The Bard's Tale

"An old school RPG that systems all around desperately need: a completely average game!"

Ranking:

Graphics: 7/10
Sound Effects: 5/10
Music: 5/10
Originality: 5/10
Play Control: 710
Group Enjoyment: 3/10
Individual Enjoyment: 5/10
Challenge: 5/10
Ending: 3/10
Overall: 5/10


Good Points:
Ah, the old school Nintendo RPG. Gotta love it, right? You play the part of several people, who form together to, well, get out of a city. That's the basic plot line. The gates to the town have been frozen over by the evil wizard, who lives in the giant tower. Your group teams up to take him on, and eventually make it to the sequel. So, does the game take down the evil wizard, or are they forever left in mediocrity along with the other denizens of the city?


Graphics: The graphics are above par for the Nintendo. The monsters aren't quite diverse enough (they all look the same, with different color changes), but they still look nice. I would have liked some magic graphics…

Sound Effects: Well, they're par. Nothing more, nothing less. What else can I say?

Music: It's moody, I'll give it that. At least it's not the same piece of music over and over again. Well, that's a plus, but it's also a minus…there should have been more music!

Originality: Yeah, it's original. The plot line is ok, but could/should have been much bigger. There's only, like, 3 or 4 locations you have to go to in order to beat the game. And there are so few weapons! What's with that?

Play Control: Well, it's an RPG, so not much is needed. It'd be perfect, but some of the controls are sticky.

Enjoyment: Well, if you're playing in a group, then you'll probably not have much fun all. As a single player, it's not that bad, but it won't hold your attention much past the sewers.

Challenge: Only when it comes to figuring out what to do, and where to go. Sure, it's easy to figure out you need to go to that one bar to get grape juice, but why? What's so good about grape juice?

Ending: Well, it ends. You get out of the city. Your party will forever be known throughout the lands as the people who had the patience to get out of that stupid town into an even dumber kingdom. That's about it, I'm afraid.


Bad Points: Ok, the game meets the par on several levels, and does better on a few of them. But let's face it, it's just not good enough to keep you playing. I remember playing this game when I was 12 (so many years ago!), and then playing Final Fantasy 1, and thinking how much better Final Fantasy was. It surpassed it in so many fields. The Bard's Tale is NOT a bad game, mind you. It just didn't go far enough to do better.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/02/00, Updated 03/02/00