The Bard's Tale ARPG: Remastered and Resnarkled

It's basic CRPG with many pluses but savegame-points kill it, IMO, especially when you're playing easy and have to get thru this labyrith of ranged weaponeers when you're melee. It was great in its' time. Now, not so much but the cut-scenes are entertaining and save time.

No Inventory hassle, it's all a good intro to RPG -- the responses are Evil/mad face or happy face. I can get down with that these days. But I still hate check-point saves.

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A fun & sassy game. Doesn't require I've a walkthrough that might be helpful.

An ok, fun Action RPG, with the particularity of being a parody of the medieval fantasy genere and RPG games. The voice acting and the hilarious writing are certainly the high point of this game. Sadly, the gameplay can a be a little monotonous over time and the controls and combat a little unresponsive. Anyway, the funny songs and the plot are well worth playing this unique gem.

I have an eternal soft spot in my heart for this game. Tony Jay's narration is totally unbeatable.

Fantastic game, a truly hidden gem. Voice acting, jokes and songs are the highlight, but the gameplay itself is really solid too. Its still smooth and responsive and gives a lot of fun.

This game has aged very poorly so keep that in mind if you plan to play it.

First the good. The story, world, and characters are still really good, some of the humor may not stand the test of time for some folks but overall, I found the humor to landed more the missed. The bard as a character is also a huge POS so if you like playing more traditional heroes you might not like him as much, though Karma almost always hits back at the bard in all his encounters.

Then the bad, sorry to say the worst part of the Bard's Tale is the gameplay though. This is one of the worse controlled action RPGs I've really played and least variety in terms of combat.

First every map has you fight the same two to three enemy types over and over. Their models may change but their tactics largely don't with typically One ranged type and one melee type and rarely a healing enemy. Melee only goal is to surround you and they can stun lock you very easy if they succeed, ranged enemies barely matter, and healing are annoying as they constantly run away. You fight so many of these groups over and over with increasing numbers to the point you'd have to cheese them from afar as you can attack them off screen with a bow and they'll do nothing.

Second your combat capabilities are very limited. You have a melee attack that is almost always blocked if you attack from the front against any melee enemy. A ranged weapon that takes so long to fire that if enemies are charging at you and get maybe one to two shots before they reach you if you don't attack while they are off screen in which case congrats you found the strategy to slowly and boringly win every fight. Summons who are either too weak to be helpful getting off one-two attacks maybe before immediately dying, are too utility based to do anything meaningful, or simply don't work as advertised 70% of the time. Grab the tank minion only for enemies to still prioritize you, grab the mercenary to attack only to suffer the same fate as the player when swarmed by melee enemies and immediately dying, grab the summon to remove traps only for him to stupidly run towards enemies and die, etc. and etc.

If you do want to try this just play on the easiest setting for the story because I can pretty much guarantee the combat and gameplay aspects of this title will wear down any played who was just mildly interested in a new RPG.

A mostly competent early ARPG. Fun enough, despite some rough patches, and while it does show its age when it comes to the menus and options, even as a remastered version, it still holds up well enough to play. The voice work is good, the songs are decent, but there is a strange lack of music overall.

I really tried, but lack of QoL plus the camera height made it too difficult, I'm afraid.
Sucks because it seems like a really funny Cary Elwes role.

Recall this one from my childhood ... still like it today ... even if getting attacked by groups of barbarians between adventurer's guild and equipment shoppe back in the day was a bit much

Cheap mess of a game full of bugs and cheap enemies. It's pretty telling that most guides recommend you use the longbow glitch, where you kill enemies while they're offscreen, because battling in direct melee is so blatantly unfair and unfun. I really want to like this game because the humor is funny and the banter between the Bard and the narrator is particularly memorable, but the entire time playing it, I hated getting into combat.

This game is very funny and enjoyable. I love the dark crude humor.

Couldn't map the triggers on my xbox controller. Not enough buttons to play the game lol. Good game terrible port.

I've played this on PS4 and halfway through the story the cutscenes softlocked unless I skipped them, removing one of the game's praised aspects. So I had it shelved after learning about the scuffed ports. I attempted to try this again here on Steam and at first it was running smoothly. All I had to do was remap my PS4 controller to my preferences and then I'd begin. The mapping wasn't working, so I ran a diagnosis, swapped Steam controller input settings, and downloaded a community controller mapping that was highly rated. The next morning I went to try it out and my game opens up with a black screen and then kicks me out to desktop while still running the game. I've researched methods to try and fix this issue, like opening it in a border window, disabling Full Window Mode, commands, uninstalling and reinstalling, everything was fine before I setup my controller. Alternative C: disk drive locations, configuration settings, nothing. I really want to enjoy this game because I appreciate the writing and had fun with the gameplay, but I've run into it's problem of scuffed ports not working right, and the only other thing I could try is to download a GOG version of the game.
Alas, some things in history get lost in the process...

The story and art is very good,
It's an unique game worthy of being played.
But for the restricted view, certain repeated rather long spell animations, and some unnecessary fustrations it would have been a masterpiece.
But again, it's a very interesting experience.

Disclosure:
being 69 y.o. I use my own C.E. tables in every game I play.
Here: health, magic, attributes over the permisible cap, xp, miners timer, et al, so my enjoyment of the game isn't the usual.
I wouldn't play or finish many of my games if I had to grind as designed.

Great game with good satire humor and story, however the combat/main quest can be slow at times.

Recommended on Windows not Linux. It's a bit unstable on the current proton version, and I haven't spent enough time tinkering with it to recommend it yet.


As an overall experience this game is amazing, the highlight being the satire story, impromptu musical numbers, and 4th wall narration. However the combat and quest objectives require a bit of patience.

This isn't to say the gameplay is devoid of fun or drags the game down.
Exploration is rewarding, giving you access to new summons and charms if you travel off the beaten path. Furthermore, the summoning offers a tactical element. You can eventually summon up to four? creatures at once with different abilities and trade-offs which essentially gives you a self made adventuring party you can change on the fly.

Overall, the gameplay was alright, but not what makes this game memorable. Watch the video trailers and see if the humor seems like your cup of tea. If so, then I'd recommend this game. If not, then I don't think you'll really be able to fully enjoy the experience.

P.S. For fans of blobbers and The Bard's Tale 1,2, and 3, they are in fact included with this game. However, I still would recommend buying the more recent remastered version as it goes on sale for very cheap and added some very useful features including re-scaling the difficulty for imported characters and easier importing in general. (Also adds optional QoL features like saving and automapping.)

The Bard's Tale ARPG: Remastered and Resnarkled is a game that I’d classify as a guilty pleasure—something I completed mainly due to nostalgia. It’s hard to recommend to most players because of its age and the often obtuse mechanics that will likely turn off many newcomers. The main reason to play this game is for its humor and wit, which are still enjoyable. For example, you might chuckle at finding an enemy’s family portrait as loot or the absurdity of dooming a town while in a drunken stupor. If you appreciate this kind of humor, you may find some charm here. Beyond that, however, there’s not much to hold on to.

The gameplay itself feels outdated. Melee weapons are limited to repetitive three-hit combos, and while the bard does have a bow, the variety in combat is lacking. The bard’s ability to summon creatures adds some depth, and those summons can eventually deal significant damage. The problem, however, is the high health pools of enemies, which turns combat into a slog. Battles last longer than they need to, making the core combat feel dragged out. If the damage numbers were tweaked, the encounters would be much more enjoyable.

On the plus side, the game features some classic RPG elements, such as expanding the bard’s inventory with new weapons and armor, each with distinct visual and mechanical characteristics. But the biggest frustration comes from the obtuse secrets and missable content. There are tokens that grant passive bonuses, and missing them because of completing quests in the wrong order or progressing too far in the story can be irksome. Many players will likely find this frustrating, but going in with that expectation might soften the blow.

Overall, The Bard's Tale ARPG is something you might enjoy if you have nostalgia for it or appreciate its quirky humor. Beyond that, the aged gameplay and cumbersome mechanics make it difficult to recommend to a modern audience.

a bit buggy but good

I've finished the PS2 version multiple times and gotten the platinum trophy for The Bard's Tale: R&R on the PS4, so I know something about this game. As grainy as it is, I still love it.

With the late Tony Jay as The Narrator and Cary Elwes voicing The Bard, there are none better for those parts.

I love Beer Beer Beer and the singing Trow. The only thing that I miss is the PS4's perfect version of Beer Beer Beer that is played in the menu screen when you drop down from the game icon to the sub-menu.

Buggy couldnt control character in tutorial after summon. Starting again didnt help.