First Look at Combat in The Bard’s Tale IV

inXile Entertainment has given us the first look at combat in their upcoming Kickstarter-funded, dungeon-crawling RPG, The Bard’s Tale IV.

Featured above, the six-plus minute long gameplay video shows off a bit of dialogue, followed by some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling, mixed with some turn-based battles filled with goblins. The game supports up to six playable characters in combat, as well as two creatures you can summon. You can move freely, or via a traditional grid-based system.

Despite the game being played from a first-person perspective, as you explore the characters will be displayed via a third-person perspective as they banter amongst themselves. As the game is still in development, inXile is still debating on how to present the HUD, and the character models aren’t set in stone.


Another curious system is in play, dubbed the “Opportunity system,” which inXile describes as:

“The blue and yellow gems on the HUD represent your party’s and your enemy’s opportunity. Opportunity is a shared resource that each side has, and it is granted each turn in combat. Unlike some other games where you will be forced to use action points for each character (or skip their turn), opportunity is a bit like a shared action point pool. The flexibility of this system means that party members can set up multi-hit combos, reposition for multiple attacks, or evade danger more effectively.”

You can read the full update here. The Bard’s Tale IV is expected to ship sometime later this year for PC, Mac, and Linux.

, ,

About

Owner and Publisher at Niche Gamer and Nicchiban. Outlaw fighting for a better game industry.


Where'd our comments go? Subscribe to become a member to get commenting access and true free speech!