Episode 165: The Bard's Tale
Added 2018-08-13 11:56:01 +0000 UTCThis week's episode is the companion to the Ultima podcast from a couple of months ago. We begin with a studio segment featuring Jason Wilson and Rowan Kaiser setting some context and perspective on the topic in question, then shift over to a noisy Game Developers Conference press room for a one-on-one with the game's designer. In this case, the game in question is The Bard's Tale, and the designer is Michael Cranford.
I realize the show has been a bit heavy on vintage CRPG designer interviews recently. It's just that when the opportunity arises to talk to the people who made video game history, it's hard to say no. We'll return to more standard studio episodes beginning next month, though.
Description: It's a double dose of bardy delight! First, Jason Wilson and Rowan Kaiser join Jeremy and Bob in the studio to talk about the importance of Interplay's The Bard's Tale. Then, designer Michael Cranford regales us with the saga of its creation.
Comments
I've loved hearing about all of these early CRPGs through Jeremy's quest for documenting the genre. I'm curious though, of all these early CRPGs, which is the most worth-playing for players of today? These games are notoriously time consuming, and I want to devote some time to one so I can understand what makes these games special. Any suggestions?
LuccaPucca
2018-12-02 05:15:38 +0000 UTCI worked at the company that distributed this and oh boy was it rough. No one I asked there had good things to say about it.
Victor Romero
2018-10-10 21:35:34 +0000 UTCLove hearing these CRPG episodes. Those games have always been a little overwhelming for me to dive into, but the lore and history around them is really interesting to hear about.
Matt from Hidden Machine
2018-08-14 14:51:58 +0000 UTCWe played through The Bard's Tale 2004 on Square Roots and the constant sexism, little bits of homophobia and completely broken gameplay and constant crashes (on PS4 anyhow) made it the single worst RPG we've done on the series.
Beefington von Barnstorm
2018-08-13 23:36:09 +0000 UTCMy first experience of The Bard's Tale was the C64 version on a friend's computer circa 1986. Our teen nerd brains were suitably blown. Also, this was the same friend (and at around the same time) who introduced me to prog rock and bands like Yes, and my brain still connects The Bard's Tale with albums like Yessongs playing in the background.
Aleisha
2018-08-13 17:41:15 +0000 UTCThe box art for this game always intrigued me. I love that you guys are looking at these titles.
Normallyretro
2018-08-13 17:23:08 +0000 UTCWow. The cover art features John Rhys Davies as the Bard!
Jerry Rattanong
2018-08-13 15:39:14 +0000 UTCI really appreciate the coverage of the great early computer RPG’s. Also, Greyhawk was Gary Gygax’s original setting for D&D, but Dave Arneson’s was Blackmoor.
2018-08-13 14:26:53 +0000 UTCThanks, I'm happy with them. We just try not to cluster too many similar topics into a short time. Normally these would be a bit more spread out! — JP
Retronauts
2018-08-13 14:21:00 +0000 UTCI got bought the NES version CIB recently but haven’t dove into it yet. This may just be the inspiration I needed to do so.
Eric Plunk
2018-08-13 14:18:54 +0000 UTC
