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.

Re:ugh

[Scrameustache]

Why can't anyone come up with something NEW?

New things are not garanteed revenue generators. Who's gonna produce that?

Re:ugh

[Mark Imbriaco]

No kidding, especially since I played the original "The Bard's Tale" in 1985 or so on a Commodore 64. It'll be interesting to see how they handle the remake -- I was underwhelmed by the remake of another classic that was released recently, "Defender of the Crown".

Re:ugh

[Rallion]

Actually, if you consider mixing stuff unoriginal, then what is original? Any visual art is just existing colors and shapes put together, after all. I'm not saying that BG:DA, KotOR and CYE seem to combine to form the most original thing ever, specifically. But the concept isn't a bad one.

There's nothing new under the sun, etc., etc....

This had better be good

[vga_init]

I remember playing some of the old Bard's Tale games back in the day, and for the time those games were quite awesome. I have a feeling that a lot of fans are going to be put off if this game does not live up to the series.

Worried about the engine...

[JackBuckley]

It sounds like it could be fun (some of my favorite things about Planescape:Torment were the in-jokes on rpg'ing and old Advanced D&D), but I don't know how the console engine will port to the PC. I think I'll be reading the reviews for a while on this one before I pick it up...

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

By that token...

[OgdEnigmaX]

No RPGs, books, movies, TV shows, or songs ought ever be made again...I mean, the ideas aren't NEW, are they? I mean jeez, I'm so sick of stories about *people* or otherwise sentient creatures -- people have been making them for thousands of years! Bring on the epic moss movies, I say!

Just because something is novel doesn't necessarily make it good...

Something missing

[Andy Smith]

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

So no Bard's Tale then?

Don't lose sight of it..

[tprime]

Don't lose sight of the fact that the company that is developing this game, inXile, was founded and is headed up by Bryan Fargo (or is it Faran Brygo) the same person who made the original Bard's Tale games. He is also responsible for Wasteland and the beginning of the Fallout universe. Yes, I know this is the same type of isometric ActionRPG game that has become tired lately, but because of his gaming track record and his uncompromising desire, (he quit his earlier company, Interplay, because he didn't like the direction it was going) I am willing to give him a chance.

However, if you are looking for a classic Bard's Tale game, check out "Devil Whiskey" (www.devilwhiskey.com)

Fallout humor

[mwheeler01]

I wonder if the humor will be anything like the humor in Fallout or a little more in your face. I liked Fallout's humor becuase it was a little subdued and for the most part kind of dark. If they try to take the humor too far I fear the game may be difficult to stomach.

Check out the website - Hilarious

[Master_Flash]

Keep it over the wench for a while and see what happens

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.

Re:Cliche

[prockcore]

There's only one such cliche: "We nuke it, and take its treasure!"

Then surely you've noticed some of the other cliches, like giant spiders somehow possess treasure.

Or that the special items bosses have always seem to match your specialty. "Bad Boy Marty is coming to kill me, better go to the store and buy that sweet bow that he wants."

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.

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.

Poking fun

[CelticWhisper]

So we have a game version of RPG World now? Good stuff.