Edgwyn

The anti-trust case against Microsoft is about Windows and Office dominating the market, which they have for 30 or so years now.

Welcome to the forums, please leave your sanity at the door. The stance that my first spiderweb game was my favorite spiderweb game is not unusual. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the library as much, or almost as much.

It appears to have been a software update, because the look and feel has changed fairly dramatically. For example, when I click on a topic with unread posts, it is taking me to the original post in the topic instead of down to the unread posts.

Level 30 is max if I remember correctly. I am not sure if there is an xp cap.

To get Level 3 in any spell in A:CS you need to obtain two levels via training and one level via the book. The only requirements to read the book as AL 10 which you far exceed and the need to have Magi Clearance to get to it which you appear to have. Are you sure that you have purchased two levels of Dispel Barrier from one of the trainers (Aimee is the cheapest though the trainer in Fort Emerald is a good choice also)?

No problem. There is a set of maps on line http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/22315-avernum-2-crystal-souls-maps/ but there are a lot of spoilers in the maps and so you may not want to use them. If you get stuck with a location usually some of us on the forums can help you, but it might take a couple of days depending on how often a person who knows the answer is on.

You need to find the empire docks in order to get a boat to row through the Northern Islands. If you are at the moldy caves, you need to move a little bit South into the main part of the river and exit the boat onto the West shore. If you continue to walk West, you will find a wide passage that opens up into a larger cave. Walk North in that cave and there will be a wide passage that travels East. Walk that passage until you turn North. The screen should say that you have entered the Northern Islands. At the end of the passage to the North you will run into the empire docks. Seize a boat from there and row West. There will be a narrow bit of land to your South. That narrow bit of land is blocked with a gate that requires you to have the quest "Sneak into Pyrog's Lair" in your quest list to open. If you have the quest, the gate should open and by continuing South, you will enter the back of Pyrog's lair.

I remember having pads of graph paper in order to create maps to find my way around Wizardry and Ultima. I like how Automap allows me to concentrate on the game, not creating a map.

Slartibus did a very extensive and enjoyable mod of A:EFTP. He will probably see your post in the next day or two.

I completed the game multiple times on normal with a sword and shield fighter, a pole arm fighter, a mage and a priest. It was not a problem. For A:CS there is some goodness in dual wielding and adrenaline rush if I remember correctly, but that wasn't the route that I took.

So, the Avernum story was originally told in Exile 1-3. That was remade as Avernum 1-3 and then added to with Avernum 4-6. The first three stories have since been remade as A:EFTP, A:CS, and A:RW. Steam is showing the three newest remakes (A:EFTP, A:CS, and A:RW) on sale for $18.86 or for $21.49 you can get A:EFTP, A:CS, A:RW, A4, A5, A6, Avadon 1-3, Nethergate:Ressurection and Geneforge 1-5. I would recommend the bigger package.

A lot of it depends on what you are after. The Avernum series has six chapters, the first three of which have been remade in the past six or seven years. This is the series that started Spiderweb Software and is my personal preference. Queens Wish is Jeff's latest creation, with the first chapter out now and later chapters expected in approximately two and four years from now. Avernum is a traditional old school RPG. You have four characters that have a lot of options to customize their skills and abilities and you go around exploring and killing things while proceeding towards completing one or more of the three game "winning" quests. Queen's Wish involves a substantially different character and spell mechanic and includes a building mechanic where establishing towns and shops helps improves your abilities. I prefer Avernum, but that is or course just my opinion.

And of course Nethergate does fit into Alex and Goldengirl's colonialism theory. It has been a while since I played Nethergate, I cannot remember if it is early in the Roman occupation or later.

To me, Avernum really falls into the American model with the late arriving exiles (human, slith or nephil) taking the land (cave floor?) and resources away from that native Vahnatai and establishing their own, separate society. The Vahnatai appear to have a lower population density and lower tech base (notice I said appear). While I have not finished QW either, it seems more to me like the British in South Asia or South West Asia with fairly large and reasonably dense native populations, but fractured governments that allow the Havenites to exploit the differences and conquer the area without expending a large amount of resources. Of course I could easily have said Romans, Ottomans or several others for QW.

Yes, I would agree that there are a lot of Wild West influences in Exile/Avernum. I am sure that the cowboy movies had some influence on the lonely villages surrounded by hostile natives (who had very good reasons for being hostile).

As ThomasCats said, the character classes are irrelevant. They have different starting stats, but you will acquire some many skills and abilities through advancing levels that the tiny bit of sub-optimization does not matter at all, especially on normal. Having a fourth character will make the game easier, simply because you can do more (inflict damage, heal, buff, summon, whatever) each round. Having a melee focused character will make it easier, because melee is hard to avoid. Rooms are only so big and some fights you just can't get away from.

Jeff does what he does well, but I would not call his world building unique. From Ultima to Elder Scrolls on the computer side and many fantasy and sci-fi authors have created rich, detailed universes. I would agree that he cares more about the story than plenty of other programmers, but I would not say that there are not others who care just as much.

5. Lots of things in RPGs are impossible and a lot of players do not want to be bothered with having to manage supply issues, kind of like #4. Also, in some of the games, the damage from ranged attacks has been dropped considerably.

I am pretty sure that you do not even need to back track. From what I remember (and I paid a lot more attention to A:CS details then I did to the other games), there is no order requirement. You can get the one level from a book and the two levels from trainers in any order. In order to read the spell books, you must have a minimum arcane lore level or your cannot benefit from the book. You do not need to have previously learned the spell at all. I do not have the A:CS software on the computer that I am using, so I can't check, but I thought that all members of the party get a level in the spell when you read the book, irrespective of their mage/priest level. The mage/priest level if I remember correctly is a requirement in order to cast the spell, not to know it. If you are in the game, it would be fairly easily to check. Look at the spell lists of all four of your characters. If you have non magic using characters and they have one level of a spell that you learned from a book, it would be a pretty good confirmation.

I don't have Avadon installed on my current computer so I can't easily check this. Comparing Randomizer's notes and Jerakeen's website, in the trapdoor rooms, Jerakeen shows loot being accessible once the secret door button has been pushed without any more notes and Randomizer's notes match this. There is another room, at the bottom of the area with the confusing stairs that both Randomizer and Jerakeen note as only being accessible by letting Zhossa live.

I don't remember the exact dialog, but has fate was pretty grisly.

You live comfortably for the next 20 years, but extremely uncomfortably for 40 years after that. I wish to win the Powerball lottery

I don't know if he has ever seriously thought of it. I seem to recall that there has previously been some speculation in the forums about Avernum and Geneforge being in the same world. There are some common themes and terms in Jeff's work (shapers in both Avernum and Genefore, GIFTS in multiple series) that can be interpreted as one guy has created all of the games and so he reuses ideas that he likes or as subtle indications of a shared world.

The Exile/Avernum/Avernum re-makes series is Jeff's original series and I would recommend starting with that. The modern version (based on what you have said, I would stick with the modern version) is Avernum: Escape from the Pit, Avernum: Crystal Souls and Avernum: Ruined World. The three games have relatively modern conveniences while being re-remakes of his original three games that started his company. Avadon 1-3 is a modern series that he recently completed and would be a good introduction as well. His most recently released game, Queen's Wish: The Conquerer is the first release in a very different series. It will likely take him around three to five years to complete the series. He also has another series called Geneforge that is older that I have not played, but many of the others on these forums have really enjoyed.

One of the towns near me does their New Years Eve fireworks at 7:00 PM local time. I definitely prefer it to midnight.