Game News Brian Fargo announces Bard's Tale IV at PAX South

[Gangrelrumbler]

I actually really enjoyed Wasteland 2 (9/10 in my book) but I'm not even slightly excited about this new project. I mean even it's not like there is a shortage of blobbers both on the market and in my backlog.

 

[Turjan]

Hearthstone got quite a few Game of the Year awards, so it makes sense using it for comparison. Then again, the sentence that "The Bard's Tale 4 will attempt to modernize and revitalize the genre - sort of like how Hearthstone approached the card game" is a bit worrying. I hope it does not mean "The Bard's Tale 4 will attempt to modernize and revitalize the genre - sort of like the new Dungeon Keeper approached the RTS game."

 

[Invictus]

In all honesty why even review the game Blaine, it will just say "this shit aint Fallout bitches" since that you have made abundantly clear that is the game's biggest flaw. Maybe if your agenda of Calling the game shit wasnt so obvious you could understand why a rereview of the "director's cut" would be interesting for everybody, since it would be a chance for you to evaluate not only the original game's flaws but what was ultimately done about them

 

[Cowboy Moment]

One hopes that it's all marketing-speak, and that he doesn't truly believe Hearthstone is complex.

It's also a bit strange in how he describes it as having "revitalized" card games, given that MtG has been constantly growing for the past ~10 years, and still has a higher active player count, as far as I'm aware. If anything, card games were doing great, and Blizzard decided to cash-in on the trend, as they tend to do.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Please do. VD has long since sold out to the man, his reviews read like lessons from a handbook for marketing reps.

Totally.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=224

The truth that everything is shit.

Amen, brother.

Sure, it's not political... except you've made it a point to note that it'll be swept behind the "official" review...

Who cares? If you have a strong opinion on the game, go ahead and write a review.

 

[Dorateen]

Faro used broadcast TV stations to illustrate his point

You mean "Fargo used broadcast TV stations to illustrate his point".

I love Bran Faro! He made my favourite game, Waste Lad.

Waste Lad's got nothing on Daredevil Donut Lad.

 

[trustno1code]

 

[set]

Jagged Alliance 2 was named dropped as inspiration while WL2 was being pitched, Deus Ex is named dropped all the time, and vtmb sold so poorly no one wants to bring it up.

Name dropped is maybe the wrong way to describe what I was trying to say. I have never seen a developer go into detail about the mechancis that made these games good. They dorp names, but then they never show how those names matter.

On the other hand, we all know that Hearthstone is a P2W (I guess all card games are though) super casual card game that was only successful because of its WoW branding. You could read Brian Fargo's statement as, "We'll casualize Bard's Tale so it has mass appeal" and it wouldn't be a wrong intepretation. The reason I can say this is because Hearthstone is a really flat game - there's not much to be mistaken about. Saying that your game, however, will emulate Jagged Alliance 2 would take some explanation, as there are so many mechancis in that game that haven't been seen again since it was released - there are a lot of moving parts and pieces you just can't all promise to deliver. Hearthstone, on the other hand, is unequivocally straight forward.

 

[hiver]

Sure, it's not political... except you've made it a point to note that it'll be swept behind the "official" review, and there was never any doubt that my preview of UnderRail would be posted, was there? If it had been incoherent or a mess, I'm sure it would have been rejected, but that already went without saying. You both know I'm perfectly capable of writing a proper, comprehensive review that meets or exceeds technical expectations, and there's no legitimate reason to expect anything drastically different this time, so stop waffling about how you can't REALLY know until you read it.

You are taking it a bit too far, making accusations while they just told you they will take it... although i understand such presumptions.

As far as the "official" review is concerned it doesnt really matter. Its the quality of each review that really matters and who cares for dimwits who care whether its called official or not.
If the "politics" have any influence then it will work in your favor since they will publish your review to show how impartial they are... right?

Stop arguing about it and just do it.

 

[Athelas]

You know you've gone completely batshit when hiver is the one talking sense into you.

 

[GloomFrost]

Didn't Wasteland make like a lot of money. Why are they using kickstarter again?
Also if it's gonna be in 2d and turn based I might be interested.

 

[Bubbles]

Didn't Wasteland make like a lot of money. Why are they using kickstarter again?

Because it didn't make the 7-10 million dollars in profit that a project of this magnitude would likely cost.

 

[Kem0sabe]

When will this official rebalance patch will even be released? And will anyone even bother replaying WL2 because of it?

 

[Irenaeus]

And will anyone even bother replaying WL2 because of it?

Yes.

 

[GloomFrost]

Didn't Wasteland make like a lot of money. Why are they using kickstarter again?

Because it didn't make the 7-10 million dollars in profit that a project of this magnitude would likely cost.

I might be mistaken but I m pretty sure Fargo said that if they sell like 500000 copies then they will be able to make crpgs for years or something.

 

[Infinitron]

Didn't Wasteland make like a lot of money. Why are they using kickstarter again?

Because it didn't make the 7-10 million dollars in profit that a project of this magnitude would likely cost.

I might be mistaken but I m pretty sure Fargo said that if they sell like 500000 copies then they will be able to make crpgs for years or something.

I believe the exact quote was a reference to the latest Tomb Raider game, which sold millions of copies but was considered a commercial failure by Square Enix. Brian said that if he sold that much, he'd be set up until the end of his career.

Yep: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-04-24-brian-fargo-backers-say-just-get-it-right

But Fargo is philosophical. "It's not like the publishers are worried too much by this; our numbers are not too interesting to them," Fargo noted. "I read the other day that Tomb Raider sold [over three] million copies and they're disappointed. If we sold 2 million copies, that means I build new roleplaying games for the next two decades, guaranteed. That's what that would mean to us."

 

[GloomFrost]

Didn't Wasteland make like a lot of money. Why are they using kickstarter again?

Because it didn't make the 7-10 million dollars in profit that a project of this magnitude would likely cost.

I might be mistaken but I m pretty sure Fargo said that if they sell like 500000 copies then they will be able to make crpgs for years or something.

I believe the exact quote was a reference to the latest Tomb Raider game, which sold millions of copies but was considered a commercial failure by Square Enix. Brian said that if he sold that much, he'd be set up until the end of his career.

Yep: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-04-24-brian-fargo-backers-say-just-get-it-right

But Fargo is philosophical. "It's not like the publishers are worried too much by this; our numbers are not too interesting to them," Fargo noted. "I read the other day that Tomb Raider sold [over three] million copies and they're disappointed. If we sold 2 million copies, that means I build new roleplaying games for the next two decades, guaranteed. That's what that would mean to us."

Oh I see. Thanx.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Yes.

Just the thought of having to go through all those demo, lockpick and safe checks again leaves me nauseated, or maybe it's the meds.

 

[zero29]

And will anyone even bother replaying WL2 because of it?

Yes.

me too. will be my first contact with the game, though. with so many other interesting games i don't find it that hard to wait.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Yes.

Just the thought of having to go through all those demo, lockpick and safe checks again leaves me nauseated, or maybe it's the meds.

Disarming traps is most of the time a waste of time.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Bards Tale really? I was expecting something new.

 

[Duraframe300]

So, does nobody have an issue that Fargo's *tv station to aspire to* is Showtime?


Can we expect InXile games to get worse and jump the shark in the future?

Are we going to get a Weeds and Dexter kind of situation here?

 

[Duraframe300]

I guess what I'm asking is

Will Fargo end up a lumberjack at the end of all this?

 

[hiver]

Yes.

Just the thought of having to go through all those demo, lockpick and safe checks again leaves me nauseated, or maybe it's the meds.

Since there is nothing but crap in all those lockers you dont really need to do those, or all of them.

so you can just skip most of those and enjoy the awesome gameplay, reactivity and C&C

 

[Athelas]

So, does nobody have an issue that Fargo's *tv station to aspire to* is Showtime?


Can we expect InXile games to get worse and jump the shark in the future?

Are we going to get a Weeds and Dexter kind of situation here?

Yeah, I found that comment pretty funny, since I pretty much consider Showtime to be the poor man's HBO (setting aside the fact that both are subscription-based channels, thus ruining that analogy) and none of Showtime's shows are what I'd call good. I mean: