In 2003, Brian Fargo (who created maps for the first two "Bard's Tale" games and directed the third) left Interplay Entertainment and began a new game development company named InXile Entertainment. In 2004, they released their first game, also titled "The Bard's Tale", an unrelated, console-style, top-down, action RPG which pokes fun at traditional, fantasy, and role-playing game tropes as in those found throughout the original "Bard's Tale". It was not a proper sequel to the classic series, nor was it connected in any respect apart from the title and location: the story takes place on the Orkney Mainland, where the ruins of real-world Skara Brae lie. Although a legal loophole allowed InXile to use the "Bard's Tale" name, and the company had evidently planned to incorporate more elements of the original games, Electronic Arts still owned the original trademarks for the "Bard's Tale" series itself, and InXile was not legally allowed to use any of the plot, characters, or locations featured in the original trilogy in their 2004 game.