The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight

The Good
Bard's Tale II was the first ever RPG in 3D, with first person view, that allowed the player to litterally explore the WORLD. I enjoyed traveling the lands visiting different cities, dungeons, forrests, woods, and other locations. Each of the many cities were smaller than the mega-city of Skara Brae in Bard's Tale I (about 1/3 the size of Skara Brae) but they are still big enough to feel like towns/cities. . More new monsters, dungeons, puzzles (easy ones as well as mind hurting ones), along with ALL the features that made Bard's Tale I a hit. And an addition of casinos in the cities, with an ingame cardgame you can play to try to increase your money risking your luck instead of your life.

There were many different dungeons with unusual layouts. And yeah, it was cool being able to import your characters from Bard's Tale I , instead of having to create new characters...which further added to the immersion. Ye warriors ye made in olden days are back for more adventures! Arrrg! ;)

The Bad
You still have to make and draw your own maps. In the days of this game, this added to the fun. But nowadays no way - since all games have automapping.

The puzzles are a love hate thing. Love 'em because they are hard and take thinking to solve. Hate them because they are hard and take thinking to solve LOL! During its day, there is soo much features in this game that there is very little else to dislike. Maybe have more wildlife sounds in the background while in the wilderness outside the cities?

The Bottom Line
This sequel to the hit game Bard's Tale I, set the bar even higher! Twice as high! There was nooo other game out like it at all. It has all the classic elements of medieval fantasy - monsters, tons of dungeons, magic, adventuring..... and an actual WORLD the player travels around in, full of cities, wilderness, wilds, dungeons, and more monsters. Before Fallout, before Dungeon Siege, before Neverwinter Nights, before todays RPGs and MMORPGs...there was Bard's Tale II.