Necris Omega

Dunno how much overlap there'd be between fans of both franchises, but the gaming market is nothing if not surprising.

" The particles used to get the plants to glow are the same particles used in most medicines, so they’re FDA-approved and safe for humans, although Strano emphasized the fact that he and his team do no intend for the plant-lights to be consumed." ... Still, if this technology ever fully crystallizes, I 100% expect to see glowing salads. Too much marketing potential for "Luminous Diets".

I reworked my original rendition of the Alien Blade from everyone's favorite* series. Take a look and let me know which design works better. *Unless you prefer Geneforge, to which I say that I do not share but respect your opinion

It's an unfortunate trend in the Avernum series. I know graphics can be expensive, particularly as the generations compound and they become exponentially more complex, but by the end of series, I had more than my fill of [Random Super Modifier!] [Trash Monster Type you Fought at Level 3].

Oh, I realize. The main website hasn't even been updated, and I'd expect that before it went into first round mac testing. Maybe I'm wrong.

I hope it's not too early to start getting excited for Avernum 3: Ruined World. If so, please forgive me. I know it hasn't even been given a product page yet, but Jeff does say he's busy editing it down, so... Fingers crossed we see something soon. In the meantime, I've been playing through the original ("original"?) A3 and was inspired to redo my rendition of the Black Halberd. I don't know if I'll revisit anything else from the game at this point, but either way, here's looking forward to the next incarnation.

Maybe it's a matter of distance? In Exile vs. Avernum, the differences are massive and, where deficient (again, this is in the eyes of old timey nostalgia biased weirdos like me) glaring. A gutted item, spell, and skill base, graphics lacking detail even if the system is more "advanced" - Avernum and Exile are games that are whole worlds apart. But Avernum vs Avernum+? ... Minus a few niggling little details, I can't see how the Avernum Remakes are anything but a massive improvement. Those games are a lot closer in style and form, and all the systematic improvements really click. The art and graphics are beautiful, there's more depth to the systems, and while it still is a massive overhaul, there doesn't feel like as massive a gulf between these remakes and the first. And lastly... again, nostalgia. You never forget your first love. If you played Exile, if that's the series that introduced you to Spiderweb, then that's probably going to have a level of personal connection the original Avernum just can't hope to match. Tinkering with that is going to be a touchier subject that tinkering with what's already a post-tinker product. Distance. And so, while Avernum was a glaring turn from the beloved, Avernum: Subtitle! is just many years of maturity, polish, and refinement applied to a comparably flawed product. That is so much easier to swallow, even if that's only a skewed, personal perception.

In honor of Avadon 3. Yay, it's out now!

The Avernum/Exile games provide the perfect "core sample" of its genre - essentially the same game made again and again with the same developer as time and the industry evolves. It's not just an approachable scale of game, it's a pertinent and interesting sample of gaming history with minimized variables. A good entry point, both technically and academically.

The skull was kinda a last-minute addition. I felt I needed something that said "reaper" in a more general sense.

Reaper Baton

Give Divinity: Original Sin a try. It's kinda like if Avadon had a bigger effects budget, but less balance.

Meantime over! Living tool

It would be. In the meantime, here is my rendition of the Guardian Claymore.

The scarab is actually a good idea come to think of it. I just did a Katana, though so the Shadowwalker's gear wouldn't be my first choice.

So, as some of you know, I like to art weapons. Now, I've done a ton of work from Avernum/Exile, from the signature Demonslayer to the obscure Justice Lance, but... no Geneforge or Avadon. Maybe it's just that they're not as descriptive as the old Exile versions, but...that hasn't stopped me before. Question is... what makes a signature Geneforge or Avadon Weapon? I was thinking for Geneforge I'd go with the Guardian's Claymore and maybe a Reaper Baton, but I'm really waffling on subjects for Avadon. ... Thoughts?

This speaks to a larger problem I have with the followers, and really, general portrayal of Avadon - you get very little explicit pro-Avadon exposure and dialog, and what you do get comes off as more "patriotic" rather than anything personal or directly impacting. At the end, the picture painted is very much slanted towards betraying the organization, which is less interesting. Really, I find this to be the case in most "two-option choice centric" games, from this to Dragon Age's mage debate. Really, Geneforge was largely more interesting in that regard. It felt more nuanced, and it did a better job of framing the flaws of both arguments.

Her reactions to the Vahnatai in E2/A2 also seem to suggest an awareness that goes beyond what the rest of Avernum knew at that time... perhaps there's a connection.

While I'll admit Exile probably did more to shape my views on what dragons should be, more and more in retrospect I find it hard to respect them in the face of their arrogance. Like... dude, Khoth? Your superiority complex became clown spooning-ly ridiculous around the time those "petty monkeys" obliterated your entire race minus the tiniest handful, and made you their dog for a good many years. This is why I find myself respecting Athron the most - she has a firm grip on reality while her fellows live in abject denial.

While I maintain that the Second Avernum Trilogy didn't work more than it did, I have to admit, I love the fight against Limoncelli Jr. and how it turns into a kind of "who's on first?" routine with time clones.

I don't know. I'd say what happened to the Footracer province is indisputably a full blown catastrophe, and the Empire absolutely didn't just shrug its shoulders and ignore it. But... they absolutely do ignore vast swaths of the continent. And this goes back before even this whole "plague" nonsense - look at the Isle of Maddok. Valorim may be the "newest" of the continents settled, but even then, it's still been a part of the Empire since before Avernum was a thing - the original Silvar is on the far southern tip of the continent, after all. At this point the "frontier" issue can only go so far to explain the Empire's neglect. Ultimately, I think the shenanigans in the Blackrock Fortress are what really explain what happened - the Empress is beset with political enemies. Her father may have ruled with an iron fist and a perversely powerful demon mage, but Prazac is new, inexperienced, and doesn't have the kind of weapons to keep dissent down that her father did. The Empire's turmoil runs deeper than we can guess, at least until the next game. This is really what keeps the Empire staggering and winded - not the plagues, not the loss in Avernum, but the rot at the core.

A4 was the most jarring of size-distortions simply because it was the first game to use that format. It really does feel like Blosk would be better off named "North Dharmon" there. Then again, I never liked A4 & 6's style. It worked for A5, as that was all new areas, but seeing the the whole nation of Avernum devolve into a Lichtenstein dot just didn't do it for me. That aside, I never did stop to consider the display limitations on the original Avernums and especially Exile, and how a smaller play field would help create the illusion of a much larger game world. Great point.

Huh... I was going to mention how I thought he was refreshingly* straight forward with his plans (balance included) in the "Avadon 3: The Warborn, Changes and Discussion" thread, but that interview does predate it. *As opposed to other developers, though that may primarily be the fault of other developers I follow. I could also be conflating my own positivity on the changes proposed in debatable ways, so there's that too.

Jello - we don't not call it powered bone slime for nothing.

I think the issue of "excess good" isn't in and of itself a thing, but due to the raw nature of reality, there's simply a hard and fast limit to everything where unwanted side effects kick in, or the nature of the thing fundamentally changes. "Happiness" is something you think you can never have enough of, but after a certain point it devolves into the aforementioned mania, which comes with a severe uncoupling from reality. Your brain can only process so much pleasure (or anything, really) before overloading. "Tick! No! Don't! If you go in there we'll lapse into a coma of pure ecstasy from which we'll never awaken!" ~ The Tick's Mind