Pemptus

You misunderstand. I like "g", it's neat. Clicking on the tiny items to pick them up would be busywork. It's just that pickable items blend with the floors, and it's very hard to see what can be picked up and what can't. All I'm asking is a simple highlighting feature (like the "look" key in the old Avernums, or - let's say - Baldur's Gate). There is "tab" for highlighting characters, and "u" for containers and doors. Why not something for the items?

Just played around with the Avernum 2: CS demo (Windows version). Much to my dismay, the interface remains pretty much totally unchanged since Escape From the Pit. These problems have been voiced multiple times on various forums, many times, over the period of many years: - Mouse wheel does nothing, and the sliders have to be operated by fervently clicking on the tiny, tiny arrows. - The inventory button only opens it, not closes it. Good grief, still? - No way to highlight items on the ground. With so much miscellaneous set dressing lying around and the fairly murky and low-contrast graphics, pressing "g" or "i" (and then escape, due to the aforementioned issue) every few steps can't be avoided if you want to be thorough. - The right mouse button does nothing. I know, I know, the Macs. It didn't stop it from being put to good use in Avernum 3. - The "tactical" combat not being very tactical due to lack of feedback. What is the range of the spell/projectile weapon? Will I be able to move into attack position before losing all my AP? Do I have to manually count the squares every single time? Please correct me if I'm wrong about any of these. The first Avernum 2 is one of my favorite games, and I would've even have paid full price for a proper remake. However, paying a developer that simply refuses to fix the most basic problems feels like rewarding mediocrity and complacency. (Not saying I'll pirate it, I'll probably wait for it to be included in a bundle or something.)

Originally Posted By: ShieTar Jeff had originally included a list of spells, but the empire censored it on account of magics being illegal. Immersion!

Originally Posted By: xuerebx Excuse my ignorance, but what is savescumming? Save game->if get haste-continue, if not-load game and try again.

Originally Posted By: Weston I probably wouldn't care as much about it if it was the same hotkey to open and close the inventory, instead of having to click the checkmark or press the ESC key. This. Very annoying. Also, does the whole inventory really need to appear when there aren't any items to pick up?

Originally Posted By: Jerakeen The 'U' key will highlight usable objects like chests, switches, etc. Doh! Indeed, I'm not sure how I missed it. Still though, the tiny, tiny letters that show up after pressing it are, well, tiny. Lighting up the objects mouseover-style would be much better, methinks. Originally Posted By: Lilith There's also this thread where someone was working on m-- oh, I see you've posted in that thread already. Any luck contacting the thread creator? I popped him a PM. We'll see...

The main problem I'm having with this incarnation of Avernum (among others, but less significant) is the general lack of contrast in the graphics. The objects sort of blend together and I have to squint. Most of the time the only way I can tell whether or not there's something on the ground is to hammer "g" every few steps, which gets old pretty fast. Furthermore, the only way to find interactable objects (chests, dressers, fireplaces) is to mouse over them, with no "look" key of any kind. They don't stand out from the the decorations much, which leads to more eye strain. Edit: this turned out to actually be a lie, the "u" key does this. However, the resulting letters are really, really tiny and eye strain remains, sadly. Compare it to the graphics of Avernum 1-3, which were clear, crisp, colorful, and everything was recognisable on the spot. Am I alone in this? Does it get better in time? Am I missing something? Is there a secret "unmuddy the graphics" option somewhere? As it stands, prolonged sessions make my head hurt from all the squinting - something that doesn't happen with other games.

Oooh, an excellent question. Money's supposedly tight in this incarnation of Avernum (which I love, I always had tons of cash in A 1-3), but is it so tight that stockpiling stuff and saving it until you get a certain trait gets worthwhile?

Sorry, car analogies don't work. This isn't a car, it's a game. Also, the defrost function is for defrosting. Bows aren't for hitting better with swords. Bad mechanics ahoy! Well, unless the bow was magic or something, but it's not. I love Avernum (1-3 anyway), I really do, but the lack of differentiating between melee and ranged accuracy in this version is pretty major, don't you think? It also speaks of a lack of care in design, which isn't encouraging. Originally Posted By: TriRodent I'm getting 40+ hours of great entertainment for roughly an hour's worth of my labor (& that 40 is if I only play this once & never again, highly unlikely). If that kind of return isn't enough to make you overlook a couple tiny issues then I really don't know what else to say, it just boggles the mind. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll probably still buy the game, I'm well aware of the price-funhours ratio. I whine because I care so damn much. <3

Originally Posted By: Lilith Eh. To the optimising crowd, finding and exploiting those little engine quirks is half the fun. Everyone else isn't likely to notice or care unless they happen to check the forums. I get you. It would be fun for me as well, except it doesn't make any sort of sense.

Originally Posted By: Lilith It's not so much a bug as an engine limitation: there's no specific "+X% to missile accuracy" or "+X% to melee accuracy" property. It is a little odd, admittedly. It's these kind of things that make me not want to buy the game. Come on now, Jeff has been making stat-heavy rpgs for HOW long? How do incredibly basic bugs and "limitations" like this still crop up?

Needs more comparison screenshots. But in general, yes yes and very much yes. Choice of ambiance and mood is good.

*Dusts off forum section* Hello? Anyone still here? Ahem. My problem with a Celtic party - I just got uncursed and went to Vanarium to recruit an NPC. First disappointment - I can't move them from the 5th slot and back of the party? What? Second disappointment - Both of the NPCs have identical stats geared towards fighter types with minor differences (girl has faery lore, Roman guy has tool use). Whaaat? Ok, no problem, I say, I'll just use the editor to turn 'em into a druid like I wanted. Oh... I can't modify the fifth character. Ugh. The whole recruitable NPC business was clearly an afterthought. But I intend to take advantage of it nonetheless. Found this thread here http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=25917#Post25917 that has an editor that works on the 5th character, but, of course, the link is broken. I ask you then - is there a way to edit the fifth character?

The leveling of inactive characters is certainly convenient. I guess I'll create a shadowwalker then, due to the mentioned lockpicking woes. Plus he sounds kind of ninja, man, so that's always good.

So you can pretty much mix&match party members on the fly? Do they gain xp while in the "waiting room"? Or is it very disadvantageous to not stick to a particular party?