Bard's Tale The Bard's Tale IV Pre-Release Thread [RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Castozor]

Leave it to InXile to make a game with less convincing attack animations than turn-based blobbers that are several decades old.

What game is this from?

 

[CryptRat]

Leave it to InXile to make a game with less convincing attack animations than turn-based blobbers that are several decades old.

What game is this from?

Thunderscape

 

[Grotesque]

Those 2D portraits "animations" look like they run out of money and dropped the ball near the finish line saying "Fuck this game. We're done here."

 

[Viata]

Those 2D portraits "animations" look like they run out of money and dropped the ball near the finish line saying "Fuck this game. We're done here."

Is not it placeholder art?

 

[theSavant]

Those 2D portraits "animations" look like they run out of money and dropped the ball near the finish line saying "Fuck this game. We're done here."

That's the thing... I thought they had a money problem, but then they went with a weird, goofy UI that probably cost more effort and money than a "default" blobber UI.

 

[Cross]

Are you guys seriously talking about realistic attack animations in a blobber?

I (and I imagine most Codexers) would have been perfectly satisfied if Bard's Tale IV didn't spend so much of its budget on its presentation and visuals and looked more like older blobbers. InXile however clearly disagrees.

 

[Grotesque]

Those 2D portraits "animations" look like they run out of money and dropped the ball near the finish line saying "Fuck this game. We're done here."

Is not it placeholder art?

Those 2D portraits "animations" look like they run out of money and dropped the ball near the finish line saying "Fuck this game. We're done here."

That's the thing... I thought they had a money problem, but then they went with a weird, goofy UI that probably cost more effort and money than a "default" blobber UI.

 

[Ninjerk]

rpg games

 

[FeelTheRads]

Those "animations" are so sad. Bottom of the barrel shovelware level.
But I guess they're perfect for the millenial generation of games who want to have something awesome happen every time they press a button.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Those "animations" are so sad. Bottom of the barrel shovelware level.
But I guess they're perfect for the millenial generation of games who want to have something awesome happen every time they press a button.

They are out of money...

 

[FeelTheRads]

Being out of money does not explain putting in shit animations where they're really not needed.
Being tasteless and clueless does explain it, though.

 

[Viata]

rpg games

 

[JarlFrank]

So this is as much of a stillbirth as everyone expected it to be?

 

[Cross]

So this is as much of a stillbirth as everyone expected it to be?

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a baby born with Down syndrome just yet.

 

[Sacred82]

So this is as much of a stillbirth as everyone expected it to be?

the devs are talking about it, but not too much. You can call Fargo many things. A dazzler. A liar. A snake oil salesman. A mongrel with funny eyes. A tranny. A failed experiment. A martian.


But he's not a fraud, and he's going to release a complete game, and by the looks of it, a solid one. This one had a less pretentious premise than all their other games, and that helps. The less people talk about the awsum stuffz they're doing, the better.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm kinda worried that they put so much effort into animations, even though a blobber's combat is much better with minimal or no animations at all. When you go through blobber combats, you want them to be quick like in the old Might and Magics.

 

[Sacred82]

I'm kinda worried that they put so much effort into animations, even though a blobber's combat is much better with minimal or no animations at all. When you go through blobber combats, you want them to be quick like in the old Might and Magics.

uhm seriously people

some of those heads are jumping up and down when they do things. Are you telling me this is too much animation? Do those characters look like facial motion capture was used to animate them?

the first videos looked impressive, but InXile aren't dazzlers in the AAA sense. We can trust them to not prioritize graphics at unreasonable costs.


And nah, if I can choose between fights that take some strategizing, and press A for attack combat, I'd rather choose the latter. Where are you going that you can't let your game take away any of your time Jarl?

 

[Cross]

the first videos looked impressive, but InXile aren't dazzlers in the AAA sense. We can trust them to not prioritize graphics at unreasonable costs.

You're assuming InXile is competent. Despite inheriting the PoE 'engine' without having to develop their own tech and despite making a small game with fewer areas, T:ToN still cost much more to make than other isometric RPG's and yet somehow it still ended up having worse graphics.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'm kinda worried that they put so much effort into animations, even though a blobber's combat is much better with minimal or no animations at all. When you go through blobber combats, you want them to be quick like in the old Might and Magics.

uhm seriously people

some of those heads are jumping up and down when they do things. Are you telling me this is too much animation? Do those characters look like facial motion capture was used to animate them?

the first videos looked impressive, but InXile aren't dazzlers in the AAA sense. We can trust them to not prioritize graphics at unreasonable costs.


And nah, if I can choose between fights that take some strategizing, and press A for attack combat, I'd rather choose the latter. Where are you going that you can't let your game take away any of your time Jarl?

There's a difference between a game taking time because I'm strategizing, and a game taking time because of animations.

I love sitting in front of my PC thinking about a single turn for 5 minutes, but then when I make my choice the faster the animation is over the better.

 

[Sacred82]

the first videos looked impressive, but InXile aren't dazzlers in the AAA sense. We can trust them to not prioritize graphics at unreasonable costs.

You're assuming InXile is competent. Despite inheriting the PoE 'engine' without having to develop their own tech and despite making a small game with fewer areas, T:ToN still cost much more to make than other isometric RPG's and yet somehow it still ended up having worse graphics.

nop. Extended development cycles, yes, they can absolutely screw up in that way. But blowing money on "too much animation"?

And nah, if I can choose between fights that take some strategizing, and press A for attack combat, I'd rather choose the latter. Where are you going that you can't let your game take away any of your time Jarl?

There's a difference between a game taking time because I'm strategizing, and a game taking time because of animations.

I love sitting in front of my PC thinking about a single turn for 5 minutes, but then when I make my choice the faster the animation is over the better.

> likes to think about his actions in a single turn for 5 minutes

> cannot sit through 30 seconds of combat animation

choose one.

 

[Cross]

the first videos looked impressive, but InXile aren't dazzlers in the AAA sense. We can trust them to not prioritize graphics at unreasonable costs.

You're assuming InXile is competent. Despite inheriting the PoE 'engine' without having to develop their own tech and despite making a small game with fewer areas, T:ToN still cost much more to make than other isometric RPG's and yet somehow it still ended up having worse graphics.

nop. Extended development cycles, yes, they can absolutely screw up in that way.

Extended development cycles? Oh, you mean like the one for Bard's Tale IV? It's been almost three years since the Kickstarter campaign and they still haven't given us a real look at gameplay outside of heavily scripted, very cinematic footage that, if the pre-release footage for WL2 and T:ToN is any indication, will almost certainly turn out to be hugely misrepresentative of the final product.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

They blew up half of Torment's budget on making white people look less like white people, and you're surprised we have doubts if they can manage BT4 efficiently?

More importantly, we know for a fact they have to be struggling for money. Torment is such a trainwreck saleswise, that after multiple sales and price reductions, free weekend and being in Humble Bundle, it still barely has more copies sold in a year, than Into The Breach has in 2 weeks.

And given that it is as good as confirmed that inXile is a Ponzi scheme, they're gonna be cutting corners on BT4 just to get it out of the door. I have zero faith at this game not sucking gigantic elephant dicks.

 

[Sacred82]

nop. Extended development cycles, yes, they can absolutely screw up in that way.

Extended development cycles? Oh, you mean like the one for Bard's Tale IV? It's been almost three years since the Kickstarter campaign and they still haven't given us a real look at gameplay outside of heavily scripted, very cinematic footage that, if the pre-release footage for WL2 and T:ToN is any indication, will turn out to hugely misrepresentative of the final product.

uuhhh



there's also a version with developer commentary on what exactly is going on there, can't be arsed to look for it now. What would you call that if not "real gameplay"?

There's definitely some scripting here, though I don't really see the problem. They say you could evade some of that "scripted" combat if you chose to, too. Bard's Tale always had set encounters that would occur 100% of the time if you stepped on a certain tile, didn't it? What's the difference?

 

[Sacred82]

They blew up half of Torment's budget on making white people look less like white people, and you're surprised we have doubts if they can manage BT4 efficiently?

lol muh white people

More importantly, we know for a fact they have to be struggling for money. Torment is such a trainwreck saleswise, that after multiple sales and price reductions, free weekend and being in Humble Bundle, it still barely has more copies sold in a year, than Into The Breach has in 2 weeks.

And given that it is as good as confirmed that inXile is a Ponzi scheme, they're gonna be cutting corners on BT4 just to get it out of the door. I have zero faith at this game not sucking gigantic elephant dicks.

InXile going out of business would be one scenario, but has relatively little to do with the nature of this game.

We don't even know what we would end up with if they indeed decided to "push it out the door". Development time has been reasonably long, and they've been pretty secretive about this project from the start. You can take that to mean that they don't have anything to show for, or take it as a sign of something else.

 

[FeelTheRads]

> likes to think about his actions in a single turn for 5 minutes

> cannot sit through 30 seconds of combat animation

choose one.

I choose "you are dumb".

Those are completely different things, and I choose them both.

It's like saying you can't enjoy reading a book if you can't also watch unskipable cutscenes and company logos.