The Bard's Tale

 Video games are still a relatively young media format, so I often find things that are common in film or television come off as novel when it comes to gaming.

That's to be expected, video games as a format are (debatably) around 50-70 years old and weren't what you would call mainstream for much of that time. In addition, cinematic or story driven video games didn't really become a thing until much later, while technology made those stories difficult to tell until even more recently. Because of this, certain tropes that are old hat in the other formats haven't really been done in games or haven't been done well. Again, it's understandable, you have a lot of the same genres, action, horror, etc. you get the idea. But we aren't really here to talk about any of those today. Because we are going to talk about a genre, I don't think games have typically done as well as movies, TV or even radio in their relatively brief existence: comedy.

That's not to say there aren't any good comedic games out there, because there definitely are. It's just that there's a lot of "but" attached to them. Earthworm Jim is a comedic game, "but" you may not like it if you aren't into gross-out humor. I think Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is hilarious, "but" you might not if you don't care for Japanese humor or aren't up on nerd culture. Isn't that the way it always is with comedy? It's extremely subjective and always has been. Even looking at literary works, it's why "Romeo and Juliet" holds up centuries later but "Much Ado About Nothing" doesn't. Juliette stabbing herself with a dagger is just as tragic to someone today as it was way back when, but someone wearing pointed shoes just isn't funny to people in 2024. I say all this to preface the fact that, as a long-time gamer and fan of fantasy and RPG titles, I found the Bard's Tale to be hysterical, even if you may not.

The Bard's Tale is something of a spiritual successor to the early 80's RPGs of the same names. I've never played those games, but they actually look quite playable and very ahead of their time, so maybe I will go back and check them out. But for now, we are talking about the 2004 action RPG released on PS2, XBox and PC. It was a game I rented on release and really enjoyed, but I didn't get around to playing completely until recently. I didn't necessarily give up on it, I just never finished it. It's not like the game didn't grab my attention; in fact it grabbed my attention before I even put the disc in. The front of the disc declares "for a truly disturbing image, turn the disc over." I didn't get it right away and did just that, only to see that the disc was no different than any other. Then it, hit me...it's reflective. I hadn't even started actually playing and the Bard's Tale already got me.

When you do finally start the game, you will find yourself in the shoes of a character simply called the Bard. The Bard is not your typical RPG hero. In fact, he's quite the opposite. He's a womanizing drunk, more interested in filling his tankard than saving the world. His quest, moderated by a sarcastic narrator who he argues with frequently, starts when he is propositioned by a mysterious group to rescue a maiden named Caleigh. It will be a long, arduous quest, featuring fierce battles with ghastly monsters and untold adventure. And the Bard...isn't up to it. He has absolutely no desire to be bothered with any of that, he's just trying to get paid so he has coins to spend on booze. That is, until he learns that Caleigh is not only incredibly attractive, but also very rich. That's all the Bard needs to know, so he sets out to rescue Caleigh despite his laziness.

I think the best thing about The Bard's Tale is how it subverts expectations. That's something that even other comedic games don't do particularly well. But that isn't the case here, especially for someone that's a fan of the genre. The Bard himself is a great example, his womanizing, money grubby ways are so far off what you would see in an RPG of this era. The trope of the crusading hero fighting evil had long gone stale while the prototypical cold mercenary who learns to love was on its way there. While the Bard looks like a typical RPG hero, he's anything but. The game does a great job establishing his personality right away and has a lot of little touches that drive it home. If you skip a cutscene, he will cut off the narrator with a sarcastic "heard it already." It doesn't really do anything, but it's a nice touch. The world is filled with stuff like this, from the singing goblins to the drunks at the taverns to the cult where everyone is named Boadb. I especially love the mockery of the chosen one trope that is so, so prevalent in RPGs.

One of the biggest ways the game accomplishes this is through its dialogue. Of course, much of the spoken dialogue here is excellent. In addition, the player will frequently be asked to give either a snarky or nice answer during certain story segments. You can't choose exactly what the Bard says, but this option will change the general nature of his dialogue. Sometimes, the game requires you make a correct choice between the two. This is very well implemented here and I like the fact that being nice isn't always the right answer. Typically in games with that dichotomy, being nice leads to a harder path but ultimately better rewards for players at the end. That isn't the case here. Snarkiness is one of the Bard's biggest personality traits and sometimes, he just needs to be himself.

Uniqueness and humor are great, but at the end of the day this is a video game and none of that matters if the gameplay is bad. While I don't think it was anything to write home about, the Bard's Tale has some solid action RPG gameplay. Anyone who has played any title in the genre knows exactly what to expect. You move through open fields and dungeons, fighting off hordes of enemies. The Bard can block, shoot arrows and swing his weapon, with a variety of skills available to support different playstyles. Much of the variety comes from the different types of weapons you can equip, you can use a sword and shield, a two handed weapon or even dual wield. The most unique of the Bard's abilities are his songs, which allow him to summon a variety of spirits that can aid him in combat. Some of these are support characters, some are offensive and others are more used for story purposes, but they are all fun to use and they really make the game feel different from your standard action RPG. Locations throughout the world are fun to explore and dungeons are fairly well designed, though they can be a bit repetitive. There's a lot of variety and no two places feel the same. The towns are also fun to explore, they really have that medieval English/Scottish/Irish feel to them, which perfectly fits the game.

The biggest problem here, and the one thing that makes this game merely good when it could have been great, is that it plays very, very, slow. Everything, from your attacks to your movement feels labored and I found it to really impact my timing on blocks. Everything is fair and balanced, the enemies move slowly as well, but it really brings down the pace of the game and I found it to be problematic. Remember, this is an action RPG we are talking about. The key word here is "action." There's a reason these things are typically fast paced, there are always tons of enemies after you and the games want to incentivize you to keep moving. Maybe it wasn't too bad, but it was especially jarring after having played Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Comparing A Bard's Tale to that, or something like Diablo, is night and day. The other issue I had, and this could just be a me problem, is that I found it a little hard to see everything going in on screen. There were times where it felt like enemies, or even the Bard himself, were blending in with the environment and it led to me taking extra hits fairly frequently.

Still, the game is very good and was a nice diversion from the more typical, serious RPG. The Bard's Tale is a solid diversion with humor that is absolutely on the nose for fans of the genre. A lot of the humor here might go above the heads of non-RPG fans, but there is still plenty to like. While I think the gameplay is a little too slow, I still think the overall package is worth a playthrough. Hey, if nothing else this game might have some of my favorite endings of all time. It's definitely more targeted to RPG fans, but the Bard's Tale is a good, solid effort that could really use a sequel or remake.

8.25/10