Bards Tale 2

The Bard’s Tale II: The Destiny Knight - the 1986 role-playing game
for Commodore 64 from Electronic Arts.

Assemble the Destiny Wand by raiding seven deadly “Snares of Death,”
while your party treks between cities and wilderness to stop Lagoth
Zanta.

Core loop
- recruit or import heroes and gear up at the adventurers’ guild
- explore 3D cities, dungeons, and the overland map in grid steps
- grind, solve dungeon riddles, and gather wand segments to finish the quest

Systems and items
- classes - eight base classes with mage promotions up to archmage
- bard songs - light and party buffs that expire by steps
- summoning - conjurer/magician adds a 7th-slot monster to soak hits
- economy - temples, shoppe, and energy emporium manage heals and SP
- character import - bring parties forward from Bard’s Tale I and into III

Level design and feel
Bigger scope than BT1: multiple towns plus a hostile wilderness.
Seven puzzle-focused snares break routine with logic and mapping
tricks. Frequent disk access on real hardware.

Why it is notable
- last Bard’s Tale designed by Michael Cranford on C64
- adds an outdoor overworld and multi-city travel to the series

Tips
- start in Tangramayne sewers for safer early grinding
- keep a bard and a conjurer for light, buffs, and a front-line summon
- always save at the guild before entering a snare

At a glance
Year - 1986
Developer - Interplay Productions
Design and programming - Michael Cranford
Graphics - Todd J. Camasta
Music - David Warhol
Publisher - Electronic Arts
Genre - Role-playing
Players - 1
Controls - Keyboard only