Return to Krondor

Needs Wiki Magic Love.

This video game contains examples of:
You'd Expect: Instead:
 * A God Am I:
 * Always Chaotic Evil: Demons, Shadows, Goblins, Trolls, Ghouls, Vampires, Nighthawks, Zombies, Sidi's Necromancers, Izmali Assassins, and Bear's Mercenaries. Does that cover it? Oh, and at least two of these groups will form into alliances against you and James will wonder how that could be.
 * It's not a broadsword, it's a greatsword. A greatsword is a very long sword that has to be wielded with two hands. A boardsword is not as long as that, and it wielded with one hand. The greatsword being used is called the Elfersblade Demonslayer, a sword that can chant an arcane spell of protection for its wielder, and is very deadly in the right hands.
 * Artifact of Doom:
 * Big Bad: Bear fits this role like a glove.
 * Big No: Big Bad Bear yells this at the beginning: "WHAT?! No, Noooo! It's mine! I had in my hannnnnds!" and much more impressively at the end:  William cries this out a couple times: "No, Talia!" Both times, he was expressing anguish over
 * Canon Immigrant: Jazhara made her first appearance in this game. She was then incorporated into canon when Feist wrote a novelization for the game and made references to her in later books.
 * Complete Monster: Bear, . It could be argued that just about every single enemy you fight against are these. It would be easier to list the ones that are not, like
 * Creating Life:
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: At the beginning of the game, you can find a man named the Whisperer. He gives you a locket and tells you to give it to his girlfriend Selestra when you find her (He refuses to do it himself because he had gotten disfigured in the war he fought it, went into hiding, and is ashamed to show his no-longer-handsome face to her.) It turns out that  This is funny when you consider that she is old and not particularly attractive in terms of looks, while he did not go to her because he was a little too vain about himself. Also, they had not seen each other in years, so they would probably be unable to recognize each other if they met again.
 * Eldritch Abomination: The Dark God is apparently this. An entity that is very dangerous and had to be sealed away. A group of depraved individuals worship this god, and want to release it into the land of Midkemia. Releasing it would be a very bad thing to do.
 * Everything's Worse with Bears: The game does not have any actual bears, but it has Big Bad Bear. He is taller than everyone else. He has muscles to match his height. He is a mercenary and a pirate leader. He will kill men, women, and children who get in his way. In the game, one small-time pirate name Knute left him and was thrown in jail. Bear broke into the jail with an army of mercenaries, killing just about everyone they encountered. He personally went down to the cells where Knute was held in and ripped Knute's cell door right off its hinges and told Knute to follow him. Then he grabbed Knute by the throat and demanded to know "Where is it?" and "What had Knute done with it?" Knute just kept screaming that he did not do anything. Bear called Knute a liar and sliced him to pieces. When you finally fight Bear yourself, you will find that he wears the best armour and uses the best swords. Oh, and you will find that he is completely immune to your attacks.
 * Franchise Killer: * Betrayal at Krondor was supposed to be the first of a revolutionary series of games that combine adventure novel-style storytelling with interactive gameplay, in a setting based on The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond Feist. And while the game itself was very much successful, its Sequel, Return to Krondor, was ruined by Executive Meddling and license problems and was released woefully unfinished and underpolished, making this a bad enough experience for Feist that he's been unwilling to risk a repeat experience.
 * Not really. Betrayal at Krondor wasn't intended to be a series -- it wasn't expected to do anywhere near as well as it did (it was just a licensed game, after all), so the team that made it was broken up after it was completed and before anyone realized what a classic it would be. Return to Krondor was made by a totally different team, hastily assembled when it became obvious that there was demand for a sequel; ironically, Return really was intended to kickstart a longer series, but it flopped. The main writer for Krondor actually did write some basic things for a potential sequel on his own time, but because the team was broken up and he wasn't part of the actual sequel, they never got used.
 * God of Evil: Return to Krondor has Narlor, the Dark God. A god that had to be sealed away. A god that if released, could prove to be an Eldritch Abomination for Midkemia.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: There is a character called the Crawler. The Crawler is never seen or heard, only mentioned through conversations and letters. What is known for certain is that the Crawler is some sort of crime boss, and is assumed to be male. He has an agent named Bear, who is very dangerous on his own. He also has powerful connections (one letter from a powerful man in a land called Kesh warns his niece to "Beware the master of Durbin. The Crawler's plot is a web within a web."). It is too bad a game has not made where you actually get to fight this guy.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: The voice actors who took part in this game are listed as follows: Beverly Holloway, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Earl Boen, Edita Brychta, Jamie Cronin, Jennifer Hale, John Carroll Lynch, Ken Givens, Michael Lynch, Nick Jameson, Pete Taylor, Rick Peters, Susan Denaker, and Tom Kane.
 * Hollywood Density: Averted by Return to Krondor, where coinage had a definite weight. However, it wasn't very noticeable for the first few chapters of the game, where it would auto-exchange coins for high-value gems whenever you visited a shop. Towards the middle of the game, there's a chapter that involves traveling from Krondor to a small village, with no shops to stop in along the way to exchange coins. You will inevitably be leaving behind quite a large amount of treasure on monster corpses before the chapter is up.
 * Betrayal at Krondor, the predecessor to Return, used weightless money. Then again, inventories were so small that requiring an inventory slot for money would've been outright painful.
 * Left Hanging: The ending was clearly intended as a Sequel Hook. Let's see... A sequel has never been made.
 * Level Grinding: The game will have you doing this a lot, especially in the first four chapters. You can easily spend hours going through doors and getting into random fights, in the hopes of getting to the next level. At least by going up a number of levels, you will have a higher number of weapons strikes, and more effectiveness with weapons and magic. There are less and less opportunities to level grind as you progress through the game, which may or may not be a good thing.
 * MacGuffin: The Tear of the Gods. A lot of people fight over this artifact, and it is supposed to allow mortals to communicate to the gods of Midkemia. However, when you finally get the artifact, you will find that it is does not do anything for you.
 * Mercy Rewarded: Arguably invoked in Return To Krondor. There are many situations in Return to Krondor where you get XP for avoiding a fight with various groups, but generally the reward is less than what you get if just kill them.
 * Moral Event Horizon: The beginning of the game has Bear and his pirates kill off a ship full of priests to steal treasure and one special object. If this does not qualify as a Moral Event Horizon, then the next few parts will. Bear attacks a bar and kills a young barmaid (it may have been worse than that), leaving the barowner without a daughter. He attacks a jail just so he can personally kill a small-time pirate who decided he needed to get out of the business. He cut down half the Krondorian guard squad.  He sets an orphanage on fire when he is unable to escape the city through the gates. He escapes through the sewer, tearing through the Mockers (the Guild of Thieves) who got in the way. Bear accomplished all this in the first couple of levels. Of course, it seems that he that he not only crossed the Moral Event Horizon before the events of the game, but he sprinted through it and never looked back.
 * Mugging the Monster: Early in Return to Krondor, two random muggers attempt to rob legendary thief Jimmy the Hand -- who in fact scolds them for not recognizing a dangerous mark when they see one, yet they try it anyway.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Bear. See the Everything's Worse with Bears entry.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Played straight, at the beginning of the game no less. You can tear down a sweatshop that uses children as labourers. Now while this may give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, it turns out that there are consequences. The owner of the sweatshop, Yusef, worked for Jazhara's uncle in Kesh. You will encounter Izmali assassins - ninja-like killers who will attack you with poisoned daggers. They were apparently paid by Jazhara's uncle to kill you for meddling in the affairs of Kesh. You will encounter a group of them in the third chapter of the game, and another group roughly halfway through the game. In the second last chapter, you will find a dead group of these assassins. If you search their bodies, you will find out in a letter written by Jazhara's uncle that  You can decide not to even investigate the sweatshop, and you will never be accosted by the Izmali assassins.
 * Obviously Evil: Bear, for starters.
 * Ominous Latin Chanting: There are five music tracks that can qualify as this. The first track plays whenever the Tear of the Gods appears, even though the chanting in the tracks sounds more peaceful than ominous. The second track, which definitely sounds like a singing church choir, plays when the characters fight against a demon, death nagas, and shadows. The third track, which has some choir singing in it, plays when a group of vampires are finally vanquished and in one battle when . The fourth track, containing some ominous chanting, plays when a vision of an evil wizard opening a portal for a dark god is shown and when one character has a nightmare of his murdered girlfriend. The fifth track, consisting entirely of ominous chanting, plays during some fights in the second last chapter and during a fight with   in the final chapter.
 * Orphaned Series: Betrayal at Krondor enjoyed immense success and is now a cult classic. The team that put it together was just starting to work on a sequel when the studio broke up the RPG department and crashed the whole project. A Spiritual Successor, Betrayal in Antara, and a thematic successor, Return to Krondor, eventually appeared, but the first had nothing in common with its predecessor except for the general game engine, and the latter was a sequel in name only. The actual project intended by the creators of Betrayal to expand on that storyline and tie off all the loose ends, called Thief of Dreams, never saw the light of day.
 * Rape as Drama: Bear is strongly implied to have done this to Talia, as well as fatally wounding (make that murdering) her. This story is a product of British culture, which treats rape and a number of sexual topics as unspeakable and taboo. It certainly makes Bear even more of a Complete Monster.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Big Bad Bear did this to Talia. You can bet that everyone wants him stone dead for that and other crimes he committed.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: The Dark God is presented as this. The Dark God does not get released, but the ending makes it clear that the person trying to unseal it has not given up.
 * Sequel Difficulty Drop: Return to Krondor is much easier than it's predecessor, Betrayal at Krondor. This is largely due to the Genre Shift from a traditional dungeon-crawler to an adventure game with non-random RPG combat encounters.
 * Actually, there are a number of combat encounters that are random. Also, Betrayal at Krondor was very big and difficult to get into and understand. So the Sequel Difficulty Drop is a good thing.
 * Stone Wall: Solon is this combined with The Big Guy. Just put him between the enemy and your characters. This will allow your characters to pummel the enemy without too much damage.
 * Stuffed Into the Fridge: Talia, William's girlfriend is raped and fatally wounded by Bear. Her body is left on the floor of her father's bar and William gets to speak with her before she dies. Her death causes William to start a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Bear.
 * That One Boss: Return to Krondor has a few bosses that are candidates for this trope.
 * The Big Guy: Solon is definitely in this role. William has this role when he is with James.
 * The Chick: Jazhara is put into this role.
 * The Hero: James fits in this role. William is also in this role when he is not with James.
 * The Lancer: Jazhara is put in this role. Possibly Kendaric.
 * The Man Behind the Man:
 * The Smart Guy: Jazhara shares this role with Kendaric, due to the fact that they can use spells and alchemy.
 * Vendor Trash: You could collect plenty of vendor trash in Betrayal At Krondor, and some in its lackluster sequel, Return To Krondor. Return was perhaps notable for the fact that gems weren't vendor trash, because the game actually assigned a weight value to money. Vendors would automatically convert your coinage into lighter-weight gems. The large mid-game section where you're free to explore the coastal wilderness near Krondor without any easily-accessible vendors could easily lead to serious weight problems just from all the cash you weren't able to convert to gems (not to mention all the potion-making crap both your wizards were likely carrying around).
 * Really, if you want to get rich, just strip every enemy you kill of all their stuff and sell it. It takes time, but you will be filthy rich after awhile. Some of the gems you find are fake, however.
 * Wallet of Holding: Averted. In the sequel to Betrayal At Krondor, Return To Krondor, gold is heavy, but the characters always buy small low-quality gems when they leave a town, so that wealth is easily transportable. But if you don't visit a town for a while, you have a problem...
 * What an Idiot!: Return to Krondor manages to avert this trope for the most part.
 * The Smart Guy: Jazhara shares this role with Kendaric, due to the fact that they can use spells and alchemy.
 * Vendor Trash: You could collect plenty of vendor trash in Betrayal At Krondor, and some in its lackluster sequel, Return To Krondor. Return was perhaps notable for the fact that gems weren't vendor trash, because the game actually assigned a weight value to money. Vendors would automatically convert your coinage into lighter-weight gems. The large mid-game section where you're free to explore the coastal wilderness near Krondor without any easily-accessible vendors could easily lead to serious weight problems just from all the cash you weren't able to convert to gems (not to mention all the potion-making crap both your wizards were likely carrying around).
 * Really, if you want to get rich, just strip every enemy you kill of all their stuff and sell it. It takes time, but you will be filthy rich after awhile. Some of the gems you find are fake, however.
 * Wallet of Holding: Averted. In the sequel to Betrayal At Krondor, Return To Krondor, gold is heavy, but the characters always buy small low-quality gems when they leave a town, so that wealth is easily transportable. But if you don't visit a town for a while, you have a problem...
 * What an Idiot!: Return to Krondor manages to avert this trope for the most part.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Averted to the point of being shattered to a million pieces. Bear not only hit Talia, but he murdered her and worse. There are only a few enemies that are female, but your male characters can kill them without any comment (the one female character you play makes no comment about that, either). Those few female enemies would cheerfully kill you anyway. The mostly male enemies are completely willing to kill anyone, regardless of gender. In fact, Big Bad Bear says "You will give me the Tear, or we will slaughter you to the last man! And...wooman!" That does not even cover the goblins, vampires, ghouls and other creatures.
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Oh, dear God. Brutally averted. In the first chapter, a ten year old girl who is a thief and an orphan living in the streets truly does not want to go to The Order of the Yellow Shield, a group that owns an orphanage. That is because men who pretend to be members of The Order of the Yellow Shield lure kids like her to a sweatshop. At this sweatshop, they work the kids hard, hurt them, lock them up in cages, as well as giving them food that have live rats and squirmy things in it. She also says about how the bad children (i.e. kids who refuse to work or try to run away) just disappear and never come back. Investigating the sweatshop reveals that everything she said is true. You will find a cage with kids locked in it, and depending on your decisions,  A camp of goblins sacrificed a boy, cutting him in two, and they were going to do the same to baby twin girls. Vampires killed and converted kids as well as adults to vampires. Ghouls are explicitly said to feast on human flesh - and that would include children. There is also a priest who is devoted to Sung the Pure named Father Roweland who is trying to help children recover from a fatal disease, but   A woodcutter, his wife and child disappear, but   Bear also used explosives to set an orphanage on fire while escaping Krondor - with the kids still in it.