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Tags: Bard's Tale IV; Brian Fargo; InXile Entertainment; Nathan Long; Torment: Tides of Numenera; Wasteland 2; Wasteland 3
inXile have published one last Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter update for this year, just in time for Christmas. The update offers a look at some of the game's monsters. If that sounds familiar to you, it's because there was a similar update back in March. However, this one has more structure and detail, with the game's bestiary divided into classic enemies from the original Bard's Tale trilogy (including the iconic Berserker hordes) and more exotic creatures borrowed from Scottish folklore. And that's not all. Alongside the update, inXile have published a "year in review" video in which Brian Fargo sums up the studio's activities in 2016. Here's the video and an excerpt from the monstrous menagerie:
Berserker
In the original games Berserkers were famed as much for their numbers as their battle rage. You never encountered just one. In The Bard's Tale IV, berserkers are worshipers of Vidlsvin the Boar, the Einarr god of War. While the rest of the Einarr people are content to be fishers, farmers, shepherds, and good neighbors to their Baedish and Fichti cousins on the mainland of Caith, the Berserkers crave a bolder, bloodier life. Whipped up to a frothing fury by the priests of their cult, they seek to bring back the ancient Einarr traditions of raiding, pillaging, and slaughter, and thus restore the lost glory of the Jarls of the Stanish Isles.
Fachan
There are actually few mentions of the Fachan in old Scottish lore, save one tale where Murachadh MacBrian, the King of Ireland, won a footrace against one of them, and a suggestion that they might have come from muddled tales of druids standing on one foot while they cast spells. In all the tales, however, they are described as fierce creatures having one leg, one arm, one eye, and a stiff tuft of hair sticking up from their ugly heads.
Our Fachan are twisted monsters of corruption and darkness, the result of a botched summoning by the Fichti outcasts known as the Siambra Du. No one knows how their numbers have multiplied since that first malignant mistake (perhaps by regeneration from severed limbs?) but now Fachan are seen all over Caith, and populate the hellish realm of Malefia too, from whence evil conjurers can call them forth to fight for them in battle.
Anthropophagie
Also known as Blemmyes, Anthropophagie are not as particularly Scottish as the other monsters on this list, but we liked them too much not to use them. They come from medieval books such as the Otia Imperialia, a "book of wonders" that presented garbled translations of earlier works about far off places and peoples. The Anthropophagie were said to be giant headless cannibals from Syria whose faces were in their chests.
For The Bard's Tale IV, we have made them denizens of Malefia as well - monsters out of your worst nightmares who can be summoned to fight against you, and our artists have really emphasized their hellish aspects, with not just their mouths displaced, but hands, teeth, and eyes. Horrifying.
In the video, Brian reveals that inXile plan to release a Bard's Tale IV combat system video at the end of January. He also hints that something VR-related is coming from them next year. I guess all that tweeting of his wasn't just idle amusement.
inXile have published one last Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter update for this year, just in time for Christmas. The update offers a look at some of the game's monsters. If that sounds familiar to you, it's because there was a similar update back in March. However, this one has more structure and detail, with the game's bestiary divided into classic enemies from the original Bard's Tale trilogy (including the iconic Berserker hordes) and more exotic creatures borrowed from Scottish folklore. And that's not all. Alongside the update, inXile have published a "year in review" video in which Brian Fargo sums up the studio's activities in 2016. Here's the video and an excerpt from the monstrous menagerie:
Berserker
In the original games Berserkers were famed as much for their numbers as their battle rage. You never encountered just one. In The Bard's Tale IV, berserkers are worshipers of Vidlsvin the Boar, the Einarr god of War. While the rest of the Einarr people are content to be fishers, farmers, shepherds, and good neighbors to their Baedish and Fichti cousins on the mainland of Caith, the Berserkers crave a bolder, bloodier life. Whipped up to a frothing fury by the priests of their cult, they seek to bring back the ancient Einarr traditions of raiding, pillaging, and slaughter, and thus restore the lost glory of the Jarls of the Stanish Isles.
Fachan
There are actually few mentions of the Fachan in old Scottish lore, save one tale where Murachadh MacBrian, the King of Ireland, won a footrace against one of them, and a suggestion that they might have come from muddled tales of druids standing on one foot while they cast spells. In all the tales, however, they are described as fierce creatures having one leg, one arm, one eye, and a stiff tuft of hair sticking up from their ugly heads.
Our Fachan are twisted monsters of corruption and darkness, the result of a botched summoning by the Fichti outcasts known as the Siambra Du. No one knows how their numbers have multiplied since that first malignant mistake (perhaps by regeneration from severed limbs?) but now Fachan are seen all over Caith, and populate the hellish realm of Malefia too, from whence evil conjurers can call them forth to fight for them in battle.
Anthropophagie
Also known as Blemmyes, Anthropophagie are not as particularly Scottish as the other monsters on this list, but we liked them too much not to use them. They come from medieval books such as the Otia Imperialia, a "book of wonders" that presented garbled translations of earlier works about far off places and peoples. The Anthropophagie were said to be giant headless cannibals from Syria whose faces were in their chests.
For The Bard's Tale IV, we have made them denizens of Malefia as well - monsters out of your worst nightmares who can be summoned to fight against you, and our artists have really emphasized their hellish aspects, with not just their mouths displaced, but hands, teeth, and eyes. Horrifying.
In the video, Brian reveals that inXile plan to release a Bard's Tale IV combat system video at the end of January. He also hints that something VR-related is coming from them next year. I guess all that tweeting of his wasn't just idle amusement.
