The Bard's Tale Trilogy Remake

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I enjoyed the 2004 spinoff quite a bit. It wasn't really a BT game, but it was a lot of fun. If they had called it something else, it probably would have been looked upon more favorably.

A $529.99 rig is a not a "gaming computer". Our office computers have better specs than that. The thing would choke up on 5 year old games with 8GB RAM and the shitty 6-core FX-6300 CPU. At least it's got a decent budget graphics card, which is important for running games, but if your budget for a graphics card is under $200, you're not buying a gaming rig.

 

That was actually what I was thinking when I was looking up the specs on the processor and graphics card. It would struggle with Dragon Age:Inquisition, which somebody gave me for Christmas last year but my computer isn't good enough to run it and I haven't been able to buy a new computer as I've been mostly unemployed except for a survival job where I'm barely making ends meet and unable to save any money for things like a new computer, car repairs or health care (the minimal health insurance doen't pay for anything).

Yet Best Buy has it featured as a "Gaming Computer" in the store, and the specs do seem good at first glance...compared to the 8-year old computer I currently have.

 

Yeah, stores will try to sell you "gaming computers", the same way they'll try to sell you "organic food". It's a marketing ploy for consumers not wise enough to know better.

When you do find a new job and save up some money, I would strongly suggest that you assemble the computer yourself. You can get the best deal on each part and it's mostly just putting things into slots and inserting a few screws here and there, so all you need is a screwdriver and some patience (and maybe a quick guide if you've never done it).

Also, don't buy new peripherals if you don't need to (mouse, keyboard, screen, chassis, etc.). You're better off tossing those extra $100-200 into a better GPU.

 

I should have the skills to do that, the only reason I haven't done so is that my mother used to work for the schools, and they used to get some really good discounts on new computers. Basically when the school was buying new computers, they would let the employees ask to order one for themselves and they would pay the school back for it. It was usually restricted to a single manufacturer, but they had several models to choose from.
I looked up the cost of building one from scratch vs having her purchase one through her school and buying an add-on or two like a bigger hard drive (almost always necessary) or a graphics card to replace the integrated video and it was always cheaper when you factor in buying Windows (you could get XP Pro or later Vista Business or 7 Pro bundled with the computer for around the cost of Home most other places) and other stuff.

The problem is that my mother retired a few years ago, so no more discounts.
I was lucky, she did get me some good deals.

Anyways, we're going off topic, I was saying that the so-called "Gaming computers" in stores can't actually be used for gaming, and it seems they are trying to prey on parents or the like who know their kid is into gaming and want to get him a new computer, but don't know much about computers and see the attractive price and get him that "gaming computer", only for the kid to be disappointed with the performance of it.
Might also apply for a wife getting one for her husband.

Back on the topic, it seems that BT4 has some pretty hefty requirements, if brand-new computers, especially ones labeled "gaming computers" might have trouble running it. I'd have thought that they would try to make it so that last year's computers could run it without using the minimum settings. Then again, Moore's Law seems to have ended about a decade ago.

 

I was as surprised as anyone when I saw those requirements. It's a pretty game, but it's not that pretty. You should have been able to run that with a 3-4 year old computer, if not more.

Microsoft is giving out Win10 licenses for the price of a beer or two. If you do end up assembling your own computer, do not buy Windows at standard retail price.