The Bard's Tale IV - Brian Fargo Answers and First Stretch Goal

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Myrthos

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The Kickstarter for The Bard's Tale IV has passed the 1.1 million mark and is trotting onwards to the 1.25 million Kickstarter goal. Over the weekend Brian Fargo spent some time answering questions.



And the first stretch goal has been announced.

Another question was regarding stretch goals. Where are they? We certainly have a number planned and ready but it just doesn’t feel right to put them out before we know we’re going to fund. Now that we’re comfortably heading to being fully funded we can no longer resist sending the first of these your way!

At $1.3 million, we will add an enhanced companion NPC system and add 2 more CNPCs, including Lioslaith the Shadow, a legendary Spear Daughter of the matriarchical Fichti people, the dark haired, woad-painted nature worshippers who live in the deep forests far to the northwest of Skara Brae.

With this enhanced companion NPC system, all recruitable NPCs will have unique personalities and backstories which will open up interesting side content and add rich and surprising reactivity to your adventure. In addition, these CNPCs will voice their thoughts and asides, giving their take on the people, places and events that you encounter as your party moves through the world. No two CNPCs are alike and they carry their own reputations with them. While they can add some additional firepower to your party, some might even get you into more trouble than you were expecting…
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More information.
 
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Here's the link.
 
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Are unique NPCs with personality/backstories really needed for this kind of game? Especially with there being just one slot in the party for them...
 
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I'm quite happy with the fact that we'll only have 4 player created characters. It's my favorite number.

As for NPC's, it might depend on wether we're looking at a pure dungeon crawler à la Grimrock, or a more Temple of Elemental Evil like setup.
 
azarhal said:
Are unique NPCs with personality/backstories really needed for this kind of game? Especially with there being just one slot in the party for them…
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Where did you see the single slot bit pls?

Edit: Found it in the video.

Also I don't see why the NPC you create also don't need personality/backstories etc. I mean personality/backstories can be something you select for the NPC you create as well. So there is no need to for the NPC you create to stay silent etc.
 
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azarhal said:
Are unique NPCs with personality/backstories really needed for this kind of game? Especially with there being just one slot in the party for them…
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Well, since they're going to be the source of optional content - I think it's great that they're fleshed out a bit.

Since I'm not sure what kind of game it is at this point, it's hard to say if it's a good match - but I'm having a hard time seeing how it's a bad thing to have NPCs with optional quests.
 
Loving what I'm hearing so far. I really like that there will be 2 additional slots, one for a recruitable NPC (which is always fun), and one for the much-needed summoned creature.

I hope they really go nuts with the summoning in this game. Every creature in the game should have their own unique stats, skills and abilities, and should be able to be summoned at some point. So, you can have 100s of options of summoned creatures, rather than just a few pre-selected ones. I *think* this is how it works in Elminage Gothic, but I'm not sure (and still trying to get clarification on it).

Can't wait for this one! This will be a day one play for me, which if you know me, is quite rare. :)
 
Uhhh I really hope this isn't the case. I just want to play a game, I don't want NPCs with "personalities" and Biowarian banter to interfere.

Bad news about the party size too, 6 players adds so much variety. Grimoire even has 8 characters.
 
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Given how close the first stretch goal is to base cost; this is clearly something they intended to do as part of the game. This is not a bad thing; I think all 'major' characters should have strong back stories.

Is it necessary ? Well that is a nebulous question. Nothing is 'necessary'; some people find it adds to the immersion of the game and others find it superficial fluff. It also depends on how it is done but it can add quite a lot to the game if it is done well and integrated into the entire game. What I've not seen very often is when a character's backstory dictate their actions. I.e, steal from you; try to backstab you in the right situation; insist that you go a certain path and so forth based on character backstory and basic motivation. Its hard to do this sort of thing - D:OS did a very poor job (not much flushed out with the backstory and the impact was short an uneventful) but the idea was in the right direciton and I'm hopeful they flushed out the idea and made it more eventful and lasting (not just a single moment that last a few minutes) in the EE version (only time will tell).
 
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Sacred_Path said:
I'm quite happy with the fact that we'll only have 4 player created characters. It's my favorite number.

As for NPC's, it might depend on wether we're looking at a pure dungeon crawler à la Grimrock, or a more Temple of Elemental Evil like setup.
Click to expand...

I'm a fan of 6 party members...adds a bit of variety and strategy.
 
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Humanity has risen! said:
Uhhh I really hope this isn't the case. I just want to play a game, I don't want NPCs with "personalities" and Biowarian banter to interfere.

Bad news about the party size too, 6 players adds so much variety. Grimoire even has 8 characters.
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It also slows the combat down with their new system where you give order and wait to see what happens with each character before deciding what to do next
 
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rune_74 said:
I'm a fan of 6 party members…adds a bit of variety and strategy.
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I understood from the video, that there would be 4 members + 1 companion you can change and meet in the game, plus a 6th slot for a summoned character, which might be persistent over multiple battles.

Brian Fargo also clarified the combat view: The zoom feature (if there is a sufficient budget for it) just moves the camera back a bit in combat so you can see your party. What isn't too clear is whether your individual party members will be mobile or just wave their weapons whilst staying rooted to the spot :).

I also liked Fargo's attitude to save games - not totally brutal so that you lose many hours of progress if you wipe, but still with a sting so there is a penalty for rushing. And presumably you can't just reload to get better loot, better stats on levelling etc.
 
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Zagorin said:
I don't think it is good idea to not save anywhere.
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I think this should be an option at game start. Adds tons of suspense you cannot get if you can't save anywhere.
 
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Saxon1974 said:
I think this should be an option at game start. Adds tons of suspense you cannot get if you can't save anywhere.
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You know that conversation had played thousand times before. The advantages/disadvantages for each save approach are known. I think it is a mistake to not include at least an option for save everywhere or there will be a backlash (look to shadowrun for a more recent example.). For the save scumming mechanic I believe the solution from Frayed Knights is more elegant.

And I think the differences of phase combat, turn-based or real time combat are known and there is not a confusion of what each means.
 
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Fluent said:
Loving what I'm hearing so far. I really like that there will be 2 additional slots, one for a recruitable NPC (which is always fun), and one for the much-needed summoned creature.

I hope they really go nuts with the summoning in this game. Every creature in the game should have their own unique stats, skills and abilities, and should be able to be summoned at some point. So, you can have 100s of options of summoned creatures, rather than just a few pre-selected ones. I *think* this is how it works in Elminage Gothic, but I'm not sure (and still trying to get clarification on it).

Can't wait for this one! This will be a day one play for me, which if you know me, is quite rare. :)
Click to expand...

In Bard's Tale 3 there were a number of summonable monsters.
The conjurer had a wolf and slayer.
The sorcerer a warrior, ogre, dragon, and giant (all illusions).
The Wizard could summon an undead creature, an elemental, and could force almost any monster in the game to join the party.
 
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forgottenlor said:
In Bard's Tale 3 there were a number of summonable monsters.
The conjurer had a wolf and slayer.
The sorcerer a warrior, ogre, dragon, and giant (all illusions).
The Wizard could summon an undead creature, an elemental, and could force almost any monster in the game to join the party.
Click to expand...

Great news! Did those games have respawns when you leave a dungeon or move to another floor? Hopefully you can grind if you want until you finally bag that monster you want to join your team. :)
 
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