The Bard's Tale
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer:
Electronic Arts
•
Release Date:
1985
•
Code:
Michael
Cranford
•
GFX:
Michael Cranford
•
Music:
Larry Holland
•
ZZAP64 Game Rating:
94%
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CLICK THE ICON BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE ENDING
FILE: bardstaleend.zip
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THE BARD'S TALE: Tales of the
Unknown
by Electronic Arts
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• Completed
& Reviewed by Neil Collins
The Bard's Tale trilogy, in my opinion, are the
greatest RPG games ever made. The sheer depth of the
game is incredible. The level design and combat system
were quite advanced for the time. I used to spend weeks
playing these games as a kid, making maps on graph paper
that I should have been doing my maths homework on. I
remember reaching Mangar's Tower, but never getting any
further. I've always wanted to complete this game more
than any other game. Your aim is to find and destroy the
evil wizard Mangar and free the land of his evil.
What on earth is a
'Magic Mouth'?
Vinny: I wish
I knew what was going on
Are we there yet?
The End.
HOW WAS IT COMPLETED?:
Using maps from the Bard's Tale Online website, along
with the keyboard commands, weapons and spell lists. I
also used a program to hack my character files, to
increase their HP levels, otherwise it would have taken
me weeks to make an army good enough to tackle the final
levels within Mangar's tower. I made my way through the
five floors of the tower, and solved the final spectre
snare puzzle. I then found the evil wizard, and after a
short battle, he and his minions were killed.
SO WHAT HAPPENS?:
Once the evil wizard is slain, Kylearan pops up and
tells you that your quest is over. Each of your
characters get a bonus of gold and experience points.
The game continues, but the quest is complete.
COMMENTS:
- Neil:
I expected the end to be
just like this. No huge fanfare, but a simple
acknowledgement of the game being completed.
- Vinny: Let's
just get one thing straight right from the start: I DO
NOT like or play RPG games. I don't like this game; I
don't get this game; and I certainly don't get the
ending. Soooooo, I am leaving the comments and scoring
to our resident expert, Neil. :)
- Gaz Spence:
RPGs are not my scene in all honesty, but it's good to
see that the Rainbow crew made it to the end of the
quest. I'll spare you the playground rhyme...
Does the reference to a bonus mean that the characters
could be used in the sequel? That must have been quite
innovative in the day.
- Kungfufurby:
Not bad... yet not good. I wish there was more of a
story-like ending in addition to that ending speech by
Kylearan. However, for an RPG of its kind, it isn't so
bad.
- Andrew Fisher:
I played the original Bard's Tale on tape and never got
very far into it, but it's a great game. Fairly standard
ending, but not bad all the same.
- Brendan Phoenix:
Let me get this straight, I too am not a player of RPG
games and have never played this game or any other of
the numerous RPG's that people rave over (Ultima comes
to mind) maybe I am missing out on something, but I have
never taken to them.
Same with the Amiga and the 3D RPG's like Hired Guns, et
al, just couldn't get into them (but I never vote them
down on game sites just because they are not my cup of
tea - really annoys me when people rate games as 1/10
just because they don't like the genre).
Rant over!
Have to say a lot of the endings to these
games, whether RPG's or text adventures are very
disappointing on the C64.
At least the endings tended to improve with the point
and click adventures of the 90's on the Amiga. A pity
the C64 didn't see many of these adventures.
- Inge Pedersen:
I haven't played BT 1 (or 2), so I can only compare with
BT3. But the ending is rather simple, just like other
adventures/RGPs from that period. And that's too bad,
because many of these game deserve a better ending.
- Andy Vaisey:
I still have this on tape, which wouldn't have been my
first choice of format, but I (my parents) couldn't
afford a 1541 at that time. I played it loads, doing
constant battle with the multiload more so than the
enemies within the game.
I never completed it, so have sense of closure here now.
To be honest, it's pretty much what I was expecting...
text... text... text...
And with all that loading, you'd think a decent screen
wouldn't have hurt!
FINAL SAY:
The game is truly amazing. The ending isn't great, but
good enough for me.
G.E.
RATING:
5
/ 10 CLICK
HERE to view more endings.
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