I’ve recapped an Apple 2e and started playing what was one of my first games, the bards tale.
I distinctly recall I beat the game, but I can hardly get 1/2 through the first floor of the first dungeon.
I started grinding near a temple where I can heal my party but the rng encounters make a very hard battle every 4-5 battles that wipe party members.
Reviving a party member cost 900 gold a level so if I do get them leveled up to 2 or 3 it’s too expensive to get a raise.
Anyone else remember this game?
I remember this game. I got pretty far in it. It’s super grindy. I remember there’s a part of the city near the starting tavern where there’s a little alcove with two doors facing each other. I spent a long time holding down the forward button and it would auto go in one door, out, into the other one, and back. Opening doors can randomly spawn mobs.
I’d go there fight a battle or two and heal up at the tavern, save, and go back. It’s close enough I wouldn’t normally random encounter before getting back.
I actually just bought it again on gog today. I was a little dissapointed that the legacy mode doesn’t show me the old graphics.
I played it on the Amstrad CPC, from cassette/tape. Saving/loading from tape took ages, so did the loading for dungeons. I have no idea how I managed to beat this game.
Do yourself a favour. Get the remastered version from gog. It’s the same game, with auto mapping and the ability to save and load whenever you want.
Or… draw maps and go to the adventurer’s guild every few minutes to save your game. And then grind, grind, grind, and grind :) Don’t bother reviving party members in the beginning, it’s too expensive!
I think I’m settled on using the apple to play since I bothered to recap it.
what you are saying is what I came up with, but I figured that there had to be a better way.
Have fun! I sure did back then, and when I replayed the remaster.
One tip: Somewhere in the sewers (I don’t remember which level) is a field where you encounter lots of enemies (20 or more?). They respawn when you change levels. I used that particular spot to farm, saves you at least some time! And don’t forget the fire horn, it’s extremely powerful and can be bought usually at Garth’s!
Good memories! Thank your for this post! It put a smile on my face!
I remember cheating.
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Create a party of x characters.
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Give all the starting gold and equipment to one of them.
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Kill the others.
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Create new characters to replace them.
Repeat as needed.
I had been doing that
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A few tips I just remembered: run away from harder encounters at first. Blow all your money on the front line (first 4 characters) for armor and weapons. Grind your way to level 6 or so before exploring the city and taking out the statues. Make sure you go to the advancement office to level up and to get new spells. By level 7 or so you should be good to start the dungeon. Save often, don’t go too deep, repeat the process of fighting and leaving to heal and grind your way up till the fights are easy, then start exploring.


