Verelor

Who says Avernum 5 has to have turn-based movement?

 

It won't ruin the Avernum 'feel', I can promise; not if he brings back secret doors, torhces/spells for lighting, and elevation.

Just a few of the sounds and item graphics from the original Exile, IIRC, are still left over in Avernum 4.

 

Your argument against sprite animation completely breaks down, I think, when you consider that all four Geneforge games have accomplished exactly what I am talking about with sweeping success.

 

And you may like having only four in a group (4 or 5 is the preference I have, myself), but that doesn't mean that a niche of people wouldn't like the feature the be there as an option, as many apparently did when playing Exile.

Consult a walkthrough; there's almost no good replacement for it, and nothing exceeds the sheer amount of access to information that it provides you with. Here:

 

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/575517.html

My Suggestions for Avernum 5:

 

Bring back secret doors! Jeff already said he's doing this, but even then I couldn't stress it enough; Exile/Avernum isn't the same without them.

 

No more Recycling! Recycling is good for the environment and the planet, but not in videogames. Avernum 5 shouldn't re-use any of the same graphics from any previous games except for the sprites and a select number of environmental graphics. To a lesser extent, ditto for sound. It's unthinkable that Jeff's newest games still use graphics and sounds from the original Exile!

 

Animate! This is 2007, yet having timed-animating sprites was standard issue for the most low-end games of 1997. You did it with Geneforge, and, as far as I can tell, you can surely pull it off nicely with Avernum 5. Oldbies might complain upon seeing an animating PC/NPC in their Avernum game, but they've got Exile 1-3 and Avernum 1-4 if they love it so much.

 

More than 4 people! This isn't strictly necessary in my mind, but I liked how in Exile you could have a nice, big party of up to six (though five was my sweet spot), and wasn't too crazy about the maximum of four adventurers in the Avernum remakes. It stuck around for game #4. Raise the bar for Avernum 5, Jeff?...I can always dream.

 

And what's up with Jeff not answering the questions on this thread lately?

Necris, don't forget about those of us with stabler minds not concerned with the outright and total destruction of all in our path.

They said news and screenshots would be available in a few months months ago!

Great suggestions, though I've really made all of these on my original list that noone reads now or pays any heed to.

 

Still beats whatever the hell happened on page 8 with the kilts, eh?

cries* T_T

 

What in the hell? Take this outright spam to the Richard White boards! Leave my sacred topic alone! Amazing how you lamebrains can take Avernum 4 suggestions conversation and sling it all the way to the finer points of kilt wearing.

Geneforge is NOT 3-D in any sense of the word. It's isometric 2-d, best to be thought of as fully animated Avernum graphics. And we wouldn't have badly upsized boat graphics and item pics we've seen since Exile 1 if Spiderweb's art team was worth a damn.

 

I'll be off to the Richard White Games boards, to persue more casual conversation. I'll try to add a couple suggestions to the list later.

Still not as cool as something you think you can get to but then all signs point that you can't get to that particular thing but then actually in a very secret way it turns out it is really possible to get to it using a very secret method.

 

Must I clarify that?

Well, not if I can help it, right?

 

Concerning the new topic about a Morrowind to Avernum mod, in my not so humble opinion, it would be absolutely great if Avernum 4 is like Morrowind (though if that will ever happen, it'd be avernum 9, 10, 11, or perhaps 667)

Maybe I should ask a mod to pull the plug on this topic. The posts and replies are becoming more off-subject and random by the day.

Hmmm simpler times: Ultima...Wizardry...Zork...

 

Stupidest Idea Ever: Putting the more important details of your post in your signature which many people miss under the name Aloreal.

Sadly, pen-and-paper style crpgs are a dying breed. People want Final Fantasy and hackenslashers, I guess. Temple of Elemental Evil, LoM(not really new in any sense...), Neverwinter Nights, and er....nothing else recent I can think of besides Jeff's games at the moment.

 

Even if Jeff's games AREN'T the best of their kind, cheapness sure counts for something.

The way you're describing Jeff, you're making him sound like a somewhat flawed game developer.

Actually compelling storylines come first in his games, gameplay next (with little in the way of innovation, I might add).

 

Jeff still hasn't lost his dignity as a PC game developer (I hope). He's not simply going to do what sells best in his games. As I exactly stated before, using certain methods 3-D games can be jsut as cheap and easy to make now as 2-D ones. Everyone should get their heads out of the dern 1992 gutter.

Before this post becomes indefinitely fossilized, let me say this: How long do you think it would take before Jeff takes Avernum series or one of his other games to full 3-D? I know that really isn't Jeff's cup of Tea, but games with 3-D graphics is well over a decade old and these days almost as easy to create as 2-dimensional ones. Seeing the world of Avernum in polygonal 3-D (even if it's jsut original Everquest quality) would be quite compelling.

 

Edit: Something like the Lithtech engien would be a superb choice, since nowadays that engine is practically free to design on.

Maybe, just maybe. The tem systems are hardly the worst of the issues to be dealt with, though.

This topic is dying fast, so how bout I say something as another good suggestion: when I said Avernum could be improved if it was more like Geneforge, I certainly didn't mean remove the overworld. It would be terrible if Spidwerweb Soft did that.

Hmm true actually in Avernum 1-3 you can mod all the images and change the graphics to fit your needs if you really feel like doing it. A program called Heromachine would help you make the replacement image. Probably isn't too legal to distribute the demo with ANY modifications, tho.

To get back on track here, Avernum 4 would only benefit from the option to select and play ind ifferent languages. I doubt this is very high on Jeff's priority list, though, if at all.

---ENGLISH---

How the hell would you play one of his games if you couldn't understand english, specially since half the fun is plot development. It's like impossible, much less to enjoy them.

No, considering he has a dominantly english-speaking demographic of players. You're changing the scenario here anyway by giving an example of language.

GIF is only a max of 256 colors? That sucks, but I guess you learn something every day.

 

About the item graphics: it's not that they are bad or anything, it's just the exact same ones we've all seen for years.