The Bard's Tale Trilogy

It's true to the classic. Maybe a bit too true. Empty dungeons with empty rooms all with the same one wall graphic for everything. The battles are the core of the game and they are both random and dull. Unfortunately, in order to survive the next dungeon, you need to level your characters and that means: grind, grind, grind. Same dungeon, same rooms, same random battles over and over again. Save, die, reload - rinse and repeat, until you are leveled up enough to make sure you don't have to reload too often.

I did a full video review of The Bard's Tale Trilogy here: https://youtu.be/VxbiSIvRioA

I assumed the Legacy Settings would include a setting to have Graphics as they would have been in the 1980s, this is not the case unfortunately. If anyone else wants to know and is skimming for a review: this game is all remastered in the Graphics Department as well and there is no setting for Legacy Grahpics even in the Legacy Settings. Thank you.

Disclaimer: this review was written based on the c64/apple II versions (which fits to the "Legacy Mode" of this version) So you might have seen this game during your childhood or you are familiar with the brand, but never played before with it (probably a minority) and wish to give it a try? You should, but be forewarned, this game will require a lot from you! These games will lead you to an era, where you got the majority of the story from the manuals (instead of the game), where you had to build your party based on a certain pattern (e.g. if you don't posses the proper classes, you cannot even progress beyond certain points of the game) and grind them very heavily (the dungeons and encounters are not scaled to your party!). These games won't hold your characters hand - they will die often and whatever you do, you cannot avoid them getting hurt in certain situations. On the other hand, these games often requires you creative solutions (breaking through the walls of the dungeons or even skipping many levels by teleporting vertically) and you have to take care about such common things as darkness in the dungeons (no, increasing brightness doesn't work here). Also, all three games are relatively long themselves, so you could get many-many hours of sweat and entertainment from this trilogy. Conclusion: you should give it a try, but it is no casual game by no means. However, if you wish to (re)discover one of the classical dungeon crawlers (and you have plenty of time on your hands), Bard's Tale Trilogy is a solid choice

So.. the first 2 parts have been a blast. But where the third??? Winter 2018 is nearly over...