Old School RPG Hits Bard's Tale Notes

[Karloff]

Old School RPG Hits Bard's Tale Notes


This Chaos Chronicles trailer evokes memories of long-ago D&D sessions.

If Chaos threatens, stick a fireball in it, is the message this Chaos Chronicles video seems to want to send. This old-school turn-based RPG evokes some fond D&D memories, and the developers have announced that it will be available via Steam; other platforms as well, if it can manage it.

"Please keep in mind that all materials shown in the trailer are still work in progress," the developer asks, but for a work in progress it looks pretty fun. German developer Coreplay [http://www.chaos-chronicles.com/] draws on its fond memories of games like Pool of Radiance and Bard's Tale to make this fantasy saga.

We don't know much about the plot or game world yet, but educated guessing can probably fill in a lot of the blanks. There will be elves, magic, orcs, undead, and many of the other fantasy tropes; plus, as the developer puts it, "the gaming experience that those excellent games already delivered back in those good ol' days!"

No word on a release date; 2013 is the best the developer is prepared to do.

Source: PC Gamer [http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/12/17/chaos-chronicles-trailer/]




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[Balmong7]

If this had a user created level system it would make my day

 

[Shinsei-J]

My god, it's glorious.

If this had a user created level system it would make my day

mine to my brother.

 

[CrashOberbreit]

Judging by the trailer, I'd probably buy it if I find it for 20 euros. It looks fun, but in some scenes you see characters walking real-time and sometimes in turn-based. A little more details would be sweet :3

Well, you can find a lot of details on our blog at www.chaos-chronicles.com where we reveal a lot regarding the development and our ideas. For your specific questions: It won't be around 20 euros. Right now we aim for something around 30, but most prbly not above. For the real-time and the turn-based question: Well, it's a turn based RPG. But only in combat. During the exploration and while puzzle-solving you can walk around in real time.

lets hope it has the humor of a bards tale, but not its gameplay.
talking about dumbing down games for console, a bards tale is a perfect example of this.

First of all: No console version is planned right now. And The Bard's Tale you are talking about prbly isn't the same we had in mind. We were referencing the old one, not the cheap remake. And then the quote should be: Hopefully it has it's gameplay. As we are not going for humor (besides some black humor here and there, but Chaos Chronicles is taking itself pretty serious).

If this had a user created level system it would make my day

It won't have from the beginning. However an editor is possible and we're thinking about that, too. What I can say is that a lot of gamefiles will be pretty much open to everyone so people will be able to modify some game-rules here and there, to add text-stuff and maybe even quests. Those who do speak LUA will also be able to edit a lot of the level related content.

 

[CrashOberbreit]

although i think you are aiming more for gameplay like Grotesque Tactics

Uhm. Nope. I know the devs very well. And they have the focus on the humor. What we are doing with Chaos Chronicles is slightly, if not completely different

But yeah, I guessed that you meant the remake of Bard's Tale. Could have been worse, but nothing compared to the great original.

 

[Matt Dellar]

-snip-

Two things I'm concerned about:

1. It looks really generic, admittedly. Cool, but generic. I can understand that you're trying to recapture the spirit of an old game, but the overall game will feel more original than "When darkness lurks and shadows rise," right?

2. You say you're not going for humor and that Chaos Chronicles will take itself pretty seriously. My qualm with this is that a lack of humor often contributes to, and sometimes directly causes, a flopped story. Many gamers find it difficult to relate to or sympathize with a character who's only capable of displaying negative emotions, and therefore, we usually don't care about a "dark" protagonist's quest. Dark fantasy already has a huge problem with this, and it looks like that's what you're going for. If you can get me to sympathize, empathize with, and even like a character in a game with only black humor, you'll be the first.

 

[CrashOberbreit]

-snip-

1. It looks really generic, admittedly. Cool, but generic. I can understand that you're trying to recapture the spirit of an old game, but the overall game will feel more original than "When darkness lurks and shadows rise," right?

Marketing guys do marketing trailers and they need some phrases sometimes
For the generic stuff: Well, what we are trying to do is to recapture the 80s and early 90s here within the game. We have some smaller innovations (e.g. so called group-enemies, you can read about that in the blog). But we actually try to stay true to what was done before but got lost. And in that tradition we are also going for a traditional setting and a very traditional story - although we hired a professional story and book author for that one. Doesn't mean that the game-content will be generic in the end. We're trying to create a world which not only is dominated by combat, but also by puzzles and pen & paper feelings.

2. You say you're not going for humor and that Chaos Chronicles will take itself pretty seriously. My qualm with this is that a lack of humor often contributes to, and sometimes directly causes, a flopped story. Many gamers find it difficult to relate to or sympathize with a character who's only capable of displaying negative emotions, and therefore, we usually don't care about a "dark" protagonist's quest. Dark fantasy already has a huge problem with this, and it looks like that's what you're going for. If you can get me to sympathize, empathize with, and even like a character in a game with only black humor, you'll be the first.

As I said: There is some very dark humor here and there. I wouldn't say that "no humor, story is a flop" is a true sayin' - just if you don't have a good writer. The audience we're aiming for is a serious one. An audience which takes RPGs serious. That doesn't mean that Chaos Chronicles takes itself serious like the "oh be as dark as possible"-way, cause that usually causes... hm.. how do I say that? Well, personally I usually laugh about games which try to be serious but are so serious that it's funny again.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I've been getting really deep into D&D over the past few months, so the trailer alone peaks my interest with the tactical gameplay; the multiple money shots of large fiery explosions also helps. Since a member of the dev team seems to be lurking about: Are there any plans for a brief demo either before or after release?

 

[Tastum]

I've been wanting something like this for a while. Etrian Odyssey IV is coming out in 3 months or so and I'll certainly be playing that, but something I can sit and play on a PC instead of getting hand cramps appeals as well. I love getting an entire party of customizable characters instead of just one, and I frankly don't really mind if the story is generic. Good writing is a plus, but when I just want to sit down and grind the mechanics matter more.

Earlier this year I bought Legend of Grimrock hoping for something like this, but I really, REALLY did not like the interface and the more real-time nature of it. I hope that this turns out to be better.

 

[CrashOberbreit]

Are there any plans for a brief demo either before or after release?

We haven't finally decided about that. Right now we are concentrating on finishing the game

 

[Zeckt]

You had me at the tactical rpg gameplay but lost me at puzzles. I don't mind an enviromental puzzle here and there, but if its made to stump and is obscure I get intimidated. How much focus do you plan to put on puzzles and what kinds?

 

[CrashOberbreit]

You had me at the tactical rpg gameplay but lost me at puzzles. I don't mind an enviromental puzzle here and there, but if its made to stump and is obscure I get intimidated. How much focus do you plan to put on puzzles and what kinds?

Hey there. What we try is to create a good mixture of Combat, Story and Puzzle. Three pillars which carry the game. Actually four if you count exploration as one. The puzzles do vary (actually it differs from where you are, I mean they are different for most dungeons). Sometimes you need to find a switch to re-activate a bridge. Sometimes you have to find amulets to deactivate a magic barrier or you have to solve a puzzle where you have to consume something before you perform some action. There are a lot of clickable objects (you sometimes even can click on pumpkins) and for all clickable items we've created texts which give you hints or information. Books are here and there available and together all these hints will help the player to solve the puzzles (if they aren't obvious).