The Bard's Tale IV

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

The Bard's Tale IV

Looks like it starts getting some traction.

https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/559039453121884160

It's official.. And I'm very personally excited to be working on this. More details to follow.

 

[Vincentdante]

I am unfamilar with this series. What kind of games are they?

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

They can be classified as classic RPGs. I never played the original trilogy, only the satirical new Bard's Tale by inXile which is different (but which I liked quite a lot). The Bard's Tale IV is going to be more in continuation of the original series. However I'm already sure that inXile aren't making bad games, so I will gladly support this project.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bard's_Tale_(1985_video_game)
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bard's_Tale_II:_The_Destiny_Knight
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bard's_Tale_III:_Thief_of_Fate

 

[volsung]

I have a copy of that newish Bard's Tale that inXile gave me, guess I should play it. Isn't it an action RPG though?

 

[Blothulfur]

The original Bard's Tales were bloody ard as I remember, played first two but mainly remember second, first were set in Skara Brae (much discussion whether it was same city as in Ultima.) Second was set in cities named after Greek locations, in a big gameworld, Ephesus, Thessaloniki etcetera. Lagoth Zanta was the archmage being a nasty bastard in the second, disguised as the seer who you talk to throughout, for life of me I can't remember who were villain in first.

First person view like Dungeon Master, semi AD&D rules.

Edit: Not really that stoked about it, far better IP in old Interplay back catalogue if you ask me.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

I have a copy of that newish Bard's Tale that inXile gave me, guess I should play it. Isn't it an action RPG though?

It is an action RPG, but its main uniqueness lies in its satirical style and songs of course. For me it was the best game of 2013 when I got it on HB.

GOG still doesn't sell the Linux version for it (I have it both on GOG and HB, and only HB offers the Linux build). Though inXile answered me, that they'll get to releasing the Linux build on GOG, but later.

 

[mecha_fish.619]

I have clocked 70~ hours in the newish Bard's Tale. I highly recommend reading at least a *little* about Welsh-Celtic mythology before starting and playing the game in the context that it's satire of both the previous titles in the series AND every other traditional medieval RPG. There's songs and wacky humour and breakdancing zombies and the gameplay itself isn't too bad. The story/decision making was pretty good too-- not *complex* but there was benefits for being a snarky dick and benefits for being a nice sort of fellow, which was pretty hilarious and witty too. Would recommend.

That's the sort of stuff I'm expecting for this Bard's Tale IV, I highly doubt they're going to go back to traditional roots after being in such a hearty light tone. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not losing sleep over whether it's going to make me laugh as hard as III or not. So I have little to say other than the developers have pleased me once before and haven't displeased me at any point.

 

[Mr. Newmark]

I still haven't finished Wasteland 2, though I backed the original kickstarter on a physical tier.

Maybe the concept is too old school for me. My first crpgs were Baldur's Gate and Fallout. I liked it when I got a nice reward after a quest and not some snark or whinie reply from the quest giver. I left my game somewhere in the middle of the LA map and hope to get back to it sometimes, but it's not the savior of classical rpgs I thought I had backed. Hopefully Tides of Numenera will be better. At least the art style and the borrowed reprogrammed Unity engine from obsidian looks that way. A shame that they did not go with rtwp combat.

And now back to topic. I really hope Bard's Tale turns out good. But the original game was even a more dungeon crawler-esque game than Wasteland 1. And they have to finish Torment first and the newly 'Game of the Year' Xbone and PS4 editions of Wasteland 2.

 

[mecha_fish.619]

But the original game was even a more dungeon crawler-esque game than Wasteland 1

Do you mean the *first* Bard's Tale or the most recent Bard's Tale 3?

 

[Mr. Newmark]

Do you mean the *first* Bard's Tale or the most recent Bard's Tale 3?

I mean the first Bard's Tale

Foremost I haven't played any Bard's Tale game yet. A week ago I read a thorough article in a gaming magazine about the series. Basically you create an entire party and try to reach dungeons on a city map. Most of the the mobs you encounter could instagib you. The dungeons had no map, but all of them had exaxtly 22 by 22 tiles, so most players used graph paper to draw their own maps.
The whole approach reminds me of The Temple of Elemental Evil. One of my first gog games, though I haven't finished it due to difficulty.

Right now I am in the mindset to wait for Bard's Tale to be developed, tested and released. But I don't think I will participate in the crowd-funding and early access part.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

I have a copy of that newish Bard's Tale that inXile gave me, guess I should play it. Isn't it an action RPG though?

The Linux version was just released on GOG!

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Possibly new Kickstarter video in the works:

https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/585164019482435589

 

[HeadClot]

Maximum HYPE!

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

The Bard's Tale IV crowdfunding campaign is approaching: http://bardstale.inxile-entertainment.com

---------- Updated at 02:47 PM ----------

See also a recent interview with Brian Fargo about The Bard's Tale IV.

He also talks there about upgrading Wasteland 2 to Unity 5, releasing it on consoles and managing console and PC UIs properly. A very good read. I have to admit I still didn't buy Wasteland 2 yet, but I guess I'll do it as soon as they'll release Unity 5 update.

 

[Riven-Twain]

The latest inXile Bard's Tale was a jolly fun game! I loved the humour, and the voice-actors they had! I wonder if this new one will have aught like it. . . . Doesn't look like it'll resemble that one, though, as it seems to be a continuation of the much earlier games.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

The inXile Bard's Tale was a jolly fun game! I loved the humour, and the voice-actors they had! I wonder if this new one will have aught like it. . . .

I think they plan a game more in the spirit of the early Bard's Tales (but with up to date take on them). So it would probably be similar to what Pillars of Eternity is to Baldur's Gate games. Though I personally like their satirical Bard's Tale a lot too. It's one of my favorite games.

---------- Updated at 03:05 PM ----------

From some of their Q&A:

Brian Fargo announced inXile's next RPG project this weekend at PAX South: The Bard's Tale IV! <...>

"This project has always been really personal to me," Fargo told IGN. "It was a game that put both me and Interplay on the map, back in the day. And it's also the franchise that launched inXile."

InXile Entertainment is planning a Kickstarter for The Bard's Tale IV. Details about the game are still light, but Fargo did say the team will be pulling from the original as far as overarching ideas go. From a story perspective, players will be returning to Skara Brae, where it all began. But on the gameplay side of things, Fargo is planning a deviation.

"Traditional turn-based combat," as Fargo calls it, bases turns on varying factors, creating battles in which different characters attacked at different times, often alternating between opposing sides. But in The Bard's Tale IV, teams attack all at once. This increases the pace of the combat, and allows for a different set of tactics than the traditional system might allow.

"There will be plenty of combat diversity and depth," Fargo said. "You look at something like Hearthstone, for example. It's sort of that going back-and-forth process, and you see the complexity and detail and strategy and nuance that can happen. It's really an amazing system. I love those modern influences. I took a lot away from that, and see things we need to do with our combat system."

Of course for the immediate future our focus continues to be on Torment: Tides of Numenera and we're not done updating Wasteland 2 yet either. But we're excited to unveil this project and will continue to talk about it for a later crowdfunding to combine with our own funding.

Few Quick Questions:

Is this game will be closer to 2009 Bard's Tale or to "classic" ones?

Brian: more like the classics.

Brian: As much as I enjoyed our little Bard's Tale comedy romp, Bard's Tale IV is a proper sequel of the trilogy.

Can you tell us anything about the combat?

Brian: We are still designing the combat system for Bard's Tale but be assured it will be no real time click fest. Details much later...

Will it come to consoles?

Brian: Too early to say....but possible. We focus 100% of energies on PC while in development.

 

[Riven-Twain]

I think they plan a game more in the spirit of the early Bard's Tales (but with up to date take on them). So it would probably be similar to what Pillars of Eternity is to Baldur's Gate games. Though I personally like their satirical Bard's Tale a lot too. It's one of my favorite games.

Ay, I glanced at a couple articles. Pity, Cary Elwes made a fine comic Bard -- one of the few games that really made me laugh. As you may see from my avatar, and the signature, I though rather highly of the little gem.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Ay, I glanced at a couple articles. Pity, Cary Elwes made a fine comic Bard -- one of the few games that really made me laugh.

Yeah, it's one of the rare good satirical games.

Spoiler

Breakdance in the dungeon was hilarious ;D

 

[Riven-Twain]

Yeah, it's one of the rare good satirical games.

Spoiler

Breakdance in the dungeon was hilarious ;D

Spoiler

The Trow Chorus was always fun, not to mention the Narrator!

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Spoiler

The Trow Chorus was always fun, not to mention the Narrator!

Songs there are major part of the fun, and Narrator is great. They nailed the comedy element perfectly.