The Bard’s Tale Hands-On

GamePro is offering up a preview of inXile’s The Bard’s Tale, based on some firsthand time with the action RPG. An excerpt:

Even though the game handles a lot like Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, or any number of games built on the Snowblind action/RPG engine, The Bard actually leans a little more on the RPG side than those other games–there’s more exploration (including an overworld map with random encounters), a lot more story, and a more traditional character-growth system.

The Bard’s stats are very customizable, and the game’s talent system lets you decide whether you’re going to be a two-handed sword expert, a dual-wieldin’ fool, or a more defensive player with all sort of special parrying and countering skills.