Bard´s Tale - Tales of the unknown (NES) question...

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Hi there! i´m playing this game actually, but i´m very confused about only one point: where the hell could I buy a musical instrument for my bard? because I have my party with all players on level 5, but the bard is useless without a guitar, a banjo or something like that.

Anyone had played it? where could I get this item?

(P.S. don´t try to search on Google, there´s no good info about this game).

Thanks in advance.

[Keir]

You should be able to buy a flute, harp or horn at Garth's.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

You should be able to buy a flute, harp or horn at Garth's.
Garth´s? WTF?

[Mayhem]

The weapons shop. It's very close to the guild building where you start.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

The weapons shop. It's very close to the guild building where you start.
Yep. Rom dump was bad. I´ll download another version right now.

Thanks ppl!

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Oh well, another question right now. I´m using a bard, and obviously, he can sings, but after a song, the game told me that "has lost his voice" and I fight a lot, but I couldn´t sing no more. How can I modify that? Is really necessary to use a bard anyway?

Thanks again.

[Mayhem]

The Bard songs are vital at times, especially the one that can lower AC by a point or the one that generates light even in the dark zones. Your bard can sing X songs before needing to drink, where X is his level. He is also the only character that can use the fire and ice horns iirc.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Great! thanks a lot! Obviously you had played this game...

:)

[MrSparkle]

any of the inns get him a rootbeer and it will restore his songs back to full also the item drops i believe its called will let you restore one song per use for those dire emergencies.

[calthaer]

Once your bard gets to a high enough level, running out of bardsongs will never really become an issue. Your mage will run out of spell points far before then - and, later in the game, having what Bard's Tale II would more-or-less call an "archmage" (a spellcaster who has progressed through all levels of all four schools of magic) is something that you absolutely cannot do without. Especially when you hit that one room in Harkyn's Castle where there are four groups of 99 opponents each...MAMA FTW.

Having a bard is pretty much essential, too, because his songs affect the entire party. I don't think I ever used anything other than the Traveler's Tune most of the time, though. I believe I also had a Paladin up front, a Warrior, then either another Warrior or a Hunter / Monk, then the Bard, then a Rogue, then my Wizard.

I'd really actually recommend playing this on an Apple ][ / C64 emulator (or PC DOS), because then you can take your characters and import them into the sequels...which are bigger, better, grander versions of the original. The second one kind of focused on the addition of archery and ranged attacks, and the third one really unleashed the power of the rogue with sneak attacks. But in the third one you have to have an additional spellcaster besides your Archmage to take on the Geomancer profession so that you can teleport between worlds.

[Keir]

Is really necessary to use a bard anyway?I haven't played the NES version all the way through but in other versions there is one place where you need a bard in your party to progress. However, as others have mentioned, you'll want one anyway if only for lowering your AC all the time.

BTW, the songs are different in the NES version too:


---Out of Combat Songs---

The Traveller's Tune: This song will instantly teleport your party back to the Adventurers' Guild. An extremely useful song, and yes, it can even be used in dungeons!
Wayland's Watch: This song lowers the chance of random encounters.
The Seeker's Ballad: One of the most powerful songs, The Seeker's Ballad has the effect of enhancing your whole party's armor, lowering their AC by 2 while in effect.

---In Combat Songs---

Freeze Voice: This song freezes all enemies, making them randomly miss their turn in combat entirely!
Lucklaran: Lowers your enemies' chances of successfully casting spells.
Falkentyne's Fury: A very powerful song which enhances your party's battle skills, raising their attack and defense.
Badh'r Kilnfest: This song has a random chance of charming an enemy. If successful, the enemy will join your party! (It will stay in your party until you charm another one, it dies, or you return to the Adventurer's Guild.

[Melf]

Garth´s? WTF?

http://www.filmsnobs.com/www/pics2/garth.jpg

[Mayhem]

Especially when you hit that one room in Harkyn's Castle where there are four groups of 99 opponents each...MAMA FTW.

Two spell casters hit a group spell each to kill a set each. Bard with a horn to nuke another group. Leaving your warriors to defend against 99 others in one round (speed up!) before they get nuked the following turn. And a nice easy 50k XP I believe per team member for that. Exit castle, rinse and repeat ;)

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Sorry my ignorance, but I hope this will be the last question: what the AC means? It is good? because If i put a chain mail or leather gloves, it reduces, but also when I got poisoned. Tell me about that plz.

Thanks again folks!

[Mayhem]

Armour Class. Starts at 10, the better items you get, the more it reduces. So the lower the value, the better. Lowest you can go in TBT is -10 I believe. It's all related to THAC0 (go look that up)... I take it you didn't grow up much on roleplaying terms?

[MrSparkle]

wikipedia article on armor class ;) admittedly to a non DnD player the armor class is a wierd concept defense goes up as armor class goes down!??!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THAC0

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I take it you didn't grow up much on roleplaying terms?
Yep, but all were in my native language (spanish), so some english terms are new for me.

Thanks guys!

[guitargary75]

I have yet to play this one.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Now, there´s something without logic. If I get poisoned, my AC goes down...

Don´t understand. Poison bad. -AC is good...

¿?

[MrSparkle]

hmm ac going down is good, poison is bad... thats strange, are you sure its not another bad rom dump haha. Maybe i just never noticed that this is the first rpg in history where being poisoned is a good thing lol.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

hmm ac going down is good, poison is bad... thats strange, are you sure its not another bad rom dump haha. Maybe i just never noticed that this is the first rpg in history where being poisoned is a good thing lol.
I hope this will be not another bad dump.

Nothing more to say.

[MrSparkle]

I hope this will be not another bad dump.

Nothing more to say.

i actually have this game in my nes at home as i was playing it fairly recently so i will try to remember to confirm whether or not poison normally lowers your ac.

[Trebuken]

I'd really actually recommend playing this on an Apple ][ / C64 emulator (or PC DOS), because then you can take your characters and import them into the sequels...which are bigger, better, grander versions of the original.

I always thought the Amiga versions would be best due to superior graphics...any thoughts on that?

I played I-III on the C64 and they are some of my favorite games of all time...

[calthaer]

Didn't know they came out for Amiga, but I'm sure they would be superior. Never had one, but that really was the computer for classic games.

As long as you can import your characters from one game to another.

For the record, you could also import characters in these old RPGs not only between the games in the BT series, but also into other games like Wizardry, Might & Magic, even futuristic ones like Wasteland, I think. I believe one of us (maybe me?) created a thread here on digitpress.com about the "canon" of classic RPGs that could transfer characters.

Ah, here it is:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31414&highlight=bard%27s+tale