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

[Morality Games]

I think it's also possibly because of the Early Access. If they wouldn't have done that, the release of the game would habe been much more of an "event". The way it was released was like "Oh, well now it's released. Cool" This Early Access stuff is just building up to an anticlimactic release. Every damn time.

I would accept this up to a point, if the hype had been the only issue, but the game itself as an actual game it's.. 'ok' is the best thing I can say about it. I have more complaints than praise for it. I'm not keen on the system, the story is a bit 'meh'.. but I like the artwork and presentation. It's not 'horrible' it's just not 'really good', which is what I think people were, at the least, expecting considering it was Brian's own project and he had free rein.

Nearly every RPG fan has played Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Millions have played Red Dead Redemption and at least a million have played Fallout 1-2. The post-apocalyptic/Western appetite has been played to. On the combat of things, we've seen like 5 squad strategy releases.

Nothing Fargo can do about that.

 

[cjbulanda]

i've played until you return to titan canyon, choosing ag center over highpool... ag center felt like a chore.
then i started a new game, this time picking highpool over ag center. stopped playing after i started the destroyed ag center, as it felt even more like a chore.
that was way back in the beta. game's been out for quite a while now, and i literally cannot bring myself to play it, because there are so many things i would rather do than play it.
i have wasted nearly twice the amount of time i pumped into wl2 into testing shit in dead state, and i can still play that just fine, but even thinking of firing up wl2 or typing this response triggers an unpleasant feeling paired with a mild avoidance response... so while i might not be able to articulate just exactly what is wrong with the game (besides ag center being annoying as hell, and most of the first half of the game feeling more like a chore than a fun game for me), it clearly isn't better than "ok".

I dont mean to seem offensive but the reason you just provided was subjective. You just said ag Center felt like a chore whereas some of my friends have said they loved the ag center. As for not wanting to fire it up, i get that, i agree the early access thing was pretty dumb. That being said i still think its a good game, not amazing or "original" but good.

 

[SuicideBunny]

it's entertainment. there are no objective quality criteria. of course my judgment is subjective, as is anyone else's, including your own and that of your friends.

 

[Morality Games]

it's entertainment. there are no objective quality criteria. of course my judgment is subjective, as is anyone else's, including your own and that of your friends.

"shrug" The game doesn't arrest widespread acclaim outside inXile's core fan base. The further you fan out from that the more indifference you encounter.

For whatever reason, the laurels on bestselling indie RPG go to Divinity: Original Sin.

 

[cjbulanda]

it's entertainment. there are no objective quality criteria. of course my judgment is subjective, as is anyone else's, including your own and that of your friends.

I suppose you're entitled to that opinion

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

I think it's also possibly because of the Early Access. If they wouldn't have done that, the release of the game would habe been much more of an "event". The way it was released was like "Oh, well now it's released. Cool" This Early Access stuff is just building up to an anticlimactic release. Every damn time.

I would accept this up to a point, if the hype had been the only issue, but the game itself as an actual game it's.. 'ok' is the best thing I can say about it. I have more complaints than praise for it. I'm not keen on the system, the story is a bit 'meh'.. but I like the artwork and presentation. It's not 'horrible' it's just not 'really good', which is what I think people were, at the least, expecting considering it was Brian's own project and he had free rein.

Nearly every RPG fan has played Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Millions have played Red Dead Redemption and at least a million have played Fallout 1-2. The post-apocalyptic/Western appetite has been played to. On the combat of things, we've seen like 5 squad strategy releases.

Nothing Fargo can do about that.

I think the point you're trying to make is that he can't do something different enough to make it worthy and standout, would I be correct?

Well, a story doesn't have to be unique to be good, and frankly W2's story just simply wasn't good, or even well told for that matter. As for the system, he didn't have to go back to he drawing board to design a whole new, really stand out system, all he had to do was embellish the original Wasteland system and fan's would have been jumping for joy, but no, he just had to try to come up with his version of 'Special', which just turned out to be not so special and not what anyone was looking for, or even mature enough so that it was at least satisfying to play. It was a brand new system that hadn't had enough testing so that it didn't all just fall apart in the final product.

... and Fargo could have done everything about those issues.

 

[A horse of course]

it's entertainment. there are no objective quality criteria. of course my judgment is subjective, as is anyone else's, including your own and that of your friends.

Lyric Suite

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

it's entertainment. there are no objective quality criteria. of course my judgment is subjective, as is anyone else's, including your own and that of your friends.

"shrug" The game doesn't arrest widespread acclaim outside inXile's core fan base. The further you fan out from that the more indifference you encounter.

For whatever reason, the laurels on bestselling indie RPG go to Divinity: Original Sin.

Bestselling, yes, sadly, but not best playing. It has a good combat system, but that really all. The story is about as generic as you can get, the writing is just 'something to read' as opposed to being part of the experience and pulling you in to the world, and none of the npc's are particularly noteworthy, you don't play that game for anything but co-op and combat.. I do, however, hold it in more regard than W2, but it's not full of win .. although I do say again, the combat system is good.

My winner for all round great combat, story and world goes to Dragonfall: DC hands down no competition. It's a shame it's not persistent and a bit more open, but those things aren't bad in themselves, it would just be a lot better with them. I just wish it had more notoriety.

But as ever 'good' is subjective.

 

[Morality Games]

I think the point you're trying to make is that he can't do something different enough to make it worthy and standout, would I be correct?

Well, a story doesn't have to be unique to be good, and frankly W2's story just simply wasn't good, or even well told for that matter. As for the system, he didn't have to go back to he drawing board to design a whole new, really stand out system, all he had to do was embellish the original Wasteland system and fan's would have been jumping for joy, but no, he just had to try to come up with his version of 'Special', which just turned out to be not so special and not what anyone was looking for, or even mature enough so that it was at least satisfying to play. It was a brand new system that hadn't had enough testing so that it didn't all just fall apart in the final product.

... and Fargo could have done everything about those issues.

'Special' wasn't that special though. It was made up on the fly and it plays like it. Fallout A.I. is also dumber.

If Wasteland II *does* have a shortcoming, it isn't the system. Its the lopsided focus on combat at the expense of exploring the setting and the substitution of player defined protagonist with a squad.

Those were staple features of RPGs in the 80s, so Fargo included them, but the 1998 crowd that forms the core nucleus of the Codex selected them for historical destruction with their passion for Trokia/Early Bioware/Black Isle games.

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

I think the point you're trying to make is that he can't do something different enough to make it worthy and standout, would I be correct?

Well, a story doesn't have to be unique to be good, and frankly W2's story just simply wasn't good, or even well told for that matter. As for the system, he didn't have to go back to he drawing board to design a whole new, really stand out system, all he had to do was embellish the original Wasteland system and fan's would have been jumping for joy, but no, he just had to try to come up with his version of 'Special', which just turned out to be not so special and not what anyone was looking for, or even mature enough so that it was at least satisfying to play. It was a brand new system that hadn't had enough testing so that it didn't all just fall apart in the final product.

... and Fargo could have done everything about those issues.

'Special' wasn't that special though. It was made up on the fly and it plays like it. Fallout A.I. is also dumber.

If Wasteland II *does* have a shortcoming, it isn't the system. Its the lopsided focus on combat at the expense of exploring the setting and the substitution of player defined protagonist with a squad.

Those were staple features of RPGs in the 80s, so Fargo included them, but the 1998 crowd that forms the core nucleus of the Codex selected them for historical destruction with their passion for Trokia/Early Bioware/Black Isle games.

'Special' was at least special enough that you didn't pull your hair out trying to use it and at the end of the day didn't detract from the game, where as 'unspecial' certainly does, opinion maybe, but the combat system is a huge issue because if it was any good the 'lopsidedness' you mention wouldn't have been a problem because it would have been fun, but it wasn't.

There's nothing wrong with trying to harken back to the days of Trokia/Early Bioware/Black Isle games, they were at least good, and if Brian had at least halfway succeeded in that goal then people would have been happier.

 

[eric__s]

It's Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space 2.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

Darklands would be very nice. I was left somewhat disappointed with WL2, so first im curious as to what tton will do to bring back the faith.

This thread has been educational since i had to google "dibs". Seems in my country the equivalent buut is being replaced by dibs due to the influence of american culture. I need to get out more.

 

[kain30]

my ideal scenario is that INXILE add to the team lots of ex troika games workers and make arcanum 2.

 

[Zetor]

Stonekeep 2? Choplifter RPG? Uh.. I got nothing.

I imagine they will be reusing as much of the WL2 (and Torment?) tech as much as possible, though... so a real Bard's Tale game is right out.

 

[Infinitron]

if i recall correctly, fargo made it clear back then that he has zero interest in blobbers

I'm not aware of him doing any such thing

 

[SuicideBunny]

if i recall correctly, fargo made it clear back then that he has zero interest in blobbers

I'm not aware of him doing any such thing

it was between the lines of him going on about how a new bard's tale would have to be more modern, before releasing said modern bard's tale that nobody wanted to play, though he might have changed his opinion with wl2 and kickstarter.

 

[Infinitron]

if i recall correctly, fargo made it clear back then that he has zero interest in blobbers

I'm not aware of him doing any such thing

it was between the lines of him going on about how a new bard's tale would have to be more modern, before releasing said modern bard's tale that nobody wanted to play, though he might have changed his opinion with wl2 and kickstarter.

Oh, you mean "back then" in 2004. Well, whole different universe, man.

 

[SuicideBunny]

same universe, same people, slightly different opinions. it's not like anybody actually forced him to make that atrocity. he wanted to.

 

[Infinitron]

Wait a minute, wait a minute...Heist RPG anyone? http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/117965/Codemasters_Cancels_Inxiles_Heist.php

 

[Tzaero]

Wait a minute, wait a minute...Heist RPG anyone?/QUOTE]

Hmm, a crime RPG and cop RPG springs to mind.
Would be awesome to have an rpg thats spans years and the ascent of a player in an organization.

 

[V_K]

For whatever reason, the laurels on bestselling indie RPG go to Divinity: Original Sin.

If Steamcharts' "all-time peak" stat is any indication, that title should go to SRR, actually.

 

[Crooked Bee]

If it isn't going to be first person turn-based, don't even dare call it Bard's Tale, Fargo.


Other than that particular pet peeve, I'm okay with anything they might want to make.

 

[Roguey]

Fargo didn't think a blobby Wasteland 2 sequel would go over well, so I don't know why he'd change his mind about fantasy Wasteland.

Either InXile or Obsidian need to give us an SF rpg.

If SF means science fiction, they already did that, it's called Wasteland 2.

 

[Infinitron]

Fargo didn't think a blobby Wasteland 2 sequel would go over well

Wasteland was blobby in combat, but used a top-down aesthetic outside of combat (similar to how classic JRPGs work, I guess) so converting it to full isometric wasn't as much of a stretch.

But Bard's Tale is an actual dungeon crawl. It's got mazes and puzzles.

 

[Lyric Suite]

it's entertainment. there are no objective quality criteria. of course my judgment is subjective, as is anyone else's, including your own and that of your friends.

Lyric Suite

Notice how it is always the retarded SJWs who spout that type of shit lel