Customer Reviews

Bards Tale

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have been waiting for this game for quite a while...and know what?
It's just what I hoped it would be and even more!

As I started playing the game I just could not quit laughing. The Bard is a dirty ol' [...] and will say some of the nastyest and funniest things ever.

But let's examine the game:

1) Graphics 8/10: could be better, but what you need is there and many features are way above genre average.
2) Sound 10/10: FX and music are very good, voice acting is EXCEPTIONAL.
3) Gameplay: 8/10 very good but some overall flaws.
*For one the saving system is a nuisance and I don't understand while it is still around (find the tome and save only at the "tome point").
*The fighting system is ok (if somewhat more difficult than your typical Baldur's Gate for console) and you must not only rely on your sword but mostly on your summons and on finding out how to complement each other skills. You can't just go around bashing everything to pieces.
*The camera however is a bit of a pain. Way up in the sky, you see your character from above with no possibility of angle changing. Sometimes with trees around it gets somewhat frustrating.
*The "answer interaction" system is great and more games should adopt it. When you talk with people you don't have a set of "phrases" to choose from, you simply choose your attitude. This will affect how non playing characters (i.e. those you interact with) will perceive your Bard and how they will treat him. Being rude pays off sometimes.
4) Storyline 20 out of 10: AHAHAAHAHAHA... this game will just have you laughing, and laughing and laughing. The story is funny, very original and well delivered to you by a sarcastic narrator. I won't spoil the game here, you'll have to believe me. Just play the first 5 minutes and the laughing will start.

Bottomline:
Overall I would suggest this game to:
1. anybody who likes or has a grasp for RPGs.
2. anybody who likes humorous games
3. RPGers tired of the old cliche' games
4. all fans of non-politically correctness
5. any old school RPG gamer. The more RPGs you've played in the past the more you will laugh here.

In general I'd suggest this game to anybody who likes games. It's just fun to see something original and enjoyable.

The Bard's Tale is a pleasant poke at standard RPG stereotypes. If the Monty Python gang had made a video game, this would be it. The humor is, without a doubt, the best part of the game. I especially love the fact the "hero" is a drunk, women-chasing lout instead of a 14 year old boy (many of whom, as chosen ones, are slaughtered mercilessly throughout the game).
Some of the game's conventions take a bit of getting used to. For example, the defense system requires you to press the defense button each time you want to defend. Although this is a much more realistic way of fighting, the timing of this takes some practice to get down. No part of the game seemed insurmountably difficult to master. Random battles, the bane of many an RPG player, are present but easily avoidable.
I did like the game's automatic upgrade system for weapons and equipment. Whenever the Bard aquires a new weapon or piece of armor, the old one is automatically converted into silver. Although strategy purists will pine for more control, I personally liked not having to go through all of the trouble of inventory screens and selling off old weapons and the like.
My main beef with the game is the top down view. Sometimes the scenery would get in the way and the poor Bard would be hacked to death before I could rotate the camera enough to see him. Better camera control, automatic or manual, would have been welcome.

I LOVED this game. I haven't enjoyed a game this much since Neverwinter Nights! Now, I'm the sort who enjoys RPG's with good plot and drama. I'm not that into hack n slash. Admittedly, there was a fair share of that in this game, but there was plenty of comedy and innuendo for me to sufficiently enjoy myself.

I've read a few other reviews, and I agree with the complaint that the overhead view was rather awkward and I would've prefered something more straight on. Someone else mentioned that this is more of a guy's game, and I have to disagree. Well, perhaps he's right and I'm just in the minority. As a female, I found myself with a bit of a crush on the Bard by the end. Of course, Cary Elwes's voice acting may have contributed to this fact, and my inexplicable, unrequited desire to hear the Bard yell, "To the pain!" just one time. Oh well.

I was very sad to have completed this so quickly. I really wanted more. I want more of this game. I want more games like this one.

...as long as you enjoy the action/RPG genre. In terms of gameplay, this isn't really very different from Baldur's Gate-Dark Alliance or Champions of Norrath. You hack and you slash until there's nothing left to kill. The story is stronger than Norrath's, as are the cut-scenes and voice acting. Norrath excels in character customization and gear collecting, while this is pretty much discarded in The Bard's Tale. The blocking scheme for Bard's Tale is useless, but the game does present a radar map which alerts you to hostiles and makes it easy enough to take on a few at a time and whittle the enemy down in that way. (Try shooting arrows at the red dots offscreen-your enemy is dead before you even see them.) When used with the better summons available to the player, no enemy is overly difficult. The key is using some strategy, rather than just charging in blindly and expecting to come out unscathed. Of course, the main emphasis of the game is supposed to be its humor, and it does an admirable job at making it enjoyable to work your way to the end (even if the gameplay is as standard as anything the game is poking fun at). The first time I tipped a cow I knew this was going to be a fun game. I indeed laughed out loud on more than one occasion. On top of that, the ending is priceless, well worth working through the entire game for. I'd say it was one of the best video game endings I've ever experienced. All in all, though not groundbreaking, The Bard's Tale is worth the price of admission, especially to action/RPG junkies.

Personally, I found The Bard's Tale to be a refreshing change of pace for games of this genre (mind you I cheated my brains out). The big thing about this game is the humor, which can be attributed to the excellent voice acting. The game pokes fun at every mainstay of console and computer RPGs. From looting chests, the concept of one person being chosen to save the world, and even the items you get from slaying enemies is open for attack. The game even makes fun of the "kill the rats in the tavern's cellar" quest in Dark Alliance. The funniest part of the game is the final battle where you have to choose between helping one side or the other. Actually, there is a third choice which is absolutely hilarious and worth playing through the game to see (you'll know it when you see it). The other thing about this game is the music. Most of the songs a extremely catchy, my favorite is the beer song (it is near impossible to get the chorus out of your head.

However, humor cannot carry an entire game. In that regard, the game engine is horrible. Although similar to the original Dark Alliance, the game should have taken a hint from Champions of Norrath. Blocking the game while at first innovative becomes tedious and annoying. The experience system seems unbalanced and arbitrary. Also, there is not variety in the type of weapons you can use. One a feature becomes available for a weapon it is standard for that type of weapon for the rest of the game. All in all the game could have probably benefited from a lot more fine tuning.

Still, one should at least rent this game to check out the humor. After all, there aren't that many games of this type that have references to The Highlander, The Priness Bride, and You Got Served in them.

And I have played many many video games in my time. All of the characters you interact with react differently depending on how you act to them, and how you've acted in the past. And most of them are very funny.

The controls take a little getting used to, but are not difficult to master. As with the other reviews, the camera angles are the biggest downfall of this game, but the content is more than enough to make up for it.

I found myself cracking up, sometimes to the point where I had to stop for a while, because I was crying from laughing so hard. Overall a VERY good game. Thumbs up!

This Is one of the few pleasures in life.... Reviewing a GREAT Game! its almost exactly like the baldurs gate titles but with a few subtle changes.
first Welcome change is the fact that every time you get new armor/weapon etc instead of having to navigate menus and equip it the Game Equips the Best you have INSTANTLY! i love that! graphics are directly on par (hard to believe this game is so old) graphics hold up against most baldurs gates and champoins games easily highly detailed monsters GREAT VOICE ACTING and STORY! THE SOUND IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! AS IS THE ACTING!! cant stress this enough its hilarious! not sutable for younger children due to some language crude humor (ala snarky haha) and quite a few things the little kiddies might not be ready to see yet (you have been warned) overall if you own any of the champions or baldurs gate DA games this is a MUST OWN for you then. i bought it on a whim never having played it and how refreshing this game is buy it now before its no longer available!
its a 5 star masterpiece!

I borrowed Bard's Tale from a friend, and after I heard the drunk guys singing in the bar at the beginning of the game I returned the game to him and bought it the next day. From that point on I knew this game wasn't going to be your typical hack and slash RPG game. Even though there's plenty of sword slinging there's also a great dialogue. The graphics are pretty much typical but the voice acting on this is great. Besides all of that another thing I liked about this game is that it isn't that frustrating. It doesn't take a genius to beat this game so if you're looking for a major challenge than you're not going to find it here. This game is definately worth getting just for the story and dialogue, highly recommended.

The Bard's Tale for Xbox and PS2 is a new title in a very old gaming franchise. Before talking about the game directly, let me tell you a brief bit about the history of its genre.

Once upon a time (80's, 90's), you could've roughly split up computer and console role-playing games (RPGs) into two groups: Japanese RPGS and American RPGS. Japanese RPGs tended to focus strongly on a plot. The game mechanics were just a mechanism to move the story forth. Character advancement was not nearly as important as story advancement. Ask anyone who has ever played any Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior game and you will find this is true. Enjoyment of the tale the game presented was the main goal of Japanese RPGs.

American RPGs on the other hand tended to be very open adventures with a very heavy emphasis on exploration, character development, and game statistics in general. The `story' of these games worked more like a general game playing guideline than a strong dramatic plot. The stories presented would give you a rough idea of what needed to be done next, but would rarely push you into doing anything in particular until you really felt like unlocking some new area or getting some special item. Players would often run around the game world trying to build up their character statistics as high as possible. The emphasis of these games was enjoying the gameplay, not the story. Two series that were the hallmark of this type of game were Wizardry, and The Bard's Tale.

This trend has even continued into the new century. Just compare Morrowind to Final Fantasy X: an open book versus a staged Soap Opera. Both titles are good games, just very different.

The original Bard's Tale was a classic example of one these open, statistic driven American games. You created a party of characters using Dungeons and Dragons like statistics. Then you would run around a pseudo 3D dungeon, kill monsters, and collect treasure. After that, you would return to the inn to gain levels, heal your party members, and then repeat the whole process over again.

This new Bard's Tale eschews that type of design completely, opting for instead a Diablo type action RPG style of control and play. The menu based combat of old is replaced with good ol' hack and slash button mashing fun. You control a singular character from an overhead view, while partaking in multiple story and non-story related quests.

Another difference with this Bard's Tale is that it is a humorous game. Unlike the previous titles which had somewhat serious stories to follow, this game is a laugh all the way through. It parodies other games in the genre, picks on common elements such as killing rats, opening random treasure chests, chosen ones, and has a very witty script to back it up with. I found the Bard's dialog to be a constant source of amusement. The character you control and the games narrator often banter with each other, usually to humorous effect. This humorous script writing even shows up when you engage other characters in dialog. You are often give at least two response choices, a nice response, and a `snarky' response. You quickly find out being nice doesn't help you get what you want.

And, in another departure from traditional RPGs, the character you control isn't your typical hero. No wide eye farm boys, elven princesses, or honor seeking knights here. He's a roguish bard who takes advantage of people whenever he can. He is very fond of beer and the ladies, and doesn't have any loftier goals than finding a warm bed to crash in at night, preferably accompanied with a barmaid. This is an attitude that never changes in the game, fortunately.

The basic story is that your character of the Bard gets drafted into being `The Chosen One', and ends up trying to rescue to a trapped princess. You quickly find many other `Chosen Ones' who have met a sad fate, and also discover that all is not as it seems...

The controls are fairly simple. You use the primary buttons to attack, block, jump, and activate things with. The left and right trigger buttons activate your summoning spells. Summoning can get a little tricky in the heat of battle so you generally want to do that in advance. Over all I found that the controls worked pretty well.

I was happy with the graphics. Nothing overly special, but nothing shoddy either.

Other than the script writing and humor, the other place this game shines is the sound effects and music department. The sounds always seem to be on cue, and I loved all the amusing sing-a-long songs they had in the game.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game and highly recommend.

One would never think that such drunken lout would make such a great chosen one.

If you've enjoyed hack'n'slash games of the past, you are going to love this comedic twist on the genre.

Bard's Tale takes the tried and true principles of hack'n'slash gameplay (top down perspective action rpg) and gives it life with great comedy. They lampoon all the classic rpg cliches. And with the voice of Cary Elwes (from the Princess Bride and Men in Tights) and Tony Jay, the voice dialogue is perfectly executed.

The gameplay can get boring at times, a downfall for this style of game as it becomes very repetitive. But unlike similar games in the genre, this one does give you a reason to keep playing, the excellent story.

I would definitely make sure you are TEEN, as suggested by the ESRB rating. Some of the comedy is sexually suggestive. But nothing blatantly over the top. If you want a fun game that doesn't take itself to seriously, this game is a breath of fresh air!