Bard's Tale IV - David Rogers Interview

Having watched some of the beta gameplay I have to say the game looks like alot of fun. Will definitely playthrough.
 
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
9,312
Location
New Zealand
The camera needs to be a little further back to deal with the gestures. ;)
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
Sorry guys, but the more information that is gradually revealed, the less this game resembles a true Bard's Tale in any fashion bar a bunch of token and inappropriately treated lore. Even listening to the apparent influences upon the game in this interview, the classical trilogy barely gets a mention.

I've been hesitant to post the details of my two hour play with the beta, as it was so sorely disappointing; a truly listlessly dull experience. The inability to create a full party from the very beginning in a bard's tale sequel is beyond a joke; the combat felt flat, too easy, too limiting (only 3 skill masteries!) and simply on the whole, uninteresting. Lords of Xulima has far better combat; which is probably the closest stylistic comparison I can think of.

Unfortunately, it really does feel more related to the 2004 incarnation of Bards Tale and more akin to something like "Bravehearthstone: Tales of Orkney" than anything classic or orginal. Also, if you read the official forums, the feedback from backers has been consistent in identifying shortcomings which seemingly aren't being addressed. Most changes from beta feedback now will be mostly cosmetic, peripheral and mostly bug-related at this stage in development.

Naturally I don't begrudge others who have been enjoying the beta; for what it is, it might very well be a great game, just for me at this point, it doesn't feel like a Bard's Tale.

InXile really have their work cut out to have this ready for release. I wish I could say I was looking forward to it as a huge fan of the original trilogy, but sadly my expectations have been reduced quite heavily.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
1,974
Location
Australia
Pessimeister if what you experienced doesn't change (...), we are going to be very disappointed and wait more to play the slightly updated originals 1-3 when they're all out instead of this. Hugely disappointing, thanx for the preview though and I hope something happens and it gets on rails again..
 
Joined
Jul 25, 2018
Messages
46
I cannot take anyone serious who is saying the new Bard's Tale is more related to the 2004 version than to the originals.

I can understand though that it doesn't feel like an "original" Bard's Tale, but to me, that's a good thing. On facebook I also saw one guy claiming to speak for all backers and who was listing (among other things) his grudges including some change of lore, Skara Brae resembling Scotland and that he is missing the grind of the originals.

So...on that end I am rather happy that it's not like the originals. And as a backer myself I do not agree to this loud and vocal group which is likely rather a minority (this guy was creating a thread in Bards Tale Forums, Steam Forums, Facebook RPG Group and ultimately got banned on the Bards Tale Steam Forums).

Also concepts of creating your whole party yourself at the start are indeed modernized and I actually prefer it that way. Also in Wasteland 2 or Pillars of Eternity I rather recruited all the pre-made personalities instead of just creating an own party of 0815 random dudes.

I like the combat but agree that 3 active skills is too few. Also you can increase the difficulty in the options. (you will never get a prompt)
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,691
Hey @Pessimeister;, thanks for feedback. How did you find the maps during your time with the beta, did they at least feel well designed (eg non-linear, secrets, interesting things to find, etc)?
 
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
1,901
Location
UK
Still not really sure what to think of this. Certainly not in any hurry to try it - but I'm curious all the same.
 
I cannot take anyone serious who is saying the new Bard's Tale is more related to the 2004 version than to the originals.

Some points from the InXile forums on "why this isn't Bard's Tale"

1. The inability to create complete party from the beginning. Unforgivable for me. The reasons for justifying this choice and the whole concept of mercenary tokens is frankly insulting. (Play with our pre-made characters and not your own.) Where's the re-rolling?
2. No random encounte+rs. This means no xp grinding, no loot grinding, and you can't just exchange a character in your party with a new one, becaause there are no monsters left when you killed them.
3. Tilebased movement is merely added on top of freeform movement as an after thought. This makes making good old graphpaper mapping nearly impossible. (Obviously modern audiences couldn't care less about this, but for some of us, this is important)
4. Where are the other races?`That's...a dwarf? Where are the great classes? (Monk, hunter etc..)
5. Ludicrous lore inconsistencies. Treatment of Tarjan? Skara Brae? (It was never a coastal town!) Why isnt Roscoe dead? He died during the destruction of Skara Brae.
6. The combat System is slow, tedious and far away from the fast text based combat of BT 1-3. It's not a logical evolution of mechanics or gameplay.
7. Levels are completely meaningless. No joy in levelling.
8. Skills? Why? and Why were they implemented so badly? Only 3 masteries.
9. Hitpoints?
10. Spells. Not enough. Not even close.
11.. The humor of BT2004. Childish, annoying.

(Quote from Lanatir; a poster on the InXile boards with some minor edits from me.)

I'll add some additional quotes from other posters to reinforce some points and add more for general consideration/discussion:

When you play bards tale 4, the only thing making you think: "Oh, this is a bards tale game?" is the naming and the lore references. The game itself, by it's actual game merits, has zero to do with what made the previous games into bards tale games. It's a totally different game. (Spectralshade)

At some point the developers decided that a true sequel to the trilogy was taking the 2004 game (which I barely noticed but I'm only speaking for myself) as a justification for emphasizing a Gaelic-Celtic "funny" or "comedic" game, and pretending that what happened in the trilogy didn't really happen? (Superdave17)

There are a lot of 35-60yr old gamers out there - the biggest spending demographic, and they wanted a proper Western turn based blobber. Probably the first big one since Wizardry 8 (or 7 if you're not a fan of that one). Clearly inXile wanted to go in a different direction, but the lack of engagement with the hardcore BT people (probably most of the big money backers) isn't really acceptable. (themadcow)

They (InXile) were so big-mouthed about how old-school they are and about where publishers can shove their ideas of mainstreaming and dumbing-down games and chasing the mass market for $. And they're pretty much doing exactly just that.
This is very very far from the "true sequel" and "revival of the classic dungeon-crawl" they were going on about, so loudly. Even if it is not a bad game on its own, their campaign was very dishonest and I don't trust them anymore. (ZIN)

I think there's clearly a growing numnber of disgruntled old school fans expressing a valid point of view here which I certainly sympathise with to a degree. I also don't think InXile have managed this angle particularly well; as I've observed quite a few times, these rational expressed voices being either ignored and skipped in favour of more congratulatory "yes, this is what I wanted!" echo chamber" type posts.

For the entire thread: https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=19047

Incidentally, belated welcome to the Watch, @KeepitClean;. :) Be sure to take my perspective and pessimism with a grain of salt; as there are certainly a variety of experiences of the game. I know there are players on the 'Watch for instance who are enjoying the Beta.
 
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
1,974
Location
Australia
I rather recruited all the pre-made personalities instead of just creating an own party of 0815 random dudes.

Speak for yourself mate! I meticulously plan and create my parties, thank you very much. They're far from being "some random dudes". :)
 
Joined
Jul 12, 2009
Messages
1,974
Location
Australia
Well, that's a lot of disappointment to absorb right there. I also would prefer to roll my own squad, and hearing that isn't an option is disconcerting. I'll still be playing this, but expectations are coming down day by day.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,799
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I can agree with some of the complaints (e.g., unable to create own party, the skills and character development).

Some I just dont care enough about (lore inconsistencies, or the look of some of the races).

Others are a heavy case of nostalgia. Actually, some of these things are a clear plus for me. No random encounters / grinding just as one example. I dont think developers should copy bad design choices, just for the sake of the good old times.
 
Joined
May 18, 2012
Messages
2,315
Hey @Pessimeister;, thanks for feedback. How did you find the maps during your time with the beta, did they at least feel well designed (eg non-linear, secrets, interesting things to find, etc)?

I think that question was not answered yet.
I was actually positively surprised by the dungeon design. Ofc I can only speak for the area you come through during the first few hours, but so far, there are lots of like "hidden" corners and chests to find (not really "hidden", but you have to explore thoroughly in order to find all) and I saw multiple instances of dungeon shortcuts, which might be comparable to the Dark Souls series (at least from what I have heared of them, I never played them) in a way, that you go past a door which you cannot open, and 30 minutes later, you open the door from the other side and create a shortcut, and make the whole world very accessable.

I also saw several logic puzzles where you need to shift cogs around. Personally I like them and so far they also were quite easy so that you'd like solve them by just shifting them around long enough. But I can imagine that people don't like these puzzles / they might become too complex for some people to enjoy.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,691
Oh, and there is one thing which would interest me actually, as I didn't play more than a few hours as I didn't want to spoil myself too much and I already got the impression I wanted.
Does anyone have any experience yet with the adventurers guild and party management? Is this the mechanic to store additional party members? Do you keep all party members you encounter after the initial companion leaves? How exactly are the tokens working?
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,691
I think that question was not answered yet.
I was actually positively surprised....

Great, thanks for the detailed response! That side of things sounds pretty good.
 
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
1,901
Location
UK
It is a smallish game made on a smallish budget in a smallish period of time but so far it looks really good as long as you live with the limitations.
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
7,758
Location
usa - no longer boston
It is a smallish game made on a smallish budget in a smallish period of time but so far it looks really good as long as you live with the limitations.

I am about to start a LP on Stonekeep (if I get everything to work) and it's really amazing when you think about the dimensions of costs and development time which were given to that game. Granted it's the other extreme. ^^

Stonekeep Targeted Budget: 50k USD
Stonekeep Targeted Development Duration: 9 Months.

Final Total Costs: 5 Million USD
Final Total Development Duration: 5 Years

And the "amazing" intro ate up 500k USD ^^

I guess these numbers are also before inflation.

No idea what the total budget of The Bard's Tale 4 is. The 1.5 million USD via Kickstarter aren't too shabby but I don't know about additional costs (besides of 5% fee on kickstarter) and other money sources.

But…it really doesn't look like they spent 500k on the intro :p
(not that it looks like that in Stonekeep ^^)
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,691
Back
Top Bottom