arkhaine

I only played for ten minutes or so (probably going to hold out for Steam or, goodness me, a Humble Bundle, or just Christmas holidays if I am impatient), but: I find it very annoying that I can press "i" to open the inventory, but can't press "i" again to close it, and instead have to use my mouse. A minor annoyance, but there it is. Otherwise, I can't wait to play it and fully support remakes of these games (an old Exile stalwart here)

I haven't posted here much (at all), but I've been with Spiderweb Software on and off since Exile 2. My last significant playthrough was Geneforge 5. I wanted to love the last couple of Avernum's, but it never happened (though I love Exile/Avernum 2). Anyway, I bought Avadon when it came to Steam. I remember frantically pressing the refresh button earlier this year when Avadon was almost, but not quite, released - I wanted it! It sounded great! It seemed tremendous! And then I downloaded the demo and it was good - very good - Spiderweb good - but I never bought it. No reason, no problem, no issue - I just didn't. Time went by and here we are. And here we are. I saw the game come up again on Steam (and I suppose I was waiting for an October sale...), and then I bought it. I didn't care, because the price was so small, and I knew I would love it. But I didn't want to play it right now. I was happy to buy it and have it and it would sit there until I was ready. It was partly Steam, and it was partly the price (though I will admit that, if the price was $20 USD on Steam, I still would have bought it) - but it was mostly Spiderweb. I change my computer around, I format, I switch from Mac to Windows, I shuffle about - but Steam is there. And Steam doesn't care if I download again. Steam keeps my save files. Steam, as much as a company can, looks after me, as a gamer. I don't look after me, as a gamer, half as much as Steam does. I backup my photos - sure. I backup my writing - sure. I backup my tax files - sure. I backup - you get the idea. But my saves? No. But Steam does. What I am saying is that I, a Spiderweb fan (I have the Exile 2, the first three Avernum games, the entire Geneforge series), I, again, a Spiderweb fan, I wasn't sold until the convenience of Steam sold me. This is is no way an attack on Jeff's customer service. He has been very good - I've switched machines and received new codes very easily (and in fact need some new codes for the old Avernums at the moment) - but it's a matter of convenience. Steam is there, Steam collects my medals/achievements, Steam keeps my saves, Steam keeps my game. For me, Steam is a gamechanger for Spiderweb, and from the conversations I have had with friends, it's a gamechanger for them, too. They don't care about a random website, but they do care about what is on Steam. And they do care, very much, for "old school" RPG games that care more for story/atmosphere/adventure that new-school games. If the gamer will not come to the game, then the game must come to the gamer. Steam does this, and I hope it is tremendously successful.

Ah, yes, an autosave! I didn't see that because I expected one (if it existed) to be above the manual saves. Thanks for that. All is grand. I can handle losing ten or fifteen minutes worth of gameplay.

Hmm, sadly that doesn't work. It heals me a little bit, but the death animation has already begun so there's not much I can do. Thanks for the help. That'll teach me to have only one save. I even thought I should make a backup just before saving, but...

Hello, I recently downloaded the demo for Geneforge 5. All was going well. The last game by Spiderweb software I have played was Exile 2, so it's been a while. Anyway. I was not very far into the game. I had just spoken with Rawahl (or whatever his name is), and then I went to the Promenade to fight a monster. I killed it, but I was poisoned (or possibly acid, it's hard to tell right now). I saved the game after killing it, but then immediately I am killed by poison/acid. I don't have another save file. Am I out of luck? Should I just start again? Or can I do something about it? Thanks.