Game News Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter Funded

[Kiste]

1. The Bard's Tale name probably has less pull than Fargo had hoped
2. Blobbers aren't something people are hugely nostalgic about, it's a tiny niche
3. The limited blobber nostalgia market has already been served reasonably well by MMX and Grimrock

The only reason this thing even got funded was because inXile have a lot of media / social media exposure due to their Wasteland 2 and Torment kickstarters.

 

[MurkyShadow]

For me, hearing the name Bard's Tale, there's an immediate nostalgia override in my brain.
At least, after years, I'm able to suppress random memories in job interviews.
You face death itself, in form of one bitter bureaucrat. Do you choose
to fight, wait, or flee cowardly? Please, what was your question, ah,
why you should hire me? Well, you know, let's forget it, thanks for the coffee.

Additionally, to the points Kiste mentioned, there may be folks that just feel to
old to get in a blobber again. It happened to me, that I supported games, which
I'm happy to exist/exist again. But I don't have the patience to play any more.

The bitterness and hatred of the decline may have shattered my soul, but
there's still a part, that steals itself away at night, to spend funds on the
incline. So that the 'youth' may have a chance at games, that my past
self had.

This part of me, may, or may not be, fuelled by belgian monastery beer.

 

[V_K]

Bard's Tale was always first person and it is in fact a bad Wizardry clone.

fix'd

 

[Lady_Error]

To be fair, they cloned the early Wizardry games, so of course they are not as good as W6+. And since Bard's Tale 4 won't be open world, it seems that this one won't outdo the better Wizardry games either.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

1. The Bard's Tale name probably has less pull than Fargo had hoped
2. Blobbers aren't something people are hugely nostalgic about, it's a tiny niche
3. The limited blobber nostalgia market has already been served reasonably well by MMX and Grimrock

The only reason this thing even got funded was because inXile have a lot of media / social media exposure due to their Wasteland 2 and Torment kickstarters.

4. Fargo released a mediocre game called Wasteland 2 with 3.5 million in funding.

 

[Dehumanizer]

Bard's Tale started out as an answer to cricticisms of the Wizardry series (at the time, I think only the first 3 had been released):

- "man, these wireframe graphics suck, and haven't improved at all since the first game; there's also absolutely no sound."
- "I have a Commodore 64, currently the most popular gaming computer by far, why can't I play Wizardry <yes, there were ports, but many years later>, since it's only out for the Apple II and DOS?"
- "why can't I create characters in Wizardry 2 or 3, and have to go back to the first game to do that?"
- "why haven't there been any new spells or classes since Wizardry 1?"
- "why is it possible (and likely) for stats to decrease when leveling up? doesn't that just force save scumming?"

This article at the Digital Antiquarian has more details.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Meh, people speculating how they didn't get enough cash.:D If they thought they needed 5m or whatever to make this game, then they should've asked for it or just not do it period. They asked for 1.25m, they got 1.5m. It must be enough.

That is if you haven't followed at all what's been said by those very people about their goals.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

This was a terribly run campaign. They did very little to really inform people what they game was about and even less to make people care about their silly celebrity developer stretch goals.

Because with those semi ironic cult of personality most of these developers started to think they are celebrities now. How hard must it be for them to realize that their fame apparently wasn't enough to raise 100K.

 

[Metro]

Lower budget means they'll hopefully keep to core concepts.

 

[tyrannosaurus rex]

Or episodes

 

[Ovplain]

'terribly run campaign', the thing was fucking funded! At least wait a while, Christ. At least 'til they show a gameplay vid or a trailer or something. Still plenty of time to tear the whole thing down, don't worry.<3

Fucking Codex.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

'terribly run campaign', the thing was fucking funded! At least wait a while, Christ. At least 'til they show a gameplay vid or a trailer or something. Still plenty of time to tear the whole thing down, don't worry.<3

Fucking Codex.

That'll be the time to tear down the game, this is the time to tear down the campaign.

 

[vivec]

I am really surprised that there is *any* audience for blobbers at all. Blobbers offered fringe mechanics that only appealed to a few while other people played the blobber games for its non-blobber aspects. Wizardry immediately jumps to mind as a game which would be miles better if it were NOT a blobber. The blobber genre to me always looked like an ARPG wannabe that could not just let go of its roots.

No wonder Fargo cannot attract an audience for this game. Bard's tale is not only a very old game known to few but also has mechanics surreptitiously superseded by modern games. The success of the Grimrock games was a tragedy that should never have taken place. They only succeeded by excelling in areas other than the blobbing, methinks. Unfortunately, the blobber aspect is so tightly tied to the BT franchise that Fargo cannot but resurrect without resorting to what to me feels like inadequate and anachronistic playstyle. The best he could do to garner more funds was to place the bait at the end in the form of Chris Avellone. One can only guess from the results that even this maneuver failed in the face of the disinterested gamers.

At this juncture, I would rather have gone for a new IP if I were Fargo. He is now well established as a champion of 'old-school' and Turn-Based mechanics. A new, tactical party based game with strong emphasis on storytelling and characterization *with* Chris Avellone, who was recently free to be his own man again, would have been received with great enthusiasm by the Kickstarter crowd. I guess, InXile had put in a lot of effort into BT already to take advantage of Chris' ejection from the pit of horrors that Obsidian has become. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the BT insurgency is quickly stifled and put into the backburner after a minimal effort to explore this aforementioned territory. I sincerely would like to see Avellone join InXile in the lead capacity and make some great RPGs again instead of wasting his time with designing dungeons and minor characters of no consequence.

 

[ArchAngel]

My guess is that bt4 is a training game for UE4.
I bet any new game that is not WL3 will be using ue4 .

 

[Infinitron]

I am really surprised that there is *any* audience for blobbers at all. Blobbers offered fringe mechanics that only appealed to a few while other people played the blobber games for its non-blobber aspects. Wizardry immediately jumps to mind as a game which would be miles better if it were NOT a blobber. The blobber genre to me always looked like an ARPG wannabe that could not just let go of its roots.

No wonder Fargo cannot attract an audience for this game. Bard's tale is not only a very old game known to few but also has mechanics surreptitiously superseded by modern games. The success of the Grimrock games was a tragedy that should never have taken place. They only succeeded by excelling in areas other than the blobbing, methinks. Unfortunately, the blobber aspect is so tightly tied to the BT franchise that Fargo cannot but resurrect without resorting to what to me feels like inadequate and anachronistic playstyle. The best he could do to garner more funds was to place the bait at the end in the form of Chris Avellone. One can only guess from the results that even this maneuver failed in the face of the disinterested gamers.

At this juncture, I would rather have gone for a new IP if I were Fargo. He is now well established as a champion of 'old-school' and Turn-Based mechanics. A new, tactical party based game with strong emphasis on storytelling and characterization *with* Chris Avellone, who was recently free to be his own man again, would have been received with great enthusiasm by the Kickstarter crowd. I guess, InXile had put in a lot of effort into BT already to take advantage of Chris' ejection from the pit of horrors that Obsidian has become. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to find that the BT insurgency is quickly stifled and put into the backburner after a minimal effort to explore this aforementioned territory. I sincerely would like to see Avellone join InXile in the lead capacity and make some great RPGs again instead of wasting his time with designing dungeons and minor characters of no consequence.

I suspect that something that you're defining as a "non-blobbing aspect" will turn out to be a core blobbing aspect to many

 

[SausageInYourFace]

I am really surprised that there is *any* audience for blobbers at all. Blobbers offered fringe mechanics that only appealed to a few while other people played the blobber games for its non-blobber aspects. Wizardry immediately jumps to mind as a game which would be miles better if it were NOT a blobber. [...] The success of the Grimrock games was a tragedy that should never have taken place.

And the award for worst post of the week goes to..

 

[vivec]

I suspect that something that you're defining as a "non-blobbing aspect" will turn out to be a core blobbing aspect to many

You mean the silly prancing around to get the enemies to the dungeon entrance so you can trap them at the choke points and exploit the AI? I guess, yeah you are right. That *could* very well be a core blobbing aspect afterall.

 

[Infinitron]

That's not even relevant in turn-based blobbers.

 

[vivec]

True. But this game is drawing inspiration from Grimrock from what the updates tell me. Which was not turn based.

Other than that I can not think of any core blobbing aspect that you are talking about.

 

[Infinitron]

True. But this game is drawing inspiration from Grimrock from what the updates tell me. Which was not turn based.

Other than that I can not think of any core blobbing aspect that you are talking about.

O_o What updates have you been reading? They've said many times that the combat is turn-based (or "phase-based"), and in one interview somebody from inXile even mocked Grimrock's combat.

 

[vivec]

I am not sure if you read what I wrote. The question that you were supposed to answer was: what is core to blobber gameplay besides being blobber. I do not see an answer there as of yet. So I await your wisdom on the issue.

I would also not be in a hurry to think that BT is TB. That particular question has been answered purposefully ambiguously I think to promote sales and to trick the funding flowing from fans of two different playstyles.

I am not sure yif you know this, but Phase based in not (necessarily) turn-based. In fact, Phase based could mean one of the two things: Phase-based as in parties go in phases like the new XCOM, where there is an attack and movement "phase". Or it could mean that everyone goes in the action phase and prepares in the preparation phase. As to the updates I have been reading:, I do not recall where he exactly mentioned it. A quick google however, confirms what |I said:

Fargo: And the ones where the players can blame themselves are even better – they pushed on, knew they shouldn’t, paid the consequence. We’re bringing all those elements back. But what we’re also trying to do is something much more ambitious than what’s been done before.

[You’ll need to wait until the start of June to see it in action unfortunately, since inXile still finishing up their presentation for the Kickstarter, but it’s a fully 3D world of both indoor and outdoor locations that looks like a 3DMark demo. The closest touchstones are Legend of Grimrock 2 and Might and Magic X, and it makes both of them look as retro as the games they’re building on.]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/05/18/bards-tale-4/

 

[Infinitron]

Graphical touchstones. He watched the in-engine video we all saw, there's no gameplay there.

http://www.gamingnexus.com/Article/4862/Bards-Tale-IV-Interview/

How will combat in the game work? Is it turn based?
The short answer is yes, it’s turn based.

 

[Dehumanizer]

O_o What updates have you been reading? They've said many times that the combat is turn-based (or "phase-based"), and in one interview somebody from inXile even mocked Grimrock's combat.

Exactly. I've said it several times in the past, "blobber" is too vague a term. Wizardry / Bard's Tale 1-3 / Etrian Odyssey are, IMO, very, very different games from Dungeon Master / Eye of the Beholder / Grimrock, even though both types are technically "blobbers".

Me, I much prefer the former kind. Dungeon Master and its clones are far too obsessed with environmental puzzles such as putting rocks on pressure plates, not to mention the aforementioned "dancing" around enemies, neither of which is what I enjoy about RPGs.

 

[vivec]

Graphical touchstones. He watched the in-engine video we all saw, there's no gameplay there.

http://www.gamingnexus.com/Article/4862/Bards-Tale-IV-Interview/

How will combat in the game work? Is it turn based?
The short answer is yes, it’s turn based.

Hmm. Missed this bit.

However, I will not put it past InXile to reinterpret what is TB into what their vision demands. Considering that these terms hardly concretely defined, I can see many people taking liberties with them. Still, I would rather play a real TB blobber than a Grimrock anyday.

 

[Alchemist]

Graphical touchstones. He watched the in-engine video we all saw, there's no gameplay there.

http://www.gamingnexus.com/Article/4862/Bards-Tale-IV-Interview/

How will combat in the game work? Is it turn based?
The short answer is yes, it’s turn based.

Hmm. Missed this bit.

However, I will not put it past InXile to reinterpret what is TB into what their vision demands. Considering that these terms hardly concretely defined, I can see many people taking liberties with them. Still, I would rather play a real TB blobber than a Grimrock anyday.

Phase-based, turn-based - whatever they decide to call it, the important thing is that they've confirmed in several instances this will not be a real-time game. And thus not at all like Grimrock, besides having a party crawling in dungeons and having puzzle elements.

The way I understand how he described the combat is something like this:

• Phase 1: The party's phase
  • Choose a PC - take his turn - which takes effect immediately
  • Choose next PC - take their turn.
  • Repeat until all party members are done.
• Phase 2: The enemy's phase
  • Enemies take their turns, one by one.
• New combat round.

It seems mostly similar to the original games except more granular. You don't have to wait until all actions are declared to see the effects play out.