Bard's Tale The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep - Director's Cut

[agentorange]

That Mangar's tower bell puzzle. Anyone have the bell combination at the end of the puzzle? I did the sides and pulled the lever.

 

[Darth Roxor]

My loading screens usually don't last long enough to check those out, luckily.

well i've become pretty well-acquainted with them

At least the 10 minutes of loading I got after chargen seems to have been an anomaly, but 2 minutes to load anything except for the smallest levels (like d0rf's shop) is a norm for me.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

experiments with innovative mechanics because he thinks his audience is sophisticated and this isn't 1985

If "innovative mechanics" you "experiment" with are fucking garbage, blame yourself.

Innovative? He probably meant "dumb down".

 

[Urthor]

Either the turn based combat is good or it's shit.

I find it simplistic and boring, but serviceable. Actually, let me put it this way: most JRPGs have better turn-based combat systems.

Coming from a fan of DQ11 like this says it all about this game.

 

[Ulrox]

I am a tad bit sad from the whole drama,it is shame that sunk because of poor programming and bugs. The game is pretty decent,it is not a bard's tale 4 or a classic rpg,but it is fun. Just had a really battle with a red monster,it was fun beating it in and remaining on one hit life. The game still have a lot of problems but it will be fun play for rpg fans.....after the patches. Still i will continue to explore game,even without the patches. Hope people give it a try in due time,it is decent rpg.

PS:What the fuck is wasteland 2 DC?

PSPS: Is the labyrinth game good or typical jap shit?

You know, you were bandwagoning and hating on bards tale 4 as it released more than anyone, then you played the game, and you slowly changed your mind. That has been interesting to watch. It makes me wonder just how much bandwagoning and general cynicism there is on the codex. Not blaming you or anything, bandwagoning is human nature, I do it too, but I loathe this part of myself. The reason I point it out, is that you might profit from recognising this tendency towards cynicism in yourself in the future.

But yes, agreed, once the game is properly patched, it'll be pretty good, and yeah I've been having a decent amount of fun with it too.

 

[muds_animal_friend]

What's the story with opportunity points? Do you get more of them later? Presumably you do or half the party does nothing every turn. I've only played to the point where I've me the elf companion. At the moment it seems trow are mandatory picks for damage dealers and every other character should be a dwarf who acts as little more than barricade with a character portrait.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

WL2 DC was a great upgrade. Unfortunately BT4 looks like a flop so they'll have to pull the plug early as with TTON. At least TTON maybe managed to break even, but there's no way they make back $10 million on this hot mess.

It was a risky project from the start to make a blobber, a nichest of the niche genres, franchise that barely anyone knows, limpdick Kickstarter campaign that barely went anywhere. I don't know what they were expecting investing so much more money into it. I have my doubts if it would make that back even with perfect 100 on Metacritic and stellar fan response. It's just not a genre many people want.

 

[fantadomat]

I am a tad bit sad from the whole drama,it is shame that sunk because of poor programming and bugs. The game is pretty decent,it is not a bard's tale 4 or a classic rpg,but it is fun. Just had a really battle with a red monster,it was fun beating it in and remaining on one hit life. The game still have a lot of problems but it will be fun play for rpg fans.....after the patches. Still i will continue to explore game,even without the patches. Hope people give it a try in due time,it is decent rpg.

PS:What the fuck is wasteland 2 DC?

PSPS: Is the labyrinth game good or typical jap shit?

You know, you were bandwagoning and hating on bards tale 4 as it released more than anyone, then you played the game, and you slowly changed your mind. That has been interesting to watch. It makes me wonder just how much bandwagoning and general cynicism there is on the codex. Not blaming you or anything, bandwagoning is human nature, I do it too, but I loathe this part of myself. The reason I point it out, is that you might profit from recognising this tendency towards cynicism in yourself in the future.

But yes, agreed, once the game is properly patched, it'll be pretty good, and yeah I've been having a decent amount of fun with it too.

I didn't bandwagon it,i pointed out all the problems the game it have,and i stand by it. The game ugly and poorly optimized,maybe one of the worst optimizations i have seen. The combat system is fucked because of the 4 skills allowed,also the writing is shit and the save system is retarded. All this things are valid,still i never said that the game is total shit and i will not play it. The game does exploration and atmosphere well,that is why i play it and enjoy it! Also it have bugs ....

That Mangar's tower bell puzzle. Anyone have the bell combination at the end of the puzzle? I did the sides and pulled the lever.

Fuck you....
I wasted half an hour trying different combinations for those fucking bells. In the end i decided to search in the steam discussions,turned out that the first combination that used was accurate just the game decided to fuck me over and buggout [URL='http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?posts/5798130/rate&rating=59&_xfToken=23716%2C1537438429%2C0529b2f0b32e20a36fd38c3bc1e2b127d041543f'][URL='http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?posts/5798130/rate&rating=59&_xfToken=23716%2C1537438429%2C0529b2f0b32e20a36fd38c3bc1e2b127d041543f'][URL='http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?posts/5798130/rate&rating=59&_xfToken=23716%2C1537438429%2C0529b2f0b32e20a36fd38c3bc1e2b127d041543f'][URL='http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?posts/5798130/rate&rating=59&_xfToken=23716%2C1537438429%2C0529b2f0b32e20a36fd38c3bc1e2b127d041543f'][/URL][/URL][/URL][/URL]

 

[Ulrox]

WL2 DC was a great upgrade. Unfortunately BT4 looks like a flop so they'll have to pull the plug early as with TTON. At least TTON maybe managed to break even, but there's no way they make back $10 million on this hot mess.

It was a risky project from the start to make a blobber, a nichest of the niche genres, franchise that barely anyone knows, limpdick Kickstarter campaign that barely went anywhere. I don't know what they were expecting investing so much more money into it. I have my doubts if it would make that back even with perfect 100 on Metacritic and stellar fan response. It's just not a genre many people want.

Agreed 100%, I'm not sure myself either. I feel like InXile just really wanted to do a bards tale game and do it justice due to their own nostalgia or something. Then realised that it wasn't financially feasable to keep bloating the game up, so released it in a very shoddy state. It might sell better on consoles though. Once the bugs are ironed out and some manner of okay frame rate is accomplished.

 

[Lyre Mors]

What's the story with opportunity points? Do you get more of them later?

Yeah, you get more of them as the game progresses.

 

[Ulrox]

I didn't bandwagon it,i pointed out all the problems the game it have,and i stand by it. The game ugly and poorly optimized,maybe one of the worst optimizations i have seen. The combat system is fucked because of the 4 skills allowed,also the writing is shit and the save system is retarded. All this things are valid,still i never said that the game is total shit and i will not play it. The game does exploration and atmosphere well,that is why i play it and enjoy it! Also it have bugs ....

Fair, I can only say what it looked like on my end.

 

[Kruno]

WL2 DC was a great upgrade. Unfortunately BT4 looks like a flop so they'll have to pull the plug early as with TTON. At least TTON maybe managed to break even, but there's no way they make back $10 million on this hot mess.

It was a risky project from the start to make a blobber, a nichest of the niche genres, franchise that barely anyone knows, limpdick Kickstarter campaign that barely went anywhere. I don't know what they were expecting investing so much more money into it. I have my doubts if it would make that back even with perfect 100 on Metacritic and stellar fan response. It's just not a genre many people want.

Why did Fargo think it was smart to spend $10 million on a niche genre? Surely as a business man he would have looked at MMX and Grimrock to guage how much he should spend/recieve? This has to be the worst and most inefficient use of money in all existence.

 

[Bohr]

WL2 DC was a great upgrade. Unfortunately BT4 looks like a flop so they'll have to pull the plug early as with TTON. At least TTON maybe managed to break even, but there's no way they make back $10 million on this hot mess.

It was a risky project from the start to make a blobber, a nichest of the niche genres, franchise that barely anyone knows, limpdick Kickstarter campaign that barely went anywhere. I don't know what they were expecting investing so much more money into it. I have my doubts if it would make that back even with perfect 100 on Metacritic and stellar fan response. It's just not a genre many people want.

Agreed 100%, I'm not sure myself either. I feel like InXile just really wanted to do a bards tale game and do it justice due to their own nostalgia or something.

The original Bard's Tale was such an important title for Fargo that, from the start, it seemed like his judgement was a bit off on this project, swayed by the memories of that success. When he was talking about the original games before the KS one got the impression he was overstating their impact and the demand for their return, and the way the KS just fizzled out appeared to genuinely surprise him. Never expected them to throw so much extra budget in after that, perhaps the Hearthstone thing made them think they could breakout into a much wider audience.

 

[J_C]

WL2 DC was a great upgrade. Unfortunately BT4 looks like a flop so they'll have to pull the plug early as with TTON. At least TTON maybe managed to break even, but there's no way they make back $10 million on this hot mess.

It was a risky project from the start to make a blobber, a nichest of the niche genres, franchise that barely anyone knows, limpdick Kickstarter campaign that barely went anywhere. I don't know what they were expecting investing so much more money into it. I have my doubts if it would make that back even with perfect 100 on Metacritic and stellar fan response. It's just not a genre many people want.

Why did Fargo think it was smart to spend $10 million on a niche genre? Surely as a business man he would have looked at MMX and Grimrock to guage how much he should spend/recieve? This has to be the worst and most inefficient use of money in all existence.

It boggles my mind when these nostalgia chasing developers don't realize the market trends and make decisions like that. Wasteland 2 was a well managed project with sensible budget and sale expectations. But BT4 (and Pillars 2 and the Underworld game as well actually) just couldn't be content with a success with a niche game, they wanted to play with the big boys. That's why the fancy graphics and lots of voiceovers. There is a market for these games, but let's not kid ourselves, it is still a small market.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I dont think they blew that much money on voiceovers in BT4, since there aren't that many talking characters, and they don't have a whole lot to say. I'd wager it cost them maybe 10% of what Obsidian or Larian had to pay with poe2/dos2, if even that. Plus, I bet half of the voiceactors were in already for the singing in various songs throughout the game, so a 2-in-1 deal with them probably cost comparatively less than separate people just for VO in the first place.

 

[fantadomat]

Ok and advice for people that don't want to spend time searching for that thing in the under city,the first big map .

Spoiler

If you see a green graffiti then there is a button or brick nearby. If you push all of them

Spoiler

it will open a door near the Magnar's tower.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Why did Fargo think it was smart to spend $10 million on a niche genre? Surely as a business man he would have looked at MMX and Grimrock to guage how much he should spend/recieve? This has to be the worst and most inefficient use of money in all existence.

The original Bard's Tale was such an important title for Fargo that, from the start, it seemed like his judgement was a bit off on this project, swayed by the memories of that success. When he was talking about the original games before the KS one got the impression he was overstating their impact and the demand for their return, and the way the KS just fizzled out appeared to genuinely surprise him. Never expected them to throw so much extra budget in after that, perhaps the Hearthstone thing made them think they could breakout into a much wider audience.

Agreed, I think Brian just really wanted to make Bard's Tale. BT1 was his first real hit after all. He probably convinced himself that everybody has special feelings about that franchise like he does.

There were people on official forums calling it out as a very risky idea already during the campaign, so it's not like there weren't warnings.

Say what you want about Fargo but he does love his classics and in this case the irony is that nostalgia got the better of him. Live by nostalgia, die by nostalgia I guess.

 

[imweasel]

At least TTON maybe managed to break even, but there's no way they make back $10 million on this hot mess. [...] I don't know what they were expecting investing so much more money into it.

I doubt it will really harm Inxile though. I think they got a grant from the state of Louisana to make this game judging from this report.

If true, then I bet Fargo pocketed some of the cash or sacrificed BT4 to divert funds to Wasteland 3, because I don't see a game with a 10 million dollar budget. Gameplay and the soundtrack are alright, but almost everything else reminds me of bargain bin shovelware.

 

[Cross]

At least TTON maybe managed to break even, but there's no way they make back $10 million on this hot mess.

There's no way TTON managed to break even, considering they said the final budget ended up being more than double of what they raised on Kickstarter. It never even reached 200k owners on Steam despite having almost a 100k backers to begin with.

 

[aweigh]

Why would they get a grant? What the fuck do RPG devs do for the state of Louisiana?

 

[imweasel]

Inxile studio in New Orleans = Jobs

 

[cvv]

Agreed, I think Brian just really wanted to make Bard's Tale. BT1 was his first real hit after all. He probably convinced himself that everybody has special feelings about that franchise like he does.

He also probably thought even a half-forgotten IP is safer than making something completely new. Which is true but an old-school blobber was always a dead on arrival proposition, especially with this meagre presentation.

They should've turned the fourth Bard's Tale into another isometric romp with pretty graphix. It'd probably fall flat just like Tyranny or PoE2 but maybe it'd at least break even. Blobbers are too niche, only the Japs and eastern Yuro indies can make some money in this market.

 

[Ulrox]

So has anyone sat down and made a code wheel for offerings, or found any smart ways of easially figuring those code wheel offerings out? I have a code wheel pdf, but not an actual code wheel.

 

[cvv]

I've been saying WL2 DC is one of the best RPGs ever made since it came out. The way they managed to salvage the buggy, undercooked mess that was the vanilla and turn it into a truly great game is the reason I've never really written inXile off.

How are they different, anyway? I never played DC.

Better, richer and rebalanced chardev, better combat, all the systems and c&c that were either half-assed or bugged in vanilla finally work. It's everything I've ever wanted from a third Fallout.

 

[Ulrox]

well i've become pretty well-acquainted with them

At least the 10 minutes of loading I got after chargen seems to have been an anomaly, but 2 minutes to load anything except for the smallest levels (like d0rf's shop) is a norm for me.

I get about 30 second loading times on bigger areas. I'm on an intel i5-4670, somewhat overclocked. (probably about 10% overclocked), Also, the game is installed on a relatively cheap HDD.

I get about 20-40 fps on medium-high with a geforce gtx 770. Generally okay performance for me imo, but, the game would be amazing if it would run smoothly. I should probably upgrade my graphics card at some point in the near future.