Bard's Tale IV - About the Combat System

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Learn something new about the combat system of Bard's Tale IV in Kickstarter update #29:

Glorious Combat

Hello Citizens of Caith. My name is David Rogers, and I'm the Systems Designer on The Bard's Tale IV. I know I don't have to tell any of you that combat is a core pillar of The Bard's Tale. It's where all of our choices about race, class, gear, and party composition combine with our own sense of strategy, leading to either glorious victory or humiliating defeat. Combat design is what I've been primarily focused on, and what I'm here to chat with you about. Before we dive into the real meaty bits, I need to give the obligatory disclaimer that what you're about to see is all a work in progress, and changes may occur between now and the final release of the game.

Combat Basics

One of the great things about designing for a dungeon crawler is your ability to quickly build the game on paper before you build it out digitally. We've put a big emphasis on proving out our designs by playing them out on the tabletop. Similar to playing a game of D&D, we're able to play out the bard's tale on the tabletop and make sure what we're doing is fun, strategic, and ticks all the boxes we're looking for in The Bard's Tale IV. We started from a foundation of classic blobber combat, distilling down the parts that truly compel us. But we also make note of missed opportunities for rich strategic decision-making, and brainstorm how to capitalize on them.

One area we really want to improve on is the kind of decisions the player has to make during combat. It was a common trend in older blobbers that most of your decisions were made out of combat and once you entered combat you did the same actions over and over again. That old chestnut of "attack, attack, attack, defend, defend, fireball" is something we want to disrupt. Gaming has come a long way since the heyday of old school dungeon crawlers and we're dead set on bringing the genre back into the spotlight.

We discussed our 4x4 battlefield grid in a previous Kickstarter update. Accentuating the role that the battlefield plays in combat is one element we're focusing on. To briefly recap, during combat our battlefield is a 4x4 grid where the players' party occupies one half of the grid and the enemies' party occupies the other half. Because we want to show your enemies (and the bloody pulp you beat them into) in all of their glory, their half of the grid exists in 3D space. Your party, in classic blobber fashion, lives on your HUD. [...]
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The combat system sounds like Lords of Xulima. I'd say that's a very good thing. I don't like the character portraits on the mockup. I have nothing against having Celtic influences in the game, but I think the character art goes too far in that direction.
 
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Nice, meaty update. Those were lacking a bit until now.

I haven't yet heard a single thing I dislike about BTIV. 'Course, I'm not burdened by any BT nostalgia ;)
 
Sounds good to me. Again, huge 'crawler fan here, and I think Bard's Tale IV is going to be great.
 
I love the look of the mockup. However, showing that way the party in the hud and having what seems to be a static 4x4 grid make me wonder if you can move or turn your party at all during combat (if you turn, then the layout should change, as well as the grid layout, which doesn't seem to be what they are aiming for). I have my doubts about being able to have enemies on the sides or at the back of your party as well. If this confirms would be a great letdown for me.

I'm not so sold on the "reach only the enemies in from of you" thing, but I could live with that better.

I still think that Wizardry 8 had a yet simple but unbeatable positioning system. Seems like they're trying to make things a bit more tactical and interesting but I have my concerns about it.
 
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I'm liking what I've read about the combat system. Positioning is important and I like that they've proven out the mechanics board game style just like my hero Julian Gollop would.

However I would like it if they toned down the celtic art influence somewhat as it can be distracting to the fantasy.
 
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I thought Elminage Gothic had an excellent range system. Front and back rows for both enemy and player, as well as Short, Medium and Long range weapons. Made for a lot of interesting choices and strategy. Love it!
 
I liked their previous video better, when both sides were in a 3D space. This Lords of Xulima style isn't that bad, since Xulima did so excellent. Bards Tale for the PC was really good with that top down 3D world. This setup resembles more the original Bards Tales, like BT3 for the C64.

Still I expected full-blown XCOM1 3D space. :)
 
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I also instantly thought of Lords of Xulima when I saw this. And I also consider that a very good thing.

Combat was a big question mark with this game during its Kickstarter campaign, but I think they're on the right track...
 
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Of note you couldn't change direction in the original BT either, not that makes a difference.
 
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Thanks for the information, that's just what I though. A bit dissapointed but I think I will still be able to enjoy the game so I'm looking forward to know more about it.
 
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