The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight (or The Bard's Tale 2) is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions in 1986. It is the first sequel to The Bard's Tale, and the last game of the series that was designed and programmed by Michael Cranford.

The game features Dungeons & Dragons-style characters and follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, The Bard's Tale, also created by Michael Cranford. The Bard's Tale II takes place on a larger scale with an explorable wilderness, six cities, and multiple dungeons that give this game its dungeon crawl character. The game has new features such as casinos and banks, and introduces a new magic user called an Archmage, among other changes from the first game in the series.

Although it received mixed reviews upon release, The Bard's Tale II won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1986.

In 2018, Krome Studios published a "remastered edition" as part of The Bard's Tale Remastered Trilogy.

Plot

In The Bard's Tale II, players lead a band of adventurers searching for seven pieces of the broken Destiny Wand in The Realm. Mercenaries roaming the land stand in the way. Players achieve victory after finding the pieces, defeating the Archmage Lagoth Zanta, and reforging the Wand.

After the optional "starter dungeon" in Tangramayne—available to develop fledgling characters—players pursue the segments of the Destiny Wand.

Setting and characters

The Bard's Tale II is set in "The Realm", which has been peaceful for 700 years. Peace was maintained by the Destiny Wand, forged by the Archmage Turin, until it was stolen and broken. The game features a large wilderness area and six cities—Colosse, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Tangramayne, and Thessalonica. Cities also contain dungeon entrances. or Ultima III: Exodus. Players can also include monsters indefinitely in the party—only a temporary feature in The Bard's Tale.

Character classes available at the start are the warrior, paladin, rogue, bard, hunter, monk, conjurer, and magician. The sorcerer, wizard, and archmage classes are not available at the start. Archmages are a new class. Empty character slots can also be filled with players or creatures through random encounters, spells, or the use of figurines. The game's namesake, the Bard, retains magical singing abilities. The seven available songs assist the party while exploring or fighting. Besides the character list, there is a visual interface on the left with interactive text on the right.

Combat has more depth than Bard's Tale I. Handheld weapons are useful at close range. Besides magic users, some items also cast spells. Parties must develop an archmage to achieve game success. Players can also discover non-player characters such as the Sage who provides useful advice, for a price. At Garth's Equipment Shoppe, players can buy, sell, or identify items. Parties can withdraw saved money from an account at Bedder's Bank for the Bold and gamble it at a casino. Characters advance levels and magical ability at the Review Board.

The game has 25 dungeon levels. In-game research and preparation are required for successful completion. Little light works in these magic-free zones. Drawing from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roots in the 1970s, these included the Wizardry and Ultima series. Additional disks allowed for a game larger in scope. Improving on the graphics and plotline of its predecessor, the game quickly found commercial success after release. Michael Cranford designed the game. Development drew from themes in The Lord of the Rings. It was also published on the Amiga. It was followed by The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate, published in March 1988.

Reception

The Bard's Tale II won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1986. In a 1991 review, Scorpia called the game "without a doubt, the worst of the series". Reviewer James Trunzo echoed Scorpia's comments about excessive repetition in snares and frustrating interaction with the Sage, requiring precise wording of questions. RUN magazine reviewer Bob Guerra praised the game's new enemies and their corresponding animations and stated the game "offers an irresistible challenge to all fans of role-playing fantasies." James Trunzo stated in Compute! that Bard's Tale II "lives up to its predecessor's excellent reputation". The magazine described the game as one "for the true adventure gamer. It is a very difficult and challenging game, and it requires great intestinal fortitude", and suggested that beginning adventurers avoid it. Ahoy!'s AmigaUser said "Bard's Tale II is a completely worthy successor to the 1986 award-winner. It is at least as good as the first title in the series, except where it is even better".

Hartley and Patricia Lesser reviewed the game in a 1987 issue of Dragon magazine. They indicated that fans of The Bard's Tale would like this sequel much better. Michael Bagnall also stated in 1987 that due to the number of new features, "It is its own game, whose design is familiar enough that veterans can leap right in, yet with so many unique elements that it will challenge and enthrall them even more than the original." After reaching an impasse in development, Olde Sküül and inXile agreed to transfer the project to Krome Studios.

On October 23, 2018, Krome Studios released a remastered version of The Destiny Knight as part of a series remake. This updated the graphics and added an automap feature, among other updates. The game was also published for the PC-98 in September 1991 and the Nintendo Entertainment System platform in January 1992.

See also

  • Silversword

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Game information with libraries of spells, detailed item information, and interactive game maps.
  • Game information for the Commodore 64 system.
  • Game information with libraries of items, maps, and a walkthrough.
  • Playminigames.net hosts Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight online (with ability to save games offline)