History VideoGame / TheBardsTale

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Fnarf loves to talk like this.

* BigBad: Fionnaoch. He leads the fanatical druids willing to slaughter any who threatens to free Princess Caleigh including The Bard, and he makes contact with all of the guardians of the towers that maintain Princess Caleigh's prison, warning them of The Bard and sending in druids to aid them. Princess Caleigh later reveals that he's also the one behind the ZombieApocalypse that begins ravaging the land about halfway through the game. [[spoiler: This is a lie. Fionnaoch's a GoodAllAlong HeroAntagonist while it's actually the seal weakening on Demon Princess Caleigh's prison that's causing the dead to rise. With that in mind, she could be considered the real BigBad, manipulating The Bard into going a treacherous quest to free her and plunge the world into chaos though this is averted if he takes her offer to join her and finish off Fionnaoch anyway. They even get a HappyEnding together.]]

* CrapsackWorld: It already began as pretty nasty with murderous Kunal Trow and vicious, wild wolves bigger than men wandering the fields and forests, but at least the towns were safe. After completing the first tower dungeon, the state of the world quickly turns FromBadToWorse mostly due to a ZombieApocalypse that decimates the majority of the towns in the game.
** DeathWorld: By the time you're halfway through the game, the safest town in the game is a DungeonTown filled with murderous Druids that slaughter random civilians. Unless you count the optional Finstown which has been completely conquered by HornyVikings who have imprisoned all of the townsfolk except for those who have escaped. You can save the townsfolk from the vikings but upon leaving, you're locked out forever for allowing the Vikings to invade in the first place due to [[NoodleIncident past actions involving an imprisoned dragon.]]

* DungeonTown: The town of Dounby. Justified as the town is also the location of [[TheBigBad Fionnaoch's]] [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Tower]] so it makes sense that the streets would be swarming with his druids.

* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler: ''Demon'' Princess Caleigh. As the seal on her prison weakens, the world sinks further and further into a DeathWorld with undead monstrosities and other strange abominations wandering about and causing trouble for The Bard. She claims that it's Fionnaoch's fault, but the reality is that she just wants him dead to undo the last seal on her prison, so she can rule the world. That said she does [[IGaveMyWord honor her end of the agreement]] with The Bard and the two end up ruling the world together, though all The Bard cares about is the sex.]]

* FaceOfAThug: The Crone. Her description points out that she looks like a WickedWitch but her specialty is healing magic and she's always eager to help out with her powers.
** [[spoiler: Fionnaoch too. He seems to be your typical EvilSorcerer but he is in fact actually trying to ''stop'' the inevitable chaos that would follow the Demon Princess Caleigh's freedom. Fittingly enough, if you ask The Crone for advice at this point she notes how looks can be deceiving and suggests siding with Fionnaoch.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Fionnaoch and his druids spend a good chunk of the game trying to kill The Bard and are even shown to murder random civilians in Dounby. However considering how some of the Dounby townsfolk support the idea of freeing Caleigh when her freedom would unleash hell on Earth, you can at least see why they're so fanatical about making sure no one even thinks about trying to rescue her.]]

* JerkassVictim: People like to mess with the Bard, sending him on goose chases. But he's enough of a {{Jerkass}} that he has it coming.
** The Renard Brothers, especially if you decide to summon the Knocker right in front of them.

** The outcome of the {{Geass}} breaking quest rewards you with either a sword that will later be replaced or a token with a permanent stat boost, which is one of the rare times where being a {{Jerkass}} is outright detrimental to you.

* PlotTunnel: Once you enter the Mountain Pass and get put under a {{Geas}}, you won't be able to return to any previous locations until you undo it and reach Dounby 3 Chapters later.

* AffectionateParody: While on one hand the game features some nice celtic settings, it doesn't take himself seriously at all.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: If you choose to be snarky to Gower in the end of the mountain pass segment, the bard will [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin give the sword to him]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** The Nuckelavee isn't a monster made up for the game but an actual mythological creature from the Orkney Islands' folklore.
** The Haggis monster boss may be a nod to a real hoax which jokes that haggis is made from the flesh of an actual animal, the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_haggis wild haggis]]".

* NotQuiteDead: Parodied for all that's worth with Bobd (well... one of them), after he's run through by the Nuckelavee.

** If you run away from a village that ambushes you, all you get is a snarky comment about your reputation preceding you and it is wiped from the map. This means you miss out on the whole viking segment, and all the treasure and new summons that go with it.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: If you run away from a village that ambushes you, all you get is a snarky comment about your reputation preceding you and it is wiped from the map. This means you miss out on the whole viking segment, and all the treasure and new summons that go with it.

** The Nuckelavee isn't a monster made up for the game but [[MinorlyMentionedMythsAndMonsters an actual mythological creature from the Orkney Islands' folklore]].

* DualWielding: The Bard can learn to dual wield a sword with a [[KnifeNut dirk]] in the off-hand. He can't knock down enemies, but he can chain several, damaging strikes in a row.

* AntiHero: Deconstructed in the Evil ending. [[spoiler:The Bard has no particular stake in saving the world, so siding with Caleigh really is the best choice for him.]] Though the same could be said for the neutral ending, wherein [[spoiler:the Bard leaves and gets drunk with some zombies. As it turns out, The Bard doesn't make to be any sort of hero or villain at all, and the undead apparently make great bar buddies (and definitely good dancers, too)]].

* MoneySpider: Parodied. After one straight execution of this trope happens, the narrator says that he'll skip all such passages in the future. The Bard complains, since it was a major source of income. Since the VendorTrash they do drop is instantly converted to coins it works out the same.

* VendorTrash: All sorts of it, among it {{Wanted Poster}}s of the Bard himself, but thankfully, it's all exchanged for silver as soon as it's acquired.

* UpToEleven: The sound options can be set to 11.

* ShmuckBait: A chest in the middle of nowhere is obviously a trap, but the Bard goes "oh, what the hell" and loots it anyway. The dialogue with the two men from Finnstown also makes it quite clear that the town did ''not'' bake you a cake. The most literal example, however, would be [[spoiler: princess Caleigh herself, and her ready acceptance to give you whatever you want, including money which she shouldn't realistically have, and all the sex you want.]]

** TheChosenZero: Not only is the Bard an unlikely hero (and has this pointed out to him), there are many other "Chosen Ones" (people who think the are, anyway [[note]]They actually are, but they just sucked.[[/note]]) who end up dead or worse. And after you come across them, [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment some trow come out and sing about it]]! [[spoiler: A dialogue between Fionnaoch and Caleigh may subtly imply that Fionnaoch himself started this way.]]

* DungeonTown: The town of Dounby. Justified as the town is also the location of [[TheBigBad Fionnaoch's]][[EvilTowerOfOminousness Tower]] so it makes sense that the streets would be swarming with his druids.

** The Nuckelavee isn't a monster made up for the game but an actual mythological creature from the Orkney Islands' folklore.

** You eventually receive a sword that can speak. When getting hit it advises you to use [[Film/ThePrincessBride Capo Ferro]]. Double points, given who voices the Bard.

* UndignifiedDeath: The reason why the Jarl is stuck on earth as a Draugr: when he was about to start the greatest raid of all times, he was so drunk he fell on his own sword and gutted himself. The Bard finds this hilarious.
* TheUnintelligible: [=MacRath=] only speaks an old scottish dialect so thick the Bard (and the Narrator) cannot make a word out of it.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The Nuckelavee isn't a monster made up for the game but an actual mythological creature from the Orkney Islands' folklore.

Has nothing to do with the games of ''VideoGame/TheBardsTaleTrilogy'' (the first game being titled ''The Bard's Tale'' [1985]), although it does have a few shout outs to it (and some editions include the earlier games as an extra). To be fair though, this game ''was'' supposed to be a remake of the original game, but Creator/InXileEntertainment didn't have the rights to the original game as Creator/ElectronicArts held the rights to the series. The game was developed by Creator/InXileEntertainment, who are now also working on ''VideoGame/TheBardsTaleIV'', a true sequel to the original trilogy.

!!The 2004 game provides examples of:

* MoneySpider: Parodied. After one straight execution of this trope happens, the narrator says that he'll skip all such passages in the future. The Bard complains, since it was a major source of income.