Quick Look: The Bard's Tale IV: Barrow's Deep

As seamless as Star Trek's futuristic outfits.

That subtitle is something!

Thank you, Abby.

Came for the subtitle, stayed when I realised Abby wasn't joking.

In the original games, the copy protection was that casting spells involved typing in a 4-character symbol. So you had to look up in the manual to know that the level 1 conjuror spells were MAFL (mage flame) and TRZP (trap zap).

I used to play Bard's Tale 1 for hours as a kid on the IBM PC. Could never find the hidden room that allowed your characters to level up past level 1. Awesome to see that they recreated the box art in the title screen/intro.

It's so weird seeing a turn-based, first person RPG with free roaming navigation. I keep waiting for grid-based movement that's never going to come.

"This game is a shot-for-shot recreation of Shrek (2001)."

Goddammit, Abby now the game is ruined, lol

There's a grid based option in the game, and the environments are all designed to work with that, I haven't had time to test it out yet though, heard some early criticism (before the game was released) that it didn't work too well, but I have no idea how it works in the finished product.

@reversegamelan: Wizardry took that a few steps further by making you type in every spell name

MAHALITO, MALOR, and TILTOWAIT are further burned into my skull

Jacob's Ladder is a fun movie.

i hadn't fully considered that the movie Shrek's plot involved a ruling class committing/authorizing a campaign of violence against marginalized groups of people until @ybbaaabby drew comparison between the plot of this game and Shrek

A little rough around the edges but seems pretty solid Grimlock like RPG. I heard the game improves after you leave the first area and start exploring the dungeons.

Y'all never quick looked Deadfire.

Nightmarish face blurring fun.

Some bard, she once told me, the player's gonna role me, I ain't the sharpest tooltip in this HUD...

If this was remotely appealing via the QL, you will like it. Just hold off a bit 'til it's patched up, it needs it.

Also, Skara Brae is a real place in the Orkney Islands. I remember hearing that Orkney folk tales are the source of a lot of medieval fantasy tropes (Orks, for example).

Is that John Goodman playing a harp for Peter Dinklage and friends?

@ybbaaabby there's a renaissance faire in tuxedo, about an hour from the city, every year, but it just ended; i think they do bussing from the port authority

@garr123: I hope somebody in the GB crew has played it bc it's just such a fantastic video game

To be fair, there's a lot of things they don't Quick-Look, because there are only so many hours in the year.

Although I am patiently waiting for Valkyria Chronicles IV Quick Look, cough cough. ;)

The perspective on that "mug" confused the hell out of me until I realized it was a cardboard cutout with a handle on it.

It actually isn't in the final game yet. They were going to patch it in this week but they pushed it back and it is now tbd.

That attract screen is something special. Whats the wardrobe budget... uh a middle school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

So how come there's a QL for this game and not Valkyria Chronicles 4?

Backed this game on kickstarter.

Am about 40 hours in. I really like the first 30 hours. I like the turnbased combat and the game is alot more puzzle filled than I thought and I really like that.

The last 10 hours have been a little less interesting because the progression system is not as interesting anymore. I feel like I have unlocked the skills I wanted too, so now I just invest in passive stat upgrades and I also have more money than I know what to do with.

But overall I have really enjoyed this game even if I am not sure how much more I will play of it.

A side note, but those ladies at the table might be fulling cloth, that is work fabric to make it thicker and warmer. In that case the song is a waulking song (a scottish folk song for that specific task) to keep the rhythm:

This is like a world music collection with some shopworn graphics. I like it.

I recently watched Jacob's Ladder for the first time and was underwhelmed. The Silent Hill franchise did more with the film's unique concepts than it did.

ETA: In looking up Renfaire Jacob's Ladders, I have learned that they are remaking the film Jacob's Ladder.

@ybbaaabby The original Bard's Tale was released in 1985, 33 years ago. While the dates are a little muddy, the first commercially released PC rpg was likely Akalabeth, released in 1980, 38 years ago. It was followed by Wizardry and Ultima a year later. Wizardry is notable for being a first person, turn based, party-based rpg, and thus a direct inspiration to Bard's Tale in addition to Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.

And here I was thinking that the Bard's Tale games were point-and-click adventure games. This really seems interesting to me.

@homemadetshirt: That's cool. I hadn't heard of that before. Thank you for sharing.

@defe: I put a Youtube clip in my comment too. It doesn't seem to have carried over to the new design, but here it is.