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

[a Goat]

Is wizardry 8 good? I'm pretty new to CRPGs, would it work well on a windows 8 PC?

2hard4u
Pick 4 it's the best starting point in this series.

 

[tuluse]

Is wizardry 8 good? I'm pretty new to CRPGs, would it work well on a windows 8 PC?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9453

 

[Pirata Alma Negra]

If some of the highest pledges got withdraw the butthurt would be glorious.

 

[Infinitron]

Will the campaign begin recovering from its E3-induced nadir now? Still too early to tell.

 

[Infinitron]

Brian Fargo‏@BrianFargo
Tomorrow we get busy with a slew of information now that E3 is over. Only a few weeks left on #BardsTale4 Kickstarter.

 

[Infinitron]

ffffffffff somebody dropped a big pledge, net funding today is back to zero

 

[Athelas]

Will the campaign begin recovering from its E3-induced nadir now? Still too early to tell.

Also too early to tell if the nadir was E3-induced.

 

[Infinitron]

Will the campaign begin recovering from its E3-induced nadir now? Still too early to tell.

Also too early to tell if the nadir was E3-induced.

Well, Yooka-Laylee's final day was kind of weak and it landed in the middle of E3, so that's circumstantial evidence

 

[AbounI]

sadly, can't see nothing from AoD

 

[Themadcow]

The official BT4 forums are pretty quiet, but with so little information so far everyone is getting stuck going round and round in circles about saves and party size. Admittedly, these are probably two of the biggest factors in the game design.

For me it's an absolute minimum of 5 PC's, 1 CPC and a summon/bind slot. I get that they want to develop dialogue / plot with CPC's but BT is defined by having a large group of controllable characters just like Wizardry. Likewise, a good blobber game is all about exploration, combat and risk. The deeper you go, the more your health / supplies drops, the harder the encounters and therefore the greater the risk that you could die and lose your progress, exp and items. THIS MAKES IT FUN. The utter, utter clowns who are pitching in for frequent save spots frankly should be taken outside and shot. I'm all for suspending the game at any point (like closing the lid on a Nintendo DS, or exiting a roguelike) but actual savegames should only be available outside of dungeons.

Get to a boss and die? Tough shit. He's a fucking boss, maybe next time you'll be better prepared.

 

[Infinitron]

$1.3M stretch goal achieved.

 

[theSavant]

Not bad. This stretchgoal is OK at least.

 

[Infinitron]

This Torment interview also mentions BT4: http://www.redbull.com/en/games/stories/1331731003670/torment-tides-of-numenera-interview

When we last spoke to Obsidian about Pillars of Eternity, and whether or not it could realistically hope to Kickstart a game that wasn't a fantasy CRPG, the response was that they were interested in trying, but while you can make something like Pillars with single-digits millions of dollars, something like Skyrim would be a lot more expensive. But Bard's Tale IV is a first-person game. Can you deliver a game from that viewpoint with the same amount of depth as Wasteland and Numenera, without needing a heftier budget?

Saunders: You are absolutely right, and we couldn't. But Bard's Tale IV is a different flavor of CRPG – it's a dungeon-crawler. It will have much more reactivity and story than the original Bard's Tale trilogy, for certain, but its not to the degree of Wasteland 2. It will have gorgeous environments and characters, but less variety in types of locations. A big part of what makes a game like Skyrim expensive to develop is the open world aspect and the variety of environments. Bard's Tale IV will provide some freedom of choice, but it won't be an open world in the sense that Skyrim is.

 

[Infinitron]

E3 fatigue is over. For today, at least.

 

[DarkArcher]

Honestly, the new rewards and info on the game aren't doing much for me. I backed it, but I can see why people aren't more excited. Right now it seems like they are working hard to get pledges from Poland and Russia with freebies.

If we thought Grimoire would deliver, then that would scratch the Wizardry/Bard's Tale itch nicely.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Dorateen]

And the rallying cry for increased party size echoes in the kickstarter comment section.

"It's not too late, make it eight!"

Hope the developers are listening.

 

[Infinitron]

Where is the update? Might as well just post this:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter Promotion Brings FREE Ultima Underworld Games, Bonus Rewards to Backers

Newport Beach, CA – June 23rd, 2015 – Backers of The Bard's Tale IV have even more to look forward to! inXile Entertainment announced today that as part of the new inXile Loyalty Rewards promotion, all returning Torment: Tides of Numenera or Wasteland 2 backers who also back The Bard's Tale IV no later than June 26th, 12:00 AM PST, will receive a selection of exclusive gifts as additional thanks for their generous support.

Any returning backer will receive a choice of special bonus rewards valued at up to $15. These bonuses include Digital Novella Compilations, Digital Soundtracks, Digital Concept Art Books, and more!

Additionally, all returning The Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter backers at the $33 reward tier and above will receive both Ultima Underworld 1 & 2 FREE with their pledges, redeemable on GOG.comat the conclusion of The Bard's Tale IV Kickstarter campaign. This special offer comes thanks to a partnership with Otherside Entertainment, which launched its own dungeon crawler Kickstarter campaign, Underworld Ascendant, to great success and acclaim in early 2015.

Both inXile Loyalty Rewards promotion offers run to 12:00 AM PST on June 26th, 2015, and are retroactive for previous backers. Full details can be found at this page: http://thebardstalerpg.tumblr.com/inxile-loyalty-rewards

This bonus offer comes in addition to other free extras previously offered, including the recently announced re-release of The Bard's Tale I-III Trilogy for all backers $20 and above, regardless of whether they backed previous inXile games.

The Bard's Tale IV campaign is currently fully funded thanks to nearly 30,000 backers, and is headed towards unlocking its stretch goals. Featuring an expanded companion system, crafting system, a dungeon created by legendary RPG designer Monte Cook, and more to come, inXile hopes to make The Bard's Tale IV a truly epic sized experience.

"Once again the RPG fans have come through and supported our efforts to bring our unique style of RPG to the market." said CEO Brian Fargo. "We are honored by their trust and support. Our games would not exist without our fans and for that we thank them."

inXile Loyalty Rewards

We say it all the time, but we mean it: our games would not happen without your incredible support. And we want to reward your generosity in the past by offering a special promotion for all of our returning backers. This promotion lasts until June 26th, 12:00 AM PST, so act fast! Already a backer? Then this promotion applies to you as well!

Anyone who backed Wasteland 2 or Torment: Tides of Numenera previously, who also backs The Bard’s Tale IV at $20 or above, will get a FREE bonus reward (listed below) containing items from either Torment, Wasteland 2 or The Bard’s Tale IV!

Additionally, any returning Wasteland 2 or Torment backers of The Bard’s Tale IV at $33 or above will also receive FREE copies of Ultima Underworld 1 & 2 from GOG.com, a special offer from our friends atOtherSide Entertainment.

This offer applies to both Kickstarter and PayPal backers, so you can back us using your preferred method.

For the free bonus reward you can choose from the following premium digital rewards from our previous campaigns (up to $15 value!).

• Digital Torment Novella Compilation
• Digital Torment Comic Compilation
• Digital Wasteland 2 Novella Compilation
• Digital Torment Concept Art Book
• Digital Torment Soundtrack
• Digital Wasteland 2 Concept Art Book
• Digital The Bard’s Tale IV Soundtrack
• Digital “History of The Bard’s Tale” Novella Compilation
• Digital The Bard’s Tale IV novellas

* Promotional rewards will be delivered after The Bard’s Tale IV Kickstarter campaign’s conclusion as soon as they’re released. You will be sent an email prompting you to select one of the rewards listed above.

** The Wasteland 2 Novella compilation, Wasteland 2 Concept Art Book and 2 of the Torment novellas have been released so far. Other rewards will be made available via The Bard’s Tale IV backer web site as they are added.

 

[ArchAngel]

Monte Cook designing a dungeon sounds so sweet. He has more experience with that than any of the computer RPG designers in InXile.

 

[Infinitron]

UPDATE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/the-bards-tale-iv/posts/1273289

Stretch Goal Unlocked
The most awesome news first: with pledge rate picking back up this week we have hit our first stretch goal, with $1.3 million raised on Kickstarter!!

With this stretch goal we’re adding two more companion NPCs to our roster, and enhancing our companion NPC system, giving all recruitable NPCs unique personalities, backstories and the ability to open up additional side content and reactivity. Companions will voice their own thoughts and interject in dialog and situations, and allow us to do that much more with the setting and story. Think Morte from Planescape: Torment and his wisecracking ways, or one of our many companions from Wasteland 2!

Our next stretch goal reveal is an exciting one! Monte Cook is just the first of an exciting team of RPG developers we like to call the RPG Superteam. We have three more big names to announce, and all of these guys will join our team designing one dungeon each at $1.5 million!

First up, we have Sean K Reynolds (the right head), a veteran tabletop game designer who many of you may have heard of. Sean was born in in southern California. A resident of Seattle off and on for the past 18 years, he has designed for TSR, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, and other publishers, working on tabletop RPGs for D&D, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Birthright, Ravenloft, and Pathfinder.

Next, we have Wolfgang Baur (the left head), who, among other things, is author of the award-winning Kobold Guides to Game Design, and has created dozens of tabletop adventures and sourcebooks including Hoard of the Dragon Queen (with Steve Winter), Dark*Matter (with Monte Cook), Kingdom of the Ghouls, Fortress of the Stone Giants, Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, and Courts of the Shadow Fey. He also did foundational work on the Planescape and Al-Qadim settings for Dungeons & Dragons, and is the creator and keeper of the flame for the Midgard Campaign Setting and the upcoming Southlands Campaign Setting, and has contributed monsters to both D&D and Pathfinder.

Third, Bruce Cordell (the middle head), an award-winning game designer working at Monte Cook Games, writing for The Strange and Numenera RPGs, both launched via wildly successful Kickstarters. Prior to that, Bruce worked on Dungeons & Dragons over the course of 4 editions as a writer and developer, writing over 100 D&D products, including the Expanded Psionics Handbook, Gates of Firestorm Peak, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Gamma World, and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. He is also a novelist, and has penned many books for the Forgotten Realms setting, including the Abolethic trilogy.

Social Media Achievements
We've been steadily hitting more community social media achievements. We've now hit number 12 and as previously announced, have unlocked the Red Boots DLC for inclusion in the game to all backers. We want to keep sending cool stuff your way, but need your help to make it happen! So keep sending us your love and support on social media like Twitter, Facebook andTumblr, forums, through fan works and more. We are close to unlocking some new achievements and not too far away from another community reward for you guys!

Room 16: All backers $20 or above receive TWO Julie Fowlis songs: the song from the in-engine video which was based on the poem from BT1, and "Smeòrach Chlann Dòmhnaill (The Mavis of Clan Donald)", an 18th century Gaelic song from her latest album, Gach Sgeul.

One that’s getting tantalizingly close is the in-engine video views. We’d love to get that one in front of more eyes as we want people to see what we’re doing

 

[Infinitron]

I'm still wary of the choice. He seems to be more into rules light rpgs like Numenera and less about crunch heavy blobber games. We'll see.

He also helped design a little thing called 3rd Edition D&D

 

[Excidium II]

He's going to design a dungeon not the rule system

 

[Excidium II]

I've never seen any dungeon he designed

 

[Infinitron]

First result for "Monte Cook dungeon design": http://www.dungeonaday.com/

 

[Excidium II]

I've never seen any dungeon he designed

Well, shit man.

I imagine someone with his experience to be able to whip up something good if given enough design freedom