Is there a "story progression" to the in-game world?

[inkwolf]

So I am gearing up to finally give the Bard's Tale for NES a try and I plan to play on a cartridge. (I understand save-states via emulation help speed up the acquisition of dungeon treasure and stat leveling, but that's just how I roll.)

I have not played an old school CRPG of this sort before and I'm a bit confused as to how the state of the game world is tracked or maintained when creating different characters and parties. The cartridge I'm using has many already max leveled characters on it from someone else's playthrough and I've found I can create a new party with a mix of these old characters and new ones I've created. This left me wondering what the "state" of the game world would be in if I used any of these old characters (not that I want to, I would like to begin a new game). Would there be "bosses" that had already been defeated? Or unique "quest items" that had already been picked up?

I also could not find a way to "start a new game". It seems like the best you can do is just form a party with six new characters and set off into Skara Brae.

I scanned through the game manual, several walkthroughs, and forum posts, but I still don't have a good grasp on if there is a "story progression" to the in-game world. Does this game just not really work like that? Is it all just one big level grind and gear-up to get to and defeat Mangar?

Ideally, I'd like to "start fresh" and see everything the game has to offer if possible.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[dulsi]

I don't know about the NES version. I bought it and played it briefly but it was so much worse than the computer version I gave up.

In the computer version there was very little saved state in the world. Items sold to Garth's would be available to other players. Most locations were blocked by riddles, monsters or items you needed.