Bards Tale III - Not good enough

I have decided not to continue with my revisit to Bard´s Tale III. The short reason is that it is just not good enough relative to the time available I have to play these games. I would have continued for awhile if there where no other games poking for my interest. There are two major reasons that adversely affects the gameplay negatively and that is first and foremost the slow regeneration of spell points. I was warned about that when reading CRPG Addicts attempt to master this game but thought I would try it out myself. It might be that there is a way later on in the game to get hold of a spell regenerating staff but I won´t hold my breath for that.

The other reason which I might have been able to reluctantly accept, is the fact that you get into combat almost every three steps (including changing direction) in the catacombs. The Bard´s song that is said to prevent random encounters have no effect whatsoever as far as I have noticed. This make the progress very slow. The fact that the game boasts of 80 dungeons when I´ve only visited the second one makes me think I won´t be able to complete this game until next year. A thought not very inviting. Not the least due to the fact that Skyrim will arrive in around one month time.

I feel I have not played Bard´s Tale III for more than 8 hours and that is too little time to give it a fair review. I could, but I have already let it diminish at the expense of Crystal Dragon. If I compare it to Dragon Wars I can say that Dragon Wars is the better one of them. It is more polished, has a better story and is a more solid, complete game. What I don´t like about Dragon Wars though is that you have to go back and forth between places you´ve already visited and has to fight random encounters all the way which I really hate.

Another thing really annoying in Bards Tale III is the lack of any shop whatsoever. At least in Skara Brae. It doesn´t seem you can sell your items. You just have to drop them. Your gold could only be used to buy spells. Just like Dragon Wars you never know which weapon is the better one. You have to guess or try them out in tedious combats to find out statistically.

There are other CRPG:s that has grasped my interests also. I am right now putting my energy into Crystal Dragon but has already prepared to start up on Dungeon Master II. I wan´t to compare the two games with each other.

Next revisit: Bards Tale 3 - Thieves of Fate

While I was struggling to get Crystal Dragon to work on WinUAE it was so much easier to start up Bard´s Tale 3 instead. And though I´ve followed CRPG Addict and his attempt to try on this game and my own failure to appreciate Dragon Wars to its fullest, I still want to give this game a try. Perhaps my nostalgia is so strong I cannot resist to have the opportunity to perhaps, just perhaps experience the feeling of the old good times again.

Interplay released this third installment in 1988. It was the same year it was released on tape for Commodore 64 and the game that brought me into computer RPGs. I remember being totally lyric and engulfed by this game. It was such a new experience at that time.

The story goes something like this. The mad god Tarjan was so angry of his minion Mangars defeat in the first game that he has ruined the whole town of Skara Brae and unleashed all of his evil minions again. The only one able to try to resist this great evil is of course you and your group again.

According to the specifications, the game contains a whopping 84 dungeon levels, more character classes, more than 100 spells, 500 monsters, automapping feature and more advanced puzzles. The huge big improvement are that you can save anywhere. While readin the features I cannot but chuckle to the line "Colourful, animated graphics so real you'll want to tickle the dragon's chin.".

The creator Michael Cranford was not part of the development for this third installment. Michael Stackpole created the storyline and the maps and are today a successful writer.

You have seven slots to use to create your party but since you would probably want the last one for NPC:s or summoned monster I let that be empty. I think I´ve spent 3 hours to create my characters by endless re-rolls, and yet I am not sure my group will be strong enough.

The graphics in the IBM-PC version is really nothing to write home about. It is functional but nothing more. There are no sounds at all. Only when the bard plays a song. It is quite ridiculous because even the C-64 version looks and sounds better. The programmers must be ashamed. If you don´t believe me take a look and these pictures.

C-64

The intro is an animated story on the C-64

C-64

I created a party of 6, reserving the last slot for summoned or joined creatures. My party consisted of:

• Gort, dwarven fighter
• Vilja, human bard
• Snirfor, human thief
• Canisa, elven magician
• Sentar, elven magician
• Ansgar, gnome conjurer

I am not very strong in melee but I hope to make up for it by my mages. I choose the fighter because he receives extra attacks. Nothing was mentioned of that for the Paladin. Thief, or rather Rogue, seems to be essential and a bard likewise. I could go for two conjurers instead but opted not for.

I started out outside of the ruined city of Skara Brae, a wilderness that lacked almost everything. The first thing that strikes me is the incredible frequence of random encounters. Almost every third step yield an encounter. Fortunately you could run from most of them, even when the bard is not playing the song specifically attributed to flee enemies. By choosen my fight and explore Skara Brae early I managed to increase a few levels. Skara Brae doesn´t contains anything useful except for the place to increase in levels and the priest in the Mad Gods Temple that requries the word Tarjan to descend into the catacombs. You see, my first task was given me from the priest who oversees my advancement. He said I have to kill an evil person deep down in the catacombs under the Mad Gods temple.

Almost all the monsters have unique names that cannot easily be related to. That is a shame since it in earlier games creates atmosphere just by recognising them and you could easily recognise your opposition if they would have followed traditional names. Nevertheless, they drop items from time to time and that part is always interesting since you could always hope to get better weapons or armour or even magical items. But what stroke me after a few hours was that I couldn´t find any shop to get disposed of my items. Instead I have to discard them. Tháts not good.

Catacombs under Tarjans Temple in Skara Brae

The review board in which you advance in levels

After reaching level 4 I got down to the catacombs. The fights was ridiculously frequent. I couldn´t even turn without getting into a fight. Fortunately I got a NPC follower, a Zephyrlord who had very good values. The idiotic thing with him is that he insists of summoning creatures in almost every fight though he should know there are no free slots available in our team. That is a mistake of the developers I think.

In the beginning I had quite fun with the game but then I realised that it got quite tedious and that the only goal of the game seems to be to grinding to increase levels all the time. It might have worked in the 80:s when you had long holidays and no duties as a teenager. But it is certainly hard to motivate oneself now if this is the only aim.

Still I don´t give up so easily and played for a few hours more and mapped out the first and level before descending into the second one. And now I am beginning to notice what CRPG Addict told in his gamethrough. That the spellpoints regenerate extremely slowly. If I don´t find any magic staff or anything that will regenerate my spell points undergrown I will not accept to have to wait for 15-20 minutes in real time to heal up. No way.

So far I´ve given this game around 6 hours or so and I am getting a bit hesitant of continuing this. Mostly because of the hard thing to regenerate spellpoints. And no, I haven´t found any place to do that for gold either.

The music in the game is non-existent except for the bard songs. The graphics is a disappointment, although functional.

Grinding in Skara Brae for catacombs level # 2

 I have heard  I have to complete the first quest until the main adventure begins. I might have patience just to clear this first dungeon out. My next posting will decide wether I will continue or not. At least 6 hours have gone to the game so far.