Bard’s Tale 3: Quick Tips

Once in a while I get this super urge to go all out nostalgic on the weekends out of sheer boredom. Right now, Diablo 3 really is a bore for me, not going to lie, mostly because of the lack of content and people to play with. So instead, I turned my eye to other games. One of my all time favorites is Bard’s Tale 3. Although 2 probably is the best of the series in terms of its peak, 3 just has a little more going for it in terms of overall polish and the type of grind that I enjoy, which is why I decided to pick it up again, even going as far as using the Apple 2 version.

First off, I heavily suggest that if you decide to get this game, pick up the Apple 2 version. I found a stupid bug in the PC version where I would hit some experience cap that caused me not to be able to advance my attributes much further. On top of that if you get the Apple 2 version from Gog Games, you will have to purchase it via the newer version. Considering that this version includes Bard’s Tale 1 & 2, I’d say it’s a nice little bundle.

One of the chief advantages using the Apple 2 version bundled with the Gog Games one is that you’ll be outfitted with a party who has completed most of the quests and have decent gear. So if you want a quick start, you can just load that saved game and jump right in. If you want to create your own party, you can just swap off their equipment, although I suggest avoiding bringing any of the quest items initially.

Another reason to use the Apple 2 version is that there’s a well documented bug where you can visit the Review Board with the old man who will reward you with 600,000 experience points each time a new party member is seen in the group. What most people do is bring along a conjurer so that he/she can cast inwo (Instant Wolf) that allows you to summon a wolf. That triggers a flag that tricks the old man into believing you’ve never visited him before. So you can leave the building, summon a new wolf and rinse and repeat until you get the levels you want. Yes, this method is broken but for someone like myself who grinded to level 300+ on his Commodore 64/128 back in grade school and no longer has access to any of his saved game disks, this method pretty much brings you back up to speed.

Before going further, let me talk about initial party composition. Your starting party is best off looking like the following:

• Paladin
• Hunter
• Monk
• Bard
• Rogue
• Magician
• Conjurer

If you decide to not take any of the pre-build characters, then you want to have one of each with regards to the mage types. So Let me talk about why this party composition is good for starters.

• Paladin – Can use most weapons/armor. Has decent magic resistance and can use some special like the Pure Blade, Holy Avenger, etc. Your goal should be to eventually convert him to a Geomancer.
• Hunter – One of the deadliest classes in the game, but only for single target in melee range. Once you get to 99% critical hit, you pretty much will be taking out monsters with massive amounts of hit points or magic immune types. Make sure this character never goes insane!
• Monk – Up until your magic users can obtain the Nuke (Gotterdamerung) spell, you want to use a monk for massive single target damage. You’re pretty much waiting for your hunter and rogue to start critically hitting each time. Once they reach that level, you can ditch your monk. In Malefia, monks become absolutely useless since most monsters have far more hit points than the damage that your monk can dish out in a single blow. Still the high AC without using additional equipment makes a monk a fairly good mule for a while.
• Bard – Almost a must-have. I can’t recall a single area that requires a bard for their songs. However, the Trebuchet song and Minstrel’s Shield are pretty much must-haves towards the end.
• Rogue – You need one. Period. There are a few fights where only a rogue can hit the enemy and obliterate them at range. Not to mention they’re extremely useful for dealing with pesky traps.
• Magician – They have a few good offensive group spells early on. Also, the Restoration (rest) spell is invaluable for full party healing.
• Conjurer – They too have a few decent healing spells. The main reason to take one is their teleport spell. And if you want to do the XP cheat, then conjurers are great early on.

No matter what, you’ll need to get a chronomancer. My preference is to make sure one of my magic users is maxed out on spells before changing. That’s because a chronomancer requires a great deal of experience points to advance. While you can grind it out, it’s pretty tough early on and you’ll want to ensure that your chronomancer has enough high level attributes before trudging through slow advancement. The goal is to eventually hit level 13 where you can cast Fatal Fist (fafi), which proves to be the best all around, hard hitting massive damage spell prior to Nuke.

I did mention that you should look to swap out your monk down the line. This is not an absolute requirement but monks just are useless in Malefia. Without critical hit abilities, you just won’t pump out enough damage. So generally, what you’ll want to do is create a new magic user once you hit Tenebrosia since both your main archmage, chronomancer and geomancers will acquire Nuke in Black Scar. From there you can power level your new magic user and eventually switch him/her over to an archmage. I suggest that you max out all that spell caster’s spell classes as well just to compliment your main archmage. Also, don’t forget to get Divine Intervention and Gill in the other two worlds.

There’s a better walkthrough that talks about the gearing strategy and how to really maximize your characters’ weapons and gear. The main thing is that you should try to grind out in each area enough gear for your front line people. Even if you decide to use the inwo cheat, you’re still going to need gear from easier difficulty areas since they end up becoming your best-in-slot types.

Once you complete the starter zone (killing Brillhasti), you will want to make sure your characters are at least level 35. I believe killing Brillhasti without the inwo cheat will grant you enough experience by the Old Man at the Review Board to become at least level 35. And he will convert your magic users into archmages if they’re still behind. That should allow you to switch over to a chronomancer for at least one character.

Completing each zone guarantees 600,000 experience points with the exception of Tarmita and Malefia. That’s generally enough for 1-2 levels. The first four zones provide mediocre experience at best, although you should try to gain a few more levels in each spot before proceeding to the next. Part of the reason is that levels help with both magic resistance and ignoring monster’s magic resistance for spell casters beyond hit points, attributes and certain obvious ability increases.

For myself, I tend to grind a bit in Tenebrosia near the Wizard’s Guild by going back and forth between buildings. The experience in that zone is quite good and the items are also very good. Outside of trying to grab as many upgrades as possible, you’ll find yourself discovering a large number of harmonic gems. Malefia’s item table encompasses the entire game so you might want to create a few more mule characters and hoard them. You’ll also start finding Crystal Gems, which are similar to harmonic gems except they possess charges.

Once you are around level 60-70, you’re probably good for Malefia. Now, the next part is really a personal preference thing but you should just grind for a while in the first floor, avoiding teleporters and portals while gaining experience and finding upgrades. If you do the lower half of the dungeon without hitting any portals or teleports, you can probably gain enough experience for 3-4 levels. With the Old Man at the Review Board dead, you’ll have to use another realm like Tenebrosia to level up.

Most likely, your newer archmage (if you avoided a monk the entire time and went with a 3 magic user party from the start) as well as your geomancer will be pretty weak. Even if a geomancer’s stats are maxed out, their efficacy against monsters in this region will be pretty bad. Not to mention they will have a low amount of spell points. So you might consider grinding out in Malefia’s 1st floor for a while until you start seeing your geomancer perform better.

I found that around 48-50+ your magic users will start performing a lot better against monsters in Malefia. I tend to use my geomancer for Earth Ward in disarming all traps on the level. Then equipping a Stoneblade, my geomancer can help in one-shotting monsters. I’ll do this for a while until she’s improved her spell points and efficacy against groups. If you want your geomancer to be more magic focused, you’ll probably need to acquire a God’s Staff. These are pretty rare so you’re better off giving them to your main magic users rather than your geomancer.

Up until Malefia, most monsters can be handled by a single nuke spell. In Malefia, you’ll encounter monsters who can resist all spells, insta-gib your guys or blast you round after round. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you here, but generally I do most fights unless I encounter Rock Men. Those probably are the worst since your melee can’t touch them. You’ll need spell casters with Death Strike and Far Death to handle them. But if you see more than one group of them, you’re better off running or pushing them away with Far Foe.

Also, Slayers can be really nasty. However, they’re not magic resistant. So as long as you can dish out two nukes early on, you should be fine, especially for large groups. Vortexes are nasty for Geomancers since they drain your spell power. A hunter, rogue or someone with critical hit weapons like a Stoneblade do well against them. Gremlins are another nasty type because they’re magic resistant and damage your entire party each round. You pretty much need to advance or use a rogue with them. Most of the other monsters on the 1st level are pretty straight forward and can be dealt with through nukes, etc.

At any rate, this is just my little experience with the game and sharing how I play.

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