Here's our first look at combat in The Bard's Tale 4
Party chatter.
InXile has released a gameplay video of The Bard's Tale 4 that shows off combat for the first time.
The video, below, shows exploration of a portion of the Fichti Forest. Eventually the party opens up a cave, plays a magical song that repairs a broken bridge and runs into a few goblins.
For me there's a lot to like about the way The Bard's Tale 4, which raised $1.5m on Kickstarter, is shaping up. I love the Unreal Engine 4-powered environments, and the monsters look great.
I also like the turn-based combat system, with sees each party member use resources to move, cast spells and attack with weapons. The Bard's Tale 4 supports six characters for the player to command along with two empty slots for summoned creatures, and I like the grid system that you see from a first-person perspective.
However, the user interface looks like it needs some work, and the way the party member portraits bounce about when the characters talk is particularly jarring. Thankfully, inXile is on the case.
In a Kickstarter backer update, inXile boss Brian Fargo said the characters on the HUD are still at a first pass stage, and their visual look will be updated so they won't bounce around as they speak.
It's also worth noting that while the camera movement allows for and shows off free movement, inXile has laid the maps out so that you can snap into grid movement as well.