The Bard's Tale Trilogy

So happy to be back in my hometown, Skara Brae, after all these years. If you've never played anything like Bard's Tale, Wizardry (1 or 2) or Eye of the Beholder, this is the one you want to play. There's other options but Bard's Tale plays into the fantasy genre better than most games that are out today. It has a certain amount of 1970s fantasy to it, as well, an very little in the way of modern fantasy tropes - and the way the game plays reflects the scope of the adventure. They've also modernised it a fair bit with some little niceties that would have been difficult to do on old hardware/software, like looking around. The interface is also cleaner, and they added some functionality that makes it faster to play. They recreated some of the artwork from the original. It may be a little dated but the game just isn't the same without it - original IBM release was bare compared to the Commodore 64 releases. I know I'm posting a positive review pretty early in terms of play hours, bu...

1986 and playing my first PC game. I had no idea what equip meant or what a monk meant outside of strange beer-brewing buildings in the countryside. But I loved the story even if I had no idea what a review board was (or where to find it). Years later in middle school a bud told me about how to play the game. Even showed me the clue book that you could mail away for. I slaved away on this game with a broken ankle on my Dad's Apple IIGS until the evening when I finally beat Mangar and his despicable followers. I still remember the sense of pride. This release has the exact same graphics as my old version from the 80s, just smoothed out a little. You can make your own map just by walking around instead of using graph paper like I did. It has humor, a great story and plenty of grinding for experience and gold. I love it and I hope anyone that plays this gem loves it too.

I highly recommend this title, but with a couple of caveats: 1) You are into, or are looking for, an old-school RPG dungeon crawler with maze-like maps (i.e. Eye of the Beholder, Wizardry or Might and Magic series) 2) You enjoy grinding for XP - these are very grindy games, and that's part of the enjoyment. The graphics, while nicely upgraded from the original versions, are still very basic. There are a few great quality of life improvements such as automapping, which was originally not a feature of the first 2 games. Just know before purchasing that you are getting 3 games that were made between 30 and 40 years ago. They are simple and charming, but they are difficult. If you go in with that mindset, you'll have a blast.

If you liked the version of Bard's Tale you played on your Commodore 64 (needing 8 floppy disks), you'll love this. Stays very true to the original, but has updated a few things to make the game more user-friendly (no more mapping on graph paper!) Well worth the price.

immersive game big time eater.

Very accurate implementation of the game from the 80's. Wonderful memories unlocked