The Bard's Tale Preview

Many years ago there was a character who burst upon the RPG scene that turned the genre on its ear. The Bard was a clever sort, but he was in the business for two things only – cleavage and coin.

Fast forward to present day. The original creator of that story and game, Brian Fargo, has a new company, inXile entertainment, and in conjunction with Vivendi Universal, the company is getting ready for the 2004 release of The Bard’s Tale on the PlayStation 2, and Xbox platforms. The PC version of this title will release in 2005.

“This is really the perfect title for me to launch my new company,” Fargo said at a Pre-E3 Editor’s Day for VU Games in Santa Monica. “One of our goals is to do games with a lot of personality.”

The Bard’s Tale certainly has an abundance of that. With 40-50 hours of gameplay, the game starts as a solo-player outing but evolves into a party-based game. In some ways, this game starts by planting tongue in cheek and taking a shot at the start console RPG title. The Bard is wandering past an Inn and conjures up a little work. He is asked to step down into the cellar to take care of the rat problem.

For those who have played other titles, this is an all-too-familiar scenario. But inXile twists it around, creating plenty of room for ridicule and levity. And that is at the core of this game. It is intended to be a good time.

Fargo noted that the average audience for the PS2 is 25 years old; for RPGs the average age of the player is 30, but most RPGs are written for 14 year olds. inXile hopes to change that with The Bard’s Tale.

Cary Elwes will provide the voice of the Bard, and “there will be no American accents in this game,” Fargo said, “because, as we know, in medieval times there were no Americans.”

The Bard will set the tone for the game in the way he deals with people – either from the nice guy perspective or with a cynical attitude. The game combines lush graphical elements with robust environments, and players will be lured into the world with interactive NPCs. The game itself is built using Snowblind's Everquest: Champions of Norrath engine.

The game itself sports many non-linear elements.

As much as the original Bard’s Tale created or defined the RPG genre, Fargo is hoping that this next generation of the game re-focuses the genre and re-invigorates it while maturing it.

From the first look at this title, it seems to be on track to do just that.

For all the E3 2004 Previews