Author: professor6153

Wizard’s Crown seems far more a strategy game than a role-playing game. It has quite a tactical combat system with the focus on character development and improvement. There is quite a strategic impact on the weapons that you choose to deploy and the spells which you cast. The game has been criticized for its difficulty, and I can see why. There is an advanced injury system that involves bleeding and specific types of injuries, a morale system which can affect how you search and the success of your endeavors, an encumbrance system that has you constantly juggling items in your inventories, and a robust tactical system that involves, scanning, stealth, proper tactical placement dependent upon close combat, missile weapons and spells. The struggle to avoid being ambushed or to attempt to ambush is very real.

Ten hours into Wizard’s Crown provided a steep learning curve. I realized that I had rushed through character creation and that I was not developing my classes appropriately. Once I made my out of the poor sections of the city and started exploring the ruins I found that I was losing the struggle to merely survive. I decided to completely scrap the entire game and start over.

I gave much more thought to my party make-up as well as how I wanted to equip them. Once I started progressing through encounters I had a very specific game plan for each character’s development. I noticed, as I continued to progress, that I had a much stronger party. I was seeing success and having more enjoyment as well.

I had saved a girl from thugs in one of the poor sections of the city. Upon her rescue she told me to seek out her father’s mansion which resides to the northeast outside of town. Once I was strong enough to make the trek I was rewarded with a +2 broadsword. It was my first magic item added to equipment and luckily it would not be my last.

I spent as much time in the city as I possibly could. I would wander through the residential district and the poor areas of the city hoping to encounter thugs. I’ve noticed that the thugs in the city are the easiest opponents to combat. I used these encounters to slowly improve my characters until the mayor rewarded me for cleaning up the city.

I also discovered that the Rusty Nail Inn located within the city served as a sort of mini dungeon. I encountered several thieves and bandits within the establishment.

My thief in the party also discovered a secret door. A master assassin and his henchmen were discovered in a secret room beyond the door. They were able to provide me with information as to where I might find the next dungeon.

I now find that my party is strong enough that I am beginning to successfully explore the ruins south of the city. I am going to continue to grind in this fashion and once I feel confident, I am going to explore the old thieves guild which is easily found in the ruins.

The games graphics are pretty terrible for the time and really just a step above text, but this is all about advanced strategy and tactics over any eye candy. I am enjoying my experience with Wizards’s Crown so much more now that I realized my mistakes and started all over.

There is an overarching quest to be fulfilled here which involves the Crown of the Emperor. It is supposed to grant power and wisdom to whomever wears it. There is an entertaining story concerning the crown found in the documentation which comes with the game. We are to assume that we have been hired by the old wizard Kaitar to recover the crown and restore peace to the land. I am sure that the crown lies within a dungeon somewhere within the ruins south of town.

Thus I am currently exploring the ruins until I feel confident enough to enter the old thieves guild, which I believe is the next dungeon to explore based on the intel uncovered at the Rusty Nail.

Wish me luck…….

Wizard’s Crown was released by SSI in 1986 for the Apple II and Commodore 64. It would be ported two years later for the Atari ST and DOS machines. Strategic Simulations was the dominant force in wargames from 1981 into the early 1990s. SSI began to wade into the role-playing game arena with releases such as Questron and Phantasie. Both did very well for the company and spawned sequels. In the late 80s SSI would sign a deal with TSR, Inc. to publish official Dungeons & Dragons games. The Gold Box games were thus born and took the company in new directions. Although SSI never stopped publishing wargames, the D&D license became their main source of income and produced their best-known products.

I am sure that role-playing enthusiasts were taken by surprise with Wizard’s Crown. I am quite sure many expected another role-playing game in the same vein as Phantasie or Questron. What SSI tried to accomplish instead with Wizard’s Crown was to take a fantasy theme and meld it with a wargame. The main focus of Wizard’s Crown is tactics. Each combat that takes place within the game runs about 40 minutes in length. You can choose to have the computer run a quick auto-battle which is over in seconds but nowhere near as efficient. Your casualties will run high.

The game is brutal. If you’re someone that is turned off by games where you are forced to grind, Wizard’s Crown is the king of grinding. Each battle is a fight for survival. In this game to get anywhere, you have to improve your characters.

You improve your character by taking your experience points and converting them into skill points. Each class, depending on your selection, will want to specialize and build up certain skills in their skill tree first. You are grinding and improving your characters all of the time. You use experience points to build up your skills and then you use coin that you find or sell items you’ve looted off of the dead, to purchase new equipment and training. This constant need for experience and coin in order to improve yourself is very real.

When the game begins you find yourself within the walls of a city. In order to survive you’re going to spend a great deal of the first part of the game roaming the residential district. Here you’ll encounter only thugs which are the easiest opponents in the game. The more that you traverse and patrol a particular area the less frequently encounters will occur. Once you’re done roaming the residential district you can begin to search and make your way through the poor areas. I made the mistake of venturing outside of the city and was beset upon by monsters in a matter of seconds. My entire party was wiped out very quickly each time.

There are five classes in the game to be explored. Fighter, Ranger, Thief, Priest, and Sorcerer. The game manual which comes with the game recommends that you have at least 3 Fighters in your party. The Sorcerer takes a long, slow time to properly develop so I recommend that you do not multi-class with this class. The other classes I recommend you multi-class. You create a party of eight characters. I created a party consisting of 3 Fighters, a Ranger-Thief, a Priest-Thief, a Fighter Priest, a Ranger-Priest, and a Sorcerer.

There are not a lot of graphics or bells and whistles associated with the game. Much of the game is text and it screams tactics. When you move into battle you can see how this game progressed into the future Gold Box tactical battles. I can also see why the game can be intimidating for many expecting a role-playing experience.

The game spends a lot of time and energy on injuries and the healing of those injuries. There is first aid or combat medic training and then there is prayer which is a magical way to stem blood loss or heal all wounds. When a character is injured they have body injury points and if they are bleeding or suffering from blood loss that blood loss continues until it is treated. There is an attention to detail here.

Thus far I am working on building up the combat awareness of my Fighters as well as their weapon skills. I am working to increase the Karma score of my Priests because a high Karma allows your prayers and magics to succeed in healing. I am working on improving the haggling skills of my Thief characters so that I can get the best deal when selling looted equipment. I am working on improving the Evaluate skill for my Sorcerer to ensure that I won’t miss any magic items after combat comes to an end. I have yet to earn enough coin to purchase any meaningful armor or weapons for the characters in my party.

I spent 32 hours this year playing and defeating The Bard’s Tale and I spent 32.5 hours playing and defeating Phantasie I. I can see already that I’m going to be putting in a good 40 hours into Wizard’s Crown in order to beat this thing.

Wish me luck. Until next time……

It took me 32.2 hours to finally be able to pump my fist in the air in celebration of a hard-fought victory.

The entire Phantasie experience served to remind me why this was one of my absolute favorite series growing up. It has story, several dungeon crawls, a lot of descriptive and interactive text associated with each dungeon crawl, a great combat system, a multitude of different equipment items, magic, and a robust spell selection for casters. In my last game update, I had explored five dungeons and was continuing to map and explore the outdoor terrain.

When exploring the dungeons, you find numbered scrolls which are extremely important finds. The scrolls contain information which serve to world build and give you ultimate goals to try and complete. In my latest discovery, I learned that you cannot visit or receive recognition from the Gods until you find nine rings of power and four runes of earth, air, fire and water.

JR Trolkin’s castle, has you trapped once you are inside. There are several doors that you can’t initially open. Throw in secret doors that you have to constantly search for and you have a winding maze on your hands. Your main purpose is to find JR Trolkin’s treasure room and defeat him. It is here that I found the first three Rings of Power.

The Dungeon of the Bleebs was one of the more eccentric dungeons in the game. The entire dungeon is a logic puzzle to be solved. There are blue, green, and red bleebs and each of them divulge information about the other. Based on their statements you have to discern which are lying and which are telling the truth. Blue, green, and red pools serve as teleports which carry you all about the dungeon. Guess incorrectly, and your party is gravely injured. If you can work your way through this puzzle you will be awarded with three more Rings of Power.

The Dosnebian Temple is a nasty dungeon. First of all, the temple will not even allow you inside unless you have a minotaur in your party. I did not, thus I had to drop my Thief character that I spent all of this time building up experience with and create a new minotaur character. Once inside I found that this is the first dungeon that is populated with Black Knights which are extremely hard to kill. There are also a lot of traps found within this dungeon, and it takes a bit of experimentation until you can make your way deeper inside. There are two more Rings of Power that I found in this dungeon and getting out and escaping was not easy.

It was at this point that I only had eight of the Rings of Power and I only had the Runes of air, earth, and fire. It took me some time, but I found a third magical pool while exploring the continent. The pool was magically protected and I could not reach it. I found that the only way to reach the pool was by casting a Transportation spell while within a town and choosing the town of Phantasie as my destination (all of the different towns are listed to choose from). I was then able to reach the pool and enter it. Now that I had entered all three magical pools in the game, I had to backtrack to the dungeon of Lord Wood’s Castle and finally be awarded with a Water Rune.

The ninth Ring of Power was found in the same fashion. When I Transported to Phantasie and went shopping in the Armory, the only item for sale was the last ring! I purchased the last Ring of Power and with all rings and runes in my possession I was at last ready to visit the Gods. But where are the Gods? Once again the answer lies within the Transport spell. When you cast Transport and scroll through the Towns listed, you’ll find that at the end of the list there is a blank space, if you choose this blank space, you will be transported to Olympis, home of the Gods.

The floating castle of Zeus is the easiest dungeon to get through. It consists of only six rooms, each room with a test that the party must pass. If you have all four runes and the nine Rings of Power you will automatically pass the tests of five of the six rooms. The last room is a test of combat. If you can defeat the denizens in the room, you will then pass the last test. Once all the tests have been passed, Zeus will appear before you and award you with the God Rune. This rune allows you to withstand the terrible fear spell that normally drives you away from the last dungeon and allows you to finally enter it without being turned away.

The Black Lord’s Fortress is the last dungeon and also the hardest. The foes found near the dungeon and within prove quite a challenge. From Dragon Kings to Spectres the gamut is not easy. This dungeon is also heavily populated with Black Knights which are incredibly lethal AND hard to kill. I found that it was incredibly important to be strong enough that I could hold back my most potent combat spells because you will definitely need them to defeat the Dark Lord. The final combat and ultimate showdown with the big bad in this dungeon is an incredibly difficult and lethal battle.

I found the varying dungeons in this game, with their rich storytelling, to be highly rewarding. The unique combat experience also heightened the enjoyment of the game for me. The grinding and amount of time needed to puzzle through and finish the game is very real. Despite the uniqueness of this game compared to those that have come before it, if you are not a fan of grinding you may not rate this game as highly as I have. Even at higher levels of proficiency, gold, needed to pay for training, was scarce and thus the grinding became very real.

I rate this game very high, immensely enjoyed my experience with it, and I cannot wait to play the sequel to it.

Next up on the docket……..Wizard’s Crown.

Until next time…..

While exploring the diverse dungeons in Phantasie, I am reminded why I have such a fondness for this series. Every hallway and room contains a text description found at the bottom of the screen. Each of the red circles depicted above represent fixed encounters that usually display a large text box or conundrum. Back in the 80s, if you were a table-top role-playing enthusiast, hoping that a computer game could recreate some of that magic, the diverse dungeon crawling experience that Phantasie offers equals dungeon nirvana.

When you first enter a dungeon, you are presented with a clean white slate. As you move around, the dungeon is slowly revealed to you. When paired with quite a bit of text and encounters it is simplicity at its finest. I have now worked my way through and completely explored five different dungeons. Each one of them has been a unique experience.

There has been the dungeon just outside of Pelnor, the town which you begin the game in. You basically “cut your teeth” on this first dungeon. There are levers and buttons to manipulate which will open an unmovable door. If you talk to the old man beyond the door he will give you an Earth Rune. In the southern part of the dungeon lies information which will also help you in the game.

A cathedral represented the second dungeon that I explored. It was filled with strange priests, undead, rumors, and a side-quest. You can find the Air Rune here but only if you’re powerful enough to burn the box. This is a dungeon that you may need to revisit later.

The maze-like warrens of the lizard man caves represented the third dungeon which I explored. It was in this dungeon that I found the Fire Rune.

The fourth dungeon I encountered was the abandoned town of Woodville, now filled with thieves, assassins, and wandering monsters. It was the strangest of the dungeons thus far and contained a lot of information and lore which aids you in your quest.

Lord Wood’s Castle is the fifth and most recent dungeon which I’ve just finished completing. There is a room of pools which I cannot yet access, and I believe it is where I will find the Water Rune. This is a dungeon that I will have to revisit as I don’t think what I need to enter the pool room resides in this dungeon. There are secret doors to discover in these dungeons, so you have to make sure you explore them carefully.

It was in Lord Wood’s Castle that I learned that there are nine Rings of Power that can help you to defeat the evil Nikademus.

I travelled to Florida last week with my wife, daughter, and grandson to celebrate my 60th birthday and thus did not do any gaming. Upon returning, and when not working, I’ve been right back at it this weekend. I thus far have 24.7 hours invested in the game and I calculate that I am probably 50% to 60% finished with the overall game. While there are certainly a lot of grinding and mechanics involved in the game, it is rich in story and details, and the dungeon crawling puts this right in my personal wheelhouse, making it one of my favorites.

Until next time…..

Phantasie was the very first role-playing game published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. or SSI for short. They would later go on to create the Gold Box series of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventures. It was released in 1985 for both the Apple II and the Commodore 64. In the following four years it would be developed for 9 other systems.

Phantasie was created by Winston Douglas Wood and sold more than 50,000 copies in North America making it very successful for SSI. It would remain the company’s best-selling Commodore 64 game through 1987. Game reviewers Hartley and Pattie Lesser in 1987 complimented the Atari ST version of Phantasie in their “The Role of Computers” column in Dragon #120 (1987), recommending that Atari ST owners should “consider Phantasie as a game well-worth their attention”. ANALOG Computing in 1988 called Phantasie and its sequel the best fantasy role-playing games for the Atari 8-bit. Computer Gaming World’s Scorpia called Phantasie “a surprisingly good little game, with many interesting features”. It would later spawn two sequels and a fourth game which was only released in Japan. A new Phantasie installment was also created by Winston Douglas Wood which you can now play for free online: Phantasie Game – Phantasie Resurrection.

Wood has stated in numerous interviews that both Wizardry and Ultima were inspirations when creating the Phantasie role-playing game, while basic mechanics of combat and character development were inspired by the table-top game RuneQuest. This would explain the broad mix of styles found in the game. There is a town window which allows for the purchasing of equipment, allows players to rest and use items, and to receive training and new spells. A top-down style dungeon crawl view which is very unique, a top-down world map very similar to those found in the Ultima games, and a completely separate combat window. Each character class has a unique fighting style and allows for different strategies in combat. The combat is turn-based and after combat experience and gold are awarded. Players have to return to town to purchase and train for their levels if they qualify for one.

Gameplay begins on the Isle of Gelnor and allows a group of six characters to adventure the countryside and try to defeat the evil Black Knights and their sorcerer leader, Nikademus. Players can choose between Fighter, Monk, Priest, Ranger, Thief, and Wizard and can also choose between the races Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling and Human. There is a “random” choice feature which you can select which could also choose from ogre, troll, pixie, gnoll, orc, lizard man, minotaur, and other races.

I decided to create a roster that was composed of two combatants, a healer, a thief, and two spellcasters which translated into a Ranger, Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and two Wizards.

Characters have to be carrying gold pieces to pay for training, learning new spells, and buying new equipment. This means a trip to the Bank is in order and each character will have to make a Withdrawal.

Each character can only use one weapon, armor, and shield at a time. When you equip the character, you can see the point value of each item. So when you want to switch items it should have a higher point value than the previous item.

When your party leaves town the view switches to an overland wilderness view that is reminiscent of the Ultima and Questron games.

The real appealing thing for me about Phantasie are the dungeons that you explore.

There is quite a bit of text within the game. Each hallway and room comes with a description which feels very immersive and helps to create atmosphere. Each of the two dungeons that I have explored each have their own personality as well. When you first enter a dungeon, it appears as a blank piece of white paper. Hallways and rooms are revealed to you as you move about. When you leave the dungeon your progress in that dungeon is saved making Phantasie I the first game to introduce an automapping feature. My party is represented by the blue square up above and you can easily make out the icons which represent doors. The round circles represent fixed encounters which are always fun and unique. Thus far I have conversed with sages, found a lever to pull, a button to push, a pile of gold covered by a “gooey substance”, teleportation devices and so on. It is these encounters and the text descriptions throughout the entire dungeon which makes it feel much more immersive than a Wizardry game. The dungeons make the game highly addictive in my opinion and in 1985 I remember that this made the game feel closer to a table-top role-playing game than anything that has come before it.

The combat system is also extremely unique and nothing like the Wizardry and Bard’s Tale games. You have a unique combat window accompanied by animations. The combat is turn-based and each character can choose to attack, parry, or cast a spell. You can also avoid combat by begging for mercy (you lose all your gold), fleeing (which doesn’t always work and may provide monsters with a free attack), greeting them, or threatening them.

Players can find up to 20 different scrolls in the game sprinkled throughout the various dungeons. Each scroll provides the party with a bit of Gelnor’s history and provides the ultimate plot device for the party. Thus far I have found scrolls 1-3, 6-9, and 20.

Thus far I am reminded why I loved this game so much in my youth. Dungeons are varied and provide the players with a textured world rich with lore. The combat and level advancement are at least as difficult as both Wizardry and The Bard’s Tale thus far. Training to achieve levels requires quite a bit of gold which has been hard to find in any vast quantities. I have completely mapped out one dungeon and almost entirely done with the second dungeon as well. Despite the game being 40 years old this year, it’s siren’s song beckons me for further play.

Until next time…..

Mangar’s evil demesne can only be reached by a secret stairwell from deep within the sewers.

It’s red walls ooze evil and displays pictures of skulls which move and leer at you. It is five levels of death, filled with powerful guardians, deadly traps, magically darkened areas, and teleport squares which are a puzzle to solve in and of themselves.

I finally beat Bard’s Tale I !! It took me 51 hours to do so. I spent a lot of time, probably 4-6 of those hours, grinding away on the first three levels of Mangar’s Tower. There are quite a few deadly encounters and it is best to take your time with each of the first two levels until traversing them feels fairly easy. This will take much time but will make the painstaking mapping of the third level likely to be more successful. I found myself quite often entering the tower, facing a few deadly encounters, and then retreating back into Skara Brae to heal, visit the review board to level up and acquire spells, and to sell items. I did this repeatedly. This is the very essence of “grinding”.

There were not any special items to find on the first level of Mangar’s Tower. The first level was necessary to prepare you for what lies ahead in the upper levels.

The second level had even deadlier encounters but in addition to these deadly guardians there were many devastating traps and anti-magic squares which caused all your active spells to fizzle out. The saving grace for my party was that by this point in the game you’ve acquired some powerful items which mimic some of the most often used spells. A dayblade and Ybarra’s Shield were necessary magic items which aided me in completing my quest. The Fire Horn was a valuable magical instrument for the Bard. The silver circle is a necessary special item that you need to find on this level. If your party did not acquire the silver triangle, square, and circle, you will not be able to reach Mangar’s secret lair on the fifth level of the tower.

The third level of Mangar’s Tower was maddening to map. Almost the entire level is enshrouded in magical darkness.

There are phrases littered all about this level. You ultimately have to answer a riddle on this level: “Speak the seven of the One God, in Sequence, and seek the lost stars.” It took me four hours and several restarts to map out this entire level and find all of the clues. Once you answer the riddle, only then are you told that a magical stairway has opened to go to the next level. Except, I didn’t know where it was located. So even though I had the level completely mapped out, I had to save my progress and then search the entire level again. So tough.

The fourth level did not have as many encounters or magically blacked out areas to deal with, however the entire level was a puzzle. I was completely stumped until I teleported to a square which turned all walls into doors and all doors into walls. It was only then that I was able to find the stairway to the last level of this dastardly tower. There are a pair of sleeping dragons which you encounter on this level. You can beat the dragons, but they use up a lot of your necessary resources. I found that if the Bard is playing traveling music while you’re walking by the sleeping pair, they remain asleep.

The fifth level of the tower was dastardly. Mangar’s treasure trove is on this level and is guarded by two powerful black dragons. You’ll also need the silver square, triangle, and circle to grant you passage into Mangar’s secret lair.

The encounter with Mangar and his evil minions is the deadliest you’ll experience in the game. It is immensely difficult to win out.

The Demon Lords can breathe fire that easily deals 154 points of damage or they can choose to turn you to stone. The Vampire Lords are equally deadly and can slay you with only one blow. Both the Demon Lords and Mangar can summon fiends to do their bidding: more demons, or wights, or stone giants. The summoning is anathema to your success because it prevents you from advancing upon Mangar and keeps him 50 feet away from battle. This was an earlier attempt to rush to find Mangar’s secret lair and defeat him quickly. I was utterly destroyed in about three seconds.

This leads me now to the interesting aspect of this game. While the Bard is absolutely necessary to advance the game forward and thus win out – you’ll discover this for yourself in Harkyn’s Castle – the main focus of the game is placed upon the spellcasters. There are 64 different spells and three types of spellcasters: the conjuror, the magician, and then the wizard. You can only change classes to that of a wizard after you’ve obtained some levels as either a conjuror or magician. The ‘aha!’ experience that I had and found out late in the game, is that you want your spellcasters to keep changing classes. Master all of the conjuror spells, then the wizard spells, and then go back and master the third spellcasting class. When you’re exploring Mangar’s Tower, if you change classes, the encounters net you so many experience points, you’ll find that with each foray into the tower you gain multiple levels very quickly. With each level gained, you obtain more hit points, and more spell points!!!! By the time I was ready to face Mangar again, both of my spellcasters now had almost 250 hit points, and they each had about 250-300 spell points! This made my two spellcasters the most powerful characters in my party of six. The game is greatly unbalanced that way. The monk is also an extremely powerful character. When I was mapping out the catacombs early in the game, I realized how useless the Thief class was, dropped my thief from the party, and created a Monk. Each time your Monk gains a level – his armor class lowers by one. By the time I was ready for the final showdown with Mangar, my monk had an Armor Class of -22 and was killing Greater Demons with one blow!

Ultimately, I was finally able to defeat Mangar and his evil minions!

This is the statistical makeup of the party that finally was able to vanquish the evil reign of Magar. Note the inflated stats on both spellcasters. If I chose to play this again, I’d love to challenge myself with a party made up of two monks, a bard, and three spellcasters. Note the armor class of the monk.

It was nice to get back into the saddle again. I had a long hiatus from the blog this year due to work and I am appreciative for the time I have found to return to something I love. I have been adding games to the site’s game database again and The Bard’s Tale is the first game that I’ve completed here in 2025. It took me 51 hours to complete the game so you can already see the amount of time required to beat these games now compare to those games which have come before it. The early Moria being the exception. I greatly enjoyed the remaster. The improved graphics, sounds, music, for me, made what was already a good game even better. I found that by the time I was midway through Harkyn’s Castle, the addiction to the grinding and level advancement was becoming real. This game is deadly. It is very difficult to remain alive, and the mapping is extremely difficult. Probably the most difficult game to date. If you’re an individual who does not like “grinding”, you’ll hate this game. This early dungeon crawler featured it all, early advanced graphics much superior to it’s Wizardry competitor. It had music, sound effects, the semblance of a story, numerous different foes, 64 different spells, five different dungeons and 16 different dungeon levels in totality. Skara Brae was like a dungeon level itself as you explored it’s environs. The numerous magical items with different functions, and the diverse classes you had to choose from with all of the accompanying strengths and weaknesses, really made this a standout game in 1985. It is no wonder that it is talked about so much and spawned three different sequels as well as a Bard’s Tale Construction Set.

Next up on my docket is Phantasie which was also produced in 1985. Until next time…..

It is easy to see why The Bard’s Tale was so popular back in the day. The remaster is no different – sporting amazing graphics, music, and sound effects all lovingly wrapped around the same game that made it famous.

It was a lot of fun exploring the environs of Harkyn’s Castle compared to those of the Catacombs. Leering skulls staring back at you are replaced by lush tapestries and tiled floors. The different music, sound effects, and guardians of the castle are a real treat for the player.

Harkyn’s Castle consists of three levels and becomes much harder to map and explore. There are a lot of teleportation squares that take you to different areas of the same level and figuring out how to navigate these is a puzzle onto itself. Harkyn’s Castle also introduces a number of riddles that you have to solve in various parts of the dungeon in order to continue on.

There are some really interesting areas on the first level of Harkyn’s Castle. The first is the Baron’s throne. You are asked who wishes to sit on it? If you choose poorly, the offending squatter will be punished. However, choose wisely, and a sliding panel reveals much more of the castle to explore.

Roscoe’s Magical Spa was my favorite area of this level. The chamber is filled with magical energy and you will find that your spell points are magically regenerated while in this room. This made exploration of the castle much more manageable. It was on this first level that I also found a Crystal Sword which is necessary to defeat a Crystal Golem that you encounter later.

I also encountered a group of Beserkers dressed in green robes. When I defeated the group members of our party each acquired a green robe. These also become important later as you can don them to avoid combat.

The second level introduced a new set of challenges. There were two riddles on this level to solve and here is where the game begins to use the teleportation squares as a puzzle to be solved. You can only explore or arrive at certain areas of the dungeon by mastering the correct use of the teleporters. If you can do this correctly you will find a room with a silver square floating in the center of it. You can pick it up and place it in your inventory. I have yet to discover what it is used for.

I had a very difficult time mapping out the third level of Harkyn’s Castle and I spent much of my overall time in the castle here. There is a huge encounter with 300 Beserkers that can be avoided if you don the Green Robes that you procured on the first level of the castle. If you wear the Green Robes you can avoid the fight. I highly suggest you do so because once you embark on the third level of the castle you’re going to find yourself in a bit of a gauntlet. Avoiding this big combat might be the very thing that allows you to survive Kylearan’s Tower (more on that later).

It is on this level that you encounter a fifteen-foot gold statue of a warrior. If you possess the Eye that you found on level 3 of the Catacombs, it magically floats up out of your inventory and inserts itself into the eye socket of the statue, bringing the Mad God back to life! If you survive this encounter, a portal appears taking you back to Skara Brae and right next to Kylearan’s Tower.

This is the gauntlet that I spoke of. If you leave the vicinity of Kylearan’s Tower you will not be able to reenter through the gates. The only way into the Tower is by defeating the Mad God and following the portal to this position. This makes it necessary to completely explore Kylearan’s Tower before returning to replenish your magic points.

This was probably the most devious level that I’ve encountered so far in the game. I was almost pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to navigate this thing. Remember that you can’t leave and come back and so your resources are rather limited. I found myself running away from a lot of the combat in order to keep myself healthy and magically prepared. The teleportation squares on this level are just dastardly. You also deal with darkened areas as well as anti-magic squares which disable all of your current spells. This is a bane when your parties spell points are running low. Luckily, I had acquired magical items which mimic a lot of the spells that my party needed. I found a Silver Triangle on this level as well, and much like the Silver Square, I don’t know what I need it for.

You need to solve yet another riddle in order to open a portal to the Crystal Golem. The crystal sword that you found on the 1st level of Harkyn’s Castle is the only thing that can defeat the crystal golem. Once you defeat the crystal golem it opens another portal which leads to a series of teleportation squares which eventually lead you to the owner of this tower, Kylearan himself.

“Greetings! I am Kylearan, oh perserverant ones, the good wizard of Skara Brae. Put away your weapons, for I am your ally, not an enemy. You have passed my tests, and now can continue on your true quest, the source of evil in Skara Brae – Mangar the Dark, me nemesis. Mangar’s tower, at the opposite corner of Skara Brae from mine, is a five level deathtrap, which can only be entered by use of an onyx key. Good luck and remember, seeing is not always believing.” Kylearan then vanishes, leaving you with an onyx key.

Harkyn’s Castle and Kylearan’s Tower were both a pleasure and formidable to explore. The introduction of riddles and teleportation mazes made a couple of the levels very difficult. It looks like I am on to Mangar’s Tower at this point and from what I remember, this is the final dungeon to overcome. Each of my characters are currently 14th level and I have a little over 33 hours into the game thus far.

Until next time……………..

The remaster of the classic Bard’s Tale is an engaging and atmospheric trip of nostalgia and history. It serves as a reminder of why this game became a classic role-playing experience in the first place and just how far games have come since.

I had just completed the Wine Cellar dungeon as well as the three levels of The Sewers. A hint found on the second level of The Sewers led me to the Mad God’s Temple and the catacombs underneath the temple.

The catacombs were atmospheric and the music foreboding. These underground ossuaries were lined with the remains of individuals who stare back at you as if in silent judgement. The visuals are reminiscent of The Catacombs of Paris.

These burial chambers consist of winding and twisting tunnels filled with hordes of undead. In one area I encountered 66 skeletons while in another burial chamber I encountered 45 zombies. These lethal encounters served to remind me of two things: the first being that the thief class is almost completely useless and the second that you are meant to take your time in the dungeons in order to grind your characters to higher experience levels.

The encounters with the undead hordes can be quite lethal but surviving them grants each party member with quite a bit of experience points. I decided to use this to my advantage and decided to drop the thief, Markus, from the party, despite all of the experience he had gained from the Wine Cellar and The Sewers. I replaced Markus with a 1st level Monk that I created whom I called Nomad. Nomad quickly gained levels in the catacombs and his physical presence in the party was immediately felt.

Bard’s Tale is truly a game in which you’re meant to take your time and grind your characters higher. If you attempt to speed your way through the dungeon levels without fully exploring your characters are going to pay for it with their lives. The game is extremely challenging, and it is best that you take your time and allow your characters to gain experience, power, and items to help them in their quest.

The second level of the catacombs contained the High Priest’s treasure chamber. Here you encountered his pet dragon, Sphynx, which was a large Grey Dragon. Bashar Kavilor, the High Priest himself, also proved to be a difficult encounter. The only other notable encounter on this level was a burial chamber containing 49 wights.

The third and final level of The Catacombs hid King Alldrek’s ancient burial chamber. He attacked the party and among the items strewn about the chamber was a glowing, jeweled eye. The eye is an important magical item which you will need to enter Harkyn’s Castle and is the object of entering and braving the catacombs. There are also hordes of undead in this final catacomb level. Examples of these lethal encounters include battles with 99 skeletons, 66 zombies, and 69 wraiths. A tremendous amount of experience points were gained as a result of exploring the catacombs.

Using the eye, I’ve just entered Harkyn’s Castle which represents the next challenge and phase of the game. Thus far, I have spent 23.7 hours with the game and I am enjoying it immensely.

Rich visuals and audio really made The Bard’s Tale stand out in 1985. The game’s colorful, detailed graphics were a leap forward for the era, especially on the Apple II and the Commodore 64. Animated enemy sprites and varied environments like the city, sewers, catacombs, and castles created more of an immersive world. The bard’s songs, while not fully voiced, were accompanied by text descriptions and sound effects that enhanced the atmosphere of the game and added a new mechanic, a rarity for the time.

The Bard’s Tale comes off as more approachable than Wizardry and even Ultima IV which were released that same year. Ultima IV emphasized open-world exploration and moral choices, The Bard’s Tale focused on linear dungeon crawling and tactical combat, appealing to players who preferred structured adventures. It’s balance of accessibility and depth made it a commercial hit, selling over 400,000 copies by 1990.

The Bard’s Tale spawned two sequels (The Destiny Knight in 1986 and Thief of Fate in 1988), each refining the formula with larger worlds and new mechanics. The series would inspire later RPGs, including Interplay’s own Dragon Wars in 1989 and BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate in 1998. In 2018 a fourth installment, Bard’s Tale IV: Barrow’s Deep, was released. The original game was released during a golden age of computer role-playing games and remains a touchstone for CRPG fans who are now enjoying remastered versions on modern platforms.

We had created and equipped our party in our last post and we are finally ready to set out and explore our environs. One of the things that really made The Bard’s Tale stand out was its focus on exploration of the city, Skara Brae. Skara Brae felt vibrant and alive and very much like an important personality in the game. There is a lot to explore and a lot of mysteries to uncover within the city itself. There are statues that come to life to protect key areas, a casino, a bank, The Adventurer’s Guild (where we created our party), The Review Board (where you go to advance in levels and acquire new spells), Garth’s Shoppe, Roscoe’s Energy Emporium (where the mana points of your spell casters can be regenerated for a fee), Harkyn’s Castle, Kylearan’s Tower, Mangar’s Tower, Inns, Taverns, and Temples.

Each and every building in the city can be entered and explored. Some are empty while others may spawn an encounter. Early on in the game, this is a great way to build experience. In many of the buildings you find scraps of parchment which act as tutorials and provide excellent tips to help you succeed.

The Bard’s Tale is an extremely difficult game. It is especially brutal in the very beginning and extremely tough to survive. The difficulty curve in even finding the first dungeon is a steep one. It will require you to do a thorough search of the city. I remember the first time that I played Bard’s Tale being stuck for an extremely long period of time until I finally happened upon it.

The first dungeon level is a Wine Cellar which eventually leads down into the sewers.

There isn’t anything relevant in this first dungeon level but the creatures that you encounter in the wine cellar help with your level advancement.

I spent a large portion of my time in the sewers. There are three levels to the sewers and all of them are difficult to map. You are introduced to teleports, dark areas, smoke, and spinners. Some of the combat encounters are extremely difficult at lower levels so you’ll want to take your time in the sewers and return to the city to rest, sell equipment, and level up often. Many spots in the dungeon held special descriptions or inscriptions.

There are two large, dark areas in the second level of the sewers. When you hit these areas, it douses all torches and lamps and also causes your spells to fizzle out. When you try to cast a light spell in these areas it will not work.

There is a crucial piece of information that you find on the second sewer level.

The third level of the sewers was a brutal grind and merely serves to strengthen your characters. There are a lot of Black Widows and Spinners encountered on this level and your party is frequently dealing with poison.

Having completely mapped out the Wine Cellar and all three of the Sewer Levels I made my way to the Temple District of Skara Brae and the Mad God’s Temple. I am currently exploring the catacombs found underneath the temple.

I had been exploring the first level of the catacombs when I made my first Bard’s Tale post, and my characters were all 11th level.

The graphics on the remastered trilogy are extremely impressive as are the music and sound effects. It is quite a treat for those who remember the game with fondness.

Since my last post I am now exploring the second level of the catacombs underneath the Mad God’s Temple. I took my own advice, and I removed my thief, Markus, from the party and created a Monk named Nomad to take his place. Things are progressing smoothly but slowly. I have about 12.2 hours invested in the game to this point.

My next post will cover my adventures inside the catacombs underneath the Mad God’s Temple. Until next time……

The Bard’s Tale was originally released 40 years ago in 1985 by Interplay Productions and published by Electronic Arts. The game was developed by Michael Cranford, and it stood out because it leveraged the graphical and processing capabilities of 8-bit and early 16-bit systems. The game showcased detailed visuals and complex mechanics that pushed hardware systems.

The Bard’s Tale features a party-based system where players can create a group of up to six characters. The versatility of party creation is a big part of the game and it’s where we’re going to spend most of our focus in this first post. The first thing I wanted to do was create my party.

There are five stats in the game, each with their own uses.

Strength: A high strength score will increase the damage that you do per hit which does not include ranged or magical attacks.

Dexterity: A high dexterity reduces your AC, the lower the AC (Armor Class) the better. In addition, dexterity figures into your turn order, the higher your dexterity the better odds that you’ll go first.

Constitution: Higher constitution scores give better hit points on average when you level up. As you progress in the game, you’ll encounter enemies that cause ranged attacks, so you’ll even want your casters in the back to have higher constitution scores.

Intelligence: A higher intelligence score factors into your magic points per level gained calculations. Any spell caster wants to make this stat a priority.

Luck: This stat is allegedly tied into saving throws against magic and traps.

Now that we have the stats out of the way let’s take a look at the race options. Each race has their own minimum and maximum potential for each stat. You have seven different racial options to choose from: human, elf, dwarf, hobbit, half-elf, half-orc, and gnome.

Fighter: Can wear heavy armor and equip powerful weapons. They get a bonus attack every four levels. Suggested races: Half-Orc with Human and Dwarf as runners-up.

Paladin: Has an increased chance to resist magic but doesn’t have the attack progression that the fighter does. Useful in the later part of the game where spellcasters become more frequent and your casters are doing the lion’s share of the damage output. Suggested races: Humans and Dwarves. The Half-Orc and Half-Elf cannot be Paladins.

Hunter: This class has the advantage of possibly landing a critical blow, melee or with the bow, instantly slaying the foe. However, he can’t wear the same gear that Fighter’s and Paladins can, so his defenses are thus lacking. Suggested races: Half-Orcs or Humans. A Half-Elf cannot be a hunter, and because of their equipment hindrance, you don’t want a Dwarf’s low dexterity weighing you down even further.

Rogue: This class was useful early in the game to save my Conjurer’s magic points, but at higher levels now I am finding this class almost useless. Suggested races: Human, Half-Elf, or Half-Orc.

Monk: A powerhouse in melee. They can wear armor, and their AC is reduced as their level goes up so they can very quickly hit low armor class scores. Their unarmed damage scales very rapidly. By level 3 or 4 they should be unarmed and then remain that way. I will likely soon be dropping my Rogue and adding a Monk to the party. Suggested Races: Human, Half-Elf, or Dwarf.

Bard: You’re going to want one in your party. Their songs are extremely useful when used correctly and this is their tale after all. The bard class, central to the game’s identity, can cast spells through songs, which added a novel gameplay element. Suggested races: Human, Half-Elf, or Dwarf.

Conjurer: The first of the two entry-level magic users. Conjurers focus on utility magic. There is the very important Trap Zap spell, Lesser and Greater Revelation for lighting dark dungeons and discovering secret doors, and so much more. They are also your main healer. A must have in your party. Suggested races: Elf or Hal-Elf.

Magician: This magic user focuses more on combat magic. They have some of the better early access damage spells. In the new version of this game available on Steam, there is a spell entitled Quick Fix which was not available in the original game. It allows you to heal exactly 8 points of damage to a character for only three mana points which is invaluable during the early part of the game. Suggested races: Elf or Half-Ef.

This was one of the very few games that I actually beat and played all the way to the end when it first came out. I had been a huge Wizardry fan and was captivated with The Bard’s Tale which seemed to improve upon the Wizardry dynamic in every way. I can’t remember what my party composition was when I beat the game the first time, and I can’t yet attest that my current party composition is a great winning combination but here is my current party composition:

Paladin: Fost Longstrider

Warrior: Conan

Bard: Markus

Rogue: Shadowspawn

Conjurer: Kellory

Magician: Raistlin

The Rogue seems to me to be a weak point in my party composition, and I may drop Markus and add a Monk to the party. Each of my party members are already 11th level however so I need to think on this further. I am finding the Rogue to be almost useless here.

Once your party is finally completed you have to equip them. When you exit the Adventurer’s Guild you will find yourself on Main Street. If you turn left, you will find Garth’s Shoppe up ahead on your right and this is where you can buy and sell equipment. The town that you are exploring is Skara Brae and the new version of the classic game comes with an automapper of both town and dungeon. You can open your Journal by clicking the J key and this gives you the layout of where you have been and what you have seen.

In my next post I’ll detail my adventures in the sewers underneath Skara Brae and update you on my progress.

Until next time…..