They’ve started a Kickstarter campaign for Bard’s Tale IV, and I’m in. Well, I’ll be in two weeks from now. From the info on the Kickstarter page, though, it looks like it’ll have more in common with the one-off Bard’s Tale game than with the original trilogy – pulling as it does from Scottish culture and lore, whereas I seem to recall from what little I played from Bard’s Tale I there were biblical place names. It appears that part of the problem is that they can only call it Bard’s Tale by a legal technicality, but “the plot, characters or locations featured in the original trilogy” are still owned by EA.
Personally, I thought the new Bard’s Tale was a fun send-up of CRPG and fantasy tropes. I wouldn’t mind another such a game. But… I’d rather they were making a more old style CRPG, only without me having to break out graph paper and map the dungeons myself.
And, hey, at the $30 level you can gain plenary absolution for any act of piracy you may have committed in the past. Against Interplay or InExile, I suppose? Offer not legally binding. Consult your attorney.
I loved the original games. I even still remember how to get around Skara Brae, which was not easy because the city was comprised entirely of the same 3 buildings.
The new Bard’s Tale was okay. It was a just touch too amused with itself for my taste.
I’ll keep an eye on the updates for this and see what direction it’s ultimately going to go. They did an excellent job with Wasteland 2, so they have the benefit of the doubt for now.
If you Kickstart $20 today only, you get a free copy of Wasteland 2* along with your Bard’s Tale 4 copy in 2017. You get the Wasteland 2 key when the Kickstarter ends, not in 2017 (thankfully). $20 tier limited to 15,000 people.
*Actually you pick from Wasteland 2, Witcher or Witcher 2 but why anyone would pick the Witcher games is beyond me since they’re so often $2-$5 if not free.
You’re confusing Bard’s Tale II with Bard’s Tale I.
The guy who did Bard’s Tale II ( was fairly heavy into Christianity and so he named the cities in II after the major early Churches.
The Bard’s Tale I all took place in Skara Brae which is where IV apparently will take place.
On a side note, the original series was going to be called “Tales of the Unknown”, with the 3 games being “The Bard’s Tale”, “The Archmage’s Tale”, and “The Thief’s Tale”.
They then changed it to all be “The Bard’s Tale” with the later games having sub-titles.
Plans are for the game to be in first person while traveling, exploring, conversing, etc but pull out to a 3rd person view for turn/phase based combat.
