I love this game. I believe this is the largest RPG "world" I've ever played and the story line is as rich as any I've ever played. However, there are some irritants in the game that I wonder about. At the top of that list are "Magic Barriers".
Now I know that breaking crystals can remove these but I have had much difficulty finding those crystals. They are rare, to say the least. The result is you fight your way to the heart of something, often against a myriad of powerful figures and in battles that can easily last an hour or more, and finally you are standing in front of the prize. Only it's behind a magic barrier! Occasionally, there is another route to it but that's also rare.
Since none of the characters, even the "mage", is anywhere close to having "dispel barrier", you're forced to abandon a quest and go onto something else. It can get a little discouraging after that happens several times. It creates a disparity with the rest of the game's questing elements. How so? Most of the other access puzzles are easily solved. The NPCs and the game "narrator", unsolicited and often happily so, point to the exact solution leaving you only to act on it. But not when it comes to the "magic barriers".
Perhaps this is being done to force you, the player, to explore other parts of Avernum to "connect" various elements of a given storyline. The trouble is, I have not found any earth-moving connections between most of these. So it leaves me puzzled as to the purpose of this kind of frustration. It borders on sadistic as though the designers think most players are masochistic rather than just obsessive. I can't recall many really great RPGs that had this kind of frustrating "barrier". In fact, to me, it goes against one of the "unspoken rules" for RPGs: thou shalt not make player fight to the pit of Hell only to get a bauble as a reward. At least provide a cutaway that shows some awesome graphics.
Of course, since this was my first play-through (and I'm looking forward to doing so again with a better party makeup) I may have missed something about these magic barriers. I allow that possibility but I don't like going through "spoiler" hints during my first play-through with a game (some exceptions certainly apply).
I'm sure there are other players who look at this differently. We all have our likes and dislikes about RPGs. I enjoy this type of game and regret seeing the end of this type of turn-based, role-playing game. I have a few friends who are also frustrated at not being able to find good games like this. I think someone is underestimating the market for games like Avernum. Perhaps Spiderworks should upgrade the game engine (but keep the essential game play elements) and do another round of Avernum and other games based on that engine. If you did so, you'd put a lot of RPG gamers like myself in hog (or cave cow?) heaven.