German review translation
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Apprentice
Member # 3420
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written Wednesday, January 4 2006 11:28
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While I eagerly wait for the Windows port to be completed, I thought I'd try brushing up on my German. This is the review posted yesterday in the "news" page. Disclaimer: I am not actually German, I've just studied the language about 5 years. Some mistakes may still be present. ------------------------- Among RPG fans and Shareware experts, the American company "Spiderweb Software" has enjoyed a good reputation. No wonder, since they have been supplying their fans with meaty new games, on and off since the days of Mac OS 8. After a somewhat lengthy break, they have released the fourth part of the Avernum series. A story of epic proportions There's plenty to do with your band of heroes, as you take either a standard group of 4 or a carefully tweaked custom party into an adventure starting at Fort Monastery. As the story slowly develops, each moment is packed with excitement about what happens next. The excitement doesn't let up until peace returns to the land, after an estimated 60-80 hours of gameplay. The duration of the game can vary drastically depending on playstyle and the number of side quests you complete. Practically every settlement, in addition to having its own purpose, also contains a so-called Job board, where one can obtain some diverse and more-or-less well compensated tasks. In this way, you can improve your reputation as well as acquiring some silver, which can be exchanged for better equipment, in grand RPG tradition. At character creation, there are many choices of character types such as mages, priests, warriors, berserkers, rogues, etc, and also three different races to pick from. You'll want to choose carefully, since only a balanced team will have a realistic chance of surviving the adventure. Hard, but fair When that first hour isn't going as well as you would have liked, the game conveniently provides an option to change the difficulty setting. Fortunately, reviving one member of your party is no problem at all, but it can be annoying when your whole party gets destroyed in an ambush. In that case, only frequent save-and-reload will help you, which is easy to do at any point from the game menu. During the game, the party members do not have individual personalities [in terms of interacting with the plot]. Some gamers may not enjoy this, but I thought it was not a problem; it allowed me to quickly identify with my virtual ego. To further develop your party, you'll get lots of treasure along the way, and with each level you'll get a few skill points to spend on one of several disciplines. In addition to magical and weaponry skills, there are other skills like Tool Use and First Aid to learn, so that you can cross any hurdle in case of emergency. A breath of days past Technically, Avernum 4 is unfortunately very dated. Or in other words, pure nostalgia! Depends on your perspective. The fact is, your party doesn't have much of a walking animation, and the combat animations are pretty spartan. The isometric 3-D landscapes are lovely and have many tiny details, but in the long run they get pretty boring. Life in the underworld isn't particularly colorful, and few things are more complex than a simple image alternation. The same is true about the sound; it's on about the same level as the graphics, and after the title screen, it's quiet enough for you to play iTunes. A significant issue with Avernum 4 is the language, which can't be changed from English. For those whose mastery of English isn't as great, there's a constant danger of missing important information in the dialogues. Summary For those who aren't thrown off by the "nostalgic" presentation of Avernum 4, it's an amazingly complex and engrossing adventure. With moderate system requirements, even users of old Mac models should be able to play - and for $25 you can't go wrong. You can decide for yourself with the demo link [at the top of the review page] and take your own first steps into the world of Avernum. Positives: - giant environment - engrossing story - low system requirements Negatives: - very dated graphics - poor sound - only available in English 81% Posts: 31 | Registered: Tuesday, September 2 2003 07:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Wednesday, January 4 2006 22:23
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Link. I mean it- what backwater european city would care about a US shareware release? -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Warrior
Member # 2902
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written Wednesday, January 4 2006 23:06
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quite good mlahut :) @Akai Hoshi, well, some years ago thats exactly how I noticed spidweb. I wonder what a "backwater european city" might be from your perspective :rolleyes: krgds Abraxx -------------------- * Knowledge is Might * Posts: 130 | Registered: Monday, April 21 2003 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Wednesday, January 4 2006 23:45
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http://games4mac.de/content_g4m/reviews/avernum4.php The link from SW's news page. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 210
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written Thursday, January 5 2006 01:02
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quote:You seriously believe that the internet cares where a site is based? Posts: 42 | Registered: Thursday, October 25 2001 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 5785
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written Thursday, January 5 2006 04:01
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quote:Yes, stop making fun of our backwater, european country or we will send our polar bears at you. -------------------- "..The seventh wave of Thrall stumbled and climbed over the slippery, piled dead and Mazzarin saw The Watcher with them and at last knew the number of his days." Posts: 522 | Registered: Wednesday, May 4 2005 07:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Thursday, January 5 2006 10:05
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Oh, cripes. A mac games periodical. I'm biased- last time this happened was when spy.hard put a review of BoA in her city's actual newspaper. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 4448
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written Thursday, January 5 2006 14:08
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Here's a translation of the last bit of that review: Graphics: Bad Sound: Bad Online Play: N/A Difficulty: Advanced -------------------- Yeah, here's a sig. On to more posts... Posts: 17 | Registered: Sunday, May 30 2004 07:00 |