |
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Update 4: Arrival into LaMut "Our swords and armors are practically falling apart. Yes, we better go into town for supplies."Choosing to enter the town brings us to the overhead map which automatically moves us into the city.   We are then presented with an interactive overview of the town. My mouse cursor will change as I hover it over different places, but I can always 'TAB' and it will hop over to places we can visit. Right now we can see a hourglass just under the bridge indicating that I can examine whatever is under there. If I hover my mouse or 'TAB' around other parts of the town, I see that I can enter the keep, or visit the inn or the shop. Let's check out the bridge first.  "Yoink!"Free gold is always good, especially at this early stage of the game. Let's check out the keep next.  Captain Belford stood as they entered the room. "It's good to see you once again, Locklear," he said, extending his hand. "I share that sentiment. What news have you? How is Earl Kasumi?" Locklear asked as the men shook hands. They sat in hard wooden chairs as Belford replied. "he's well, but he's off taking care of some business with a few new guards come through the rift from Kelewan. As for the rest of us, we're looking for a group of grey warriors from Kelewan who slipped through the rift just before it closed." Locklear looked a little puzzled. "King Lyam and Emperor Ichindar granted the grey warriors freedom and new status in the Kingdom."  Aha! A quest hook! We can try to find Makala's Missing Ruby. Of course, it is one missing ruby and this is a pretty large world. It could be just about anywhere. Perhaps we'll get some more information about it as we shop around town?    Oh man, Elf Crossbows, and hell, even Tsurani ones are fantastic in the early game. Elf crossbows (and arrows) are extremely accurate to boot. Unfortunately Fletcher's doesn't have much of use to us at this stage, as 800 gold is a bit out of our price range at the moment. "Oh man."    The scroll can teach Owyn the spell 'Eyes of Ishap'. But we can't afford it. I might come back later on to purchase it unless we pick it up somewhere else in our travels. (which generally will be the case) "Eyes of Ishap allows the caster to locate any vessels that might hold valuable items, like buildings, chests even mounds of dirt, tree stumps, bags or wells! Though for whatever reason, it doesn't work on dead bodies, graves or bushes."Overall nothing we can really spent our money on in this shop, but we can at least offload our spare Kingdom Armor and Broadswords here to get a little extra spending money.  Not that it is worth much. The shopkeeper's price varies depending upon the condition of the item you are trying to sell. Later on, the price can sometimes vary depending upon economic conditions. Note however, that you can't haggle when you sell in attempt to get a better price. You are only allowed to haggle when you try to buy something. Some shops will have a Repair option. Usually a find that like is fantastic because you can spend some money and have the armorer get your sword/armor back to 100% condition. However, in this shop...  He only repairs crossbows.  Even if we had any crossbows this would be a complete waste of money, because the easiest way to get a crossbow back to 100% condition is to put a new bowstring on it. In the case of say, a light crossbow, the replacement string is usually cheaper then what the armorer will charge you to fix your bow.Clearly we'll have to get better supplies someplace else. "Off the bodies of the slain, most likely." We've arrived at the most important place in any game, the Inn!  We can interact with each of the characters. You can tell who the important ones are because your mouse will turn into a "Talk" icon when you hover over them, whereas if they are unimportant, such as the guy to the far left who is hunched over, its just a simple finger cursor. Those people can be safely ignored, but they will provide some flavor text if you click on them.Using adventure game logic, we'll talk to whoever the guy is behind the bar first. But first let's see just how good Owyn is on the lute. "This Kingdom Mine" (not my upload, skip to 1:00 mark in to hear the 'bad' version of the song.)  Yeah, having a low barding skill will sometimes mean that you'll get ejected from the Inn. Fortunately, we are allowed to re-enter, (we are just banned from playing the lute for a little while). Let's talk to the bartender.   "Honors to your Houses"    Topic: Sumani "Why did you decide to come to Midkemia and open an inn, anyway? Surely you would get better business on Kelewan." "I was not always a tavern keeper. As a soldier serving House Shinzawai under Earl Kasumi, I was trapped here when the rift gate was collapsed at the end of the Rift War. It was our belief that we would never again see our families in Tsuranuanni or the green skies of Kelewan again." "But Tsurani warriors traditionally kill themselves if they are in danger of falling captive to an enemy." "This is true, lord, but the Earl informed us that we were forbidden to dispatch ourselves until given leave to do so by a Great One --- I believe in Midkemia you would call such a one a magician. Until such a time, I content myself with running the Blue Wheel Inn."Topic: Rift Gates "I've heard that the permanent rift-gate to Kelewan is located near here. I was hoping we could get a glimpse of it." "There would be little to see at the moment. An internal conflict has arisen in the Empire between House Acoma and House Anasati. The Assembly of Magicians have ordered a temporary interruption of transport between the Empire and the Kingdom of the Isles until such time the conflict is resolved. I have been assured the measure is temporary."Topic: Combat "You said you were a soldier with the Tsurani forces. Would you be interested in teaching us some of your combat techniques?" "It would be my honor, lord, but I will require a small fee for my services. If my armor were to be damaged, I would be ill prepared otherwise to pay for it's repair." "Seventy Five sovereigns should cover any potential harm. Is this fee acceptable?"Holy crap that's expensive! "I wish that I could, but it seems that we are low on funds." "That is regrettable. If you were willing to speak to Earl Kasumi up at the garrison, I am certain you could arrange for a wage to be paid you and then you could come back for my instruction. I think you would find it worth your while..."Topic: Armor Repair "I don't know how much longer our armor is going to last. Any idea where we could get it repaired?" "If your armor was the same as mine, I would suggest trying the garrison, but Kingdom armor is made in a different way. I would think perhaps the dwarves in the Mac Mordain Cadal would be of assistance. I understand from speaking to Dubal that the small ones are gifted when it comes to the manufacture of weapons and armor."Topic: Grey Warriors "We were up at the Garrison earlier and they told us that a group of grey warriors stole a pair of rubies. Are the grey warriors some kind of special armed force on Kelewan?" "Special, yes, but not in the way you imagine. The grey warriors are men without honor, men whose houses have been destroyed by an opponent house. Such men must live off the land until they die, though I have heard that Mara of the Acoma has accepted many such men into her estate. Others have learned they may be granted freedom if they can reach the Kingdom. Many die trying..." "Where would such men go once they got here?" "Away from La Mut, wherever they might go. Though the members of the Garrison here are bound by Kingdom law, many of the soldiers still live by Tsurani custom, as I do. It is not easy to fight our feelings about the grey ones." "If indeed these grey warriors have stolen rubies, I suggest you seek out a man with a tainted honor...Keifer Alescook in the town of Loriel. He is a gem merchant there, out of his home."Topic: Thefts "I get the feeling this ruby theft isn't an isolated incident." "You listen between my words. This is the sixth such theft in the past year. Twice, gems have been stolen near the Assembly of Magicians from Great One Makala's entourage. That would be no simple feat to accomplish, even for a master thief. Whoever it is that is responsible, he must fear little if he doesn't fear the wrath of a Great One."" I would take care following this thief, friend. I sense he is very dangerous."Topic: Goodbye! "Thank you for your services, Sumani. You have a wonderful establishment. It's very Tsurani." "Your patronage honors us." "Goodbye. I promise if I'm ever in LaMut again, I'll be sure to drop in for a bit of something to eat."An enlightening conversation with Sumani, we've got some more flavor on the whole ruby incident, and know that we can come back to him for some combat instruction once we can afford the fee. Let's talk with the other person in the room, the dwarf.    "Aach, what is it now?"     What's that lassie? Timmy fell down Mac Mordain Cadal?   "I'm getting the feeling that you aren't taking me very seriously." Oh - it's another sidequest: Kill a Brak Nurr "I've heard tales of these creatures of stone. Thank-you, Dubal."It might seem like it was a pretty short conversation with Dubal, but as we progress further into the game, we'll see that character who had little to say to you in the previous chapters will have more to say in later ones as time and events have passed on by. I'm sure we can get Dubal talking a bit more later on in the game. Other things we can do at the inn would be to restock our provisions, as our rations are running a bit low.  "Bring on the brandy! And the ale! And the wenches!"Since we don't want to use up all our money on that at the moment, or offend Sumani, we beter just leave. One last guy to talk to - the unimportant one!  "Hey, unimportant characters have feelings too, rear end in a top hat." "Actually, we're not headed in any specific direction," Gorath intervened. "We're wandering. Looking for an employer. Treasure to watch, caravan to guard..." The man snickered. "Or a caravan to steal from, eh? Freebooters then. Well, there's not much going on in the Kingdom these days, not in the west. The Prince has seen to it his roads are safe and his vassals happy. For the likes of us, he's taken all the fun out of life." Locklear nodded. "You're not the first to say so."  Another interaction at the Inns is sleeping. (go figure) You see where the characters' health is currently? All three of them are missing a few points of health. Now, if we sleep outside, there is no recovery of those lost hit points, you only recover them if they are highlighted in red. In the inn, you can get full recovery. It just costs you some coin, however there is the risk that can sometimes accompany staying at the inn for more then one night... Locklear settled the account. "Room's upstairs," the nightmaster said. "Have a good rest."  And with that disturbing image of Gorath in bed with three other men, let's wrap this up.  Where to next? We've got some sidequests and things of interest that can check out: - Squire Philip's Chest - Malaka's Ruby - Investigate the contagion in Loriel Or we could try to find and kill this - Brak Nurr  "This is stupid. I wish I wasn't a rock monster and that my show wasn't canceled."Or we could ignore all those sidequests and continue along south down towards to Krondor. But hey, that's only the obvious route. Maybe there is some other path I should take instead? Let's consult the map... That's it for this post. See you in Update 5: Look but don't touch Snugglecakes fucked around with this message at Mar 24, 2013 around 21:32 |
| # ? Jan 2, 2013 00:37 |
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I would like us to go up north, to Tyr Song. The Moredhel are sure to have assassins lying in wait down the most obvious path. We may be able to avoid them by heading further north.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 01:01 |
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Let's head to the Mac Mordain Cadall and kill us a Brak. Might be able to get our stuff fixed while we're at it. Wow, I had forgotten all about this game. I got it as a kid and it was apparently way over my head. I wandered around for a couple hours, but had no idea what I was doing, or how to do anything, and apparently got killed and gave up. I always felt totally broke- I think I interpreted the money as 40 s(ilver), 1 r(oyal), thinking that 100 royals = 1 silver, and 100 silvers = 1 gold. It's dirty to have prices listed in "gold and silver", but your currency listed in Sovereigns (gold) and Royals (silver). So it felt like I had a handful of change when everything cost hundreds of dollars. I read Feist's books years later and don't think I ever realized the connection. The game looks pretty deep for its time, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I missed.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 01:27 |
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Snugglecakes posted:
These are both references to a side trilogy that Feist and another author named Janny Wurts co-wrote called the Empire Trilogy, which details the exploits of Mara of the Acoma against House Minwanabi, House Acoma and the Assembly, who are way worse than they originally appear to be. Also, kill the Brak Nurr, because I'm interested if a certain chamber within the Mac Mordain Cadal shows up or not.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 01:36 |
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Schwartzcough posted:Wow, I had forgotten all about this game. I got it as a kid and it was apparently way over my head. I wandered around for a couple hours, but had no idea what I was doing, or how to do anything, and apparently got killed and gave up. I always felt totally broke- I think I interpreted the money as 40 s(ilver), 1 r(oyal), thinking that 100 royals = 1 silver, and 100 silvers = 1 gold. It's dirty to have prices listed in "gold and silver", but your currency listed in Sovereigns (gold) and Royals (silver). So it felt like I had a handful of change when everything cost hundreds of dollars. My experience as a kid was very similar whenever I played it by myself. I had better success playing with my dad and my older brothers, who could figure out more of the riddles and generally made more sense of the story and plot then I could. We never beat the game playing together though - we only made it about halfway through before losing patience because we were losing so many battles. The game has a certain timeless charm about it that had me going back to play it again and again as I got older; it was years before I managed to beat the game by myself.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 14:05 |
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I vote Brakk Nurr because it might actually be challenging at this point in the game and the Cadal also contains what I found to be one of the more brutal wordlock chest as a kid.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 14:48 |
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I vote for recovering the giant ruby because it's a giant ruby.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 17:10 |
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Played this game a lot back in the days. Nice to see it again. If I remember correctly, the party comes across all those quest hooks in the novel too. And on of them says something like : "We got important and urgent stuff to do, getting distracted here would be stupid." I think it was about the chest. So, let's pick up that chest.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 18:43 |
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tonberrytoby posted:Played this game a lot back in the days. Nice to see it again. I believe they miss the quest hook for the chest, skip going after the Brakk Nurr because it's the entire wrong direction and go after the Ruby because it's somewhat on the way and might help Locklear look better for returning from exile early, but it's been a while since I read the book.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 19:00 |
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We need to kill the Brak Nurr because I remember how long and horribly I suffered trying to do that as a little kid, before I was any good at mazes.
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| # ? Jan 2, 2013 19:35 |
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Alright, looks like the vote so far is to kill brak. Which is just as well as I played ahead and started exploring the mine already.
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| # ? Jan 3, 2013 12:59 |
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This game is great. First time I tried playing I ran into the dreaded bug with the gemstone/rock thing after the Morhedral prison, but after I got a patched version going for my next install that cleared up and I got to enjoy this game in its complete glory. ...breaking it utterly with some easy 'exploits' was fun too.
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| # ? Jan 3, 2013 16:13 |
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Finally, I've been waiting for this since I saw it in the Sandcastle. Loved BaK to bits back in the day. I'll try to fill any missing stuff I remember (not that there's much). Voting for the least obvious and most roundabout route that doesn't break the plot, doing all side-quests along the way. Also, I remember BaK having a fun cheat. The skills are set to decrease with health/stamina. Guess what happens when you use a memory editor to sed health beyond maximum? Instant uberstats! 
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| # ? Jan 3, 2013 17:51 |
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This game is great. I spent a great deal of time playing this in my youth and to this day I still have my CD and manual.
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| # ? Jan 3, 2013 20:10 |
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ChrisAsmadi posted:I believe they miss the quest hook for the chest, skip going after the Brakk Nurr because it's the entire wrong direction and go after the Ruby because it's somewhat on the way and might help Locklear look better for returning from exile early, but it's been a while since I read the book. Speaking of his exile... I don't know if the game goes into this, but Locklear is something of a playa. He got exiled to the frozen north for fooling around with the wrong noble's daughter. Half the reason he's escorting Gorath to Krondor is to visit someplace with a warmer climate. Just a little flavor behind that glorious mustache.
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| # ? Jan 3, 2013 20:41 |
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Ah, I remember playing this game so much as a kid, when my grasp of English was spotty at best but enough to understand the gist of the plot if not the finer details. Trying it again now would be like playing blind, but everything shown so far brings familiar and pleasant memories. Also I never finished it properly (got to Chapter 2, perhaps 3 tops) but I believe I did a few cheats and/or exploits to get to the end area just for kicks.
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| # ? Jan 3, 2013 22:29 |
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The earlier chapters are more straightforward as to what you are supposed to do, like with this 1st chapter of escorting Gorath to Krondor. Later chapters, I think starting at 3 and those after, are much more broad and present more obstacles to the players. It takes on more of an "Hey - in this chapter, just figure out what's going on! No hints for you! " Update(s) tonight or over the weekend, I have my images all ready, I just need to do the writeup.
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| # ? Jan 4, 2013 16:10 |
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Update 5: Look but don't touch (or alternatively:  ) "The title of this update doesn't exactly fill me with confidence." There was only one vote for going for the chest, but I decided to go get it anyway (since it isn't really a sidequest) If you are in a safe area (that is, one that you've already cleared of enemies) a good way to look for treasure off the road is to go into your map mode like this so as to get a sense of your surroundings. Areas behind hills, such as where we are right now are usually places to find chests or other containers giving out treasure. Of course, that doesn't always happen. There is a spell and in later chapters, an item, that helps with looking for treasure chests and the like off the road though.  Going from map mode back to the main screen, I see that there is indeed a treasure chest in this area. The game is being a little nice here by having it exposed with no trees or brush in the way. This will change as we continue to progress in the game.  Moredhel Wordlock chests will automatically take you to the puzzle, whereas every other normal chest that you haven't already opened, will give you the option to attempt to open it. "Huh, well I don't see why wouldn't we open it immediately." "Perhaps the reason for not opening chests you come across right away will be demonstrated later on?" "Woah. I just had this sudden sense of foreshadowing. I'm sure it's nothing though." In this instance, we are taken to the lock-picking screen, which for the most part is self-explanatory. To the left is the type of lock that you have, and to the right will be the number of lockpicks that you have on hand as well as any keys that you've picked up.  Certain keys will fit certain locks. Typically, the lock that we have here is called a 'Peasant's lock' which our key here would open without issue.  Sometimes it just doesn't work though. That's okay because we also have some lockpicks, and Locklear knows a thing or two about picking locks.  He's also a bit smug about his ability as well. Anyhow - we've opened the treasure chest that Squire Phillip mentioned, I'm sure there will tons of fantastic supplies inside. It'll be a veritable Christmas!  Oh. Or not. The armor is standard, and unless somebody has a lower condition armor then that, it'll just be sold off in LaMut for a few coins. The shell falls into the category of 'Gems' in this game. It doesn't serve any particular purpose in combat or adventuring, but pretty much exists for the purpose of selling in shops. What sucks is that shells give you probably a sovereign at best. I mentioned before that Locklear could open the chest because he had talent in lockpicking. The reason that I know this is because by right clicking on your character portraits, you can open up screens for them individually that shows off not only their current health, stamina and status, but also just how talented they are at various skills.    We can also get a general comparison between characters here. Gorath for example is a killing-machine, but he is kind of hopeless when it comes to playing a lute or picking a lock. Still, we could train up those stats if we wanted to. How do you train a stat? We already know of one way in that you can pay certain individuals like to help boost a stat. Training with Sumani would go a long way towards increasing each of the character's combat ability. The other way to do it is to select which stats you want your character to focus on.  See how some of the sword's bubbles are red now instead of blue? That's because I've actively selected them, and so as we go along in the adventure, Locklear's stats on those will (supposedly) increase, albeit slowly. Training stats really comes into play in battle. If you go along and fight enough people, your active characters will continue to get better at fighting (and in Owyn's case, better at casting magic). It is entirely possible to spend a good deal of time in Chapter 1 exploring the map, fighting and getting enough gold to make our heroes into ubermensch, but I find that puts off game balance a bit in later chapters.  I can also use the character status screen to check on what spells Owyn knows. The list is pathetically small and not terribly useful at this point.  Heading back towards LaMut, I find a scenic graveyard just outside of town.  Aw... she sounds she was a lovely person in life. So let's dig her up!  Guess we need to obtain a shovel first before we can do some proper graverobbing. "Why would we do this? Who digs up bodies to look for treasure?" "This is an adventure game, Owyn. We will search every little thing possible, and knock on every single door along the way." "But..." "Every. Single. Door." We continue to head south of LaMut towards the mines. They are off on the small blue path just ahead, but the game is also giving us another treasure chest to open.  Thanks game!  I'm not going to show every chest I encounter, but I will use this one to show off the armor and weapon descriptions and modifiers.  Apart from the flavor text here, there is some very important information. First, we learn that this is repairable. That is good. we want to have high quality armor. The second is the 'more info' button.  Which gives us a bit more information. The modifier is just a mere 15%, which won't absorb much damage. There are no resistances active on the armor at the moment, though later there will be items that we can apply to armor (and to our weapons) which will either give them resistances to certain effects, or in the case of our weapons, allow them to inflict a certain kind of damage. The racial modifier indicates what race the armor is designed for. In this instance, there is (apparently) a benefit for humans wearing the Kingdom Armor, but in my opinion, this matters very little as armor designed for say, a Dwarf or an Elf will work just as well on our characters and will always be better then the standard Kingdom Armor that we have here. Let's also examine our standard broadsword.   What's worth noting here is the modifiers that the sword has in combat. With a broadsword equipped, we have a +10 to our accuracy in combat when thrusting with the sword. We have a -5 accuracy when swinging it, but if we do connect with a swing, then we get a +7 bonus to our strength (more strength meaning more damage inflicted).     "assistance to us, assuming they don't take exception to Gorath here. Do we investigate or not?"Yes No    Oh god, we're blind! The torches on the wall are useless! Whenever you are in a dark place, you'll be forced to have some kind of light source, otherwise you'll be flailing around in the dark. While you can do that for a bit in the main screen, it's near impossible to see where you are going in the overhead map screen. I'm pretty sure this doesn't effect your statistics in combat, but I could be wrong. I had Owyn light a torch, which brought the light back to normal here.  If I didn't have a torch for whatever reason, I could have always had Owyn cast this spell as well. I'd much rather use a torch then use up any of Owyn's precious health and stamina though. Time to explore! We've got a Brak to hunt down and kill!   ""Bah! I thought I 'ad a Braak Noor."" "Beastie?" "Beastie, aye! 'alf a week ago we 'eard something fierce a'bayin' in the mine, terrible cold like. Of course a dwarf knows the sound instant whether he's heard it before or not - Brak Nurr. Curse of every hole delver since first dwarves took up hammers." "I've never heard of them." "No one has in quite a while, laddie. There 'asn't been a Brak Nurr in the upper mines for well on since Delong the Great laid claim to the Kingdom of the Isles. We thought we'd laid low the lot o' them but the kobolds are stirring them up on their quest." "Kobolds?" "Your folk call them gnomes. They used to worship a dragon what lived down here, but when the dragon disappeared, they thought the dwarven folk 'id him away. Every now and again their leader Feydhir takes a notion to undertake a holy quest to find him. This time they must've woke up a clutch of Brak Nurr. Now the Nurr have collapsed the main passage an' kilt thirty of our kin. We've a reward to whomever can do it in - if you're of a mind and 'ave the spirit that is."Topic: Brak Nurr "I'm not saying we're interested in killing your Brak Nurr, but if we were looking for it, what would it be like?" "'alf again your height, and a'made of stone, like living rock they are. From out their nostrils they breath a green mist but I'd be wary of getting too close to look, for they'll drop a boulder on your head sure enow. We've already 'ad a few bravos what's come in to try a hand at killing the beastie, but there's not much they've been able to do themselves beyond get themselves so mangled they needed the help of a temple. I'd be as wary of them though as I would be of the beastie. They, none of them, want else but then to claim the gold that we've offered to the creature's slayer."Topic: Temples "The way things have been going for us recently, perhaps we would do well to seek a little help at the temples as well. Where are the closest ones?" "We dwarves don' much dawdle outside o' The Grey Towers or Stone Mountain, but as I ken, there's a Temple of Killian betwixt Zun and Hawk's Hollow. I think there also might be a Temple of Ishap here close, but I can't recall exact where that would be."Topic: Armor Repair "The barkeeper at the Blue Wheel Inn at LaMut suggested you might be able to repair our armor." "If we weren't digging ourselves out o' this pretty mess, aye, we could do something for ya, but we're all tied up to a man. Pardon my saying so, but we've problems a bit more pressing than dealing with dented armor. You might a try a hermit what lives near 'awk's 'ollow. He's gained something of a reputation for himself over the past few years."Topic: Swords "If you can't repair our armor, do you at least think you could do something about our swords? I hate to be difficult, but we're really in a crucial situation." "Are you deef, laddie? I told you 'afore we 'aven't the time to go repairing things at the moment. We're in a crucial situation ourselves if you 'aven't noticed!" "We would be willing to pay you." "I'm sure ya would, just as sure as I know the dwarves below would be willing to pay to get out from under the rock! It's a question of time, time! Bah! Look, if I show ya a trick to sharpening your swards, will ya promise not ta be bothering anybody else in the mine? I think I can turn a 'andful of sovereigns to advantage in LaMut and 'ire a few strong backs." "You have my word of honor." "That shall 'ave to do. I'll teach ya quick a little about weaponcrafting, but I'll expect a fee of 50 sovereigns for my trooble. Do we have a deal?"I can just barely afford this. Probably better things to spend my money on, but... Yes No "You'll have the gold before we leave. Now, let's see this trick of yours." "Watch what I do and carefully. I don't want ta be repeating meself more often than necessary. First off, ya'll want ta have a wheetstone 'andy. Without it, my trick 'ill be as useless as knees on a fish. The most important thing ta keep in mind is the angle at which ya draw the blade 'cross the stone... It's like this." "That's interesting... You sharpen the blade so the metal's edge has contrary planes. Opposite sides, opposite directions in the grain. Should make for an interesting cut." "It'll make for a cut that yar opponent won't quick forget. The weaponcrafting lesson's over, lad. We've both got more important things to get to."Bye! "Thank you for your time, Naddur. I hope you can get things straightened out down here." "We'll be fine, soon as we're through some o' this rock and the Brak Nurr is laid low. Ya canna keep us down." "I didn't think so. Perhaps we'll meet again." These are the best pop-ups to see.  The areas highlighted in red show in the increase. Locklear's weaponcraft has gone up 10 points, from 45 to 55%, so that isn't really that bad of a deal. It'll be an even better deal once we actually have a way to sharpen our swords.  Unlike the wide open maps outside, when you are in caves or mines, you need to explore and map the place out yourself. The mine has various twists and turns.  Some lead to dead ends.  Others lead to doors. Not all of them will be locked, but this one is.  It is also a new lock. If Locklear was better at picking locks we might be able to get this one open.  He isn't though, so we'll have to leave this door for now and hope we find a key that might fit the lock later on.  Walking a bit ahead, I decide to nap for a bit and receive this message. This is the game's way of telling you that enemies are nearby, which won't allow you to rest. This can be a pain in the rear end in later chapters, as you will want and need to rest to regain your abilities, and because enemies are everywhere you can't.  Walking out of the narrow hallway into this opening, we come across a new kind of enemy, a rogue!  Another failed ambush.   The enemy gets the first opportunity to move in this combat, and he bum-rushes Owyn, which is pretty smart for the AI to do, as his being near Owyn will prevent him from being able to cast spells.  However, I employ the tactic of everybody dogpile Owyn's attacker to take him out quickly.  He goes down like a sack of beans.  With that one down, Owyn can blind the other guy, which allows Gorath and Locklear time to easily mop him up.  Searching their bodies, we find a new type of sword!   It's not that great of a weapon though. For now, it goes on Gorath. His accuracy swinging might not be that great, but when he hits, it is going to bring a world of pain. Another downside of this sword is that many Kingdom shops won't purchase your spares, so it'll just take up space unless you can find a shop that only deals in weapons. Let's push past the dead bodies into the large chamber they were guarding.  Ohh! Another treasure chest!  Yes No   "Thought I was a goner there... Hey, Owyn. You okay?"    Whenever a character either falls in battle, or gets exploded by a chest such as this, they get a status called "Near-Death" at 100% which is horrible because it takes forever to go away. It also makes the character worthless in battle and with just about every other stat. Of course, if they can't take another hit in battle, then as soon as they fall they are near-death again, and you go nowhere. This is frustrating though, especially to new players, but it's a good lesson in utilizing one of Owyn's spells which allows you to detect trapped chests.    The spell apparently gives Owyn the ability to have a nifty vision of the rear end in a top hat who trapped the chest in the first place. Well, at least we know it is trapped now and we have the opportunity to deactivate it. Well done game, you taught me a lesson about always checking to see whether traps are on a chest before you open...   ...it. sonofabitch!   Status: Owyn is coughing up blood and praying to the Gods for mercy, and Locklear and Gorath are suffering from third degree burns. Let's get the hell out of here and rest up before coming back to tackle the rest of the mines. We might as well see what was in the chest that blew up though.  That's enough money to recoop what we spent on learning how to sharpen swords.  Woo! A shovel that we can use to bury Owyn once he dies. I always thought this was a pretty cruel joke for the game programmers to play. "Here, you've opened a chest and nearly died. Have a shovel! You're almost dead anyway" Safely outside the mine, we park outside by LaMut and go to rest.   After two days, Locklear and Gorath's wounds have subsided, but Owyn is still knocking on death's door. I can apply some of his herbal pack to help with the wounds.   The herbal pack gives a status called "healing". It was at 100% but after sleeping one day, it's down to 37%. Not so good. Fortunately, we have another option available to us, and that is to grab the restoratives that Locklear and Gorath have.   It heals a little bit at at time with each drink, but it does the job and gets Owyn back to health.  Not perfect, but we can rest outside as long as possible and then head into LaMut to get back to perfect health.  We heal up, and because we are now running low on rations, I have Owyn haggle a bit to see about getting a discount.   I guess setting blown to hell makes Owyn much more persuasive and charming. That's it for this post. See you in Update 6: Mac Mordain Cadall Snugglecakes fucked around with this message at Mar 24, 2013 around 21:51 |
| # ? Jan 5, 2013 21:20 |
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Snugglecakes posted:We can also get a general comparison between characters here, and why you wouldn't want to bother training Gorath to play a lute or pick a lock, given how hopeless he already is at those stats. Well actually its a very good idea to train Gorath's lock picking and ignore Locklear's due to things that will be happening later in the game quote:See how some of the sword's bubbles are red now instead of blue? That's because I've actively selected them, and so as we go along in the adventure, Locklear's stats on those will (supposedly) increase, albeit extremely slowly. SpRahl fucked around with this message at Jan 5, 2013 around 21:45 |
| # ? Jan 5, 2013 21:39 |
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SpRahl posted:Well actually its a very good idea to train Gorath's lock picking and ignore Locklear's due to things that will be happening later in the game Hmm! I don't think I ever knew that. When I was very young, I'd just select all of that stats because I figured I wanted them all to go up! I went back and tested this.  And you are right. Up to 60 with just weaponcraft selected, so I'll remember that for future trainers.
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| # ? Jan 5, 2013 22:52 |
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Finished up the rest of Mac Mordain Cadall this evening, and that'll probably be posted tomorrow after I finish a write-up and make a gif or two. Would be fantastic if we could get to Page 2 in the meantime. So close!  To help spur that along, what should we do after we finish Mac Mordain Cadall? 1. Head North, hitting Yabon and Tyr-Sog, and then head south to Loriel, Hawk's Hollow and then Zun. 2. Head North, hitting Yabon and Tyr-Sog, but keep on heading east to Highcastle. 3. Head South, hitting Zun, then down to Questor's View and Sarth. 4. Head South, hitting Zun, but then heading towards Hawk's Hollow and down towards Eggley. 5. Rush towards Dimwood and gently caress around there for awhile. Of course, if you guys want to look for the ruby, we can always do that as well. Map for your reference:
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 00:52 |
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Snugglecakes posted:Finished up the rest of Mac Mordain Cadall this evening, and that'll probably be posted tomorrow after I finish a write-up and make a gif or two. Would be fantastic if we could get to Page 2 in the meantime. So close! Go find us a Ruby option 2 is kinda pointless if we dont have money, option 3 is boring and if we want to do 5 we may as well do 4 instead since its on the way. Speaking of the Ruby I think you can actually use any old ruby to complete the quest its not really marked as a special ruby however it does hve a condition of 1% and is the lowest conditioned ruby in the game, meaning your just costing yourself money by turning in a different one.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 01:42 |
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Voting for option 1, for no real reason other than that it sounds interesting.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 02:01 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 02:20 |
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Umm, find the ruby I guess! Man, that chest seems like it was a huge pain in the rear end. Do you know if your chance to disarm is based on a "dice roll," or is a pure "you must have X amount of skill to disarm this chest"? Based on how much time and resources that cost to recover from, it seems like it would just beg for save-scumming if it was dice roll-based.
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| # ? Jan 6, 2013 02:54 |
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