Betrayal at Krondor - Krondor Confidential - Part XI

[Silver]

Neal Hallford recalls the day that Betrayal at Krondor hit store shelves in the latest part of Krondor Confidential.

I have to admit that I don't remember the actual day that Betrayal at Krondor hit stores. Today major game releases are accompanied with signing events, and Twitter storms, and all kinds of pomp and circumstance, but we simply didn't do that sort of thing in 1993. A publicity blitz back then meant hustling for magazine covers for months in advance, and making sure you had a big presence at E3. Maybe you could get a TV news program to cover you if you had some kind of exploitable current event connection. For our team though, release day was simply time off after nearly two years of extraordinarily hard work. Though we were pleased with what we'd done, we had no idea how it would be received. We'd broken a lot of the "rules" for making RPGs along the way, and the game was crazily ambitious for the time. The one thing about doing anything creative is that the creator is aware of the gap between what they had in mind at the start and the thing they ultimately produce. All of us had things we would have liked to have done better, or to have expanded further. We could have iterated until Doomsday, but the time came to push it over the wall and call it done and start work on the sequel. All we could do is sit back and wait to see how the world would react.

From the beginning, we knew our first and most important critic was going to be Raymond E. Feist. His name was, after all, sitting above the title of the game, and he'd forever be tied to the success or failure of it despite having only minimal input on its actual development. It had been important to me in particular to get it right because Dynamix had handed me the keys to his universe without his knowing who I was or what I would do with Midkemia. I owed it to Ray and I owed it to his fans, but more than any of that, I owed it to the company to make sure Ray would be on board with whatever we did. If he loved it, he could make a very big difference in our efforts to promote the game. If he hated it, however, the many risks that we had taken during development could end up being disastrous for everyone.

More information.

 

[HiddenX]

I would pay a lot of money for a new game in the Midkemia universe. My favourite game would be about the Empire trilogy.

 

[Silver]

I would pay a lot of money for a new game in the Midkemia universe. My favourite game would be about the Empire trilogy.

I would like to see the Riftwar explored first, as its the natural start with Magician being the first book. I'll take anything in that universe but I think of it like the Narnia movies. They should of started with the first book, they always start with The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Having said that The Empire Trilogy being contemporary with the Riftwar time wise would be just as good a start I guess. I'm hungry for anything.

 

[Aubrielle]

Agreed, totally. Watching those videos for the Krondor Remake project give me a naive sense of excitement, hoping for anything Krondor. Btw, you guys have been following it more closely than I have recently...the "Krondor Remake" thing...is that anything serious, or is it more of a hobby project? I'd love to see it made into something.

 

[Silver]

Agreed, totally. Watching those videos for the Krondor Remake project give me a naive sense of excitement, hoping for anything Krondor. Btw, you guys have been following it more closely than I have recently…the "Krondor Remake" thing…is that anything serious, or is it more of a hobby project? I'd love to see it made into something.

More of a hobby thing for now (hopefully something develops out of it). Neal wants to develop an engine and get familiar with the ins and outs of things. Hopefully it leads to a game somewhere down the line.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

This guy be related to Rob Halford? Can he do this: https://youtu.be/7PVenGdovxI?t=50

 

[Carnifex]

I find these threads to just be big, massive teases. I don't think we'll ever see a game the likes of Krondor ever again, tbh.

 

[rjshae]

Ah the good old days, before trolls came along and slimed the internet. I doubt that a game like BaK would receive as warm a reception these days.

 

[redman5427]

I for one would love to see a movie series beginning with Magician

 

[Hastar]

I never played BaK but I wish I had. Read a lot of his books and enjoyed them. I hear BaK did not age well but I am glad it got good reviews and sold well.

 

[wolfing]

Ah the good old days, before trolls came along and slimed the internet. I doubt that a game like BaK would receive as warm a reception these days.

Reviews nowadays seem to be more concerned about how many FPS it has and how dark and gritty the setting is, not the actual gameplay.

 

[Silver]

Reviews nowadays seem to be more concerned about how many FPS it has and how dark and gritty the setting is, not the actual gameplay.

Only geeks and nerds used the net back in the day which is why those comments were positive in intent. You still had internet arguments but moderation was much better. The net was still not a corporate place. Once everybody else got on the net they brought their world with them imo.

 

[zakhal]

Id like to replay all the games related (betrayal, antara and return) if there easy way to do it with tablet (touch screen or gamepad). But even then my Android backlog is ever growing, just yesterday I bought Jade Empire for it.

 

[Rhuantavan]

What I'd really like is to have Thief of Dreams finally made. Krondor really deserves a proper sequel.

Reviews nowadays seem to be more concerned about how many FPS it has and how dark and gritty the setting is, not the actual gameplay.

Right? I don't get the whole dark & gritty thing in today's games.

I find these threads to just be big, massive teases. I don't think we'll ever see a game the likes of Krondor ever again, tbh.

If you allow me a shameless plug, I'm working on an RPG heavily inspired by BaK. If you're interested visit my devlog: https://www.patreon.com/rhuantavan

 

[joxer]

Right? I don't get the whole dark & gritty thing in today's games.

Welcome to the board.

The reason for it is inferior hardware.

1. You don't need to make superb looking sky, just stars, moon and if in caves even better.

2. You don't need to care about distant lights, just make things look nice near the protagonist.

3. Draw distance? What's that? Everything is surrounded by darkness so no need to care about that.

4. There are two types of consumers when it comes to comics. Some love detailed backgrounds in every scene. Some hate it as they get distracted/confused. There is no majority but the second base is easier to please faster and - cheaper. That's why there are more garbage comics than proper ones. Those cheap investments still earn $ and sometimes they get even praised by shittaste critics. Now apply this to games. And phonegames.

All in all, PC does not need "dark and gritty" rubbish. On PC it should be called - outdated graphics.
BaK remake is desperately needed. But a proper TW3like graphics openworld, not "dark and gritty" crap.

 

[Aubrielle]

I never played BaK but I wish I had. Read a lot of his books and enjoyed them. I hear BaK did not age well but I am glad it got good reviews and sold well.

I might still gently urge you to try BaK, despite the graphics. BaK is more writing than it is anything else, imo, and the writing is fantastic. I read the Betrayal at Krondor book after playing the game, and it felt bland in comparison…I think Feist must have written the game before the book (fans, correct me if I'm wrong)…it felt way more inspired, like the muses had come together in a powerful way for that game. I think even a modern gamer could get caught up in BaK if they're a Midkemia fan, or even if they enjoy a well-crafted story. It's so well-written, and you're in the novel in a way you aren't in a lot of other games - everything you do, everything you click on or eat or anything, is novelized. It's awesome.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Just bought this "pack" on GOG, always meaning to give this a go. The man's a Halford and if he's half as good as Judas Priest singer, t'will be worth it.
Anyone has any tips for this? Probably gameplay will be take some time to get used to.

 

[Silver]

Just bought this "pack" on GOG, always meaning to give this a go. The man's a Halford and if he's half as good as Judas Priest singer, t'will be worth it.
Anyone has any tips for this? Probably gameplay will be take some time to get used to.

Take notes on what people say. There is no quest journal. You can ambush potential ambushers if you explore carefully. There is lots of stuff to find off the beaten path, have fun!

 

[Rhuantavan]

I read the Betrayal at Krondor book after playing the game, and it felt bland in comparison…

Actually Neal Hallford wrote the story and dialogue. Feist only nodded when he saw the game done.

 

[Aubrielle]

Actually Neal Hallford wrote the story and dialogue. Feist only nodded when he saw the game done.

Oh! I had no idea...good to know! I feel silly for missing that...