Bard's Tale III
Encyclopedia
The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate is a computer fantasy
role-playing game
created by Interplay Productions
in 1988. It is the second sequel to The Bard's Tale
. It was designed by "Burger" Bill Heineman (now known as Rebecca Heineman
), Bruce Schlickbernd, and Michael A. Stackpole
. The game was released for the Amiga
, Apple II
(64k), Apple IIGS
, Commodore 64
and DOS
.
.
The box cover states it thus:
The player's party then has to visit various alternate dimensions and collect artifacts of power with which to eventually destroy the Mad God Tarjan.
game featured several improvements over its predecessors:
According to Shay Addams, The Bard's Tale III is:
described the game as an improvement over its predecessor, but "still too heavily oriented towards mega-combat."
The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon
#138 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.
, the creator of the Bard's Tale series, was not involved in this sequel, as he had decided to leave Interplay to study philosophy
and theology
.
The Bard's Tale III programmer Heineman has said that the original name of this game was to be Tales of the Unknown - Volume III: The Thief's Tale. Heineman also once sought to continue creating new Bard's Tale games, but was unsuccessful in obtaining the rights from Electronic Arts
.
Michael A. Stackpole
created the storyline of The Bard's Tale III, and made maps for it. He has since become a successful author, and has penned many novels in the hugely popular Star Wars
and BattleTech
series.
Bruce Schlickbernd and Michael Stackpole also collaborated on Interplay's Wasteland
, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, and Star Trek: Judgment Rites
.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
created by Interplay Productions
Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...
in 1988. It is the second sequel to The Bard's Tale
Bard's Tale (1985)
The Bard's Tale is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions in and distributed by Electronic Arts...
. It was designed by "Burger" Bill Heineman (now known as Rebecca Heineman
Rebecca Heineman
Rebecca Ann Heineman is an American video game programmer. A long-time veteran of the computer game industry , Heineman was a founding member of Interplay Productions, Logicware, Contraband Entertainment...
), Bruce Schlickbernd, and Michael A. Stackpole
Michael A. Stackpole
Michael A. Stackpole is a science fiction and fantasy author best known for his Star Wars and Battletech books. He was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, but raised in Vermont...
. The game was released for the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Apple II
Apple II series
The Apple II series is a set of 8-bit home computers, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977 with the original Apple II...
(64k), Apple IIGS
Apple IIGS
The Apple , the fifth and most powerful model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The "GS" in the name stands for Graphics and Sound, referring to its enhanced graphics and sound capabilities, both of which greatly surpassed previous models of the line...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
.
Story
The player receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master — the Mad God Tarjan — arrived and unleashed foul creatures which destroyed the town of Skara BraeSkara Brae
Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE...
.
The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed.... Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out-matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate.
The player's party then has to visit various alternate dimensions and collect artifacts of power with which to eventually destroy the Mad God Tarjan.
Gameplay
This dungeon crawlDungeon crawl
A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinthine environment, battling various monsters, and looting any treasure they may find...
game featured several improvements over its predecessors:
- A graphical auto-mapping system for the 84 dungeon levels in the game (it was the first game to offer this type of map interface)
- An enhanced save game feature
- Two new spellcaster character classes (geomancer and chronomancer)
According to Shay Addams, The Bard's Tale III is:
A much more enjoyable adventure than Bard's Tale I or IIBard's Tale IITo complete the game, players must collect segments of the Destiny Wand. The wizard Saradon has informed the party that they are hidden in seven separate locations "within a Snare of Death—a puzzle room that will require all the wisdom and cunning at your disposal in order for you to survive". The...
... Missions involve a wider variety of puzzle types due to a new command that permits you to use objects and artifacts as you would in a text adventure such as ZorkZorkZork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
. Other improvements include auto-mapping, new character classes, magic spells and dungeon levels (84 of them!) that vary in size and shape. You also get to visit more exotic lands than in the previous installments, for each quest takes place in its own universe: a forest world, a frozen wasteland, and one that's linked via time warps to different times on earth, from ancient Rome to the Nazi's Berlin. The interface is smooth, [and] the first-person graphics [are] sharp and colorful. Characters from the previous games may be imported into this one, as well as characters from Ultima IIIUltima IIIUltima III: Exodus is the third game in the Ultima series. Exodus is also the name of the game's principal antagonist. Released in 1983, it was the first Ultima game published by Origin Systems.-Gameplay:...
and IVUltima IVUltima IV: Quest of the Avatar, first released in 1985 for the Apple II, is the fourth in the series of Ultima computer role-playing games. It is the first in the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy, shifting the series from the hack and slash, dungeon crawl gameplay of its "Age of Darkness"...
and the first three WizardryWizardryWizardry is a series of computer role-playing games, developed by Sir-Tech, which were highly influential in the development of modern console and computer role playing games. The original Wizardry was a significant influence to early console RPGs, such as Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. ...
scenarios.
Reception
A review in Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
described the game as an improvement over its predecessor, but "still too heavily oriented towards mega-combat."
The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#138 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.
Production
Michael CranfordMichael Cranford
Michael Cranford is a former game programmer and software engineer. He is currently Chief Technology Officer of Ninth Degree, Inc. in Dana Point, California, a website design firm....
, the creator of the Bard's Tale series, was not involved in this sequel, as he had decided to leave Interplay to study philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
.
The Bard's Tale III programmer Heineman has said that the original name of this game was to be Tales of the Unknown - Volume III: The Thief's Tale. Heineman also once sought to continue creating new Bard's Tale games, but was unsuccessful in obtaining the rights from Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
.
Michael A. Stackpole
Michael A. Stackpole
Michael A. Stackpole is a science fiction and fantasy author best known for his Star Wars and Battletech books. He was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, but raised in Vermont...
created the storyline of The Bard's Tale III, and made maps for it. He has since become a successful author, and has penned many novels in the hugely popular Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
and BattleTech
BattleTech
BattleTech is a wargaming and science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2000, and owned since 2003 by Topps. The series began with FASA's debut of the board game BattleTech by Jordan Weisman and L...
series.
Bruce Schlickbernd and Michael Stackpole also collaborated on Interplay's Wasteland
Wasteland (computer game)
Wasteland is a post-apocalyptic computer role-playing game first released in 1988. The game was designed by Alan Pavlish, Brian Fargo, Michael A. Stackpole and Ken St...
, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, and Star Trek: Judgment Rites
Star Trek: Judgment Rites
Star Trek: Judgment Rites is a computer game first produced by Interplay in 1993, featuring the original cast of the classic Star Trek in a series of new adventures, including one featuring Trelane, the omnipotent child from the original episode "The Squire of Gothos"...
.
External links
- The Bard's Tale Compendium
- The Bard's Tale III at GameBase64