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A:EftP - The remake lost most of the wild adventure mood


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That remake improves many elements and adds many little stuff improving the whole. There's obviously graphics with a better aesthetic and with much more details, but also many dialogs rewritten and reorganized, life level in towns improved through more NPC in street and more with some dialogs, and more.

 

But the remake also lost many elements, there's a streamlining in hope to adapt better to new categories of players, there's many changes in the system to make it adapt to the new system more streamlined, there's many elements not fully adapted to the new gameplay approach or less well done in the new gameplay habits.

 

But what I noticed the most is the degradation of the mood of adventure and wild. It's not an element that easy to pinpoint, ie it's not easy to explain why the original Avernum 1 had a such strong mood of exploring new wild area. So it's even less easy to explain why this is largely lost in the remake. What follow is sort of hypothesis of that feeling I got.

 

Here a list of elements I think they contribute to destroy, at least in part, the mood of wild, the mood of adventure, the mood of exploring new wild lands:

  • Full global map: The global map had large part not shown because that's unexplored area. Now you get a full global map with almost all details. This contribute to destroy the wild mood and your feeling of adventure through non or few explored lands.
  • Detailed global map and showing exactly your position: The global map not only was incomplete but also was a static information not showing you where your party is. Have it now showing most details and where you are and most paths to reach most location, it's one more blow to the adventure feeling, and the mood of exploring wild area.
  • No more poisoned swamps in the outdoor: That removal breaks a lot the wild mood that had multiple outdoor area and the feeling to explore wild countries.
  • Teleporting pylons: Not many of them, but again a little bit that contribute to break the mood of wild and adventuring, plus not really a necessity with the outdoor system allowing very fast travels.
  • The quest cursors on global map: Not only they make obsolete or at least a bit weird many dialogs related to information about paths and locations related to a quest. But also you just look at the global map, give a quick look to find the quest cursor, and here you go. All of that contribute to destroy a wild mood and remove important element of fun in the exploring.
  • Closer outdoor point of view: The outdoor point of view is closer picturing smaller distances. In fact it changes not much theoretical travel time or perhaps not even travel squares distances. But it changes the perception of the distances making them smaller. I can understand it's a necessary evil for better graphics, but it's still one more element destroying in part an major achievement of the original game.
  • Not enough diversity of outdoor graphics: The remake offer outdoor graphics looking much better and with quite more details. But I got the feeling a lot of diversity has been lost, and in general get a feeling of repetition generating a less good outdoor mood. There was something weird in many outdoor places that matching rather well a general feeling of exploring a wild unknown area.

About quests cursors on the global map. AEFTP somehow do as bad than Oblivion by reusing it in a game not adapted originally for it. With Fallout 3 there was already a huge improvement on this point, and Skyrim improved it even more.

 

With those last two there's a caution into two elements you can find in Skyrim and at a lesser degree in Fallout 3. Something there isn't in Oblivion and alas not in AEFTP:

  • When you try reach a quest target location you get plenty unexpected obstacles and you need struggle to find a path, it could be an underground passage you need use, a hidden road, and more.
  • When you look on the global map where is your cross and where is the quest cross, you wonder how reach it because there's plenty obstacles not clearly shown on the map. In Skyrim it's why those clouds on global map has been added and why there's many details you won't have on the global, to not destroy the fun of exploration, research of path, keep it a bit wild.

Alas triple alas AEFTP use the global map showing all quests cross and where you are exactly, but fail it in the Oblivion way instead of succeed it in the Skyrim way. Avernum original wasn't designed for that, and it's far to be a detail to have this system added in the remake but no good adaptation of the gameplay to make it fit well instead of destroying most of the wild feeling and most of the adventure and exploration feeling.

 

Now to conclude I'd like temper that post, with a quote. In my opinion that remake is still better than what I played of Avernum 5&6. And if you want a RPG with a very open world, that remake is still "mandatory" on your list of RPG to play. Sure I'd be tempted to advise try first the original Avernum, but I don't think that many players can play such oldies.

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I do think you you phrased it quite right. Playing this iteration did feel like Avernum circa this game was a bit less wild and more civilized. Not sure I necessarily agree with your reasoning, but it does, to me, at least. Now, to be fair, this is my third time seeing the game and I'm quite a bit older than my first experience with it, so maybe it's just an illusion. I don't know.

 

Once I find time to slay the Emperor, which will mean I'll have finished most of the game, I'll write a short review.

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It's not a review and I agree that my feeling and "analysis" but more "hypothesis" can be corrupted a lot by playing the remake as a replay and the original as a first play. But myself I played Avernum 1 only 4 years ago, it's not that far in past. But like you I'd wrote, maybe it's an illusion. But I would add I don't think so.

 

The work made by Bethesda on that is rather interesting. And RPG designers are still far with a modern approach to succeed reproduce a strong feeling of wild and adventuring, global maps too detailed and quests cursors are killers. But the work made by Bethesda on that is quite interesting and in the right way.

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The older versions had much more of the need to explore to find the locations to fulfill quests. Jeff has put in lots more dialog to make sure that players don't get lost.

 

There were only a few secret areas that I missed on earlier play throughs because the hidden switches were more visible, at least if you remembered to light a lantern.

 

The world map showing everything instead of getting only sections at a time like in Avernum 5 does make it easier.

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I agree that the game seems more civilized and less wild. Personally, I think this has more to due with graphics and dialogue changes, as well as engine changes like the wealth of magic items.

 

The map issues really are just a reflection of the change in CRPG gaming standards. The original Exile came out at the tail end of an era in which aimless exploration based on mysterious hints in dialogue was the norm. It was fairly normal for players to take notes (on paper) while they played. Players expected that they would have to put the pieces together, and figure out what to do, on their own. It was also normal for games to be relatively open-ended. This was true both in terms of PC games and on consoles as well.

 

Today, things are obviously quite different. And some of the change makes sense. AEFTP needs a quest log: there are so many tiny quests, it would be ridiculous to keep track of them yourself. Exile had almost zero tiny quests, so keeping tabs on just the 3 big quests was reasonable.

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Avernum is far to be from this era of Exile, in 2000 it was already the norm to have a quests log. The diary allows a bit to temper this, probably a lack of time decided Jeff to give up implement a quests log when the remake was done to Avernum.

 

Anyway as I mentioned in first line of OP there's many good points in this remake and I didn't list it but the quest log is definitely one of them and there's more good points.

 

Skyrim throwing clouds all over a not very detailed global map is showing that nothing is glued.

 

In my opinion if quests cursors appeared it's also because it's hard to track the bugs and design good hints that build directions and paths to the player. This is difficult and take time. But is this required for players that will buy this remake, I'm not sure. You seem consider Avernum like a 1995 game but if I forget the graphics, the technology, and the quests log, it fits much more in its era of 2000. A lot of work was done to provides paths and locations hints to the players and the quests cursors destroy all this work.

 

If I'm not wrong few quests don't get a quest cursor on purpose, I think more would have match. Is really the thermal location quest was needing a quest cursor, I don't think so, a location to discover as you explore is instantly destroyed by the quest cursor, it makes the exploration a duty and removes any mystery, and it removes an opportunity of exploration fun, the good surprise to have find it after a corner.

 

I feel the game abuse into transforming any interesting locations in a strict quest and its quest cursor. All of that is destroying a bit of the freedom feeling and then the wild adventure mood.

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