| Latest revision |
Your text |
| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| {{Series | | {{series stub}} |
| |name=The Bard's Tale
| |
| |developer=[[Interplay]]
| |
| |publisher=[[Electronic Arts]]
| |
| |year=1985
| |
| |genre=[[Role-Playing]]
| |
| }}
| |
| '''''The Bard's Tale''''' is a series of turn-based role-playing games heavily based on '''''{{c|Wizardry}}'''''. More than that: the original version of the first three ''Bard's Tale'' games allow to import characters from ''Wizardry I''.
| |
|
| |
|
| === Original series ===
| | '''''The Bard's Tale''''' is a series of dungeon crawls heavily based on '''''{{c|Wizardry}}'''''. |
| The games share an almost identical character creation, interface, and combat mode with {{c|Wizardry}}. Notable differences are: (1) the introduction of the bard class, with a "bard song" ability; (2) the surface is an actual city to be explored, instead of a simple menu screen (it becomes an extensive world in later titles); (3) there is more than one dungeon.
| |
|
| |
|
| === Other titles === | | === Original trilogy === |
| * [[Maze Master]] is the precursor of the series, developed by the same author in 1983; it clearly shows the influence of ''{{c|Wizardry}}''. For more information, see [http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2014/06/game-150-maze-master-1983.html here].
| | The games share an almost identical character creation and interface, and an absolutely identical combat mode with {{c|Wizardry}}. Notable differences are: (1) the introduction of the bard class, with a "bard song" ability; (2) the surface is an actual city to be explored, instead of a simple menu screen; (3) there is more than one dungeon. |
| * [[The Bard's Tale Construction Set]] is a program to create dungeons; it also includes a playable scenario titled '''Star Light Festival'''.
| |
| * [[The Bard's Tale (2004)]] features a completely different gameplay from the rest of the series.
| |
| * [[The Mage's Tale]] is a game developed for [[Oculus Rift|virtual reality headset]].
| |
| * [[The Bard's Tale IV]] started development after a 25-years-long pause in the series.
| |
|
| |
|
| Related games:
| | In the first three games, characters could be transfered from one title to the next, but only using the same platform. |
| * [[Deathlord]] is an {{c|Ultima clone}} that can import characters from the first ''Bard's Tale'', ''Wizardry'' and ''Ultima 3''.
| | {|{{prettytable|notwide=1|text center=1}} |
| * [[Legend of Faerghail]] is a German tribute to ''Bard's Tale'' that can also import characters (Amiga version only).
| | ! <br>Platform || Bard's Tale <br>1 || Bard's Tale <br>2 || Bard's Tale <br>3 || Notes<br>(limits and defects) |
| * [[Dragon Wars]] was developed by part of the team of ''Bard's Tale 3'' and it can import characters, too.
| | |- |
| * [[Centauri Alliance]] is also known as "Bard's Tale in Space". It is a science-fiction role-playing game, but characters can be imported from the fantasy titles.
| | | [[C64]] || {{icon|globe}} 1985 || {{icon|globe}} 1986 || {{icon|globe}} 1987 || 8-bit graphics; bugs |
| | | |- |
| === Character transfer utilitues ===
| | | [[Apple II]] || {{icon|us}} 1985 || {{icon|us}} 1987 || {{icon|us}} 1988 || 8-bit graphics; bugs |
| A peculiarity of the original ''Bard's Tale'' series was the ability to import characters from unrelated series. On different operating systems (C64, Apple II, MS-DOS, Amiga) the same title could have a different character transfer utility (CTU) or none at all. Anyway, disk-reading errors are extremely frequent, except for the DOS ports.
| | |- |
| | | | [[MS-DOS]] || {{icon|us}} 1985 || {{icon|us}} 1988 || {{icon|globe}} 1990 || Encounter rate is too high |
| The full original trilogy of ''Bard's Tale'' was released for four different home computers, listed in the following table. Other systems received just one or two titles in the trilogy (Apple IIgs, Apple Macintosh, {{icon|jp}} NES, {{icon|fr}} Amstrad CPC, {{icon|uk}} ZX Spectrum).
| | |- |
| | | | [[Amiga]] || {{icon|us}} 1987 || {{icon|us}} 1988 || {{icon|globe}} 1991 || - |
| {| {{prettytable}} | | |- |
| ! System !! Games and character transfer utilities | | | [[NEC PC-9801|PC-9801]] || {{icon|jp}} ? || {{icon|jp}} ? || {{icon|jp}} ? || Japanese language only |
| | |} |
| | {|{{prettytable|notwide=1|text center=1}} |
| | |+ Incomplete trilogies |
| | |- |
| | ! <br>Platform || Bard's Tale <br>1 || Bard's Tale <br>2 || Bard's Tale <br>3 || Notes<br>(limits and defects) |
| | |- |
| | | [[Apple IIgs]] || {{icon|us}} ? || {{icon|us}} ? || {{n/a}} || - |
| |- | | |- |
| | [[C64]] || | | | [[Atari ST]] || {{icon|globe}} 1987 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || - |
| * (1983) '''[[Maze Master]]:''''' (no CTU)''
| |
| * (1985) '''The Bard's Tale 1:''''' (no CTU)''
| |
| * (1986) '''The Bard's Tale 2:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, Ultima 3
| |
| * (1988) '''The Bard's Tale 3:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2
| |
| * (1988) '''Deathlord:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2, 3, Ultima 3
| |
| * (1989) '''Dragon Wars:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2, 3
| |
| * (1990) '''Centauri Alliance:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2, 3, Ultima 3
| |
| |- | | |- |
| | [[Apple II]] || | | | [[CPC]] || {{icon|eu}} 1988 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || 8-bit graphics |
| * (1985) '''[[The Bard's Tale]] 1:''' transfer from Wizardry 1, 2, 3, Ultima 3
| |
| * (1987) '''[[The Bard's Tale 2]]:''' transfer from Wizardry 1, 2, 3, Ultima 3, Bard's Tale 1
| |
| * (1988) '''[[The Bard's Tale 3]]:''' transfer from Wizardry 1, 2, 3, Ultima 3, 4, Bard's Tale 1, 2
| |
| * (1989) '''[[Dragon Wars]]:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2, 3
| |
| * (1990) '''[[Centauri Alliance]]:''' transfer from Wizardry 1, 2, 3, Ultima 3, Bard's Tale 1, 2, 3, Might & Magic 1
| |
| * (1987) '''[[Deathlord]]:''' transfer from Wizardry 1, Ultima 3, Bard's Tale 1
| |
| |- | | |- |
| | [[MS-DOS]] || | | | [[Sinclair ZX Spectrum|ZX]] || {{icon|eu}} 1988 || {{n/a}} || {{n/a}} || 8-bit graphics |
| * (1987) '''The Bard's Tale 1:''''' (no CTU)''
| |
| * (1988) '''The Bard's Tale 2:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1
| |
| * (1990) '''The Bard's Tale 3:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2
| |
| * (1990) '''Dragon Wars:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2
| |
| * (1990) '''Legend of Faerghail:''''' (no CTU)''
| |
| |- | | |- |
| | [[Amiga]] || | | | [[NES]] || {{icon|globe}} 1990 || {{icon|jp}} 1992 || {{n/a}} || Game was reduced to fit in cartridge |
| * (1986) '''The Bard's Tale 1:''''' (no CTU)''
| |
| * (1988) '''The Bard's Tale 2:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1
| |
| * (1991) '''The Bard's Tale 3:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2
| |
| * (1989) '''[[Legend of Faerghail]]:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2, Phantasie 1, 3
| |
| * (1990) '''Dragon Wars:''' transfer from Bard's Tale 1, 2
| |
| |} | | |} |
| | |
| | === Later titles === |
| | * [[Dragon Wars]] was supposed to be "The Bard's Tale IV", but the title was changed very late during the production. |
| | * [[Swords and Serpents]] was developed by the same authors of ''The Bard's Tale III'' and ''Dragon Wars''; it is a clone of {{c|Wizardry}}, even more than ''The Bard's Tale 1''; it has the peculiarity of being a computer-style role-playing game that was released for consolle only. |
| | * [[The Bard's Tale Construction Set]] is a program to create dungeons; it also includes a playable scenario titled '''Star Light Festival'''. |
| | * [[The Bard's Tale (2004)]] features a completely different gameplay from the rest of the series. |
| | * [[The Mage's Tale]] is a game developed for [[Oculus Rift|virtual reality headset]]. |
| | * [[The Bard's Tale IV]] started development after a 25-years-long pause in the series. |
|
| |
|
| {{The Bard's Tale}} | | {{The Bard's Tale}} |
| | | [[Category:Series]] |
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Bard's Tale, The}}
| |
