I can't believe that I am coming back to this game after 25 years. I remember having nerdy discussions with guys in my freshman class about how great this game was and how far along we were in the dungeons.
So, I've been playing for a few hours now and my characters are all level 5 or 6. Honestly this is my 3rd restart since I seem to manage to get my entire party killed quite often.
Does someone have a list of each dungeon with what level your party members should be in order to attempt it successfully? I think I am just being impatient.
Level Requirements
It could well be that you're being impatient, yeah. BT doesn't let you dive right in like modern games do. You need to spend some time just wandering the streets before you attempt the wine cellar, even - at level 5 or 6, you could be exploring the cellar and maybe the first level of the sewers.
Generally the first level of each new dungeon contains monsters from the toughest level of the preceding dungeon, which should give you an idea of when it's time to move on - when you're finding the bottom of the sewers easy, you can move onto the first level of the catacombs.
Generally the first level of each new dungeon contains monsters from the toughest level of the preceding dungeon, which should give you an idea of when it's time to move on - when you're finding the bottom of the sewers easy, you can move onto the first level of the catacombs.
If you do want a way to be able to dive in to BT1, from start to end, then I can recommend a way: You could load up my C64 tape party, and then for each party member, unequip and drop all items. Also get rid of the special slot character.
This will leave you with a bunch of 6 'naked' extremely high level players.
By dropping all the objects, it ensures that you have to play the game from scratch as you have no keys etc.
You can arm the party members with the items as you go along, which will make them more and more powerful, rest assure that with good armour and weapons, the party will be more than capable of allowing you to complete the game.
This will leave you with a bunch of 6 'naked' extremely high level players.
By dropping all the objects, it ensures that you have to play the game from scratch as you have no keys etc.
You can arm the party members with the items as you go along, which will make them more and more powerful, rest assure that with good armour and weapons, the party will be more than capable of allowing you to complete the game.
...although I gotta say, part of the fun is slogging it out to build a party. I always find it quite rewarding when you finally start beating on the denizens of whatever level you're on, and then take the step up to the next one (and most likely end up retreating with your tail between your legs soon after).
Find enemy AC levels for BT1 (probably documented on The Adventurers' Guild), and subtract a spread of 4 to 6 points to determine if your characters' AC levels are low enough to avoid melee attacks. Remember, spell casting enemies can get around AC advantages.
...take some time to exploit weaker enemies for experience points, and save often...
I like Flanimal's suggestion and plan to use it when I switch to playing BT1 -- at least to learn about character abilities.
...take some time to exploit weaker enemies for experience points, and save often...
I like Flanimal's suggestion and plan to use it when I switch to playing BT1 -- at least to learn about character abilities.
I just had an amazing week replaying C64 Bards Tale (tape version) from start to finish with 5 newly created level 1 characters. I had such a good time that I can really recommend this to anyone who wants to replay BT without the need to devote months (it took me 3 years!) to develop your characters.
Here's how I did it:
1. Used CCS64 C64 emulator and tape version of BT1 (tape version is great because there are no loading delays during play, and levels quickly load anyway.
2. I loaded my CCS snapshot file of my level 169+ characters which I had developed since childhood. This snapshot file is available for download from another topic in this forum.
3. In the guild I removed the first 5 characters, leaving only Steven (me), a level 169 archmage.
4. I created 5 brand new characters, and equipped them as best I could.
5. Now I went around, fighting and fishing for better and better equipment. It was really great as I could take on any battle, knowing that my 6th character, the level 169 archmage could always save them.
I took my new characters through the dungeons, leveling them up at a fantastic rate, so that they were ready to take on Mangar in the fifth floor of Mangar's tower. It was great fun to equip and train them up at such a fast rate so that I got to experience all the great moments of the game in a short period.
Here's how I did it:
1. Used CCS64 C64 emulator and tape version of BT1 (tape version is great because there are no loading delays during play, and levels quickly load anyway.
2. I loaded my CCS snapshot file of my level 169+ characters which I had developed since childhood. This snapshot file is available for download from another topic in this forum.
3. In the guild I removed the first 5 characters, leaving only Steven (me), a level 169 archmage.
4. I created 5 brand new characters, and equipped them as best I could.
5. Now I went around, fighting and fishing for better and better equipment. It was really great as I could take on any battle, knowing that my 6th character, the level 169 archmage could always save them.
I took my new characters through the dungeons, leveling them up at a fantastic rate, so that they were ready to take on Mangar in the fifth floor of Mangar's tower. It was great fun to equip and train them up at such a fast rate so that I got to experience all the great moments of the game in a short period.