It takes several encounters before I
understand the basics of spellcasting in this game.
After consulting a few more online guides I figure out how to read character descriptions. Here I present you my party's magician, Kaenis.
Hmm, interesting pic. Let's see what the rest of my party looks like.
As you can see, I lead a very diverse group of memorable and unique
characters who look nothing like each other.
My token rogue, Baeru, has an interesting ability, that allows her to jump into the shadows.
This is of course a very useful ability, since every single enemy I've gone up against is able to see her leap briskly out of the group and hide.
The most interesting foe I come across by this time is 1 Dark Gnome (10')
I really don't know what (10') means, but I assume it does not mean the gnome is ten feet tall. My gallant band chooses to fight bravely.
After a lot of wandering and fighting, I decide to spend some of my adventuring party's well earned gold to tipping the bartender who claims "Talk ain't free"
His advice was definitely worth the effort, of course.
This guy has to be a master of body language to convey all that information in a smile. Either that, or that's his name. Smiles the Bartender.
I bid Smiles farewell and continue my adventure.
Determined to figure out what my mysterious sounding spells actually do, I decide in my next encounter against a hedge lizard to have all of my characters hold back on attacking and simply let Kaenis do the casting.
I'm very eager to know what "VOPL" and "QUFI" mean. "Scsi" probably means scissors so I don't care much about it.
Thank you the very ass much, Bard's Tale 3. That clearly did not tell me a thing.
I got the same message when casting both "Vopl" and "Qufi", just the "Kaenis casts a spell..." message followed by no description whatsoever.
Finally, I let curiousity get the better of me and cast "Scsi"
Thank you the very ass much, Bard's Tale 3.
After a LOT of searching, I finally found an online manual to Bard's Tale 3, complete with spells.
I really feel for the people way back who had to play this game without the internet. They probably had to . . . read the manual, I guess . . . (cough)
So after doing the smart thing (wander around aimlessly for a long time until I look at a walkthrough which tells me exactly where I have to go) I arrive at the dead city of Skara Brae.
My party enters a storeroom full of useful items just lying there. I could list every single one of these items, or I can simply raise an eyebrow at the "Harmonic Gems" and laugh at the "Soothing Balm"
This city is one big crap wad. It's full of old useless buildings, and the game allows you to enter every one of them, if only to take 10 seconds loading, then tell you "There's nothing inside". It's also full of not-especially-deadly monsters.
Amusingly the game tries to mirror the player's frustration at constantly having to battle inferior foes.
It was good enough to reward one of my characters with a Leather Gloves, however.
Ass Blaster VII, my trusty bard found opportunity to play one of her magical songs. I wish I knew what the hell they did.
At least "Safety Song" is more descriptive than "VOPL".
You know, Final Fantasy had all its spells and character names exactly four letters long, most likely to save storage space. But the fact that you can give songs lengthy names like "Bringaround Ballad" really makes it obvious how unnecessary it was to give the spells a minimal length. Great Damn Job, Interplay.
Oh well, at least they included some cool features.
Like this, for instance. If you wander around the city enough you can find one or two exact spots to stand, which give you secret messages.
Nifty!
After a while, one of these secret messages prompted me that to my east was The Old Review Board. Great, that sounds like just the place to stop by in a ghost town.
I go inside to find the city's only living resident.
"You mean the prophecies of the 6-penised Man? Yes, I heard those too."
I hate to break it to Captain Alzheimer's here, but seeing as every other living being in the city is dead, I'd say disaster has come and gone.
What the hell kind of password is that? Anyone who heard the bard's intro song at the beginning of the game already knows that Tarjan is the name of this murderous greater being. I'd assume it would be common knowledge.
What the . . . ? You can do that? Why the hell aren't you accompanying us into the dungeon?
Insert cliche plot contrivance such as "No, that's exactly what they'd expect me to do."
Continue
After consulting a few more online guides I figure out how to read character descriptions. Here I present you my party's magician, Kaenis.
Hmm, interesting pic. Let's see what the rest of my party looks like.
My token rogue, Baeru, has an interesting ability, that allows her to jump into the shadows.
This is of course a very useful ability, since every single enemy I've gone up against is able to see her leap briskly out of the group and hide.
The most interesting foe I come across by this time is 1 Dark Gnome (10')
I really don't know what (10') means, but I assume it does not mean the gnome is ten feet tall. My gallant band chooses to fight bravely.
After a lot of wandering and fighting, I decide to spend some of my adventuring party's well earned gold to tipping the bartender who claims "Talk ain't free"
His advice was definitely worth the effort, of course.
This guy has to be a master of body language to convey all that information in a smile. Either that, or that's his name. Smiles the Bartender.
I bid Smiles farewell and continue my adventure.
Determined to figure out what my mysterious sounding spells actually do, I decide in my next encounter against a hedge lizard to have all of my characters hold back on attacking and simply let Kaenis do the casting.
I'm very eager to know what "VOPL" and "QUFI" mean. "Scsi" probably means scissors so I don't care much about it.
Thank you the very ass much, Bard's Tale 3. That clearly did not tell me a thing.
I got the same message when casting both "Vopl" and "Qufi", just the "Kaenis casts a spell..." message followed by no description whatsoever.
Finally, I let curiousity get the better of me and cast "Scsi"
Thank you the very ass much, Bard's Tale 3.
After a LOT of searching, I finally found an online manual to Bard's Tale 3, complete with spells.
VOPLRiiighht.
Vorpal Plating - Causes the weapon (or hands) of a party
member to emit a magical field that inflicts 2 to 8 points
of additional damage.
QUFI
Quick Fix - Regenerates 8 hit points for a character, up to
the character's maximum hit point level.
SCSI
Scry Site - Causes a dungeon wall or wilderness pathway to
reveal the party's location.
I really feel for the people way back who had to play this game without the internet. They probably had to . . . read the manual, I guess . . . (cough)
So after doing the smart thing (wander around aimlessly for a long time until I look at a walkthrough which tells me exactly where I have to go) I arrive at the dead city of Skara Brae.
My party enters a storeroom full of useful items just lying there. I could list every single one of these items, or I can simply raise an eyebrow at the "Harmonic Gems" and laugh at the "Soothing Balm"
This city is one big crap wad. It's full of old useless buildings, and the game allows you to enter every one of them, if only to take 10 seconds loading, then tell you "There's nothing inside". It's also full of not-especially-deadly monsters.
Amusingly the game tries to mirror the player's frustration at constantly having to battle inferior foes.
It was good enough to reward one of my characters with a Leather Gloves, however.
Ass Blaster VII, my trusty bard found opportunity to play one of her magical songs. I wish I knew what the hell they did.
At least "Safety Song" is more descriptive than "VOPL".
You know, Final Fantasy had all its spells and character names exactly four letters long, most likely to save storage space. But the fact that you can give songs lengthy names like "Bringaround Ballad" really makes it obvious how unnecessary it was to give the spells a minimal length. Great Damn Job, Interplay.
Oh well, at least they included some cool features.
Like this, for instance. If you wander around the city enough you can find one or two exact spots to stand, which give you secret messages.
Nifty!
After a while, one of these secret messages prompted me that to my east was The Old Review Board. Great, that sounds like just the place to stop by in a ghost town.
I go inside to find the city's only living resident.
"You mean the prophecies of the 6-penised Man? Yes, I heard those too."
I hate to break it to Captain Alzheimer's here, but seeing as every other living being in the city is dead, I'd say disaster has come and gone.
What the hell kind of password is that? Anyone who heard the bard's intro song at the beginning of the game already knows that Tarjan is the name of this murderous greater being. I'd assume it would be common knowledge.
What the . . . ? You can do that? Why the hell aren't you accompanying us into the dungeon?
Insert cliche plot contrivance such as "No, that's exactly what they'd expect me to do."
Continue