The Bard's Tale: Won!

Testing my mettle against Storm Giants

  

My final party makeup for assaulting Mangar looks like this:

Ahab, level 19 Paladin

• Arc's Hammer - For hitting single targets 
• Dragonshield - Main death dealer; heavy group-targeting damage
• Mithril Plate
• Shield Ring
• Wargloves
• Diamond Helm
• Silver Triangle
• Thor Figurine - Summons Thor for battle, though this is seldom used
• Surprisingly good at running away! 

 

 Sunfall, level 19 Bard

• Bardsword does poor damage but gives free songs when outside of combat
• Flame Horn - Easily the most damaging group-targeting weapon in my disposal 
• Pipes of Pan - Lowers AC and provides free magic light 
• Adamantium Shield
• Adamantium Helm 
• Bracers [4]
• Wargloves
• Speedboots - I'm not totally sure what they do, to be honest.
• Twin songs of Traveller's Tune and Lucklaran provide passive AC boosts and magic resistance, respectively.

 

Viila, level 13 Wizard/Sorcerer/Conjuror

• Shield Ring
• Bracers [4]
• Luckshield
• Sorcererstaff - Lowers AC
• Mithril Gloves
• Lorehelm - Lowers AC and gives free Second Sight casts
• Silver Square
• Useful Wizard magic:
• Repel Dead - 16d5 damage to a group of undead monsters
• Dispossess - Cure 'possess' state
• Demon Strike - 32d4 damage to a group of demons
• Beyond Death - 1HP restoration to a dead ally
• Greater Summoning - Summons a greater demon
• Useful Sorcerer magic:
• Mind Fist - 39d4 damage to one monster. Level-based.
• Mind Blade - 10d4 damage to all monsters.
• Second Sight - Passive detection of traps, stairs, and special encounters
• Useful Conjuror magic: Trap Zap, Magic Compass

 

 Scribe, level 13 Wizard/Sorcerer/Magician

• Shield Ring
• Bracers [6]
• Luckshield
• Lorehelm
• Dragonwand - Heavy group-damaging magic. Outdamages any group-targeting spells.
• Conjurstaff - Cuts SP use in half.
• Same Wizard/Sorcerer spells as Viila.
• Useful Magician magic:
• Scry Site - Gives dungeon coordinates
• Mystic Shield - Passive AC boost to party
• Restoration - Heals party 100% and cures poison and insanity
• Deathstrike - Death to one monster with a high success rate

 

Magic Mike, level 12 Wizard/Sorcerer/Conjuror

• Shield Ring
• Luckshield
• Onyx Key
• Sorcererstaff
• Bracers [4]
• Lorehelm
• Kiel's Compass - Limited free casts of Scry Site (locate spell)
• Deathring - Revives dead party members, but leaves them in a 'possess' state
• All of Viila's spells except Greater Summoning

 

Houdini, level 11 Wizard/Sorcerer/Conjuror

• Bracers [6]
• Luckshield
• Sorcerstaff
• Silver Circle
• Shield Ring
• Dragonwand
• All of Viila's spells except Greater Summoning

Savvy players might infer that it could be optimal to switch Viila and Scribe to Conjuror/Magician respectively so that they can learn their final spells and become archmages, but I'm putting that off. For this final campaign, I want high levels, not maximum versatility.

Even this late in the game, I don't have a lot of tactical options. I run as much as possible - it doesn't always work. The only buffs worth using are passive magic boosts and bardsongs; any turn you have to spend in combat is better spent killing some of the threats, and most of the monsters go first most of the time, so you'll bear the brunt of the damage that you're going to take during round 1 anyways, before you even have a chance to use your magic to mitigate it.

I do, however, make a save state at the start, and I need it almost immediately. I win my first fight against cloud giants, and lose Viila, but before I can revive him, I'm immediately ambushed by a pack of spectres who level drain me. And I've just about had it with playing fair with that bullshit.

Truth be told, this isn't my first attempt - I had an earlier go with levels at 17/17/11/11/10/6, and another at 18/18/12/12/11/9. And while I managed to map out the tower and find Mangar, I had been abusing save states so badly that it dawned on me that I was probably meant to grind a few more levels.

A Stairs down B Message C Combat D Trap E Teleport F Smoke G Storm Giants H Possession I Ancient Enemies J Balrogs K Boiling liquid L Archmage M Spectres N Silver engravings O Black Dragons P Spectre Snare Q Mangar

  

Even now, I'm probably underleveled for this tower - some of the random fights still aren't winnable, such as a fight against 8 Greater Demons and 24 Mandar Guards which wiped out my fully healed party before anyone could even do anything. Level drains at the hands of spectres and vampires are unavoidable except through luck. You just have to be lucky enough to reach him without hitting a TPK encounter you can't run from, and with enough levels intact to win.

In my successful run, in which I knew exactly where to go, I had almost twenty encounters, one of which was lethal to a single party member (Viila). I ran away from most, and feel this was lucky, as multiple unsuccessful runs got me pummeled with unrecoverable losses if not outright TPK'd.

Viila gets possessed in the dark and initiates combat

Strange enemies lurk in these cells. No reason to fight them.

Yes, you need to do this!

 

Level-draining Spectres guard Mangar's outer cloister. I got lucky this time.

Hope you remembered the tokens!

A lava-filled passage leads to a dark antechamber.

Riddles in the dark.

Solving the riddle behind Mangar's inner sanctum gets you the Spectre Snare, a wand that can possess monsters, including Mangar. This goes to Magic Mike - I learned the hard way in prior attempts that Mangar has a nasty habit of killing or possessing the Snare holder, so let's not make this any easier for him than necessary!

He summons two Greater Demons and three Vampire Lords for protection.

On round 1, Magic Mike snares Mangar, and we unload everything else we've got on the Greater Demons - Dragonshield, Dragonwand, Flame Horn, Deathstrike, Mind Fist. Group-damaging spells just aren't powerful enough, not even Demon Strike! Vampire Lords can level drain, which sucks, but Greater Demons can wipe out the party.

The results - Viila is level drained and possessed, and Sunfall is killed by a Deathstrike, but the survivors take out the Greater Demons, leaving me the Vampire Lords and whatever undead creatures they can summon.

Round 2 - We unload on the Vampires. Again, Repel Undead is too weak, so we use the Dragonshield, Dragonwand, Deathstrike, and Mind Fist.

Scribe is level drained, and Houdini is killed by a Deathstrike, but the Vampire Lords are dead, leaving me with a lone, harmless ghoul.

On Round 3, Mangar, despite being snared, is still able to cast spells, and Deathstrikes Scribe before Scribe can Deathstrike him!

So I summon Thor, not because I need his powers, but because he will erase Mangar from my summons slot.

You have been deref'd!

Kylearan appears.

Um, couldn't you have done that before I proved I don't need it?

 

Magic Mike teleports us back home where we recover and make our final levels up, which includes putting Scribe, Viila, and Magic Mike on their final spellcasting classes of the archmage path. Skara Brae's city gates are still snowed-in, and Sinister Street still loops infinitely - I guess that doesn't change until the sequel.

 

GAB rating: Average. Better than Maze Master, but worse than Wizardry III.

This is probably the best Wizardry clone yet (I haven't played Alternate Reality and don't plan to), with solid bones and plenty of meat on them. It's also one of the best looking Apple II games yet, making excellent use of its limited palette for both its pseudo-3D perspective graphics and the well-illustrated monster and character portraits, some of which are animated.

However, it never really rises above "adequate" in any regard except its graphics. The dungeons, where you spend the vast majority of your time, are not that interesting, and they're too big and too stuffed with filler, like repetitive spinner mazes that don't go anywhere, but you'll have to fully explore anyway just to find out that there's nothing in them to find. They make Wizardry's worst dungeons look compact and focused by comparison.

Wizardry's greatest strength, its surprisingly deep, tactical combat engine, remains leagues ahead of The Bard's Tale, which adopted very little of it. Wizardry demanded that you take each combat encounter seriously thanks to its quasi-permadeath, but gave you the tools for it, and made almost every spell and ability useful and distinct. Here, you mainly spam group damage and the only tactical consideration is assessing threat priority. Apart from that, success or failure is determined by luck and grinding; more of one offsets the need for the other. Fail, and you just restart and reload - the manual expressly advises this. And to ensure some semblance of challenge, the game keeps spawning endless random encounters at you to interrupt your exploration and drain your resources. It's just numbing!

So overall, I'm a little disappointed. And dreading the sequels.