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

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Fortunately, there's another portrait of a CRPG character voiced by Patrick Stewart, for ItsChon to use:

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I would have used a custom I use on most forums, but my casual perusal didn’t indicate an upload option. Then again, I was just sort of wanting to get something up. I used to cut out old magazine pictures and attach “avatar” pics to D&D character sheets.

I recalled I used this one (at the time I wanted Lands of Lore but all I had was a C64, a NES, a Sega CD, and my faithful Colecovision. C64 was passed down, the Colecovision I bought off a kid for cheap who wanted a Game Genie, the sega+CD was from a used shop, so only the top loader NES was a new buy.

Anywhooo, I digress, Skeletor art is my go to and maybe an EOB art or similar.

Bardstale has quite a few sites and rpgclassic does have a shrine for PC art.

I neglected to add https://bardstaleonline.com

Let’s see if my understanding of html is up to date so I can shorten the address and add underlining. I’m sure there is a thread or link page with just about all the bardstale sites. Webring seems..... defunct these modern days. Hah! Got accepted to a Devil Whiskey yahoo groups.

Note: I need to relearn html; that first attempt was abysmal.

 

[Infinitron]

I just learned that inXile added some BT4 retcons to this game. Including a Nathan Long self-insert called "Longinus".

https://steamcommunity.com/app/843260/discussions/0/1734336452569929671/
https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?t=19209&start=100#p198387

The inXile forums are salty about it of course.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Bah! I tried this on my primary laptop and....


Seems the screen hangs most of the time when I start the game. I once was able to roll a character then the image froze. I could still click in the background so the game was running but it just wasn’t refreshing. I’m playing on a Lenovo laptop
OS
Windows 10 home 64-bit

CPU
Intel core i3 @!1.90GHz

RAM
4.00GB singlechannel DDR3 @797MHz

Motherboard
LENOVO G50-80 (U3E1

Graphics
Generic PNp monitor (1366x768@60Hz
Intel HD Graphics Family (Lenovo)

Audio
Conexant SmartAudio HD

I know that’s a 4-5 year old computer but it should run this. Yes, I tried a new install of v1.09 TBTT but I get this hanging. Maybe it did it on the version 1.0 and I didn’t notice. I could try it on my older laptop also a core i3 but different manufacturer. Kind of sucks.

I thought I’d try it on the larger screened old computer but damn.... well, a new computer isn’t forthcoming anytime soon even if I would like a good gaming machine. I use the Lenovo mostly for documents and data transfers anyways. Gotta organize portable hard drive hoarding files.... for fun.

Damn bummer. That other computer is windows 7. So it’s either crappy win10, crappy i3, or just crappy Lenovo.

Feels like 15$ down the tubes.... for now.

 

[ProphetSword]

Did you turn down all the different graphic settings? In particular, turn off SSAO, Shadows and Bloom.

I had this game running on a crappy little Windows 10 tablet with an Intel graphics card about a week ago. Ran like garbage until I turned all those off. Give that a go if you haven't tried already.

 

[octavius]

Bloom...as useless as nipples on a breastplate and gender studies.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I forgot about the shadows and bloom. Next time I boot up I’ll check that out. The sheer size of a retro compared to the original dos or any of the other versions. Hmmmm... now I want to see comparison images with and without the bells and whistles.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Bah! At this moment it’s stuck on THE LEGEND OF SKARA BRAE screen but I can hear the main adventure guild repeat music and if I click my mouse around I sometimes hit one of the entries.

Ok, so I tried windowed and it froze much the same. Last thing I tried was full-screen again, no bells or whistles and just flipped as fast as I could through intro. Loaded a-team and BAM!!! Ran outside. Murdered 3 hobbits and it seems to be ok.

I created a new group after that no problem. Maybe the introduction on new game is messing me up. I dunno. With my new group made I should be able to bolt out and start..... maybe murder a few more hobbits to make sure the game doesn’t crash.

Hobbit overload being cooped up in Skara Brae or something; breeding like rabbits with nothing to do. It’s worse than tribbles.

 

[fantadomat]

Fargo is such a retard. Makes a game for old school grognars....then in his infallible wisdom he ends up with a game that only hardcore pc master race type of guys could play,the ones that jizz all over themself when they see 12more pixels and hair physics on their 4k screen. I am amazed!

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well, it still freezes pics here and there or just locks up. I think for me it’s just the main special menu causing my crap comp to glitch. I play games like Legend of grimlock, heroes of mm1-5, and some others just fine.

Reminds me of my old c64 disk drive that would get out of alignment or get too hot and freezes. Didn’t think EXACT remakes in that department was wanted. :/

 

[Gregz]

Well, it still freezes pics here and there or just locks up. I think for me it’s just the main special menu causing my crap comp to glitch. I play games like Legend of grimlock, heroes of mm1-5, and some others just fine.

Reminds me of my old c64 disk drive that would get out of alignment or get too hot and freezes. Didn’t think EXACT remakes in that department was wanted. :/

Why are you posting here and not at inXile support forums?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I have as well as gog support. The only other large issue I have heard is computer running at a high temperature but that, again, could just be a hardware problem people never noticed before.

Despite all these issues, i guess most of the base play is similar. Core hit points and spell points look close. I tend to record some data as I go then I look at various entries on bards Tale sites:

Xp tables:

Warrior, hunter, bard

Lvl 2 - 1,000

Lvl 3 - 2,000

Lvl 4 - 3,500

Lvl 5 - 5,000

Lvl 6 - 7,500



Monk, conjured, magician

Lvl 2 - 900

Lvl 3 - 2,000

Lvl 4 - 3,000

Lvl 5 - 5,000

Lvl 6 - 7,000



Different character classes get a different number of hit points each time they advance in level. This is further affected by the character's Constitution score - every point of CN above 14 will give the character a bonus hit point each time they advance a character level. Hit point increases by class are:

• Conjurer, Magician = 1-4 HP

• Monk, Rogue, Sorcerer, Wizard = 1-8 HP

• Bard, Hunter, Paladin, Warrior = 1-16 HP

CON 14 hp+1 INT 14 sp+1

CON 15 hp+2 INT 15 sp+2

CON 16 hp+3 INT 16 sp+3

CON 17 hp+4 INT 17 sp+4

CON 18 hp+5 INT 18 hp+5


All mages = 1-4 SP


Attributes

Now that you've chosen a race, the game will roll up a set of starting attributes for that character. If you don't like your stats, you can reroll them and take a chance at better numbers. High numbers in certain stats will give bonus effects to the character - low stats don't have negative effects. The attributes and the effects of high (15+) stats are:

• Strength [ST] - Gives bonus damage in melee combat (17 = +1, 18 = +2).
• Dexterity [DX] - Gives bonus Armor Class (-1 AC per point above 14), take action earlier in Combat, Hunters more likely to cause a Critical Hit
• Intelligence [IQ] - Gives bonus Spell points on level up (+1 SP per point above 14)
• Constitution [CN] - Gives bonus Hit points on level up (+1 HP per point above 14)
• Luck [LK] - Gives bonus resistance to Traps, hostile Spells etc

Monk damage with fists seems different than some sits that record 1-4 damage (same) then jumps to 2d4 (though my monk registered 1-6 at that level tier).

Critical damage increase randomly appears each level. (I decided to save/load on a crappy group to record leveling up stats).

MP isn’t great and my magician always seems to get less than my conjurers.

Looks like travellers tune stacks each time played in combat. I don’t ever recall the tune playing out of combat lasting so long (not that I’m complaining).

I realized rosco’s and the temples have a heal all and restore all button. That’s nice. As to refilling forever to get best stats... eventually I just say fuck it. I never got a dwarf with 18 con but 1/2 orc was easy enough and sometimes strength. You start out with more hp than I recall and the first level is definitely 1/2 what was needed in the original.

Meet mobs up to 40 feet away (usually mages) and I had a nighttime encounter with 4 sorcerers and 6 mercenaries.

I hit space bar to speed up combat (makes the attack instant.... large scale fights I will probably Max it). I suppose a quick round combat could be added for the impatient where you just see the results of the computation (but that probably takes the charm out of the old school feel of the game.... to be fair wizards crown had an ultra quick combat option usually with less than desired results).

 

[FeelTheRads]

I was really confused about the last posts.. Bloom? Shadows? Are they actually talking about BT4 not the remakes? Then I go back a couple of pages and

Spoiler

Greetings, friend. Have you come seeking the light?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I was off on my bonus charting by +1. A score of 14 does nothing +0

 

[ProphetSword]

The remastered version is actually quite fun. I beat the game in about 34 hours (I spent a lot of time purposely leveling up and exploring).

I don't even think I got this far back on my Commodore 64...

Spoiler

Of course, nearly half my party didn't survive the final encounter, but I had so much money by that point that bringing them back to life was trivial.

 

[Valky]

How do you get the world window to fill the most space on the screen as possible?

 

[octavius]

Word on the internet is that increasing the resolution will work.

 

[Gord]

How do you get the world window to fill the most space on the screen as possible?

Since the latest patches there's also an option to increase the screen space used by the world window.
Go to Options -> Gameplay -> Large 3D.
It's apparently (so far?) only supported for 16:9 screens, but it worked on my 16:10 screen, too.
You will have a few pixels cut off in that case, however.

 

[Doktor Best]

Will there be an android version of those remasters? With the mapping feature included those games could be very suitable as a mobile game.

 

[newtmonkey]

I am concerned that they won't be able to even finish the trilogy after the sales disaster of BT4 ;_;

 

[Gord]

Actually I think the remasters might already have been paid. It's an outsourced contractual work, after all.
But then, who knows.
Still, the release is supposed to happen soon-ish, so they should be pretty much finished already.

 

[ProphetSword]

They better finish the trilogy. I'm anxiously awaiting the second part. Never played it back in the day (or the third one).

 

[newtmonkey]

I'm most looking forward to a fixed version of BT3. There's a fanmade patch for BT3 DOS that fixes a lot, but would be nice to get an official "bugfree" version of BT3 with all mechanics working as intended. I don't think any version of BT3 works right under the hood.

 

[ProphetSword]

I'm most looking forward to a fixed version of BT3. There's a fanmade patch for BT3 DOS that fixes a lot, but would be nice to get an official "bugfree" version of BT3 with all mechanics working as intended. I don't think any version of BT3 works right under the hood.

Did not know that. Can you clue me in on what's broken in BT3? I own a DOS compilation that I considered pulling out, but now I think I'll wait.

 

[newtmonkey]

ProphetSword
I didn't realize it either, I've got the Interplay Ultimate RPG collection, but the discussion here clued me in:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-bards-tale-series.91563/

I'm sorry I cannot link you directly to where they talk about it here, but about halfway through they bring it up.

Here's another forum talking about the bugs in BT3:
https://af.gog.com/forum/the_bards_...ug_free_version_of_bards_tale_3?as=1649904300

[HAVING SAID THAT] Obviously people happily played this game back in the day and either didn't notice or didn't care.

If you go here
https://bardstaleonline.com/bt3/downloads
They have a link to the fanmade BT3 patch
(Here's the link to the list of changes: https://github.com/ChrisAubuchon/BT3-DOS-patch/blob/master/FIXES)

FINALLY, if you have trouble finding the actual replacement EXE (I did), the link is provided here:

http://bardstale.brotherhood.de/tal...sid=6d92946c5d4c6932e98dc7d8dcc6f613&start=90

You just put this file in your BT3 folder, and run it instead of THIEF.EXE, should run fine.