Spiderweb software has released a new Avernum. They are restarting the series.
I know they have an extensive demo - but has anyone played this one yet so I can know the gaming goodness versus the time investment?
It's a remake of the Avernum series using the upgraded Adavon engine. I really like Spiderweb RPGs. I'd suspect that the time v. money v. quality of game is very, very high just based on my past experience with their games. Good old fashioned cRPG fun. And it's turn based which makes it extra awesome.
I've been playing it for a while, and am quite liking it.
Played through the demo. It's very good, old school RPG.
Never played any Spider Web stuff before.
It's available for the iPad too so I'll probably get it for that as it's cheaper.....
Steam has it for $10, so it's pretty cheap for the PC too.
Cool! 8)
I played the demo then bought the game. It cost me $10 for the game since I had bought one of the earlier Avernum games.
I had to restart. The combat system and the attribute system changed significantly. Playing on average difficulty, my first pass became impossible to advance. After a restart, reading a FAQ on how to build a party (not a walkthrough), this time I am able to advance with some real challenge - but it is not totally impossible.
I will warn all of you that the difficulty ramps up massively after the demo section. I had to build a party of two fighters - one focused almost all on defense and the other on offense. Party also has one priest and one mage. Area of effect spells and dual wielding are crucial. On average difficulty, there is a real shortage of cash. This makes spell purchase & skill purchase very difficult.
This version plays a lot differently than earlier Avernums. I found the Party Build FAq by Slartifer (on Game FAQs) to be amazingly helpful. Otherwise, you may hit a wall and become quite frustrated with the game.
Spiderweb seems to have an intentional tweeking of the combat/magic model with every game release. What was a game winner in earlier games does not work in the next game.
Overall, lots of fun. Not very expensive. So low tech it should play on almost any PC.
Just don't let the demo fool you in terms of game difficulty.
I decided to hold off on the remake series until I had played the Geneforge series and some of their other series (not Avernum as that would be redundant).
Still need to get around to that...
(I would say "Damn you Skyrim", but I love my Skyrim, so instead I'll say... um... "Damn you sleep!" That probably works--I have horrible dreams when I sleep anyway. {g})
I've never played the eariler stuff. How much gameplay is in this one, and which ones does it 'remake'?
Nothing like reviving a 2.5-year-old thread...
I bought this last night (only $1.99 on Steam right now) and it's quite engaging. The storytelling/text is pretty high standard and immersive. The turn-based aspect is highly engaging as well. It reminds me a lot of Geneforge gameplay-wise, but I didn't much care for Geneforge. (I intend to give Geneforge another try after this, though; I grabbed 1 through 5 several months ago when they were on dirt-cheap sale but I didn't get much into Geneforge 1.)
This is something I'll go back to and play often.
Quote from: Nefaro on April 23, 2012, 03:10:13 PM
I've never played the eariler stuff. How much gameplay is in this one, and which ones does it 'remake'?
This is a question I myself only recently found an answer to: they stopped offering games 1-3 while still offering games 4-6, so I wondered if it remade 1-3.
No, only Avernum 1. Supposedly the Av2 remake will be ready before the end of the year.
The Geneforge series was on sale at Steam, too, very recently, but not sure it still is.
The Avadon series is made with an almost-as-upgraded engine (I think Avadon 2 may be on par?), so there's always that different story to work on while waiting. :)