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Bard's Tale Sequel In Development?

Posted by simoniker on from the just-spoony dept.

Thanks to the forum regulars at Gaming Age for pointing out online reports that a company called inXile, headed by Interplay's ex-CEO Brian Fargo, has acquired the license to the classic RPG The Bard's Tale from Electronic Arts. No news on when the title is due, but this Bard's Tale page has further facts which seem to back up this hypothesis. Interestingly, Fargo was a designer on the original Bard's Tale, which was developed by Interplay back in 1987.

13 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Here's A BT Clone Almost Done by JohnDeHope3 · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.bardslegacy.com/main.html

  2. My joystick is going crazy by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't know about the rest of you, but this has me very interested. This franchise has been aching to have another installment. The good news is that Fargo is involved, which is a great sign. The question remains if a game, whose last sequel came out in 1988, can be updated to the standards of 2003.

    1. Re:My joystick is going crazy by kenthorvath · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think I'd be happy even if they didn't change a thing. A great game is a great game, no matter how antiquated the graphics/sound are. I'd PREFER it not to be in 3D. But, now that we have SVGA monitors, it would be nice to have some really cool hires artwork thrown in. A symphonic score would be neat too.

    2. Re:My joystick is going crazy by (trb001) · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm more worried about the standards of 2003 corrupting the last game from 1988. If they decide to put a lot of frills and killer graphics in, I think it will take away some from the simplicity of Bard's Tale.

      The graphics of the first game were simple, but the animations and simple lighting (Adventurer's Guild fireplace?) made the ambiance great. That and it was the closest thing I had ever seen to true D&D.

      I'm debating whether to say the hand mapping was a pain or not. Let me rephrase...the hand mapping WAS a pain, but it definitely gave me a feeling of accomplishment when I was done. The new automap features are essential only because maps are so freakin huge.

      --trb

  3. Brought to you by the makers of by Njoyda+Sauce · · Score: 2, Informative

    Fargo also brought us Wasteland, IMHO one of the best RPGs to ever hit production Fallout was a series inspired by the greatness of Wasteland, but that fell short of a true WL2.

    --

    You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.
  4. 3 Things I Want Remade by javajames27 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    3 Things I Want Remade:
    • Bard's Tale (yay!)
    • Mail Order Monsters from the C=64
    • Starflight - there are way too many fantasy RPGs out there and not enough Sci-Fi ones
    1. Re:3 Things I Want Remade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Starflight was one of the most fantastic games I played at the time, with Starflight II being a worthy sequel. The problem nowadays is that nobody seems to remember how to create a two-dimensional game, which means that at best Starflight III would end up being more like what Elite IV is supposed to be like should that ever get made. That, or Diablo in space. Really, the Starflight franchise could be made into a decent multiplayer RPG where the universe and missions (to a point) are randomly generated and people could hook together via a bnetd style service.

      But I second your motion. All of those games were great.

  5. Correction by NetDanzr · · Score: 4, Informative
    The lead designer of Bard's Tale was Michael Cranford, not Brian Fargo. Fargo was credited only with level design. While still important, as a level designer, he didn't have to work on game rules, spells, the story, etc. In fact, he never designed games on his own, even though he helped with the design of Bard's Tale I and II and Wasteland, after which he became a game producer. I'd love to see him as a producer of the game again, while leaving the design to a seasoned designer.

    On a side note, Bard's Tale was so great because of the whole team; something that will be difficult to reproduce. In addition, to the genius of Michael Cranford, the team also included Lawrence Holland who later moved on to create Totally Games (X-Wing games, Star Trek: Bridge Commander), Joe Ybarra, the veteran game producer, and Bing Gordon (currently the CEO of Electronic Arts).

  6. Re:Bard's Tale, by c64cryptoboy · · Score: 3, Funny
    99 Berserkers, 99 Berserkers, 99 Berserkers, 99 Berserkers.

    Yeah, but do you remember the coordinates in Harkyn's Castle where that happended? :-)

    --
    I put the 'fun' in fundamentalism
  7. Re:Bard's Tale by lanroth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My friend (not me, honest) teleported up and down levels over and over again to kill the 396 berserkers and get the experience points. He spent weeks doing this until even his magic users had >9999 hit points!

    Here's another one tho... did you ever say "burger" in the temple in the square in the town?
    The priest said something like "That's the most offensive word utterable, DIE!".
    You were faced with 396 nasty creatures, and if you killed them you were faced with 396 even more nasty creatures. I never managed to kill the second lot, all my characters got turned to stone :(

  8. Re:Bard's Tale by Gogo+Dodo · · Score: 2, Informative
    Ah, the memories...

    For those who don't know, "burger" is in reference to Burger Bill Heineman, now over at Contraband Entertainment. Everything he worked on had some type of burger reference.

  9. The Sequel by Quill_28 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Alright I will go ahead and say what I would like to see, in this and future rpg's.

    Time.

    Time becomes important, meaning that the "evil wizard" is actually gaining power as the game progresses. Maybe in the beginning of the game, you have a few missions.
    Choose one and your guys can handle it, but while your characters get stronger so does the enenmy on the other missions.
    This would make it less linear and increase re-playability.
    Are any games already doing this type of thing?

    I'll stop here.

  10. I remember playing Bards Tale I by Tarindel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I had a party of 6 characters, one of them being a monk named "Green Booger". Hey, I was like 10 at the time. Give me a break. It was funny.

    Anyway, there was this tower in the upper left hand corner of the map -- I can't remember what it was called, but it had one of those dragon statues (or was it some kind of guardian?) guarding it. The tower was pretty high level for my characters, so my forays were usually pretty short and limited, and my characters were wiped out fast and often. Usually Green Booger was the last standing due to his incredible AC. In case you don't remember, monks in that game lost an AC every level (with lower being better -- silly old school AD&D conventions!).

    Well, one day I entered the tower and actually made it through a couple of battles. Upon trying to find my way back to the entrance, I stumbled upon some kind of trap which caused a few members of my party to go insane. My party mutinied. Of course, Green Booger was one the insane ones. After a few minutes of infighting, everyone was dead except Green Booger.

    "Finally!", I thought. Now I could load my saved game and try again. But no such luck -- Green Booger-the-now-raving-lunatic turned his evil fists upon himself. Unfortunately, his AC was so low, he couldn't hit himself.

    I watched for at least ten minutes as messages like "Green Booger punches at Green Booger but misses!". "Green Booger tries to strike Green Booger but misses!". Finally, after the amusement from the whole situation wore off and realizing this was an infinite loop, I rebooted.

    I think it was the first time I realized that sometimes things happened in games that not even the game designers anticipated. It was, for all intents and purposes, my very first experience with design-level game flaws.