Bard's Tale IV - Not only Nostalgia

[HiddenX]

Gamesindustry has interviewed Brian Fargo about the Bard's Tale series:

"We can't rely on nostalgia to sell"

Brian Fargo mines the past with The Bard's Tale IV, looks to mine the future with blockchain-powered storefront Robot Cache

Brian Fargo built his career by creating classic games, and he's spent the last decade coming full circle, creating sequels and spiritual successors to classics. But speaking with GamesIndustry.biz at the Game Developers Conference this year, Fargo gave little indication that he was stuck in the past.

"We can't rely on nostalgia to sell," Fargo said. "And nostalgia is a two-edged sword. Because a lot of people's emotional attachment to the incredible experiences they had playing these games to begin with, were are at a moment in time that can never be recreated.

"It was like, 'I was in a dorm room with all my friends staying up all night and I didn't have a care in the world.' That feeling of playing that game? I could never recreate it, because maybe you got bills to pay, kids to feed, and you don't have that same light-heartedness."

As an example, Fargo said he had recently spoken with a fan who played one of his earlier games in a foreign language, with his grandmother at his side the entire time translating every part of the game for him.

"I can't recreate that. But when they think back, you're always worried they'll go, 'I don't think the new game's as good.' Well, you're not playing it with your grandmother. So there's that part of it you always have to be cognizant of. You can't reproduce that."

[...]

More information.

 

[Capt. Huggy Face]

It's a blobber. They're going to need some real help from nostalgia.

 

[Carnifex]

I'll be the first to say I'm personally probably setting my internal bar way too high for this, and I should lower my expectations. Then again, for me, all they have to do is recapture what they produced in the first three games, and I'll once again be hooked. Damn, I'm eager for this one!

 

[Pessimeister]

Not necessarily; not if the game is successfully marketed on specific facets of game-play. (The Hearthstone inspired combat for instance…)

I'm not really liking the sound of these interviews where Brian appears to somewhat repudiate the old-school players who no doubt represent a good proportion of the backing that the game has received.

The views of such players are also often misrepresented, falsely characterised on what they want and simplified seemingly for the sake of selling the game to a newer audience. I can't say I appreciate that too much to be honest but it remains to be seen how the backer Alpha feedback is going to be received.

Even on the official InXile forums, there are signs that the game is very much on its own tangent and is steadily moving away from many key resemblances of the original trilogy with humour and tone more in line with the revisit from 2004. The grid style movement even appears to be purely tacked on as more an afterthought than something genuine at this point. Thankfully there are threads for addressing important missing factors so that the developers can see what the community is saying.

The backer Alpha feedback on the forums has some interesting discussion which I invite members to check for more detail, particularly if you're a fan of the original games. https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=18803

 

[Couchpotato]

Not necessarily; not if the game is successfully marketed on specific facets of game-play. (The Hearthstone inspired combat for instance…)

I'm not really liking the sound of these interviews where Brian appears to somewhat repudiate the old-school players who no doubt represent a good proportion of the backing that the game has received.

The views of such players are also often misrepresented, falsely characterised on what they want and simplified seemingly for the sake of selling the game to a newer audience. I can't say I appreciate that too much to be honest.

Even on the official InXile forums, there are signs that the game is very much on its own tangent and is steadily moving away from many key resemblances of the original trilogy with humour and tone more in line with the revisit from 2004. The grid style movement even appears to be purely tacked on as more an afterthought than something genuine at this point. Thankfully there are threads for addressing important missing factors so that the developers can see what the community is saying.

The backer Alpha feedback on the forums has some interesting discussion which I invite members to check for more detail, particularly if you're a fan of the original games. https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=18803

Hmm may have to take a look at that link as I never liked the older games. I seem to recall I mentioned this on a different thread when it launched on kickstarter.

My first Bard's Tale game was the 2004 version, and it was just re-masted.

 

[you]

bard's tale (2004) was a dog (btw did the pc version get remastered?); but Brian basically said it was made to publisher spec and not what they would consider a bards tale. I keep thinking this (Bard's tale 4) and underworld will be very similar in game play and puzzle oriented.

 

[Couchpotato]

bard's tale was a dog (btw did the pc version get remastered?

Yes a new patch was released that updated the game.

Link - https://www.hardcoregamer.com/2017/09/28/review-the-bards-tale-remastered-and-resnarkled/273704/

With a patch to clean up the technical issues, The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled would be an incredible value. It’s a classic title that too few people played when it was new, cleaned up just enough to be visually acceptable, sold at a reasonable price. The game itself will take around twenty hours to polish off, depending on the difficulty level chosen and the dedication employed for finding the stat boosting tokens. When approaching this title, I was fully expecting to sing its praises for being the unappreciated gem that it is. It this edition’s current state that cannot be done with a clean conscious. Hopefully, InXile will take the time to address the bugs. Should they do so, this would be a title worth recommending to any one with a sense of humor and a desire to play a protagonist that deserves every piece of grief he receives.

Update: Remember this is the 2004 version not the classics.

 

[DarNoor]

The 2004 Bards Tale had nothing to do with the originals. Nothing!

 

[Carnifex]

Indeed, I seriously hope the current game has nothing at all in common with the 2004 Bard's Tale game. No thanks!

 

[you]

per my post above; it doesn't.

Indeed, I seriously hope the current game has nothing at all in common with the 2004 Bard's Tale game. No thanks!

 

[Carnifex]

I wasn't happy to hear that it looks like Bard's Tale four will have a check system for saving, that doesn't bode well, in my opinion. It just doesn't work for a deep dungeon delving game, and I'm sure I won't be the only voice of not liking this.

On the positive side, looks like they've found a company to not only update the original series for current machines, but to also make the products look better. I've never heard of Krome Studios, but I wish them well in the endeavour, and have to say I like the look of the art so far.

 

[Nephologist]

On the positive side, looks like they've found a company to not only update the original series for current machines, but to also make the products look better. I've never heard of Krome Studios, but I wish them well in the endeavour, and have to say I like the look of the art so far.

Source?

I thought Burger Becky's company Olde Skuul was working on it and they seem to be dragging their feet about it.

 

[Pessimeister]

The source is the from the horses mouth; according to the latest backer update, the company now responsible for the remasters is as Carn mentions, Krome Studios.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...le-iv/posts/2188974?ref=backer_project_update

I'm very curious to know more specifically about why Becky's company wasn't able to complete the task. That sense of authenticity now is certainly diminished.

 

[Carnifex]

Yes, the lack of information on why the original company couldn't do this project is intriguing. Perhaps we'll hear something later from the company in question, explaining the difficulties.

 

[you]

While it would be interesting to know the story behind company switch I think we've already been privy to far more information than would normally be released to the public (still we can hope for more ....)