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

[DosBuster]

sharpening filters are also further performance hogs.

Not really.

Also, Bester MSAA is even more of a performance cost than TAA. Plus, you can have MSAA work on a deferred renderer, it's just expensive performance wise. https://docs.nvidia.com/gameworks/c.../d3d_samples/antialiaseddeferredrendering.htm


Also, wouldn't supersampling the game at 20% introduce aliasing as you're going for a 5/6 downsampling ratio instead of a power of two?

 

[theSavant]

Following that thread in inXile forums, it looks like the "mercenary" replacing a party member has the same level and the same amount of skillpoints like the other party members (or the one he replaces?), with the only difference that his skillpoints are not set, and you can distribute them freely. So there is no disparity in the party. This is good.


Edit: ... talking of disparity: Can't wait to create my "special" party, where everything must be equal and unified. Every party member will have the same skills, uniform and march in step. Every "diversity" will be exterminated in gas chambers.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Eh... man this feels shallow. I'm not far in but all this makes me feel is sad that Wizardry 8 was never followed up on. Skill trees suck. The four "archetypes" are not enough.

It's not all bad, but it just feels like a step back instead of the blubber I've been waiting for.

 

[Strange Fellow]

HANDS-ON: THE BARD’S TALE IV IS A FRESH TAKE ON FANTASY ROLEPLAYING TROPES

[...]

When you’re not in combat you walk around the map just like you would in most other first-person RPGs, but you can feel the inspiration of old-school designs seeping through here as well. You’ll come across lots of puzzles, notes to read, and people to talk to.

Thanks to everyone ITT who prove that they are better than gaming journalists by posting impressions with some actual substance, instead of playing "who can fit the highest number of trite mannerisms into a single sentence."

 

[PhantasmaNL]

The best gaming analysis and critique can be found on the Codex.

 

[aweigh]

the key is to always begin an evaluation with the assumption that the game is bad, and the developers are incompetent.

i'm not even trying to be edgy.

 

[imweasel]

It would be kind of impossible to have worse combat than MMX tho...

Combat in MMX was perfectly fine. It was a tad repetitive but still pretty enjoyable.

Or do you belong to the "teh combatz wuz too hard" or "ZOMG Sawyer is right, hard counters are for grognards" clique?

 

[aweigh]

too few party members, and too much MMO design in the classes and skills; the actual combat engine was more than fine and competent... it was too repetitive, as you say, and also too simple/not stimulating enough.

certainly could've been much worse though.

 

[fantadomat]

and also too simple

I do agree with you,but it sounds really strange coming out from a JRPG fan. JRPGs do have the most basic and simple combat design.

 

[aweigh]

most jrpgs do, agreed, and you will certainly never see me praising their combat. however compared to something like SMT: Strange Journey (first-person blobber), or the dark spire (wiz-clone), or even Persona 5 then you have there examples of JRPGS with much better combat than MMX.

however my intention was never to make this a western/jrpg pissing contest. I judge mmx on its own merits and compared to its historical and contemporaries, like classic Wizardry and japanese wizardry and classic MM; and off those comparisons it falls short.

 

[fantadomat]

most jrpgs do, agreed, and you will certainly never see me praising their combat. however compared to something like SMT: Strange Journey (first-person blobber), or the dark spire (wiz-clone), or even Persona 5 then you have there examples of JRPGS with much better combat than MMX.

however my intention was never to make this a western/jrpg pissing contest. I judge mmx on its own merits and compared to its historical and contemporaries, like classic Wizardry and japanese wizardry and classic MM; and off those comparisons it falls short.

I was just making small talk,it was just surprising. I do fully agree with you,MMX was pretty meh compared to any other MM game,i even enjoyed that beta shit MM9.

Have you played Laxius Power or Laxius Force?

 

[aweigh]

i actually have never played a single RPG Maker-derived game.

 

[fantadomat]

i actually have never played a single RPG Maker-derived game.

You should try it out mate,it have simplicity of JRPGs and the exploration and freedom of old western RPGs. Laxius Power 1&3 are great open world game,also the saves are do effect later games. You should try it,it is the only JRPG style game that manage to finish a few times and did enjoy it at max. There are a few videos on the tube,try them out.

PS:It is really ugly.

 

[Zombra]

Just opened the beta. First thing I notice, quest markers can be turned off in the options menu. Boom, one problem solved.

 

[Castozor]

Just opened the beta. First thing I notice, quest markers can be turned off in the options menu. Boom, one problem solved.

Only if they designed the journal/quest text with that in mind. But seeing as most of you with beta access seem to be (cautiously?) optimistic I actually feel really good about this game right now. Comparisons to MMX, which I liked, probably means I will like this one too.

 

[Zombra]

Just opened the beta. First thing I notice, quest markers can be turned off in the options menu. Boom, one problem solved.

Only if they designed the journal/quest text with that in mind.

I guess I'll find out, I turned it off immediately.

But seeing as most of you with beta access seem to be (cautiously?) optimistic I actually feel really good about this game right now.

Well, I've only played the beta for 10 seconds. I did like the alpha, though. The main question you need to answer is "Am I expecting a BT4 as if they'd made a direct sequel in 1989 but with souped up computers?" because in essence this is nothing like BT1-3.

 

[Castozor]

I never played the older Bards Tale's, I just like dungeon crawlers. My hope is that this will both be a good game and a success so we can get more Western made crawlers in the future. Nothing wrong with the Japanese ones mind, but they are not as readily available over here.

 

[Zombra]

Premade character (Melody the Bard) is a chosen one! Not really. Story starts off with a 'prophecy' that Melody is going to save Skara Brae ... so you can roll with that ... or maybe it's just the dreams of an old man who's fixated on her for some reason. There's a crisis at the beginning and Melody may not be the one who escapes - it could be anybody. The guy who said you have to play for hours before making your own character was high.

 

[fantadomat]

Is there a character creation?

 

[DemonKing]

Might & Magic X has been one of my favourite games of the CRPG incline - along with Grimrock - so looking forward to this.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I actually feel really good about this game right now.

Who is this person and why is he allowed on the Codex?

 

[Zombra]

Full list of archetype "Subclasses" in the beta.

Bard
Grand Rabble-Rouser (party buff: damage and speed)
Grand Troubadour (charm enemies)
Grand Warchanter (cumulative strength boost)
Grand Minstrel (party buff: spell points, opportunity points)
Brew Master (self combat buffs)

Practicioner
Grand Sorcerer (mental debuffs)
Grand Conjuror (area effect damage)
Grand Summoner (summon wraiths)
Grand Magician (item buffs/debuffs)
Archmage (even more damage, must have mastered 3 above subclasses first)

Fighter
Vanguard (berserker damage)
Veteran (penetration damage)
Guardian (tanking)
Commander (group buffs)
Champion (counterattacks, defense debuffs)

Rogue
Assassin (critical hits)
Dirty Fighter (counterattacks)
Shadow (conceal party members)
Infiltrator (party first strike)
Master Thief (noncombat expertise, locks/traps/haggling)

Crafting (Any Archetype)
Master Chemist (potions)
Master Pyrosmith (bombs)
Master Craftsman (barricades/caltrops)

--------------

Note that each subclass requires around 4 Skill Points to master. Since character levels go to at least 18 (see Baed cultural ability), it is apparent that every character can ultimately master most subclasses throughout their career if the player wishes. However there are also numerous abilities that do not belong to subclasses, e.g. the Bard has 35 abilities in the Attack and Defense quadrants that don't fall on the path to any subclass.

Correction. Due to the "tiers" system, it takes a lot longer to master a subclass. It will take at least 16 points spent to access the "outer ring" where most "ultimate", subclass-defining abilities reside. After that, grabbing more "ultimates" will be relatively cheap, depending on build.

EDIT 07-17-18. I guess there are other, unlockable subclasses available as well, e.g. there is a special quest to unlock the Practicioner→Priest tree.

 

[makchanka]

HANDS-ON: THE BARD’S TALE IV IS A FRESH TAKE ON FANTASY ROLEPLAYING TROPES

[...]

When you’re not in combat you walk around the map just like you would in most other first-person RPGs, but you can feel the inspiration of old-school designs seeping through here as well. You’ll come across lots of puzzles, notes to read, and people to talk to.

Thanks to everyone ITT who prove that they are better than gaming journalists by posting impressions with some actual substance, instead of playing "who can fit the highest number of trite mannerisms into a single sentence."

I mean, journalists are largely trash to begin with. Expecting games journalism to be anything other than glorified advertising is silly. Then again, holy shit, that's garbage even for advertising. Good god.

i actually have never played a single RPG Maker-derived game.

Most of them are burning piles of ass, but some are actually better than some of the stuff coming out of, like, inexile.

 

[Zombra]

"Luck Stones" (save checkpoints) have a very cool feature. You can either save the game or "consume" their luck, without saving, for bonus xp.

 

[Zombra]

Customization video with all character portraits and voice pack samples.



EDIT: Duh, video now public.