"A good finale to a trilogy"

This is an old game I played back in the eighties on my Apple //. I'm reviewing it because no one else has. This is the last chapter of the Bard's Tale. You once again gather a group of adventurers to embark on a journey of high adventure, but this time, you'll be crossing dimensions to stop the Mad God Tarjan. Keep in mind that the score reflects when the game was created.

Graphics : 7
In this day and age, the graphics would be a 1. But for its time, it looked pretty good. The monsters were animated and brightly colored with details. Dungeons walls were colored too, unlike the Wizardry series. However, you couldn't see the spells you cast like in Ultima 4 or 5.

Sound : 6
The Bard played a tune if you told him to. That's about it. There were no sounds added to the monsters or characters and all you can hear are your footsteps or a popping sound when you opened a door. Sometimes, you would hear nothing. This worked well in the dark dungeons.

Playability : 7
This game was very playable. You did have to build up your characters a little, but that's common in RPGs. Spells were cast through a menu system and everybody took turns attacking or casting spells. Character classes were varied enough, even the magic users. Your party consisted of seven people and there was a special party member you could recruit. But the dungeons all seem to look alike after awhile.

Story : 8
In the old days, story meant something. It had to, because the graphics weren't that great. The Bard's Tale III had a pretty good story that you had to uncover as you go along.

Replayability : 3
It's an RPG, but not a difficult one. There's no secret endings or anything. You have to play through it just once, and then never again. The puzzles don't change like modern RPGs.

Value : 8
I brought it for $50 at the time, and it was worth it. It wasn't a long adventure, except the clues were very difficult to figure out. The would give you a riddle and that's it. You have to figure out what it meant. I don't know if this was a better buy than Ultima V, which was also available at the time.

Overall : 8
Heh, I liked this game. For its time, it was good. Not too difficult in terms of monsters, but not to easy in terms of riddles. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to play a classic RPG. However, you should be aware that this is more of a hack n' slash than the Ultima series. It's not the best game Interplay released using this system. That would be Wasteland.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/01, Updated 02/14/01