madrigan
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Originally Posted By: Skwish-E But at $50 I would have to turn it down since I have a family of 7 to feed, clothe, and school. $45 is my upper limit for a game, and about all I can spend on games in a year, so Jeff pretty much gets all my Gaming $. Understood, but I just picked $50 as a representative higher price. My point would have been the same if I had said $45, or just stuck with $35, which is more than I have paid for any Spiderweb game. I was responding to your statement that if Jeff raised prices in the future he would lose core customers. I don't think that's the case.
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My Avernum parties usually include a Slith with a human name, like Lou or Carl. I suppose I could make up a backstory about how the character's name is really Ssssssssth but everyone calls him Frank or whatever. My priest is usually called Cracker, because in 1985 or so I had a friend who always called his AD&D clerics Cracker. I also maintain his tradition of giving the Crackers numbered names so there's Cracker II, III, and so on. I have no idea where that name came from, maybe he was in a hurry and there was a box of Ritz sitting there. Nephils always gets a name like a cat sound -- Mrrrrrrrr -- or the name of a type of cat -- Tiger. Then I get bored with that and combine the two, and now I've had a bunch of Nephil swordsmen named Miger. And then of course there was Miger II, III, IV, etc.
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Also, there are a lot of items you can see that are just there for atmosphere which you cannot pick up.
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Originally Posted By: Skwish-E Now, he may be in the "How low can you go?" phase, but I wouls hate to see him drop the game to $5, then not be able to sell 50,000 copies, and have to raise the price back up for the next version. He would likely lose even core customers if that happens. I think I'm one of Jeff's core customers, though I've only been playing his games since early 2007 so maybe I'm not the core of the core. But I have registered seven of his games. If Jeff raised his price to, say, $35 a game, that wouldn't make me hesitate at all. I play every one of his games multiple times, which is probably at least two hundred hours per game. At $50 per game that would be an entertainment bargain, far more cost efficient than going to a movie or going out to eat, for example. In addition, there are ethical reasons to buy a game from an independent developer with two employees working in his basement. Maybe there will be some sort of a culture clash between the old-schoolers and the new-steamers on this forum, and maybe there won't be. But as long as Jeff is making great RPGs I will keep buying them, and I will buy them from his site and not off of Steam. The only thing that will change that, aside from personal financial disaster, is if he starts making tiny throwaway games to appeal to the very-very-casual crowd.
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Avernum: Escape From the Pit Announced
madrigan replied to Spidweb's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
The various underworld creatures can perform reverse photosynthesis and convert the dark into energy. -
Hello all, I have several Spiderweb games on my Mac. I'm having knee surgery next month, and I'd like to install some of them, possibly A4-6 and Avadon, onto my girlfriend's Windows 7 laptop so I can play them lying in bed whacked out on painkillers. I think I read that purchasing the game once allows you to install multiple versions on multiple computers at the same time. Is this right? Or am I making that up? Just to be clear, what I would like to do is leave my current installs and saved games on my Mac and then also install the full games on the PC. If that can be done, how do I do it? Do I just download the Windows version and install it with my existing key? Thanks.
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New Blog Post On Avernum
madrigan replied to Spidweb's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Originally Posted By: Enraged Slith To be perfectly honest, that sort of thing is nice, but Avadon taught me that I don't really care as much about it as I thought I did. I enjoyed Avadon, but I wanted more options. I played through Avadon twice. I played through A4-6 at least four times each. -
New Blog Post On Avernum
madrigan replied to Spidweb's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Originally Posted By: Necris Omega That's often an appeal all it's own too. Anyone whose played Diablo II with one of the more wacky build that aren't optimal, but unique and fun, knows what I'm talking about. Are all the Diablos like that, or just II? -
New Blog Post On Avernum
madrigan replied to Spidweb's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Originally Posted By: Dantius I'd like to point out that it's not necessary to have a bunch of branching options for character development for a game to be good, or even have character development be an integral part of the game at all. Hell, speaking from my chess soapbox, it's not even necessary to have any sort of level-induced character progression at all! Fun, meaningful tactical decisions don't come from agonizing over whether or not to put points into this stat or that stat- that' accounting, and it's not fun- rather, interesting battles and tactic come from confrontations with interchangeable, carefully selected allies custom-tailored to play to the strengths and weaknesses of the current enemy you're fighting. This is why the Geneforge series will always be, in terms of combat mechanics (and most other things, but let's restrict this to combat for now), my favorite SW game. I see what you mean, but "a bunch of branching options for character development" probably is necessary for a role-playing game. It's interesting to me that you like Geneforge best because of the tactical options. I like the second Avernum trilogy the best because it allows me to customize based on my conception of each character and still win the game. I don't like math and I don't have much of a mind for tactics. I'm terrible at chess, partially because I have no patience. I've played G4 and 5 and there is always some point where I am just buffing my guy and then trying to run past some group of enemies because I tried fighting them fifteen times and made no progress. In Avernum 4-6, there is much more flexibility. Sliths and Nephil are better min-max choices, but you can still win with four humans. Archery isn't that great, but you can still win with a dedicated archer in your party. What I want out of these games is the ability to complete the story with whatever set of characters I feel like inventing. -
The coming Avernum rewrites
madrigan replied to goblindolf's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Originally Posted By: Darth Ernie for advertising How does a medal showing that I destroyed the Nephil bandits help with advertising? -
The coming Avernum rewrites
madrigan replied to goblindolf's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Originally Posted By: Randomizer Since the game distributor companies want achievement systems there will probably be medals added. Distributors actually lean on creators to put in achievement systems? Why do they do that? -
Do you want head-banging to be retained?
madrigan replied to Ociporus's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Originally Posted By: ProperPseudonym Originally Posted By: madrigan NO. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO [...]having to creep along walls to find secret doors? No way. I want more entertainment value per minute than that. I can compromise. What would you think about a mixture of both? I just hate the fact that every secret door is connected to a switch. I wouldn't mind buttons/levers if there were some headbangers in the mix. In other words I am all for one, and one for all! What I do not want is to have my game held up for an hour while I wander around trying to find a door. I can visualize my characters searching tenaciously for the passage without actually spending the RL time. If Jeff has a way to keep some headbanging without causing long, boring delays in my game, then fine. I know we are talking about an A1 rewrite, but when when I tried to play through A3 I know there was some point where to kill the boss on a map you had to find a secret door. It was the source of the first plague, I think. That was one of the many reasons I never tried to finish that game, I was walking around and around in circles and it was very frustrating. -
Do you want head-banging to be retained?
madrigan replied to Ociporus's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
NO. Keep the switches, or get rid of secret doors entirely. Or anything. But don't make me waste time bashing into every inch of empty wall on a map. That is not my idea of entertaining gameplay. If you have to create a door finding spell, that means the doors are too hard to find. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO Absolutely not. There are things from the older games that I don't like -- such as indoors/outdoors -- that I can nonetheless appreciate the arguments for. But having to creep along walls to find secret doors? No way. I want more entertainment value per minute than that. -
Avernum vs Avernum Escape from the pit?
madrigan replied to ArchMage81's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
The idea that I might be able to play a new release of Avernum IV when I am fifty, sixty, and seventy years old makes me happy. -
Originally Posted By: Randomizer Some of those curses can last a lot longer than you expect. I'm guessing the undead slowed you several times. The undead were brutal. This is probably the 3rd or 4th non-cheat A6 game I've played, and I don't remember ever having this much trouble. I only got through the map because my main melee guy reached the speed burst battle discipline. I was able to have him run right past all the enemies and break the crystals before the whole party was cursed, nearly dead, and running around terrified.
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Originally Posted By: HOUSE of S Two thoughts. 1) For the slowing, what traits (advantages/disadvantages) does that character have? 2) For the tab issue, try disconnecting and reconnecting your keyboard cord. Don't tell me that's dumb, just try it: this really fixes a lot of mac input issues. Well, on my next reload, the tab thing went away. And, after I had walked from Nociduas's pad back to Fort Dranlon, I noticed the slow thing had gone away. To answer your question, he has Natural Mage and Deadeye. I am very curious as to what you had in mind here. I would not have told you that the keyboard cord thing was dumb. I bet that would have worked if the problem hadn't magically healed itself. Thanks everybody.
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Originally Posted By: Earth Empires does he have heavy armors etc equipped and that way encumbered? That occurred to me. But he doesn't.
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I am replaying A6, I'm in Nociduas's lair which you reach by chasing the bandit leader on the quest from Fort Dranlon. One of my characters has a "slow" symbol next to his portrait -- the one with the guy sort of falling over with spikes in his back -- and it won't go away. I tried walking out of the lair, back to the surface, walking around, it just stays there. I'm not certain if it's affecting play at all, but it's annoying. Furthermore, I just re-opened my game to verify the above, and the description text now appears as if I am pressing Tab, except that I'm not. It doesn't appear to be a keyboard issue. Are these two things related? This is on a Mac with version 1.0.3. Maybe I should download 1.1?
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Avernum: Escape From the Pit Announced
madrigan replied to Spidweb's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
Originally Posted By: Rogue Walker I'm looking forward to the rest of the Avadon trilogy and Avernum Origins (if it ends up being made), but I feel this remake will be more than just retreading old grounds. If Avernum: Origins is ever made, I will buy it. But I would be much more interested in Avernum: After the Apocalypse, which would take place after the events of A6. Also, I am very excited about this remake. I never got much more than 1/50th of the way into A1, because I don't like the interface. But there will be new content in the remake anyway. -
The coming Avernum rewrites
madrigan replied to goblindolf's topic in Avernum Trilogy (2011-2018 remake versions)
The new Avernum 1 looks freaking awesome. If I were not at work I would be jumping around the room in fanboy glee. As I have said on these forums a dozen times, I don't like the indoors/outdoors thing. But I admit, the outdoors graphics look great. With the improved graphics and interface it might not be as annoying. Maybe it won't be annoying at all! It looks like the character improvement system will be fun. And as a bad player and non-min/maxer, I am reassured by Jeff's statement that he will make it as difficult as possible to build a really terrible party. I am not clear on the discount Jeff mentioned. Is the discount for anyone who bought any Avernum game, or just people who bought the original Avernum 1? Yes, I realize the game was not called Avernum 1, and that World War I was not called World War I. And so on. -
I understand why people like the old approach. Despite that, I like the new approach.
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Originally Posted By: Kyronea There was something gained by eliminating the outdoors? For me there was. Personally I see no reason to prefer the indoors/outdoors arrangement. When you are driving on an interstate, and then drive into a city, does the scale of the world change? Do you suddenly become larger, or the buildings more detailed? No, none of that happens. You are at the same scale at all times. To me the outdoors-to-indoors transition feels ridiculous, as if I've stumbled into the city of Kandor. I don't like the outdoors interface at all, I feel like I am moving pins on a map instead of walking through the landscape. In this aspect I find A4 superior to A1-3 in every way. I never had a problem believing that the world was huge in any of A4-A6. It is the narrative and the flow of the plot that makes the world seem bigger. In A4 it took forever to get to the Great Cave. It is called the Great Cave, it is described as vast, it has the largest map (I think), and I played for dozens of hours to reach it. It seemed huge and it seemed very far away from Fort Monastery. It was similar in A5. Harkin's Landing seemed quite remote from New Harston because of what the characters had to do to get there. In A6 the Western Excavation feels like the corner of the world, because of the way that the path leads so indirectly to the entrance and because the dialogue emphasizes that you have reached a place that is far away both physically and psychologically from where you have already been. I know that people have practical and personal reasons to prefer the old approach, but I think the old approach was terrible. Jeff fixed this in A4-6 and unfortunately I think he is going to go backwards for this rewrite.
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As a non-veteran whose first Spiderweb game was A4 and who finds A3 almost unplayable, I hope that Jeff eliminates the indoor/outdoors thing entirely in the new A1, even though I think I already read that he is not going to do that. The new rewrite should be judged on its own merits, and not based on how similar it is to any older game. I think Jeff is quite aware that some people think he should still be using the E1 engine for all his games, and that others think the A6 or the Avadon engine is ideal, and so on. I don't doubt that the design of the new game will be strongly influenced by his perception of what features will bring him the most purchases, and that will inevitably mean some kind of balance which guarantees that someone will totally hate it. FWIW I thought I would hate A5 because Jeff said it would be less open than A4, but I loved that game even though it was more linear. If the plot is compelling and the battles aren't too repetitive, and I can develop my characters more or less how I want, I am very likely to enjoy the new game as long as the controls don't annoy the hell out of me like those of A1-3.
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Avernum 5 - Designing Party for First Playthrough
madrigan replied to Cynara's topic in Second Avernum Trilogy
It's a role-playing game. Play on the easiest difficulty and create whatever characters you want. In A4-6 you can make significant design errors and still finish the game if you do this.
