An RPG for Samor

[Ryos]

I've posted this elsewhere, but I figure Samor/others might be interested in it, so I'm reposting it here. Yay. Now since the original place didn't realize the most important part of this post is the scanned articles, you might want to give those a glance if any part of the post intrigues you.

A game coming up in the fall for the PS2, Xbox, and PC (the latter won't be out for a couple months afterwards though) is The Bard's Tale (previously titled Song of the Bard), a throwback to the classic Bard's Tale series (and by classic I mean so old that the only part of the series I've "played" was the Bard's Tale RPG creation kit). It's an action RPG based on the Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance engine, but it appeals to me in far more than the engine alone. It's a game that I feel is trying to exceed a lot of the self-imposed restrictions on many RPGs today. But really, I say let the game speak for itself, so here's a brief, fairly old Gamepro article that's actually bordering on good (warning - each image is roughly 500k. If you're on a slower connection, the first page is background information with nothing to do about the game):

The Bard's Tale
The Bard's Tale 2
The Bard's Tale 3
The Bard's Tale 4

So you have a game where you get to make of yourself the kind of person you want to be, whether it's an upstanding do gooder or a witty vagabond only out to serve your own cause. Now why am I posting about this now instead of a while back? Recent news about whom is the driving force behind the personality of the bard - one which is extremely promising to me, to say the least: Cary Elwes. That's right, Wesley from The Princess Bride. Who better to play a rogue than one of the most famous of them all?

The Bard's Tale promises to be an exciting blend of serious and parodic elements that transcends much of what can be taken for granted in RPGs these days. It's nice to see a game that targets a "mature" audience that isn't because it's a gothic affair but because it tries to appeal to more sophisticated tastes.

[Zer0Soul]

Got to love a game that makes fun of itself. If the humor can reach the level of Giants or Armed & Dangerous, I'll be on board. My only wonder is how the DA engine (don't know name sorry) is going to hold out on the pc edition. I'm highly looking forward to this game.