Octopus Overlords

Just launched, here, with added bonus:

inXile Entertainment is proud to announce an unprecedented crowdfunding offer: anyone who backs The Bard’s Tale IV on Kickstarter in the first 24 hours of the campaign will receive a FREE copy of inXile’s Wasteland 2, or CD Projekt Red's The Witcher, or The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

For all backers of The Bard’s Tale IV at the $20 Reward Tier and above. Wasteland 2 will be delivered on Steam or DRM-Free on GOG.com after the Kickstarter campaign. The Witcher and The Witcher 2 will be delivered on GOG.com.

Features:

A single-player, party-based dungeon crawl, rich in exploration and combat
Dungeons filled not just with dangerous fights but with challenging puzzles and devious riddles
Dynamic phase-based combat, where the pace of battle is animated and fluid, but still gives you time to think and respond to your enemies
A game set to beautiful Gaelic music, where the Bard’s songs and melodies affect gameplay
Co-funded by fans and inXile: if this game hits its $1.25 million goal, inXile will put in at least $1.25 million of its own money to double the initial budget!
Built using Unreal Engine 4, for PC, Mac and Linux. Available from Steam or DRM-Free from GOG.com
Available in English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Polish
Built for and with the help of our fans. Your feedback and input directly impact the design and features of the game during alpha and beta stages

Delivery date of October of 2017.

Only if they promise to have all 90 degree turns and no in-game map. Bonus if they include graph paper in the box.

I'm in. Never played the originals, but I'm a sucker for square-based movement. Now if only real life worked that way...

Hmmm.. the launch video explicitly said you wouldn't need graph paper. Maybe that means they will, in fact, send it to you.

Played the original one summer on an Apple IIe that my cousin owned - it was a big deal at the time. Eventually purchased my own copy for the Commodore 128D -- still have the giant sleeve and floppy disc you see on the KS page.

I want to pretend I won't back this...but I feel like I should.

I am able to hold off. In 3 years when it comes out, I'll be too old to play computer games. I think I have gotten over my need to help remake old crap. Yes, it was awesome in the 80s when compared to pac-man and atari combat, but at this point I think old school can stay old.

In. Would like Wasteland 2, so in my head I'm getting that and this for $10 each.

coopasonic wrote:I am able to hold off. In 3 years when it comes out, I'll be too old to play computer games. I think I have gotten over my need to help remake old crap. Yes, it was awesome in the 80s when compared to pac-man and atari combat, but at this point I think old school can stay old.

Uh, it won't be old school any more than Wasteland 2 looked like the original.

Grifman wrote:

coopasonic wrote:I am able to hold off. In 3 years when it comes out, I'll be too old to play computer games. I think I have gotten over my need to help remake old crap. Yes, it was awesome in the 80s when compared to pac-man and atari combat, but at this point I think old school can stay old.

Uh, it won't be old school any more than Wasteland 2 looked like the original.

Sure, Wasteland 2 looks incredible compared to Wasteland, but I am not comparing it to Wasteland. I'm comparing it to The Witcher 3 or, to be a bit more fair, Fallout 3. I've learned that nostalgia isn't enough.

This should actually be a better fit for me as I played the hell out of the Bard's Tale games when I was in college, but I've also learned it's also not just about the graphics. As games have evolved, what I want out of a game has evolved as well. I'm not sure I can put what I want into words, but it's not another Bard's Tale.

coopasonic wrote:This should actually be a better fit for me as I played the hell out of the Bard's Tale games when I was in college, but I've also learned it's also not just about the graphics. As games have evolved, what I want out of a game has evolved as well. I'm not sure I can put what I want into words, but it's not another Bard's Tale.

Let me put it into words for you: You only want to play AAA games.

Your loss.

Maybe, but not much of a loss. I pretty much never am unable to find a game to play. Heck I'll probably pick up Bard's Tale IV at some point when it's on sale in a few years, assuming it funds. I just don't feel like it needs to be made.

I am not all about triple-A, but the indie stuff I play is niche puzzle-y or adventure-y type games. I look for stuff that is unique and well-executed.... sometimes I don't even care about well executed if it cool enough (there is nothing well executed about Hard Truck Apocalypse, but I enjoyed it).

I acquired the phone version but never even fired it up. I loved it decades ago, but I'm just not that interested in retrogaming.

coopasonic wrote: As games have evolved, what I want out of a game has evolved as well. I'm not sure I can put what I want into words, but it's not another Bard's Tale.

Have you played Lords of Xulima?

If so, curious to know what you thought about that one.

Carpet_pissr wrote:

coopasonic wrote: As games have evolved, what I want out of a game has evolved as well. I'm not sure I can put what I want into words, but it's not another Bard's Tale.

Have you played Lords of Xulima?

If so, curious to know what you thought about that one.

Nope. I haven't and I am pretty sure I never noticed it. On the surface it looks Wizardry-esque. It would have to come after all these awesome AAA games I have on the backlog.

I'm in. I loved the Bard's Tale series when I was a teenager. That, Ultima and Might and Magic will always hold a special place in my gaming memories. I was tempted by that Album box they offered, but I just went for a game version.

coopasonic wrote:

Grifman wrote:

coopasonic wrote:I am able to hold off. In 3 years when it comes out, I'll be too old to play computer games. I think I have gotten over my need to help remake old crap. Yes, it was awesome in the 80s when compared to pac-man and atari combat, but at this point I think old school can stay old.

Uh, it won't be old school any more than Wasteland 2 looked like the original.

Sure, Wasteland 2 looks incredible compared to Wasteland, but I am not comparing it to Wasteland. I'm comparing it to The Witcher 3 or, to be a bit more fair, Fallout 3. I've learned that nostalgia isn't enough.

Old school is lot more than a difference in graphical quality.

As soon as I saw that map of Skara Brae, I was in, just for nostalgia reasons alone. Played the hell out of this game on my C64.

I would have bought the large collector's edition box if it included the smaller LP style slip case version too...I'm almost positive I still have the 1-3 versions in that style slip case in a box somewhere. I didn't see the point of spending the extra $45 to get the LP style case and printed manual though. $10...maybe $15 but not $45.

@#^&%@Q#^&% I am so weak.

I already swore off anymore Kickstarting, but freaking Bard's Tale, man. I can't turn my back on what I consider to be one of my top 3 gaming experience...games.

THIS BETTER BE GOOD, BRIAN FARGO!!!

Carpet_pissr wrote:THIS BETTER BE GOOD, BRIAN FARGO!!!

Let's just say I'm still in.

Holy shitballs. In engine footage? Wheeeeee!!!

I hope hope hope though that the movement mechanism is not what appears to be the floating kind found in Myst and Infinity Blade games. That would be disappointing. OTOH I don't see how it's possible to get that level of detail and fidelity (on current rigs) without using that "rails" mechanism.

That was in-engine footage, not in-game footage. If they're staying true to the Bard's Tale roots, movement will be entirely tile-based, ala Grimrock.

Carpet_pissr wrote:Holy shitballs. In engine footage? Wheeeeee!!!

You're reading too much into this little teaser trailer. They're using Unreal Engine 4, so they haven't actually made an engine of their own for this. UE4 is extremely good looking, but it's too early to say if they can actually keep the amount of detail shown here for actual gameplay. Also, what you saw was not gameplay, but something more like a cutscene. They've barely even entered pre-production for this project yet, so they don't even know all the gameplay mechanics.

Consider this a proof of concept, nothing more.

TiLT wrote:it's too early to say if they can actually keep the amount of detail shown here for actual gameplay.

Which I will hereafter refer to as "The Witcher 3 Problem".

Isgrimnur wrote:

TiLT wrote:it's too early to say if they can actually keep the amount of detail shown here for actual gameplay.

Which I will hereafter refer to as "The Witcher 3 Problem".

One has to wonder where the actual problem lies though. With The Witcher 3, people cry about "downgrades". Now another game gets announced with a far more realistic view of its final graphics (Fallout 4), and people cry about crappy graphics.

I think the solution might be in making it more transparent to players that graphics milestones change over the course of a game's development. Right now it seems like a vocal minority (?) believes a game's visuals are finalized years before release, when in reality they are one of the last things to be finalized, after beta optimizations.

My intent is the reference to be emblematic and easily recognizable in conversation rather than having any explanatory or investigative merit.

TiLT wrote:Also, what you saw was not gameplay, but something more like a cutscene.

Then they are misleading a lot of people with their "in engine footage" tag at the beginning. Tricksy hobbits.

Bit like a used car lot showing video or brochure of a Tesla starting from zero, with zero emissions, and fuel consumption, high end interior, then delivering a 1998 diesel Passat wagon.

"What!? That first thing was just showing you what SOME automobiles are capable of! YOUR automobile, however, is much MUCH crappier."

Honestly I don't care if the graphics are that spectacular or not, I just want them (and trust them) to recreate the feel of BT as closely as possible to the original, but with modern niceties.

But don't resort to shenanigans - come on. That's just asking for trouble later on when the final product doesn't look anything like that. Maybe they assume people won't remember two years from now, how the original trailer looked?

Carpet_pissr wrote:

TiLT wrote:Also, what you saw was not gameplay, but something more like a cutscene.

Then they are misleading a lot of people with their "in engine footage" tag at the beginning. Tricksy hobbits.

Not at all. "In-engine" never means gameplay. It just means it's being rendered by the game engine. Just look at the Star Wars Battlefront trailer. It's nothing but a glorified cutscene, and the final game is never in a thousand years going to look anything like what you see in that trailer, but it's still in-engine.

Edit: The really problematic trailers are the ones that claim to be gameplay footage but are actually just in-engine footage. Ubisoft are horrible at this, and they have become notorious liars in all of their marketing, from screenshots to videos to gameplay claims. They'll render a video at 4k or above, with graphical effects deliberately not available in the game, using camera angles and gameplay scenarios that would never happen in the final product, showing off cutscenes. The videos are rendered at very low framerate, but with similarly reduced speed, just so they can crank up the detail and resolution, and then it's all sped up to look like it's 30 or 60 fps. It's all lies to trick people into buying their products. That's what we should be upset about, and that's what's misleading.

Admittedly that IS horrible (I had no idea they were doing that), but still, I hold a tiny, indie team like this to a much higher standard, more noble in their goals if you will (especially when they overtly state as much in their KS video), to resort to semantics shenanigans. Who cares what the engine is capable of if there is no way in hell it's going to end up looking anything like that in a real game? It's worse than useless, it's tricksy, as I said, and I stand by it.

Whether intentional or not, the way it's presented could easily be misunderstood (and now that I see the comments under the video, I am not alone here) as if it were an actual representation of IN GAME graphics. You can get all lawyerly about it, but it's at best misleading.

Take off your "PC game expert" colored glasses and really look at it, from a more casual gamer's perspective, and I suspect you will agree.

Carpet_pissr wrote:Admittedly that IS horrible (I had no idea they were doing that), but still, I hold a tiny, indie team like this to a much higher standard, more noble in their goals if you will (especially when they overtly state as much in their KS video), to resort to semantics shenanigans. Who cares what the engine is capable of if there is no way in hell it's going to end up looking anything like that in a real game?

That's the thing though, the game could absolutely end up looking like this, especially since it's a PC game only. We just won't know until later in actual production whether or not it's doable. This is an in-engine proof of concept, nothing more. It's inXile saying "this is what we want our game to look like, and we've done it in the actual engine to demonstrate that it's theoretically doable".

Similar to Pillars of Eternity giving their initial in-engine demo way back when. What we wound up with is better. There is no gameplay to demonstrate yet, so TiLT is right that this should be taken with a large grain of salt. But that doesn't mean we'll be disappointed.

Again, it would be extremely difficult to disappoint me on the graphics front, as long as the game play elements are in place. Reading most of those youtube comments, it seems that the graphics are the only thing that matters.

I still remember seeing the back of that square, grey cardboard sleeve in a local computer store (a COMPUTER store! ) way back when, and thinking how rad the graphics were. Especially for the Conjuror/Wizard. Then when I finally saw him animated...WOW! He pointed his finger RIGHT AT YOU! 3D, baby!

The Bard's Tale on the Apple II was the first game that really captivated me as a child. I was 13 when it was released, and I remember holding that LP style box in the B. Dalton Bookseller store, reading the back, and knowing I just had to play this game. I'm sure I sunk well over 100 hours into it back in the day. Heck, it even nudged me onto my career path as a software developer, as I learned hexadecimal while reviewing the game data files and saved game files to manually edit them. A lot of trial and error, reloading, tweak, reloading, tweak, and reloading again, just to see if I could give myself a better weapon or more hit points.

I had to pledge at the level to get the LP Style box just one more time.

On the one hand, I'm pretty burned out on kickstarter/early access games (largely due to Double Fine's DF-9 shenanigans). On the other hand, inXile delivered the goods with Wasteland 2. And on the gripping hand, well, at this very moment I seem to be gripping my beloved old Amiga Bard's Tale II box, containing its precious stack of well-used graph paper.

I will play this game, without a doubt, but I'm not sure whether I'll back it or just buy it when it is released. Fortunately I already own all of the freebies they were offering in order to entice people to jump in early, so I have plenty of time to make up my mind.

Some informations.

They are really close to the the funding goal, with 31 days to go.

No surprise there, I guess.

Also, if done right, this sounds really cool (and the video below the text on the KS page is awesome):

" Many items hold their own secrets that you’ll need to discover by carefully examining them. Similar to the intriguing video game series The Room, by thoroughly studying special objects, you can unlock ways to enhance or modify their properties. After looting a chest, for instance, you might find a dagger with suspicious holes dotting the blade. After examining it closer and rotating two oddly shaped discs on the hilt of your newly found weapon, a small compartment opens revealing a clock-like dial. Twisting this dial properly and locking it into place, you notice a viscous poison dripping from the blade which will add additional damage to each attack."

Not sure I like the idea of getting 'point 'n click adventure' peanut butter in my 'old school party based RPG' chocolate, but I trust the man.

Everyone backing at $20 and up will now get the original trilogy, as well. Neat.

And it SOUNDS like they will be updating the graphics?! ("new art" was mentioned) That would be fantastic.

There are browser versions around however, that already redid the original BT in Flash, IIRC.

I had just been searching for the original trilogy and had trouble finding it. Didn't want to get too bogged down with Dosbox or emulators but was looking like I was going to have to do that. Then found that the trilogy was included with that Bard's Tale remake from a while back. But even that version was a little quirky.

So I was happy to hear about the originals being tagged on for KS backers. And since my backlog of games is ridiculous, I'm probably good with waiting for these eventual "upgrades", even if it's nothing more than ease of use.

Extended preview of the song featured in part of the KS video, and the original from olden times upon which it's based.