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Kiexcolo

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Burgeoning Battle Gamma

Burgeoning Battle Gamma (7/17)

  1. I want closable doors. And when I was typing that, I realized that the word closable is not in the dictionary. For gods sake this is the 21st century, Oxford/Cambridge or whatever governing authority for English words please do something about it. Ok sorry of the rant, not being able to steal all the loot unseen is making me cranky but doors that can't close is definitely a step backwards for the series.
  2. Not sure if this was already mentioned as a new playable race... Giants. Bonus to strength and endurance. Can't use standard equipment, probably only clubs and rocks (finally found a use for rocks) Since there are Giant Shamans in the game, magic casting giants are a go.
  3. Originally Posted By: Kelandon Originally Posted By: Kiexcolo but problem is people who are not interested can't skip it, at least not with BoA's limitation. For this I blame the engine for not supporting a way to skip cut scenes. There is a way of skipping Bahs's cutscenes. I just added it after v1.0.0, which is generally the version on which the reviews are based (if not the beta). Hmm.. then why are people complaining about lengthy cutscenes when you can just skip it... How do you skip it? Edit: Maybe I didn't read that right initially... so the review is based on the version that can't skip the cutscene?
  4. Click to reveal.. (My nonsense, skip this for your own sanity) After reading the reviews for the 2 scenarios, I saw that there were Slith Riders! Slith Riders are cool! Anything with Slith Riders in them MUST be awesome! Makes me wanna go play the scenarios. Alas the only remnant of my trifling with BoA lies in Kelandon's scenarios. I never played the scenarios so I can't comment on the accuracy of the comments but after reading the reviews, it seems that they were mostly mixed. I think that filtering out the useless criticisms and focusing on the good ones is essential for a developer's well-being. (Although I have no right to say that since I never released any of my own scenarios) So after filtering out, this is what I gather from the reviews: While some people may not have been tactful in their use of words, generally the scenarios have been criticized for their tedious battles although it has also been pointed out that there are several innovative battle scenarios. Plot-wise, it seems 50/50 (I know I would have liked it even without having played it). Some have commented on the linearity of the quests. For Bahssikava, this is understandable. Since I think Kelandon was trying to be as canonical as possible, he can't detract much from how it was shown in A1 (like how someone mentioned there were no shops until after the steel door but who was gonna set up shop in the passage to Bahssikava since A1) and also he has to link the story to the next chapter of the trilogy. But Homeland being the last should allow him to explore as many options as he wishes. 50/50 liked the use of cut scenes to show the back story. Normally the back story is shown through dialog or readable tomes so I feel that its kind of refreshing but problem is people who are not interested can't skip it, at least not with BoA's limitation. For this I blame the engine for not supporting a way to skip cut scenes. Major NPCs are noted to have some individual characteristics and back story though not really in-depth. Since this is a trilogy, I expect that you will learn more about them as you progress through the trilogy. Graphics-wise, some mention was made of the poor color choice of purple and yellow for the landscape. Since the Slith homeland should be in one of the caverns of Avernum, the use of the default tile graphics should be good enough (Avernum should look like Avernum) though the flora and fauna can be different (like the different trees in Vahnatai lands) Still, the choice of purple and yellow does seem rather bad to me. Well if Kelando ever decides to release Homeland, I may just decide to play the trilogy. (I have never played any non-spiderweb BoA scenarios) But I am not hopeful, it sounds pretty big and the incentive for him to do it isn't there.
  5. Originally Posted By: Randomizer This version is quite different from the previous versions. Well then maybe I will wait for the comments after people have played it.
  6. Oh wow I forgot about finishing the last chapter write-up but I am glad to see that people have posted constructive statements about their own unfinished scenarios. Maybe I will get around to it, its not that difficult to predict.
  7. Avernum again... Oh well I will probably give this a miss, I never was a fan of Geneforge meet Avernum style. To me the title is more like "Return to the pit" than "Escape from the pit". Anyway Skyrim will probably keep me occupied for several months.
  8. Congrats on your Steam release, its about time. Heres wishing you success on your future endeavors.
  9. Back when Blades of Avernum was first released (2004?) There was a scenario competition that went along with it and I thought of a scenario which I thought might be interesting to Avernum fans based on the Slith home land (And I was not the only one, I remembered reading the boards that someone else was also writing a scenario on that) Unfortunately when I was 25% done, my harddisk gave up on me and I learnt the importance of secondary storage. I also didn't have the strength to continue from scratch... the hours spent mapping out northern Avernum and comparing it to Avernum 2... I didn't want to do that again... So why am I posting this now? Well I came across the word Slithzerikai while surfing and my scenario plot came back to my head and I thought I will write it down before I grow old and start to forget stuff. So if you are not afraid of reading long posts... well read on. The Plot: **Background** The war with the Empire has ended but the peace Avernum enjoyed was short-lived. The barbaric Sliths have began aggressions again culminating in the Second Slith War. During this time of turmoil, you (and your merry band of adventurers if any) are taking a break in Fort Emerald after doing a scouting mission for the commander of the fort when you received a royal dispatch from King Micah himself; You have been tasked to meet with a colony of Sliths in Northern Avernum and to render whatever aid they require of you. You have no idea why you were chosen for this mission; Your past exploits were, while successful, rather mundane. Still it is an order from the King himself and your declare your break time over. As the northern water ways of Avernum are dangerously patrolled by the enemy Sliths, you decide to take the longer but safer route through the Abyss. The inhabitants of the Abyss were none too friendly but you had little problems. Showing the Royal Seal of Avernum encouraged even the most uncooperative guard to let you through. Leaving the gates of Bargha, you consult your map to the directions to New Harston where you were to meet the Captain of the guards who will brief you further on your mission. **End Of Background** Notes: Yup, New Harston, that was really what I wanted to call it. In Avernum 4, it was apparently still ruins though it was there in Avernum 5. This was set around the period of the Za-Khazi Run. **Chapter 1: The Lost Bahssikava** You meet with the Captain of the guards who will give you a test of your abilities by asking you to clear out Pyrog's Cave which has been infested with goblins. After you clear out the cave, the Captain gives you directions to the Slith Colony and hands you a pass that allows you to cross a bridge that leads there. You trek through the wild and dangerous regions of Northern Avernum and finally reach the Slith colony. There the local priestess reveals to you that the Mother Goddess has prophesied that you will be the one to lead the Sliths to salvation. You are then asked to take the trail of the Lost Bahssikava and enter the home lands of the Slith. You brave the dangers of the Lost Bahssikava and finally reach a ruined cavern city filled with spirits of the undead. Your exploration of the city reveals that an ancient battle took place here. A small group of Sliths await you when you exit the city. One of them greets you in your tongue, they have been waiting for you. He points you to your next destination, the Temple of the One. **End of Chapter 1** Notes: The scenarion assumes you are using a new or low level team so the monsters are relatively weak at the start. The geography of Northern Avernum is based closely to Avernum 2 so there is a river between New Harston to the Lost Bahssikava. To get around that, a bridge has been built which is guarded by Avernites and only people with passes are allowed to cross. This also gets round you going to the Lost Bahssikava before you clear out Pyrog's cave. Of course there are also side quest like helping out New Harston's resident's by killing rats in the cellar and stuff. The Northern Islands are also in the game but only explorable in the next chapter. **Chapter 2:The Land of the Sliths ** You follow the directions given to you and head to the Temple of the One. Along the way, you are ambushed by a group of savage Sliths which leads you to suspect that all is not well in the land of the Sliths. Eventually when you arrive at the Temple of the One, you are greeted by the Arch Priest and shown into the inner chambers of the temple where a huge secret is revealed; the statue of a Vahnatai labeled as The One! A voice speaks in your head and you realise the statue is talking to you. It tells you about the history of itself and the Sliths. He was once a brilliant mage of the Vanatai that had attained the rank of Ihrno. However he was caught dabbling in forbidden arts and was cast out of his people together with his pupils. He and his pupils then created the Sliths as the instrument of his vengeance. However, while nurturing his creations, he realised the error of his ways and turned over a new leaf seeking instead to care for and guide the Sliths. Because of this, he had a falling out with best pupil, Kardis(I have to name him or its difficult to read) resulting in his banishment. He was growing old however and did not have the means to be transformed into a Crystal Soul. Also he was worried that the Vahnatai will detect his presence if he were to be transformed into a Crystal Soul and exterminate the Sliths. He then came up with the idea of embedding his soul into a stone replica of himself. While his powers will be diminished in this form, he will be immortal and will be able to guide the Sliths for all eternity. During this period, the Sliths entered into a golden age of prosperity and each succeeding Arch Priest was charged with protecting the secret of their creator. Unknown to The One, Kardis was plotting revenge. After several centuries, he developed a plague which will make infected Sliths more savage and aggressive. Subsequently, the plague affected a fair number of Sliths who started demon worship and turned on their own kind, they were known as Darklings (Maybe this was actually a Avernite term but whatever, it helps to differentiate). A civil war broke out between the Darklings and the normal Sliths. At the onset of the war, many normal Sliths became infected after a battle and joined the Darklings so even a victorious battle becomes a loss. The One managed to developed a vaccine thus turning the tide of the war. However he was unable to find a cure. In a climatic battle at Bahssikava, the bulk of the Darklings army was defeated. The surviving Darklings were rounded up and cast out of the Slith land in the hope that they would recover one day. Kardis was never found. (Now that I look at it, the history is pretty lengthy, probably would be better if I were to break it down into books readable by the player at his leisure.) After telling you his history, The One tells you that he has been keeping track of the exiled Sliths through the stone artifacts that they brought along with them. Most of the stone artifacts contains a part of his essence that allows him to view the surroundings and even at times communicate. Somehow one of the stone artifacts ended up in your possession and he has been monitoring you ever since. He feels that you are capable of solving the strife has come anew to the Slith. He suspects that a mutated version of the original virus has appeared and infected some patrols in the Blasted Lands (area where the civil war took place) and some of them has sneaked past the cordon and hiding in Slith lands. Since you are not a Slith, you should be unaffected by the plague (if you are a Slith, then you are a descendant of the infected Sliths and should have developed an immunity to the plague and its variants ) He wants you to do 2 tasks, investigate the Darkling sighting and visit an ancient Drake who was an ally of the Sliths in the civil war. You accept and the Arch-Priest conducts a ceremony which allows you to understand and speak the local tongue. You then set off visiting the cavern cities of the Slith, exploring the Slith land, finding the home of a Avernite explorer who got lost and ended up in the Slith home land. Subsequently you reach the ancient Drake who warns of a impending danger in the blasted lands and gets assassinated after delivering the warning. You also find and clear out the darkling hideout. On completion of your tasks you return to The One to make your report. There you see a vision of the walls of a slith fort being destroyed by a demon and a Darkling horde overcoming the defences of the fort. The One tells you that the vision was real, the fort that cordoned off the the Blasted Lands have been destroyed, a Slith army is now camped around the fort waiting to repel any Darkling invasion but he fears that it will be a repeat of the previous war... he asks that you sneak into the Blasted Lands and investigate the source of the insurgency. **End of Chapter 2** Notes: The geography of the Slith home lands was up to me to invent. The northern area was mainly lava fields that heated up the whole cavern making it the idea home for the Sliths. The east contains the Blasted Lands and was separated from the Slith Lands by a sea and cave walls. The only passage through is guarded by a Slith Fort which was destroyed in the vision. The vision was to be a cutscene although I was not sure if it could be done but it seemed doable at the time. Anyway, there was to be a few Slith cities to explore. If you didn't go to the temple first, then you wouldn't be able to communicate with the local Sliths. There will also be a Slith warrior NPC that can join your group in this chapter. At that time, I also created a Slith Rider monster that looked like a Slith warrior riding a giant lizard. After defeating the Slith rider, you will have to fight the giant lizard which will be slightly damaged but its not a difficult foe. I remembered writing a magic lamp and a genie but can't remember where it was gonna fit in. **Chapter 3: The Blasted Lands** I think I will just give a short summary here since this chapter and the last were pretty undeveloped then. You will venture into the Blasted Lands and explore some of the ruins left from the war. You will across Darkling scouts, Darkling bands, Darkling camps etc. You will also be able to recruit a imp to your party (can't bring the Slith warrior companion as he might get infected) At the end, you will come upon Kardis who was the engineer of the new virus and defeat him. Kardis will reveal his allegiance with a Demon Lord (insert name here) who is now in possession of an airborne type of his virus and is preparing to release it. And if the imp companion was with you, he will betray you at this point. But you will get a super cursed weapon from him, the Demon Claw. **End of Chapter 3** Notes: The curse was a scripted one rather than the normal kind of curse, it will randomly deal you damage when you use it. **Chapter 4: The Star Pyramid** Well, this is pretty straightforward, go the the lair of the Demon Lord (insert name here), the Star Pyramid, destroy the virus and vanquish him. Along the way you will meet a group of Vantai's investigating the demonic energies in the area (possibly the only store and rest area in the chapter) and you can recruit one of them. There is a ancient ruin belonging to some ancient race of demon worshipers who were wiped out by the Vahnatai. After you defeat the Demon Lord and bring peace to the Lands, you return to Avernum and the entry to Lost Bahssikava is sealed again. But the One promised that the time of the prodigal sons' return will be soon... **End of Chapter 4** Notes: In conversation, the Demon Lord will have hinted that the 2nd Slith War in Avernum was part of his conspiracy to dominate Avernum in Grahoth's absence. You will do battle with him at the tip of the pyramid... kinda like how you fought Grahoth... So thats the end... Best Scenario Award?? Haha, well it would have been nice to play I think.
  10. Well I will just put my 2 cents in too... The comments I am about to give will probably sound critical and I understand that Jeff is trying for something different so you can just leave my cents untouched. I have played most of the Spiderweb games and my favourite was Avernum 3 because it felt like a open world with lots of places to explore and discover. I was kinda disappointed with the later Avernum games because they felt somewhat linear but they were still playable. With Avadon it feels even worse because you keep going back to the same places and maybe they have one more extra dialogue/quest and only one more area is opened up... while I think I understand what Jeff is trying to achieve here (really!!), it seems to be executed rather poorly. The cool down for abilities is just way too long. There are periods of time when my sorceress/shaman had to use their physical ranged attack because all my spells were in cool down and the enemy is immune to my default magic attack (And I like to save my wands...) which strikes me as pretty weird. Rather than long cool downs, I would prefer that powerful spells/skills have a higher fatigue cost so that players won't just spam powerful spells/skills (Kinda like the old school MP system really). Also I don't get why fatigue doesn't restore over time outside of battles but health does? Shouldn't it be the other way round? I appreciate the simplification of weight only applying to items that you equip, this was already in place in previous games (though my RPG soul screams that its not right, I am going to ignore it since I hate going back and forth to carry loot) But I feel that there are too many red herrings in Avadon. Why even bother giving paper or bags of meal weight if its not going to affect anything. I don't mind getting one of those mundane quest where you have to look for some worthless items and thinking "Damn, where was that limb that I saw before" but I don't recall getting any of that in the game. All the worthless items might as well be called trash A, trash B etc. As for the monsters... well I don't really have any complaints... but I would like to see a bestiary that updates when you fight a creature (kinda like ff13) so I can check their resistance and plan my strategy. Don't have to put exact figures, something like partial, full etc. Avadon is... different but not really different in the way that I like it. By the way, I bought the game.
  11. Never really tried it myself but I was thinking would blink pants work for the little islands?
  12. Originally Posted By: azrieuim The reason I ask is because it says there is an option to play with direct X for the graphics, and I don't see that option when I go to the windows menu entry for the game, and it says it should be there in the game instructions. There is a directX version in the support pages. http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/avadon/techsupp.html
  13. Just a consistency issue. The sign post for the Beraza Trading Post says Calantha is the proprietor but I have not even gotten Calantha's quest. Shouldn't the proprietor be Charon.
  14. Well I just downloaded the windows version of Avadon but the graphics wasn't displaying correctly. Luckily there was a DX version in the support pages and that worked for me. I recommend adding that permanently in the installation like Avernum 6 instead if just leaving it in the support pages where people might not bother to explore. Anyway I am eager to try it but I have to go to work now. Zzzz.
  15. Anyone know where I might find a pair lying around? I have completed 90% of the maps and still can't find one, I don't want to purchase from a shop if I don't have to.
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