Betrayal at Krondor/YMMV

• Cult Classic
• Fridge Logic: At the start of Chapter IV, just how is Owyn able to understand what Delekhan is saying (presumably in moredhel) to Gorath? However, given that his resulting lapse of trust in Gorath doesn't actually affect anything, this isn't such a big deal.
  • In the novelisation, however, the language barrier problem is ignored on far more numerous and significant occasions. Unless you're willing to assume that Gorath would begin a private conversation with his estranged wife in anything other than their native language...
• Game Breaker: The spell Skin Of The Dragon, which can be found fairly early on during chapter one, grants absolute immunity to any damage for a number of rounds, and can be recast again and again during a combat. Even a character that has been poisoned will take no damage while experiencing the effects of this spell. It works against every foe in the game, and even the final battle can be easily won by casting this spell on the party members and then whacking the Big Bad and his Mooks with sticks.
  • In two chapters your spellcaster has no access to this spell, and those two chapters are easily the two most difficult in the game. However, with a little foresight you can get him this spell by leaving its scroll in a chest or something and breeze on through the rest of the game.
  • You can also have Owyn practice lute playing to absurd degree that becomes a nice source of income at higher levels.
    • There are actually a ton of ways to make a lot of money quickly. For example, at the beginning of Chapter III a guild war has broken out in Romney, causing the prices in the shop to increase sixfold until a subquest is completed. This also means that the shopkeeper will buy stuff from the party at six times the normal price, and with other normal-priced shops only a half-day's travel to both the north and south, it's quite easy to amass a lot of money here. There are several other places to also earn a lot of money, many of which are detailed here, about halfway down the page.
  • The "Evil Seek" spell. Chain Lightning-type spell that wipes out any attacking party in two casts.
  • Steelfiring the Guarda Revanche, which never decays, will last forever, so every blow Gorath strikes with it is strong enough to kill virtually any enemy. If you want to really get cheeky, you can then go and bless the blade.
    • This actually can become a Game Breaking Bug, as just like the example on the main page, it's possible to start doing negative damage to the enemy if Gorath's strength gets high enough (which it easily can do before the end of the game, even without the well mentioned on the main page). In fact, in the original diskette version the blade was blessed when you found it, but due to this bug the designers took the blessing off. Kind of a stopgap solution, since it's easy enough to get it blessed anyway.
• Tear Jerker: The ending. A lot of attention is given to the character arc of Gorath, his struggle to accept humans as potential allies and eventually friends, and his Tragic Dream of reforming his people to a more peaceful, prosperous and less starving and cutthroat existence. At the end, he's the one who has to give his life to save the whole world if not the whole multiverse from the return of the Valheru. When Delekhan tries to release them, Gorath stops him, but the Valheru start possessing them both. Upon hearing Pug say that the only way to save the world is to destroy both of them, and Owyn hesitating (not surprising for someone who has spent the entire story befriending him), Gorath shouts at him to do it. He is subsequently blown to smithereens. His dream of reforming the moredhel? That dies with him. The epilogue leaves the fate of the moredhel somewhat open, with Narab or the more reasonable Liallan fighting for leadership, but there's nothing to be optimistic about. The books in the series, at least, make it clear that the moredhel don't seem to have changed much even centuries after Betrayal. Gorath's death is made worse by the fact that he had previously Returned, aka undergone a spiritual transformation to an eledhel, which means that his exile and traitor status are no longer an issue and that he does have a place to go and happily spend the rest of his days in - although, considering that Gorath is interested in reformation of his whole people and not just himself and that Returning has burned all bridges to any future non-hostile contact with them, ever, that might be a Tear Jerker just by itself.
• That One Level: Chapter IV, and particularly the Marathon Level at the beginning. Hope Owyn and Gorath brought some useful equipment.
  • Made even worse if you don't find Nalar's Rib, as both the stone itself and the note with a clue to its existence are quite easy to miss.