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Kickstarter: Bard's Tale IV (inXile, 1.25 mil, PC, Mac, Linux)

autoduelist

Member
I am not one to underestimate digital piracy.

At the same time, I doubt many actual pirates would do this, as they would see the very notion of a Forgiveness Letter as a "betrayal". Seriously, I've seen some ridiculous posts on FB trying to either say Brian Fargo is pro-piracy or that InXile has "betrayed gamers".

Just because some guy/gal posted something on FB doesn't mean everyone that pirates stuff has some creed they stand by and agree with it. There isn't some seedy group of 'actual' pirates that all agree with each other, it's more that some people pirate and some don't.

Besides, like I said I'm talking about people who used to pirate stuff back in the 80s, when it was far more common. I'm sure plenty of people pirated Bard's Tale back then, and some of them may throw InXile a few extra bucks now because they're got disposable income they didn't have when they were 13.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
Glad to see they took my advice and made it clear to people the in-engine video was all completely playable and doable based on the methods they are using. Graphics look awesome.
 

hemtae

Member
New update: Two Days Left! But Wait, There’s More!

Sulphur Springs

One of the great things about the world of The Bard’s Tale IV is being able to return to locations from the first three games. Sulphur Springs was a map in The Bard’s Tale III and it will play a pivotal role in our story in The Bard's Tale IV as well. This wasteland of toxic Sulphur pools is a breeding ground for some of the nastiest creatures in our world. No human dares to live there and few who venture in ever return. The only question you need to ask yourself is, are you brave enough to enter?

sulphurspringssko7f.jpg

Front and Back Rows in Combat

And now, a quick design fireside chat. This one is something many of you have been asking about.

Many dungeon crawls, including the original Bard’s Tales, make use of a front row/back row system within combat encounters. This type of system allows you some tactical choice to how your party is presented in combat. For example, you can shield some “softer” characters like ranged casters in the back row, which allow them to be protected by stronger adventurers like a warrior. The rules generally state that if there are player characters (PCs) in the front rows, they will take short melee damage before the PC’s in the back do. Of course, ranged weapons and spells can hit back row PC’s regardless of the front row. Commonly this would also apply to the player’s attacks, the back row only able to use spells and ranged attacks.
 
I hope this gets to the $1.7 mil goal, if nothing else. I'm interested to see this "Wilds of Lestras" area they're talking about. Avellone involvement is nice, but I'd like to see it get to $1.9 just for the "visible armor on character" subgoal.
 
I hope this gets to the $1.7 mil goal, if nothing else. I'm interested to see this "Wilds of Lestras" area they're talking about. Avellone involvement is nice, but I'd like to see it get to $1.9 just for the "visible armor on character" subgoal.

Agreed, though I would settle for it passing the $1.5 mark for the extra dungeons.
 

epmode

Member
$1.9M would be great, if just for the visible equipment. Avellone is dreamy but I'd like to see him at the helm of another project instead.
 

Zabojnik

Member
$1.9M would be great, if just for the visible equipment. Avellone is dreamy but I'd like to see him at the helm of another project instead.

As involved and vocal as he has been about Bard's Tale IV, I'm pretty sure they'll find a way to make him work on it regardless. He seems to be part of the team already.
 

yamo

Member
As involved and vocal as he has been about Bard's Tale IV, I'm pretty sure they'll find a way to make him work on it regardless. He seems to be part of the team already.

Hopefully you are correct, 1.9 million seem a bit far off right now.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
It's a shame that this got absolutely cannibalized by Shenmue 3, I for one would love to pledge but priorities and all that ...

Shenmue 3 has nothing to do with it, really. Not the same audience at all. The big issue is that the IP has no pull compared to the other big kickstarter projects. Wasteland 2 had the Fallout precursor thing going for it while it seems very little people are interested in the Bard's Tale.

At least it's still getting funded.
 
Shenmue 3 has nothing to do with it, really. Not the same audience at all. The big issue is that the IP has no pull compared to the other big kickstarter projects. Wasteland 2 had the Fallout precursor thing going for it while it seems very little people are interested in the Bard's Tale.

At least it's still getting funded.

Maybe you are right, but I personally wouldn't be so quick to dismiss overlap, especially with the KS crowd. Also the fact that this game should be in it's ending push yet the numbers don't really show that.

Although I admit that could be because it was known for a very long time that the game was gonna have a KS campaign. Same thing happened to Yooka Laylee which pretty much flatlined at the end, and even Torment had a much smaller ending push than say Bloodstained or Project Eternity.
 
Maybe you are right, but I personally wouldn't be so quick to dismiss overlap, especially with the KS crowd. Also the fact that this game should be in it's ending push yet the numbers don't really show that.

Although I admit that could be because it was known for a very long time that the game was gonna have a KS campaign. Same thing happened to Yooka Laylee which pretty much flatlined at the end, and even Torment had a much smaller ending push than say Bloodstained or Project Eternity.

Yeah, I mean I would think about funding more if I had the cash, and the fact that I am giving them $25 says more to that I trust the INexile team than anyhting else .I JUST dropped a ton of cash on Bloodstained, and I am dropping even more on Shenmue 3. Bard's Tale looks neat, but not THAT neat.
 

yamo

Member
I droped $25 as well and this is my first kickstarter ever. One of the very first real RPGs I played was Bards Tale 2 on the Amiga 500.
 

Labadal

Member
No Chris Avellone for this, it seems. (I'd be surprised if they make that much money even with the final push.) I sort of hope that they don't reach it. It is not because I am an ass. I'd actually like to see him work with Fargo & Co but I'd like to see Chris as a lead on a project.
 

Zabojnik

Member
No Chris Avellone for this, it seems. (I'd be surprised if they make that much money even with the final push.) I sort of hope that they don't reach it. It is not because I am an ass. I'd actually like to see him work with Fargo & Co but I'd like to see Chris as a lead on a project.

All signs seem to point in that direction regardless of his involvement with BT4. I'm a professional twitter analyst, please believe me.
 

epmode

Member
I think so too! Said as much in that Avellone Leaves Obsidian thread. It's not the most popular opinion but we'll show them. We'll show ALL of them!
 

hemtae

Member
New update: Final 48 Hours! Knocking Down Goals

Just a quick update to let you all know that now we’re in our final 48 hours, Kickstarter has sent out its reminders, our final Big Push video is out and we’re in our final big upswing!

As always, you guys have been amazing in spreading the word and making this Kickstarter another success story. Factoring in PayPal funding, we have unlocked the 1.5 million stretch goal, the RPG Super Team of Bruce Cordell, Wolfgang Baur and Sean K Reynolds now joining our efforts! These RPG veteran designers will each design a unique dungeon, making The Bard’s Tale IV all the richer and more varied. If you want to know more about them, we provided more details in Update 10.
 

Haeleos

Member
Are the original 3 games worth playing? I've never tried them. I've already backed this, however, because it's inXile.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Are the original 3 games worth playing? I've never tried them. I've already backed this, however, because it's inXile.

They are genuinely fantastic games, but they are also products of their time. It really comes down to your tolerance of old DOS games.
 

hemtae

Member
New update: Down to the Wire! Final Stream Reminder, Last Community Fan Works, Bardic Brian Unlocked!

We are down to the wire! With just a few hours left to go we are all hands on deck and eager to see exactly where our final pledge level will end up. It goes without saying that we are deeply appreciative of all your support throughout the campaign. With over 33,000 backers showing support thus far, we are just 3,000 backers away from being in the top 10 most-backed Kickstarter gaming projects in history!

As we head towards the finish, we are as pleased as ever to say once again: the Bard is Back!
 

Totbjorn

Neo Member
I am a lttle bummed that this does not seem to get the final days kickstarter bump most projects have but I guess that the apetite for this type of games is not that high,
The criminally low sales of Grimrock 2 should probably have tipped me of.

This is probably my favourite genre though so I upped my pledge to 70$
That is still about the price of the latest ubisoft towerclimbing mapping game here in euro land and I much rather play this, especially after how great Wasteland 2 turned out.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
Pretty amazing the last 3 day push is almost non-existent for this. Means everyone interested didnt procrastinate till last minute. Perhaps attracting an older crowd either with more money or better pro-activity. Even Fargo wasnt anticipating a lack of last day sales, he was expecting a bump to around 2 million.

Also i think having multiple tiers of early-bird stuff along with giveaways hurts things a bit for people feeling like they missed out on something. Whether or not for this particular campaign it would have done better its impossible to know given i was worried this would even get funded at the start.
 
It did remarkably well for what kind of game it is. I think people greatly overestimate the the popularity of dungeon crawlers. Even if it missed its top stretch goals, this one still did fine, mostly on the strength of reputation coming from the developer and the nostalgia for the name.
 

Almighty

Member
Dang I am a little surprised this game isn't getting that traditional last day bump like most of the other ones I followed. I guess Fargo has literally hit the ceiling for what the market will support for this type of game. Honestly I really hope they keep their sales expectations in check for this title.
 

dejan

Member
Good thing this popped up on the front page, otherwise I would have forgot about it. The Premier Collector's Edition shall be mine.
 

Caronte

Member
The truth is that there was no need for a new Bard's Tale. If you really want to play a dungeon crawler there are plenty already, some franchises even have a little bit of fatigue because of how many they've made (Etrian Odyssey). And the selling point of the game was apparently the tech demo, which is a bad selling point for an old school game.

They should have made something similar to PoE, W2 or Torment IMO. I'd like a futuristic game, similar to Mass Effect maybe, in that style.
 

draetenth

Member
Eh, $1.5+ million is great for such an old and niche series as the Bard Tales games so no one should be that disappointed in no Avellone. Congrats to InXile to another successful kickstarter.
 
They were pimping Paypal support in the stream too (with 1400 viewers, no less), so I'm willing to bet they got close to $1.6 mil. Hoping they can make the rest up in the next few months and deliver the $1.7 mil goal.
 

Eusis

Member
The truth is that there was no need for a new Bard's Tale. If you really want to play a dungeon crawler there are plenty already, some franchises even have a little bit of fatigue because of how many they've made (Etrian Odyssey). And the selling point of the game was apparently the tech demo, which is a bad selling point for an old school game.

They should have made something similar to PoE, W2 or Torment IMO. I'd like a futuristic game, similar to Mass Effect maybe, in that style.
Well, we have a lack of free range command based dungeon crawlers (non-action first person RPGs period really) so this helps address that niche, but it's very specific being a strange spot between old fashioned and modern, and being a toggle it'll likely be far closer to grid based in overall design. Not unless it kind of goes blantantly on rails at times.
 
I haven't been charged by KS for this yet. They usually charge my card within minutes or at most a couple of hours after a campaign ends. Anyone else in the same boat?
 

epmode

Member
I haven't been charged by KS for this yet. They usually charge my card within minutes or at most a couple of hours after a campaign ends. Anyone else in the same boat?

They haven't charged me either. I've seen this happen before so I'm not worried or anything. It should resolve itself on Monday at the latest.
 
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