This is done while exploring maze-like dungeons, solving occasional puzzles and riddles, and finding or buying better weapons, armor and other equipment. The objective is to gain experience and advance characters' skills through (mostly) random combat with enemies and monsters. The Bard's Tale is a straightforward "dungeon crawl". At one point within the tower the party can acquire a key that will allow them to access Mangar's Tower and Kylearan's Tower from the city directly thenceforward, without having to move through the Sewers or Harkyn's Castle, respectively. Still reachable only via the Sewers at this point in the game, Mangar's Tower (5 levels) is the final dungeon that has to be overcome to reach Mangar and slay him, provided the party has acquired several items in the other dungeons which are required to best him. He gives the party an access key to Mangar's Tower, the final dungeon, but they still have to circumvent the locked gates around the tower by going through the Sewers. Kylearan the Archmage awaits the party at the conclusion of his tower maze and turns out to be friendly. Kylearan's Tower (1 level) is only accessible through the teleporter in Harkyn's Castle, requiring any party who wish to enter to fight through the castle's three levels first.If weakened too much from the fighting in the castle, the party may elect to leave the area via one-way portals instead at this point and return to the city and the Adventurer's Guild. If they possess the eye, a statue of the Mad God in Baron Harkyn's Castle (3 levels) will teleport the party to the (otherwise inaccessible) northeastern area where the next dungeon is located however, it is not required to proceed to the next dungeon immediately.On the lowest level, a Lich must be defeated to obtain an eye. The undead-infested Catacombs (3 levels) beneath the temple of the Mad God, accessible only if his name is known (but not technically requiring the party to have found this password themselves it just needs to be typed in by the player regardless of how they came to possess this information).The purpose of this introductory "dungeon" was simply to introduce the dungeon concept and provide access to the sewers. It is not actually possible within the game to obtain a bottle of wine, nor is it required to proceed. Upon ordering wine, the party would be sent by the bartender to his cellar to fetch a bottle themselves. However this hint was not present in the manual included with the C64 release of the game. There was a hint to this in the manual ( Hint: The first dungeon is the wine cellar of the only tavern in town which serves wine. Finding this first dungeon (the wine cellar) required the party to order some wine at a certain tavern. In the sewers, numerous hints are found including the name of the Mad God. It cannot be entered without a key, however. The first dungeon is the Wine Cellar (1 level) of one particular tavern, which proves connected to the Sewers of Skara Brae (3 levels) that in turn feature an exit that leads to an otherwise inaccessible southwestern corner of the city where Mangar's Tower, the final dungeon, is located.The latter are mazes of various kinds-cellars, sewers, catacombs or fortresses-full of monsters and riddles, some guarded by magical statues that turn to life to attack trespassing player parties. One street seems to lead south endlessly, by actually teleporting the party back to its beginning upon reaching the portion where the city walls would be.Ĭertain buildings within the city are special, such as the Adventurer's Guild, Garth's Equipment Shoppe, the Review Board (which is unmarked and must be found first, and is the only place where characters can level up), various taverns and temples and the dungeons. The main city gates which open to the west are blocked by snow, and remain impassable throughout the game. Access to one tower in the northeastern and southwestern city corner each is blocked by locked gates. The fictional town of Skara Brae (with no connections to the real-world historical site of the same name) consists of 30x30 map tiles containing either buildings or streets (plus gates and magical guardian statues blocking certain streets). Game progress is made through advancing the characters so that they are powerful enough to defeat the increasingly dangerous foes and monsters in the dungeons, obtaining certain items relevant to solving the overall quest, and obtaining information. In the actual game, the player forms a group ("party") of up to six characters in the Adventurer's Guild building which is the only "home zone" where the current game, or more precisely, the characters and their current inventory, can be saved. Between occasional sips from his mug, he strums a lute and sings: The introduction depicts a bard sitting in a tavern.
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