How to play the original Bards Tale

[ButterZ]

Hello, first i do not like emulators.
My quest is to buy or build a computer that will run bards tale on the hardware that was common at the time.
My first search for a pc that i came across ebay was a Commodore PC10 which has a 8088 processor and CGA graphics. But i am seeking reports of people that have done just that.
I know it sounds crazy since we have now a remake of Bards Tale but i really like the idea of the orignal hardware and the feeling to play it the way it was.
So, does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks

[The Frothing Otter]

I have 2 working Commodore 128 machines with 2 1571 disk drives. I would occasionally set one up and play the origional trilogy cause I as well am not a fan of emulators. But since the BT4 kickstarter came around I have been itching for the remasters.

I took this shot and posted it on Twitter tagging Brian Fargo... He was kind enough to retweet it :)

https://www.thefrothingotter.com/single-post/2015/06/07/Bards-Tale-IV

[kanoobi]

On my old computers, C16, C64 and C128, I very much enjoyed BASIC programming. I loved to spend hours creating programs. The last one I did in the 90's was an aid to my Astronomy hobby. They were such inteligent devices that could really bring out creativity in lots of different ways, as well as providing hours of gaming entertainment. It's a shame they became so obselete and scrap heaped after the console invasion. The attempt at relaunching the C64 as a cartridge console didn't do very wel either. It's amazing what developers did with just 64kb of RAM available though.

[ButterZ]

Sadly i was never really deeply invested in the C64 but i loved the machine for some reason. I think it was my first contact to gaming.
That it did not have the greatest graphics was an asset for the time. You had to imagine things more. Especially in text adventures. Parsers were meager but it made a lot of fun.
I loved playing with a friend Wizard of Wor. Great game. Or Winter Olympics.
But the true gems i missed for some reason. Never played Impossible Mission on it. All that came with the Amiga.

On a sidenote. I think my reason for opting a "classic" PC was mainly that it has more common parts and system. More specific or shall we say exclusive systems are much harder to get and to get neccessary parts to make it work. I would not like to start a C64 today with no speedloader. And since the floppydrive was essentially an additional computer these were and still are expensive.
But i seen some work arounds for the software side since it is pretty hard to get the floppies with the games you want.
If i ever find one that is not so expensive i will get it. And if i only store it in my closet. I had the "modern" version of it. C64C i believe it was called. Flat and modern.

[shadowshiv]

I love my C64 Emulator, as it allowed me to finish a game that I never was able to complete on my original C64. Knights of Legend by Origin. For some reason, at various intervals,. the game would attempt to load, and just sit there loading...until I shut my C64 off. I could advance in the game, but since it was such a tough (and long) game, it wasn't really worth it.

The emulated version never suffered from that error/bug, so I was able to finish it. Well, finish it as far as the game went, since it was supposed to be continued in a sequel (which was never made, unfortunately).

I've also played numerous RPG games on it, especially The Bard's Tale III and Ultima IV. I prefer the colour scheme for the C64 version of BT III over the PC version.

I also like being able to play the games that are now "fixed", as in their bugs have been removed or places that the game used to crash in no longer do so. I also like Trainers for the games that I sucked in, just so I can see the ending (Chiller, for example).

Good luck with your quest to find a gaming computer that will satisfy your thirst!