tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post6608613247409195531..comments2024-03-18T20:47:19.851-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: The Bard's Tale III: Don't Make Me Do This. Please.CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-20732840974597132742021-10-20T00:47:30.703-04:002021-10-20T00:47:30.703-04:00If was a "like" button for this comment,...If was a "like" button for this comment, I would have clicked it. Five times.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-44744532278561848962019-01-11T03:27:02.516-05:002019-01-11T03:27:02.516-05:00Aaaand it is 2019 and SOON Star Control 2 :) Aaaand it is 2019 and SOON Star Control 2 :) Mag Wielki i Szelkihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01807838665939928892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-85543751513979432392017-01-24T12:56:27.837-05:002017-01-24T12:56:27.837-05:00I don't remember a lot about my experience, bu...I don't remember a lot about my experience, but looking over my entries, it seems that the paucity of harmonic gems was a dealbreaker for me. I remember having to stand around for hours to regenerate spell points. I wonder if I never found sorcerer staves or just never realized what they were for.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-9346973169987062862017-01-23T22:57:52.802-05:002017-01-23T22:57:52.802-05:00Greetings all!
Sorry to jump onto this thread ver...Greetings all!<br /><br />Sorry to jump onto this thread very late. However I never finished this game back in the 80's and resolved to do it one day. I got very close with the Amiga version in around 1990 but airport xrays destroyed my character disk right when I had got to the second to last world.<br /><br />Anyway, this time I started from scratch and realised that the starter dungeon is a total grind. It was pretty horrendous. I did a lot of research and went for a slightly different party.<br /><br />1) Paladin (later Geomancer)<br />2) Bard (really just for the Trebuchet song and the ability to run form all fights which is the only way you can retain your sanity while completing this game)<br />3) Thief (can't win without one and in the later levels, he became the only melee character worth anything)<br />4) Conjurer (Archmage)<br />5) Conjurer (Archmage)<br />6) Magician (Archmage)<br />7) Magician (Chronomancer)<br /><br />Once I got out of the starter dungeon, life was very easy. I didn't lose the entire party once. In fact I got all the way to the last dungeon without any grinding (just getting the 600k xp for completing each world). I was about level 40. However, I couldn't get past the first mandatory fight in Malefia as my characters were so low that they wouldn't repel anything and my spells were always repelled. So I went back to the grind and got them all to level 50 and tried again. This time I waltzed through all the boss flights and killed Tarjan easily. I don't think any of my party died.<br /><br />Comments<br />1) Geomancer is useless except for the few times you need to cast WAWA to remove a wall. All his offensive spells are crap except EAMA which is so OP it is ridiculous. It made the last few fights easy (also, when I was level 40 my Geomancer hadn't learned it yet, he was only Geomancer spell level 5). That spell is better than NUKE.<br /><br />2) I played the DOS version and learned that if you press ALT-F12 and have a sorcerer staff equipped, your magic points regenerate...EVEN DURING COMBAT! So harmonic gems become useless. So what is the main bain of this game (finding gems) becomes obsolete. I wish I found this earlier.<br /><br />Anyway, I was still really happy that I finished this game. I had done the same for BT2 a few years ago. I think I will go even further back in time and try and finish BT1 soon.<br /><br />P.S. Thank you for a fantastic blog. I really enjoy reading it and reliving my childhood!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43930047673253855892015-06-14T13:44:58.606-04:002015-06-14T13:44:58.606-04:00For what it's worth, it turns out that fighter...For what it's worth, it turns out that fighters missing all the time was a bug in the C64 version. That doesn't excuse the game at all, but it does mean that this wasn't design, but error.<br /><br />I recently played the IIgs version with no such troubles. And I pretty much enjoyed the Bard's Tale 2, despite all its flaws.<br /><br />3 however... I'm really just playing for closure.jrodmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06567198770927408479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-83317077465263437952015-06-02T11:56:06.636-04:002015-06-02T11:56:06.636-04:00Think before you post such a stupid comment yourse...Think before you post such a stupid comment yourself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-14141159276012300202015-01-25T20:05:24.284-05:002015-01-25T20:05:24.284-05:00I think you vastly overestimate anime's popula...I think you vastly overestimate anime's popularity. Just because something has a small and incredibly vocal fanbase does not mean it is very popular. I will give you Lord of the Rings, though; most people I know who like fantasy and dislike Lord of the Rings just hate the movies for not staying true to the books, rather than just finding the whole thing relatively uninteresting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-41185921600060491392014-10-12T19:23:26.984-04:002014-10-12T19:23:26.984-04:00Two different parts of the game. The opening dunge...Two different parts of the game. The opening dungeon, where you have to defeat Brilhasti, is extremely difficult and requires a lot of grinding to win if you don't have imported characters. After that, the game hands you 20 levels all at once, and it becomes a little too easy.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-23760215828321319982014-10-12T18:08:49.005-04:002014-10-12T18:08:49.005-04:00I like how you grind levels for a week and then co...I like how you grind levels for a week and then complain about the endless combat and how the game is too easy.Brutusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28964480532853267192013-08-11T06:45:50.315-04:002013-08-11T06:45:50.315-04:00Sorry, had some technical difficulties here...
Pr...Sorry, had some technical difficulties here...<br /><br />Pretty much what Victar said is true for me, also. For me (and some reviewers back then at least in my country) they *were* indeed great dungeon crawlers, earning scores of 80+. To be fair I have to play BT again now to give it another judgment. They were among the first I played on my c64, maybe that was another reason why I liked them so much and just have a nostalgic feeling for them.<br /><br />Although somewhat obvious I'd like to point out that what we see here are also fundamental differences in tastes even among fellow crpg players. They became apparent for me by your reviews of Might and Magic I and BT compared to my experiences. While I hate the (from my point of view) mostly aimless wandering in M&MI and loved the linear level grinding and puzzling in BT you felt exactly the other way around. I think this is part of the difference between open world fans and the rest who like to follow a more storydriven, linear approach. I fear this type of game will get in your way some more times in the future, I dare say Eye of the Beholder will be much more of a chore for you than it was for me.<br /><br />BTW, I also think Elder Scrolls only got really good with Morrowind, before it was too random for me. Others who liked M&M I etc. will probably disagree ;-)fireballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01094871771537115267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-41917758497026000762013-06-02T20:42:18.371-04:002013-06-02T20:42:18.371-04:00Fair enough answer. We saw the same things in the ...Fair enough answer. We saw the same things in the game, and it was enough for you to like the overall experience, but not for me. I AM liking <i>Dragon Wars</i> better so far.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-90506740328508277212013-05-27T12:19:52.390-04:002013-05-27T12:19:52.390-04:00"For god's sake, what do you like about i..."For god's sake, what do you like about it?"<br /><br />Bard's Tale II was my first RPG ever. It was the game that hooked me on RPGs for life. Bard's Tale III was a refinement of II. So, um... nostalgia?<br /><br />Your blog gives a very accurate picture of what the Bard's Tale series consists of: endless mapping, endless combat, tons of (mostly verbal) riddles and puzzles, and not much else. BT3 had a slightly more developed story about the gods and the worlds that you travel to, but it was still pretty thin.<br /><br />So, either you love mapping/fighting/puzzle-solving for its own sake, or you don't. I did. I still do. I probably always will.<br /><br />By the way, I stumbled across an in-game glitch to duplicate items such as Harmonic Gems when I played the PC version of BT3. I wish I could tell everyone how to do it, but I don't remember (swap items around between characters)? It made the game much more fun - so much so that I'd recommend people just hexedit 99 Harmonic Gems into their inventories, when playing BT3 today.<br /><br />For what it's worth, Dragon Wars (effectively "Bard's Tale IV") is a vastly superior game by virtually every measure, especially in terms of creativity, story, and world-building.<br />Victarhttp://www.victarfanfics.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61032774639211764122013-01-24T11:40:12.673-05:002013-01-24T11:40:12.673-05:00I played through BT3 last year on an Apple II emul...I played through BT3 last year on an Apple II emulator. I am sure CRPG Addict hated it for its lack of economy... gold was awarded but rarely useful. Since I used Internet maps, the game went much faster - as a teen I had gotten to the last dimension but could not finish the final dungeon and was determined to get there. It went OK, but I would have hated mapping all of it. Also... all of the available Apple II disks I could find had a crasher bug in the 6th dimension; certain monster images were bugged and crashed the game. I managed to get through it very quickly and save/reload before such encounters. At one point I got stuck with such an encounter reoccurring every time I entered a square ... so I teleported past it. I don't know how many people could complete the APL2 version nowadays for this reason. Looking at the DOS version it appears terribly inferior to the APL2 version (no song indicator, no monster breath weapons, etc).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-11029211714493918442012-09-07T13:39:10.079-04:002012-09-07T13:39:10.079-04:00I loved BT3 on the c64 because it loaded up combat...I loved BT3 on the c64 because it loaded up combats in seconds, not minutes, unlike the previous BTs. It also finally made use of the rogue. I actually dusted off my c64 in the 2000s and played it through again. It still held up. It didn't have most of the bugs mentioned in the article.<br /><br />It was challenging to play through, which was what made it fun. I don't know how valid it is to monotonously grind up levels in the starter dungeon and then complain that the difficulty curve is off. For me, it was my favorite of the series.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-49739007009190937432012-03-19T15:31:25.508-04:002012-03-19T15:31:25.508-04:00And issue back in the day? Isn't that one of t...And issue back in the day? Isn't that one of the main JRPG tactics today? I remember one of the best parts of Skies of Arcadia was when I got the 'no random encounters' item!Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-11970224202798947062012-03-19T15:27:51.655-04:002012-03-19T15:27:51.655-04:00Yay! You're back! I had a feeling I should c...Yay! You're back! I had a feeling I should check.<br /><br />I could never get into BT, any of it. Too battle-happy. I do enjoy playing Devil whiskey, which is a fun updated take on the series, and not so annoying.<br /><br />But this is YOUR blog. Not Nyxalinth's blog. and i won't tell you what to like and not like. I think part of the issue with games back in the day having never-ending encounters was it helped to pad the content. Because of technical limitations, designers couldn't make as much actual content as they would have liked, and so relied on random encounters to fluff it up a bit. That's my theory.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-7212222726285076162012-03-18T20:07:10.996-04:002012-03-18T20:07:10.996-04:00The primary purpose of my little project is to PLA...The primary purpose of my little project is to PLAY the games. Blogging about them is secondary. Thus, sub-contracting the write-ups would go against the spirit of why I started this. But I'd happily post or link to reviews written by other people.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-35649290794227241762012-03-17T22:24:36.444-04:002012-03-17T22:24:36.444-04:00Huh. Helps to read ahead before commenting. Neve...Huh. Helps to read ahead before commenting. Never mind... Continue as you were!Hadeannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-81918767959814544872012-03-17T21:58:59.504-04:002012-03-17T21:58:59.504-04:00In case you were wondering, Computer Gaming World ...In case you were wondering, Computer Gaming World came to the same conclusion as you (http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1988&pub=2&id=48). The game is okay, though the constant (easy) battles are tiring. And that review was written back in 1988 (so theoretically less biased with time). I wouldn't kill myself over it, since there's so many better things out there... *shrug*<br /><br />(Out of curiosity, ever consider farming out some of the game reviews? I'm sure some helpful souls would take on a game or two... *cough cough*)Hadeannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-10656799609534320122012-03-04T02:52:50.350-05:002012-03-04T02:52:50.350-05:00That'd be 1997 for the first Linley's Dung...That'd be 1997 for the first Linley's Dungeon Crawl release. :><br /><br />--Einoevktalohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02010922034775065868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62426114050618997062012-03-04T02:49:54.788-05:002012-03-04T02:49:54.788-05:00Star Control 2! That makes me happy. Can't wai...Star Control 2! That makes me happy. Can't wait for 2018. ;) (No seriously, I'm happy you're going to check that out.)<br /><br />--Einoevktalohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02010922034775065868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-80078473708716879202012-03-03T12:09:19.663-05:002012-03-03T12:09:19.663-05:00Self-flagellation under the banner of "comple...Self-flagellation under the banner of "completion-ism" has lost its entertainment value. I'd rather read the stories you write in your head about the tragically brief lives and gruesome demises of your Nethack characters (or pretty much anything else). If you're in the mood for self-flagellation, try playing Dungeon Crawl -- it is a masochistically difficult branch of the Rogue-like chain.Davenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62600513741671125052012-03-03T06:39:57.183-05:002012-03-03T06:39:57.183-05:00As a somewhat recent BT3 veteran, I found this pos...As a somewhat recent BT3 veteran, I found this post hilarious. Especially on the DOS version, it's just painful. I wouldn't normally be on the "just move on" bandwagon since it's your show, but I can assure you that there's no worthy surprises in plot or gameplay waiting for you if you persevere. I think I got through by fighting lots of the early battles, then getting the "Boots of Speed" and running from pretty much everything. I mapped all the levels, and while it's an improvement on BT2 it's still dull, dull, dull compared to pretty much anything else, even from the same era.<br /><br />I confess I'd still love to read the GIMLET for this one, though.Bunyipnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-73001975226762386362012-03-03T00:43:53.136-05:002012-03-03T00:43:53.136-05:00Really awesome of "drifting" to patch th...Really awesome of "drifting" to patch the game. Looks like this deals with a lot of the main issues. <br /><br />Apparently 39 out of the 169 squares in one of the first dungeons has a 50% chance of a random encounter for each action you take, including turning, AND in the DOS version they reset. Dayum!<br /><br />So I suppose the 8-bit version is "bug free"? Still, I remember playing BT3 on my old C-64 and finding the encounter rate too high.<br /><br />Chet, may I suggest linking to this thread in the post? I imagine folks looking into BT3 will stumble upon this post in the future.ronaldsfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15221297712822999741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-61573163656913141372012-03-02T21:18:27.497-05:002012-03-02T21:18:27.497-05:00This thread has a link to a patch that fixes the b...This thread has a link to a patch that fixes the bugs in the MS-DOS port:<br /><br />http://bardstale.brotherhood.de/talefiles/board/viewtopic.php?t=989Killaheadnoreply@blogger.com