The Let's Play Archive

The Bard's Tale (NES)

by Miketopus

Part 1: Chapter 2



(Note: I hope you don't mind excruciating pain.)



So, Skara Brae. Like everything else in this game, you can get lost very easily if you don't keep track of where you are. Thanks to that map that DalaranJ provided us earlier in the thread (Sorry for the mistake there, Dalaran!), we can at least keep a tentative location while we roam the streets of the city.



We're currently outside of the Adventurers Guild. We'll be returning here to change characters, create new ones, and quit the game.



One screen north of the AG is a house. There's many, many houses in this game, and most of them are empty.



Some, however, are not.

Here we see the basic melee character's options. For some reason, the first option you can pick is to attack a party member. The others are fairly self-explanatory.



There's a confirmation before every turn commences, so you can go back and change your commands if you wish.



Every action drifts through the window like a news bulletin. Turn order is pretty random, but Dex probably plays a part in it somehow.



After every turn, you have the option to run away. We didn't kill any of the five hobgoblins that were lurking in this house, but they took worse damage than we did.



The magician's basic starting list. I think Vorpal Plating increases damage, but I'm at a loss for the others.



The conjurer's basic starting list. Again, I'm not sure what most of these do except Trap Zap.



Fancy shmancy spell effects.



Go Aldrec! You're the man!



That paladin is really mopping up, even unarmed. We have big plans for this man, oh yes we-





Jango: You... you killed him! You limey bastards killed him! BAGSHOT ATTACK!

Hobgoblin: Whuh?



The battle ends, but with the grievous loss of Aldrec Firebra(nd). He will be missed.



I forgot to capture the treasure screen, but I'll grab it next time. Everyone got about 100 gp and 90 experience for killing the hobbos.



We return to the AG and switch our dead paladin friend (After relieving him of his gold of course) for... Muldoon, the human hunter!



This time we make a beeline for the equipment seller. Nakedness simply will not do.



Since Sorsha's at the top of the list, we'll start with her.





As you can see, there's a lot to buy, and Sorsha can equip virtually everything. The instruments, however, are bard-exclusive. Anything a character cannot equip has a @ next to it.

In short order, we outfit everyone according to their individual budget. Jango is holding the extra cash from Aldrec for now.













And that's the end of the first update! Next time, we'll see who survives the perilous grinding session of Skara Brae!