Codex Review RPG Codex Review: The Bard's Tale IV

[BEvers]

and a team of so many people you can't see them all because of the coverage of the earth

The official size of the BT4 team was 51 people, which converts to about 0.5 Neanderthals. No excuses please.

 

[Mortmal]

Every reviews on the codex should be written like this , by someone who dont like the genre and in bad mood that day, ,no favoritism, no bias.Thought he's mostly right except the repetitive side, its not worse than anything else unfortunatly.

 

[grimace]

Thanks for the review. Seems like one of the more positive ones out there so I'm sure Fargo will be tweeting it soon

I haven't read the other reviews. There are only Codex reviews.

 

[Themadcow]

Mostly agree with this review. As a sequel to BT1-3 it fails on every conceivable level except the music. For most people who loved what BT1-3 was, then Grimoire was a far superior game - even in it's initial early state.

This is what it is - a first time game by a new studio (inXile New Orleans) and inexperienced creative lead. Going too far into some ideas (puzzles), and not far enough into others (combat/character building) - and you have the feeling that if they had another chance, it might actually be a half decent game. They won't get another chance because they've massively alienated their core fan base and shitty QA has alienated anyone new to the series.

A special mention should go out to the way the post-KS community was managed. Loads of regular updates right up until the KS ended, then it's like the project disappeared for a year or more. Forums and backer portals were bodged (all the way up to release) and despite a huge period of pre-production as they set up the NOLA studio - inXile barely spoke to the 34,000 backers for months on end. Off the top of my head I can recall maybe 2 or 3 threads where they engaged the forum members. As time went by, the forums virtually shut down in terms of activity - kept alive by about 10 people with huge enthusiasm for the original games. On the basis that from the 34k backers, there could have been maybe 10,000 people who genuinely cared about it to contribute to BT4's success - that's an insane way to manage one of your best sources of knowledge and wider web advocacy.

The best thing by far that came out of this KS was the BT remasters by Krome. They did a great job on BT1 and apparently BT2 is pretty much ready to go. Personally it's BT3 I'm most looking forward to, as the Amiga version back in the day was a bit of a nightmare due to a borked random encounter setting (literally every 3 steps) but otherwise it's an excellent addition to the series.

Fargo - if you read this, thanks for doing the KS because it gave us the Remasters. From your Matt Chat's and other interviews it's clear that you 'get' why the original BT's worked so well, which is why it's so confusing that you gave the project to a team that clearly don't understand the genre at all. You missed an amazing opportunity to deliver a modern heir to the throne of BT and Wizardry. It could have been great.

 

[Darth Roxor]

BTW InXile, having a character say "I feel like I've seen this before" when you put two large block puzzles immediately one after the other does not make it funny. It just shows that you knew very well what you were doing, and you still did it.

Also, this is a pet peeve of mine. Each time I see something like this in a game, and it happens much more often than it should, I feel like slapping the devs with a leather belt. I remember Arcania pulling the same shit with fedex quests.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Felipepepe
988 products in account
51 reviews


Not Recommended
50.1 hrs on record
POSTED: 11 OCTOBER
The Bard's Tale IV cannot be called a sequel to the original trilogy. It is barely even a dungeon-crawler, with linear dungeons and extremely easy combat. This is not what was promised.

However, it could have still been something new and interesting, an RPG version of games like Portal and The Witness. Alas, it is not. The devs did design a few great puzzles and areas, but then decided that their game needed to be EPIC, adding 20 hours of pure filler content: you'll fight the same dumb enemies and solve the same dumb mechanical puzzles over and over and over again. No InXile, seven block puzzles in a row isn't good design.

Bard's Tale IV could have been a short & fun casual puzzle RPG, but it's just an overly-long waste of your time.

 

[felipepepe]

FelipePepe plays game like Bard's Tale IV for 10 hours, a game which cannot be taken seriously after 10 million dollars and a team of so many people you can't see them all because of the coverage of the earth, gives it a soft thumb's up.

FelipePepe plays Grimoire for 120 hours, with gameplay so rich he didn't even begin to break the surface judging by his review, declares it "hopelessly broken" because he found some exploits like Bards class and Deep Freeze in the initial version. Out of 120 hours and 224 areas, 250 monsters, 64 NPCs and a single area more fun than the entire game of Bard's Tale IV.

Gives you some idea of how worthwhile his reviews are. A word to the wise about the stealth pokemon fanbois.

Still so butthurt? And still so bad at reading? Bard's Tale IV is a waste time, even a fully fixed version that removes all filler would be just fun casual RPG. Meanwhile, this is what I actually wrote about your game in that review:

I'd say the first 15-20 hours of Grimoire were some of the best RPG experiences I ever had. The dungeons were solid, the puzzles had offered those "eureka!" moments and the game does a great job connecting the multiple ongoing story threads in interesting ways.

Properly balanced, documented and polished, Grimoire could be a gem that rivals Wizardry VII and its peers - a crown jewel of the blobber / DRPG / Dungeon-crawler genre.

That's some really high praise. And I stand by that. All you needed to do was actually implement the missing features, solve the bugs and balance that indeed hopelessly broken combat. But it's been over a year since that review and we're still waiting for V2...

Finish the fucking game and I promise I'll write in the Codex and CRPG Book about it being one of the best RPGs in the past 20 years. But it has to be a fully finished game, not a broken beta that uses the wrong XP table, makes class change impossible, corrupts people's save games, leaves PCs with negative hitpoints, has empty areas like Castle Moravia, a loot table on par with Bard's Tale IV and shit like that.

 

[mondblut]

My final save clocks at 28 hours, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it sure felt like it. They had content for a great 10 hour game, but stretched, padded and repeated content until they broke their own game.

Does the author by any chance identify as goldfishkin? Because xir seems to have attention span of one. Hurr durr, 28 hours too long. Get the fuck out from our genre.

The game does suck by all accounts, but taking more than one lunch break to complete is literally the last reason why.

 

[Prime Junta]

Does the author by any chance identify as goldfishkin? Because xir seems to have attention span of one. Hurr durr, 28 hours too long. Get the fuck out from our genre.

Can you read?

The issue isn't that the game is 28 hours long. The issue is that 18 hours of that is mindless filler.

Or that's what it says in the review. What do I know, I haven't played it. And won't.

 

[Zed]

Thank you felipepepe

 

[agris]

My final save clocks at 28 hours, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it sure felt like it. They had content for a great 10 hour game, but stretched, padded and repeated content until they broke their own game.

Does the author by any chance identify as goldfishkin? Because xir seems to have attention span of one. Hurr durr, 28 hours too long. Get the fuck out from our genre.

The game does suck by all accounts, but taking more than one lunch break to complete is literally the last reason why.

No, it isn't that the game demands too much time of the player, it's like felipepepe said: so often it feels like busywork. The Forests of Inseraich (sp?) is a great example of this. The amount of fairy golf puzzles, the back-tracking with the geodes and then the corrupted totems.. it all felt drawn out such to make the area last longer. And none of the puzzles were even ambiguous. You're doing the same rote action over and over again, with slight variations, in a way that feels distinctly different than trash fights in the IE games and back tracking in other casual-friendly blobblers like Lands of Lore. It feel mechanical, like the straight-line approach would be too fast so we've added a lot of right turns.

That being said, I enjoy the level/loot/fight loop more than felipepe apparently did. And while the Forests of Insraich is probably tied with the intro companion quests for the low point of the game for me (I'm not done), locations like Mangar's Tower, Kylearan's Tower and Sambra Dhu Lodge are an enjoyable mix of fighting and puzzling.

 

[The Avatar]

All of their money went into visuals. At least the game looks good, especially compared to that shit cartoon graphics of Grimoire.

 

[covr]

FelipePepe plays game like Bard's Tale IV for 10 hours, a game which cannot be taken seriously after 10 million dollars and a team of so many people you can't see them all because of the coverage of the earth, gives it a soft thumb's up.

FelipePepe plays Grimoire for 120 hours, with gameplay so rich he didn't even begin to break the surface judging by his review, declares it "hopelessly broken" because he found some exploits like Bards class and Deep Freeze in the initial version. Out of 120 hours and 224 areas, 250 monsters, 64 NPCs and a single area more fun than the entire game of Bard's Tale IV.

Gives you some idea of how worthwhile his reviews are. A word to the wise about the stealth pokemon fanbois.

That's actually true. Still waiting for that 2.0 path though.

 

[Bohr]

Fargo makes a discovery:



https://tweetsave.com/brianfargo/status/1050808663168831488

 

[Lyre Mors]

FelipePepe plays Grimoire for 120 hours, with gameplay so rich he didn't even begin to break the surface judging by his review, declares it "hopelessly broken" because he found some exploits like Bards class and Deep Freeze in the initial version. Out of 120 hours and 224 areas, 250 monsters, 64 NPCs and a single area more fun than the entire game of Bard's Tale IV.

Hey Cleve. When can we expect the manual? I thought we would at least get it for the 1-year release anniversary. Come on man.

 

[commie]

So felipepepe , how does BT4 and indeed Grimoire compare to Dawn of War 2 as a quality RPG?

 

[caldera]

Everyday I light a candle and pray that people won't give Fargo their money. WL2 , Torment were disgusting and from what I've seen Bard's Tale isn't much better.
Here's a prayer he won't try to kickstart sequal for Hunted: The Demon's Forge.

 

[agris]

I’m in an odd position: I hated the cargo cult corridor classic that is WL2, Numanuma convinced me that inXile is incompetent, and I like BT4 the most out of those three releases. And I like it despite a lot of problems.

That being said, Fargo has good timing. By the time Numanuma shit the bed, I had already pledged to BT4. I have not backed WL3 and will NOT back another inXile game. Balls in your court inXile- release some good games and you might bring me back around.

 

[Bocian]

Gives you some idea of how worthwhile his reviews are. A word to the wise about the stealth pokemon fanbois.

Cleveland Mark Blakemore please share your experience in game design on Matt Chat soon.

I'd pay to see an interview with him. No joke.

 

[thesheeep]

Thanks for saving me the trouble of installing the game.
Those were some wasted KS dollars. Oh, well... you win some, you lose some.

 

[Goral]

Thanks for saving me the trouble of installing the game.
Those were some wasted KS dollars. Oh, well... you win some, you lose some.

Typical sheep, doing what shepherd tells it instead of forming its own opinion after trying the product (which you don't have to buy to try).

 

[mondblut]

Does the author by any chance identify as goldfishkin? Because xir seems to have attention span of one. Hurr durr, 28 hours too long. Get the fuck out from our genre.

Can you read?

The issue isn't that the game is 28 hours long. The issue is that 18 hours of that is mindless filler.

Every single game is 90% "mindless filler". That's called "pacing" and it comes with the territory.

Not every button has to be awesome.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Typical sheep, doing what shepherd tells it instead of forming its own opinion after trying the product (which you don't have to buy to try).

Says the fanboy who is always trying to defend any inXile game from criticism. That's not rational, Goral.

 

[Martyr]

Thanks for saving me the trouble of installing the game.
Those were some wasted KS dollars. Oh, well... you win some, you lose some.

you've backed this game on KS and yet you're not even installing it, because of one bad review on this website ??
Goral is right. someone please brofist Goral for me.

 

[thesheeep]

Thanks for saving me the trouble of installing the game.
Those were some wasted KS dollars. Oh, well... you win some, you lose some.

Typical sheep, doing what shepherd tells it instead of forming its own opinion after trying the product (which you don't have to buy to try).

Why the hell would I ever install this game after every single review telling me everything I need to know about the product?
Shitload of artificial puzzles. I hate these puzzles. With a passion.
Bad performance.
Loads of bugs.
Not too bad combat, but absolutely no variance.
Way too long - or even worse, FEELS way too long.
Tons of weird design nonsense.

I know you lack the intellect to form an opinion after reading lots of information on a subject, but I don't.
I simply know that I would loathe playing the game not even a dozen hours in, just like I know I wouldn't like applying a drill to my knee. No need to try it for confirmation. Might as well save myself the trouble.

The question is why I backed the project to begin with.
The main reason was that I thought WL2 wasn't too bad and I didn't have any bad memories about the original Bard's Tale games, either.
Won't make THAT mistake again.