The story revolves around the disappearance of the Ishapian Church's most sacred relic, the Tear of the Gods. A band of ruthless pirates - in the employ of Sidi, a shadowy, half-mad sorcerer - attempt to seize the Tear from the Ishapian treasure ship; but in the process, they sink the ship accidentally, sending the Tear to the bottom of the Bitter Sea.
Your efforts to recover the Tear inadvertently draw you and your group into a violent, three-sided battle over the relic. Your quest leads you from the dizzying heights of Krondor's Palace, through the twisting tunnels of the sewers beneath the city, and into the haunted depths of a temple dedicated to an evil as ancient as the gods themselves.
Age requirements: ESRB Rating: TEEN with Animated Blood and Gore, Animated Violence.
Minimum system requirements: Windows XP or Windows Vista, 1 GHz Processor (1.4 GHz recommended), 256MB RAM (512 recommended), 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 (compatible with DirectX 9 recommended), Mouse, Keyboard.
Average customer rating 4.0 out of 5.0
It's not Betrayal at Krondor, but that shouldn't stop you
(by
markellis07)
So much has been written about the greatness of Betrayal at Krondor and it is all warranted. Return to Krondor does not come close to achieving that level of excellence or renown, but it is still a great game on its own.... full review
This is a very linear game, which is both good and bad. While its linearity allows it to focus on details and a more gripping plot, you may feel spoiled games that allow you to do what you want, when you want to.
Where Return to Krondor really shines, though, is its plot. You will quickly feel invested in the journey of Squire James and his companions as he seeks to discover the root of the evil that is overtaking Krondor. While certain elements of the plot are hackneyed by today's standards, the storytelling, which is vastly enhanced by great voice-acting and remarkably well-written dialogue, is top-notch.
As far as gameplay goes, Return to Krondor is surprisingly entertaining. The combat system is turn-based and features a healthy amount of tactical consideration. Character development is limited but satisfying and tactfully implemented. One entertaining part of the game comes at the beginning, where you can scour the city for loot by revisiting certain zones of the city infested with bandits and other ne'er-do-wells. This leads to a satisfying feeling of upgrading your characters with powerful items.
All in all, Return to Krondor is a fun, refreshing romp that deserves a second look by today's retrogamers, especially for $5.99.
Book-Quality Plot and Setting + Good Gameplay and Voice-Acting = Excellent RPG
(by
darkness58ec)
Return to Krondor is set in a rich gameworld that makes use of courtly intrigue, thieves guilds, gritty and unusually detailed presentations of cities and interesting characters. The game is based off a series of fantasy novels by Raymond E. Feist.... full review
You play James a squire at the court of Prince Aruthia. James is a former member of the "Mockers", which is a thieves guild in Krondor. You immediately get a sense that the character has a long history, which needn't come into the present story to exist.
The game benefits from excellent voice-acting, and the other members of your party have in-depth backgrounds as well. The backgrounds are sketched out as you play the games and the world was so intriguing that I eventually read one of Feist's novels.
The gameplay is quite entertaining, with a lot of replayability. Particularly in the first chapters, you can wander the city and get into battles which consistently produce random loot. There is a lot of incentive to build up your characters and search for the best items, which seem to never turn out the same from game to game. Some games I have found extraordinarily good and interesting magical equipment (all equipment has descriptions), and other times I've found more mundane and completely different equipment.
Another benefit are scripted encounters which you will run into while you are exploring. For instance, two thieves jump out and engage you in some witty banter, in which some backstory about James is revealed, before you go into combat on the streets at night. The random encounters are often Chapter specific (chapters being the way the game is divided), so you will miss some and catch them again on another play through.
The graphics have not aged all that well, being flat and clunky. However the camera angle, which is individually placed in every presentation, turns an interesting and unique storytelling perspective to each place you are in.
Another neat feature is the narrator descriptions of things going on "off-screen" at the end of each Chapter.
For a good part of the game, your party is divided into two groups. You play each group sequentially and the places you are at in the country eventually converge, tying more than one plotline together. The narration, voice-acting and plot goals present a sense of urgency and purpose when you are moving through the story, but the game does not punish you for taking your time and really enjoying the section you are currently in.
Return to Krondor is an excellent RPG. A different, but very well done, complement to its predecessor Betrayal at Krondor.
a long waited sequel and a forgotten gem
(by
Eclipse)
In 1993 there was a game called Betrayal at Krondor, sporting an huge 3d world and very deep rpg mechanics. BaK took place in Midkemia, the world of Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar novels. It was simply amazing, a very good mix of 3d exploration, turn based fights and a lot of clever puzzles.
Then Sierra lost the rights and had to thrash the idea of making a sequel, the development... full review team did instead a new rpg with the same engine, called Betrayal in Antara. After a year Sierra took the rights on R.E. Feist's novels back and a proper sequel to Betrayal was made. Return to Krondor was built using a new engine that mixed pre-rendered backgrounds with 3d characters, giving the whole game top-notch graphics. They also added complex and very cool alchemy and thieving mechanisms, it's possible to brew and quaff custom potions and there's a fancy lockpicking minigame.
As storytelling goes, the plot is fairly linear but very well made, it's a game totally worth his price even today, and if you even tried Betrayal at Krondor you'll surely fall in love with this one as well.
I really hope to see both Krondor and Antara very soon on Gog.com too!
I remember that Sierra released BaK free for a limited time when Return to Krondor was released and it's why I know both games :)
markellis07)
darkness58ec)
Eclipse)