So, I’ve not done much with speed running Bard’s Tale in late 2020 / early 2021. I have made several attempts to beat my 1:26 time, with fairly decent results, but nothing under the 1:10 mark yet. Simple mechanics and efficiency gains represent at most an additional 5 minutes of time I could shave off at this point. Leveling through all four magic user classes simply takes a lot of time and I’m unaware of any better methods to improve that speed. But I’m determined to win the game in less than 1 hour.
Interestingly, the game is very RNG intensive, and my analysis suggests that in theory, even a level 13 conjurer could win the game (with some very, very low probability, like 1:10,000,000). A level 3 bard and monk might even be able to (again with some very, very low probability, like 1:1,000,000,000).
Otherwise, the game is basically a question how how far to level up in each class so that you have a meaningful probability of winning (1:3?) the last battle. The major tradeoffs as I see it are something like what follows:
- Must start as Conjurer or Magician, but maybe skip one?
- Conjurer – TRZP and LEVI are high-utility spells, without LEVI you need Ali’s Carpet or a Broom, which are really hard to farm without TRZP.
- Conjurer’s APAR seems critical and time saving across the entire game. It’s not clear that walking around Harykn and Mangar levels results in significant time savings, if any.
- Magician – needed only for REST, so the entire class might be avoidable.
- Magician – STTO is the same as DEST and comes at level 9 / spell 5
- Maybe Skip Sorcerer?
- All sorcerer levels might be skipped entirely
- Red Dragon and MIBL are really only needed for harming Harkyn
- May want to get 4+ levels as a wizard to offset lack of luckshield, loss of 13 sorcerer levels
- If no STTO, DEST, or MIFI, what are my one hit options? Spectre-Snare as Wizard, ARFI does 30-120, SPBI and DMST are situationally effective
- Wizard is Probably a Must
- Wizards and Sorcerers get 1-8hp roll.
- Only Wizard can wield Spectre Snare in PC version
- SPSP at level 11 opens the door to substantial time savings
- Must have DISP spell via Wizard or Exorwand to get through possession trap (there are also other options, but they seem less time efficient).
- Skipping Wizard requires 2 additional levels to make up for the class luck bonus
- Requires at least two other classes to be level 5 or better, with spells at level 3 or better
As such, some variant of leveling to 13 as Conjurer, to level 5/9 as a Magician and/or Sorcerer, then a lot of Wizard levels may represent the fastest option. We’ll keep experimenting.