Bard's Tale The Bard's Tale Trilogy - remaster by Krome Studios

[Old Hans]

one of the bosses that kept whisking me back with some kind of wind attack every time I tried to close in with the kill.

is that the boss you need a thief to sneak up every round and backstab him? I still remember that fight after all these years.

Probably. And every fucking time I sent my thief a'creepin' behind his back, I got the "your thief has failed to backstab" message or something like that. Every time. Maybe the trick was to just persevere and do it at least 100 times until you succeeded. Or maybe I had a bugged early version of the remaster. I think I tend to give up any single boss battle, in any game, after an hour or so if I don't defeat it.

Edited: Now that I think about it, it might not have been that boss you're talking about because wasn't it in the end-game where you needed the backstab? This was about half-way in, and the big problem was that I couldn't get within 10' to launch heavy melee attacks (I think ranged attacks were ineffectual)... I kept getting blown back.

yep thats him. I just kept sneaking the thief up until the backstab worked.

 

[BruceVC]

I have decided to play this CRPG but I wont be playing it in Legacy Mode...Im a beginner and I like the idea of auto-mapping in the " noob version " . I have just created my party which include 1x Warrior, 1x Paladin, 1 x Monk, 1 x Conjurer, 2 x Magicians and 1 x Bard

Anyway I am going on leave tomorrow till 4 January so I wont be really getting into this classic until Im back

 

[octavius]

I'll probably give it a try myself in the new year. I'm starting to get a craving for blobber again.

Too bad there's no legacy graphics; I think the pixelated original Amiga and 16 bit Apple graphics look better than the smooth, retouched ones.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I'm always disappointed when they don't put every effort to add some extra nostalgia. They were put on many playforms so why not, in the company spare time add that as a toggle. Fuck, mix n match from music to graphics. Even the option to insert your own music would be fine (lotta remastered tracks out there).

And add the BTCS for fucksake.

At least there is emulation or old hardware if you want to try those. I suppose the music does get grating after a while. The remaster resolves exploits and bugs so I hear. I did start the games to look around and its pretty nice. It makes me wonder what the early wizardries and might n magics would be like if done similarly (i know there are playstation, snes, etc etc versions but I'm always fascinated about new features.

I don't even know what InXile has planned atm.

edit----- well, linked by inxile: 4 days ago
The Bard's Tale: Warlocks of Largefearn Now Available

 

[Faarbaute]

It's currently available at 75% off on GOG if anyone's interested.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I have decided to play this CRPG but I wont be playing it in Legacy Mode...Im a beginner and I like the idea of auto-mapping in the " noob version " . I have just created my party which include 1x Warrior, 1x Paladin, 1 x Monk, 1 x Conjurer, 2 x Magicians and 1 x Bard

Anyway I am going on leave tomorrow till 4 January so I wont be really getting into this classic until Im back

Be sure to always run from the deadliest foe in the game:

 

[BruceVC]

I have decided to play this CRPG but I wont be playing it in Legacy Mode...Im a beginner and I like the idea of auto-mapping in the " noob version " . I have just created my party which include 1x Warrior, 1x Paladin, 1 x Monk, 1 x Conjurer, 2 x Magicians and 1 x Bard

Anyway I am going on leave tomorrow till 4 January so I wont be really getting into this classic until Im back

Be sure to always run from the deadliest foe in the game:

Yeah, I am in the early stages of exploring Skara Brae and so far only a Stone Giant has slaughtered me but I can see how the combat is going to become more and more difficult but I am fine with that because then I can adopt more interesting strategies with my party members in battle

 

[BruceVC]

Last night I landed back in Cape Town at 10 pm and after getting home and unpacking it was 11:30 pm and I normally go to sleep before midnight. Anyway I ended up playing this game till 2 am

Also Im a contractor so I decided to take today off and game the whole day. ( I cant invoice but sometimes sacrifices must be made on the altar of gaming commitment) I am having great fun exploring Skara Brae and my battles with kobolds, dogs, orcs and conjurerors. I am also enjoying the repetitive exploration and gameplay mechanics and ostensibly easy combat and simple combat strategies...its a good game

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Was there a site that archived all graphics for each version (platform) of the game (including NES). Spriters resources is a tad sparce on this. I love it when people rip the sound and gfx out. When FRUA was hot and to a lesser extent BTCS, lots of graphics ripped, tools made, and new ones created.


..... and a lot of viruses. I lost my archives so many times due to reformatting.

 

[BruceVC]

Still having loads of fun in BT1, I have just made it to the sewers....my exploration continues

 

[BruceVC]

I finished the first BT after about 70 hours and it was a thoroughly entertaining experience. As soon as I became familiar with the mechanics of this type of CRPG it became even more interesting. So for example I found and used the Mage Staff for magic regeneration and used Apport Arcane to teleport quickly to Skara Brae to avoid walking to temples for healing everytime which is time consuming . I also got use to the combat strategy and how to use items and when to defend...effective combat strategy always helps in this type of game

I can see how this was an early implementation of certain BT components I recognized from BT4 and I can see how things became more streamlined for BT4
Anyway great game and I will be playing BT2&3 in the future

 

[octavius]

After the rather disappointing experience with the Llylgalmyn Saga remake of Wizardry 1 didn't satisfy my craving for blobber, I've decided to give The Bard's Tale another try.

Since before the Remaster appeared I have wanted to try the original 8 bit Apple version, which I suspect is the only bug free original game.
But the original games had some very crude mechanics that is a bit of a turn off, the main one being that a character's AC determined chance to hit in 1 and 2.
There were also balancing problems. In BT the mid game is too easy, while in BT2 and 3 things get too easy after the first area, and even if the enemies always get initiative they never hit you.
I know the Remaster fixes the crude to hit mechanics of 1 and 2 (with AC 10 Brian the Fist would not have been able to hit anything in the original), but it also introduced some problematic grammar mistakes (I'm pretty sure it's only Markus losing his voice, not the whole party):

Another thing that bothers me about the Remaster is the artwork. I remember being very impressed with the audiovisuals of the Amiga version; everything from the colours used and the animations, and of course the monks chanting when they heal you at the temples. The chanting is still there, but the artwork is a decline, I think. I really dislike this modern cartoony style that infests nearly all games nowadays. If they opt for this style they should have made completely new portraits instead of "enhancing" the old ones.
But I guess I can get used to it, and if the balancing issues have been fixed the Remasters may be the ultimate versions.
OTOH I need to check out that Apple version too, so I think I'll try that first. Finding reliable information about design and bugs differences between versions is not easy, so I guess I must do it myself.

 

[hayst]

Another thing that bothers me about the Remaster is the artwork. I remember being very impressed with the audiovisuals of the Amiga version; everything from the colours used and the animations, and of course the monks chanting when they heal you at the temples. The chanting is still there, but the artwork is a decline, I think. I really dislike this modern cartoony style that infests nearly all games nowadays. If they opt for this style they should have made completely new portraits instead of "enhancing" the old ones.

Seemed like they could have added an optional setting for the portraits, like a legacy graphic mode or something.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Sad lost opportunity to be able to use any portrait from the different platforms and music. Hell, make them unlockables like a minigame even. I loved the BT1 portraits and the tunes were a little different.

And no modified BTCS. Boo!

 

[octavius]

Is the encounter frequency the same in the Remaster as in the original version of Destiny Knight? BT1 had an acceptable random encounter frequency, but in the Destiny Knight the frequency is insane. Just standing still a few seconds without being bother is almost impossible, and when I check to see my map where I was a new group of unwanted XP attacks me. It really sours the experience.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

B2 being insane for encounters sounds quite accurate.

Did you get your archmage up to box standards?

Funny, different box showed this:

 

[solemgar]

After the rather disappointing experience with the Llylgalmyn Saga remake of Wizardry 1 didn't satisfy my craving for blobber, I've decided to give The Bard's Tale another try.

Since before the Remaster appeared I have wanted to try the original 8 bit Apple version, which I suspect is the only bug free original game.
But the original games had some very crude mechanics that is a bit of a turn off, the main one being that a character's AC determined chance to hit in 1 and 2.
There were also balancing problems. In BT the mid game is too easy, while in BT2 and 3 things get too easy after the first area, and even if the enemies always get initiative they never hit you.
I know the Remaster fixes the crude to hit mechanics of 1 and 2 (with AC 10 Brian the Fist would not have been able to hit anything in the original), but it also introduced some problematic grammar mistakes (I'm pretty sure it's only Markus losing his voice, not the whole party):

Another thing that bothers me about the Remaster is the artwork. I remember being very impressed with the audiovisuals of the Amiga version; everything from the colours used and the animations, and of course the monks chanting when they heal you at the temples. The chanting is still there, but the artwork is a decline, I think. I really dislike this modern cartoony style that infests nearly all games nowadays. If they opt for this style they should have made completely new portraits instead of "enhancing" the old ones.
But I guess I can get used to it, and if the balancing issues have been fixed the Remasters may be the ultimate versions.
OTOH I need to check out that Apple version too, so I think I'll try that first. Finding reliable information about design and bugs differences between versions is not easy, so I guess I must do it myself.

I kinda like the new artwork. Still respect the original but has a nice new look.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I still think it would have been cool for option to use old assets but with fixed gameplay.

 

[newtmonkey]

The biggest issue with the remastered artwork for me is that they just took the raw art, upscaled it, and then drew over that or retouched it, without correcting the aspect ratio. It makes everything look short/fat/deformed:

Remaster:

Raw Amiga screen capture:

Aspect-corrected Amiga art (as it would look on an actual NTSC Amiga connected to a monitor):

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

It is like they didn’t like c64, appleII, zx spectrum, etc. Yeah, some look similar in style but a few are totally different:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/819/tales-of-the-unknown-volume-i-the-bards-tale/screenshots/

NES is kind of a different beast so not applicable like Macintosh because of interface.

I’m starting to wonder how big this guild is and what each door/doorway leads to.