Profile for Of Course I Still Love You
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Of Course I Still Love You |
| Member number | 7313 |
| Title | Apprentice |
| Postcount | 2 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Monday, July 17 2006 07:00 |
Recent posts
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| What do you think of A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Apprentice
Member # 7313
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written Wednesday, July 19 2006 23:19
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I also think Geneforge has kind of spoiled us as far as complex plots and moral imbaguity goes. The Geneforge series has always been very plot-based and forced you to make moral decisions, while Avernum is more of a dugeon crawl. Posts: 2 | Registered: Monday, July 17 2006 07:00 |
| What do you think of A4 in Avernum 4 | |
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Apprentice
Member # 7313
|
written Monday, July 17 2006 10:14
Profile
I think Avernum 4's pretty good, really. Sure, it's not all that it could be, but it's a good start, and, I think, and improvement on the engine used from A1-BoA. Summoning spells might have gotten nerfed a little (at least until you get Divine Host,) but that's something that can easily be fixed in the next release. The removal of the targeting system (which I don't understand -- did Spiderweb just run out of time or did they not like that for some reason?) is disturbing but far from fatal, and in fact I like the new targeting for spells like Ice Bolts (it's not really much better or worse, just different: you have a chance to hit more enemies but they have to be closer.) We also might see at least some spells using the old targeting system in A5, who knows. On the other hand, some serious problems A1-BoA had have been fixed, including fixing First Aid (actually a useful skill now) and improving Nature Lore (having to fight every single randomly spawned rat is annoying.) I also found most of the quests to often require more critical thinking: take for example the the quest to kill the Cauldron-born (hardy zombies). Instead of being able to just wollop everyone's rear assuming you've got the right skills, gear and spells, you actually have to figure out how to kill them (though a high-enough level party might be able to run through that place killing everything with acid.) Same goes for the shades: it really shocked me when I was confronted with an enemy I couldn't kill. I've neverhad that happen to me in Avernum before, at least as far as I can recall (not counting "throw switch/activate doodad to kill boss" dungeons). Another great thing: no more freaking fake walls. I'm sorry, those things are just annoying. You pretty much just had to run into walls randomly to find a whole bunch of stuff, and they always got overused. There should be, at most, one fake wall per dungeon/town, and whether you find it or not should be based on a skill or something, not whether you're willing to run up against every wall in the entire world to see if it's fake. As for the plot, it's best to keep in mind that this isn't just Avernum 4, it's more like "Avernum II 1." A whole lot of work went into overhauling the engine and the plot didn't get as much work as it should have. Still, it's better than A1, which I'm sure you all remember is the same thing as E1. We're also seeing as shift in the tone of the Avernum series: previous Avernum games were fairly lighthearted: I mean, just look at the skill graphics of anvils falling on people's heads and theives stealing women's undergarments. A4 was much more serious, lacking those graphics and presenting a more troubled, hard world. For example, in A1-3, X seemed more like a comical character than anything, but my reactions to him in A4 ranged somewhere between pity and unease. Solberg, too, provoked more emotions from me than your average Avernum character ever did, and there's several other examples I could name too. But generally, I think that the Avernum series is maturing plot-wise right now: we're seeing less and less of the characteristic humor (though it's certainly still present, especially in the comments about "adventurers") and more and more moral ambiguity. Once the engine's fine-tuned and Jeff has a clear idea exactly what he wants to do with the series, then I expect we're going to see deeper chacacters and better plots. Once again, remember that the last time they upgraded the engine (i.e. Exile to Avernum) they didn't even bother writing a new story. They could have just renamed the series and done the same thing all over again. I'd say going from writing nothing to writing something that's just ok instead of amazing is at least a step up. I can see how this game would alienate some diehard Avernum fans: it changes a good number of things that have been in the game since A1, or even the Exile series. But I think if we give this series some time, we may find Avernum 5 or 6 to be the best installment yet. Personally, I wasn't much of a fan of A1 (I had already beaten E1 at least 5 times by that point, and still honestly prefer it,) but I think A3 was the best game in either the Avernum or Exile series. Having played A4, I'm very optimistic for the series right now. Posts: 2 | Registered: Monday, July 17 2006 07:00 |