Betrayal at Krondor: Para Bellum

 

Prince Arutha strategizes to counter the Moredhel threat.

 

This is the first game I've played with "Chapters." It apparently isn't the first in the RPG genre, although unless some console game did it first, it seems to be the first with a western release. In any event, I can't imagine that the authors of Krondor played Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes in Japanese, so I suspect that to them it was an original idea: An RPG with a story like a novel. It fits well with the thematic basis of the game.

   

I always have a viscerally negative reaction to "chapters" even though at least one of my favorite games, Baldur's Gate, uses them. I don't like gameplay that is overly structured: I prefer open worlds and nonlinear plots. I am aware that many games without chapters still have too much structure and linear plots, and I am aware that many games with chapters actually offer a lot of nonlinearity and player agency--Baldur's Gate again comes to mind--but I still feel like a "chapter" approach signals from the outset that the player's choices are going to be limited.

      

Arutha is a bit rude as the next chapter begins.

     

Chapter 1 of Betrayal at Krondor ends with the party's arrival at the titular capital, and the presentation of the Moredhel fugitive, Gorath, to Prince Arutha. The archmage Pug saves Gorath from an assassin posing as a palace guard. Chapter 2 ("Shadow of the Nighthawks") begins on the heels of this event. The opening narration is told from the perspective of Gorath, who is trying to warn Prince Arutha of the forthcoming Moredhel invasion. Pug's daughter, Gamina, and the Tsurani great one Makala (I believe an original character to the game) read his thoughts to detect any hints of treachery. Arutha bristles at Gorath's warnings and questions why Gorath would betray his own people; Gorath replies that as great a threat as Delekhan (the Moredhel general) is to the Kingdom of the Isles, his rule is even worse for the Moredhel.

     

I suppose that's better than vice versa.

      

Arthura complains that he doesn't know where to send his troops in preparation for the invasion ("Highcastle? Ironpass? Northwarden?"); Gorath replies that he doesn't know, either, but he thinks he can learn Delekhan's plans by intercepting messages sent between the Nighthawks--an assassins' guild that Delekhan is paying to spy for him--and Delekhan. "The messengers [are] always sent to a rendezvous in Romney," Gorath explains, and asks for leave to investigate the city. Arutha grudgingly accedes to Gorath's plans but insists that Seigneur James accompany him ("I know you might have preferred Locklear's company, but he has business elsewhere").

    

As Gorath leaves with Makala and Gamina to take a tour of Krondor, Pug and Arutha discuss strategy. Arutha thinks Highcastle is the most likely target, as it is closer to Delekhan's capital at Sar-Sargoth. Arutha begins drawing up plans to call extra soldiers from other garrisons. 

   

A new quest.

      

After that, I can finally start moving around. I begin with only James and Gorath--no third member--in the palace of Krondor, with Pug's wife Katala. She explains that no one important is around. James is able to enter Locklear's apartments, where we find all of the gold and Locklear's inventory left over from Chapter 1. I was worried we wouldn't be able to carry it forward. I gave Jimmy a few items related to lockpicking, torches, potions, and the picks themselves.

   

I try to have the pair exit the palace the normal way, but James insists that Delekhan might have spies, and that exiting via the sewers (the way we came) is the more strategic choice. Hence, we soon found ourselves back in there. I headed for the exit, finding no new encounters on the way. I should note that Christopher Theofilos's advice to fiddle with the step size and turn size did the trick, and movement was a lot faster and more intuitive, although I still haven't mastered the trick of not getting caught up on corners. You can't cut your turns closely in this game. You have to wait until the adjacent passage is a full 90 degrees to your left or right before you rotate and move forward. There's also no moving and turning at the same time; hitting either of the side arrows stops all forward momentum.

    

Owyn meets up with us as we reach the exit, having discerned through various palace clues that we were heading out on a secret mission. James and Gorath try to convince him that the journey will be too dangerous, but Owyn insists on coming along. 

       

I'm sure that dead animal on your head won't arouse any suspicion.

      

We reach the exit and are able to offload some excess gear in a shop outside the palace gates, bringing our financial total to 651 sovereigns, 9 royals. I briefly ponder whether to save it or to blow it all on either a Keshian Tapir (a weapon) or a suit of Euliliko Armor. I decide to keep it for now but to otherwise not be stingy with spending money on this leg of the adventure.

   

On the road, I take stock of James in comparison to Locklear. He's a little weaker, but faster. His "Melee Accuracy" statistic is 22% worse, but his "Lockpicking" is 32% better and his "Stealth" is 23% better. Other statistics are within 10%. All his equipment is at 100%. I'm sure he'll be fine, but as you might imagine, I don't love that the player has no choice in his characters. James is also more capital-c Canonical than Locklear, limiting any sense of making the character your own. 

     

He's also about 20 years older than in the books.

   

Outside, we're on the same map as in Chapter 1. I don't know if there are new encounters in the old places or if the chapter seeded the areas with new ones. Romney isn't terribly far away to the northeast, I could take one of two paths there, or I could go practically all the way around the world to get there. Part of me wonders what would happen if I went all the way to Sar-Sargoth and tried to find Delekhan right now.

     

Romney is further to the right than I remember.

    

Mindful that we're being stalked by assassins, I adopt the best approach I know to confound someone who is trying to predict your moves: randomization. The first intersection offers three paths. I roll the dice and end up on the southernmost path heading east.

     

I'm just doing what the coin says.

      

As before, I don't stick to the road but rather crisscross it, moving between the maps' edges and around mountains, looking for treasures or random encounters. The first place we come to is a village called Darkmoor. The name sounds familiar; sure enough, it's a dungeon in Might and Magic VI; it also appears in Darkmoor Hold (1985), a game I have absolutely no memory of playing or writing about. I hope that's just a matter of too many RPGs and not that I'm getting old. Anyway, in the town we find:

   

• A closed and locked barn where no one will answer our knocks.

• Three abandoned houses; one with 47 sovereigns and a light crossbow; one with three lockpicks and a shovel; one with a peasant's key.

• A shop offering rations, hammers, ropes, shovels, and torches. I buy a couple of torches.

        

The other items have been plentiful so far.

      

• An inn. Nobody wants to talk. We buy rations and ale.

• A house occupied by a woman named Caroline who tells us that the weird woman who lives down the road only comes out at night.

• A house at which a voice croaks to come back when it's dark, "and I will tell you about the Rusalki." I do as she instructs and meet an old woman who tells me a cryptic story about "innocence lost" and "spring blossoms robbed of carnal bliss." She concludes with: "Find the Magic Touch or you too may feel her icy kiss." I wouldn't be able to piece together her story except I've had some experience with Rusalki. 

         

I wonder if this will pay off later. I don't see any water nearby.

    

We wander into a trap on the way out of town, this one not accompanied by a battle. It's more elaborate than any trap I faced in Chapter 1, with six staves poking out of the ground, a rotating crystal, and what looks like another crystal on its side. The goal is always for at least one character to get to the far side of the zone.

     

Working my way through the trap.

          

I know from experience that walking between two staves will result in the character getting zapped. I think the staves are color-coded with the balls on top, but I can't discern the difference between most of the colors. I just have to guess. With some experimentation, I find that you can push the standing, rotating crystals in the direction opposite that from which you approach them. The crystal on its side shoots a fireball at anyone who enters its path, but these can be blocked with the crystals that you can push. With these rules understood, this particular trap becomes easy: push the standing crystal in front of the horizontal crystal and walk to the other side. I assume that the traps will get more complicated as the game progresses.

    

Our next stop is the Temple of Ruthia, where we unlock another teleporter. The high priestess won't see us. We fight our first battle of the chapter a few clicks along from the temple--with five Nighthawks! I whiff most of my attacks and get slaughtered. I hate how enemies crowd Owyn, leaving him nowhere to back off and cast spells. 

     

Five Nighthawks prepare to massacre us.

       

I don't know if Nighthawks are never visible in the environment or if this is just an inescapable ambush, but on a reload, I can't identify them before they attack. Two more attempts end the same way. Finally, I'm able to avoid the battle completely by skirting around to the south, but I don't like the solution. Surely, I'm supposed to be able to defeat these enemies. I just don't see how. I don't really have any tactics except for spells, and the ambush makes it impossible for Owyn to ever be in a position to cast any. What am I missing? I guess I should have bought that better sword.

   

A cemetery (again, Owyn wants to dig up every grave) precedes a southern spur, which we take, to the city of Malac's Cross. It's a bustling menu city with:

    

• A barrel with a rope.

• A hall where someone demands a "lecture ticket," which we don't have. 

    

I don't believe we ever learn who Malac is.

    

• An inn where we've apparently just missed an epic chess match, described for us in excruciating detail by the innkeeper, Ivan Skaald. James impresses him with his knowledge of the game ("the Prince likes to play"). The NPC offers more keyword options than any in the game so far. Several have to do with chess moves, and the innkeeper offers to play with emeralds for a bet, but we don't have any. He also tells us of a suspicious band of "tax collectors" demanding ridiculous amounts of money in Lyton. An old woman named Petrumh mistakes James for someone named Lysle, insisting that he's James's twin brother. The innkeeper agrees that James looks like Lysle, and he says the man can probably be found in Darkmoor.

      

I assume that at some point, I'll meet an NPC with whom I have 16 keyword options.

     

• An armory.

• The Abbey of Ishap. Again, we unlock a teleporter. Abbot Graves talks to us a bit about the program of study that the abbey offers, including a current lecture on tactics delivered by Guy du Bas-Tyra, who is something of an antagonist during the first two Riftwar books but redeems himself at the Battle of Sethanon. For 20 sovereigns, Graves gives us the lecture ticket we need to enter the hall. 

       

Graves tries to enroll Owyn.

      

• Guy gives his lecture, focusing on battles mentioned in the books. When he sees James with a Moredhel, he knows something odd is afoot, so we're forced to tell him the truth. "The party's abilities have increased," the game says as we leave town, indicating that our "Assessment" skills increased by a few percentage points.

    

I realize I haven't been using "Assessment" in combat, so I return to the Nighthawks and give it a try. It doesn't help and I get slaughtered again.

     

Even one Nighthawk is stronger than anyone in my party.

        

I have to wrap up here, a bit early, as I didn't have much time to play today. Maybe it's time to pick up the pace for the next entry. What do you think--keep going with this level of detail or start eliding more in the name of making quicker progress?

    

Time so far: 15 hours