Preview The Bard's Tale Review

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Bard's Tale (2005); InXile Entertainment

Playstation @ IGN.com has a four page <a href=http://ps2.ign.com/articles/558/558945p1.html?fromint=1>preview</a> of the upcoming Bard's Tale game with some juicy snippets like these:
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At one point a pair of obnoxious Frenchmen beg the Bard to reclaim their stolen frog. Go snarky and the Bard refuses, since he's already been tricked by these Frenchies once before. Take the nice response, and the Bard begrudgingly accepts the quest, but with a warning that if there's any funny business, he'll run them both through with his blade. That's the Bard's version of being nice.
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Unlike Knights of the Old Republic, there isn't any push to be always nice or always snarky (in Star Wars terms, Light or Dark). Instead, you are encouraged to choose however you feel based on the situation. Some lines from the NPCs just cry for a roll of the eyes and a snide comment and other times you may realize that it's best just to play nice for a few moments to get someone out of your hair. It's an amazing recreation of life at the IGN offices.
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The choices you make not only lead to some funny quips from the Bard, but can also have a ripple effect on the entire game. Treat a dog poorly and it will run away, befriend it and it will be an invaluable companion for the remainder of the game. Refuse to apologize to a cranky old man and he may resurface 15 hours later to cause you misery. That doesn't mean you should be nice to everyone. In fact, there is a balance between responses, so that sometimes being crass will actually earn you respect, reward, and even discounted prices. There's no way to know for certain what response will earn something and there's no indication that something you do early in the game will lead to dire consequences down the road. In this way, The Bard's Tale feels very natural, with dialogue and a morality system that never feels forced. </blockquote>
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That's the first good news we've heard about the game. Choices that actually matter!
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Thanks for the heads up <b>Kumquatq3</b>.
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Update: It's a <b>Review</b>. They gave it a score of 8.2.

 

[Spazmo]

Sounds like stuff that won't really affect the plot or endings. Still, it is sorta neat.

 

[Sol Invictus]

There is no reason why it wouldn't affect the endings (and as such, the plot). That old SNES RPG Chrono Trigger had fairly mundane 'choices' you could make throughout the game, sometimes you didn't know you were making them, as they had a tendency to be somewhat unconscious decisions; but they were very much there, and your actions decided the outcome of the game.

I think that in all likelyhood, the new Bard's Tale will feature a multitude of endings, each of them depending on what you did throughout the game rather than some superfluous 'choice' 5 minutes before the ending. Besides KOTOR, that's one of the things that bothered me in Planescape: Torment.

 

[Whipporowill]

Eh, what have we seen to support the multiple endings? I think we'd see Fargo hype that up, if it was in there, Rex - as he's done with every Bard's Tale feature yet. That the dog and old man has been mentioned in most of the previews should be noted - if there's a lot of situations like that, who knows?

 

[monkey]

Hmm...

So, is Fable going to cause every CRPG (or CRPG-like substance) from here on out (at least, until Fable has disappeared from the market's radar) to play up its interactive nature, and how it changes with the choices you make (marvel at the length of the five o'clock shadow as you forget to shave!)? I thought, it was taken as a given that small non-obvious choices you make in game could have an effect on the game in surprising, unexpected ways later.

(I realize a lot of CRPGs don't have this, or have it on a superficial level...)

I liked the BT...on my C128. (Which reminds me: the "Gold Box" D&D games -- also from my C128 days -- had this same new fangled plot choice/consequence thing that Mr. Fargo & co. are going on about; I don't remember SSI hyping this up in their ads at the time...) I even played all of them, and they were fun at the time. However, I'm not sure there are enough people now who care about the brand who are more inclined to buy the game based on snippets like this (if you don't wipe your treasure chest from time to time, it will get dusty! watch your character sneeze, and make snide remarks about being raised in a pig sty!).

And those who do care are probably going to buy the game (just like they'll probably try out Devil's Whiskey) regardless of what PR InXile chooses to release...

I guess InXile's marketing has got to do something; but, geez, why not play up the fact you've got Cary Elwes doing the voice of the Bard? At least, you might get some cross-over interest from "Princess Bride" or "Men in Tights" fans...

(Actually, I think Fargo's played this up on G4TTV; looks like he beat me to the punch with that idea. Damn, so much for my brilliant marketing suggestion... )

 

[Volourn]

"Brian Fargo, famed creator of seminal RPGs Baldur's Gate and Fallout"

Hahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahhahahaahahahahahahahahahahah

 

[kumquatq3]

actully, it's a review not a preview, they gave it a 8.2.

There is a small box with a score of to the right, it's pretty small

 

[Whipporowill]

actully, it's a review not a preview, they gave it a 8.2.

There is a small box with a score of to the right, it's pretty small

Now, that's funny. I've heard a lot of people call "previews" - "reviews", but not the other way around.

 

[jiujitsu]

I just don't like 'bards'. They make me think of jesters/drag queens/clowns/weaklings.

I don't want to role play as something that gets money for 'dancing a jig' in front of strangers.

 

[almondblight]

There is no reason why it wouldn't affect the endings (and as such, the plot). That old SNES RPG Chrono Trigger had fairly mundane 'choices' you could make throughout the game, sometimes you didn't know you were making them, as they had a tendency to be somewhat unconscious decisions; but they were very much there, and your actions decided the outcome of the game.

Yeah, I was actually quite impressed by the trial in the game, a lot of actions I hadn't though much about ended up coming back and hurting me. I stopped playing because the game began to degenerat (IMHO) after you go back to prehistoric time, but it does go to show you how innovation goes well beyonf technical advancement or even new ideas.

There's going to be a RPG creator coming out where you can import Bard's Tale games from the Bard Tales Construction Set. Might be interesting.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Prehistoric time is definitely crap. It does improve after that, though. The game's VERY long.

 

[DemonKing]

Damn...I wasn't that interested in this, but after reading the review I might just pick it up next year when it comes out on PC.

Shame about the combat, but if the story and humour level is right, as the review suggests, it's probably worth a go.