To say that you HAVE to play "Betrayal at Krondor" is like saying you HAVE to read a good fantasy novel or listen to good music. Of course you do not need to... But if you are into some of the things that make life a little more colourful at times..
BaK offers both - story and music- , since R. Feist (author of the Riftwar-legecy and other) wrote the storyline and helped with character developement, and the programmers added some really epic music to accompany you through Midkemia (the "World" of BAKrondor).
I have to admit, BaK was my first real big RPG. I played it around ´95. At first, I thought "WHAT THE...??" as I saw the graphics.. Non-textured triangular polygons were the "trees", while a brown line at the middel of your screen was your "path"?! Well, ain´t you an ugly one?! This was a total contrast to the finely drawn intro and the character portraits. But after I got a little used to it, my mind filled in the missing details, while the music and story began to tie me to my PC. I couldn´t stop playing -discovering unknown places, feeling as if I was treading forbidden paths all the time, battling and looting enemies, all the while developening my characters step by step... Wow, this was (and still IS) pure RPG greatness !! BaK offers a VERY detailed world, with its own culture, own dieties, own style of people, politics and so on, and that is because it is based on Feist´s best selling novels.
It makes the world very believable, almost palpable, not like most modern RPGs, where a new universe is created from scratch within a few hours and everything feels just like a hollow facade..
And then there were the riddle-chests... Next to the road you could sometimes find treasure-chest sealed with a riddle-lock and a rhyme engraved on the front-plate. If you guessed right, what the rhyme was telling you (and typing the answer into the riddle-lock), the loot was yours :)
I have never before - and NEVER AGAIN- seen my parent show interest in a computer-game of mine before. But the riddle-chests : "Son, you got another riddle for me to solve?!" :D :D Just plain awesome, like a game inside a game!
So, you can ignore this game, your choice!
But he who has never tasted a good wine can´t tell a good vintage from goat-piss.
Ah, there is "Betrayal at Antara" in this package, too... Well, let´s say. it is like BaK WITHOUT all things that made BaK great (story, music, riddle chests) but instead with better graphics. Saddening.