The Bard's Tale IV - Officially Announced!

After playing Bards Tale 2004, I am of a wait and see mode. For the longest time the original Bards Tale (1 and 2) were in my top 20 RPGs of all time. But after Bards Tale 2004, I am not really hopeful they will get the update right. And the combat quote from Fargo has me concerned. You, my fellow watchers, will have to play this game first. And from there I will determine if I get it or not. I'm getting my nostalgia fix with the upcoming Grim Fandango.

Originally Posted by Dajjer
After playing Bards Tale 2004, I am of a wait and see mode. For the longest time the original Bards Tale (1 and 2) were in my top 20 RPGs of all time. But after Bards Tale 2004, I am not really hopeful they will get the update right. And the combat quote from Fargo has me concerned. You, my fellow watchers, will have to play this game first. And from there I will determine if I get it or not. I'm getting my nostalgia fix with the upcoming Grim Fandango.

The way he described combat was the way the original ones worked….at least that's what I got from it.

It seems to me they're basically saying "The Bard's Tale from 2004 never happened". It's not that it was a bad game, it wasn't great, but it definitely wasn't "Bard's Tale", they might as well have named it "The Troubador's Story".

I need more info, but from what I've read so far it sounds good:
- Turn based
- Party based
- Modernized

There is no way in hell I'll do mapping again. That's one of the things the computer game should do for you. Just bring all the classes, spells and abilities from the old games, and the puzzles, and I'll be a happy bard.

Originally Posted by Dajjer
After playing Bards Tale 2004, I am of a wait and see mode. For the longest time the original Bards Tale (1 and 2) were in my top 20 RPGs of all time. But after Bards Tale 2004, I am not really hopeful they will get the update right. And the combat quote from Fargo has me concerned. You, my fellow watchers, will have to play this game first. And from there I will determine if I get it or not. I'm getting my nostalgia fix with the upcoming Grim Fandango.

There has been a contingent as of late who acts as if every indie game featured in a news story on a gaming site is a must have, and that others should be excited for them and pre-order them less they have no heart. I think it's harmful behaviour to encourage others to be less critical and to give blank checks, no matter how much of an "underdog" they are. In Brian Fargo's case he's already stopped being indie a while ago too.

Now is not the time to turn into crazed One Direction fangirls.

Yea, I'm not feeling it either. That combat system sounds strange to me so far. Definitely in wait and see mode with this one.

I never played any of the bard tales, and am not familiar with it, except that the last game was supposed to be some kind of comedy set in a fantasy setting. Blah. It was not something I was interested in.

I don't get why they just didn't decide they will make a new Wasteland 3 or something, and continue with what they started.

If they do a kick-starter I will need to see something compelling, if it's a traditional old school fantasy game with combat that is appealing, great, but if it has a lot of comedy themes and a strange non-standard combat system then I probably won't be interested.

Originally Posted by Humanity has risen!
There has been a contingent as of late who acts as if every indie game featured in a news story on a gaming site is a must have, and that others should be excited for them and pre-order them less they have no heart. I think it's harmful behaviour to encourage others to be less critical and to give blank checks, no matter how much of an "underdog" they are. In Brian Fargo's case he's already stopped being indie a while ago too.

Now is not the time to turn into crazed One Direction fangirls.

Whatever, heaven for bid some of us are excited for a sequel to a game many of us loved as a kid.

Originally Posted by Arkadia7
Yea, I'm not feeling it either. That combat system sounds strange to me so far. Definitely in wait and see mode with this one.

I never played any of the bard tales, and am not familiar with it, except that the last game was supposed to be some kind of comedy set in a fantasy setting. Blah. It was not something I was interested in.

I don't get why they just didn't decide they will make a new Wasteland 3 or something, and continue with what they started.

If they do a kick-starter I will need to see something compelling, if it's a traditional old school fantasy game with combat that is appealing, great, but if it has a lot of comedy themes and a strange non-standard combat system then I probably won't be interested.

Have you really never played a bards tale game? when they talk about combat uit means you go thru your whole party and give them orders that hit begin combat and it acts it out in order of initiative….which is a bit different then turn based but it works well.

Here's a Youtube vid of Bards Tale 2: Destiny Knight
The combat starts at the 3:41 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhs2oAfdC9c

In the vid it kinda looks like combat is "all at once" but Fargo claims they are going to deviate and have combat go all at once. I'm confused.

Originally Posted by SirJames
Oh, shit! Bards Tale 4!! This news just made my day!
edit:
regarding


Having trouble picturing what he means by all teams attack at once?

I suppose its something like giving your party orders like fight, fight, fight, defend, defend, cast…. And I did play a lot of Hearthstone until they ruined it with GvG cards messing up my deck.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

What is wrong with GvG? I thought it made it the game it should be.

At least, they should be able to improve on the combat situation variety relatively to WasteOfTime 2.

Well, while Bard's Tale is probably the one game that's most responsible for making me into an RPG fan - I can't say I'm too excited about revisiting it.

Sounds like another fan-service nostalgia trip - and obviously it works.

I felt sort of the same about MMX - which while an excellent modern take on an old formula, it was just not engaging enough to sustain my interest. That's because it was almost entirely about combat.

Bard's Tale is a game even more about combat and brutally old-school dungeons that are largely empty except for enemies, and they'd have to do something really clever with it to engage me in such gameplay, these days.

I know I'm probably alone in that position, though, as endless combat is the driving force behind a lot of Watch favorites

Damnit, another kickstarter to put 100 dollars in

Originally Posted by SirJames
Oh, shit! Bards Tale 4!! This news just made my day!
edit:
regarding


Having trouble picturing what he means by all teams attack at once?

I suppose its something like giving your party orders like fight, fight, fight, defend, defend, cast…. And I did play a lot of Hearthstone until they ruined it with GvG cards messing up my deck.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Probably like in Endless Legend. You give orders at start of each combat round and watch it unfold. It is a good turn based/real time hybrid if done well.

Originally Posted by Dajjer
Here's a Youtube vid of Bards Tale 2: Destiny Knight
The combat starts at the 3:41 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhs2oAfdC9c

In the vid it kinda looks like combat is "all at once" but Fargo claims they are going to deviate and have combat go all at once. I'm confused.

Because there is no chance combat is going to look like in original BT. I am sure they are either going to be using Wl2 or TToN engine. In worst case they might use something similar to Grimrock or MMX engine.
And it seem the combat system is going to have lots of counters and multiple defenses to think about inspired by HS.

Originally Posted by Humanity has risen!
Now is not the time to turn into crazed One Direction fangirls.

Wow. You managed to pull off the cliche curmudgeon spiel as well as come off as utterly sexist. Good job. Humanity truly has risen.

Ohhhh it's baaaad luck to be yoooou. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHF5uoonR-c

I was really hoping (but not really expecting) that inXile's next game was going to be a resurrection of that canceled Interplay time travel themed RPG.

But this? Meh. I have no nostalgia for TBT games. I only briefly played one of them years ago and quickly decided that it wasn't for me. Usually dislike first person dungeon crawlers though. But I guess it depends on what the modernizations are (giving orders to your party members and then having them carry them out simultaneously could be interesting in a "modern" tactical RPG). If the combat ends up being as good as Lord of Xulima's then I might be interested.

But glad many of you who loved these games are happy. Let the rest of us know how it is when it is released.

What would sell it for me is a turn-based tactical combat system that is at least as sophisticated as the old GoldBox games approach. I long ago grew weary of the Wizardry-style trivial combat interface. I seem to recall that the Bard's Tale was similar in its approach.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato

Hopefully he makes Van Buren (Fallout 3) next as he owns the license.

Now that is something that will make my day, huh year.
Perhaps brother none can whisper a hint in his ear…

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I know I'm probably alone in that position, though, as endless combat is the driving force behind a lot of Watch favorites

You're not.

I love combat, even endless combat, but BT-Combat was a bit special… you had to decide the actions of your characters before a combat-round, so you had to estimate i.e. if the group of ogres is killed with one fireball, or if your second caster should also throw one. You would waste valuable resources if you guessed wrong. I didn't mind it back in the late 80s, but when I tried to replay the games maybe 10 years ago it annoyed me seriously.