Bard's Tale II
Encyclopedia
To complete the game, players must collect segments of the Destiny Wand. The wizard Saradon has informed the party that they are hidden in seven separate locations "within a Snare of Death—a puzzle room that will require all the wisdom and cunning at your disposal in order for you to survive". The first segment is located in the Tombs, in the city of Ephesus
. The key required for entry into Dargoth's Tower is also located here, on the second of three levels. The second segment is in Fanskar's Fortress, located in the wilderness outside of the six cities. When Fanskar is defeated at the end of the first and only level, the party acquires the second segment. Dargoth's Tower contains the third segment. It is in the fifth and final level above the city of Philippi
. The fourth segment can be found in the Maze of Dread, which comprises three levels of sewers below the city of Thessalonica. Next is Oscon's Fortress in Corinth
where the fifth segment can be had after negotiating the snare in its fourth level. The Grey Crypt has the next segment, and its entry is located in a building in the wilderness. It has only two levels, but magic cannot be used in it. The seventh and final segment of the Destiny Wand is in the city of Colosse. In the northwest section of the city is a large rock called the Destiny Stone. Upon entering a crack in the stone, the party finds itself on the first of three levels. After completing the snare on the third level, the last segment is found. To finish the game, an archmage in the party must take the seven segments to the Temple of Narn in the wilderness. The archmage reforges the segments into the Destiny Wand and becomes the Destiny Knight. But the game is not complete until Lagoth Zanta is defeated in the Sage's Hut.
In addition, there are now "Death Snare Puzzle Rooms" that have real-time time limits in the seven dungeons. "Some puzzles involve typing in passwords learned in other areas of a maze, while others require you to follow specific patterns while traversing a dungeon. Few can be solved by pure logic alone."
Players can also now summon multiple creatures to join the party. Additional new features include banks (where players can store money which will be available even if the party is defeated and the game is restarted), and casinos where players can try their luck at a blackjack
-like game.
Players can create a party of up to seven active characters; additional characters can be created and stored at the Adventurer's Guild in each city. They can be created as a human, elf
, dwarf
, hobbit, half-elf
, half-orc
, or gnome
. Character classes available at the start are the warrior
, paladin
, rogue, bard
, hunter, monk
, conjurer, and magician
. The sorcerer
, wizard
, and archmage
classes are not available at the start. Character attributes (strength, intelligence, dexterity, constitution, and luck) are generated randomly during character creation (with values from 1–18) and affect gameplay.
gave the game a mixed review. The review noted several improvements over the original, such as an easier start and more easily recognizable buildings. However, the snares were considered excessively tedious, and the gameplay skewed heavily in favor of mages. RUN magazine reviewer Bob Guerra praised the game's new enemies and their corresponding animations and stated the game "offers an irresistible challenge to all fans of role-playing fantasies."
The game was reviewed in 1987 in Dragon
#120 by Hartley and Patricia Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers suggested that "If The Bard’s Tale was to your liking, then you’re going to absolutely go crazy for The Bard’s Tale II: The Destiny Knight."
, a devout Christian
, named five of the cities in the game after cities mentioned in the New Testament
: Corinth
, Colosse, Philippi
, Ephesus
, and Thessalonica. This was his last Bard's Tale game because he decided to go back to university to study philosophy
and theology
.
Dave Warhol, who composed the music for The Bard's Tale II, founded his own game company in 1986, named Realtime Associates.
Bill Heineman (programmer of The Bard's Tale III) has said that the original name of this game was to be Tales of the Unknown - Volume II: The Archmage's Tale.
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
. The key required for entry into Dargoth's Tower is also located here, on the second of three levels. The second segment is in Fanskar's Fortress, located in the wilderness outside of the six cities. When Fanskar is defeated at the end of the first and only level, the party acquires the second segment. Dargoth's Tower contains the third segment. It is in the fifth and final level above the city of Philippi
Philippi
Philippi was a city in eastern Macedonia, established by Philip II in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest...
. The fourth segment can be found in the Maze of Dread, which comprises three levels of sewers below the city of Thessalonica. Next is Oscon's Fortress in Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
where the fifth segment can be had after negotiating the snare in its fourth level. The Grey Crypt has the next segment, and its entry is located in a building in the wilderness. It has only two levels, but magic cannot be used in it. The seventh and final segment of the Destiny Wand is in the city of Colosse. In the northwest section of the city is a large rock called the Destiny Stone. Upon entering a crack in the stone, the party finds itself on the first of three levels. After completing the snare on the third level, the last segment is found. To finish the game, an archmage in the party must take the seven segments to the Temple of Narn in the wilderness. The archmage reforges the segments into the Destiny Wand and becomes the Destiny Knight. But the game is not complete until Lagoth Zanta is defeated in the Sage's Hut.
Changes from The Bard's Tale
Although the "same interface and graphic display as the original game" (The Bard's Tale) are used in The Bard's Tale II, there are some noticeable changes. The world is a larger scale than The Bard's Tale. For example, instead of one town (Skara Brae), there are now six: Colosse, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Tangramayne, and Thessalonica. There are a total of "25 dungeon levels and an outdoor wilderness area to explore." Michael R. Bagnall summarizes some of the other changes:A new combat system now features ranged combat, so you'll need long-range weapons or magic to hit foes up to 90 feet away. This offers tactical challenges not present in the original game. There are also lots of new spells and Bard songs, plus a variety of fresh monsters and a special character class, the ArchMage.
In addition, there are now "Death Snare Puzzle Rooms" that have real-time time limits in the seven dungeons. "Some puzzles involve typing in passwords learned in other areas of a maze, while others require you to follow specific patterns while traversing a dungeon. Few can be solved by pure logic alone."
Players can also now summon multiple creatures to join the party. Additional new features include banks (where players can store money which will be available even if the party is defeated and the game is restarted), and casinos where players can try their luck at a blackjack
Blackjack
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one or Vingt-et-un , is the most widely played casino banking game in the world...
-like game.
Character creation
Characters can be imported from The Bard's Tale, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (on Apple II versions), Ultima III: Exodus, or created from scratch and trained in a "starter maze".Players can create a party of up to seven active characters; additional characters can be created and stored at the Adventurer's Guild in each city. They can be created as a human, elf
Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
, dwarf
Dwarf (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, dwarves are a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for play as player characters...
, hobbit, half-elf
Half-elf (Dungeons & Dragons)
-Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition :The half-elf appeared as a player character race in the original Player's Handbook . The half-elf also appeared in the original Monster Manual...
, half-orc
Half-orc
The half-orc is a creature born to mixed orc and human parentage in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The half-orc is a playable race for D&D player characters. Half-orcs are typically born in wild frontiers where human and orc tribes come into contact. Half-orcs are between six and seven...
, or gnome
Gnome (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, gnomes are one of the core races available for play as player characters. Some speculate that they are closely related to dwarves; however, gnomes are more tolerant of other races and of magic, and are skilled with illusions...
. Character classes available at the start are the warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
, paladin
Paladin (Dungeons & Dragons)
The paladin is one of the standard playable character classes in most editions of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The paladin is a holy knight, crusading in the name of good and order, and is a divine spellcaster...
, rogue, bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
, hunter, monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
, conjurer, and magician
Magician (fantasy)
A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
. The sorcerer
Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)
The sorcerer is a playable character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A sorcerer is weak in melee combat, but a master of arcane magic, the most generally powerful form of D&D magic. Sorcerers' magical ability is innate rather than studied...
, wizard
Wizard (Dungeons & Dragons)
The wizard is one of the standard character class in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. A wizard uses arcane magic, and is considered less effective in melee combat than other classes.-Creative origins:...
, and archmage
Archmage
Archmage, archmagi, or archmagus is a title used to identify an especially powerful wizard, usually within the context of fantasy fiction...
classes are not available at the start. Character attributes (strength, intelligence, dexterity, constitution, and luck) are generated randomly during character creation (with values from 1–18) and affect gameplay.
Features
The Bard's Tale II has a number of features that were seen in The Bard's Tale. There are "unmarked buildings" that contain little except a possible monster encounter or the entryway to a dungeon or castle. Each city within the game has an Adventurers' Guild where characters can be created, parties saved, and other actions performed. At Garth's Equipment Shoppe players can buy, sell, or identify items. Parties can withdraw saved money from an account at Bedder's Bank for the Bold and spend it gambling at a casino, playing a game similar to blackjack. A stint at a casino can be followed by a celebration (or players can drown their sorrow over a loss) at a tavern where various drinks are available and the bartender provides advice—for a price. When ready, a party can venture into a dungeon to explore, fight monsters, and gain the experience needed to advance levels and become powerful enough to complete their quest. After a return to town, parties may need to make a trip to a temple where characters can be healed, restoring hit points, levels, life force, youth, flesh (for characters turned to stone), or life itself. Roscoe's Energy Emporium is another useful stop, where spell casters can pay an exhorbitant fee to have spell units restored. And when ready, characters can visit the Review Board to advance levels and change character classes (for magic users).Reception
A review in Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
gave the game a mixed review. The review noted several improvements over the original, such as an easier start and more easily recognizable buildings. However, the snares were considered excessively tedious, and the gameplay skewed heavily in favor of mages. RUN magazine reviewer Bob Guerra praised the game's new enemies and their corresponding animations and stated the game "offers an irresistible challenge to all fans of role-playing fantasies."
The game was reviewed in 1987 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#120 by Hartley and Patricia Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers suggested that "If The Bard’s Tale was to your liking, then you’re going to absolutely go crazy for The Bard’s Tale II: The Destiny Knight."
Designers
Michael CranfordMichael Cranford
Michael Cranford is a former game programmer and software engineer. He is currently Chief Technology Officer of Ninth Degree, Inc. in Dana Point, California, a website design firm....
, a devout Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, named five of the cities in the game after cities mentioned in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
: Corinth
Corinth
Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...
, Colosse, Philippi
Philippi
Philippi was a city in eastern Macedonia, established by Philip II in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest...
, Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
, and Thessalonica. This was his last Bard's Tale game because he decided to go back to university to study philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
.
Dave Warhol, who composed the music for The Bard's Tale II, founded his own game company in 1986, named Realtime Associates.
Bill Heineman (programmer of The Bard's Tale III) has said that the original name of this game was to be Tales of the Unknown - Volume II: The Archmage's Tale.
External links
- The Bard's Tale Compendium Lists walkthroughs and maps for Bards Tale II.
- The Bard's Tale II at GameBase64 - with links to the files and music for the Commodore 64
- Bards Tale II at Abandonia