A bit belated reply- been busy gaming...
(Mine
It's just a game = it's for fun, yes? There isn't some snobbish, judgemental standards board we all consult and register with before we can play
I hope you're not accusing me of using "snobbish, judgemental standards," since there's nothing snobbish about pointing out that other RPGs are considerably longer.
And we *all* make judgments--just as you did, when you stated this was now your favorite game. That is a judgement call, you know. Comparisons are your friend, and you know this, when you ruled out other titles that could have taken its place
That is actually exactly where we were speaking at cross purposes. i was not making any judgement at all concerning Bard's Tale. i was expressing- as downright silly as it may be to do so- my fondness for the time i spent in Bard's Tale. It remains my favourite game, but this in no way challenges anyone else's view of it. It is just a mention of my feelings about it.
If i were to say The Bard's Tale is the best rpg ever, however... then, yes, this would be a judgement call, and very much open to question... and i would not make that judgement, btw. Besides being a years long player of Neverwinter Nights online and off, i would indeed wish The Bard's Tale to be longer, more involved, more complex, and i would bet that my own report of the game's faults would probably be much more extensive and touch on other grounds than even the mostly negative one that gamebanshee itself did. There were numerous bugs, one of which was the one i came here looking for an answer to fruitlessly since, well, it was just a bug. (In the last tower first floor the creatures became invulnerable somehow. When i replayed it, they all died normally.)
By the end i'd had plenty of frustrations and disappointments- particularly with the bird's eye view and repetition of certain monsters beyond their ability to give a chuckle any longer- but i still enjoyed the game more than any other and think of it more fondly than any of the other rpgs i've ever played. i can say i liked the sense of humour, the characters presented, the voices, the music, the way the game tried to avoid giving people generic "commoner" names, the combat methods and appearance, the storyline, the look of it, the "earthiness" of it, and, yes, the inclusion of so much cultural (European) point of reference. But i'm just saying i liked it, right? i'm not saying there's not a game that presents the same better, or that the game is better than anything else, just that i liked them better. i game... because it's fun... That's my only "standard" in assigning The Bard's Tale as my favourite. When it's no longer fun, i shall not... but i like returning to it.
As to whether you're envisioning some sort of universal gaming standards board or not, i couldn't care less. Perhaps in any case you'll understand now the distinction i make when playing.
What sort of Scottish lore was included? And where the actors genuine Scots, or just Americans who could do good Scots accents? I'm quite curious.
It very well may have been Americans- or Brits- and it may have been Irish culture being shown, if you'll forgive my ignorance, but i assume for a number of reasons it was Scot. i haven't checked on it, despite that i too am curious, kind of not wanting to know lol... It wasn't just the thick, full accents though but the kind of language used- in names like the Nuklavee, terminology like "broch" for house, and conversation styles. They had to have some acquaintence with Scottish lore to include it all. It was a mostly smaller-scale European game though, probably Brits or anglophiles who made it given the one interaction with absurd Frenchies (with even a little frog reference...) The Nordic/ German (Viking) references were second only to Scot in quantity, but there the culturalisms weren't as interesting nor held together interactively as well. Of course the Bard main char is entirely a limey as well as the main good and evil allies/ foes, so the Scottishisms are like the backdrop of the world.
True RPGs are different from action titles, which are different from adventure games, which are different from arcades, etc. And a first person RPG is different in some very important ways from a third person RPG. Or don't you agree?
Well... i'm not very experienced in games really. i was exclusive to the BG-NWN series for years and only recently started sampling some other games off the shelf. i'm not looking to be an expert, just have some fun. i don't even recognize most of the titles you mention, nor even the distinction of a first or third person rpg... Though if people enjoy delineating genres or other typologies in gaming, they may do so to their hearts' content without a single questioning by me...
Oh, and thanks for the weblink for the walkthrough. i haven't checked it out since i managed to make it after all, but i know i didn't find all there was to find, so i want to see what i missed.
