Bard's Tale How do you guys feel about The Bard's Tale?

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I tried to enjoy Bards Tale but kept finding it wanting. It really was a one trick pony. As already stated, Dragon Wars was the unofficial sequel to the BT trilogy, and was a much better game. It included quests that needed thought, had different ways through the game, skills to be used similar to Wasteland..and the combat was quite good too.

Legend of Faerghail I found to be much better than BT games also, along with the Might and Magic games and even the early Wizardries. Fate: Gates of Dawn is one of my favourite games, and I never had a problem with the save system. Did it happen in the hidden dungeon in the first town?

Another game of this type I played was Centauri Alliance, basically a Bards Tale in space. It was better than the BT games with more to do, however the balance in the latter half of the game is attrocious. Later on, every battle is literally pot luck whether you survive. I somehow struggled on to the end but will never play the thing again.

 

[Wyrmlord]

The only thing that seemed to come out The Bard's Tale was that a French developer of Amiga games used The Bard's Tale formula to make two very giant, very bloated, very detailed, and very extensive games that are notorious for being the largest and the most loaded RPGs ever made with a giant world with dozens of classes with dozens of skills with dozens of possible options in encounters

Care to elaborate? I might have a few excess years of life to waste.

Unless you mean Fate of course, but it was german and only one game.

Oh yes, the developer was German - and didn't that same developer make Legends of Faerghail (I have no idea how to properly spell that )?

 

[Psycroptic]

Well I guess I'm the only one who actually liked the Bard's Tale. I can still navigate a lot of the dungeons by heart.

You know the only RPG back then with C&C was Ultima IV. The Bard's Tale really wasn't missing anything that any other RPG had. Really I thought it had a lot more to offer in terms of classes, spells, etc. Especially by the time you hit part II. Since it's written in the early Wizardry mold a large part of it involves mapping, which almost lends it a puzzle aspect. I think a lot of people don't understand that or simply don't have the patience for it in this day and age. So yeah, it's an acquired taste.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Dragon Wars is Bard's Tale with humour. Its writing is excellent.

Bard's Tale...you see 99 Berzerkers, 99 Berzerkers, 99 Berzerkers and 99 Berzerkers. Yawn.

 

[DemonKing]

I quite liked them...back in the 80s!

I remember I had to buy the quest guide for Bard's Tale II because some of the riddles were just too esoteric and there was no internet back then to consult.

I found the original BT and BT3 quite easy to complete. I also played Dragon Wars but I'm not sure if I completed it or not. Overall I would say I prefered Wizardry or the Gold Box games, but they were quite good for their time.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Well I guess I'm the only one who actually liked the Bard's Tale. I can still navigate a lot of the dungeons by heart.

You know the only RPG back then with C&C was Ultima IV. The Bard's Tale really wasn't missing anything that any other RPG had. Really I thought it had a lot more to offer in terms of classes, spells, etc. Especially by the time you hit part II. Since it's written in the early Wizardry mold a large part of it involves mapping, which almost lends it a puzzle aspect. I think a lot of people don't understand that or simply don't have the patience for it in this day and age. So yeah, it's an acquired taste.

Wizardry (6 onwards) has more fun and varied classes and character/party creation possibilities.

The Bard's Tale would still probably be a better game than early Wizardrys. :D

 

[theverybigslayer]

I feel exactly like this.

 

[mondblut]

Oh yes, the developer was German - and didn't that same developer make Legends of Faerghail (I have no idea how to properly spell that )?

Yeah, they did Faerghail too, but it wasn't particularly outstanding in terms of obesity. Pretty modest really. I played it recently for a while, and it was fairly enjoyable - until I understood all encounters are 100% random and arbitrary, and you can run from all of them *and* get xp for that - making fighting truly pointless.

Never played Dragon Wars past a couple of initial encounters. Tried to play a hotter looking Amiga release yesterday, but floppy version 1.2 kept crashing all the time, and the only WHDLoad version is german 1.0. I tried to overwrite the german data1-6 files with the floppy ones, it didn't crash immediately and even turned english (with the exception of "esc to zuruck" lines), but I am afraid to delve deeper into it Maybe I should use 1.0 english floppy files, and pray for the better...

TVBS, this screen looks like a babe with a hot body but an ugly face. The bottom half almost gave me a hardon.

 

[Captain Rufus]

I enjoyed Bards Tale back in the day and it was still fun playing a Mac version a few years ago listening to some Coast to Coast AM like show online. (Lou Gentile I think. Was hilarious.)

I played it for a while and grinded the hell out of those damned Berserkers. Had a backup party with copies of all the items and everything. I really should finish it one of these days. I never really remember getting a proper game ending to the C64 version even though I used Quest for Clues to get through it. (Probably why. Messed up some flag someplace.)

I'd love to see the series fixed up and revamped but its probably never going to happen.

 

[theverybigslayer]

Another nice picture

 

[hal900x]

The Mobygames screenies section for Dragon Wars is chock full of lulz potential.

 

[theverybigslayer]

No comment.

 

[theverybigslayer]

This is why the Bard's Tale is a great rpg, look at the damage!

 

[hal900x]

This is why the Bard's Tale is a great rpg, look at the damage!

And apparently, you get to fight Codexians.

 

[abstract]

Is Devil Whiskey a BT remake? It sure looks that way.

 

[hal900x]

Is Devil Whiskey a BT remake? It sure looks that way.

In 1999, fans of the Bard's Tale series banded together to create the game Devil Whiskey. It is not a continuation of the Bard's Tale storyline; however, it is clearly inspired by it and features a similar interface and setting

 

[theverybigslayer]

Is Devil Whiskey a BT remake? It sure looks that way.

Yes. It's a proper remake. They preserved the terribly cumbersome UI too.

 

[octavius]

Bard's Tale was the first proper RPG I played when I got an Amiga. I loved the game then, but today the design flaws are too critical. In addition to the weird mix of real time and turn based it had one other great flaw: *every* "dice roll" was determined by the characters' and NPCs' AC rating, including chance to hit (THAC0) and chance to avoid spells and special attacks.

 

[MisterStone]

To be perfectly honest, the old BTs are pretty lame by today's standards. But I still have a soft spot in my heart for BT1, pure nostalgia though. Back in those days, just getting to see a new picture of a wacked out monster and reading some new descriptions of something was exciting in and of itself!

 

[Zomg]

I liked the fact that summoned party members were so powerful. Was that just a starting-off thing and eventually humans get better, or what?

Note: I played the shit so long ago this is like a third-degree memory

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Oh yes, the developer was German - and didn't that same developer make Legends of Faerghail (I have no idea how to properly spell that )?

Yeah, they did Faerghail too, but it wasn't particularly outstanding in terms of obesity. Pretty modest really. I played it recently for a while, and it was fairly enjoyable - until I understood all encounters are 100% random and arbitrary, and you can run from all of them *and* get xp for that - making fighting truly pointless.

Never played Dragon Wars past a couple of initial encounters. Tried to play a hotter looking Amiga release yesterday, but floppy version 1.2 kept crashing all the time, and the only WHDLoad version is german 1.0. I tried to overwrite the german data1-6 files with the floppy ones, it didn't crash immediately and even turned english (with the exception of "esc to zuruck" lines), but I am afraid to delve deeper into it Maybe I should use 1.0 english floppy files, and pray for the better...

TVBS, this screen looks like a babe with a hot body but an ugly face. The bottom half almost gave me a hardon.

Just play the PC or C64 version of DW, the Amiga version doesn't contain enough bells and whistles to warrant all the fuss.

 

[Arcanoix]

ftjrxjfjx

 

[theverybigslayer]

Bard's Tale went sci-fi!

 

[theverybigslayer]

Bard's Tale goes steam-punk!

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Ahh, Bards Tale 3. You will fight lots of Codexians when you head to Nazi Germany in BT 3.