inXile Forums

Drool wrote: ↑June 17th, 2017, 9:57 pm I like it well enough too, but I didn't back a sequel to that game...

I wasn't interested in the 2004 game, and didn't back a sequel to it either, but I feel that comparison is a little unfair.

2004 game: not really an RPG, one character, not a blobber, "action", no tactical combat, flippant tone, not grid based, etc etc etc.

BT4: RPG, control a group, blobber, tactical non-realtime combat, "melancholy and menace", grid based, etc etc etc.

BT1: RPG, control a group, blobber, phased non-realtime combat, "menace", grid based, etc etc etc.

It seems like they're keeping most of the core elements of the classics, modernizing the graphics, changing the combat scheme while still avoiding the "action" subgenre (and that's good: the combat of the originals was weak), and aiming for a more cohesive world. I wouldn't have backed this one, if I thought it was aiming in the direction of BT2004.

Crosmando wrote: And here's me thinking that this Kickstarter was about fans of the originals and creating a faithful sequel to the originals. But yeah, I get it, you've already got our money, this is about getting the money of "modern gamers".

I feel this is also a little unfair. One, they showed a very early prototype video, so we could get a sense of the intended direction and "feel". Also, you're painting it as somehow turning their backs on fans of the originals, which, as a fan of the originals, I just don't feel at all. I played BT1 to completion right after it came out, loved it, and I'm pretty happy so far. Sure, not in every last detail: everyone has their own personal view of what's ideal. There's simply no way for them to completely please everyone. Big picture though? I'm looking forward to this thing. Some old ideas are good ones, but not all, and there were aspects of the classics that - and I say this with a lot of affection for that series - were not so good, and which I'm glad they're leaving behind, while preserving other parts.

Crosmando wrote:<sarcasm>Real classy stuff.</sarcasm>

I agree with you there though. The beginning of the story felt rather crass. But, Brian Fargo invoked the phrase "melancholy and menace", so I'll hope he'll aim that direction for the game itself. We don't really know much yet, at this early stage.

Anyway... my feeling is that even if I don't entirely like the game in the end, I'm still glad to back it. I'd rather back a novel game than yet another FPS pretending to be an RPG. I'll gladly back 20 projects like this in the hopes of liking 1 or 2, before I would buy another typical AAA studio "RPG" that's a thinly veiled CoD reskin. The way I look at it, we're getting a stream of cool stuff again, after for many years it looked like the whole RPG genre might die out and turn into FPS with fireballs standing in for rocket launchers. I'm happy to see the industry to experiment again. I'll like some, and won't like others, but ... I get to like some, whereas I wouldn't like any of the "query replace rocket launcher with fireball" AAA pulp.

_noblesse_oblige_ wrote: ↑June 18th, 2017, 8:47 am

BT1 Novella with BT4 wrote: Love is you farting in bed and me still wanting to have a go - after ten years of it!

Oh, Lord. That's just terrible writing. Um... inXile? You guys need an editor?

demeisen wrote:It seems like they're keeping most of the core elements of the classics, modernizing the graphics, changing the combat scheme while still avoiding the "action" subgenre (and that's good: the combat of the originals was weak), and aiming for a more cohesive world. I wouldn't have backed this one, if I thought it was aiming in the direction of BT2004.

Some. But much of the lore and worldbuilding is leaning much more BT2004.

That said, if they want to have The Beer Song playing in the Taverns, or find a way to work in The Nuckelavee, I wouldn't complain.

ZZGO wrote:I kinda liked the alternate dimensions as a plot element in BT3. However, I would hate to see them as an excuse for retcons/reimaginings/poor continuity.

Oh, I don't want them to do that at all. It's more a headcanon defense to prevent severe cognitive dissonance over the whiplash changing of well established lore.

Gizmo wrote: ↑June 17th, 2017, 3:53 pm

_noblesse_oblige_ wrote: ↑June 17th, 2017, 3:51 pm But, it just doesn't feel like the original series and so it's hard to accept a game bearing the same name.

Welcome to the Fallout club. It's Deja Vu, all over again.

Welcome to the Wasteland Club you mean

I was going to put my name down in the Kickstarter comments for the "Write an Item Description" lottery. Unfortunately, I only backed after the Kickstarter campaign had already concluded and Kickstarter apparently won't consider me a supporter eligible to write comments.

Aside: I just conveniently came across this timely quote from CS Lewis (while in the context of religion, he had some words about "modernity")
lol (worth a chuckle)

It is incomprehensible to me that any thinker can calmly call himself a modernist; he might as well call himself a Thursdayite. But apart altogether from that particular disturbance, I am conscious of a general irritation expressed against the people who boast of their advancement and modernity ... But I never succeeded in saying the quite clear and obvious thing that is really the matter with modernism. The real objection to modernism is simply that it is a form of snobbishness. It is an attempt to crush a rational opponent not by reason, but by some mystery of superiority, by hinting that one is specially up to date or particularly 'in the know.' To flaunt the fact that we have had all the last books from Germany is simply vulgar; like flaunting the fact that we have had all the last bonnets from Paris. To introduce into philosophical discussions a sneer at a creed's antiquity is like introducing a sneer at a lady's age. It is caddish because it is irrelevant. The pure modernist is merely a snob; he cannot bear to be a month behind the fashion."

Please don't be a caddish snob about fashion, inXile! :lol:

thebruce wrote: ↑June 19th, 2017, 7:37 am

That's just become my new #2 favorite C.S.Lewis quote.

--

...And it applies to all of those "It's 2017! (or insert present year)" nonsense posts about how anything they personally dislike is to be labeled archaic or obsolete.

_noblesse_oblige_ wrote: ↑June 18th, 2017, 8:47 am
One more note. I read the provided snippet from the new BT novella the other day. Totally different feel from, say, the BT1 clue book. Here's a snippet from the novella, coming with BT4:

BT1 Novella with BT4 wrote: Love is you farting in bed and me still wanting to have a go - after ten years of it!

<sarcasm>Real classy stuff.</sarcasm> And, here's a snippet from the cluebook:

BT1 Cluebook wrote: I embrace my companions, and taste the salt of Isli's tears. Ghaklah
has asked for my dagger -- he has no wish to be captured alive. As he prepares
the spell, I can but reflect that no man could wish to die in better company.

Actually classy stuff.

Ughh...I didn't take the time to read the novella excerpt. If that quote is a hint of what's to come for BT4 then my expectations must be lowered significantly. I personally am not a fan of the 2004 BT and hope they're not taking thematic and tone elements from that game.

Yeah Gutter humour should be very very mild... not like in the 2004 game...

Honestly, BT04 wasn't particularly gutter. It was certainly bawdy, but I wouldn't call it a font of gutter humor. It certainly didn't use flatulence to describe love.

Depends on the gutter you are in I guess But i'll bow to your experience... My recollection may be faulty, as the game wasn't exactly the most memorable experience for me.... I don't believe I even finished it...

Do we need to know the stories from the original games to know what’s going on in Bard’s Tale 4?

Doesn't much sound like it...