Hi all!
As we have previously mentioned, we're working away furiously on the Thief of Fate remaster, but it's going to take a little more time to get all the various elements in place, to make it the best that it can be!
As promised, we have made a new BETA branch available in Steam, which has our current work in progress version of Thief of Fate. The game is fully playable (completable from start to finish), but various art for monsters, locations and environments are not complete; and there may be bugs throughout the game.
This BETA version is for the people who would like to participate in the final development push for the Bard's Tale Trilogy. It will be lacking in the spit and polish that will be in the final release. If you just want to play the game and relive past glories, we would recommend waiting for the full release.
If you wish to access this BETA build:
- Quit and reload the Steam client.
- Right click on the game in your Steam library.
- Select "Properties".
- Select the "Beta" tab.
- In the dropdown, select the "beta" option.
- Hit OK.
The BETA version including Thief of Fate will then be queued to download.
A special "beta bugs" subforum has also been set up in the Community Hub. Please post any problems, comments or questions there!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/843260/discussions/1/
In addition, this BETA version has a partially implemented Legacy Mode available for all three volumes. Some Legacy features will not be available until work on them has been completed. Currently, the following Legacy Mode options are available:
- Original XP levels (characters level up more slowly).
- Grindable fights (99 Barbarians for teh w1n!).
As per the previous volumes, there have been various changes made, to fix bugs of yore as well being part of our remaster efforts. We've compiled a short list of the major items below. We have blacked out some very heavy spoilers, so if you want to go into the game spoiler-free, please do not highlight the blacked out text.
Thief of Fate Changes
- Wilderness maps have been changed to terrain based, similar to that in Destiny Knight, with the placement of features to match the maps that were in the clue book. Wilderness maps no longer wrap.
- Thief of Fate just uses Badhr Kilnfest in place of Bring Around Ballad, as the songs are identical in function. Legacy mode will allow switching back to Bring Around Ballad.
- Chronomancer teleports have been reorganised to be more logical pairs, after discussions with original designers.
- The Ruins of Skara Brae now more closely reflect the city that you know and love, from Tales of the Unknown.
- Tarjan can now cast "Force of Tarjan" which is a breath, followed by a sandstorm.
- Longinus reappears to give his final prophecies.
Tales of the Unknown Changes / Fixes
- Add some Skara Brae journaling on the stables and the snow drift.
- Fixed Mangar casting MageFlame (should have been casting disrupt)
- Fixed 99 berserkers not triggering.
- Fixes for resetting the gates in Skara Brae
- Fixed melee disrupt spell of heroes like Mangar not working correctly.
Destiny Knight Changes / Fixes
- Fixed missing Arms Master of the Graphnar Fist encounter.
- Graphnar Lord - updated encounter to show the monster art and name, to make it consistent with other fight in this dungeon level.
- Fixed Oscons Fortress level 1 magic mouth to add appropriate journal notes based on the answers given.
- Added Review board to Colosse.
- Fixed grammar error in Destiny Stone dungeon magic mouth messages.
- Grey Crypt - Changed Sphynx to change up and down stairs based on answers given.
- Destiny Stone - Fixed case where party is full on getting Zen Master and hitting escape or cancel falls through to finish the dungeon. Added message to say you got 'The Ring'.
- Fixes for various issues with the Snare puzzles on Destiny Stone and Grey Crypt not being reset correctly on load.
General Changes / Fixes
- Fix some grammar errors in the temples.
- Individual monster attacks are now spread throughout combat - they were just attacking in groups before.
- Warstrike now burns instead of chokes.
- Added missing full stop to "drop item" request.
- Casino double down now uses proper casino rules (hits you with 1 more card).
- Player strength increases chance to hit.
- Fixes for summon spell ranges and the Summon Help spell.
- Melee damage now takes drained-level into account.
- Added ability for spells to heal OLD condition.
- Fixed issue with teleporting into scripted empty rooms not running the scripts.
- Fog and skybox tweaks to BT1 and BT2.
- Updated blizzard effects for all volumes.
- Improved visuals of automap.
- Combat spells are now castable in noncombat but will fizzle - this is necessary as they are used to solve puzzles in Thief of Fate.
- Fix monster gender and summonHelp probability bugs.
- Rogues can now identify items. Failure to identify means the item can never be identified.
- By popular demand, change '#' back to '()' for item charges, in the UI.
- Added option for a Bard to stop singing their current song.
- Unequipped items are now usable outside of combat - saves the user having to equip,unequip etc., just to use an item.
- Fix for "Hide in Shadows" to always go first in combat.
- Fixed Push-Back spells not working for enemies.
- Monsters with a PUSH spell (Force of Tarjan, Far Foe, Sand Storm) will preference that if they are <50 feet from the player.
- Player ADVANCE now has much higher priority.
- Wineskins are now available in Taverns.
- Monks now use roll table from Thief of Fate - goes up to 2048 max damage.