Bard's Tale, The (USA)

The Bard's Tale on the NES is a port of the popular role-playing game of the same name from personal computers. Players begin by creating an adventuring party of up to six characters, choosing from various classes such as Fighter, Rogue, Bard, Magic User, and Conjurer. Each class possesses unique abilities and roles within the party, ranging from direct combat to casting supportive or offensive spells.

The core gameplay of The Bard's Tale revolves around exploring dungeons and other areas within the city of Skara Brae from a first-person perspective, moving grid by grid. The game environments are often dark and labyrinthine, requiring players to either memorize paths or draw maps. Upon encountering enemies, the game transitions into turn-based combat. During battle, character speed determines the action order. Players must issue commands to each character, choosing to attack, cast spells, or use items.

A distinctive feature of the game is the role of the Bard, who can play different songs to provide beneficial effects to the party or inflict harm on enemies. The magic system is also quite extensive, with various types of spells categorized by different schools of magic. The ultimate goal for players is to explore the dark dungeons, acquire powerful equipment, level up their characters, and eventually confront and defeat the evil wizard Mangar to liberate Skara Brae. The NES version simplified some aspects compared to the original PC release, but it retains the essence of a classic dungeon-crawling RPG.