Hiho Martin,
Thank you very much for this extensive answer!
Polls are not necessary, because I don't make a statistic. I am more interested in personal impressions, just like you gave me yours.
ZeroZero wrote:Hello Kitty again,
having had some good sleep and lunch too, I am now going to answer your questions in detail.
Statistical data of me:
male, 48 years old, German
Personal Game data:
Version: Commodore 64, English, disk
Kity1st wrote:How was playing BT for you?
It was really exciting! There were other round based RPGs ("dungeon crawlers") before, but this was the first one fascinating me. It kept people up for nights, and that for months. People played alone or in groups. It was a breakthrough in computer games, in particular because many people, like me, were pen and paper RPG players, and BT was the first one that gave almost a real look and feel like playing in a group at a table.
Just as a question of personal interest (I'm a P&P-Player too):
How popular were roleplaying games like D&D or DSA in the '80es?
Kity1st wrote:Which new featurs had the games which fascinated you?
It was the first one (that I know of) that had an "ego view", i.e. a pseudo 3d view to the area instead of a top view. It used animated monster graphics, which was nice for the atmosphere. It was very intense and complete.
The first well-known RPG with "ego view" was wizardry but as far as I could find out in the last few minutes it was not a colourful as (even the C64-version) BT1.
Kity1st wrote:As I read in the manual there are no (or just a few) maps within the game or the manual. The advice of drawing your own map is given several times. Was this the usual way in these years or was it something different, maybe something annoying?
Yes, this was the usual way, since the memory restrictions of early 8-bit home computers didn't allow automapping (although some later RPGs tried to implement it, more or less satisfactory). And more important: Drawing the maps really was a large part of the fun with the game, which only was a bit hard in the beginning until one found out, that the Bard's Tale dungeon maps were "wrap-around", i. e. if you leave them on the left side, you step in on the right side again. There were no maps at all included in the game except the city map, but even that did not contain all details. P&P players anyway were used to paint maps.
This "wrap-around" is the reason why I'm stuck in a dungeon in Bard's Tale 3 right now. The first one.. embarrassing.. ^^;
As someone with a very short time table I had my problems with drawing maps but I guess it would have been easier if I'd had read the manual first (rtfm, we all know..) and I'd had seen the advice about the level size.
And if I'd had used checkered paper, not blank paper...
Kity1st wrote:Did players get any other help or sales gimmics?
There was an installation manual with it, that also explained very well all basic features of the game and contained the spell book. Also a coloured map of the city was included as sales gimmick. A hint book was also available, but not included.
The installation manuals are the manuals in the Download Area in the Adventurer's Guild, right? Or are these the hintbooks? They are indeed really detailed and have a funny writing style. (f.e: "A resurrected character reains all the items, gold and experience points he had before dying, but he comes to life ith only 1 hit point. When he finds out how much it costs to be resurrected, he may turn over in his grave.")
Here in the Adventurers Guild you find many original game versions of it, so that you could play it yourself to get an impression. You also find screenshots and the manuals here. Have a look here:
The Adventurer's Guild
That's what I really love this site for.
Thanks to this collection I may be even able to play a few bard songs on my mandoline and present them too.
My main problem is the time I have left. We don't have much time for the project at all and the single milestone parts should be almost ready tomorrow, not later than next sunday because of other work which is still left.
So I don't have the time for testing all possible version. I tried getting the amiga version running but it didn't work because of different reasons and with the DOS Version I only played the beginning of each part for a short video of 5-7 minutes. (Don't get it the wrong way, I played hours to find many things out I could have known by reading the manual and such things and I want to go on with playing irrespective of the project.)
Another resource is
Bard's Tale Online.
Hope this helps a bit, you can also google for "Tales of the unknown".
Greetings, Martin
Thanks god for the oracle of google. ^-^
And yes, you helped me.
I read the manual (finally *hrhr*), another dozens of pages and I have nearly enough material for "my" poster and the more detailed things on my table. There are just still a few questions left:
1) In the manuals I read something about characters changing "to the dark side" and changing their personality. How is this ment? Is it just a metaphor for the heroes becoming stronger and more talented or do they really say "No, I don't want to fight for you" and turn their "alignment" to chaotic evil? (I know, D&D alignments doesn't matter "yet" within the games of the '80s, but you know what I mean.)
2) What is this "Doppelgaenger"-Monster? How do you know it's in your group? (And what happends if you kill it? Where's the original member?)
3) The manual in "The Bard's Tale 2" opens with a letter from Saradon, which explains the main quest. When I start the game, I see no questgiver. Is something missing in the version (DOS, downloaded) I have or don't you get a hint within the play?
4) Does anyone have a (in best case high resolution) picture of one of the Command Summary Cards?
5) Something about the versions: The BT2-Manual says something about saving the Special Member to the disk. I couldn't find something like this in the manual of the first game. Was this function not available in BT1 or was it just not mentioned? (Or do I need new glasses?)
6) Similar questions about special places in dungeons (with darkness etc).?
That's all for tonight
~ Greetings, Kitty Ist
Edit: 7) Which controling methods were popular in the late '80es? When did mouses and joysticks appear on private computer? (And which one was more popular? I heard joysticks were prefered.)