shout27

I understand what you're saying, and on some level I can agree. But, at the same time, the more I play these new games the more I feel like something is lacking that was present in the original Exile Trilogy, and is steadily leaking away. I mean, I like Avadon 2 much better than I liked the first one, broken tinkermage and all else included, but I haven't finished it so I'm withholding final judgement. So far, I really get the impression that the first game was just a prologue to this one. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd like to see a more dynamic world around me, and not just have the games devolve further into straight combat simulations. I'm probably using the wrong words, but an example are all of these arcane scrolls I'm finding, as well as everyone I encounter in-game who is researching magic. But at the same time, I have no means of reaching higher levels in spells by researching or even finding spell tomes like in Avernum. Though I find it wierd that the Corruption is such a problematic area, but the highest tier spell the player can get emulates it's effects on his/her enemies and doesn't seem to taint me in any way.

Honestly, I would like to see him go back to Exile, dust off some of the elements in that game and alongside Avernum, put the story together in such a way that the entire series comes out as a single game. At the very least, have 1-3 done in this manner. Have an element in there so that you can choose to have particular characters stop adventuring and 'settle down' (not just delete the character) to make room for new adventurers and give the 'retirees' the ability to affect the story in some way, the opportunity to pick up the 'retirees' children who are pre-made characters but have additional strengths/weaknesses, or give the adventuring party access to gear that otherwise doesn't exist. Not positive about the timeline. But, if it's spaced far enough apart, then by the time the third part of the game starts the first adventurers will have died of old age. If the player didn't make any attempt to take advantage of the generational stuff, they could suddenly find themselves controlling a brand new party in the pits of a destroyed Avernum. Should they have elected to not fulfill any of the game winning quests for those parts of the game. Where the Vhanati are running around killing humans because of the actions of the Empire in stealing Crystal Souls, the demon of the pit is still alive and ruling most of Avernum, and what little strength Avernum had was crushed by the Empire. Leaving the player with the knowledge of the location of all his awesome gear and a very difficult, as well as unlikely, path of getting a hold of it all. Because he's back to level 1. I bring this up, because I see the choices of what the player is able to do to be steadily dwindling . Potion Making is gone and the spell list is a joke of it's former length and breadth. Finding Arcane Scrolls, means nothing but money and xp rewards for successful quests, when I feel that my wizard/mage should be able to use them to advance his/her abilities in his/her craft. Then there's the whole Erika situation. Maybe I want my wizard/Mage to work out a way to break the curse she is under? I guess what I'm saying, is that I'd like to see 1-3 combined, and from that, sandbox elements introduced where the story and available resources can massively change. Instead of having 'auto-die' or even 'this will happen because the story-line I'm writing demands it' type events force certain things to happen. The player can do things like fight off the Empire Army at the front lines, assuming that he/she has the resources and levels to pull it off.

I was talking about the skill requirements. I never understood why my character had to be an awesome swordsman to be awesome at throwing ninja stars. Fallout 1+2, Wizardry 8, Planescape:Torment, Baldur's Gate series, Dragon Wars, The Elder Scrolls series, there are others that I can't think of off the top of my head. I don't need an awesomely branching story, but I hate the illusion of choice that is no choice. Like the Shadow beast, for example, spent the whole time trying to figure out how to interact with it and despite giving the big bad no clues he's suddenly there and we're 'allies' against the critter. Then there are the various individuals that you can 'capture' only for them to suddenly change their minds and fight you to the death anyways. If I want to feel useless in the grand scheme of things, all I have to do is look at my current job... not play the game that's supposed to distract me from my troubles.

I figured that out early on, but I can honestly say that, to me, choice is what makes a great game. If Avadon, or it's equivalent, had been the game to be released instead of the Exile series? I'd have never picked up a spidweb software game again. Period. There are plenty of crpg gems out there that don't sacrifice choice for ease of planning and are awesome games. I simply wouldn't have had the patience to tolerate a story that goes at it's own pace and actively sabotoges any of my attempts to change the point A to point B progression of the story. It wasn't helped when I hit the level cap well before the end game and had to take a 'wtf?' moment that human elite soldiers, who weren't you and hadn't done half the legendary stuff you'd been up to, were able to fight you on even footing with iron swords(at least, that's what they dropped). The Titans weren't as tough as they were. I had to seriously stop for a time and think about whether I really wanted to slog through hours worth of end-game enemies of that toughness, with nothing to show for it besides that little bit of petty vengeance against the story path, when the story said I should run. I also didn't appreciate being unable to help Nathalie out of her descent into insanity. Honestly, just talking about my issues with TBF makes me wonder if I should even pick up the Warborn if all I have to look forward to is more of the same.

Honestly, the biggest thing I miss about the spidweb games nowadays is freedom of choice. Back in Exile you could explore a lot, and while the spell list may have been a bit bloated, eventually you started to experiment to see what you liked. Avernum cut back a bit and did some interesting things, but the one skill level up per level was irritating when I was playing catch up on my secondary skills. Avadon? Just finished TBF and am working on TC... TBF honestly felt pointless. You couldn't even affect the beginning world state of TC by deciding what happened at the end of TBF. I'm really not sure what to say about TBF, beyond that all choices seemed to lead to the same road in general. It was really disappointing to be honest. I saw that the skill tree is getting dumped and I'm happy with that. I guess what I'm asking for at the end, is what I expected at the beginning, a story path that actually diverges into different endings over the course of your adventures and some choices that could seem innocent having major repercussions. In other words, I'd like that spirit of choice back.