jdreyer wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 17:58:
Really? I've always felt the BT series was sub par.

Storywise yes, but in terms of graphics and gameplay, Bard's Tale was king of the hill when it was released 1985. I remember being amazed by the colorful animated monsters! Here's a reminder of its competition at that time...

Bard's Tale (1985)

Wizardry III (1984)

Ultima IV (1985)

Might & Magic 1 (1986)

However, the series was quickly eclipsed by the likes of Dungeon Master (1987) and Might & Magic 2 (1988).
BTW, Ultima IV was my favorite of those games, but I had forgotten how bad the dungeon graphics were.

This comment was edited on Jul 11, 2015, 16:29.

jdreyer wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 17:58:

JediPunisher wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 15:02:
Honestly, I think that opening video cost Brian a lot of support; Bard's Tale should've raised at least $2.5M by now, and would've if he had led with that in-engine video. I assumed, wrongly I'm told, that Brian Fargo let his kid drive his new Ferrari at his studio in picturesque Newport Beach. You just don't flaunt your wealth with your hand out. And it wasn't a good idea to schedule this Kickstarter so close to E3, unless it's part of E3 (e.g. Shenmue 3).

Really? I've always felt the BT series was sub par.

That's my feeling. Its contemporaries like Wizardry, Might and Magic and Ultima went on to bigger and better things, but I don't feel the original BT trilogy holds now. The first game is especially horrifically grindy and simplistic. All BT1 has going for it is some tricky maps which wouldn't be nearly so hard if it didn't cost time/money to recharge your magic.

I thought the new videos looked nice enough, but I don't think the original games have much going for them besides nostalgia; newer games surpassed them in pretty much every way.

JediPunisher wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 15:02:
Honestly, I think that opening video cost Brian a lot of support; Bard's Tale should've raised at least $2.5M by now, and would've if he had led with that in-engine video. I assumed, wrongly I'm told, that Brian Fargo let his kid drive his new Ferrari at his studio in picturesque Newport Beach. You just don't flaunt your wealth with your hand out. And it wasn't a good idea to schedule this Kickstarter so close to E3, unless it's part of E3 (e.g. Shenmue 3).

Really? I've always felt the BT series was sub par.

Honestly, I think that opening video cost Brian a lot of support; Bard's Tale should've raised at least $2.5M by now, and would've if he had led with that in-engine video. I assumed, wrongly I'm told, that Brian Fargo let his kid drive his new Ferrari at his studio in picturesque Newport Beach. You just don't flaunt your wealth with your hand out. And it wasn't a good idea to schedule this Kickstarter so close to E3, unless it's part of E3 (e.g. Shenmue 3).

Space Food Truck- A Digital Co-op Board Game by One Man Left — Kickstarter.

Slimram! You're doing a Kickstarter?

Task wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 12:12:

HorrorScope wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 11:53:
I feel there is another additional reason why KS dollars aren't there like they used to be... We've rec'd several games now on these once forgotten genre's. The itch to a good point has been scratched.

This looks good though and as said, the giveaways early on were good.

I suspect when a MW5 is announced, its going to make tens of millions. One can dream.

I would definitely back a Mechwarrior game that had some kind of major single player component. Thing is, unless Topps or whoever owns the IP does it (which is problematic, being a major corporation) all we can hope for is a spiritual successor. The IP owner will want too much money for original IP.

RIP RedEye9. We miss you.

CJ_Parker wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 12:55:
Nah. Very disappointing all around.

Your whining is disappointing.

Task wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 12:12:
So far I haven't felt cheated or frauded at all by inXile, Harebrained Scehemes, or Obsidian, my 3 favorite devs that went to KS.

Then you probably did not pledge for the WL2 CE and had it ship MONTHS after the game was released.

As for Obsidian, they delayed PoE twice and in case no. 1 gave the press priority over their backers and in case no. 2 they let it slip via Paradox instead of giving their backers priority with a KS update.
The delay was revealed to backers in KS updates at a much later date in both cases. Is that how you treat your loyal backers who have actually made the game possible or in Obsidian's case even saved their sorry asses wholesome?

They also failed to deliver several KS promises on time. The documentary was released weeks after the game had been released and the Avellone novel is still nowhere to be seen.
And let's not even get started on the delayed DVD shipment debacle...

Nah. Very disappointing all around. All those devs are great at finding the KS Update button when it comes to asking for more money for new products but keeping their loyal backers in the loop appears to be too hard. Oh well, you know, entering my PayPal password is also incredibly hard and boring so no more money for you! HAHAHAHA.

CJ_Parker wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 12:07:

jacobvandy wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 11:52:
However, most people not just looking for an excuse to bitch and hail the demise of crowdfunding, i.e. the actual backers, are happy that it means the game will be that much better for it.

Ah so quick&easy to jump to conclusions. That is why you fail...
For the record, I (unfortunately) backed Torment at $148 total. And I got Wasteland 2 for "free" because of my high level PoE pledge.

However, I did not back BT4, of course, and never will back any crowdfunding game ever again thanks to all the disappointments and shady crap that many KS devs pulled off.
I'm very glad to see many people share that sentiment. The number of backers for BT4 is below half of Torment's or WL2's numbers. I'm genuinely proud of my fellow gamers with a spine who are telling these fraudulent KS devs to bugger off.

So you pledged money, but you obviously aren't a backer of the project. You don't keep up with updates, and you're actively cheering against them... What do I care if you feel you threw your money away?

HorrorScope wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 11:53:
I feel there is another additional reason why KS dollars aren't there like they used to be... We've rec'd several games now on these once forgotten genre's. The itch to a good point has been scratched.

This looks good though and as said, the giveaways early on were good.

I suspect when a MW5 is announced, its going to make tens of millions. One can dream.

CJ_Parker wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 12:07:
I'm genuinely proud of my fellow gamers with a spine who are telling these fraudulent KS devs to bugger off.

You probably just need to take a break Parker, everything is negative for you. So far I haven't felt cheated or frauded at all by inXile, Harebrained Scehemes, or Obsidian, my 3 favorite devs that went to KS. As far as I'm aware, my spine is still there. And to add to this bunch, CD Projekt is my other favorite dev that hasn't done KS.

jacobvandy wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 11:52:
However, most people not just looking for an excuse to bitch and hail the demise of crowdfunding, i.e. the actual backers, are happy that it means the game will be that much better for it.

Ah so quick&easy to jump to conclusions. That is why you fail...
For the record, I (unfortunately) backed Torment at $148 total. And I got Wasteland 2 for "free" because of my high level PoE pledge.

However, I did not back BT4, of course, and never will back any crowdfunding game ever again thanks to all the disappointments and shady crap that many KS devs pulled off.
I'm very glad to see many people share that sentiment. The number of backers for BT4 is below half of Torment's or WL2's numbers. I'm genuinely proud of my fellow gamers with a spine who are telling these fraudulent KS devs to bugger off.

Bard's Tale just doesn't have the excitement of a Wasteland or Torment game. Combine that with a poorly run KS campaign with little effort from inXile, and this one just made it.

I feel there is another additional reason why KS dollars aren't there like they used to be... We've rec'd several games now on these once forgotten genre's. The itch to a good point has been scratched.

This looks good though and as said, the giveaways early on were good.

CJ_Parker wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 11:08:
inXile can also thank themselves for it. Where is Torment? It was originally scheduled for December 2014. Sure, delays happen but that is either a pretty massive miscalculation on their part or, more likely, intentionally putting a more tangible date on the Kickstarter in order to generate more pledges. People fall for that once, but as we can see, not everyone is coming back to be cheated again.

They told everyone during the last week of funding that all the stretch goals they reached would push it to first half of 2015. If anyone felt so "cheated," they had time to pull out. Then they announced 13 months ago that Wasteland 2 doing well in early access allowed more pre-production time for the core Torment team, for prototyping and iterating on tools. Obviously this pushed back the timeline a bit further, to the fourth quarter of this year. However, most people not just looking for an excuse to bitch and hail the demise of crowdfunding, i.e. the actual backers, are happy that it means the game will be that much better for it.

This is what happens when many Kickstarters don't deliver on their promises. It's the developers' own fault for overpromising and underdelivering time and again.
This KS would have probably easily shot beyond $2m or $3m in 2012/2013 but many people have been burnt one too many times in the meantime.

inXile can also thank themselves for it. Where is Torment? It was originally scheduled for December 2014. Sure, delays happen but that is either a pretty massive miscalculation on their part or, more likely, intentionally putting a more tangible date on the Kickstarter in order to generate more pledges. People fall for that once, but as we can see, not everyone is coming back to be cheated again.
And the way they treated high level Wasteland 2 backers by sending out the CEs MONTHS after release was abysmal.

Well those stretch goals don't excite, me anyway.

They all seem to revolve around hiring a Mr Popular to make a dungeon.

One thing I've wondered from the start, and I think other voiced it, maybe even here on Blues, is what happens if they don't get those stretch goals.

Would that mean Mr X won't be joining them, or will they suddenly go,, "Hey we'll be using our own money to hire Mr X, we saved the day, you're welcome!".

Because if they don't reach those goals and then suddenly go "Oh it's happening anyway", I must admit that's a bit questionable though I can see valid arguments for either side here. It would just feel like this is something that is 100% going to happen and them going 'we may as well try and get more crowd-funding by pretending it will only happen if they give us more', which would be disingenuous of sorts. Guess wait and see.

I backed it early in.

Bard's and dungeon crawlers are definitely even more niche these days, so that doesn't surprise me. You can kind of tell the 'level of niche' by looking at each crowdfund and whom or how many super fans might have actually played their older games.

The actual funding is much higher, since this is only additional seed money. inXile is using 1.5 mil of their own revenue as well. Actual is then $1.487+1.5 (or 2.98 mil development money). Wasteland 2 received 2.93 mil (61,290 backers) for seeding alone though (and possibly investment money?), and sold 500,000 copies.

Nostalgia is definitely most powerful with their Torment crowdfund, with 4.18 mil and 74,405 backers.

This comment was edited on Jul 10, 2015, 10:52.

nin wrote on Jul 10, 2015, 09:41:

The Bards Tale IV by inXile entertainment — Kickstarter.

Not seeing the spike at the end (yet) that sometimes happens. Seemed heavily front loaded and then kind of stalled. At least it made it's goal...

Even though this is a really good series of games. I think the only reason it got all the money it did was because of the giveaways in the first two day's. after that this game really feel on its face hard. and the numbers its showing now is only proof of that.

So, even though its funded, this really was a failed KS for them.

The Bards Tale IV by inXile entertainment — Kickstarter.

Not seeing the spike at the end (yet) that sometimes happens. Seemed heavily front loaded and then kind of stalled. At least it made it's goal...