Return to Krondor

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. 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. I highly recommend it.

SUMMARY: “Return...” is one of the raw, unpolished gems in Western RPG’s that go unnoticed next to the top RPG's (Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Knight of the Old Republic) and cult classic RPG’s (Arcanum, ToEE, Torment). The game's got different things to offer than what every other RPG has got to offer. Can be finished in a weekend but definitely worth the cheap GOG price. DETAILS (shortly): * It’s a fixed angle RPG (think Resident Evil 1-3 etc) with lot of turn-based combat * great FF7 – era graphics with good character animation * with an well-written fantasy thriller, with some themes from real world subtly tied in (albeit shortly) * with exceptionally great music and thick atmosphere * and tolerable to good voice acting (most of the game is voice acted) It’s really undetailed and empty in places (hurried production, once again?) but luckily the main story arch is sufficiently finished and detailed. For best gaming experience: * Play with Hard - difficulty. It’ll be better this way in long run. * Move with either left-mouse click OR with keyboard * Running is by Ctrl + mouse left-click OR keyboard arrow buttons. * Learn how to use the change camera angle – button! Use it when angle doesn’t change when expected. * Assessment is the item identification skill. Max it out quickly as possible. Figure out the rest of the skills yourself. * Save before entering the doors anywhere - you can only quit to Windows during the combat (no Saving or Loading during combat; only Repeat combat – options after dying in combat). * In first chapter: BEFORE TALKING to Jazhara, check the Ye Bitten Dog district first... Before walking back to Palace District WITH HER, Talk and walk everywhere. * If you can’t figure out what to do in the daytime Krondor or in the last chapters, then please read the Gamefaq’s walkthrough. In these chapters, the solutions are at times very specific. IMO needs a spiritual or actual Kickstarter sequel - the game system & style's got lot of potential.

For those of us for whom Betrayal at Krondor was the definitive CRPG experience, watching the development saga of its sequel generated equal parts excitement and trepidation. When Thief of Dreams fell through at Dynamix/Sierra and Ramond E. Feist took his toys home, it seemed like all hopes for a return to Midkemia were lost (and Betrayal in Antara, while interesting, was a pale imitation of BaK). But PyroTechnix came through, and Return to Krondor was born. Given that it has a completely different engine and combat system (though battles are still turn-based, thankfully), RtK was always going to be a very different game. But the heavy involvement of REF in the story development and writing process was encouraging. While this is not as good a game as BaK (name one that is!), it shares its predecessor's strengths. Story, setting, and characterization are the building blocks here, and on the level of dialogue (now fully voice-acted!) I actually think that RtK surpasses BaK. The combat system is very engaging, and the inventory (alchemy in particular) and magic systems are memorably complex. With 3D-rendered sprites on 2D painted backgrounds, the graphics, while a huge step up from BaK, do look dated. But they are stylish enough that they stick in the memory. To me, the biggest misstep in this game is the amount of grinding you have to do in the first few chapters to get James and Jezhara to a usable level. I know Krondor is the home of the Upright Man and all, but how many thieves can there be in abandoned houses at night?? Answer: as many as you have the patience to kill. That said, the story is interesting and engaging, the characters are well-rounded and memorable, and the setting is a classic. If you liked BaK, I highly recommend it.

Betrayal at Krondor (BaK) was an original story-telling based RPG with a huge open free world to explore. It was a great success. Later on Return To Krondor (RtK) was released with up-to-date graphics (I'll not go into the politics of Betrayal In Antara and how RtK moved back to Sierra and the issues with Raymond E. Feist). This game is a great game although most prefer BaK a little better because for its time it was a much bigger game and had so many more features. For someone playing now, its harder getting into BaK because the graphics are so old. So RtK is a good choice. Like BaK, it the game is very story driven, the music immersive and lots of interesting places to see and explore. The turn-based combat system is retained and I enjoyed the game such that I played it until the end. The problem with RtK is that the camera angles are sometimes a bit poor, the character you are controlling moving across the screen is a little slow and that some of the in-game mini-games you need to play to beat the game are time-sensitive like playing an action game. But there is a strong 'feel' to the game like BaK when you play, e.g. when you walk down the side streets late at night and being attacked. Overall a great game and well worth getting. I sold my original copy and could not find a copy for a long time. Then they are being sold through online retailers a few weeks before appearing on GOG and I bought a copy thinking that it was my last chance to get a copy. Now its on GOG I am gutted as I really rather have a GOG version, but at the moment I can't justify buying another copy after having bought one only a month ago.