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Game News Help revive the dungeon crawler! (again) - The Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter is LIVE

Infinitron

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Tags: Bard's Tale IV; Brian Fargo; InXile Entertainment

inXile Entertainment's Kickstarter campaign for The Bard's Tale IV is on its merry way! To the surprise of few, it's off to a strong start, with over $250,000 (out of a total $1.25M) gathered in just two hours. Here's the Kickstarter pitch video, in which Brian Fargo has yet another meeting with the increasingly pubescent Publisher Kid™, before going on a trip to the chilly Orkney Islands...



30 years ago, a small company by the name of Interplay produced a cRPG titled Tales of the Unknown I: The Bard’s Tale. This game was crafted at a time when the RPG genre was growing and being defined by an endless stream of innovative releases. In this period dominated by Wizardry and Ultima, The Bard’s Tale was an unexpected hit, putting Interplay on the map. Brian went on to produce many of the RPGs we still love to this day, including Wasteland, Baldur’s Gate, Fallout, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and many more. The Bard’s Tale was also one of the first members of the Computer Gaming World Hall of Fame, and The Bard’s Tale III was featured in the Smithsonian’s “The Art of Video Games” exhibit.

During our successful crowdfunding campaigns for Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera, our legions of generous backers stunned us with their outpouring of support, proving those games still had an audience that was willing to help make them happen.

As we began to look into our next project, we were flooded with requests from many of our supporters who wanted us to return to The Bard’s Tale universe. The dungeon crawl genre it represents has largely been forgotten by mainstream publishers. What better time than the 30th anniversary of the original for us to bring The Bard’s Tale back to life with a true dungeon crawling sequel, The Bard’s Tale IV!

The full pitch has all the information you'd expect to find in an inXile Kickstarter. What it doesn't have, other than a couple of short videos, is the level of "graphics whoring" we might have been led to expect from last month's interviews. But the campaign is a long 38 days, so I'm sure we'll get to that stuff eventually. A $20 pledge will secure you a copy of The Bard's Tale IV ($27 once the Early Bird tier has run out). Those who pledge today will also receive a free copy of Wasteland 2, Witcher 1, or Witcher 2 at the campaign's conclusion. The game's estimated release date is October 2017, but we all know how much that's worth.
 

tuluse

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
More details of the "dynamic phased based combat" sound disappointing.

Still backed at the physical tier ($65) since that box looks nice.
 

nikolokolus

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"Would I even be here if I had a &%#!* job?!"

Came for the pitch video, stayed for the game.
 

Dehumanizer

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Living in Europe in the 80s, with a ZX Spectrum and no disk drive, Wizardry and Ultima weren't available, but there WAS a cassette version of the first Bard's Tale for the Spectrum, which was my first taste of a "Wizardry-like" game (these days we'd probably call them "blobbers", though I think Dungeon Master / Grimrock are a different genre). I've beaten the first Bard's Tale at least 3 times, on different systems, and two of them without any cheating. :) So, yes, backed, of course.
 

Sizzle

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Backed for $20. I just hope that the advertised free Wasteland 2 for day 1 backing will be the GoTY version.

And I agree, the pitch video is pretty lame.
 

tuluse

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Backed for $20. I just hope that the advertised free Wasteland 2 for day 1 backing will be the GoTY version.

And I agree, the pitch video is pretty lame.
Any copies of WL2 are getting upgraded for free.
 

TomatoJuice

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Backed for $20. I just hope that the advertised free Wasteland 2 for day 1 backing will be the GoTY version.

The GotY will be a free upgrade for owners of the normal version.
I think it's very unlikely that there will be a special non upgrade version for the Kickstarter.


EDIT: Double Ninja'd
 

Peter_the_Bard

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I am surprised no on has mentioned that ineXile will put in 1.25M of their own money if the original goal is met. That is 2.5 big ones right there, stretch goals aside. Pretty cheeky of them to mention 'revival of the blobber' when Grimrock and MMX already started the revival years ago.

I admit I am even more excited for this now than Torment, as they stated despite being turn-based combat won't be a big factor in that game. (still hope to be proven wrong though) Wish they said more about the character system, we don't know how many classes we will get to choose from.
 

MightyHoax

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Project: Eternity
Backed.

..but estimated release is october 2017. I won´t take any physical goodies, just the download. I might even have stopped gaming in two years.
 

Killzig

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Hey Kharn, is it the official line that we should all forget that ill-conceived last attempt at rebooting this franchise since you're calling this one IV? r00fles.
 

mondblut

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More details of the "dynamic phased based combat" sound disappointing.

What's "phased based" about "as soon as you decide what a character will do, they immediately act"? Is admitting "this time we opted to rip off Might & Magic rather than Wizardry" bad for marketing or something?
 

Rivmusique

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Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Combat is resolved in a phase-based manner, meaning your entire party takes its turn, and then all enemies take theirs. In the original trilogy, you’d make all of the decisions at once and only then see the results. For The Bard’s Tale IV, we want a more dynamic experience: as soon as you decide what a character will do, they immediately act. This is the first way in which battles dynamically change, as your rolls and effects can have a variety of outcomes which might make you rethink your next action.

Is this not pretty standard turn-based? I suppose a lot of games prefer a queue of enemies and allies mixed together based on initiative/speed/whatever, but it's not so uncommon is it? The older system seems closer to what I've always understood phase based to mean.
 

V_K

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So the guys who after two multimil kickstarters only delivered one very mediocre game go for a revival of what's probably the worst non-indie blobber out there and people throw money at them like mad? The world is surely doomed.
 

TomatoJuice

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What's "phased based" about "as soon as you decide what a character will do, they immediately act"? Is admitting "this time we opted to rip off Might & Magic rather than Wizardry" bad for marketing or something?

I understand phase based as simultaneous execution. Maybe they only talk about the animation?
I think we all hope for a way better explanation in this Kickstarter Campaign.
But hey as long as it's a good turn based blobber, I'm ok with it.
 
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Athelas

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Is this not pretty standard turn-based? I suppose a lot of games prefer a queue of enemies and allies mixed together based on initiative/speed/whatever, but it's not so uncommon is it? The older system seems closer to what I've always understood phase based to mean.
'We're going to use the same tried and true system used in countless of turn-based games' doesn't quite roll of the tongue the same way as 'new dynamic phase-based system' does.
 
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