History VideoGame / BetrayalInAntara

''Betrayal in Antara'' is a computer Western RPG developed and published by Sierra in 1997. It is a SpiritualSuccessor to ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor''. It is based on the same game engine, but Sierra had lost the rights to use Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar world, so ''Antara'' takes place in a new world.

*** Both of these AntiGrinding tricks were put in due to the ease of grinding in the [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual predecessor]] ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor''. In that game you could theoretically go from 1 to 100 in any skill in a single battle. Find a foe that won't retreat, weaken him to lower his accuracy, and then defend for 30 minutes while he fails to hit you and your defense will be high enough to make you untouchable for a large section of the game. It was pretty easy to trivialize combat with even a little grinding effort.

* CastFromStamina: Being the SpiritualSuccessor of ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'', there's a similar system of stamina and health points in place, with mages [[CastFromStamina casting from stamina]] until they are forced to switch to CastFromHitpoints. However, the game goes a step further by making in-battle healing via resting or magic healing only restore stamina, not health. This really doesn't help Aren's SquishyWizard tendencies.

* SimpleStaff: Aren and Raal.

* VendorTrash: Gems, for the most part.
** Gems have one possible use, storing of money. There is a cap on the maximum amount of money that may be stored in your 'wallet'. Even without exploiting any infinite money trick it's possible for a savvy and cheap player to end up with more money then they can fit in their wallet. Gems are tiny and high quality ones have a high resell value so they can be a way to stockpile more money then you would ever be allowed to have originally; though they sell for far less then you can purchase them so they aren't the most efficient money transportation units.
*** Of course, the basic supplies are cheap enough. There are some occasional chances to buy some armor or weapon upgrades at a nice sum, but even fully equipping the team with new gear is unlikely to completely drain a full 'wallet', begging the question [[MoneyForNothing when would someone ever find they had such a need for money as to re-sell their gems back]]?

* GuideDangIt: How to obtain a Circlet of Senaedrin (which helps heal poison): Obtain an emerald. Remember from one of the puzzle chests you did hours ago that the founder of the empire had both a [[MismatchedEyes 'sapphire' and 'emerald' eye]]. Don't sell your emerald at Ormede, the town before Ravenne, even though it's one of the few gem stores in the game and you're tired of them cluttering your inventory. In Ravenne, go to the museum and notice that the bust of the founder of the empire has only a sapphire eye, and use your emerald on it. This reveals a secret compartment with the Circlet of Senaedrin. Good luck figuring ''that'' out without a guide.

* UnwinnableByMistake: If a certain PlotCoupon is with the wrong character when the party splits up...

* UnwinnableByDesign and UnwinnableByInsanity: The game can become unwinnable simply by playing poorly. Resources are limited to what you can get from enemies you defeat or find in chests or towns, and battle related skills usually can only be raised in battles. There are a limited number of enemies per chapter, so play poorly enough and you can reach a point where you have no resources, poor skills, and no way to increase either. Theoretically you can eventually starve to death as late as the last chapter of the game, though [[UnwinnableByInsanity it takes a certain degree of 'skill' to do so poorly that you end up that broke]].

[[http://www.gog.com/game/betrayal_at_krondor It can be picked up at GOG - along with ''Krondor'' - for $2.99.]]

* CastFromStamina: Being the SpiritualSuccessor of BetrayalAtKrondor, there's a similar system of stamina and health points in place, with mages [[CastFromStamina casting from stamina]] until they are forced to switch to CastFromHitpoints. However, the game goes a step further by making in-battle healing via resting or magic healing only restore stamina, not health. This really doesn't help Aren's SquishyWizard tendencies.

** Over reliance on this ability can come back to hurt you. As it will prevent you from [[StatGrinding increasing your spell accuracy]] during the early game, you know, since it [[RuleOfThree always hits]]. In the later part of the game the ranged attack spells are much stronger, but if you never leveled Aren's accuracy in the early game your powerful range spells will miss often

[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar "It comes and it goes..."]]

* ActionGirl: Kaelyn, [[GuysSmashGirlsShoot and how.]]

* BigBad: Silver Hawk, [[spoiler:a.k.a. Fellich Marr, [[VillainWithGoodPublicity the head of the Church of Henne]] and [[EvilChancellor one of the Emperor's closest advisors]]]]. Seeing the Imperial Consort, Prince Farril of Chail, as an opportunity to assassinate the Emperor and install his daughter, Princess Aurora, as a more malleable ruler, Silver Hawk sent his trusted agent, Petrov, manipulate two others into doing the dirty deed - Selana Sheffield and the Sheffield court mage Calvert Bryce. With the help of the Shepherds, Selana plotted to kidnap the Consort and ransom him back to Chail as one of her misguided attempts to keep the Sheffield family afloat. Using this window of opportunity, Bryce placed a wraith within the Consort. This wraith remained hidden until the Consort was face-to-face with the Emperor, at which time it rose out and attacked. Unfortunately, the Princess interposed herself between the wraith and her father, causing her soul to be stolen instead.

* KarmaHoudini: Silverhawk. Apart from the loss of some of his agents, he gets away with his scheme completely unscathed.

* CastFromHitPoints: Really doesn't help Aren's SquishyWizard tendencies.

* AccidentalInnuendo: "You have an interest in my worm, young man? I will tell you how I coax him to raise his little head." Spoken about charming a small field worm, of course.

* GameBreaker: Not as bad as some games, but the [[DeflectorShields damage shield]] spells can be this. It's possible to cast a light shield which will make an ally impervious to all damage for a set round, allowing them to attack their enemies without fear. Especially during the sections where Aren and William are alone, this is quite powerful. If Aren can get off just two rounds of spells without an opponent getting close enough to stop him from casting, he can shield both team members. If he has enough HP to use up all his stamina on the two shields, they will last long enough for William to kill everyone on screen before the shields drop. Best of all, he can then spend the rest of the battle resting to [[RegeneratingHealth regain health]], so that by the end of the battle he is at max health. He can also regenerate health fast enough to constantly recast the shields when they wear off. The only thing capable of stopping this strategy is an opponent closing to melee range with Aren to prevent him from casting/refreshing the shields.

** Gar Warren, [[spoiler: leader of the Shepards]], mistakenly refers to William and Aren as [[SesameStreet Treb and Enrie.]]

** Actually not unwinnable, just slightly harder. A second copy of the PlotCoupon may be found. Asking the right questions of a certain individual will have him reveal that he had hidden another version of the PlotCoupon in a town a little ways away. It's possible to travel to the town and find the (well-hidden) second PlotCoupon . So while you're punished for sending the plot token to the party that clearly would not want it, ultimately [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything the game ensures you can go on]].

[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/antara_4034.jpg]]
[[caption-width:350:From left: William, Aren, and Kaelyn]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/antara_4034.jpg

* UnwinnableByDesign and UnwinnableByInsanity: The game can become winnable simply by playing poorly. Resources are limited to what you can get from enemies you defeat or find in chests or towns, and battle related skills usually can only be raised in battles. There are a limited number of enemies per chapter, so play poorly enough and you can reach a point where you have no resources, poor skills, and no way to increase either. Theoretically you can eventually starve to death as late as the last chapter of the game, though [[UnwinnableByInsanity it takes a certain degree of 'skill' to do so poorly that you end up that broke]].

* UnwinnableByDesign and UnwinnableByInsanity: The game can become winnable simply by playing poorly. Resources are limited to what you can get from enemies you defeat or find in chests or towns, and battle related skills usually [[CaptainObvious can only be raised in battles]]. There are a limited number of enemies per chapter, so play poorly enough and you can reach a point where you have no resources, poor skills, and no way to increase either. Theoretically you can eventually starve to death as late as the last chapter of the game, though [[UnwinnableByInsanity it takes a certain degree of 'skill' to do so poorly that you end up that broke]].

!!''Betrayal at Antara'' provides examples of:

** A subtler version exists in battle as well. While characters can level multuple skills in a single battle, each skill can only gain one skill point per battle. No matter how much you practice a skill you will not be able to raise it after that first skill gain in the fight. Of course considering the length of most fights and the tendency to try to end them fast before enemies escape it's hard to notice this unless your intentionally trying to grind. Keep in mind there are a limited number of battles per chapter, so it's not always easy to just go find another fight to grind at.
*** It's still possible to grind multiple points from a given opponent, though it's kind of a cheat. If you retreat from a battle the opponents you ran from will still exist in the world. You can then re-enter the battle you just retreated from and have it count as a new battle. Grind a point, retreat, renter the battle, and grind another point. rinse repeat. Still, about the only trait that anyone could possible have reason to want to grind like this is [[MagikarpPower spell accuracy]] if they went half the game without using it only to realize all their new powerful spells require it and their aim still sucks.
*** Both of these AntiGrinding tricks were put in due to the easy of grinding in it's [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual predecessor]] Betrayal At Krondor. In that game you could theoretically go from 1 to 100 in any skill in a single battle. Find a foe that won't retreat, weaken him to lower his accuracy, and then defend for 30 minutes while he fails to hit you and your defense will be high enough to make you untouchable for a large section of the game. It was pretty easy to trivialize combat with even a little grinding effort.

* GameBreaker: Not as bad as some games have, but the [[DeflectorShields damage shield]] spells can be this. It's possible to cast a light shield which will make an ally impervious to all damage for a set round, allowing them to attack their enemies without fear. Especially during the sections where Aren and William are alone this is quite powerful. If Aren can get off just two rounds of spells without an opponent getting close enough to stop him from casting he can shield both team members. If he pays enough HP to use up all his stamina on the two shields they will last long enough for William to kill everyone on screen before the shields drop. Best of all, he can then spend the rest of the battle resting to [[RegeneratingHealth regain health]], so that by the end of the battle he is at max health. He can also regenerate health faster enough to constantly recast the shields when they wear off. The only thing capable of stopping this strategy is an opponent closing to melee range with Aren to prevent him from casting/refreshing the shields.

* MagikarpPower: Most ranged magic can be seen as this. Ranged Accuracy is a skill that needs to be developed, and starts out low. This can be a problem since your allies tend to be standing right next to your enemy, meaning a reasonable chance of wasting [[CastFromHitPoints Aren's hp]] only to roast your own ally. Considering that *very* early in the game you get [[DiskOneNuke a spell]] that is [[AlwaysAccurateAttack guaranteed to hit]] and does as much damage as the beginning ranged attack for far less health cost, there is little reason to cast the usual ranged attack spell. Unfortunately, the only way to get the accuracy high enough to hit someone is by using ranged spells, and at the end of the game the [[FixedDamageAttack 40 damage]] lightning spell spell just can't compete with the more powerful ranged attack spells of late game. A novice player can find themselves regretting that they didn't develop their accuracy earlier in the game.
** Then again, considering the late game GameBreaker comes in the form of [[DeflectorShields damage shields]] that can be cast without worrying about spell accuracy it's not as problematic. It's entirely possible for even skilled players to beat the game with minimal spell accuracy rating, considering the pain of leveling it early earn and the fact that there is usually a more viable spell then ranged damage.

* RegeneratingHealth: using the 'rest' command in battle would regenerate a little stamina each turn you rested. This was actually quite useful for Aren, if he was far enough from an opponent that he was unlikely to be attacked and didn't have any spells worth wasting HP on a given turn resting would allow him to restock his stamina for later spells. Combined with a [[DeflectorShield damage shield]] that would deflect all damage and would last long enough per cast that resting could completely recover the cost of casting it and you have a mini GameBreaker.
** This could also be exploited to save resources if you really wanted to min-max. Once a battle is mostly won playing with a weakened opponent while resting can help regenerate some health and save you from having to waste food recovering out of combat. Though your need to be certain you can kill the enemy before he can escape if he tries to retreat; don't want to lose a lootable body!
* RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth: In a manner of speaking. While the use of the rest command in battle can restore stamina, it *can not* recover health. If using the rest command often, particularly with Aren, it can start to feel like this trope is in effect.

* TacticalWithdraw: Most enemies will retreat when low on health, Lost most of their enemies, or simply spent gone long enough without managing to do any damage to the party. Of course if they retreat they don't leave a corpse to loot, and your out on money and supplies you could have looted.

*** The strength potion can be purchased in a town a ways away. It can be a little expensive though, so in theory at least it could be unwinnable if your unusually low on money.
UnwinnableByDesign and UnwinnableByInsanity: The game can become winnable simply by playing poorly. Resources are limited to what you can get from enemies you defeat or find in chests or towns, and battle related skills usually [[CaptainObvious can only be raised in battles]]. There are a limited number of enemies per chapter, so play poorly enough and you can reach a point where you have no resources, poor skills, and no way to increase either. Theoretically you can eventually starve to death as late as the last chapter of the game, though [[UnwinnableByInsanity it takes a certain degree of 'skill' to do so poorly that you end up that broke]].
VendorTrash: Gems, for the most part.

*** Of course the basic supplies are cheap enough. There are some occasional chances to buy some armor or weapon upgrades at a nice sum, but even fully equipping the team with new gear is unlikely to completely drain a full 'wallet', begging the question [[MoneyForNothing when would someone ever find they had such a need for money as to re-sell their gems back]]?
* VideogameCruiltyPotential: Most enemies will retreat when low on health or clearly outclassed. You could allow them to run away, ending the fight with no more blood shed. Or you could break break out some extra magic to make sure you kill them before they get away so you can loot their bodies for cold hard cash. Guess which one people often opt for?
** In our heros defense almost every fight with humans is against opponents who clearly were planning to attack the first random stranger and loot their stuff. Just because they [[MuggingTheMonster got more of a fight then they expected]] doesn't mean they wouldn't be happily killing the heroes for cash if they could. Ridding the world of such danger is a civic duty! the loot is just an added bonus....

** Oddly enough the WalletOfHolding also stores food. If your really rich you may have to decide rather you want to toss out all your money or carry so little food you may starve to death.