Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Game News Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter Update #54: Upcoming Updates, Haernhold Free DLC

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Tags: David Rogers; InXile Entertainment; Paul Marzagalli; The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep

Wasteland 3 isn't the only inXile game benefiting from the infusion of Microsoft cash. Despite being by all appearances a catastrophic commercial failure, The Bard's Tale IV is going to receive some substantial updates next year. In fact it already got a big update last month, which added a beta implementation of grid movement among other things. Yet there's much more on the way, including the Haernhold free DLC which was going to be added to the game had it gotten 500,000 wishlists before it was released. The new Kickstarter update has the details:

A Note from David

Hey everyone, David Rogers here to tell you about some of the good stuff we have coming down the pipe in the upcoming 2.0 patch. We've been hard at work poring through our forums, listening to reviews, and talking directly to some of our most dedicated fans so we could continue to improve the game. This patch brings another sweep of balance changes such as:
  • Last patch, we focused primarily on balancing player abilities, and you'll see a little more of that this patch.
  • We're turning our main focus to enemy tuning and balance in order to ensure our enemies continue to challenge you throughout the game.
  • We're also making several adjustments to the end game economy by adding an additional tier of high level, master-crafted, items; adjusting merchants to sell more useful gear; expanded their inventory size for easy of use; and adjusted the gold faucets so gold stays useful and not over-abundant through the end game.
  • We're adding additional portraits to character creation which includes 2 new female dwarves and 2 new male elves.
  • We've added 9 new fast travel locations to the world. We've buffed many of our unique items and elven puzzle weapons to make them feel more competitive vs. standard gear.
This patch also brings a few long requested features, namely inventory filtering and controller support. These have been two of our most requested features and we're please to be bringing them to you. We hope with all these changes you'll give the game a 2nd playthrough or that one of these features encourages you to dive in. If you've left a review on Steam or GOG and we've made changes that address your concerns, we'd also appreciate you revising that review. We're passionate about making The Bard's Tale IV the best game it can be, and we hope that shows with every patch.

I want to give a very special thanks to everyone who's been active on our forums, written reviews, made reddit posts, and generally everyone who's provided us feedback. So much of what we did this sprint was pointed out by you, the fans. You didn't have to stop and reach out to us to help us improve the game, but you did, and that support has been invaluable. Thank you!

A Note from Jeff & The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep team

Jeff Pellegrin here, and I would like thank everyone who communicated issues, bugs, concerns, and feedback (both positive and negative) on GOG, Steam, Kickstarter, etc. We aggressively tackled many issues and continue to patch and add features to The Bard’s Tale IV based on your input.

One key feature to show that we are listening is an extra Song of Exploration “Struggler's Lament” which can instantly resolve most doors that are locked by puzzles. The ability will not resolve optional content that can be rewarding and could be critical in your adventures, so make sure to still learn our different puzzles systems because that knowledge will come in handy eventually! Best of luck and thank you!

The Best Way To Say "Thank You!"

Hi everyone, Paul back for the remainder of the update. Last summer we held a contest - the more wishlist adds that we got for the game, the more benefits for every player. We never achieved the last item on that list - the free DLC. That was that, but then, as some of you know, the game had a rougher launch than we'd hoped for. Since then, we've released several updates, and as David and Jeff have detailed, we're continuing to support the game with even more improvements.

We knew that we wanted to do something special for everyone that was there at launch, as a way to say thanks for your support at that moment, and we realized the solution was right there for us - deliver the content that we didn't get with the Wishlist Initiative. We're happy to report that every owner of the game will be getting "The Royal Necropolis of Haernhold" DLC for FREE in early 2019, so look forward to a new adventure in the dwarven realm of Kinestia!

Here's what Lead Designer Russell Krueger has to say about the area:

The Royal Necropolis of Haernhold is a new, combat-focused dungeon that lets players travel to Kinestia to uncover the nature of Tarjan’s treachery and undo the catastrophe that has befallen the tomb of the dwarves’ greatest hero, Gaerwyn. We are pleased to announce that this dungeon will feature several new mini-boss fights and two very challenging boss fights.

Fans of our puzzles won’t be left out in the cold either! While the emphasis is very much on trying out and acquiring new, powerful gear and then using it on the most challenging fights we’ve ever made, we are also able to leverage all of our existing puzzle designs and components for a set of new, mind-bending puzzles that players will have to solve to find the secrets of Gaerwyn’s tomb.

Combined with the combat balance updates for end game parties, players will have plenty of content that will keep them on their toes! A friendly word of warning however: once players step foot into the Royal Necropolis, they will be stalked from the shadows by one of the most powerful and deadly minions Tarjan has ever bent to his will. Keep an eye out above you, because you never know when this creature will drop in to say hello…
It sounds like inXile are attempting to address some of the key complaints from our official review. This update might be our first test of Brian Fargo's claim that all his studio really needed in order to shine was a bigger budget.
 

MicoSelva

backlog digger
Patron
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
7,480
Location
Vigil's Keep
Codex 2012 Codex 2013 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 Codex+ Now Streaming! Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is. Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Divinity: Original Sin 2 Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
I wonder if they intend to relase some kind of "Fine-tuned Edition" later. At this point that is about the only chance of salvaging this game commercially.

Anyway, I won't say no to more patches and fixes, because that beats the alternative of the game being abandoned while devs move on to greener pastures.
 

Monkeyfinger

Cipher
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
778
I wonder if they intend to relase some kind of "Fine-tuned Edition" later. At this point that is about the only chance of salvaging this game commercially.

Anyway, I won't say no to more patches and fixes, because that beats the alternative of the game being abandoned while devs move on to greener pastures.

Wouldn't object to greener pastures in this case.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I wonder if they intend to relase some kind of "Fine-tuned Edition" later. At this point that is about the only chance of salvaging this game commercially.

There is no such chance. They can however do good by their Kickstarter backers and earn some PR goodwill.
 

himmy

Arcane
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Messages
1,150
Location
New Europe
I wonder if they intend to relase some kind of "Fine-tuned Edition" later. At this point that is about the only chance of salvaging this game commercially.

There is no such chance. They can however do good by their Kickstarter backers and earn some PR goodwill.

Surely there are examples of games with disastrous launches that managed to increase their lifetime sales by fixing issues and releasing gold editions.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,869
Bah humbug!

I’m still waiting for the final installment of TBTT to get out 3 + legacy shit. All that I can’t play because such a simple fucking game needs a huge graphics engine or corei5 for laptops that suck monkey nutz!

Gayer than Orko on the old Skeletor Show!
I mean look at that thing..
he-man_orko.jpg


So uh yeah... good luck with BTIV.
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2013
Messages
6,165
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Serpent in the Staglands Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
I wonder if they intend to relase some kind of "Fine-tuned Edition" later. At this point that is about the only chance of salvaging this game commercially.

There is no such chance. They can however do good by their Kickstarter backers and earn some PR goodwill.

Surely there are examples of games with disastrous launches that managed to increase their lifetime sales by fixing issues and releasing gold editions.

Lots, but most of them have long term factors (brand recognition, accessible and popular gameplay, successfully implemented F2P revenue schemes, etc) working in their favor.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Bundle status within six months.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom