No R.O.U.S.'s?
Veteran Actor Cary Elwes, star of The Princess Bride, to be the voice of The Bard!
But, I'm probably getting ahead of myself. Let me start with this:
Brian Fargo, pioneer in Computer RPG's and founder of Interplay, has started a new company (InXile entertainment, the X makes it 'X'tream) and is retaking two of the franchises that put Interplay on the map, "the Bards Tale" and "Wasteland".
For those of you who didn't just wet your pants with excitement, allow me to paraphrase some info from the man himself about 'the Bards Tale'.
First, he wants to eliminate the rat hunt. Anyone who's played RPG's in the last 10 years knows what I'm talking about. You spend your first few levels fighting some oversized rodent or insect before you get into the real meat of the game.
I can't even begin to say how happy this makes me. I'm for believability as much as the next guy, but rat hunts have always felt like a contrived way to pad the game in the front. Enough. Use goblins, or something that makes me feel good about myself. See my upcomming City of Heroes review for more on this. (Yeah, I know I promised a while ago, it's comming. I swear).
Next, he wants you to be able to get your ass kicked.
You heard me.
Granted, he didn't say it like that. It's more along the lines of seeing something you simply can't get past until your better at the game. Most likely that something will be a Big Ass Monster (tm) Maybe you'll beat it at level 5, Maybe 10, Maybe it'll be level 15, but you'll tell your friends it was level 10. It won't be that the world is deliberately roped off until the developers deem you worthy, simply something there to make getting to it feel like an accomplishment, but you can keep comming back and trying when you think you're good enough.
Again, this makes me most happy. It's good to see a game have these sorts of chalenges, goals to work your character up towards.
Next. No over the top "You're son of a god and you have to save the world from certain anihilation" crap. You're just an adventurer in it for the money, glory, and women. The dialog is supposed to come off as someone who's just as sick of the stereo types as we are. MMM good. I don't think this means there won't be some overall plot/story/way to be a hero. But it's a refreshing to see such a blatent attempt to break all the RPG stero types.
As I hear more about this game, I'll report back.
