Bundle that includes The Bard's Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled and the original classic trilogy!
Mostly Positive
1,416 Steam reviews
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Y | Y | Y |
| French | — | Y | Y |
| German | Y | Y | Y |
| Italian | — | Y | Y |
| Polish | — | Y | Y |
| Russian | — | Y | Y |
| Spanish (Spain) | — | Y | Y |
Unfortunately the Bard is not aging well. With its outdated and slow gameplay, the game quickly becomes boring.
On the positive side - funny jokes and catchy songs to sing in the pub is enough for me to recommend.
EZ to 100%.
Легенда
I've completed this game on PS4, so excuse my low hour count.
This is pre-Deadpool Deadpool. It's good. Play it.
The Bard's Tale is a genuinely funny action-RPG that earns its laughs through sharp writing, excellent voice acting from Cary Elwes and Tony Jay, and a refreshingly self-aware take on fantasy RPG tropes — the dynamic between the snarky Bard and the contemptuous Narrator alone is worth the price of admission. The musical numbers, especially the recurring 'Bad Luck' song sung by the Trow Trio, are catchy enough to stick with you long after you've put the game down. That said, the combat gets repetitive fast, cycling through the same summon-and-slash loop with enemies that love to block everything, and the technical side shows its age with crashes, clunky controls, and controller support that borders on broken by modern standards. If you can tolerate those rough edges and go in treating it as a comedic adventure rather than a deep RPG, there's a genuinely charming experience here. Recommended for players who want laughs and atmosphere over mechanical depth — just save often.
Extremadamente comico, lleno de ironia y con una historia sorprendentemente interesante
ведьмак на минималках, игра классная
тряхнуть стариной было норм, управляется конечно не так удобно как в более новых играх + финальная глава немного расстроила за это скину пару баллов, проходится часов за 12 наверное
fable pero mas gamberro
I understand that this is a remaster of a game that was originally made almost 25 years ago, but it feels like it was made by someone who had only heard about computer games before and was still learning how to code. It has a glacial pace, both in terms of story and literal walking speed. Load screens are preposterously long given the low quality of the programming. The combat system is laughably bad, with no sense that there is any relationship between a click of a button and a swing of the sword.
great music
still the best of it's kind. u laugh, u suffer - sometimes, but so much fun to explore.
This game, is intolerably frustrating to play. The combat relies on the animation of your swings and the timing of your blocks, but the input is sticky and unresponsive. The summons are expected to do a lot of work, but the later you get the slow manna recharge means you have to just Sit for a long while so you can fill your squad, or charge ahead and be understrength. Mechanics of the missions are varied, but often rely on indeterminably long bits filled with frustrating set pieces, Example: an NPC escort mission through a field of respawning enemies, that the respawn time is instantaneous, and the NPC movement speed is like 1/4 your walk speed, where the NPC stops every 4 feet to throw an annoying line out and until they get through that line, they wont start walking again. And then, the distance you have to be from the NPC to make them walk is basically pressed Against the NPC.
It's nostalgic to hear Tony Jay, but Wow does Cary Elweys sound Bored. Not that I blame him, the jokes are all extremely dull.
There's one part of this that's kind of Offputting where you have a tone and art that are so at odds that it's hard to tell whether I love it for evoking a feeling like a Sam Raimi movie, or if I hate it for How at Odds it is. I am going to finish this game, but at this point it's out of Spite.
All of this, and the bugs or oversights are also horrid. Your bow will Often not fire or you can't get it to acknowledge that it should fire, or lock you into it's draw and freezing you in place. The cursor can't be too far to the top left or you activate your inventory screen mid combat. The enemies all have Random HP so you can have 2 enemies of different varieties, 1 that is ostensibly a lower tier and 1 that is a higher tier with better equipment; and which one takes longer to kill is entirely a toss up. You can kill the higher tier enemy in 1 hit and then wail on the other lower tier enemy for like 30 seconds before they go down; and because the lower tier enemy is just packing inferior equipment and skills, it's just the equivalent of chopping down a really pathetic tree. I've had missions break, achievements not trigger, CTDs, get frozen, have summons spawn places that can't be reached, had bosses get stuck in animation loops, had enemies AI die mid fight, and had Boss AI die mid fight.
0/10, would not recommend at All. Go play Dark Alliance if you want a good ARPG from this era or find some bargain bin indie ARPG with controls that aren't fighting you more than the enemies. I'll revise this score if the story absolutely blows me away, but I'm 99% sure I know the twist in the story Now, at chapter 10/13 (And have known since chapter 2/13).
Addendum: Okay finished it. Called it.
Gdyby system sterowania nie był taki dziwny a możliwość zapisu dostępna w każdej chwili, to nic tej grze nie brakuje. Niestety te dwie rzeczy sprawiają, że odechciewa mi się w to grać. A szkoda, bo fajny humor.
Гра на 6 із 10. Є дотепні моменти, але геймплей одноманітний. Можна зіграти один разок.
It's peak in a 7/10 kind of way, which is something that more games need to aspire to be
Should you play Bard's Tale? If you are curious about one of many Diablo clones of early 2000s with a self-aware humor twist that plays like your usual repetitive jankslop? Well, yeah, you may give Bard's Tale a shot but other than that... I don't see why one would bother.
I bet I would've loved it as a kid though. It has those early 2000s comfy video game vibes that we all know and love. So, nostalgia googles required.
Yes.
nice game !
Remastered, But you didn't think to put the controller buttons on the screen ?
I'll be honest this ain't worth the money for the remaster. Full disclosure I've only played for a couple hours but its boring as hell. The sense of humour is cool and stuff but the gameplay is slow as hell and repetitive. Puzzles low key whack as well. I did like the owls though those guys were cool.
3 / 10 good birdsong
alt, aber gut wenn man ein fan von sarkassmus ist
скучно
LEVELING
still fun after all these years
Это ещё одна безумная игра из моего детства. Последний раз, когда я играл в неё - это было лет 17 назад. Тогда ещё диск лежал у моего брата и я у него его взял и начал проходить со своим другом. Первая игра, конкретно высмеивающая жанр РПГ и прородительница "Проклятых земель". Поиграл от души, почти одним махом. Ощущения уже не такие, как в детстве, но до сих пор интересно. Есть конечно к чему там придраться, но камон - это 2004 год, а эта игра может задать жару даже современным играм спокойно. 8/10
I recommend this game very conditionally.
If you have any nostalgia for it, it is pretty much exactly the same game as you remember.
The biggest drawback is that it is pretty much EXACTLY the same game as you remember, flaws and all.
That said, Cary Elwes as The Bard and Tony Rice as The Narrator are an absolute joy. The rest of the voice acting is fun, and lively, and silly as well. The music is of course pretty fun as well!
The gameplay is clunky and dated and can be very frustrating.
Watch a review on youtube if you can find one and if you're interested then grab it on a sale and I hope you enjoy it!
If you have nostalgia for it, then still wait for a sale, and I wish you the very best with it because my time with it (on the PS4) was ROUGH.
Great port, rough old game. 6.5 - 7/10
I doubt anyone will ever read this, so i will put this here.
Multiple Endings - yes
Good combat? no - but feel free to disagree its dog sheet.
Good storyline? Mediocre at best.
Jokes - i think only one joke genuinely made me laugh, overall pretty mediocre.
i feel like this game doesn't know what it wants to be, it could have been a genuinely great game, one people actually loved and hailed as good especially in an ARPG genre, but unfortunately those that made it didn't fully understand what an ARPG is or what makes it good, even if it was meant as a joke game, they could have still made it better but instead in some parts i felt bored or like i was suffering through it, the best parts of the game genuinely are the cutscenes because the combat is that bad.
the worst part is, it has the set up to actually be a decent ARPG, varied enemies, varied weapons, multiple summons, stat builds.
but it feels like they took a look at diablo and was like "let's make this but make it bad" between enemies having lower FPS when off frame and other things, they got the movement fine, but the animation locks when attacking, then theres also the block mechanic - this could have been done better and block could have been removed or made a % chance to happen.
however if you spam block and click at the right time you can attack fast and infinitely because they ani-cancel each other.
and the summons for the most part are very underwhelming, even with max rhythm which is supposed to make them better, it seemingly does nothing and if it does do anything its likely too small of a bonus to even notice, however i do feel they scale off the bards level itself as well so there is that.
honestly, im an indie dev, i see the potential this game had and just a few small design choices made it complete rubbish gameplay wise, hell give me an artist that can make decentish 3D assets, i could make a game inspired by this game as a real ARPG and i bet it'd do fantastically.
Very good.
oh gods why. i was never gonna change to a thumbs up. I was gonna be like 'well, it's gone some charm on occasion in spite of itself'. but then i got to the final boss and oh gods why.
10/10
Jo Originalspiel war damals echt gut. Das hier jedoch ist nichts geworden, vieles harkt und buggt, die Kreaturen greifen teilweise nicht an und stehen nur rum, man selbst manchmal auch weil die Steuerung nicht geht. Seit wann heißt remastered eigentlich verschlechtert?
This is by far the worst release of this game ever. It's so bad that you can't attack half the time because the controls are glitched out. The creatures are broken and don't attack. You constantly get stuck in the game world, unable to move. When you are able to attack, the Bard aims the wrong way.
I played this on PC and PS2 back in the day, and it was nothing like this!
Please, do yourself a favor, and DO NOT BUY this version. Seek an older copy elsewhere.
The Bard’s Tale, developed and published by inXile Entertainment, is a humorous reimagining of classic fantasy RPGs that stands out for its irreverent tone and self-aware storytelling. Rather than the usual tale of noble heroes and world-saving quests, the game places players in the boots of a sarcastic, money-minded bard whose interests lie less in heroism and more in personal gain, drink, and the occasional romantic encounter. From the very start, it’s clear that this is not a traditional role-playing experience. The Bard’s self-serving attitude and the ever-mocking narrator who accompanies him create a distinctive dynamic that keeps the game’s personality front and center. The result is an adventure that constantly pokes fun at the conventions of its own genre while still managing to deliver an engaging, if lighthearted, journey.
The narrative unfolds in a tongue-in-cheek style that contrasts sharply with the grandeur typical of fantasy RPGs. The Bard, voiced with charismatic wit by Cary Elwes, is not the chosen one destined to save the world but rather a reluctant adventurer motivated by greed and curiosity. His interactions with townsfolk, enemies, and even the narrator—played by the late Tony Jay—are loaded with sarcasm and irony. The interplay between these two characters forms the backbone of the game’s humor: the narrator condemns the Bard’s selfishness, while the Bard fires back with witty retorts, creating a constant comedic tension. This dynamic gives the game an almost theatrical quality, as if the player is participating in a satirical play that mocks the seriousness of traditional role-playing tales. The dialogue is well-written, filled with clever wordplay, and often breaks the fourth wall to remind players not to take anything too seriously.
In terms of gameplay, The Bard’s Tale functions as a real-time action RPG with an isometric viewpoint reminiscent of titles like Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance or Champions: Return to Arms. Combat is straightforward, relying on melee attacks, ranged weapons, and, most notably, the Bard’s ability to summon magical companions through his music. Each song conjures a different creature—such as a knight, rogue, or healer—to assist in battle. This summoning system adds a layer of tactical variety to what might otherwise be a simple hack-and-slash loop. The Bard himself grows stronger by collecting silver, improving his charm or rhythm, and unlocking new tunes that expand his summoning repertoire. While the mechanics are relatively simple compared to deeper RPG systems, they complement the game’s humorous tone by keeping the focus on fast-paced action and witty banter rather than intricate stat management.
Visually, The Bard’s Tale achieves a pleasant balance between style and simplicity. The environments, though not sprawling, capture the spirit of medieval fantasy towns, dark forests, and ancient ruins with solid detail for its time. The camera angle gives a clear view of the action while preserving a sense of immersion in the world’s rustic charm. The art direction reinforces the satirical tone—everything looks just authentic enough to fit within the fantasy genre while still feeling like it could be part of a parody. The soundtrack deserves special mention, blending traditional folk-inspired melodies with humorous vocal numbers that perfectly match the game’s irreverent spirit. In a memorable touch, even musical interludes and enemy encounters sometimes turn into comedic performances, showcasing the game’s willingness to treat its world as a stage for satire.
Despite its humor and charm, The Bard’s Tale has its shortcomings. The combat, though serviceable, can grow repetitive over time, as the summoning mechanic does not evolve as deeply as it could. Enemies often rely on quantity rather than strategy to create challenge, and the linear structure limits opportunities for exploration or player-driven choices. Those seeking a rich, branching narrative or complex character development may find the experience somewhat shallow. Furthermore, while the jokes and commentary are sharp early on, the humor can feel repetitive as the adventure progresses. The novelty of the narrator’s banter and the Bard’s self-serving attitude may wear thin after several hours if the player is not invested in the comedic premise. However, for players who appreciate sharp writing and enjoy seeing RPG conventions playfully deconstructed, these flaws are minor compared to the game’s overall personality.
In essence, The Bard’s Tale is a game that succeeds not by reinventing the RPG formula mechanically, but by mocking and celebrating it in equal measure. It is a love letter to fantasy tropes wrapped in sarcasm, where the hero is a scoundrel and the story mocks its own importance. inXile Entertainment delivers a world that feels familiar yet fresh, anchored by witty performances, strong voice acting, and an unforgettable sense of humor. While it may not provide the depth or replayability of more traditional role-playing experiences, its charm lies in its self-awareness and willingness to laugh at itself. The Bard’s Tale is best enjoyed as a comedic adventure—a spirited romp through the clichés of fantasy storytelling, carried by clever writing, entertaining performances, and the playful chaos of a hero who cares more about his next pint than the fate of the world.
Rating: 7/10
Why we don't have those stories and characters in the video games today? An era when games used to be fun...
old but gold
Does anybody else have the bug where when you play a tune then you cannot move around correctly? Instead the bard just runs in place
One of the best and most entertaining games.
That game was my childood in between 2007/2008 we need a sequel.
Even today it holds up remarkably well. The gameplay might not be groundbreaking, but the storytelling and satire are timeless.
advancing in the story changes the game world, potentially causing you to fail quests. Wasn't expecting this to be a game with consequences.
I really only wanted one thing out of this, and that was Bard's Tale III. Which I got... except it was literally the worst version: The Apple ][ crapfest. They really should have gone either with the C64 version or offered us multiple retro hardware choices. Guess it's black to a hacked copy running on VICE.
One of the most memorable action RPGs in my opinion. There isn't a single part of this game that I don't adore as the music, the writing and the characters are all very near and dear to my heart. It has aged extremely well and still holds its own among many other titans of the genre. Highly recommended!
=)
honestly this is a better bards tale than the first 3 and the 4th. i enjoyed the combat of this one WAY more than the turn based ones. i dont know why all the bards tales werent like this. would have been so much more fun
All of the characters are voiced very well, but Seamus just cracks me up every time he speaks. That was very well done.
I never got around to playing this series, so I decided to give this one a shot and I am glad it is an improved version. It is very funny. I hope to get around to playing all of them, but I rarely go through all of the games in a series back to back.
This game has an old charm that you can only really get from old school games. I would say a majority of people wouldn't enjoy this game and that's why I can't necessarily recommend it. Hell, according to the achievements only 3% of people have actually played and finished the game. But for what it's worth, I found it funny, snarky, and hilariously charming. The people who love this game will sing it's praises. "Quest complete."
Silly, charming and unapologetically horny.
Love this game. It's clunky bordering on frustrating, but the content makes up for it.
Runs like arse on modern systems. The developer should patch it for the modern times. Its bad luck to be you... indeed.
The answers yes! play this!! it's very good, not that long (30 hours-ish, if you're going for everything) and very funny!!!
One of the few comedy games that actually made me laugh out loud all the way through. Mechanics are also pretty good, game can get a little repetitive at times, but I played as a generalist to experience everything, so a specialist build would probably let you get through combat better. The dialogue system isn't like a morality system btw, you chose your ending from a list after defeating the final boss and you can save before picking to see them all, so just pick what you would like to experience at that moment. I'd also suggest ether playing on Easy or Hard, as Normal felt more as a compromise than the intended experience. Also, it has the previous PC Bard's Tales games, IDK if I'll ever play them, but it's cool they're included.
It's now one of my favourite original Xbox games, that I wish I played when it first came out. Highly recommended.
The Bard's Tale ARPG is a classic, early 2000's adventure with humor embedded throughout.
Cary Elwes voices The Bard and does a very good job laying down the sarcasm and witty jibes.
The legendary Tony Jay serves as the story's narrator. He regularly delivers clever banter with Elwes and takes humorous jabs at our sleazy/roguish protagonist.
While the combat shows its age, the humor continues to hold up nicely. Nostalgia combined with a better understanding of the adult sense of humor, made me grab a copy. I recommend it to anyone that wants a good laugh or enjoys a more lighthearted Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, styled game.
For those that like to play on controller, use a community template to get close to what the original controls were.
It you experience any lag, run the game in a borderless window or adjust the resolution (which worked for me).
Such an old but gold game, it's cheap but incredible game, an amazing experience from beginning to end.
6/10
At this point in time, it doesn't start for me on Windows 10. I'm pretty sure this is a good game, but since it won't start, I do not recommend buying it.
Ржачна гра з крутим іронічним гумором, всім раджу!
controller doesnt work. game wont boot.
Habe es im Stream (WildMics) für 1 Stunde angetestet und war überraschend okay!
Pros:
- 1:1 meine DSA Runde KEKW
- Humorvoll gut erzählt (tolle Synchronsprecher)
- Sehr viele Speichermöglichkeiten
Cons:
- Man merkt, dass es etwas älter ist
- Steuerung gewöhnungsbedürftig
Fazit:
Wenn es im Sale ist, würde ich es mir kaufen!
Хороший представитель жанра пародий, в свое время игру проходил на PS2. Отличается хорошим сценарием и конечно же юмором. Проседает в последней трети (где превращается в скучноватое рубилово). Не понравился момент, когда отнимают на участке локации призывных существ. Это важнейший элемент игры и отключение лишь проявляет однообразность геймплея одним героем. Еще понравился акцент на песни (особенно запомнилась у викингов).
Reddit tier humor I have no idea how people find this funny or fun
光碟版除了XP系統其他都不能用，這版本補完了童年遺憾
慘了，從現在的眼光看我竟然覺得壞結局根本是好結局
8/10
Такое себе, очень криво и плохо
Funny and snarky!
SPOILER WARNING:
It' the only game I know that lets you in the end decide to go home and just let them deal with their sh*t themselves. I just love it!
Too quirky to play, at least by today's standards. If you want to enjoy the humor, a better option is just watching someone else playing and avoid unnecessary pain.
This is probably the most well written and perfected voice acting in any game. The game is just outright brilliant and the jokes makes the game one hell of an adventure. I highly recommend this game to any true player who want to get a kick out of listening to corny jokes and amusing bickering between the main character and the narrator. P.S: use dxvk-gplasync to get the game work using vulkan and enjoy lag free game.
If you don't like jokes that are provocative and/or break the 4th wall, you'll probably hate this game.
In this game broken control, I tried for almost 2 hours to adjust it, but I did not succeed. Request a refund.
p.s. In the end, I completed this game on the Nintendo Switch. The controls are fine there, compared to the Steam Deck, which even hired a studio to port it to Linux, but apparently they didn't finish some basic aspects of the controls. The hero would just start walking slowly on his own after you selected a melody, which was very frustrating. I thought I could find work arounds and get around it, but unfortunately not.
Overall, the game is excellent, with a great story. Closer to the middle and end, the fights become very intense. I watched all three endings — overall, it was great! It's a pity that such RPGs aren't made anymore, and I really like that it's not turn-based; it's kind of a mix of modern and old-school. So, I give it 8 out of 10 for the innkeeper's breasts.
very fun game with lots of secrets and amazing humor
OMG! What a pathetic way to completely destroy an iconic game. The controls are an abomination. It's beyond unacceptable. I only wish I tried the game right away so I could get a refund. The game also crashed almost immediately (after killing the rat and leaving the bar). Terribly disappointed.
Fun game! Very snarky and full of crazy humor.
fun game, old school hack and slash rpg. wish the prompts would match the controller tho.
surprised no one has modded it yet.
Feels very much like an old xbox game, and plays like one too. Some of the jokes were genuinely good, others fall flat. Interesting curiousity piece as its basically a parody of a traditional RPG, but man its a CHORE to play.
I like game
Some sounds are messed up (especially with the Trow so far). The bow doesn't work properly, it doesn't respond most of the time when I try to use it. As a result, I've found myself unable to pass the section with the force fields and the Trow. When you try to go to help and support to try to report problems, the link is broken. It really is an amazing game, but I can't recommend it in the state I'm trying to play it in.
Clássico do PS2. Pense em uma mesa de rpg de mesa se os atores do Monty Python fossem os narradores, escritores e jogadores.
2025: I enjoyed it a long time ago but I can't make it work anymore
I was enjoying the game until I reached a point where the game simply began to break down and trying to talk to any NPC led to me being frozen in place and forced to ALT F4. Spent about 30 minutes looking for a solution
(which is damn near impossible since searching anything related to the game just leads to the mainline series)
this is a very funny game, only 1 playthrough worth, but honestly i wish i found something semilar ^^
Are you ready for "The Bard Song"?
I said are you ready for "The Bard Song"?
Then let's sing "The Bard Song, In the Forest"
Now you all know the bards and their songs
When hours have gone by, I'll close my eyes
In a world far away we may meet again
But now hear my song about the dawn of the night
Let's sing the bard's song
Tomorrow will take us away far from home
No one will ever know our names
But the bards' songs will remain
Tomorrow will take it away the fear of today
It will be gone due to our magic songs
There's only one song left in my mind
Tales of a brave man who lived far from here
Now the bard songs are over and it's time to leave
No one should ask you for the name of the one
Who tells the story
Tomorrow will take us away far from home
No one will ever know our names
But the bards' songs will remain
Tomorrow all will be known and you're not alone
So don't be afraid in the dark and cold
'Cause the bards' songs will remain they all will remain
In my thoughts and in my dreams
They're always in my mind
These songs of hobbit, dwarves and men and elves
Come close your eyes you can see them too
Jedna z asi nejvtipnějsích her co jsem kdy hrál. Vřele doporučuji.
A classic I played this back in my mobile days pretty often glad to see it on steam.
For stupid people with a lot of dispensable income.
Game mechanics get boring fast. The enemies and locations are repetitive. The game try's to be funny but I still found myself skipping dialog more and more as I played.
I played this game back when it came out, thought it was a remake of Bard's tale dungeon crawlers, it wasn't but it is a very fun parody of rpgs and has great music.
5 * / 5 *
Do you like games where the hero has, at best, average intelligence and almost no wisdom? Do you prefer games that have an abundance of meta-commentary and humour revolving around it's own genre? Do you like witticisms and jokes? Or laughing at the protagonists fumbles and faux pas? Then look no further! This game is for you!
It's effectively a 20-25 hour long adventure comedy game focusing on riffing on tropes of the RPG genre of it's era. With some of the best dialogue in gaming, some of the best written jokes in gaming, and a level of wit and snark you just don't see in games anymore.
From the charming and high-effort shopkeepers, to the literary choices that do as much to make you laugh as they do little to subvert the way things shake out, this game, despite it's flaws, is a treasure. And one that many more people should come to play and enjoy than currently know of it.
The Bard's Tale is quite a fun game. I appreciate the humouristic approach; even if I do not laugh at such jokes, they do amuse me. The combat is pretty fun, if simple, but here comes the game's biggest problem. It is super repetitive. After a few hours the combat will become mundane and that is what you will be doing for the vast majority of the game. It reminds me of Loki a lot, another RPG game where the vast majority of the gameplay is combat and while it is pretty good it becomes tiresome after a few hours and both games drag for dozens of hours. Just like Loki, The Bard's Tale is also insanely unbalanced – often too tough or shockingly easy. Even the final bosses – at the end of the game you make a choice and two of your choices lead to two different bosses. For some reason, one of them has a fair amount of health, the battle felt the right length, but the other one is insane, had many times more health than the other boss, basically a massive bullet-sponge. And you would be fighting either of them at the same place and at the same time, so why such a massive difference in their health?
The first few hours of The Bard's Tale are quite amazing, but later on it starts to show some shameless attempts to increase its length. For instance, in both first two towers you have to backtrack the whole way back again after clearing them... The game at least bothers to spawn different enemies, but it was still super tedious. The last few chapters of this game are truly lazy, especially the final chapter which consists of 12 copy-pasted floors just spawning different types of enemies in each of them. They did not even bother to change the colours of the floors... Overall I barely recommend this game. It starts off very well, the first few chapters are all great, about half of the middle chapters are mixed-bags; I personally think that the last great chapter of the game is chapter 11. The rest of the game is not really worth finishing.
7/10
It's basic CRPG with many pluses but ...the savegame-points are a PITA, It was great in its' time. Now, not so much, but the cut-scenes are entertaining. No Inventory hassle, it's a good intro to RPG -- the responses are Evil/mad face or happy face. I can get down with that these days.
The biggest PITA is when you're playing easy and the enemies blip around because they're playing 'spangled' but you're X86. Ranged for the PC is a joke. It's useless when learned as a secondary or tertiary skill? My mistake may have been making melee my primary skill ... this game suffers from impeding the player but not the monsters, like many old games taken to newer OS.
This game needs a DDraw patch like Arcanum players made.
Highland Park was a major PITA and highlights the problem with "resparkling": the monsters will take advantage of higher CPU speeds while YOU are stuck in slow/original game speed. I finally beat it but the process was tedious and not fun. Fairly sure the original game wasn't so bad.
BTW, if you value achievements, don't finish anything that prompts one with the BETA code enabled. If the BETA code is enabled, achievements will not advance -- like, if you finally manage to finish Highland Park because you were desperate for anything that might help so you enabled the Beta code and 30 minutes (and 10 gems) later, you beat it, you will not get 3 achievements minimum. (ARRGGHH this BETA-code enabling had better not kill my achievements forwad -- I think it may have!! GRR)
Just a cheeky/sarcastic guy trying to get paid, maybe score a drink, summon weirdass creatures to do his dirty work, and only stab things when absolutely necessary. Peak RPG experience. This is definitely one of my favourite games now.
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A fun & sassy game. Doesn't require I've a walkthrough that might be helpful.
An ok, fun Action RPG, with the particularity of being a parody of the medieval fantasy genere and RPG games. The voice acting and the hilarious writing are certainly the high point of this game. Sadly, the gameplay can a be a little monotonous over time and the controls and combat a little unresponsive. Anyway, the funny songs and the plot are well worth playing this unique gem.
Einzigartig cool
I have an eternal soft spot in my heart for this game. Tony Jay's narration is totally unbeatable.
Fantastic game, a truly hidden gem. Voice acting, jokes and songs are the highlight, but the gameplay itself is really solid too. Its still smooth and responsive and gives a lot of fun.
This game has aged very poorly so keep that in mind if you plan to play it.
First the good. The story, world, and characters are still really good, some of the humor may not stand the test of time for some folks but overall, I found the humor to landed more the missed. The bard as a character is also a huge POS so if you like playing more traditional heroes you might not like him as much, though Karma almost always hits back at the bard in all his encounters.
Then the bad, sorry to say the worst part of the Bard's Tale is the gameplay though. This is one of the worse controlled action RPGs I've really played and least variety in terms of combat.
First every map has you fight the same two to three enemy types over and over. Their models may change but their tactics largely don't with typically One ranged type and one melee type and rarely a healing enemy. Melee only goal is to surround you and they can stun lock you very easy if they succeed, ranged enemies barely matter, and healing are annoying as they constantly run away. You fight so many of these groups over and over with increasing numbers to the point you'd have to cheese them from afar as you can attack them off screen with a bow and they'll do nothing.
Second your combat capabilities are very limited. You have a melee attack that is almost always blocked if you attack from the front against any melee enemy. A ranged weapon that takes so long to fire that if enemies are charging at you and get maybe one to two shots before they reach you if you don't attack while they are off screen in which case congrats you found the strategy to slowly and boringly win every fight. Summons who are either too weak to be helpful getting off one-two attacks maybe before immediately dying, are too utility based to do anything meaningful, or simply don't work as advertised 70% of the time. Grab the tank minion only for enemies to still prioritize you, grab the mercenary to attack only to suffer the same fate as the player when swarmed by melee enemies and immediately dying, grab the summon to remove traps only for him to stupidly run towards enemies and die, etc. and etc.
If you do want to try this just play on the easiest setting for the story because I can pretty much guarantee the combat and gameplay aspects of this title will wear down any played who was just mildly interested in a new RPG.
Класс.
Старая школа игростроя!
A mostly competent early ARPG. Fun enough, despite some rough patches, and while it does show its age when it comes to the menus and options, even as a remastered version, it still holds up well enough to play. The voice work is good, the songs are decent, but there is a strange lack of music overall.
Best. Game. Ever.
Divertido y gamberro, cargado de humor negro y sátira, es el primer juego que toco de esta franquicia que tengo entendido viene desde la prehistoria (bueno no tanto, de los 80 ^^) ... entiendo que es un remaster de un trabajo del 2005 y se nota, las mecánicas, la interfaz y muchos aspectos técnicos son bastante toscos y simples (para los cánones actuales), pero en lo personal no me desagradó, me pareció novedoso .... esos puntos de guardado, me produjeron nostalgia.
Es la aventura épica, la gran odisea de un valeroso bardo en busca de ... PONERLA, sí, y con la más rankeada del barrio ^^
Камерний та насичений світ, гарна історія та жарти над сюжетними стереотипами.
Мені дуже сподобалось.
I really tried, but lack of QoL plus the camera height made it too difficult, I'm afraid.
Sucks because it seems like a really funny Cary Elwes role.
Recall this one from my childhood ... still like it today ... even if getting attacked by groups of barbarians between adventurer's guild and equipment shoppe back in the day was a bit much
