User Reviews (1 - 11 of 33)

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Loved it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought this based on recommendations here. It's the 1st PS2 game I've ever bought for myself. (It's my son's game system). What a treat! I laughed throughout the game. The humor is adult based. I hope I can find more like it! The gameplay is not too hard, yet not so easy as to be boring.

Bards Tale good game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I like this game it's pretty cool it sort of makes you feel like your in the 13 hundreds which is pretty cool. Buy this game you'll really enjoy it.

believe the reviews, this game is a riot!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game based on the recommendations on this very page. and it's all true, the game is wickedly funny, the dialogs are highly entertaining and if you are a an RPG fan, this is for you. If anyone knows any other RPGs like this (that don't take themselves so seriously and make you laugh like crazy) please drop me a note, i am dying to play another one like this one. thank you!

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

A Bards tale, is a great game. Not for Kids through. I bought this game for my husband for his birthday with the game guide (a must have) and he was on cloud nine. The Bard is a snarky fellow that is thrown into a situation and he copes with it to the best of his ablities. The dialog is halrious, and he says things that you wish Link could say. He's a bit on the sour side, and it's great. It's a one person game, not multiplayer, set in a fansty type world.

Good but a bit short

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really liked this game here are my stars (out of ten)

Graphics 8.0 Good but nothing special

Plot 9.5 Really well written but sometimes predictable

Controls 9.0 Very good and easy to get used to

Voices 10 Cary Elwes and Tony Jay do a great job

Camera 5.8 not the best its at a weird angle but you get used to it

The Plot is about a Bard named Bard who all he cares bout is as the tag line goes coin and cleavage. I won't go into the plot. The Snakry/Nice talking system is good but it has some problems. Its just like in most RPG games where its just asking you which way to go. But be careful with it. If you say the wrong thing you can skip whole parts and then leave the game unfinished. The replay value of the game is not the best. Exept for retrying the ending and seeing what happens if you choose something else. The combat is preatty good it is "real-time" combat so its more action but harder. The best thing about the game is your dog, (just be nice to it.) ;)
ESRB rated this game T for Violence, Blood, Suggestive Themes,Language, and Use of Alcohol. The Violence is not too bad about the same as most RPG games (even some E10 games Legend of Kay for one). The Blood is not that gory. Just semi clear red stuff that appears on the ground under dead enimes. Suggestive themes is just some "crude humour" the worst is just a mention of the Bard sleeping with a bar maid. Not in detail and just in passing. The Use of Alchol is just bars and the song Beer, Beer, Beer. The Language is just the word d*mn and *ss oh and if you are British the word bloody.

Over all a really good game that just didn't get enough publicity.

Humor makes this otherwise average game top-notch.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's an action RPG. So far as game play or graphics, there's nothing special about this nowadays. It would deserve a 3 or 3.5 out of 5 at the most. But the humor! The writers know ALL the RPG cliches* and mock them without mercy. On levels that might take 30-45 minutes to finish I'll play for 3 or 4 hours just to try all the different story lines and catch all the jokes. The humor pushes it to an easy 5 star rating.

If you have a sense of humor and enjoy RPGs you need to play this!

*for example, the obligatory Lava Level is NAMED the obligatory Lava Level.

Best Game Since the Champions and Baldurs Gate Games!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This Is one of the few pleasures in life.... Reviewing a GREAT Game! its almost exactly like the baldurs gate titles but with a few subtle changes.
first Welcome change is the fact that every time you get new armor/weapon etc instead of having to navigate menus and equip it the Game Equips the Best you have INSTANTLY! i love that! graphics are directly on par (hard to believe this game is so old) graphics hold up against most baldurs gates and champoins games easily highly detailed monsters GREAT VOICE ACTING and STORY! THE SOUND IS UNBELIEVABLE!!! AS IS THE ACTING!! cant stress this enough its hilarious! not sutable for younger children due to some language crude humor (ala snarky haha) and quite a few things the little kiddies might not be ready to see yet (you have been warned) overall if you own any of the champions or baldurs gate DA games this is a MUST OWN for you then. i bought it on a whim never having played it and how refreshing this game is buy it now before its no longer available!
its a 5 star masterpiece!

Bard's Tale

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: March 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Enjoyed the song & other animation made the game interesting. The game was good with a challenge, I would definately buy another like this.

Coolest and Funniest RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: February 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is entertaining and very funny. As you play you can also change the outcome of events by changing your answers. You create magical creatures to help you fight. All to save a princess that is willing to please you upon freeing her. A very witty game that is also easy to play but some of my best entertainment I've ever had playing a game. Although it is good to remember some content seems for adults only.

It sure sucks to be the chosen one.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Bard's Tale for Xbox and PS2 is a new title in a very old gaming franchise. Before talking about the game directly, let me tell you a brief bit about the history of its genre.

Once upon a time (80's, 90's), you could've roughly split up computer and console role-playing games (RPGs) into two groups: Japanese RPGS and American RPGS. Japanese RPGs tended to focus strongly on a plot. The game mechanics were just a mechanism to move the story forth. Character advancement was not nearly as important as story advancement. Ask anyone who has ever played any Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior game and you will find this is true. Enjoyment of the tale the game presented was the main goal of Japanese RPGs.

American RPGs on the other hand tended to be very open adventures with a very heavy emphasis on exploration, character development, and game statistics in general. The `story' of these games worked more like a general game playing guideline than a strong dramatic plot. The stories presented would give you a rough idea of what needed to be done next, but would rarely push you into doing anything in particular until you really felt like unlocking some new area or getting some special item. Players would often run around the game world trying to build up their character statistics as high as possible. The emphasis of these games was enjoying the gameplay, not the story. Two series that were the hallmark of this type of game were Wizardry, and The Bard's Tale.

This trend has even continued into the new century. Just compare Morrowind to Final Fantasy X: an open book versus a staged Soap Opera. Both titles are good games, just very different.

The original Bard's Tale was a classic example of one these open, statistic driven American games. You created a party of characters using Dungeons and Dragons like statistics. Then you would run around a pseudo 3D dungeon, kill monsters, and collect treasure. After that, you would return to the inn to gain levels, heal your party members, and then repeat the whole process over again.

This new Bard's Tale eschews that type of design completely, opting for instead a Diablo type action RPG style of control and play. The menu based combat of old is replaced with good ol' hack and slash button mashing fun. You control a singular character from an overhead view, while partaking in multiple story and non-story related quests.

Another difference with this Bard's Tale is that it is a humorous game. Unlike the previous titles which had somewhat serious stories to follow, this game is a laugh all the way through. It parodies other games in the genre, picks on common elements such as killing rats, opening random treasure chests, chosen ones, and has a very witty script to back it up with. I found the Bard's dialog to be a constant source of amusement. The character you control and the games narrator often banter with each other, usually to humorous effect. This humorous script writing even shows up when you engage other characters in dialog. You are often give at least two response choices, a nice response, and a `snarky' response. You quickly find out being nice doesn't help you get what you want.

And, in another departure from traditional RPGs, the character you control isn't your typical hero. No wide eye farm boys, elven princesses, or honor seeking knights here. He's a roguish bard who takes advantage of people whenever he can. He is very fond of beer and the ladies, and doesn't have any loftier goals than finding a warm bed to crash in at night, preferably accompanied with a barmaid. This is an attitude that never changes in the game, fortunately.

The basic story is that your character of the Bard gets drafted into being `The Chosen One', and ends up trying to rescue to a trapped princess. You quickly find many other `Chosen Ones' who have met a sad fate, and also discover that all is not as it seems...

The controls are fairly simple. You use the primary buttons to attack, block, jump, and activate things with. The left and right trigger buttons activate your summoning spells. Summoning can get a little tricky in the heat of battle so you generally want to do that in advance. Over all I found that the controls worked pretty well.

I was happy with the graphics. Nothing overly special, but nothing shoddy either.

Other than the script writing and humor, the other place this game shines is the sound effects and music department. The sounds always seem to be on cue, and I loved all the amusing sing-a-long songs they had in the game.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game and highly recommend.

One would never think that such drunken lout would make such a great chosen one.

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