Bard's Tale IV Reviews

[Infinitron]

http://www.darkstation.com/reviews/the- ... -iv-review - 4/5

[Themadcow]

Rock Paper Shotgun haven't done their review yet, but from the release news item I'd imagine it isn't going to be one of the better ones.

"As I mentioned, John has been playing The Bard’s Tale IV and not enjoying it, and he intends to do some of these here squiggly ‘word’ thingies tomorrow to tell us all about his discontent"

[Infinitron]

Rock Paper Shotgun haven't done their review yet, but from the release news item I'd imagine it isn't going to be one of the better ones.

"As I mentioned, John has been playing The Bard’s Tale IV and not enjoying it, and he intends to do some of these here squiggly ‘word’ thingies tomorrow to tell us all about his discontent"

I'd expect nothing else of him.

[Nystrom]

I mean we all know there's going to be 'some' level of negativity. Doesn't mean it's going to be a poor game or unsuccessful. Most of us could predict the 3-4 problems the average 10 hour reviewer will pick out easily enough.

[DNACowboy]

One bad review among a host of positive? If I was undecided I’d take those odds any day.

Ed. I’ve just seen the Rock Paper Shotgun early review an the comments are hilarious! People who were NOT going to buy the game are definitely going to pick up a copy now that RPS reviewer ‘John’ who doesn’t like the game has seemingly expressed some negative comments to a colleague. It seems that any game that he dislikes is sure to be enjoyable to the rest of the gaming community.

[Themadcow]

John Walker definitely has a bit of a reputation in the industry for non-standard criticism of games, but then again he never claims his reviews are objective - he's just giving his spin on things (one of the reasons RPS doesn't give scores). I'll wait to see his review before commenting, but certainly some people will see his criticism as a seal of approval.

One question for inXile - why did you pick out this review chunk in the KS update:

"'Bard's Tale IV' feels like a mix between such games as 'Legend of Grimrock' or very old 'Eye of the Beholder' series and early installments of 'The Elder Scrolls' franchise, particularly 'Arena' and to some extent - 'Daggerfall'. We have more freedom if compared to traditional crawlers, we are not doing the tango dance when fighting and we can do more things other than looking for that dagger +1 and that one pesky switch."- Gamezilla

That's a terrible comment. The idiot reviewer is drawing comparisons to games that aren't in the same sub-genre as BT1-3 at all. Feeling like a mix of games that aren't like BT, Wizardry or other TB Blobbers isn't ideal.

[Crosmando]

Steam Reviews are currently standing at 23%.

LOL. Trolls are going to troll.

Many aren't trolls though, they mention the fact that the game isn't faithful to Bard's Tale.

[Centaur]

That's a terrible comment. The idiot reviewer is drawing comparisons to games that aren't in the same sub-genre as BT1-3 at all. Feeling like a mix of games that aren't like BT, Wizardry or other TB Blobbers isn't ideal.

Given how BT4 is, in quite a few areas, very different from BT1-3 as well, I believe that reviewer definitely has a point.
BT4 is quite enjoyable, but not if you're expecting it to be anything like BT1-3. Then it is, in many ways, fairly disappointing.

[Themadcow]

Given how BT4 is, in quite a few areas, very different from BT1-3 as well, I believe that reviewer definitely has a point.
BT4 is quite enjoyable, but not if you're expecting it to be anything like BT1-3. Then it is, in many ways, fairly disappointing.

That's kinda my point - the review quote screams out that the reviewer isn't even using the right frame of reference for comparisons:

We have more freedom if compared to traditional crawlers, we are not doing the tango dance when fighting

No shit - that's never been the case in games of the Wizardry, BT, Gold Box, Etrian lineage. Why even bring it up... especially after drawing direct comparisons to games in the DM, EOTB, Grimrock lineage? It just smacks of another person who doesn't understand what the BT/Wizardry type of game is.

[Nystrom]

Steam Reviews are currently standing at 23%.

LOL. Trolls are going to troll.

Many aren't trolls though, they mention the fact that the game isn't faithful to Bard's Tale.

I've read about 20% of them, and every single one is a troll/meaningnless negative post complaining about one or two things while providing ZERO value because they have spent 10 hours or less in the game.

[Crosmando]

LOL. Trolls are going to troll.

Many aren't trolls though, they mention the fact that the game isn't faithful to Bard's Tale.

I've read about 20% of them, and every single one is a troll/meaningnless negative post complaining about one or two things while providing ZERO value because they have spent 10 hours or less in the game.

Not surprising, the game is slow as fuck and doesn't have enough actual action, especially at the start. You spend just as much time running around aimlessly or on puzzles than actually fighting, and this is supposed to be a dungeon crawler. It's really eye-opening for me, the last month I've been playing Bard's Tale remake, Etrian Odyysey, Elminage etc, all of those games have fast movement and fast combat, you level up quickly etc, it might get better once you leave Skara Brae but the game feels boring (the beta certainly did too).

[TattooedBard]

Looks like it's now our task to protect the game in reviews comments systems...

[Nystrom]

Looks like it's now our task to protect the game in reviews comments systems...

I think game platforms like steam should not allow reviews until a week after release - or, conversely, have it set to a minimum number of hours played. I realize people could game the system either way, but it would be an extra step.

When I look at a new game I don't look at every review, I look at the more recent ones, and the ones with meaningful hours played.

[Lanatir]

Looks like it's now our task to protect the game in reviews comments systems...

thats called White Knighting btw. To protect a software product not because its good but because you cant stand that someone criticizes it.

[Nystrom]

either way the input is not to be relied on. negative or positive.

why does anyone, for example, expect a game to be 100% working out of the box? It never happens. NEVER. You might see it when games stay in some form of playable beta for a year or two.

[Themadcow]

either way the input is not to be relied on. negative or positive.

why does anyone, for example, expect a game to be 100% working out of the box? It never happens. NEVER. You might see it when games stay in some form of playable beta for a year or two.

I think the issue there is calling some of the stuff on steam "Reviews". You certainly can't 'review' something in less than 5 hours, but I'm also wary that people who really don't like the experience aren't going to clock up 20+ hours through gritted teeth. What you get on Steam is simply player reaction in a quantitative format.

On your point around working 100% out of the box... well, working for sure. Perfect? Maybe not, but you shouldn't 'expect' significant bugs and missing features either. This isn't early access.

[Skysect]

https://steamcommunity.com/id/Skysect/r ... ded/566090

Have fun bro

[Nystrom]

oh look, another useless game review.

You are complaining about the terrible process, nothing more. That's fair, but game review, this is not.

[Skysect]

oh look, another useless game review.

You are complaining about the terrible process, nothing more. That's fair, but game review, this is not.

With that reason until they solve it I won't touch the game. Because after 3 years of waiting I don't have any desire for it .

[TattooedBard]

Looks like it's now our task to protect the game in reviews comments systems...

thats called White Knighting btw. To protect a software product not because its good but because you cant stand that someone criticizes it.

Right, and I think I'm ok with that. Developing game like that requires more the "cold" business decision and planning. It's soul, love, passion, community. Think the PERSONALLY I think it's important to stand behind.