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The Bard's Tale

aka: Bingcheng Zhuanqi, The Bard's Tale (2004), The Bard's Tale: Opowiesci Barda, The Bard's Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled, The Bard's Tale: Song of the Bard

Description official descriptions

The Bard is a cynical, opportunistic musician who roams the country in search of carnal pleasures. However, this impatient and selfish fellow is compelled to accept the greatest quest of his life: save the princess Caleigh from a demonic cult that has kidnapped her. The unlikely hero must now explore the land in search of the princess, accompanied by the omnipresent Narrator who obviously can't stand the Bard and uses every opportunity to sarcastically comment on his actions. Furthermore, Fionnaoch, the mysterious abductor of the princess, does everything he can to stop the Bard, sending his minions after him.

A self-proclaimed "quest for coin and cleavage", The Bard's Tale is an action RPG that is more of a whimsical take on role-playing games than a remake of the classic series. As the Bard, players can fight off hordes of foes with blade and bow, and summon companions through magical Bard Songs. Leveling up allows the player to raise the character's main attributes and invest specialization points in the different types of weapons he can use. Magical companions must be sought out and then summoned during battles. After being summoned, they act pretty much like AI-controlled party members; some of them specialize in physical attacks and offensive spells, while others can heal the hero.

During conversations the player can choose "nice" or "snarky" responses for the protagonist. While mostly used for humorous effect, some of these responses may affect subsequent events. The game uses the Dark Alliance engine and has a similar camera and control scheme.

Spellings

  • Похождения Барда - Russian spelling
  • 冰城传奇 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 新冰城傳奇 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

137 People (128 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Original Concept and Design
Creative Director
Executive Producer
Art Director
Director Engineering
Lead Designer
VP Operations
Senior Artist
Character Designer
Environmetal Design
Animation
Additional Art
Senior Engineers
Engineer
AI Engineer
Additional Engineering
Lead Scriptor
Scriptors
Game Design and Writing
[ full credits ]

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The Polish version contains the first three Bard's Tale games as a bonus, just like the US one, but apparently unlike any other European release.

Information also contributed by JRK

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 15800

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Terrence Bosky.

PlayStation 4, PS Vita added by mars_rulez. Windows Apps, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. OnLive added by firefang9212. iPhone, Android, iPad, Macintosh, Ouya, BlackBerry added by Kabushi. Linux added by Iggi. Windows added by Jeanne.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, JRK, Sciere, Cigam, Stratege, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 9th, 2004. Last modified June 7th, 2023.