Bard's Tale IV - Releasing September 18th

I'm not normally a blobber guy, but I'm looking forward to trying this. Gameplay looks decent, though I find the occasional lapses into a silly tone, such as the electric-guitar music and animation for the bard in character creation, a bit troubling.
 
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
4,813
Yeah, the not-so-serious tone was introduced with the 2004 Bard's Tale I think?

If it is not too immersion breaking I am fine with it. I tend to like some silliness, if it is well delivered. Loved some of the banter in Van Helsing.
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
2,315
Phantom Doctrine in August (maybe a "day 1" buy for me) and Bard'sTale IV (backed) in September. The mid-to-end year is promising.
 
Joined
Nov 15, 2013
Messages
3,754
Location
Brasil
And banner saga 3 late july and divinity definitive edition august and thea 2 beta November and all the stuff we can't possibly remember because there is an endless stream of quality games mingled with a bigger stream of trash….

Phantom Doctrine in August (maybe a "day 1" buy for me) and Bard'sTale IV (backed) in September. The mid-to-end year is promising.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
7,758
Location
usa - no longer boston
I'm sure this will be Glorious level. InXile respects the old-school CRPG style, some would say to a fault, costing themselves sales and popularity. This game will be good.
 
I'm sure this will be Glorious level. InXile respects the old-school CRPG style, some would say to a fault, costing themselves sales and popularity. This game will be good.
Well after reading Fargo's response in an RPS interview I wouldn't say they, "respect the old-school CRPG style, some would say to a fault, costing themselves sales and popularity."

Link - https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/20...-in-your-calendar-cos-crpgs-are-here-to-stay/

Summarize it: Games didn't sell well, and Original Sin is the way to go.
Fargo believes that CRPGs will increasingly feature multiplayer – something the Original Sin games again pioneered – and Wasteland 3 will be the first in the series with a co-op campaign. “Every metric [suggests it will get] more and more difficult to do a single player game. You’ll see more multiplayer [in CRPGs], but the trick is for us to not give up the depth.”

His desire for multiplayer action and more emergent gameplay will culminate in a “secret project” to be unveiled later this year, he tells me, which will combine inXile’s love for storytelling with the freedom of a multiplayer sandbox game such as DayZ or Rust. Those games often simulate the breakdown of a post-apocalyptic society perfectly, but have stories that are often just: “Here’s a rock, go,” he says.

“I’ve been completely fascinated by the emergent gameplay that comes from open-world systems, but yet we love storytelling, and so we want to explore how we might be able to merge those worlds,” he explains.
Seems Swen ruined old school rpgs.:lol:
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,315
Location
Spudlandia
Obsidian was also talking about including co-op in future games, and I think the upgraded graphics and full voiceacting in Deadfire was because of DOS.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
866
Yeah, the not-so-serious tone was introduced with the 2004 Bard's Tale I think?

If it is not too immersion breaking I am fine with it. I tend to like some silliness, if it is well delivered. Loved some of the banter in Van Helsing.

Well Bards Tale 1 went beyond "not-so-serious" and into out right parody. Thankfully we haven't seen anything quite like that in the new game yet.

Most old school blobbers did have the occasional silly joke thrown in here and there though, going all the way back to the dreaded vorpal bunnies in the first wizardry.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
This latest trailer looks better than I expected. Redeemed my beta key but haven't downloaded yet. I'm liking the look of the re imagined Skara brae.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
3,116
Location
Sigil
I'm just hoping these folks realize how important it is these days, perhaps more than ever, in sticking to your roots and not changing things up too much simply to garner sales. We'll all find out together soon enough!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,947
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Just played 3-4 hours into the Beta and I am positively surprised.
It actually less of a crawler than I expected and actually you don't seem to be able to even activate grid based movement at the moment.
But it's very well made. The areas you run around in are well done, the atmosphere is great and the combat is also quite nice.
The skill system looks a bit cumbersome but I think it'll do and you can get used to it.
Also works as good as you'd expect from a game which is 2 months away from release. Hardly found any issues.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,699
That all sounds encouraging to me. Setting is important to me, and I was hoping for a good Scottish vibe.
 
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
4,813
That all sounds encouraging to me. Setting is important to me, and I was hoping for a good Scottish vibe.

Well, I can't really differentiate the different dialects but yeah, there is hardly anyone without an massive accent. ^^
Actually there was also one guy who had a strong german accent. :p

But what I have also never seen in a game like that is the massive use of folklore music sung by peasants (or just as an random music source).

I put together a short clip with the very start and first dialogue, a short stroll through the city, and a part from later of the same place with some other singing.

 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,699
But what I have also never seen in a game like that is the massive use of folklore music sung by peasants (or just as an random music source).

Thanks for posting the vid. All the music and singing is nice.
 
Joined
Sep 16, 2010
Messages
4,813
I'm not sure I agree. The old days are dead. What i mean is that technology and people have changed. The games have to change that's the nature of the industry. Also the cost scale has changed and these games cost money. Yes there have been a few indie crawlers but most of them are not that great - i mean they are fun for what they are but someone with a larger budget could do so much better. Having said that a larger budget requires more sales. The real question is if this sells really well will there be another of the same or better quality. No clue - not sure what happens to xile when Fargo retires or if Fargo will hang around to do another Bards Tale or Wasteland.
-
Anyway lets see how the game turns out and go from there :)


I'm just hoping these folks realize how important it is these days, perhaps more than ever, in sticking to your roots and not changing things up too much simply to garner sales. We'll all find out together soon enough!
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
7,758
Location
usa - no longer boston
Back
Top Bottom