Go Back   Forums > Community Chatterbox > Gaming Zone
Memberlist Forum Rules Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Search Forums:
Click here to use Advanced Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 21-07-2006, 03:54 AM   #1
rabadi
New(bie) Kid on the Linux Users' Block
 
rabadi's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Irving, United States
Posts: 499
Default

First of all, I have never played the original 1985 Bard's Tale, or any subsequent ones in the Bard's Tale series.

Secondly, let's not include inXile Entertainment's 2004 The Bard's Tale game from the discussion, since from what I read in the reviews the gameplay is so much different from the original Bard's Tale series.

Thirdly, I don't know whether the original Bard's Tale is abandonware or not (meaning protected by ESA), but that is beside the point since I am not requesting for it anyway. I am merely wanting to know more about it.

Fourthly, I think this is going to be a bit long post, so I hope everyone reading it won't get bored. You have been warned! :bleh:

So... in my own quest to find First-Person RPG which will not gave me headache or simulator sickness (see Dizziness/Headache from FPS or FPRPG, Simulator Sickness thread for more background info), I have been browsing the net, looking for any *modern* FPRPG which does not shy in using the good old tile-based movement (such as used in Lands of Lore 1, Anvil of Dawn, Eye of Beholder series, etc.). Undercroft is certainly one of them, except that it is mainly for Pocket PC (see No Such Thing As Free Rpg For Pocket Pc? thread for more info on my other quest :bleh: ), and the window version is not even scaled to full screen.

Then I came across that wikipedia article on the original Bard's Tale. I was quite interested, but since the quest is on *modern* games, I decided to search further for any games that pay homage to the series. It was then that I stumbled upon Conlan Rios' The Warrior's Tale. It is a freeware, so all seemed good. Alas, I have a poor sense of direction (even more so in real life, when I am driving a car, I will have to make sure I am already familiar with the route I will be taking or otherwise I will get lost ), and so I gave up that game after only an hour or so. I could not find my way around the city, all the buildings look the same to me. It got worse since saving the game is only allowed in the tavern, and well... I could not find my way back to the tavern. There is no mapping feature in the game as well.

So I stopped playing The Warrior's Tale, and continued looking for alternatives. I then found Shifting Suns Studios' The Devil Whiskey. Well, it is not freeware, so I just downloaded the demo. Anyway, this time I can differentiate the buildings better. Saving is also allowed anywhere, which is good, if only that there is only one save game file possible. But the problem is that my party died way too easily. It is difficult to progress when my party members kept dying all the time from each encounter. The battle system is also slow (I much prefer real-time combat to turn-based combat, but hey lately I have been giving games with turn-based combat more and more tries, so I start to get used to it anyway, but still the battle system here in The Devil Whiskey is rather too slow for my taste). Most of the time my party will encounter 10 townpeople, or 5 dwarves, and got slaughtered just like that.

Now, I was wondering whether the gameplay style is also like that for the original Bard's Tale series? As I said above, I have never played any of the original series, but a lot of people seem to praise them. If the gameplay is similar, how do you cope with the slow battle system, or one saved game file, or the difficulty to survive in the beginning? How do you like the original series? Please discuss. Thanks in advance

(back to preparing to restart playing The Spirit Engine for now)
rabadi is offline                         Send a private message to rabadi
Reply With Quote
Old 22-07-2006, 02:57 AM   #2
Talin
Game freak

 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Sweden
Posts: 105
Default

well it was fun and kinda hard (no automap, ya map all locations yaself, pen and paper style.)
can be compared graphicstyle to Might and Magic : Secret of Inner Sanctum (they even looked almost alike.)
or even more to Pool of Radience (the old "Golden Box" game, not that new crap.) but with more dated graphics. I would think that replaying the game today might induce a graphics-chock.

And the New Bard's Tale got nothing to do with the original series other then the name (i hope anyway, only played the new one once for about 5 min, and thought it was a joke.)

i have both BT 1 and BT 2 for Apple II, i could get ya some pics from the back of the box.
Talin is offline                         Send a private message to Talin
Reply With Quote
Old 24-07-2006, 05:00 AM   #3
rabadi
New(bie) Kid on the Linux Users' Block
 
rabadi's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Irving, United States
Posts: 499
Default

I read this review just now:
http://www.goodolddays.net/0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0...39_show_1__0_0/
Quote:
In addition, the game featured one of the steepest learning curves known to RPGs. The basic premise was that you could afford losing characters at lower levels, as you could always create and train new ones. However, this premise went into extremes: before you reached level 4, which made traveling through the city relatively safe, you went through a dozen characters or so, as a single skeleton could kill a Level 1 character.[/b]
Wow... :blink: So, in a sense, in the beginning of the game it is a norm for a high turn-over rate of character replacements? How can you feel some sort of attachments to your characters if they keep changing every certain time?
rabadi is offline                         Send a private message to rabadi
Reply With Quote
Old 24-07-2006, 11:20 PM   #4
Talin
Game freak

 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Sweden
Posts: 105
Default

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rabadi @ Jul 24 2006, 04:00 AM) [snapback]244704[/snapback]</div>
Quote:
I read this review just now:
http://www.goodolddays.net/0_0_0_0_0_0_0_0...39_show_1__0_0/
Quote:
In addition, the game featured one of the steepest learning curves known to RPGs. The basic premise was that you could afford losing characters at lower levels, as you could always create and train new ones. However, this premise went into extremes: before you reached level 4, which made traveling through the city relatively safe, you went through a dozen characters or so, as a single skeleton could kill a Level 1 character.[/b]
Wow... :blink: So, in a sense, in the beginning of the game it is a norm for a high turn-over rate of character replacements? How can you feel some sort of attachments to your characters if they keep changing every certain time?
[/b]
lots of reloading savegames?
cant remember now how long it took for me to get past lvl 1 though, but i guess i did away with a few chars.
Talin is offline                         Send a private message to Talin
Reply With Quote
Old 25-07-2006, 02:04 AM   #5
rabadi
New(bie) Kid on the Linux Users' Block
 
rabadi's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Irving, United States
Posts: 499
Default

If I am not mistaken, The Devil Whiskey only has one saved game file (It does not ask for the name either, except that you specify your party name or adventure name in the beginning of the game). I can't get hold of the original Bard's Tale since my guess it is ESA protected (well, I can if I want, but that would be warez ), so I wonder if the original Bard's Tale also only has one saved game file. In that case, I take it manual backup of the saved game file was necessary?

I guess I am just a bit put off by the high turn-over rate. I'll still give it a shoot (The Devil Whiskey, that is) some time in the future, though.
rabadi is offline                         Send a private message to rabadi
Reply With Quote
Old 25-07-2006, 01:52 PM   #6
Talin
Game freak

 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Sweden
Posts: 105
Default

hmmm, i used to have my savegame on a 5,25 disk (those big floppy ones.) but i think it was only 1 ya could have, if ya didnt use multiple disks. (its been such along time since i did the ol' switch-disk juggling, so i cant remember how much savegames ya could have in BT, havent owned a Apple II for decades )
Talin is offline                         Send a private message to Talin
Reply With Quote
Old 05-09-2006, 01:06 AM   #7
thebes
Game freak

 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Angleton, United States
Posts: 106
Wink

I use to play the old Bard's Tale and I loved it. Yes, at first you die a lot like other games when you first start out because you are weak and wimpy until you build up your group by gaining exp. and going to the review board to go to a higher level. The neat thing is you can buy the new Bard's Tale for around 20 now and you get all three of the old BT games with it! And they play on windows XP. The new one I have not tried really yet. In the new one you are alone but you summon up fighters to help you fight by your bard music. It looks pretty good but I love the old one. There were many clone games like Dragon Wars after the BT. I think Wizardy came out around the same time but was a bit more text type game at first. The devil's wiskey looks pretty good too. Plan to get it some day if it is cheap enough. Thanks to Abandonia I have enough RPG's for the rest of my life LOL.
__________________
Luke 7:23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
thebes is offline                         Send a private message to thebes
Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2006, 12:15 PM   #8
Talin
Game freak

 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Sweden
Posts: 105
Default

i believe that Wizardry came out before Bard's Tale, but i can be wrong...

hmm....Devil's Whiskey? i think ive heard of it, smust check it up.
Dragon Wars and Devil's Whiskey, maybe something that should be up on Abandonia?
Talin is offline                         Send a private message to Talin
Reply With Quote
Old 11-09-2006, 10:43 PM   #9
Storm
Abandonia nerd

 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Axbridge, England
Posts: 54
Default

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Talin @ Sep 8 2006, 12:15 PM) [snapback]253658[/snapback]</div>
Quote:
Dragon Wars and Devil's Whiskey, maybe something that should be up on Abandonia?
[/b]
Devil's Whisky is a recent game and is for sale...not something for Abandonia...maybe Reloaded, but I might be wrong on that...
Storm is offline                         Send a private message to Storm
Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2006, 06:33 AM   #10
rabadi
New(bie) Kid on the Linux Users' Block
 
rabadi's Avatar

 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Irving, United States
Posts: 499
Default

No, it is for sale, so it's not for Reloaded either. I sort of lost interest about it already. My party dies much too often. It's like in every other turn it will encounter 8 to 10 enemies, each is more powerfull than my characters. A challenge might be okay, a frustration is not. After all, my intention to play a game is to give myself a nice distraction from work and other real life frustration, not to add some more frustration into my life. So, dying much too often in a game is not my definition of having fun
rabadi is offline                         Send a private message to rabadi
Reply With Quote
Reply


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Most original/creative games around here...? Simoneer Gaming Zone 24 27-05-2010 04:03 AM
Original War Eagle of Fire Your Reviews 4 26-08-2006 11:18 PM
Original Cd Rom Game futball_luv Troubleshooting 6 25-01-2005 12:19 PM

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump
 


The current time is 11:29 AM (GMT)

 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.