The Bard's Tale IV Update 36: Bits of Bard's Backer Business

[phimseto]

Hey Everyone,

This update covers production news, community stuff (including a survey for our backers), a last chance to back the game at some of the higher tiers, and a look at how one of our backer rewards is shaping up.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/in ... ts/1889165

With The Bard’s Tale IV, inXile is bringing back an iconic franchise for old fans and a new generation. In getting to know our backers and the greater inXile community, I put together a survey to help me understand where you are coming from as a RPG fan. This survey isn’t something that I will be sharing publicly, rather it is to help me better identify who our Bard’s Tale IV backers are and what they like in a Bard’s Tale game. This will help us with development not just of The Bard’s Tale IV, but with how we consider and develop future projects!

All that and more at the link above. Enjoy!

- The inXile Team

[lefty1117]

Good update, and glad to hear that the comms will be more frequent now!

[_noblesse_oblige_]

Hey, big thanks for issuing a survey. Some of the questions on there show that you may, in fact, be listening to some of the issues being raised. I wish this had been done many months ago, but better late than never.

[Lord of Riva]

i answered the survey, let me know if you see which one is mine.

Some of the questions should not have been single choice questions in my opinion, like this you will end up with data that, i dont know, character customisation is not important even though it may still be very important as a second or third gameplay aspect. I chose to misuse the "other" category for these cases.

since i took time answering the survey i would also kindly ask, again, if you could answer my question phimseto.
viewtopic.php?f=46&p=186971#p186971

[Woolfe]

That was a terrible survey. A single choice on a lot of those lists was not good enough. I value certain things equally.

And some of it was leading.

"Quick and Fun" .... So what anything "not quick" is also "not fun"?

[Drool]

On those, I just went with "Other" and gave a longer reply.

[Crosmando]

Yep, I also gave a suggestion something like: It should be possible to create a full party at game start and ignore any companions.

I mean why is having a story even an important thing for BT? Just give us lots of classes and party customization, fun combat, and a big open world with lots of monsters and dungeons. I honestly think that having exposition dumps and the like would ruin the mystery of the world. The cost of voice-acting companions and paying writers could otherwise be spend on more appropriate stuff.

[demeisen]

Yep, I also gave a suggestion something like: It should be possible to create a full party at game start and ignore any companions.

I also hope this is possible. I usually play RPGs using companions on my first run, but if I like a game enough to replay it sometime later, I find that the ability to create a full custom party helps replayability.

[Drool]

I mean why is having a story even an important thing for BT?

It's a balancing act. I think 3 struck a very good balance between having a deep, rich story, and being able to be played while completely ignoring it. You could read the lore and learn of the tragic fates, or you could just kill shit on your fetch quests.

[thebruce]

Some of the questions should not have been single choice questions in my opinion, like this you will end up with data that, i dont know, character customisation is not important even though it may still be very important as a second or third gameplay aspect. I chose to misuse the "other" category for these cases.

Same here. I checked one then started adding to Other only to find that it was also a radio option, not really a field for extra comments :) Ended up using Other for a bunch of them.

I mean why is having a story even an important thing for BT? Just give us lots of classes and party customization, fun combat, and a big open world with lots of monsters and dungeons. I honestly think that having exposition dumps and the like would ruin the mystery of the world. The cost of voice-acting companions and paying writers could otherwise be spend on more appropriate stuff.

What Drool said. It's a tough balance; but I completely agree that exposition isn't really at home in the BT games. There is a story, but it's thin enough and takes place in what you discover while exploring, with relatively simple 'quests' and goals. The game was in between the destinations, and story was never really in-your-face. That was wonderful.

[_noblesse_oblige_]

Some of the questions should not have been single choice questions in my opinion, like this you will end up with data that, i dont know, character customisation is not important even though it may still be very important as a second or third gameplay aspect. I chose to misuse the "other" category for these cases.

Same here. I checked one then started adding to Other only to find that it was also a radio option, not really a field for extra comments Ended up using Other for a bunch of them.

Likewise. Might have done that for the most important aspect of combat, for example. I like having some big fights (one of the options), but that doesn't mean that it is most important to me, in light of some of the other choices. I wanted a way to convey that some other aspect was important, but "don't you dare think that I don't want some big fights too" just because I didn't make them my number one priority.

That said, I'm still grateful that they finally asked us what we thought.

What Drool said. It's a tough balance; but I completely agree that exposition isn't really at home in the BT games. There is a story, but it's thin enough and takes place in what you discover while exploring, with relatively simple 'quests' and goals. The game was in between the destinations, and story was never really in-your-face. That was wonderful.

Totally agreed.

[Gizmo]

What Drool said. It's a tough balance; but I completely agree that exposition isn't really at home in the BT games. There is a story, but it's thin enough and takes place in what you discover while exploring, with relatively simple 'quests' and goals. The game was in between the destinations, and story was never really in-your-face. That was wonderful.

Totally agreed.

And the same here. I'm not looking for BG2, I'm hoping for challenging combats, and a fiendishly designed maps.

[Lord of Riva]

if possible would you be able to share the results of the survey Phimseto?

[Lord of Riva]

yes, no, maybe ?


i certainly remember to hear someone running as soon as i said something bad, even if false, regarding mages tale. asking a question though is seemingly out of scope and will be ignored.

[phimseto]

yes, no, maybe ?


i certainly remember to hear someone running as soon as i said something bad, even if false, regarding mages tale. asking a question though is seemingly out of scope and will be ignored.

That's because the question was answered before you asked it. As I wrote in the backer update with the survey,

This survey isn’t something that I will be sharing publicly, rather it is to help me better identify who our Bard’s Tale IV backers are and what they like in a Bard’s Tale game.

[Lord of Riva]

thats cool and all but the backer update has more infos than that, If i am asking the question it should be evident that i do not remember you writing that and seemingly neither did someone in the community. Its not like posting 20 words takes a few days.

a one word answer without bumping would actually serve the purpose you know. if that isnt too much <.<