Game News Bard's Tale IV News Roundup: Launch Trailer, Spotlight #4, Combat Overview, 300k Wishlists Achieved

[Infinitron]

Tags: David Rogers; InXile Entertainment; Paul Marzagalli; The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep

The Bard's Tale IV is now five days away from release and inXile are doing their best to hype things up. A few days ago they released a fourth spotlight video highlighting the game's Gaelic soundtrack, but the real action began today with the early release of its launch trailer. It's a pretty effective trailer, I think.

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There's also a new ten minute gameplay video over at IGN. Narrated once again by creative director David Rogers, this particular video aims to showcase one of the game's more advanced combat scenarios, pitting a six character party against a band of cultists.

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Finally, inXile announced today that their Bard's Tale IV wishlist initiative had reached 300k wishlists, reducing the game's price from $40 to $35 (and also adding the torch from Darkest Dungeon on the way, but who cares about that). Preorders are now available on Steam and GOG at that price. Unfortunately, according to inXile's community manager that means the wishlist initiative is over now, so we won't be getting that free dungeon DLC. It wouldn't surprise me if the price is eventually reduced to $30, though.

 

[MurkyShadow]

Five days you say?
I will contemplate buying* after the fifth codex review.
*the definitive edition in a season sale in five years or so

edit:
On a more serious note, I'm having difficulty seeing this as a Bard's Tale game.
I think I might view it different, standing alone for itself. Which doesn't mean
it'll be bad. Though I'm still not sold on the interface. I'll be interested to hear
the first codex experiences in this regard. I can't get quiet over the non ironic
excitement of one of the earlier videos, citing that there will be many boxes to
smash, as this is something a crpg will not be complete without. Maybe the
presenter was trying to be funny and just failed his skill check?

 

[Invictus]

Really looking forward to this game I truly hope it does well, it looks like fun and might be the first game I play ok release in a very long time

 

[Felix]

Premium/Standard/Platinum/Ultimate edition? WTF? Is this some sort of new jewish practice?

 

[Bohr]

If it's a success we could still get V2 with the manual

 

[Darkzone]

If it's a success we could still get V2 with the manual

I dont know if this good or bad news. Nevertheless Kudos to Brian Fargo for at least giving a chance (no matter how small it is) to a Dwarven Dungeon of Haernhold free DLC.

 

[Sacibengala]

The keys are out!

 

[CRD]

I really hope the game is good, I want another crawler as good as grimrock 2, it's been a while.

 

[Zeriel]

They're launching with those portraits? Nice fucking meme game.

 

[toro]

The keys are out!

Yeah. I finally got the key only after I've reopened the survey and saved again.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

wow, that was a lot of gibberish i'm not very interested in

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I have to admit that even as a complete sucker for any barely decent tactical turn-based game that combat overview video stroke me as a unnecessarily convoluted snoozefest.

 

[mindx2]

Got my GOG key!! I'm actually looking forward curious about this one.

 

[Grauken]

Hey, of those of you who played the Beta extensively, does it make sense to wait that they implement the grid-movement, or is this just a gimmick at this point and I should play the game as is when it comes out?

 

[Gecos]

I also got the (so far) standard key for my super-duper double collector box edition but the good news is that while watching Cohh play it yesterday, I liked pretty much everything I saw. Not too many bugs also and nothing critical.
I'm genuinely pleasantly surprised, InXile! Can't wait to dive in myself!

 

[toro]

The Bard's Tale 4 comes out tomorrow, and if it's a big hit, inXile Entertainment boss Brian Fargo said on Twitter that he'll celebrate by trying to buy back Interplay, the studio he co-founded back in the early '80s.

And in case you were curious, yes, he is serious about it. "I certainly am," he told Variety. "My fans have been requesting me to bring back my old Interplay games for years and this would be the most amazing way to make that happen."

Interplay was a top-notch outfit in its prime, developing or publishing games including The Bard's Tale trilogy, Wasteland, Neuromancer, Descent, Battle Chess, Freespace, and Fallout. Recent years (say, post-2000) haven't been as kind, however. 2014 Kickstarter campaigns for Battle Chess and a Freespace-based board game both failed badly, for instance, although Battle Chess did eventually make it to Steam. Aside from that, it's been focused primarily on re-releasing old properties like Evolva and MAX 2.

Even if Bard's Tale 4 is a hit, the whole thing hinges on Interplay's willingness to sell. Fortunately for those who'd like to see it happen, Interplay has previously expressed an interest in doing just that: In 2016 the company announced a plan (which as far as I know never went anywhere) to sell its entire portfolio. That's not quite the same as selling the entire company, but it's close enough to make for a good starting point. I've reached out to Interplay for comment and will update if I receive a reply.

 

[cvv]

Always trying to buy games I like directly from devs but inXile only sells Steam keys. Lame. Sad.

 

[Baron Dupek]

https://webcache.googleusercontent....eviews.com/reviews/bards-tale-iv-barrows-deep

new review is out, for some reason it was deleted

 

[Tacgnol]

The talk of bugs and random crashes in that review is concerning.

 

[Morkar Left]

Reading the pro and cons I have to say it's pretty much what I'm expecting from BT4. Only the combat I'm not really sold. I just have to see it in practice.
The graphics I expect some nice sceneries but overall the graphics won't be top notch. Something I can really live with.
That the game won't be bugfree and have good performance on release is something everybody is probably expecting. It's not their strong side and unity seems to be a bit complicated in that regard. I guess it will improve over time but if it's playable I'm already happy.

 

[Grauken]

Isn't this the Unreal engine?

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

I hope this will attract a broader audience to play Grimoire. XD

 

[cvv]

The talk of bugs and random crashes in that review is concerning.

No, it's expected.

 

[Morkar Left]

Isn't this the Unreal engine?

Oh my bad. Then there seems to be not much of a difference which engine you use in the end when it comes to optimized framerates...

 

[Invictus]

So the game is buggy, the combat is a bit basic, the puzzles easy and the graphics are not Crysis... yup we all knew that
Still going to get it