The Bard's Tale

OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Processor: Pentium 4 2Ghz / AMD AthlonXP 2400
Memory: 512Mb
Graphics: GeForce FX5700 or better / ATI Radeon 9600 or better
DirectX®: 9.0c
Hard Drive: 6GB of free space
Sound: DirectX 9 Compatible Sound Card

A comedic parody of RPG games, The Bard's Tale picks on the original Bard's Tale and Baldur's Gate considerably. The ragamuffin Bard was voiced by veteran actor Cary Elwes.

Mac

PlayStation Network (Vita)

Overview

The Bard's Tale is a comedic parody of RPGs. The Bard's Tale is to Baldur's Gate what Space Balls was to Star Wars. The Bard himself is voiced by Cary Elwes of The Princess Bride and Robin Hood: Men in Tights fame. The bard is a drunk, womanizing, lazy, musician who has no aspiration of saving the world. His only motivation is coin and cleavage. Another comic element in the game is the narrator (voiced by Tony Jay) who wishes the bard was a traditional "RPG Hero" instead of the lazy drunk he is.

Gameplay

The Bard's Tale takes place in a 3D environment but from a top down perspective. It plays closer to an action adventure game like Gauntlet than a traditional RPG. The Bard has Melee and Ranged weapons at his disposal and an interesting Magic system.

The magic system is a summon system, where you play songs to summon allies. Some are great fighters, like the Brute, Knight and Mercenaries. Some heal you. One of the most entertaining is the Trap Finder. A hysterical dwarf- like creature who when summoned utters "You need me to find some traps?". He then whistles cheerfully as he walk into the nearest trap and sets if off killing him in the gruesomest ways imaginable. All of the Summoned creatures have developed characters and are some of the most playful parts of the game.

The Bard also has a pet dog who follows him throughout the story. The dog guides the player to new areas, and tells the player where to go next.