The Bard's Tale - The RPG Curb Your Enthusiasm?

Thanks to GameSpy for its preview of forthcoming action-RPG The Bard's Tale for PS2/PC, as the latest in the classic series, whose announcement was previously covered on Slashdot Games, promises an "irreverent tone" in a game that's claimed to be "...part Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, part Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and part Curb Your Enthusiasm." Elsewhere in the article, it's noted that this inXile Entertainment developed title is due out in Q4 2004, and features a main character in the form of "a jaded adventurer that has seen and done it all, but is somewhat the worse for wear from all of it", in a story that "pokes fun at numerous RPG clichés".

Comments

ugh

[Naikrovek]

"...part Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, part Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and part Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Why can't anyone come up with something NEW?

Re:ugh

[Cosmik]

But...but...but...no one has ever put those 3 games together before.

As far as the investors are concerned, it is new.

On the topic about the main character "having seen it and done it all", it reminds me of the Terry Pratchett character Cohen the Barbarian. No one can possibly be worse for wear from adventures than that old coot.

Cliche

[Bad Boy Marty]

a story that "pokes fun at numerous RPG cliches"

There's only one such cliche: "We nuke it, and take its treasure!" Well, at least that's how it was when I played D&D (Computers? We were lucky to have abaci!)....

Re:Cliche

[Allison Geode]

Or that even though this guy his hacking on you with this monster sword, wearing sweet armor, when he dies, the sword and armor disappear, and all he's got left is 50 gp.

I always explained that away by the fact that you just slaughtered the guy, and thus, because you obviously had no trouble killing him, his armor and weapon were broken during the squable. I mean, if you can completely maul and otherwise mutilate the guy inside the armor, wouldn't you have had to go through his armor, too, wrecking it in the process? I wouldn't want to wear a plate mail suit +1, with a gash cut through it!
of course, even if you smack up the gold, its still gold. I'm sure some greedy shopkeep would take it.

There are lots of RPG Cliches

[DarkFencer]

I will not consider this game a True success until it covers at least 100 of the RPG Cliches!

The 'every 14 year old is the chosen one' is a classic one though.

Grand List of Console RPG Cliches

Re:Something missing

[OwlofCreamCheese]

as long as they leave out the part of bards tale where buildings look identical so you have to memorize how many steps to take to get to the various stores... I'll be happy

Redundancy or the same thing twice?

[Babbster]

It's like a morbid version of the Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (emphasis mine)

Re:Hmm, a new Bard's Tale

[Acts of Attrition]

I'm interested in the Curb Your Enthusiasm missions, such as....

Fighting Richard Lewis for a bracelet for your elvish girlfriend

Wondering what the "cut-off time" is for serenading someone outside their window with your bardish tunes.

BG:DA engine on a PC?

[Anthony Boyd]

The article is a lot more reasonable than the slashdot quote. It doesn't really sound like a ripoff of BG:DA/KOTOR, although it is using the same engine as BG:DA. But that's the thing that bugs me. The Baldur's Gate engine, which looks really beautiful on TV, apparently is crap on the PC. Look at the screenshots that go with the article. The main character stands in a forest of what? Green vomit? Horribly pixellated tiles? That engine needs some TLC, or the tilesets do.

What a terrible article...

[Romothecus]

"Like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, you'll have a certain amount of choice in The Bard's Tale. However, your paths won't be those of good and evil, but rather...good and wiseass."

So basically, good or good? What a fucking wonderful set of choices.

"There are also some clever twists, like levels that use floating platforms"

Holy shit, since when are FLOATING PLATFORMS a "clever twist?" I had my share of floating platforms after Super Mario 2.

"As you discover new weapons, you won't have to wait to go back to town to trade them in. If it's worse than your current weapon then you'll automatically get its value in gold. If it's better than your weapon then your old one will be converted to gold and you'll wield your new arm."

AWESOME, YOU DON'T EVEN GET TO CHOOSE WHAT WEAPONS YOU EQUIP? I love it when my "RPGs" get reduced to math exercises in max/min-ing, so it's even better if the game does it for me.

Re:This had better be good

[ggwood]

I'm hoping for the four groups of 99 berzerkers. Hehe.

your wish is granted

[Clover_Kicker]

I love it when my "RPGs" get reduced to math exercises in max/min-ing, so it's even better if the game does it for me.

I've got the perfect game for you!

Curb Your Enthusiasm?

[Larry David]

Why didn't I hear of this, I should be calling my lawyers right now!