The Bard's Tale - Released on GOG - Including the three Original Games

GOG has released Inxile's version of The Bard's Tale - the GOG version includes the three original games:

Includes the original classic games The Bard's Tale 1, 2, and 3…….
Over 14 hours of outstanding voice-acting from top Hollywood talent, including Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) as the Bard, and the inimitable Tony Jay as the Narrator.

And a quote on what the game is all about:

You play as the titular Bard, a roguish, manipulative and lewd songster whose priorities in life are the acquisition of material wealth and carnal pleasures. The Bard's pretty sarcastic by nature, but you get to decide just how scathing he is by selecting 'Nice' or 'Sarky' responses. Watch out you don't get too cocky though; folk you've upset may come back to haunt you.

More information.

I've never played this game and it is always a little tempting to me to give it a try. I have heard that it hasn't aged well. Would you guys recommend I pick it up anyway?

I haven't played it, either.

Oooo, carmel pleasures! I love candy!

I tried the demo ages ago and aside from the graphics glitches I wasn't impressed. It played nothing like the originals but I hear it just makes fun of the memes.

There's unofficial fourth one called Dragon Wars and the Bard's Tale construction set.

BT was very innovative for its time with its first person perspective, color animated graphics and the huge, huge dungeon. The Bard is, for the first time in any RPG, actually a useful character as his songs become very important to the game.

The included version of BT1 and BT2 are actually the really nice Apple IIGS versions. BT3, though, is horrendous. Probably the best version at this point is the DOS version which was recently patched to fix pretty much all of the game-breaking bugs.

I do wish for Dragon Wars, though; that was, I think, the best of the lot.

I bought this back when it was first released and played maybe 1 hour. It was like a horrible wannabe of Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance.

Dark Alliance wannabe? Isn't that some console crap sold so poor noone would want to clone?

I played the new Bard's Tale on the PS2 when it first came out. It wasn't anything like the original trilogy, but the game was entertaining, though nothing special - just another Diablo-like game. I really enjoyed the humor in the game and the Bard's snide comments. I don't know how well it has aged on the PC version.

I rented it and finished it on Ps2 in barely a weekend back when it was released, hoping for some quality Bard's Tale nostalgia, even though it was never marketed as such. It's a mediocre game overall, but it does have some good humour and satire going for it.

Originally Posted by epithumia
Probably the best version at this point is the DOS version which was recently patched to fix pretty much all of the game-breaking bugs.

I'll have to politely disagree with that. The C64 version of Bard's Tale III looks and plays better as far as I'm concerned. Also, the SID chip is superior to the blurps and blobs you'll get from the DOS version. It's nice to have the Rhyme of Duotime chiming along when adventuring…

Also, for what it's worth - the Dark Alliance games along with Champions of Norath, were perfectly fine for two-player co-op hack and slash games. They're obviously not top notch as far as RPG experiences go, but they met a particular niche within the console market at the time.

In the last Bard's Tale newsbit, I posted a link to the Bard's Tale IV petition list. Futile or not, seems like another choice moment to do so again.
http://www.cheek.org/bard/petit.htm

Thanks - I haven't been to cheek.org in too long!
I don't know about the Apple versions, but while I thoroughly enjoyed the animations on my C64 back in the time (I still consider BT3's intro a the high point of its art on that machine), I've always remained jealous of the Amiga owners and their clearly superior graphics.

Don't bother with BT1. It contains parts that you have to map on paper and that are excruciatingly frustrating; you can't see anything on the screen and there are spinners and teleporters.

Originally Posted by BillSeurer
Don't bother with BT1. It contains parts that you have to map on paper and that are excruciatingly frustrating; you can't see anything on the screen and there are spinners and teleporters.

To each his own then. These are things i liked about the original series. Challenging, and very satisfying when I managed to find my way through the labyrinths.

Pibbur who has seen a lot of herbs

Originally Posted by joxer
Dark Alliance wannabe? Isn't that some console crap sold so poor noone would want to clone?

DA1 and 2 were console games only as far as I know. I played them both. They were pretty simple actiony games that were simple to pick up and play. I wouldn't recomend those games to people here at the watch as they really aren't RPG enough. But I have a wide variety of gaming tastes (though deep RPGs are my favorite) and I still found some enjoyment in those two games.

Originally Posted by Zloth
I haven't played it, either.

Oooo, carmel pleasures! I love candy!

I thought it was caramel pleasures

Still better than camel pleasuring

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
DA1 and 2 were console games only as far as I know. I played them both. They were pretty simple actiony games that were simple to pick up and play. I wouldn't recomend those games to people here at the watch as they really aren't RPG enough. But I have a wide variety of gaming tastes (though deep RPGs are my favorite) and I still found some enjoyment in those two games.

I actually enjoyed them both quite a bit. Also liked the 2 champion of norrath games that used the same engine but were based on Everquest.

Wish they would bring them to the ps3 so I could give them another go.

They were just simply hack n slash though no real depth.

I still have the Cd Retail version of this but Disk 6 broke so I can't re-install the Orig. Bards Tale games. I'll probably have to Buy it from GOG since InExile never answered my Emails about a replacement for Disk 6.

i really wonder why even "not soo good"-games are boosted with 4-5 stars on gog?
only because they are avalible on gog or just because they are old?

Originally Posted by turian
i really wonder why even "not soo good"-games are boosted with 4-5 stars on gog?
only because they are avalible on gog or just because they are old?

People that arent familiar with the titles on that site often don't buy them, so i'd say the ratings on that site is to 90% from fanbois who's just buying to collect not to actually play (they did that 20 years ago anyways ). It's a bit like IMDB and ratings on TV-series, it's impossbile to go by the scores (often in the 9-range) because it's just people familiar with the shows that does the voting.

I tried that new Bard's Tale, and remember uninstalling it within a couple days. It was nothing to write home about!

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
I tried that new Bard's Tale, and remember uninstalling it within a couple days. It was nothing to write home about!

This is NOT true. I wrote home to my Mom to warn her not to buy the game, as she would be disappointed

Anyone else have a parent that plays? My Mom is gone, but she played several crpgs while alive. She was great about becoming interested in whatever us kids were interested in.