Bard's Tale The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep - Director's Cut

[Themadcow]

You can play long stretches without fighting at all

That one line is the most savage indictment of this game I've yet read. I'm convinced that inXile NOLA had absolutely no idea how blobbers are supposed to work, or just didn't want to make one.

 

[fantadomat]

Typical journo shit ""meh the game is terrible and shit but i will force ma self to finish it,for the glory of the codex". felipepepe if you don't like the fucking game,then don't finish it and write a fucking review.

 

[Morkar Left]

You people maybe should understand that is was never their intention to create a "blobber" here. They were referencing to the old BT titles not because they consider them "blobbers" but how rpgs were made in the past. Back in the day there were no "blobbers", they were all rpgs.

Personally I think the combat system is fast and short enough to be considered a "blobber" combat style and I would love to have some respawning encounters and a bit of "grinding" but I certainly don't won't to fight enemies every 3 minutes. Having passages without a fight are good.

They need to sort out the whole char, item and leveling system and the tech is still extremely messed up even after the latest patch. And riddles are pretty cool but could be easily toned down to 2/3 or even half of it (but ffs sake keep riddles in it, they are great). But exploration and world design is definitely not a problem of the game.

 

[Darth Roxor]

patch 2 has hit zog, but there's one more still in the pipeline right

 

[Themadcow]

You people maybe should understand that is was never their intention to create a "blobber" here. They were referencing to the old BT titles not because they consider them "blobbers" but how rpgs were made in the past. Back in the day there were no "blobbers", they were all rpgs.

Well, they specifically said a "dungeon crawler" because outside of the Codex, most people haven't got a clue what a blobber is. Still, I'm struggling to think of many dungeon crawlers (and I'm casting a wide net... a Diablo wide net here) that don't have combat for long periods while in the main gameplay environment. Puzzles were a feature, a notable but minor feature, of the original games - why they should be so much of the gameplay in BT4 is beyond me.

No-one wants BT3 levels of random encounters (roughly every 3 steps in the Amiga version...) but combat and exploration have always been the defining qualities of the genre.

 

[TT1]

I felt so good unninstalling this game. You should try.

 

[Darth Roxor]

i havent installed it a total of 3 times already (now waiting for 4th) just to uninstall it now

 

[BEvers]

patch 2 has hit zog, but there's one more still in the pipeline right

There's one announced for next Monday, but they've already delayed some of the "patch roadmap" stuff for an unspecified later patch. It also sounds like sea doesn't have inventory sorting ready yet:

 

[Themadcow]

Beyond this next patch is apparently the legacy features such as grid based movement, which I'll give a 30% chance of ever happening and a 5% chance of being any good.

 

[V_K]

Still, I'm struggling to think of many dungeon crawlers (and I'm casting a wide net... a Diablo wide net here) that don't have combat for long periods while in the main gameplay environment.

Dark Heart of Uukrul, for example. The whole endgame is one big puzzle sequence, with no combats whatsoever.
The Summoning also had a quite high puzzles-to-combat ratio, though not quite combat-free maps.
The problem with BT4 is not puzzles but repetitiveness. And in that regard it's very faithful to the originals.

 

[Jinn]

i havent installed it a total of 3 times already (now waiting for 4th) just to uninstall it now

AKA Roxor likes the game in a few ways, but dislikes it in many others. I'm honestly impressed that you continue to play. A deep part of me compels me to as well. Probably will in a month or two.

I agree, there is something there.

 

[Darth Roxor]

i havent installed it a total of 3 times already (now waiting for 4th) just to uninstall it now

AKA Roxor likes the game in a few ways, but dislikes it in many others. I'm honestly impressed that you continue to play. A deep part of me compels me to as well. Probably will in a month or two.

I agree, there is something there.

I am not playing it because I'm waiting for all the major patches to hit, and ZOG patching forces me to redownload and reinstall the 25 gbs each time ffs.

 

[Roguey]

Dark Heart of Uukrul, for example. The whole endgame is one big puzzle sequence, with no combats whatsoever.

Will BT4 be the next Crooked Bee meme game?

 

[Themadcow]

Dark Heart of Uukrul, for example. The whole endgame is one big puzzle sequence, with no combats whatsoever.

The Dark Heart of Uukrul was unsuccessful, selling fewer than 5,000 copies

Successful game design for BT4 to copy then.

Yeah, I'm being flippant and twatty for the sake of it. I've never played Uukrul tbh, which is a bit of a miss. However, from what I've read it was a lot more complex and well designed than BT4 in general.

 

[Jinn]

I am not playing it because I'm waiting for all the major patches to hit, and ZOG patching forces me to redownload and reinstall the 25 gbs each time ffs.

Those patches are a mighty hard load to bear. Though still...

I'm honestly impressed that you continue to play

 

[Nyast]

Typical journo shit ""meh the game is terrible and shit but i will force ma self to finish it,for the glory of the codex". felipepepe if you don't like the fucking game,then don't finish it and write a fucking review.

He was about to reach the end yesterday, by now he's probably finished it.

 

[Morkar Left]

Well, they specifically said a "dungeon crawler" because outside of the Codex, most people haven't got a clue what a blobber is. Still, I'm struggling to think of many dungeon crawlers (and I'm casting a wide net... a Diablo wide net here) that don't have combat for long periods while in the main gameplay environment. Puzzles were a feature, a notable but minor feature, of the original games - why they should be so much of the gameplay in BT4 is beyond me.

No-one wants BT3 levels of random encounters (roughly every 3 steps in the Amiga version...) but combat and exploration have always been the defining qualities of the genre.

A dungeon crawler isn't automatically a blobber. And BT4 is a dungeon crawler by structure. Dungeon Master is a dungeon crawler, Legend of Grimrock is adungeon crawler, even Diablo you already mentioned is a dungeon crawler. Even Underrail is a dungeon crawler.

 

[Themadcow]

A dungeon crawler isn't automatically a blobber. And BT4 is a dungeon crawler by structure. Dungeon Master is a dungeon crawler, Legend of Grimrock is adungeon crawler, even Diablo you already mentioned is a dungeon crawler. Even Underrail is a dungeon crawler.

Thanks for that insight.

 

[fantadomat]

I am not playing it because I'm waiting for all the major patches to hit, and ZOG patching forces me to redownload and reinstall the 25 gbs each time ffs.

Those patches are a mighty hard load to bear. Though still...

I'm honestly impressed that you continue to play

I too am waiting for all the patchwork to start it again. The game is fun.

 

[Morkar Left]

A dungeon crawler isn't automatically a blobber. And BT4 is a dungeon crawler by structure. Dungeon Master is a dungeon crawler, Legend of Grimrock is adungeon crawler, even Diablo you already mentioned is a dungeon crawler. Even Underrail is a dungeon crawler.

Thanks for that insight.

I'm glad I could help.

 

[felipepepe]

Not even inXile knows what Bard's Tale IV was supposed to be... check some early KS updates: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/the-bards-tale-iv/posts/1276158

If you are unfamiliar with the original The Bard’s Tale trilogy, it used a class-based character system, meaning the “Class” or profession of your characters was one of the first things you could choose. There were ten different classes in the first The Bard’s Tale, eight of which could be picked from the start: Warrior, Paladin, Rogue, Bard, Hunter, Monk, Conjurer and Magician.

With Chris “The Director” Keenan taking point on all things design, we absolutely want to bring back each of these classes. Many of the character class concepts from the original trilogy serve as a great base to make them interesting and unique. Each character class will have a very distinct role that they play, with the ability for you to make decisions along the way on how you want to tweak and modify their core class abilities. We want to give you more freedom in how you put together a party, so you’re not dictated a specific balance in melee or ranged, in weapons or magic, and you’re not required to take certain classes.

... the races you pick will have an influence in certain spots in the game, with NPCs reacting to the presence of a Trow in your group in certain, perhaps not always favorable ways. Some options may open or close to you depending on who you have in your party. As you know, we're huge fans of reactivity in our games, and that's one way we can use the character system to add more depth.

 

[BEvers]

The BT4 touch point document was full of that sort of stuff, which makes Fargo's claim that they "underpromised" seem somewhat dubious. Sadly it was deleted from Google Drive at some point after I looked at it (April 2018), and I don't have a copy saved.

But here are some quotes from when it was first released: https://forums.inxile-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?t=13253

Over 7 unique races like Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Trow. The races all have their own unique culture and history, integrating your choices more into the game’s narrative. The world and citizens of The Bard’s Tale IV react to your party’s make-up, branching the quest structure and providing a unique experience depending on who is joining you.

This was later retconned to "exactly 7 races", and "humans are 4 races". What happened to the branching quest structure I do not know.

Dozens of powerful Magic spells including some that allow the magic user to summon creatures to fight by your side.

I don't think there are even 20 spells in the game.

Travel to through magic portals into the realms of the Elves, Dwarves and Trow.

I suppose there's still a chance that the Dwarf DLC will come out.

 

[theSavant]

This was later retconned to "exactly 7 races", and "humans are 4 races". What happened to the branching quest structure I do not know.

I find these 4 human races so uninspiring and obsolete, they should have made just one.

 

[Zombra]

What happened to the branching quest structure I do not know.

It still counts as a branch.

 

[Bohr]

Bad code