Bard's Tale IV

TheRealFluent

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Once again InXile delivers on their promises. This is an old-school RPG but modern enough with conveniences and streamlines that do not detract from the game. I'm enjoying it. Combat is fun and intricate, exploration is better than I thought with plenty of secrets and not a ton of hand-holding in that regard, you're free to explore and find things. Playing at 2K resolution on Ultra settings and haven't even had a hitch. Game looks pretty good, not as good as the original engine videos but still nice enough for me. Thank you InXile and Brian Fargo for again delivering the old-school RPG goodness. In my opinion InXile makes the best and "truest" old-school RPGs out of the Kickstarter Era devs. They innovate but also stay true to the classics. Hope this one sells well for them, it's a good game.
 
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Question - Are skill points refundable at some point? It seems they are very impacting and important and if I screw up I'd like to be able to refund a point or two if possible. Any word on this?
 
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Question - Are skill points refundable at some point? It seems they are very impacting and important and if I screw up I'd like to be able to refund a point or two if possible. Any word on this?

No they are not. And yes you will screw up, and if you don't feel like restarting the game, you can use mercenary tokens to learn from your mistakes and create party members from scratch.
 
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Yea. I've sort of been picking skills based on equipment I find. Not the best way but hey i'm just having fun not power gaming this time around.

Same here. Might start saving a point or two to see what else I find and then spending them.
 
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No they are not. And yes you will screw up...

... not least due to the fact that the game also lacks a confirm button when spending skills. Which is... uh... an interesting design choice. I guess people just have to take care not to squander their mercenary tokens (I still think this is an awful way of respeccing).

Mostly, I plan carefully and save regularly. The latter never hurts.
 
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Other question:

Has anyone figured out a workaround to avoid that the game changes back to the default language after restarting the game?
 
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Sadly it seems for some reason the game doesn't save that setting inside any ini nor cfg file but uses system variable for language upon restart.
Devs know about the issue so wait for the patch (planned for today, might appear tomorrow).
 
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The dungeons are absolutely stunning. Great level design and beautiful to look at. Really enjoying the Alguin's Tower.
 
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I'm needing help with the Four Houses puzzle. Not the first one that leads to the goblin in the ice, but the other one. Can't seem to crack that one even though I could have sworn I'm doing it right. Any spoiler-free tips or hints for that one?
 
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If you mean the puzzle where you rotate them so they are all different in columns and rows it was fairly straight forward. Just keep rotating until they are all different. It is a variation of sokudo. I could always load an old save if i still have one and take a screenshot of the solution if want it.
 
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If you mean the puzzle where you rotate them so they are all different in columns and rows it was fairly straight forward. Just keep rotating until they are all different. It is a variation of sokudo. I could always load an old save if i still have one and take a screenshot of the solution if want it.

Maybe there's a bug but I tried that and it didn't work. The one on the left worked, I went through that door but the second door won't work. Hmm. If you can take a screenshot that would be great, I'm a bit stuck here.

Edit - Nevermind, just figured it out, haha. The bottom 2 had to the same and the top 2 were different.
 
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Am I underleveled for the Lowlands? Trying to find Fiona's house and I'm getting wrekt by enemies with 12 armor. Is there some trick I'm missing here? Right outside some sort of village so I think I'm close to her house.
 
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In my region, Star Control: Origins is currently #2 on the Steam sales list and Bard's Tale isn't even on the list. Definitely NOT what I was expecting for either!

Globally… oh dear. Well, BT4 is selling better than Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
 
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Mental damage or the skill to weaken their armor. I didn't have trouble with the guards - my rogue and mage killed them while my warrior took the damage. However those big grunt things I skilled - 300hp on them. Btw they are optional at this point (the guards); but i didn't like them telling me where to go.

Am I underleveled for the Lowlands? Trying to find Fiona's house and I'm getting wrekt by enemies with 12 armor. Is there some trick I'm missing here? Right outside some sort of village so I think I'm close to her house.
 
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Has anyone gotten very far with the elven weapons ? I have a few of them but haven't been able to do much with them - the ones i have are
Axe of Kael
Eye of Storm
Galfroi's wand
 
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Has anyone gotten very far with the elven weapons ? I have a couple but haven't been able to do much with them - the ones i have are
Axe of Kael
Eye of Storm

I solved two puzzles of Axe of Kael.
The third just gives you some short rhymes, which I suspect are related to these "place elven weapon" shrines. No clue how that works, haven't found anything that matches or makes sense.

Eye of Storm is odd, there seems to be no second puzzle? Only solved the first. Same problem (bug ?) with the "Discipline" dagger.

Some general hints on the puzzles:
1. Always put the items in the inventory, do not try to solve them while holding them. (bug)

2. Right click the item, inspect. Click on areas that light up under your mouse to start puzzling. Then click on more stuff until puzzle is solved.

3. You seem to have to insert some sort of gems after each puzzle part. The color will be revealed by a hint after the first puzzle. If you do not insert anything, you may have to redo the puzzle later. The second gem has no hint, but I guess it's always the same as the first one.

4. As noted in the previous spoiler, I suspect that the third puzzle is always a rhyme that matches to a rhyme of some "place elven weapon" shrine/altar. Could not confirm this yet.

5. Sometimes you find Elven Weapon Shards (They look like yellowish gems). They can be crafted into puzzle weapons (via crafting menu). 4 shards for 1 weapon. A bunch of corresponding crafting recipes are in a single chest in Alguin's Tower. Found none anywhere else yet. Quite powerful, if you spend your shards carefully. Note that you can also buy weapon shards from one of the vendors, in the camp where you found the Trow Companion (Wringneck). Also note: vendor inventories seem to reset from time to time.

PS: This game makes me super paranoid about missing / overlooking stuff. :biggrin:
 
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I gave the Axe of Kael to this NPC dwarf you take in your party (starting missions). Then i send him to this quest, where he leaves the party.. Will i ever see the axe again, or better reload an older savegame?
 
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