Tales of the Unknown: Volume I - The Bard's Tale

the disappearance of "abandonware" bodes ill
for the digital world

What is "bards tale" now??
Is it Abandonware??
Can you buy it anyware??
On GOG you will not find this gem anymore.
It is gone for god or what??

The trilogy was one of my favorite sets of games from my youth; I pumped hundreds of hours into playing them at my friends place, then on my own PC when I finally got one. Side notes: BT4 was a disappointment but the Remastered original trilogy is really great and I highly recommend getting them

This is when EA was ECA and it didn't suck

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bard%27s_Tale_(1985_video_game)
This game is amazing.

This game is simply amazing. The creator of this game, Michael Cranford, is my father and when he showed this to me I loved it immediately. This is definitely one of the best RPG games ever made. -Dylan Cranford

This game seriously changed my life. So many of my interests to this day (Tolkien, D&D, wizards, 3-D first-person games, RPGs etc) were first brought into my awareness by it.

Mapping on graph paper was half the fun!

One of the best RG´s ever!

my very 1st rpg i ever played and loved it, i dont think ppl of today would have the patience to play it, i did the same thing aswell with the 99 berserkers.You had to do stuff like that in this game though, of wondering around and just killing, u just couldnt continue on in the game b/c ur guys would b to weak so u had to keep fighting the same guys over and over to level up alot.

Find the Apple IIGS version, far superior!

I wish I had a dollar for every time I massacred Baron Harkyn's legions (3 groups of 99 berserkers) when I was a kid. I spent hours killing them over and over and leveling up my party to insane levels. What a great game, good maps, fun story.

this was my first adventure game ever.
Thanks guys. It was very nice to play it again.

This and Wasteland are probably my favorite RPGs that employ this type of interface - first-person 3D for navigation and then text-based turns for combat.

Bards Tale provides a really rich system of combat equipment, spells, and magical items. Plus, the monsters and other enemies are truly varied and the slightly animated pictures of them are superb, especially compared to the other games of its time.

This is from the days before auto-mapping was common, so be sure to grab some graph paper and have some fun :)