Betrayal in Antara

Infobox VG |title = Betrayal in Antara


developer = Sierra Entertainment
publisher = Sierra Entertainment
designer = Peter Sarrett
engine =
released = July 31, 1997
genre = Computer role-playing game
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: T
platforms = Microsoft Windows
media = 3 CD-ROMs
requirements = Intel 486 100 MHz CPU, 16 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, 20 MB available hard disk space, Windows 3.1
input = Keyboard, mouse

"Betrayal in Antara" is a Windows 3.1 computer role-playing game developed and published by Sierra On-Line in 1997, after the success of their previous RPG, "Betrayal at Krondor". However, Sierra had lost the rights to produce another game based on Raymond Feist's Midkemia universe, and therefore had to create a new game world, Ramar. Although not a sequel, "Betrayal in Antara" uses an updated version of "Betrayal at Krondor"'s game engine.

Technical details and graphics style

As "Betrayal in Antara" uses an updated version of "Betrayal at Krondor"'s game engine with some modifications, gameplay is largely the same. The game runs in 256-color 640x480 Super VGA mode within Windows 3.1. The graphics engine uses textured 3D graphics to draw the terrain and uses sprites for most detailed objects. Shops, inns, temples, special locations, and large cities are done as pictures usable through hotspots. Smaller towns have 3D buildings. Character, NPC, and some monster art is based on hand-drawn images. In combat and puzzle screens, all characters are animated. The game models illumination to a certain extent: In the overworld, day and night are modeled, and in underground locations, the player needs to use a torch or light spell to illuminate the surroundings.

Minimum Requirements:

* 486DX4/100
* 16 MB RAM
*4x speed CD-ROM
* Windows compatible soundcard with DAC

Preferred Requirements:
*Pentium 90 or better

Gameplay

Most gameplay happens in the 3D view of the game world. Aside from the overworld, there are also various dungeons and caves to explore. Exploration occurs mainly from a first-person view but switches to a third-person view during combat.

The game has two possible views, the 3D view and the 2D overhead map view, where the player is represented by a circular arrow marker. The map view stays put while the player direction marker moves around; when the player reaches the edge of one map section, the next is automatically loaded. The player also has the option to automatically mark shops, inns, temples, NPCs, chests, and other objects on the overhead map and full map of Ramar.

The player is generally allowed to explore the world how they wish, but only certain locations are accessible in each chapter. While traveling between towns, the party camps in the wilderness to rest and recover lost health/stamina. Compared to "Betrayal at Krondor", "Betrayal in Antara" is more linear and restricted in where the player can travel.

Lever chests and beadlock chests

Just as "Betrayal at Krondor" had moredhel wordlock chests, "Betrayal in Antara" has lever chests and beadlock chests. Lever chests have combination locks with letters on each lever, and a riddle written upon them whose answer will open the chest if spelled out. However, unlike "Betrayal at Krondor", in which the riddles were usually unrelated to the world of Midkemia, many of the riddles in "Betrayal in Antara" require knowledge about the world of Ramar and Antara, such as its inhabitants, politics, creatures, etc. Beadlock chests have a puzzle in which the player is given a set of colored beads and formulas by which they can be exchanged and must obtain the combination of colored beads displayed on each chest.

Plot and dialogue

Plot is usually advanced through literary cutscenes. Each chapter begins and ends with a cutscene, consisting of text and spoken dialogue, along with illustrations.

The player characters meet various NPCs during their travels. Dialogue is text-based with speech, and some NPCs have their own pictures as well. Conversation is tree-based: in certain cases, the player can choose between various dialogue keywords. This is often used to get information, training, and items from NPCs, often for a price. The game also included a recall tool so that conversations with certain NPCs can be played back later in the game.

RPG system and player character development

There are two or three characters in the adventuring party. While the player meets various non-human characters over their journeys, three of the four player characters are human (the fourth, Raal, is a Grrrlf). Player characters are either fighters (William, Kaelyn, and Raal) or magicians (Aren). Fighters are able to use swords and bows, while magicians can only use a staff as a weapon - the only long-range attacks magicians are capable of are from various spells. Raal, although he only uses a staff as a weapon, is a fighter and cannot cast magic spells.

The character system is nearly identical to that of "Betrayal at Krondor". Character statistics are based on numeric attributes. The two key attributes in combat are Health and Stamina. However, unlike "Betrayal at Krondor", characters' health and stamina do not gradually increase with time and progression through the game. Speed determines how many combat grid squares the character can move. Strength determines the amount of damage the character inflicts in mêlée combat. Spellcasting, swinging one's weapon, and combat damage first use up stamina. Once stamina is depleted, health is used and as it decreases, the character's skills (such as weapon accuracy and defense) are negatively affected.

Characters can acquire various status effects. Characters whose health drops to zero in combat are knocked out and acquire "Near Death" status, making them heal very slowly and extremely ineffective in combat; if the wounds are properly cared for (using herbal packs or senwater), they will heal faster. Improved rate of healing is handled as a status effect, as are poisoning, drunkenness, and fatigue. If the entire party is near death, the game will end.

In addition to attributes, each character has a set of skills. Skills can be emphasized, causing them to improve faster, while deemphasized skills improve slower. Skills are generally improved by using them. For example, fixing weapons will improve the Repair skill, which in turn will make the character more effective at fixing weapons in the future. The skills include defense, archery, mêlée weapon accuracy, spellcasting accuracy, assessing enemies during combat, weapon and armor repair, haggling, lockpicking, scouting for enemy ambushes, and stealth. There are items which can improve skills both permanently (such as books and magical staves) or temporarily (such as blood of Kor for melee accuracy or razorcup nectar for archery).

Magic

Spells are organized into six groups, grouped by a magic symbol. Five groups of spells are combat spells and one group is non-combat spells.

Spells first drain the caster's stamina and then health. Some spells have variable strength; the player can choose how much energy the spell consumes. Some combat spells also require that the target being within line of sight of or adjacent to the caster.

Magic is learned from books that are sold in shops or found in various locations throughout the world. Aren can then select up to five types of magic to research, which automatically occurs when resting. As Aren's skills within the various magical disciplines increases, he gains access to more spells.

Items and inventory

The game features a wide variety of items, including equipment, food, treasure, and magical artifacts. Each item also has detailed background information available by right-clicking it.

The inventory management allows transferring items between the party characters. The game also manages money and food independently from characters' individual inventory so there is a separate limit on how much food and money the party can carry.

Weapons and armor have modifiers affecting their combat effectiveness, such as accuracy, damage, and blessing. After combat, most weapons and armor must be kept in shape with a whetstone or armorer's hammer, respectively. There are also items that augment weapons and armor, such as irthinde, used to poison weapons or arrows, or fidali paste, which neutralizes it.

The party must carry and eat food every day or their health starts dropping. They are sold in taverns and can be found on enemies or in caches. There are two types of food: rations, which never go bad, and fresh food, such as fish or bread, which can go bad after several days.

Combat

Just as in "Betrayal at Krondor", combat takes place on a grid, similar to tactical role-playing games such as "Fire Emblem" or "Final Fantasy Tactics". However, the grid consists of hexagons rather than squares, so a character can often move the entire length of the battlefield in one turn.

In combat there are several options. The player can move to a different location on the grid. If the player can reach an enemy, they can attack in the same move. There are three options for attacking: a thrust, a swing, and hack. A thrust does the least damage but is the most accurate while a swing and a hack do more damage but are significantly less accurate. A fighter equipped with a bow or a magician will spells can attack from a distance, but only if they are not within an enemy's zone of control (the space an enemy is facing). In combat, the player can also choose to rest, which regains stamina (but not health), or defend against enemy mêlée attacks. Finally, it is possible to assess enemies to get information on them.

Enemies may try to run away, unless the player can kill them. Slain enemies remain on the ground after the battle and the player can loot their corpses.

Temples, Stores and Inns

There are three different types of temples in the game, one to each of the three gods of Ramar, each offering different services. Temples of Senaedrin provide healing and poison curing. Temples of Henne offer to provide a blessing that speeds travel. Temples of Kor offer weapon and armor blessings.

Stores buy and sell various kinds of items. Inns and taverns allow characters to buy food and alcohol, get information, and sleep overnight, which allows full healing of wounds and fatigue whereas resting in the wilderness only restores 80% of health and stamina.

Major Characters and NPCs

Playable Characters

; William Escobar: (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9) William Escobar is the third and youngest son of Lord Nathan Escobar, governor of Pianda. William is engaged to Selana Sheffield, though he does not love her as their arranged marriage is for a political alliance between their houses. He is returning home from a trip to Januli to meet Selana when his ship is attacked by pirates. Abandoning ship, fate places William in the same lifeboat as Gregor when they are attacked by a griffin and saved by Aren Cordelaine.

; Aren Cordelaine: (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9) Aren Cordelaine is the only son of Tyre Cordelaine, owner of The Spitting Lion Inn in Briala. Aren lived an uneventful life until one day while fishing he comes across William and Gregor being attacked by a griffin. Unaware of his latent magical abilities, Aren tries to help them, unintentionally killing the creature with a blast of magic. Realizing that he is a danger to himself and those around him unless he learns to control his magical powers, Aren decides to accompany William home so he can have proper magical training.

; Kaelyn Usher: (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9) Kaelyn Usher is a ranger and daughter of Garvin Usher, a magician, though she is unaware of her father's profession. Raised in the Ridgewood amongst the Grrrlf, she is well-versed in their customs and traditions and is consider her one of the pack. She is traveling south to Balmestri to sell animal pelts when she is attacked by bandits and saved by William and Aren.

; Raal: (Chapters 5, 7) Raal is one of the Grrrlf, a race of wolf-like creatures who live in the northern regions of Antara and with whom humans have an uneasy peace. Friends with Kaelyn since they were children, he heads south to warn her when wraiths start appearing in the Ridgewood.

Other Characters

; Calvert Bryce: Calvert Bryce is the Sheffields' court magician. Bryce discovered how to travel into the ethereal world but was humiliated when he was forbidden from conducting research on the subject by the Shadows, the Emperor's court magicians, who believed that it was too dangerous. Desiring revenge, he engineers an elaborate plot to get revenge by capturing a wraith and using it to assassinate the Emperor.

; Lord Daryl Caverton: Lord Caverton is governor of Ticor and a political rival of both House Escobar and House Sheffield. With the recent discovery of salt mines in Ticor, Lord Caverton has positioned himself to undermine Lord Sheffield in the salt trade and drive him out of business.

; Farril Kalibanque: Prince Farril Kalibanque, third son of the Emperor of Chail, is the Imperial Consort. He is traveling to Antara for his marriage to Princess Aurora Valorian, daughter of Emperor Justin Valorian and heir to the throne of Antara, and passes through Ticoro, where he is kidnapped by the Shepherds. He is eventually rescued by William and Aren, but not before he is taken from the Shepherds and used as a vessel by Bryce Calvert to hide a wraith meant to assassinate the Emperor.

; Gregor: Gregor is a joyman, a traveling minstrel, and secretly a spy for Lord Caverton in Januli. Gregor discovered the plot to kidnap the Imperial Consort and was traveling to Ticoro to warn him when his ship was attacked by pirates. Abandoning ship, he ends up in the same lifeboat as William Escobar, managing to reach shore when they are attacked by a griffin. Gregor is mortally wounded but warns William that Prince Farril is in danger, giving him a Shepherd Medallion before he dies.

; Fellich Marr: High Brother Fellich Marr is head of the Church of Henne and is trusted by both the royal family and the Sheffields, as Aurora Valorian and Selana Sheffield both fostered at the Church in Ticoro. He is also Silver Hawk, the mastermind behind the plot to kidnap the Imperial Consort and assassinate the Emperor, though this fact is not discovered until it is too late for William, Aren, and Kaelyn to do anything about it.

; Lord Cameron Sheffield: Lord Sheffield is governor of Januli and father of Selana Sheffield. With the rise in pirate attacks on the high seas and Lord Caverton's entry into the salt trade, Lord Sheffield has found his family in a precarious financial position. He is unaware of the activities of his daughter, who forged his name as part of her and the Shepherds' plot to kidnap the Imperial Consort and ensure her family's financial state.

; Selana Sheffield: Selana Sheffield is Lord Sheffield's daughter and William Escobar's fiancée. While she loves her father and her family, Selana believes that her father sees her as a silly girl only good to be married off and resents him for it. Though polite to each other, she and William don't care much for each other or their arranged political marriage. Selana is secretly a member of the Shepherds, though she doesn't believe in their cause and only sees them as a means to an end. Selana seeks to solve House Sheffield's financial troubles both by kidnapping the Imperial Consort and holding him for ransom as well as by allowing pirates use of Januli's coves.

; Garvin Usher: Garvin Usher is Kaelyn's father and a magician, though Kaelyn is unaware of this fact. His wife was killed in one of his magical experiments gone awry and, ashamed of telling his daughter, he gave up magic and told Kaelyn her mother had drowned. With the recent appearance of wraiths in the Ridgewood, Garvin is forced to take up magic again in order to find a way to defeat them and reveals the truth to his daughter.

Plot

A ship, the Fair Current, is sailing from Januli to Pianda when it is attacked by pirates. With the ship on fire, the crew and its two passengers abandon ship. William Escobar finds himself in the same lifeboat as the other passenger, a joyman named Gregor. The two of them make it to shore but are attacked by a magical griffin and Gregor is mortally wounded.

Chapter 1

The game begins near the fishing town of Briala. Aren Cordelaine is fishing when he hears a commotion on the beach. Seeing William fighting off a griffin, Aren attempts to help and, unaware of his magical abilities, unintentionally kills the creature with a blast of magic. Before he dies, Gregor gives William a medallion and warns him that Prince Farril, the Imperial Consort, is in danger. In debt to him for saving his life, William asks Aren to accompany him home so Aren can learn how to control his powers from the Escobars' court mage, Finch. Aren agrees and the two of them set out for Panizo. In the forest near Briala, the encounter a woman, Kaelyn Usher, being attacked by bandits. After saving her, Kaelyn decides to accompany them. During their journey west, they learn that Gregor's medallion belongs to the Shepherds, a militant anti-government group. Eventually they reach Panizo, where William informs his father of Aren's help as well as Gregor's message. Prince Farril will be traveling to Antara for his wedding to Princess Aurora so William wants to go to Ticoro and warn him. Nathan Escobar allows Aren to be trained by Finch, though he does not explicitly permit William to go to Ticoro.

Chapter 2

William, Aren, and Kaelyn sneak out of Panizo early the next morning and head north to Midova and meet with the mage Finch, from whom Aren receives some magical training. They head west and arrive in Ticoro in the middle of the spring festival and learn that Prince Farril is in the city, though his location is being kept a secret.

Chapter 3

In Ticoro, William, Aren, and Kaelyn meet Raal, one of Kaelyn's Grrrlf friends, as well as Fellich Marr, head of the Church of Henne, Lord Sheffield, governor of Januli, and his daughter Selana, William's fiancée. They discover where Prince Farril is staying and attempt to warn him but both Lord Caverton and the prince's guards ignore them. William, Aren, and Kaelyn return to their inn frustrated, but are awoken in the middle of the night by Caverton's guards, who inform them that Farril has been kidnapped. Having known about it beforehand, William, Aren, and Kaelyn are the primary suspects and are arrested.

Chapter 4

Raal springs William, Aren, and Kaelyn from prison and the four of them escape from Ticoro. Raal informs Kaelyn that he has traveled south with news: wraiths have appeared and are attacking people in the Ridgewood and her father Garvin has disappeared. Kaelyn leaves with Raal and heads north to find her father, promising to meet up with William and Aren when she is done. William and Aren, suspecting that the Shepherds were responsible for kidnapping Prince Farril, follow the trail of the Shepherds throughout Ticor and Chuno. Learning of the Shepherds' secret headquarters but without Gregor's medallion, which was confiscated during their arrest, William and Aren track down another medallion and use it to enter the Shepherds' headquarters north of Ticoro.

Chapter 5

Kaelyn and Raal head north to Kaelyn's home in the Ridgewood. Following a note from her father, the two of them discover Garvin's magical workshop in a cave. Garvin informs his daughter that wraiths have mysteriously appeared within the forest, possessing humans and creatures and driving them mad. With Garvin's help, Kaelyn and Raal are able to find and destroy all the wraiths in the forest, though Kaelyn is less than pleased to learn that her father is a magician.

Chapter 6

Traveling through the Shepherds' headquarters, William and Aren eventually find Gar Warren, leader of the Shepherds. Warren informs them that Farril has disappeared, taken by a traitorous Shepherd magician. Before William and Aren can learn any more, Imperial soldiers storm the caverns and Warren escapes through a secret exit. William and Aren follow, but lose him in the tunnels. Without Warren to prove that they weren't behind Prince Farril's kidnapping, William and Aren have no choice but to rescue him themselves and clear their name. Following the only clue they have, the name Kahleth, William and Aren discover that Farril has been taken by a band of Chunese mercenaries. Posing as new recruits, they are taken to the cabin where he is held. William and Aren find him in a magical sleep and, after Aren dispels the enchantment, the three of them escape.

Chapter 7

William, Aren, and Farril head south to Antara with the mercenaries in pursuit, leading a trail of destruction in their wake. Bidding farewell to her father, Kaelyn and Raal head south to meet up with them. Following the forest fires and destroyed bridges caused by the mercenaries' attempts to catch William and Aren, Kaelyn and Raal eventually find them trapped near Ciaga Pass. Using smoke bombs, Kaelyn helps them escape through the pass. Raal leaves to return home while William, Aren, Kaelyn, and Farril continue on to Antara. The Imperial guards are suspicious but finding no holes in their story, let them go.

Chapter 8

Antara gathers for the presentation of Prince Farril to Emperor Valorian. However, during the ceremony, a wraith appears out of Farril's body and attacks the Emperor, but Princess Aurora gets in the way. Although the Shadows, the Emperor's magicians, fight it off, the creature escapes the palace, taking the souls of Farril and Aurora with it. The Shadows place Farril and Aurora in stasis to prevent their soulless bodies from dying and magically interrogate William, Aren, and Kaelyn. Learning of they were not behind the attempt on his life, the Emperor asks them to save his daughter and her fiancé. During the interrogation, William realizes that the pirate and griffin attacks were targeted at Gregor, so he decides to head to Januli to unravel the mystery behind Gregor's death and the assassination attempt on the Emperor.

Tracking down surviving crew members from the Fair Current as well as a courtesan that Gregor frequented, William, Aren, and Kaelyn learn that Gregor was a favorite of Lord Sheffield and spent much of his time in Havesly, the capital of Januli. They head to Havesly, where they discover that Gregor was a spy for Lord Caverton, whose entry into the salt trade was driving the Sheffields to the brink of bankruptcy. Desperate to save her family from financial ruin, Selana devised a plan to kidnap Prince Farril and hold him for ransom, joining the Shepherds so they would carry it out. Forging her father's signature, she also employed pirates and allowed them safe haven in Januli. Gregor discovered her plan as well as her membership in the Shepherds (it was her medallion that he gave William) so she arranged to have him killed. William, Aren, and Kaelyn head to the Sheffields' castle, but upon arriving find that pirates have attacked the castle.

Chapter 9

Entering the castle, William, Aren, and Kaelyn find it filled with pirates, searching for the Sheffields. They eventually find Lord Sheffield and Selana in the basement, pursued by an assassin whom Lord Sheffield dispatches. Searching his body, they learn that the pirates were sent by someone named Silver Hawk to cover their track by killing Selana and the court mage Calvert Bryce. Questioning Selana, William learns that while she was responsible for the pirate attack, she knows nothing of the griffin attack. However, several months earlier, a griffin had been sighted in Januli and Bryce had reportedly disposed of the creature when in fact he had captured and retrained it. Realizing that Bryce was responsible for the griffin attack on Gregor as well as the wraith attack on the Emperor, William, Aren, and Kaelyn enter the salt mines behind the castle and follow them to Bryce's workshop in the Waste.

Bryce tells them that his assassination attempt on the Emperor was an act of revenge on the Shadows for humiliating him and forbidding him from doing ethereal travel research. He had done so anyway, but in traveling to the ethereal world to capture a wraith, Bryce allowed a few to escape into Ramar, where they appeared in the Ridgewood. Selana's plan to kidnap the Consort happened to provide a suitable vessel for the wraith to strike at the Emperor. Before they can learn how to get Farril and Aurora's souls back though, Bryce commits suicide. Using Bryce's notes, Aren is able to summon the wraith. The wraith refuses to return the souls so Lord Sheffield and Selana, feeling responsible for the turmoil that House Sheffield has caused, volunteer to give up their souls instead. The wraith takes their souls, killing them, and returns Farril and Aurora's souls in exchange for the promise that humans will never disturb the wraiths again.

Two months later, William, Aren, and Kaelyn reunite in Ticoro for Prince Farril and Princess Aurora's wedding. William has been busy working for his father, Aren has become Finch's apprentice, and Kaelyn has been appointed ambassador to the Grrrlf in Antara. During the ceremony, William and Aren notice that Fellich Marr's staff is a silver hawk. William realizes that Marr was Silver Hawk, the mastermind behind Selana's and Bryce's plans, but that they are powerless to do anything and he has gotten away with it.

Reception

"Betrayal in Antara" was poorly received by fans of "Betrayal at Krondor" for a variety of reasons. Without Feist's existing universe, "Betrayal in Antara" suffered from a weak and complicated plot due to the lack of background information about the world of Ramar. Many of the quests in the game were also considered trivial and silly. For example, one main quest involves significant traveling to find tea for a mage who refuses to train Aren without it. The game was not written for Windows 95 but for Windows 3.1, an operating system with little support for games. As a result, it suffered from both substandard graphics for its time and poor performance. The 3-D world had very few polygons: "forests" in the game were not recognizable as such, as they consisted of flat walls with a forest-camouflage texture. Many of the scenes (and all of the dialogue) consist of static comic-book-like drawings of characters. The game only supported 8-bit color so under 16-bit color or 32-bit color resolutions, darkness (such as nighttime or a cavern) would appear bright purple. As the world map was loaded in sections, occasionally a section would not load properly, requiring the player to backtrack and re-enter in order to move to the next area of the map. The game was also much more limited, including restrictions on travel (many parts of Ramar are only accessible in one chapter) and player development (each chapter had a limit on maximum character stats). The computer AI was also lacking, as enemies had a tendency to run away in battle for no reason, despite having full health and being uninjured.

GameSpot gave "Betrayal in Antara" a score of 6.6/10, commenting that despite being "one of the first RPGs to utilize high-resolution SVGA graphics, the graphics are, frankly, as ugly as an orc." Although the story was well-developed, it was "perhaps one of the most linear RPGs ever made" with the gameplay "more than a little frustrating." However, they praised the interface and skill systems as being "topnotch." [GameSpot's review of "Betrayal in Antara": http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/betrayalinantara/review.html]

References

See also

* Betrayal at Krondor

External links

*moby game|id=/betrayal-in-antara
* [http://www.the-spoiler.com/RPG/Sierra/Betrayal.in.antara.html Betrayal in Antara] - Contains Walkthroughs and hints.