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Game News Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter Update #13: Colin McComb and Chris Avellone Stretch Goals

Zed

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Tags: Bard's Tale IV; Brian Fargo; Chris Avellone; Colin McComb; InXile Entertainment

The latest update from the Bard's Tale IV campaign brings us news about two additional stretch goals:

Chris Avellone will be designing a dungeon at 1.9 million USD.

0fe0fce18f6304d51265f9489c8c47d9_original.png


Chris’ involvement will be locked in the moment we pass the $1.9 million mark on the Kickstarter, where he’ll be designing the Cairn of Horrors, an all new dungeon built from the worst things that live in the imagination of Chris Avellone. The Cairn has one purpose, and that purpose is to kill you.

Additionally, at that funding level we’ll also make representations of your characters in your inventory screen and you’ll be able to see the gear, clothing and equipment they’re wearing, rather than a paper doll.​

I have always favored the paper doll inventory, but perhaps that's just me...

The other stretch-goal comes with Colin McComb at 1.7 million USD.

Along with Chris, we’re also bringing back the second Designer of Planescape: Torment and Creative Lead of Torment: Tides of Numenera, the inestimable Colin McComb! He will join our team at $1.7 million, designing a dungeon set in the Realm of the Elves, because we all know no one has mastered the craft of the Elves as Colin has.

We’ll also be expanding the game further by adding another new wilderness area, the Wilds of Lestras.​

This does not mean that Chris is joining inXile for any permanent position. Come to think of it, nor is Colin. They're both just professional stretch-goal consultants, who just happens to be working on every game inXile makes.

The update also comes with some additional info on the new areas included in the stretch-goals:

About the Realm of Elves (Coill)

The elves do not live in the world of men, and generally only come to it for sport, to toy with humans and sometimes to kidnap them. This is youthful shenanigans. Older, wiser elves leave the humans alone, for they remember a time, at the dawn of things, when elves and men lived in harmony until the men fell under the maddening influence of the Famhairaen and tried to slaughter as many elves as they could. The elves don't blame humans for their madness, but they remain wary of them, afraid that they could once again fall prey to insanity. While the elves can pass freely from their realm into the land of men, men can only enter Coill by elven invitation.

About the Wilds of Lestras

Caith's neighbor to the south and often its enemy, the Kingdom of Lestras is the home of the Lestradae, a culturally homogenous people, united under one religion and one king, but strongly divided by class. The border between Caith and Lestras is wild country. It is home to outcasts from both countries as well as those who still worship the memory of the most famous of the Lestradae, the Archmage Lagoth Zanta.​

And finally, you can annoy your neighbors with the new $5000 reward, the Bard's Tale branded floor speaker.

Xounts

One of our high-level reward for $2,000 and $5,000 backers was a unique one: the Xounts Up speaker with The Bard’s Tale IV Style. If you never heard of Xounts, their Xounts Up is an All In One sound system plus light tower. It is one central audio system that covers your entire room with deep, high-quality sound (they sent us a prototype and we were impressed!), while the customizable style lets you make the right fit for your living room. Here’s a look at the The Bard’s Tale IV style:

d6251584b23d1cf1a8f5b8a202897061_original.jpg

That's the ugliest floor speaker I have seen in my life.
 

Zed

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Perhaps they should expand on what exactly they mean with the inventory enhancement. By their description, they're still describing a paper doll?
Unless they mean to make it 3D and fucking ugly like in Pillars of Eternity.
 

J_C

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I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but this KS will never reach 1,9 million. MCA is there to drive up sales a bit, but he is out of reach.
 
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theSavant

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It's probably that without "representation in the inventory screen" we'll just have something like in Wizardry 8, meaning a rough shape of the creature, and item slots around it.

To be honest - I'd be perfectly fine with it. Nothing beats a clean, simple inventory screen.
 
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theSavant

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I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but this KS will never reach 1,9 million. MCA is there to drive up sales a bit, but he is out of reach.

Am I the only one who embraces the bursting bubble? I rather take a shorter game with well elaborated core elements, than some additional dungeon bloat just for the sake of integrating "celebrities". In that case maybe it's even better not to reach some stretchgoals :roll: (no matter how bad that might sound)
 

J_C

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Well this news hasn't exactly lit up the KS pledges so far.....
I think there is nothing on this earth that can lit it up. Not beacuse the pitch is bad, or the idea is bad. It's just this is the maximum a blobber can make, even if Jesus himself would be developing it.

I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but this KS will never reach 1,9 million. MCA is there to drive up sales a bit, but he is out of reach.

Am I the only one who embraces the bursting bubble? I rather take a shorter game with well elaborated core elements, than some additional dungeon bloat just for the sake of integrating "celebrities". In that case maybe it's even better not to reach some stretchgoals :roll: (no matter how bad that might sound)
Yeah, I don't miss it either.
 

Ismaul

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Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech A Beautifully Desolate Campaign My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
I rather take a shorter game with well elaborated core elements, than some additional dungeon bloat just for the sake of integrating "celebrities".
You don't get Fargo's genius.

The whole game is designed around the celebrities' dungeons, the world an excuse for their existence. Plus, they're made to be plug and play, so each designer has a lot of freedom in designing his. I'm sure MCA likes that, instead of having to design shit that's left on the cutting floor.

It's gonna be shit



:discohitler:
 

Darkzone

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Yes that is Fargo's tactics and MCA likes it. And how it will be, that can only Torment tell, and Torment is either the great disappointment or the masterpiece.
 

Ismaul

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Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech A Beautifully Desolate Campaign My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
So many great designers, how could Torment be shit?








Hope I didn't jinx it. :lol:
 

aratuk

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So… with enough extra money they're going to drop an instance of the 3D character model on the inventory screen, rather than do additional 2D artwork for a paperdoll. That's actually less work, right?
 

Duckard

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So… with enough extra money they're going to drop an instance of the 3D character model on the inventory screen, rather than do additional 2D artwork for a paperdoll. That's actually less work, right?

Considering it's a blobber, they might not have made customizable 3D character models in the first place. It's not like anybody would see them.
 
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theSavant

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Just a warning for full-blobber-fans: if we reach the goal 3d character model on inventory screen, it's more likely that combat will happen in 3rd person as well. So it's an ambiguous stretchgoal. Win and lose. Isn't that brainfuck? I would have preferred if they set their goals straight from the beginning, e.g. either go for full blobbing, or go mixed gameplay. But now this stretchgoal can even split the community...
 

aratuk

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So… with enough extra money they're going to drop an instance of the 3D character model on the inventory screen, rather than do additional 2D artwork for a paperdoll. That's actually less work, right?

Considering it's a blobber, they might not have made customizable 3D character models in the first place. It's not like anybody would see them.

IIRC, part of their initial announcement was that they plan on switching to a third-person view for combat, JRPG-style.
 

J_C

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Just a warning for full-blobber-fans: if we reach the goal 3d character model on inventory screen, it's more likely that combat will happen in 3rd person as well. So it's an ambiguous stretchgoal. Win and lose. Isn't that brainfuck? I would have preferred if they set their goals straight from the beginning, e.g. either go for full blobbing, or go mixed gameplay. But now this stretchgoal can even split the community...
To be completely honest, would that change anything regarding gameplay? As I understand, showing combat in 3rd person would only affect the visual look of the combat, it wouldn't affect gameplay itself. That said, I'm also more in favour of the 2D modells, but I won't lose any sleep if they doing it in 3D.
 
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theSavant

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Hmmm... guess not. I'm just picking on the same old story, because of the lack of clarity about enemy/encounters/combat. I want clarity!

CSrIFBf.jpg
 

Athelas

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Chris Avellone designing combat?

I see no way this could go wrong.
 

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