Although this perspective generally works well the changing camera angles can cause confusion during exploration. Unlike its predecessors, this game presents a third-person perspective with automatically changing camera angles as you manoeuvre your characters and explore winding streets and passageways. Much simpler and more realistic (or more in keeping with using lock-picking skills) although I have to admit that I did miss the riddles. And the same goes for the alchemy apparatus which I diligently collected but hardly used at all as there were so many potions available from the bodies of defeated enemies and in the numerous chests.Īs for the treasure chests, in this game they are not sealed with a riddle or a bead puzzle but are more manipulative requiring you to determine which implement in your thief's kit will best suit the job. I do have a minor complaint here as I often seemed to find that brilliant weapon or piece of armour secreted away in a chapter featuring characters that couldn't use them, so, despite my compulsive hoarding, I couldn't make good use of these items. There are, of course, a number of non-playing characters to engage in conversation and numerous chests scattered around which are once again random and filled with all sorts of goodies. Other chapters entail visiting a not-so-tranquil village, a temple and a sodden ship and a couple are very short and sweet, consisting of a single battle.Īs is usual for this series the characters are pre-set for each chapter with their own individual personalities and expertise, you have no choice in this respect. Instead navigation is via a map on which you must select various discrete destinations where enemy encounters are random. you can wander in and out of locations and find more enemies to dispense with, thus building up your expertise for the journey to come.Īfter the initial segment which is set in Krondor, it's off to greener pastures although Return to Krondor doesn't offer great expanses of 'pastures' to explore. It is divided into 10 chapters plus an introductory segment which can be as short or as long as you want it to be because combat is both random and regenerative. The ultimate fiend is a mean critter named Bear, who is out to stop you and claim the artefact for himself. The quest on this journey is to find a powerful artefact that has been lost at sea along with a sunken ship. Return to Krondor is highly combat oriented and, if anything, is even more story driven than Betrayal at Krondor with fewer side quests, thus making it much more focused and a much shorter game. I didn't mind these brief 'deviations' and it still felt very much like a roleplaying game to me, and a very enjoyable one at that. Personally, as an adventure game player, I feel it has too much combat and other roleplaying features to move it over into the adventure category. For instance, it has some gameplay involving conversational clues and searching carefully for items and hotspots in order to move the story along, as well as a single, more abstract problem, which will surely invite accusations that it is more of an adventure game. Now, by this I don't mean to infer that it is a poor relation as it has many similarities to Betrayal at Krondor, but it also has its differences. However, Return to Krondor is a quite different experience to its popular predecessor. Like Betrayal at Krondor, it is an 'official' episode that comes with the blessing of Mr Feist (who rates a mention as a 'Consultant' in the game credits). Review by Rosemary Young (January, 1999) Return to Krondor is the second computer game title to be released based on Raymond E Feist's well known fantasy novels.
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