The Bard's Tale Preview
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The Dark Alliance engine has been given a pretty substantial graphical update, and so far The Bard's Tale looks better than any of the aforementioned games. Even on the PS2, the textures looked very pretty, with no apparent use of the same repetitive tiles over and over again. Trees and grasses sway in the wind, giving life to what are typically static backgrounds in these types of games. We also caught a glimpse of some pretty lighting features in The Bard's Tale. One example we saw of this in the demo was a stained glass window with light pouring in through the panes, casting various colored lights on the surfaces on the other side.
While the original was a party-based game with six members and one conjure slot, the new game will be kind of the inverse. While a few party members will come and go throughout the game, your Bard is the main character, and most of the time his companions will be those that he can summon. There's a wide variety to choose from, including fire elementals, balls of lightning, boulder-chucking giants and, of course, the aforementioned rat.
One party member that can potentially stay with you throughout the game is a puppy you'll happen upon early on. We don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that dog you found as a puppy has the potential to grow into a strong little helper, and can also use his wits to find things such as secret doors and hidden treasures, although his constant barking may alert some creatures to your presence. I guess you can think of the Bard as a medieval Shinobi.
