THE TOP 10 NON-ADVENTURE GAMES OF ALL TIME – Welcome to Just Adventure + – Articles — Part 5

Articles

THE TOP
10 NON-ADVENTURE GAMES OF ALL TIME

Article
by Agustín Cordes and Michal
Necasek




October 3, 2003


3.
Betrayal At Krondor
– Dynamix/Sierra, 1993

Betrayal At Krondor - Dynamix/Sierra, 1993Betrayal
at Krondor
is closely related to Raymond E. Feist’s
Riftwar Saga and in fact Feist himself worked on this game.
Therefore it should not be surprising that Betrayal at
Krondor
is in many ways structured like a book: Divided
into chapters, with complex storyline, many characters, intriguing
plot twists and plenty of narrative. Much like in a book, some
of the chapters overlap in time and explore the events from
the point of view of different characters. Besides all that, Betrayal
at Krondor
is a great RPG. You control a party of
up to three characters at a time, out of six different predefined
characters, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. The
view switches between real-time first-person in a crudely modeled
(by today’s standards) 3D world to third-person for the turn-based
battle sequences. The characters are of two different “classes”,
warriors and magicians, and that determines which weapons and
spells they can or cannot use. The gameplay is relatively linear,
with only a part of the gameworld accessible in each chapter,
but still providing plenty of freedom within each chapter. Betrayal
at Krondor
is very immersive and the gameplay is full
of suspense as you gradually uncover a sinister conspiracy
that threatens to destroy the world of Midkemia.

Number
2

Agustin Cordes

Agustin Cordes

Did you ever have that feeling when you realize something that will never change? I mean, do you remember when you realized your girlfriend would be your wife for the rest of your life? Oh, you're not married, I see - me neither. But anyway, my point is: the first day I played King's Quest back in 1987, I knew I'd be forever in love with the genre. Seriously, after entering a castle, climbing up a tree, exploring a cave and finding all kinds of treasures, I realized that was the kind of game I loved - with King's Quest I felt the sense of adventure in all its splendour and, while now it seems a bit bland after all these years, I still remember it as an enlightening experience. That's right - after King's Quest, I was an avid adventure gamer. Years passed, more adventures were played and the internet appeared. Somehow, I needed to find a place where I could gather more information about adventures, where I could satisfy my adventuring needs. Of the small bunch of sites dedicated to the genre, only one stood above the rest with loads of info and quality. Even better, where in most sites adventures were covered like a mere day-job, in this site the staff showed a whole-hearted love for the genre, just like me - that's how I knew about Just Adventure. More years passed, even more adventures were played and lots of visits to JA were payed. One day, the JA forum opened and, without intention, I was sucked in. Next, I could write a line like "less games were played, lots of posts were made" but I guess that's getting pretty tiresome by now. Cut to the chase: one day I started a topic about unfinished adventures with several comments, Randy liked it, he asked if I wanted to write an article about it and that's it - I'm in! Now a little about me. I'm 23 years old. As you may have guessed from my spelling mistakes, English isn't my native language. I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Right now I'm working as a programmer in a communications-oriented company. Also, I'm carrying on my Electronic Engineering career, which I'm liking a lot. When I'm not working and studying, I usually try to sleep - when I'm not sleeping it's because I'm playing games. I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and horror, genres I love on books, movies and games. Lovecraft is my most favorite writer. I'm a weird guy - people close to me know I'm a slightly deranged person. I often enjoy things most normal people don’t, like Monty Python (I really love British humour) and bizarre, low-budget, badly-acted horror movies. As for my favorite games - Wasteland, Fallout and System Shock are right at the top of my list. Yes, I know what you're thinking, "after that initial speech, this guy is telling me his favorite games are RPG's?!". Well, while those are the games I most enjoyed for several reasons (being a post-apocaliptic nut for two of them), that doesn't mean the adventure genre isn't the most I like. In fact, I've played and enjoyed so many adventures that it's very difficult for me to pick a few single favorites.