Summary
To hell with traditions! Long live humor!
The Good
Do you enjoy humor? I know I do. And that's why I love the "new" "Bard's Tale".
It's been a while since I played a thoroughly humorous game. In the past, humor was mostly found in adventures. But later, adventures became more and more "serious", and game designers seemed to run out of good ideas. As for humorous RPGs, they have always been an exception. Even though you can encounter plenty of good humor in a game like, for example,
Jade Empire, it is not dominant there. The overall tone is still serious.
A RPG that is a comedy all the way through is a rare beast. I can't think of anything else but
Knights of Xentar, the classic of parodies, and perhaps
Anachronox, with its share of humor exceeding usual limits.
Tengai Makyou games had too many serious elements to be taken as true comedies.
So here comes "Bard's Tale". Make no mistake about it: it's not just a RPG with some humor. It is a comedy from the beginning to the end. And if you want to know if it's worth playing just for the humor, my answer is: hell yeah.
Even if the gameplay of "Bard's Tale" were bad (which it is not), I would still play and enjoy it. I considered the gameplay portions a nice entertaining filler material between the comedic action. If you expect good humor, "Bard's Tale" delivers loads of it. Many, many times I laughed out loud when playing the game. I fell in love with it the moment it began.
The writing here is reminiscent of such classics as
Space Quest; but for the most part, it is better. The jokes are always finely ironic, and even when they repeat the classic patterns, like for example laughing at the hero and generally making him look like a loser, they have a certain fresh and unique flavor that makes the humor different. It is perhaps a bit similar to
Quest for Glory series; but "Bard's Tale" is funnier and is humorous all the way through. There are hardly any serious moments, it's comedy from the beginning to the end.
It is astonishing how they managed to keep the quality of the humor despite the repetitive nature of the gameplay. I was never bored by a conversation. There was always a new joke that made me smile and laugh. Even the final, rather serious conversation before the ultimate choice you make in the game nearly made me drop my controller.
The humor focuses almost entirely on conversations. Every single encounter with every single character was memorable because of the humor. There are by the way quite nasty bits, almost reminiscent of
GTA games. The humor is never too mild, and it has a definite darkly ironic and cynical edge. There are also all kinds of sexual references, although they are always very subtly placed.
The two characters who steal the show are, of course, the Bard himself, and his omnipresent companion, the narrator. Bringing back the narrator, whose presence in games I missed so much since
Quest for Glory IV, was one of the best decisions this game has taken. He can't stand the Bard, and he keeps teasing him with ironic narration of the story. There is something very British about the narrator, he has dry wit and is always skeptical of the Bard's success.
The Bard, on the other hand, is a perfect anti-hero. Don't even think that you can really talk nicely in this game. The "nice" option in the dialogue is only slightly less snarky than "snarky". The Bard is an absolute cynic, is utterly selfish, greedy and lustful creature. But he is also quite charming. He's not really evil, his weaknesses are all too human, and in some scenes he does act like a hero - even if he never speaks like one.
The game's strongest point are the dialogues. They are brilliantly written and also brilliantly acted. Seriously, "Bard's Tale" has some of the best voice acting of any game ever. Other games - especially humorous ones - should come and learn from it. Again, Bard and narrator steal the show - the narrator's voice is my absolute favorite. But all the other voice actors were great as well. There is not even one voice that is below this quality. Some of the characters speak with such funny accents that you laugh when they begin to speak, no matter what they say.
And of course, there are the songs... all the songs in "Bard's Tale" are absolutely hilarious. They are all shown as cut-scenes, or, better to say, live performances. The lyrics are brilliantly written, it was a joy just to read them and to laugh without stopping.
"Bard's Tale" is, first and foremost, a
parody. Its central idea is to laugh at RPGs. It makes fun of pretty much every RPG cliche imaginable. You'll encounter nearly every traditional element of RPG design - and each time it will be mercilessly laughed at.
Wild animals leave behind gold when they die? Be sure that the Bard and his buddy the narrator will pay attention and refer to that. Bosses always wait for you at the top of a tower, refusing to deal with you right away? The Bard will notice that, too. The hero is rescuing a princess? Right, because she has promised to have sex with him. There are thousands of examples - the largest part of the humorous content is dedicated to parody. And perhaps the biggest RPG cliche of all, the concept of a "Chosen One", becomes the source of darkly humorous material: the world is full of "Chosen Ones", and they all find a bitter end.
The game's story is actually not bad. Of course, it's just an excuse for making fun of RPG cliches; but the magnificent dialogues make the plot look better than it really is. And near the end there is quite a plot twist, which I personally didn't expect at all.
The gameplay of "Bard's Tale" has been criticized for being not deep enough for a "true" RPG. Personally, I enjoyed the hack-and-slash nature of the game. I actually found
Diablo fun and addictive, till it became so repetitive that I had to quit. Since "Bard's Tale" has all those wonderful scenes and dialogues, the combat-heavy gameplay becomes easier to stomach and is actually a pleasant diversion.
There are also some fresh and unique ideas in the gameplay. You don't have magic, but instead can summon various creatures who act like your party members. You can issue general commands to them, and the goal here is to build a balanced party with the most effective combination of skills and abilities. This summoning is an indispensable part of the gameplay.
But there is also a deeper RPG element in the game - during many dialogues, the Bard can response differently, influencing the outcome of the event. Although they are few, there are in fact situations that require a moral choice. The final confrontation is one of such situations, with three possible endings.
"Bard's Tale" is also surprisingly non-linear for such a light hack-and-slash RPG. There are many optional areas, and some of them contain the most valuable summons and other assorted treasure. Some of the side quests are large and rather detailed.
Oh, and about the game's title... now that is really a huge flaw. How could they call it "Bard's Tale"? Didn't they know Bard's Tale was a venerable series of RPGs? What a blasphemy!... Just kidding, of course. The title is a part of the game's humor - it shamelessly steals a name from a totally different game and applies to itself. Just like the protagonist of the game. It is a perfect symbol for what the game is: a destroyer of traditions, a hilarious parody.
The Bad
I didn't like the top-down view. For me, it was a major flaw in game design. I would much prefer over-the-shoulder view with full camera rotation. Because of the top-down view, you never feel close enough to the hero, the world around him lacks detail, and the game turns less immersive and atmospheric than it could have been. I know this choice was made on purpose, since traditional hack-and-slash RPGs used such perspective; but I don't see the need of making 3D graphics look like 2D. In the age of 3D, top-down view is an atmosphere-destroyer, and I felt as annoyed by it as I was in
Suikoden V.
I felt there was too much combat in the game. But I guess complaining about too much combat in a dungeon crawler is like complaining about too many puzzles in an adventure game. The battles were actually quite fun, but I'd personally prefer more "friendly" areas you could just explore, instead of slowly crawling through the game, mashing buttons on your controller.
With so much potential for comedic writing, they could've added more side quests, more characters, more situations. Even though I enjoyed playing the game from the beginning to the end, I can't help thinking that it could have been more detailed and expansive.
The Bottom Line
"Bard's Tale" is a bad boy who sticks his tongue out and makes fun of everything and everyone. "Snarky" from the beginning to the end, it's a grotesque parody on RPGs, a curved mirror that magnifies their weaknesses. It is also a brilliant comedy, with nearly every bit of dialogue perfectly written and spoken. And on top of that, it manages to be a fun, light-hearted action RPG with plenty of hack-and-slash goodness - like
Diablo, only much smarter and funnier.
Undeniably one of the most pleasant surprises in recent years, "Bard's Tale" is an underrated game that shouldn't be ashamed of a comparison to comedy classics of the past.
