Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight


Bard's Tale 2 Hints and Walkthroughs

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From the Manual...

Tips from the Adventurer's Guild:


Characters

1. Don't be too concerned about losing a level 1 character; just make another. When your characters reach level 3, however, backup your character disk regularly with your favorite disk copy utility.

2. You have several options if your favorite character is killed. You can spend spell points to resurrect the character with magic, or gold to resurrect the character in a temple. You can turn off the computer, reboot, and reload your party from the point where you last saved them to disk (meaning all the characters lose all the gold and experience points they may have earned since the last time they were saved). Or you can delete the dead character from your main character disk, and replace the character from your backup disk.

3. 16's, 17's, and 18's can often make a big difference when "rolling" for a character's attributes. For example, Dexterity gives everyone bonus armor protection and first strike capabilities; Strength enables you to do extra damage in combat; Luck often allows you to survive even if you accidentally spring a trap; and Constitution provides all characters with extra hit points. Although it makes no difference in the first allotment, magic users with high intelligence ratings get bonus spell points in later turns.

4. Many races have a specific attribute they excel in. Pay close attention to the starting attributes when designing your party.

5. Develop a Sorcerer fast -- they're quite useful in dungeons. Wizards are very important at advanced levels because they can summon extremely powerful special members. Work toward Archmagedom. You'll need at least one, and wish you had many more.

6. The *ATEAM, while excellent for the starter dungeon, may not last long at the advanced levels. Experiment with a hunter: because of their "critical hit" capability, a hunter can often vanquish superior monsters. And don't overlook monks -- after the sixth level they are probably the best fighters of all.

7. Warriors and other fighters are often less effective against the higher level, magic-using monsters, but without their protection your magic users won't survive long enough to learn the higher level magic spells.

Places

1. Your first adventure should be in the starter dungeon in Tangramayne. The starter dungeon is at the opposite end of town from the Adventurer's Guild. Instructions and details about this dungeon are presented when your party enters. Any party is allowed in the starter dungeon, but only characters less than level 12 receive the maximum reward for completing the starter dungeon.

2. Explore and map every square in every maze. There are "Magic Mouths" that give hints. Mazes also contain one-of-a-kind magic items and spell regeneration zones. In addition to keeping you alive, carefully drawn maps will show the logical places for secret doors and rooms.

3. Avoid potential traps. High level rogues can easily open chests, but use the "Trap zap" spell when in doubt. TRZP is guaranteed to protect the party from harm. TRZP will disarm any trap you encounter, including the innocuous Gas Cloud traps -- which have doomed many brave (but foolish) heroes.

4. Make sure all members of your party are fully healed before entering a new dungeon.

5. When finding your bearings in a labyrinth, remember that each successive level goes up in a tower or castle, and down in a dungeon or tomb.

6. The segments of the Destiny Wand are hidden within real-time puzzle rooms known as Snares of Death. The game will alert you when your party has entered one. Once inside, you have a limited amount of time to complete the various tasks, puzzles, and riddles within the room and retrieve the segment. In some rooms the tasks must be completed in a specific order, in other rooms the order isn't important. In any case, if you take too long in a puzzle room, your entire party will instantly perish. There is a Snare of Death in every dungeon with the exception of the starter.

Combat

1. The character with the highest dexterity rating and level number usually attacks first. Use the character with the highest dexterity rating to attack especially fearsome creatures such as Dragons. Less dexterous characters might not survive long enough to get in the first strike.

2. Use spells and Bard song to lower the armor class of your entire party. Remember, the lower the armor class rating the better.

3. If attacked by more than two groups of monsters, concentrate your efforts on the magic users first. If you can't kill all the magic-using monsters, cast magic-repellent spells to protect your party from illusions, possessions, and other spells.

4. As a general rule, attack groups containing only one monster last, unless it contains a particularly deadly monster, then attack it while your party is strong.

5. Many undead monsters (monsters who have returned from the dead; i.e., zombies) can drain experience levels, rapidly age characters, critically hit, or even turn characters to stone. Treat the undead with respect -- kill them quickly.

6. Be prepared to lose a lot of level one and two characters; especially at night and when you're walking unarmed to Garth's Equipment Shoppe. In fact, it's a good idea to stay close to temples at night so you can heal wounds quickly.

7. Remember that you cannot physically attack a group of monsters that are more than 20' away. You can't advance up to them either, if there is another group already within melee range. For this reason, keep a well-stocked supply of missile weapons (i.e., arrows, spears, axes, etc.) -- they allow you to attack monsters who hide behind others.

Magic

1. Don't venture too far into dungeons without your maximum spell points. It's a good rule to leave a dungeon when you're down to one quarter of your maximum spell points.

2. Carefully manage your spell points. Don't use a magic light spell when a torch will work just as well. But don't be shy about using magic in combat. If you've got it, flaunt it... rock 'n' roll.

3. Locate traps. Second Sight and other sorcerer sight spells can identify traps within 30 feet (3 squares). The Trapzap spell disarms all traps within 30 feet.

4. Play a long-lasting Bard song right before entering a tavern -- it's like getting a free spell.

5. Try using a light spell or singing bard tune number 7 even in anti-magic zones. Though the spell won't last, it will provide a brief flash of light that may help you get your bearings. This trick occasionally works with ordinary torches and lanterns.

6. The screen flashes when your party is teleported. This is handy to know because many dungeon corridors look alike, and it's sometimes hard to tell when your party has been teleported to a new location.

Items

1. Generally, the more expensive an item is, the better it works. Just like in your own world.

2. There are no cursed or bad items, but some may be useless.

3. Don't be stingy. Buy the best equipment you can afford -- spend the whole bank roll. After all, if your party is well-equipped they'll get more gold from the monsters they defeat, and if your party is killed, the saved gold won't do you any good anyway.

4. Experiment with the items you find to determine their capabilities. Magic items are often the key to success, and remember, an item may be magical for only certain characters or classes, so trade the item between your characters.

5. Make sure that some characters have open space in their inventory, or your party won't be able to pick up new magical items in their travels.

6. Save your party to disk as soon as they capture a particularly interesting or powerful magic item. This way, even if disaster strikes, you'll still have the item.

7. The Sage can answer questions about the purpose behind some of the items you'll find in the higher level dungeons, but be prepared to pay a steep price.

8. Destiny Wand segments contain powerful magic. Each segment contains magic that creates its own specific effect. You will have to experiment with the segment to learn how to use the magic.

9. The Destiny Knight game disks and manual aren't protected by magic shields or quick fixes. Don't leave them where little monsters can eat them.

10. Here's a final clue that may (or may not) help you:
1. SSSWNWWWWNEEEENWN
2. SSSWWWWWWNNWNEESSEENWNEEN
3. WSESSWWWWWWWWNNNNEEESSEEENN
4. WSWWNEN
5. SSSWWWWWNEEEENWWWWNEEEN
6. SSWNNWSSWWWWNEEENNEN
7. SWWWWWWSSWWNNNEEEEEEN

[S = South, N = North W = West, E = East]