Bard's Tale The Bard's Tale IV Pre-Release Thread [RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

Explain it what is fun in it? Seriously, what is fun about drawing lines on a graph paper, one line after one press on the cursor keys?

 

I honestly think it's enjoyable in certain situations, e.g. when you're exploring the hostile dungeon. Adds to the feeling of being lost in an unfriendly environment. I do understand that some people will not like it but I do know that some will.

Of course there are situations when it's tedious and pointless, so I guess an ugly compromise is to keep the option to disable mapping.

 

Almost half a milion in just few hours not even 12h....

Fargo would make water out of solid stone...

 

Wonder how fast it's going to be growing after first 24h freebies / 15k early birds.

 

Honestly i didn't even consider they would get beyond their goal.
Imo i think they won't beat TN kickstarter even if their first hours indicate beating it tenfold.

Even their TN kickstarter had to take something around 20 hours to get 1mln. This has half a milion in much shorter time.

 

Backed but I have to say that was a fairly weak pitch. Surely we're past the "evil" publisher trump card by now?

 

Well, I guess it is hard to explain what makes it fun unless you tried it yourself. I was just as sceptical as you until I tried it. It is probably the same with having your own journal as opposed to letting the game fill out an automatic journal. It just makes it a more personal experience, I guess? You gradually see your own progress, take notes on the map where you found clues, when you get stuck you take a look to see where there are still blanks and so on. It feels more like your own adventure. Essentially the game draws you in much more cause you are LARPing part of the exploration. You also have to consider that some of these games were designed with mapping in mind, so that the dungeon layout itself can become a puzzle. Playing with an automap is more akin to playing with a walkthrough in that sense. If you draw you own map you actually have to be observant of your surroundings and so on.

You also shouldn't think of it as an means to an end, in the sense that drawing the map yourself is tedious but once you did it the result is cool. The process of drawing itself is part of the fun, so you don't actually consider it tedium in that moment, it is just an integral part of the experience. (That is, until you enter the Mines in Wiz6 and they just drive you fucking nuts with all those fucking stairs and you give up after three attempts cause you are not fucking crazy or have the patience of a fucking zen-master.)

That is by the way not to say that it is not additional effort. Sure, I don't always feel like sitting with writing paper next to the computer and drawing every other step. An automap is more convenient and I am glad they will include one (I am also pretty sure you will have the option to turn it off.) It costs more time and effort, that much is for sure.

I am just saying that putting that extra effort in can be rewarding in itself. It is definitely a different experience.

 

Well, since you put it like that, Mr. Fargo - backed.

Even I, premiumboxlover69, must be getting jaded by now, as I didn't even feel the urge for a signed collectors' edition this time. Never mind - I have two years to berate myself for not throwing my life savings at it, just as I had two years after backing Dead State to do the same for the opposite reason.

 

500K in several hours... Nicht schlecht, Herr Specht!

 

It is a bit worrying they have not discussed the character system in their pitch, and I don't mean in the video even but the underlying text. While this could mean they are still considering the sort of system to use, I am worried they might go with the simplicity route and make a system too similar to the original games. A turn based blobber can do much better with a robust character system with many classes and depth in the same classes.

 

This will be backed when they start accepting pay pal pledges. DWARVESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Working for him, plus looks like they spent a few hours making the 1 in game screenshot.

Showing next to no content as well.
Wonderful.

 

Now that is just mean...

 

While all this is true, a lot of the fun also comes from the challenge that some games throw at you; Sneaky teleporters, rotating rooms, declining floors that lead you to a lower level without you noticing it. I even heard of a GM who used hidden magnet to throw off the player's compass, though I haven't seen this done in a computer game. Which is why I think having an auto-map is worrying. I mean, it is one thing to disable the auto-map for the old school mode. It is another thing entirely to implement challenges that only make sense if the player is using it.

 

Update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/the-bards-tale-iv/posts/1250789

Gameplay in engine footage is coming...."next month"? soon. edit: I should learn to read.

 

Early Bird Collectible here.. and in case inXile reserves their right to not learn from WL2, there's always the $27 digital tier.

 

Er, he says a lot of things are coming "over the next month", i.e. there will be a lot of updates before the fundraising period ends. Then he says "look for it this week" regarding the engine footage. This is all stuff you quoted.

 

Oh, yeah. I should learn to read.

 

I think the gameplay video they're promising this week could end up being a big boost if the media covers it. Probably what they're planning for, to keep this thing rolling.

 

Fucking IGN, these guys really do hate Kickstarters, don't they?
Morons post hundreds of news on a daily basis - but when it comes to KS campaigns (and accompanying reviews) they are always among the last.

 

The Media are the king makers.

 

I can totally accept that. My scepticism comes from the different mindset I have regarding games. I'm not LARPing, I'm never that immersed (lol, I hate this word) that writing journals and maps adds anything to the gameplay. I'm just sitting at a PC, playing games. The way I see it, drawing a map on a graph paper and using automap results in the same things: you will have your map, with the important places noted on it.

This is what automappin is: Imagine yourself sitting in front of your computer, playing the game. Your left hand on the WASD (or cursor) keys, your right hand is on the mouse. You explore the dungeon. You press the forward key key. You let go the mouse with your right hand, and draw a small line on your graph paper. You grab the mouse again. Then you press the forward key again to go forward another step (or five steps, whatever). You grap the pen again, and drow a line on your graph paper. And you do this again, and again and again. As you said, the end result is really cool, but if the automap is designed well, it will produce the exact same map, which you have drawn. All you get from doing it by hand is that you have to draw a line every time you press a button. It doesn't require any skill, any dexterity or thought, it is a mechanical thing. And that doesn't add anything to the game IMO.

That said, I accept if someone finds it more immersive, just don't say that it is one of the most important thing that makes a game, because it doesn't.

 

I can get behind manual mapping if indeed it's a part of the actual gameplay. Thing is, it might easily hijack it, since it's so labor intensive, as well as the puzzles that might employ it. The actual physical manipulation of items to gain benefits in BT IV might be a reasonable compromise.

However, I do support manual notes and journal writing; it makes me own my decisions to go to X or Y and do stuff without feeling like an errand-boy, also it encourages some reading comprehension and forces game writers to try and write more clever dialogue and other in-game text.