The Bard's Tale (2004)
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| The Bard's Tale | |
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| Developer(s) | InXile Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Vivendi Universal Games |
| Designer(s) | Brian Fargo, Matthew Findley |
| Engine | Champions of Norrath engine |
| Release date(s) | October 28, 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Action adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows |
The Bard's Tale is a computer action-adventure game created by InXile Entertainment, and released in 2004. Marketed as a humorous spoof on fantasy computer role-playing games (of which the original Bard's Tale was given as a prime example), it has more in common with modern console games like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.
The Bard's Tale was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October 2004. It was released for Microsoft Windows on July 28, 2005.
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[edit] Story
The plot involves "a sardonic and opportunistic musician and adventurer, driven by carnal rather than noble pursuits. The Bard (who is never identified by a specific name) is not interested in saving the world, his humble motivations are strictly 'coin and cleavage.'"
The Bard (voiced by Cary Elwes), ends up being recruited by a society of hippies to help free a princess named Caleigh. As a result of this, the Bard finds himself being attacked by an assortment of fanatics from a Druid-like cult, dispatched to dispatch him by a being called Fionnaoch. (Many of the names and characters are influenced by Celtic mythology and the stories of the Orkney Islands.) On the way to complete his quest, the not so valiant anti-hero will have to overcome the truly terrifying challenges of three monstrous guardians, break-dancing corpses, spontaneously melodious goblins and a giant, fire-breathing rat.
[edit] Gameplay
Completely unlike the classic Bard's Tale games, this game is in a 3D environment with the player watching his single controllable character from an overhead vantage point, and it is better described as an action-adventure game than a traditional role-playing game (i.e. there are no character classes or inventory management).
The player's character, the Bard, has magic and weaponry at his disposal to complete the task. The more the player accomplishes, the better his skills will become. The appearance and gameplay is much the same as the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series, which shares the same graphics engine.
The game uses a "snarky or nice" system of dialog that allows the player to change the outcome of many situations by deciding how they want to respond. Some choices, such as being snarky to the dog at the beginning of the game, have game-lasting consequences. For example, near the beginning of the game you can find a dog. If you are nice to the dog he follows you for the rest of the game and gives you a few other skill options such as training it to fight. Also, you meet a farmer later in the game in order to obtain a certain quest item. He'll only give you the item, however, if you choose to be "snarky" to him. Normally "nice" answers could get you better results (with the exception of some cases like the former one). "Snarky" answers, however, are often more comical and entertaining for the player.
[edit] Trivia
- Although touted in early promotional materials as a remake of the classic Bard's Tale series, InXile Entertainment never had any rights to the trademarks of the original Bard's Tale — those rights are still owned by Electronic Arts. This meant that InXile was not legally allowed to use any of the plot, characters or locations featured in the original trilogy.
- An allusion to the original Bard's Tale does exist in the game in the form of a snarky remark made by the Bard to an NPC early on -- when he mentions having had his fill of epic quests, he mentions "cities locked in eternal winter", which is a reference to the plot of the original Bard's Tale game.
- In the opening video, the Bard throws a dead wolf on a pile of treasure, parodying a common videogame cliche.
