First off I'm 26, so I find it absurd and disturbing that I'm an old timer. But not as disturbing as the dumbing down of RPGs that has been going on since the late great CRPGs back in the day when C for computer was still a necessary distinction.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I found this picture on another board that sums my rant up nicely, so if you don't want to read my thousand words, you can look at this picture:
Exile II was the first RPG I'd ever played and I was in 5th or 6th grade, I think. Still my best RPG memory is playing Baldur's Gate 2. Man that was awesome. It came on 4 CDs! It was huuuge! And the plot and character development, and it even had Drizzt and company!
But I digress. There were things I love about those old games that just can't be found anymore, even in the recent labors of love like Jeff's.
First is the 6 man party. You had your tank fighter, priest, mage, thief, archer, and your main character. And in BG2, they'd all interact with each other and have their own quests and it was the coolest thing ever! I mean an adventuring party was a party, not just a couple buddies out on the town!
When Jeff switched to a 4 man party, I was bummed, but with the unlimited flexibility of the leveling system, I could still have all the options I wanted. But then came Avadon.
3 man party? No class flexibility? Noooooo! And like the other thread here, I also miss the library of spells the original Exile games had to offer. Now it's buff or blow up. That's pretty much it. I loved the old field spells, and even the random scatter fields. It added so much more depth of game play.
And the crystal souls were the icing on the cake! I remember spending like half an hour loading/reloading to capture a copy of Sulfras' soul! Man that turned out to be an epic summon spell!
It's RPG gaming you just can't find anymore. After Dragon Age Origins, I had high hopes... Then came Dragon Age II.
I hate to say it, but even Spiderweb games are getting that copy pasta feel to them. They just lack the soul of the originals. So when I saw Jeff was doing a ground-up rewrite of the original Exile, I was excited.
I must say the Avadon skill system and 4 man party (at least not 3) is certainly not the glorious return of the golden age of RPG I was hoping for. Jeff, I love ya and the great pastime your games have provided, but please stop the madness! Your games have been taking on the attributes of the cardboard commercial RPGs, and that is very definitely not a good thing.
RPG quality/depth (d)evolution:
1 like reading a fantasy book
2 like watching a 2 hour movie
3 special effect movie Boom stuff blowing up!
4 half hour tv procedural
RPG's now: Jersey Shore, I seriously expect to find a Snooki class one of these games.