Is the skills progression system "streamlined"?

[HHR]

Hello, now that the Avernum rewrite has been released I would really like a definitive answer to something I've been wondering for a long time.

 

I'm currently discussing the release of the game on another community that ye shall not name and although we are great fans of Spiderweb games, we have many who didn't like the Avadon system, where everything was relegated to a skills tree system offering little freedom in how one could shape his or her character.

 

Consider these screenshots respectively from old Avernum and new Avernum:

 

http://www.heroicfantasygames.com/Avernum/Character.gif

 

http://i.imgur.com/HrkdY.jpg

 

I guess one could be a little concerned that much of the depth and freedom of the older system has been lost.

 

Considering that many of you have bought the game, how legitimate would you say these concerns are?

 

I personally refrained from playing Avernum up to now because I wanted to wait for the rewrite, but if the game has been too streamlined then I'll probably get the old trilogy instead.

[Slarzahl]

The new system gives you somewhat fewer options at level one, but significantly more options as you progress, since skill costs do not ramp up. Indeed almost all the skills in your screenshot still exist, and there are a few new ones replacing the only skills that are completely gone (Potion Making and Barter). There are actually MORE options in combat, especially for warriors, thanks to the addition of Battle Disciplines.

 

In particular note that the skill trees are not like Avadon's: you can build EITHER of two skills to use the one above it, whereas in Avadon you must build BOTH.

[Randomizer]

Also unlike the original Avernum trilogy you get the really powerful abilities in the middle of the game instead of unlocking them at the end.

[Alorael at Large]

It's impossible to specialize in something at the top of the tree. You need to specialize equally in everything below it. However, the trees generally build in the order that you should want things.

 

The flat costs make picking a few skills and specializing more even with less intense specialization because the costs don't start ramping up to prohibitive levels.

 

Traits give you more opportunities to tweak characters. None are as strong as some of the very powerful second trilogy traits, but all are at least as good as original trilogy traits seem to be. All of them customize what you want a character to be good at a little bit more, and the lists are pretty open.

 

—Alorael, who would say that you have less freedom from the beginning and no more freedom at the end. You do have another axis of freedom in traits, though, and at the end while you won't have more choices, you will have more meaningful choices that aren't either wastes of skill points or so expensive you can never boost the skill.