Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13823 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2005-03-25
• Platform: Xbox

Manufacturer's Description
Set in medieval times, the player takes on the role of the Bard, a sarcastic, self-centred musician whose adventures are motivated strictly by "coin and cleavage" and who has absolutely no intention of following noble pursuits if at all possible. As he interacts with the other characters throughout the game, the player can choose whether the Bard uses 'snarky' or 'nice' dialogue, with direct consequences on the events to follow. Renowned film and television actor Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Robin Hood: Men in Tights) provides the perfect British voice for the English version.

Although humour is clearly the defining feature of The Bard's Tale, a great deal of attention has also been given to the plot and game rendering. Built on the superb engine from Snowblind studios used for Champions of Norrath and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, the game uses the popular top-down view method of gameplay, and benefits from excellent graphics and sound. Players can not only resort to traditional magical and non-magical weapons to get themselves out of tight spots but can also summon a variety of creatures using music.

Customer Reviews

So close...
This is one of the funniest games ever released, no doubt about it.
A hack and slash RPG, in the vein of Baldur's Gate, but with a dry, sarcastic wit that takes the rip out of itself and the genre it is hard to see how The Bard's Tale could go wrong. It went wrong in 2 ways:
1) Combat. Very very annoying combat that can see you knocked over and then take a string of hits in quick succession as the Bard gets up. You can't block on the ground, see...and unfortunately it is all too easy to be knocked over.
2) graphics. Whilst most of the time the graphics are fine they can, at times seem very cluttered and even become a hindrance. Imagine, for example, fighting to stave off a pack of wolves, only to run beneath a tree and have your vision obscured by leaves...not fun.
This is not to say that The Bard's Tale is a bad game, it's not. It just has severe issues that are mainly to do with combat that spoil the enjoyment of the game somewhat.
However, there are several factors to recommend this game, such as:
The storyline is brilliant and the humour is hilarious...added to this you get to choose whether to reply nicely or nastily to people, both of which alter the way certain characters react to you.
When you get a better weapon it is automatically equipped and your old one sold, saving endless hours of backtracking to shops. There are several other details like this that make playing the game easier.
The Bard's Tale is so close to being a great game, so very close. The one major factor is the combat system...if only it had been more like Baldur's Gate. Buy it if you want something cheap to play in between the next big game that's coming out. The humour will keep you coming back even if the combat annoys you.

Play it and have a laugh!
Guys,you have played all the RPGs in the world, but have you had a good laugh while doing it?

Well, The Bard's Tale will provide you with plenty of laughs! It's a good game to play while you friends are watching and laughing with you. OK, all the other RPGs have maybe better graphics (It's a bird's eye view only for walking and fighting); but which other games will teach you a selection of pub songs, which you can sing-a-long with a chorus of drunken scotsmen?

It's all a good fun and when you done all the walking and fighting the cut scenes are brilliant and hillarious and you will want to watch them again. I haven't finished the game yet because I keep stopping and showing all the best bits to everyone!

So this is what I have been missing
I am sad to admit that before I played this game, the last game I had played was Zelda on my Super Nintendo. And as far as being a beginer, Bard's Tale is a great way to start, it kept me amused and I was immediatly pulling all nighters. The game was easy to get the hang of and keeps me challanged with out making me feel discuraged. Great Game.