Bard's Tale I - The Classics Return

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An update for The Bard's Tale IV advises backers that The Bard's Tale Trilogy will be here soon and how to get your key.

The Classics Return

Back in Time!


Hi all,

Paul here with a quick check-in regarding Tuesday's release of the remastered The Bard's Tale Trilogy. Both the Krome and inXile dev teams are excited to finally get this into your hands. It's appropriate that The Bard's Tale and Back to the Future both came out in 1985, as we're taking a cue from Huey Lewis and going "Back in Time!"

Here's how the process will work.


  • Starting Tuesday, backers at the $20 reward tiers and above will receive an email from CrowdOx asking you to specify either a Steam or GOG key for the game. Remember to keep an eye on your spam/filter folders in case it ends up there.
  • Soon after you make that selection, you will receive another email - the latest edition of your Digital Fulfillment email, this one now containing your chosen code.
  • Once you receive the code, you can follow these instructions on how to redeem it for Steam and GOG.
A few things to remember:


  • The Bard's Tale Trilogy is currently Windows only and contains the first volume. The latter two volumes, along with the Legacy Mode, arrive later in the year.
  • Please keep in mind that we have tens of thousands of backers to send keys and emails to. It will likely take a little while for the full list to be processed, so don't panic if your digital fulfillment email does not arrive right away. We appreciate your patience.
  • You must have completed your CrowdOx survey and confirmed your pledge in order to get your rewards. 93% of you have, but if you haven't done so yet, or aren't sure, we encourage you to first check your email to see if you have received your pledge confirmation email from CrowdOx. If you haven't, then you can follow these instructions on how to have CrowdOx send/resend your survey so that you can access it and confirm it.
  • Only backers at the $20 and above will be receiving a remastered trilogy key.
Finally, the original games are very challenging. We encourage you to band together to pass along advice and discoveries, whether on the Steam or GOG forums or our own official forums. I think that I can safely speak for many older players that while we fondly remember having to figure stuff out on our own, it certainly would have been nice to have the internet back then to help with some things!

From the developer side of things, we're really looking forward to seeing the kinds of best practices, suggestions, guides, and personal preferences you develop as you visit the games for the first time or if you're a returning playing "getting the band back together." Either way, have fun going back in time to 1985!
Click to expand...
More information.
 
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I really want to dive head first right back into these games, but I believe I might wait until all three are good to go. It would suck to finish the first and have to wait for the second one all over again!!!!
 
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These were lengthy and fairly difficult games... You shouldn't have to wait long after finishing it, if you finish it. Ha.
 
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I still have the box from the original trilogy PC later bundle.. Never completed one of them, when I got to play them I was already beyond the map making era.. I will surely appreciate the quality of life improvements it brings and I'm certainly planning to get them soon..
 
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Vindicator said:
These were lengthy and fairly difficult games… You shouldn't have to wait long after finishing it, if you finish it. Ha.
Click to expand...

I thought I read somewhere that the remasters will take significantly less time to complete. I assume that's due to the combination of added QoL features and a slight reduction in combat encounters.
 
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I completed all three on C64 (still have all of the original boxes too) but have only really dipped in and out of each of them on PC subsequent to that. I think I made it to Harkyn's Castle with one group on PC. Thus the temptation to do it all over again remains quite strong with this exciting release. :)
 
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$15 though. Yikes!

QoL features include WASD. Hopefully you can remap this to the Arrow keys where it should be (although Wizardry started WADX - and TotU:tBT is supposed to be a "Wizardry Killer"). How is K&M and any automap?

EDIT: I see the automap now. New question is, are there still movement animations? What set aside BT from Wizardry was all the media involved in it (the music, the color, the solid images, the animation) and the above ground exploration. I hope they didn't get rid of guilds/trainers. I can't stand instant level up.
 
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Haven't gotten my free copy yet, so I'll be waiting on that, and still playing Trails in the Sky anyways, so I wouldn't be jumping in right away. But man, I'm really keen on getting a taste of some old school gaming!!
 
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Last edited:
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I'm not as big a fan of the BT series as I was Ultima, but still looking forward to these. Most of my experience with them was being "chief mapper/advisor" while my friends got to drive. Will be nice to be in charge this time :)
 
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This release has caused some minor frustration on the InXile forums due to the perception that GOG and Steam are getting access before the backers are.

I can confirm that I've had to redo the CrowdOX survey (despite having done it previously) to choose the platform for the remasters. Apparently once confirmation emails have been received, keys will then go out within 24 hours. Seems like an unfortunate procedural glitch across the board.

Edit:
Just got my key some 10 minutes after the confirmation email.
 
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