Karacan

Interesting. Do I get a chance to execute/tartslap them personally? That'd be motivation to go on playing!

The Bulwark is hilarious. "I'm still working on the speed!"

I'm having an issue with Avadon, and it's becoming a major turn-off for me. I like the new mechanics (though I hope for even more varied skill-trees or classes in the coming versions). I like the politics going on (though I hope that my choices have more branching impact in the future titles ). But I really, really dislike my party-members. Nathalie is a prissy tart. For someone with so much Intelligence, she is downright stupid. "Ooooh, why did Avadon not prevent me from going out on my own when I was leaving for a suicide quest without telling anyone? It's their fault!" Really? I mean, seriously? Wow. Two people have snuck out already on their own, and it didn't end too well for them. And now it's Avadon's fault for not chaining you up in your room? Let me remedy that... Sevilin is a whining poser with a lack of personality replaced by a fake code of honour he so desperately clings to that I wince every time he talks. He alters between slap-worthy insecure whining and an "I'm so much better than you, because I have LAW on my side, you worthless savages"-attitude that makes me want to throw him to the next ogre as a meal. Jennel is the most surprising character to dislike. I didn't expect to dislike her. But she also suffers from a "I'm better than anyone here, my ways are the best, yadda yadda yadda"-complex. Her constant whining gets on my nerves when I was hoping for a calm, collected druid-ess. Like nearly every other shaman you meet. Shima is a ninja. I'm a pirate. Pirates don't like ninjas. I never take him along, because I really don't like the character class. Not because of its abilities, which seem to be awesome, but because of "I don't like ninjas". I suppose I'm three quarters through the game, but the utter dislike for my partymembers makes me play less and less. Which sucks a bit, because I would love to see how the story evolves and ends. That's not to say the characters are badly written. But their personalities make me want to punch them repeatedly, and I'm not masochistic enough to solo-play my sorceress. I'll definitely try Avadon 2 at one point, but during the demo I hope the companions (and I have no doubt there'll be some) will be either more appealing, or giving me a greater choice of modifying my team.

I love the Vitality system in theory. Now that I played a few hours more, I figure why not get rid of the Vitality potions, reduce Vitality to at least 1/3 of what it is now, and make food restore Vitality instead of health? Food is kind of pointless right now, even though as a real adventurer, I ALWAYS have meat and bread with me. You never know when you meet a hungry wretch.

Just a brief feedback from a long-time Spiderweb fan based on the first 8 hours of gameplay. Curse my work-life. 1) Grapics: I like the new graphics. It's crisp, clean and looks much better than any previous titles. BUT 1.1) Items are really hard to find. I had a much easier time seeing them in Geneforge/Avernum. I expect I'll get better at this as I get used to the thin pixels. 1.2) Hidden switches are a REAL pain to find. 2) Combatsystem: It feels crisp, clean, and in general I like it. Especially the fatigue(mana)-handling feels good and right to me. Need to see some more complex fights to make a call, but I like what I see so far. 3) Classes/Skilltrees: To my surprise (because I love fiddling with stats), I find this a huge and appealing improvement. However, I would like to see at least one more skill-tree per class, and a LOT more classes! 4) Groupmembers: That's one thing I find odd. First of all, half of my companions have more exp than I do. I was hoping that I would be the most powerful character in the group (or at least have a slight post-equipment advantage), but this is not the case. It feels odd, like my character is the weakest link AND the weakest personality in the party. All in all, I like what I see and so far, I'm looking forward to Avadon 2 and a lot more character classes (and potential NPCs). /Edit-add: Oh, I just remembered one point of dislike. 5) The Writing: The early levels at least feel a lot more empty. In Avernum 6, new texts and descriptions where popping up at every corner and made for a thoroughly engaging game. In Avadon, the world feels a bit empty - the texts are shorter and less elaborate, and also pop up with larger intervals in between. I hope that improves in the later areas!

New Avernum 3 is going to be the third time I play through that most excellent of games. I'm still hoping for the reintroduction of a six player party though, that was really useful for those puzzles - and more fun in combat! I know, I know. Empty wishing. I'd take a party of one plus five scripted NPCs too.

Purchased blind due to my love for Avernum. (And Geneforge 5). Now I just have to find the time to play... Also, I'm surprised that the game is cheaper than AV6 at the moment.

Originally Posted By: Spidweb I'm hoping to have the Windows version out within a month. Full-on beta testing of the iPad version will start soon, so I'm hoping within 3 months. - Jeff Vogel Take my money! Take my money now! :happy:

Has there been a moaning and whining thread for windows users recently? I want my Spiderweb Game fix. Windows versions have ALWAYS (I exaggerate knowingly) been March-releases! While I'll cry to myself over here, watching the development for the iPad version, I would like to have a little love and information in the meantime. Thanks!

It's more a statement of my age. I had Waterloo on my Amiga, and it was actually a lot of fun - even though I kept losing because I didn't understand what's going on. I'd love to see a remake, actually. Maybe in the time while waiting for Avadon?

I still think that Dominions fits your description, but you're probably more looking for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo_(video_game) A bit lacking on the stats, though.

Originally Posted By: Absolutely Peerless Broth —Alorael, who wants to see a game in which the player character is a general commanding troops, but also with personal stats. Having to have the wits to realize the fatal flaw in another general's battle plans and the physical fitness to run quickly enough to give a messenger that critical information in time would add an interesting new dimension to strategy games! Then you should definitely check out the Dominions series.

Well, it's not like we have a choice. But given that I'm playing Jeff's games since Exile 2, I think I'm pretty much through all of them. Except Geneforge, which was decidedly "meh" apart from part 5, which was decidedly awesome. Anyway. Really curious here.

Just wondering if I missed some info there. Ah well. Woe is me. I'm still not buying a Mac for my early Spiderweb fix, sorry. (But you know, I'd love to pre-order.)

Alright, so Jeff repeatedly stated that it's out for Mac in February. What about his non-Mac followers? We also love the sound of Avadon. (Though I suspect it's more like a scream than a gentel singing voice.)

Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: Karacan In my line of industry, we're looking forward to maximize monetization and impact of a new game on the first week - to do that, we build up hype, and to do that, waving around a release date works best. Oh, so you work on the Starcraft II development team, then? I wish. It works for Blizzard though, doesn't it. And no, a mail won't be necessary - just keeping up my hopes to do load Avernum to the laptop I'll be taking to next week's convention. They say Hope dies last, but bleeds the most.

Well, I'm not a patient person. Sure, I could try and live a better life, but I like instant gratification. My question was based on this comment: Quote: I Emailed Jeff and asked him the other day. He said it should be ready by at least by the end of the month. Now, I'm not a regular to the forum. I don't know if the guy posting this last week was pulling mine and your legs. There hasn't been someone looking more or less official rebuking him though, so I figured it was gold enough. I also don't know how Spiderweb works, obviously. In my line of industry, we're looking forward to maximize monetization and impact of a new game on the first week - to do that, we build up hype, and to do that, waving around a release date works best. Haven't been able to purchase a single Spiderweb game in the month it came out before due to lack of information mostly, but I'd love to be a day one buyer of AV6. Money is good. Windows users have money (judging by how expensive the OS is).

So, it's officially confirmed to come out this week? I need to order two keys to have one of them sit teasing in a friend's inbox who currently only has mobile phone access. The timing is important, the world (at least the opportunity to be at once generous and malicious) IS going to end soon!

I actually was rather disappointed when I got told that the Empress died. From Exile III, she was the only empire character I actually started to like, and it was actually Prazaac who was the reason I stayed loyal to the Empire all the time, trying to eliminate the threat to her. I do suspect that Redmark is ambitious enough to have assisted her passing away. Seeing that Athron's brood is maturing fast and she has several eggs hidden across the world, I am pretty certain that dragons are going to play a more significant role in A6.

I love the last Avernum Soldier before the first rapids. "Do you think we're ready?" She looks over your equipment and considers her lack of interest in your survival. "Yeah, sure." Priceless.

Well, of course there'd have to be a few more enemies as well. I did wonder why all the enemy mages and priests basically were on their own. True, with careful planning you can build hybrid characters - if you played the game at least halfway through once. Considering that most people are likely to only play a game once (I know I need a year's break before tackling a lengthy game again), I at least would have probably seriously messed up any hybrid builds. And still would have used the hybrid builds for their primary tactical role - either as ranged/aoe damage dealer, as damage soaker, as healer, and as "something that probably dies a lot and doesn't do anything, really, but has tool use and the extra inventory space is useful as well". That's why I prefer having more than the four classic slots available - it gives easier access to true customization, and with the freedom of skill allocation, I always found that customization of characters was at the heart of any Spiderweb-Game. I'd just love to see a game returning to those roots while keeping the snazzy new stuff - and as I said, one of my favourite activities in any crpg is designing characters and then seeing how well the different character concepts work together. This is much more fun with more slots than just four. And it's just a wish, not a demand. Is there any kind of tentative rumoured first release date idea for Avernum 6, by the way?

I liked Avernum 5 a lot better than I liked Avernum 4, mostly because the storyline felt a lot more fluid. I was extremely disappointed by the ending (as an empire loyalist), though - there have been so many choices along the way: Helping or dooming Muck, strengthening the dragon or weakening it, or even killing it, deciding what to do with the Anama... ... and not one of the choices made along the way mattered in the end. What a waste of storyline potential! All in all, I always felt that Avernum was weaker than the Exile-series. My favourite Spiderweb game will remain Exile III, for the sheer amount of tactical fun in the monster factories. Some battles in Avernum 5 were fun (like the one against the golems), but it felt a lot "toned down" from what I was expecting. I also want the old character system back. I always felt that there was barely enough skillpoints to raise a few skills per character only, artificially limiting them greatly into specializing either on weapon, priest or mage spells and pretty much ignoring all the other abilities. I would love to see more skillpoints per level, and a lot more skills. And six characters, where there's actually some tactical option to fill the last two slots with, apart from being forced to pick a "mage", a "healer", a "tank" and a "rogue" if you want to see all of the game. I would have loved to have a priest/fighter along and a slith halberdier, just because it would have given me more tactical options for the larger battles. Yeah, they haven't been needed, but it would have made the large battles a lot more fun for me. I love creating and developing characters. With the current system, I feel way too limited. And while I can live with the graphics and gameplay just fine, one thing that always struck me as horribly outdated in any Spiderweb game was the Journal. Is it really too much to ask for to play a game without having to manually take notes anymore? Avernum 6 would make me happy, no matter how the storylines goes, if either or all of the following were included: * Five or six characters instead of four! * More skills. Dualwield! Assassination! Alchemy! I miss you! * More meaningful choices that change the storyline in the long run. (Not only "Join the Darkside Loyalists / Don't join the Darkside Loyalists") * Update the Questjournal system so that it keeps track of the current steps of the quests! (Vases found: 0/3)