Bards Tale Gold!

[CeeKay]

For the X-Box and PS2 that it.  From Voodoo Extreme:

October 12, 2004 - The Bard's Tale from inXile Entertainment has gone gold and will be in stores the week of October 25. "We pursued an ambitious goal when we designed The Bard's Tale - create a game loaded with personality, humor and addictive gameplay," said Brian Fargo, CEO and founder of inXile entertainment. "We're thrilled that in a couple weeks gamers will have a chance to see why the press is saying such great things about the game." Here's more on it:
The Bard's Tale is an action-RPG where the player takes on the role of the Bard - a sardonic and opportunistic musician and adventurer, driven by carnal rather than noble pursuits. The Bard, voiced by actor Cary Elwes of "The Princess Bride" and "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" fame, is not interested in saving the world, his humble motivations are strictly "coin and cleavage". A truly non-linear game, the player chooses the Bard's responses towards other characters he encounters with either 'snarky' or 'nice' dialogue. Each choice changes the course of events in the game. The action takes place in medieval times in a land based on the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland - the inspiration for many of the classic fantasy stories.
This announcement is for the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game.

I've been having mixed feelings about this one, here's hoping they deliver a game worthy of the name.

[Charlatan]

Ya it's been difficult for me to tell from the previews whether or not I'll like it. Reusing a name like that carries a lot of emotional baggage with it (hopefully, most of it is POSITIVE baggage...).

[malichai11]

Hrm... I guess the Bards Tale I remember isn't the Bards Tale that they seem to be making this game on. The Bards Tale I remember was a party-driven hardcore RPG. This seems to be a funny action RPG. It's also going to be a console game. I guess I'm a little confused.

[Grievous Angel]

When is the PC version supposed to follow?

I read some previews and watched some gameplay videos on a couple Web sites. While it's a far departure of the original Bard's Tale games, I like the change. It seemed like underneath all the attitude, there was a pretty solid game underneath.

[Beaker]

Hmmm.... From everything I have read, this is a must buy. The only question is to buy it on the X-box, or can I resist until it comes out on the PC.

[Juntei]

I despise staggered releases

[Rob_Merritt]

The pc version has a march release date.

[Goldy]

I may have to check this one out for Xbox or PC just for sentimental reasons.  The Bard's Tale 1 on C64 was my first CRPG ever and I have lots of fond memories.

[dangerballs]

The pc version has a march release date.

Yea, the PC version is scheduled for March, 2005.

[Fellow]

I seriously hope this has something really special to offer, because I'm getting tired of the top-down diabloesque hack'n slash flood that's been happening lately.

Dark Alliance 1 & 2, Champions of Norrath, D&D Heroes, Fallout Brotherhood, etc. etc. And they're like spitting images of each other. I swear I could barely tell the difference between DA 2 and CoN.

[Beaker]

The Bard's Tale 1 on C64 was my first CRPG ever and I have lots of fond memories.

I had it on my C64 as well. I remember late nights with graph paper in hand trying to map out the dungeons. I hated those nasty anti-magic squares that killed your light.

-Take step and lose light
-Cast Light spell and quickly map where you are before the anti-magic kicks in
-Take another step - repeat ad nauseam

Don't even get me started about those spinner squares :evil:

[dangerballs]

I hope they have Mind Blade, Dragon's Breath and rooms with 396 Berserkers...

[Roguetad]

The Bard's Tale 1 on C64 was my first CRPG ever and I have lots of fond memories.

I had it on my C64 as well. I remember late nights with graph paper in hand trying to map out the dungeons. I hated those nasty anti-magic squares that killed your light.

-Take step and lose light
-Cast Light spell and quickly map where you are before the anti-magic kicks in
-Take another step - repeat ad nauseam

Don't even get me started about those spinner squares :evil:

After completing the first Bard's Tale on my Commodore 128 (yes, there actually was a C128, although there were hardly any titles released to take advantage of the extra whopping 64...bastards!) I didn't want to look at another sheet of graph paper again.  Of course, I was right there on day 1 for the other BT titles.  I remember my dad walking into my room looking at the piles of graph paper, and making a perplexed comment like, "And this is all for a game on your computer?  And you think it's fun??"  

I'm not sure what to make of the new Bard's Tale, but their website is pretty damn funny.

[olaf]

It bugs me they are using the name.  It isnt *anything* like the original Bards Tale games.  So why use the name if not to sucker people?  Maybe sucker is the wrong term...but IMO this game has nothing at all to do with the original games.  

As for how it will play?  It looks to me like any one of the many games using the BG:DA engine with some attempts at humor.  I think if you are a fan of that engine, you will like this game.  If you are not, will the changes or humor be enough to make you like the game?  My guess would be no.

olaf

[Gwen]

I didn't play the original Bard's Tale.  This one is on my radar tho.

[D.A.Lewis]

The official web site is great, but I too am leary of this game. It looks and sounds like a diablo clone.  However, they claim that the game is going to be very humerous. Since I will get the PC verions of this game, I will let my console brethern play test this for me.

Carry on.

[Freezer-TPF-]

I'm interested but haven't really seen anything on the game other than that funny image on their web site, so I'll keep an eye out for reviews. I never played the original BT.

[Turtle]

The game has an interesting mechanic where you summon in various things to do your dirty work.  I don't remember what exactly, but some of the summons were pretty funny.

[Sepiche]

Sounds like it might be an amusing game, and out of the gate it has two things going for it:
Brian Fargo (He was the one behind Fallout, right?)
Cary Elwes (He always cracks me up, good choice to voice the character )

That said, I really wish they would at least have bought my childhood memories a drink before they started having their way with them.  

s

[JCC]

It does seem a radical departure from the original. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily. I had a love/hate thing with Bards Tale. Was I the only one furious at the non-ending of the game? I spent all those hours mapping out the last two tower dungeons, kill Mangar, and NOTHING WHATSOEVER HAPPENS! No ending, no congratulations, nothing.

[dangerballs]

The game has an interesting mechanic where you summon in various things to do your dirty work.  I don't remember what exactly, but some of the summons were pretty funny.

I'm hoping there's are summon statues, especially a Samurai one.  That one was the coolest.

[Hetz]

The pc version has a march release date.