A:EftP - Junk items

[dave s]

How do you feel about all the junk items in the game (and all Spiderweb games). I'm talking buckets and spades and bits of husk and all the worthless items that just sit around taking up space.

[mouton]

It's a nice change from everything being magical and/or worth a lot in, well, most other games.

[The Reverend]

My characters always try to stock up on beer and wine so that they can throw some great parties after their adventuring days are over. I find some room to claim as my own (if I'm not given one like in Avadon), and fill it up with all the alcoholic beverages I can find (unless they are needed for some quest). I also try to make sure they have some food there, since if all the guests drink without eating they'll end up passing out. And of course you need candles to keep the party room lit up until the wee hours of the morning ...

[Goldengirl]

On some of the descriptions for these 'junk items', there are some gems of Jeff's funny writing styles. Stay vigilant, gamers.

[Rya.Reisender]

For me they are annoying. I want the game to tell me which items I need to keep and which I can ignore. =/

[Earth]

those make game more alive instead empty.

[Rya.Reisender]

If this is a question for future spiderweb games my suggestion would be: Just like how items that are not yours are marked as "Steal", mark junk items as "Junk", so they are still there and can be taken if you are that masochist, but at least it's easy to tell which items are needed for selling/quests and which are not.

[Earth]

If this is a question for future spiderweb games my suggestion would be: Just like how items that are not yours are marked as "Steal", mark junk items as "Junk", so they are still there and can be taken if you are that masochist, but at least it's easy to tell which items are needed for selling/quests and which are not.

 

quest items won't be marked since that would make itemhunting too easy.

[Randomizer]

Besides some collection quests only need one of each item.

[Rya.Reisender]

Well, but it sucks if you sell items and later realize you need those for a quest and can't finish the quest anymore. Besides I wasn't saying to mark quest items, just mark junk items not needed for quests.

 

The way it is now, I have to go to forums, open Randomizer's neet guide on which items are needed for quests (http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/16393-items-to-keep-avernum-escape-from-the-pit-spoilers/) and then switch between forums and ingame. If the game itself would handle it, then it could save me the trouble.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Mark Junk as Junk? Nah, that takes away like half of SW's charm away.

[Rya.Reisender]

What? Why?

[The Reverend]

Mark Junk as Junk? Nah, that takes away like half of SW's charm away.

What? Why?

Maybe not fully "half" the charm , but the miscellaneous junk that you don't know whether or not you'll need for some quest later is part of the "spiderweb ambiance". But, maybe an option to mark things as junk for those who don't like that might make sense.

[Retrospecter]

My OCD self used my fourth character slot specifically for picking up junk, deleting the character when he got full, and remaking him for the next trash run. Hilarious. Had to deal when I played torment though cause I wanted to do actually useful things with guy #4.

 

Also when I played... I think it was Avernum 5, I had a rock collection of every single rock in the game, as far as I know.

[Earth]

Also when I played... I think it was Avernum 5, I had a rock collection of every single rock in the game, as far as I know.

 

some1 collected all vases in game and some1 collected all towels etc.

[The Reverend]

some1 collected all vases in game and some1 collected all towels etc.

In Avadon, I collected plants and other decorative items, and used them to decorate my characters room. After I thought it was sufficiently decorated, I started to decorate my companions rooms to thank them for their service...

[Edgwyn]

I wanted to select all three options. The presence of so many junk items forces me to find out what ones to keep by reading Randomizer's guide, but their presence adds to the realism of the world

[Dr. Hieronymous Alloy]

I noticed in one of the slith forts there are broken swords near the anvil. They're fixing them!

[lothyr]

I don't know - just seemed like that is how the game "is".

 

A game like this can punish an in-game item pack rat like myself {hoo boy} too some extent. There are far worse examples of games that are inventory management nightmares. At least there is a "Bag of Holding" type mechanic that, as my band of misfits wandered around, could dump any and everything in to it for sorting/classifying/selling/dropping

 

Imagine Escape from the Pit with not only worn-item encumbrance but backpack-item encumbrance.

 

E_f_t_P harkens back to a different era.

 

I'm not claiming it is better or worse than anything else. Everyone can make up their own minds by actually playing a game. Avernum might be geared to an audience that enjoys aspects that casual gamers or who ever find cumbersome.

 

An upcoming game release called Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar has a game option where the player can control whether critical items are "locked" "adaptive" or "not locked". I mean to look at the graphics of this title is like stepping back in time literally to circa 1993-1996. Honestly, without a game manual I can't figure out what "adaptive" item locking does, yet. It sure sounds good to have an option though.

 

The point is: the developer of Grimoire acknowledges different styles of gamers. Not everyone has Mr. Blakemore's tenacity or can push the envelope of a bygone era genre like it appears he is doing.

 

On a side note: written in Grimoire's demo credits Mr. Blakemore recommends Exile

 

Old Skool street cred

[Superba]

They are not annoyng, it may take time to identify all the junk items but when it's done you can select soon the useful items and only pick them up.

More over junk items force you to "G" very often and doing that you don't miss valuable ones.

.

[RainbowDashRadical]

In a war-torn land of harshness, poverty, chaos, despair, and starvation...one would expect there to be a lot of trash.

[springacres]

In Avadon, I collected plants and other decorative items, and used them to decorate my characters room. After I thought it was sufficiently decorated, I started to decorate my companions rooms to thank them for their service...

You've inspired my characters to do similar things in Avadon 2. My blademaster now collects forge items and iron, my shamans are of course big on potted plants, and I haven't yet decided what my sorceress should collect...

[Sudanna]

I don't have a problem, I swear.

 

 

 

 

 

[Earth]

you need cleaner and help.

[The Reverend]

You've inspired my characters to do similar things in Avadon 2. My blademaster now collects forge items and iron, my shamans are of course big on potted plants, and I haven't yet decided what my sorceress should collect...

Since there's apparently a romance option in Avadon 2 (I've only just started due to real-life commitments), my main character has been collecting bottles of wine for romantic dinners.

[RainbowDashRadical]

Your sorceress should collect brooms, pots, and other kitchen related items. Give some decor to that dusty alchemy room

[Earth]

there are plenty of wine- and ale-bottles in Avadon 2, I think in every place I have visited has had some of either or both, if chars could drink (no idea if rpgs have had that possibility since Ultima 6) those it'd take long time to empty all.

[springacres]

Mine have also been collecting bottles of wine and ale for celebrations and such.

 

Earth Empires - it's possible in Eschalon I and II if you play those.

[Earth]

Earth Empires - it's possible in Eschalon I and II if you play those.

 

Played 1st thru and tried 2nd, no idea if it was possible to get drunk like it was in Ultima 6.

[springacres]

oh, I see what you're saying. I *think* wine and ale have some effects like lowering dex and raising str in those games, so it's sort of like being drunk - but I need to play them again myself to jog my memory.

 

On a related note, from what I've seen, there might be enough alcohol in Avadon 2 to give every ogre and titan alcohol poisoning. Or at least a really, really nasty hangover.

Edited November 24, 2013 by springacres

[Earth]

titans and ogres are that big (and nasty) that they would need to drink ALOT alcohol that they'd get drunk.

[springacres]

Mmmm, yeah, that's true. I guess maybe there's only enough to give every wretch alcohol poisoning.

[Earth]

if you have read comics then grey Hulk (Marvel's char) needed to drink whole alcohol store empty to get drunk and he is quite simillar as titan.

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

I collect exactly 100 of every stackable item in the game that is common enough, including gems. As well as 1 of every single artifact i'm not using. Then i drop them all at the game's final boss and ask a bribe...it usually fails....these guys really can't be persuaded against their cause, i guess.

[Rya.Reisender]

If they conquer the world all your belongings will go to them anyway.

[Weird Heather]

I have always loved junk items in games. They help to make the game world feel like a fully developed place rather than just a setting that exists entirely for the player characters in the game. The Avernum series, with its large open world, numerous forts and towns, variety of objects (including junk), and NPCs with their own lives and concerns, is an excellent game world. I've been playing computer games since the 1980s, and the first RPG that I thought had a good game world was Ultima 6, and it featured plenty of junk items. As others have already noted, it was possible to get drunk by consuming too many alcoholic drinks. Ultima 7 was great too; it had many different varieties of garbage. That would be a nice future addition to Spiderweb games, and it probably wouldn't be difficult to implement.

 

The junk items in "Avernum: Escape from the Pit" are numerous and varied. Of course, there could always be more, but the selection is sufficient to spice up the environment. I also like it when an item that appears useless turns out to be needed for something; a few quests in this game require junk items.

[Wizard Orcasus]

I love junks. you know sometimes you can decorate your room with them? lol I mean vases jugs those things that you don't need

[springacres]

Yeah, I borrowed that idea from people in this thread for my chambers & houses in Avadon 2. Potted plants, bed linens and tools make great room decorations

[peteralexanderjex]

I like junk items alot, they can tell part of the story. Give a hint about whats going on. Make a place seem lived in. but I think there should be a way to tell which ones are really important.

[Jerakeen]

I like junk items alot, they can tell part of the story. Give a hint about whats going on. Make a place seem lived in. but I think there should be a way to tell which ones are really important.

Nonsense. Collecting shiny objects like a magpie is half the fun.

 

I do get a little weirded out by the odd places you find shackle and whips, though.

[Lilith]

I do get a little weirded out by the odd places you find shackle and whips, though.

 

hey, there aren't that many ways to have fun in avernum, so people are going to get creative with what's available

[Sudanna]

I stack shackles and whips around my room in every SW game.

[peteralexanderjex]

hey, there aren't that many ways to have fun in avernum, so people are going to get creative with what's available

 

I lived in a small town growing up, there was 2 things people can do no matter where you are.

 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/TKhrQhdxjI8