Masquerade

Is it just me or do the character sprites in the new screenshots look very eschalon-y?

If you could have an old game remade (and i mean huge final fantasy/pokemon kind of funding here) what game would you pick and what changes would you make? The game would have the really modern fancy shmancy graphics and all that jazz. It could be avalible on practicly any console. Personally i would pick both of the alter ego games to be remade because a) they are completely awesome and there is so much that you could do with them using todays gameing technology! you could be able to see you alter ego living their life and changing as they grow and make a family. As for the change i think it would be awesome if you could pick the time period that your person could be born in like the industrial revolution or the 60's or whatever.

How about a compromise? The characters could have a "battle pose" and a "peace pose". For example when your character has a spear equiped they hold it upright at all times and stand in a still relaxed way, even when in battle mode, but if a battle pose was introduced your character would adopt a more battle ready pose eg shield raised, spear pointed forwards, legs braced ect. It would not be too difficult (at least i think) and you could still use the old "relaxed" attacks for use in peace mode. This feature was used in the first avernum trilogy engine and i quite miss it.

I don't supose we can expect a soundtrack in Avadon?

Originally Posted By: RogueThunder To top it all, the setting was immersive, cities were dots on the map you entered. Seriously it was sad to loose this. It gave a good feeling of scale that was seriously lost with the all-one-map(or ugh, geneforges map system) Exile(Or Avernum if you prefer) felt like a MASSIVE area. In the more recent games it feels... a bit... tiny. ... And with these more rich tactics? Comes more actual difficulty... rather than just a wall you have to grind away at. Things like asking yourself "Do I want to use the less efficient, less reliable, or most reliable and efficient method" for a particular instance. I totally agree with you RT, I'm more of an avernum trilogy fan myself (im to lazy to figure out the exile dialog system) but i agree that the A6 world seems so miniscule compared to the old world of A1, A2 and A3 and I am sick and tired of all the spider boss fights amounting to "there's the boss, stab it for half an hour" really, that fight with ghaldring was just painfully tedious and the monsters in A6 have riduculously huge health bars that take way to long to chop down. Here's to hoping that Avadon will reset the whole concept back to the Spiderweb factory settings.

I'm an avernum fan, and i must say im a bit over my head in G5, the battles and gameplay are great but its mostly the item enhancements that have me stumped. I understand how they work but im unsure how you're suposed to "craft" specific items, im just slapping enhancments onto my equipment as i find them. Most of the equipment that you craft seems to be designed towards melee fighters anyway (im a spellslinger) so should i even bother with crafting uber items? All the creation bodyparts are clogging up my inventory. A second question i have is do people notice if you create forbiden creations? i recently made a cryodrake and none of the shapers seem to have noticed. Will creating forbidden creations have repercussions or is the forbidden creations status just for show?

Quote: Yes, you can change the portrait. What about the walking and combat icons? Dikiyoba. I dont think anybody here has the graphics skils to do that. I know its a patchwork job but i just thought having a limited level of customisation (really just an import custom icon button) and then you would just use the defalt 3d character avatar. Its not perfect but it would be nice just to have to option. Jeff did say this on the matter Quote: Letting the player choose any PC graphic for any class won't work because the weapons for each icons are dependent on the class. Allowing this choice would result in a ton of confusion and bug reports ("Why does my sword look like a wand?"). We will consider alternate ways to allow this, like graphic-altering cheat codes. That might be doable.

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba Because if creating custom PC graphics was easy enough that the average player could do it, it would be more than easy enough for Jeff to do it himself. Dikiyoba. People can do it but for those of us with minimal understanding of how all of the files work it is difficult. I just think a bit of customization will make the gameplay a bit more fun and let us get into our characters a bit more, like drawing your d&d characters as you play the game.

I remember reading somewhere that Jeff doesn't have the time/funds/bother to make more than one character portrait for each character class, meaning that all sorcerers must be female, all shadowwalkers must be male ect but i have an idea. What if the game could corperate a bit of customisaton, eg there could be a prompt on the character creation screen to upload your own icn/portrait with instructionson how to do it, that way all the diehard gamers who must have the character exactly how they like it can and the normal gamers can just chin up and bear it. I also had another idea, perhaps Jeff can take a cue from basilisk games and release and add-on pack or some sort of collectors edition for the game after its released, It could just have some new graphics and the odd quest or two inside,that way jeff can let Avadon make him some money first and maby give us all a treat if we buy it like good little fans Just a thought.

Ihatechat speak,i am so glad that it has died out on these forums. I try to keep my grammer and spelling correct but i am predisposed to making really bad spelling errors, mostly because i can't remember how to spell in the first place. I have a mental condition (but i prefer to call it an atribute) that seems to be the lovechild of dyslexia, autism and some hippies.

1. c. Flippity-Flop 2. b. a crowbar 3. c. the end of the world 4. c. Yes, the barbarian horde is asleep. 5. b. The hyperspatial burrow, to run away. 6. d. a roman legionnaire's helmet 7. e. No food can save you 8. a. Sound the alarm! Let loose the dogs! 9. Every hats mass, in relation to its size and air resistance, can directly effect the neuron pathways of the human brain. In theory, a hat with a mass size and air resistance ratio of 12/109/3 (metric measurements only) will increase the workings of human recall functions to the maximum possible level. However inverting the ratio to 109/3/12 will destroy all workings of the brain due to crushing. 10. By manipulating the inner workings of the toaster oven with the point of the radio-swordcane-umbrella you can construct a rudimentary knockout gas bomb, fling this bomb at Achmed and wait for him to become unconcious, once he is out for the counts, give Achmed a makeover by placing your own silly hat onto his head and wearing his inferior silly beanie yourself, take his cutlass and brandish it in a suitably menacing fashion. This should be enough to convince the philistines that you are Achmed and they shall then mutiny against the recovering Achmed instead of you. While the philistines are distracted quickly travel to the balloon section of your airship, insert the tip of the radio-swordcane-umbrella into the emergency release mechanism and open the umbrella, this will cause the balloon section to come away from the motorised hull. Quickly cling onto the balloon section as it floats slowly away from the hull (don't worry the motors are producing enough thrust to keep it gliding for a short amount of time) If the wind is blowing eastward then you will be able to float a safe distance away from the hull of your airship and the camp of philistines before the ship explodes, but if the winds blow northward, southward or westward then i am afraid to say that you are screwed. Bonus: It is impossible to calculate due to the fact that all creatures are mad, with the exception of the platypus

Originally Posted By: Raise your hand —Alorael, who will admit that he can't really weigh in. He's never been a prolific gamer, and many of the great games he's played have been experienced well after they've been acknowledged as great (and fallen into the bargain bins). He hasn't had exposure to all the fun games that, a few years down the line, aren't fun anymore. From his perspective, though, while there are old games that become awfully clunky, there are also games that now seem clunky but can still hold their own. (Ultima is really clunky. SCUMM games are surprisingly still accessible.) I can agree with you on that one, I dug up most of my now favorite games from Abandonia, the only two of my favorite 90's games i actually played in the 90's are the day of the tentacle and Mortimer: the riddles of the medallion which is so obscure that it doesn't even have a wikipedia page! Ive downloaded a stupidly huge amount of games from abandonia but the only the sierra and scumm games seem to stick, with the exeption of wolf.

Originally Posted By: Dantius Why has no one mentioned this yet? The linearity of later spiderweb games SUUUUUUUCKS! From pretty much G3 onward, you've had to follow a specific route and do specific quests to unlock a plot door to the next tiny area. Contrast this to the wide open "do anything you feel like" feel of G1 and A3 especially, and I find it shocking that people think that A6 is any competition to the earlier games. I really hope the wide open world map and no pointless quests to unlock later areas are brought back in Avadon. I agree with you on that one and the A6 world feels miniscule when compared to the worlds availible to the player in the original Avernum trilogy. Heres to hopeing being a spy of avadon will open up all doors to us

Originally Posted By: rage, rage against the light The Loom fan sequels have been in the works for years and years. I think they're reliably vaporware. I thought that they were vaporware too, but these ones have actually been updated, there is a technical demo, lots of preveiw screenshots and acording to the status bar almost all of the backrounds (which are beautiful 2D vga esque paintings) are done, it looks really promising! heres the link The Forge

1. What is your name? I am masquerade, the mask smart enough not to tattle her personal details to the merciless internets. 2. How old are you? I am between the ages of 10 and 25 3. Where do you live? In the wonderful land of Oz, sometimes called "Australia" by the funny tea drinking people 4. What is your favorite color? Purple, preferably dark purple 5. How many phones do you own? One 7. Wait, what happened to question six? It ran away with the circus in order to start a career as a one man flaming knife juggling and elephant act. 8. Someone has just loaned you a time machine that can take you to any location on the planet during any time period. Where/when do you go? I qould go back to the 1700 and sink the ships of the first fleet with a lazer so that, hopefully, the aboriginals would be able to live in peace until the funny tea drinking people discovered the concept of racial equality and erradicated small pox. Im sure that Ireland is a very nice place to live. 9. If you were forced to change your PDN to something completely unrelated to its current form and your original username, what would it be? A totally gregarious, floats in the airious yoyo 10. If you could transform at will into any living animal, what animal would it be? A kookaburra, and then i would laugh at peoples stupidity without fear of retribution. When i get board of that i'll go to he park and steal stuff from peoples BBQs 11. It's ninja sliths versus pirate nephilim. Who should win? that depends on whether the pirate nephilim have pirate parrots or not, and how long they can resist eating them.

My favorite thing that Jeff added was the ability to duel wield in A6. finally i can make the ass-whoopin name-taking ninja esque character I've wanted to make since the beginning! Just add liberal amounts of gymnastics, ripose, strength, agility and duel wielding into the character editor and cook until golden brown.

Its the last day of the school holidays and i reluctantly begin year twelve tomorrow, I want a longer holiday dammit! I was in a melancholy mood and i read Jeff's blog article on how he doesn't play old games anymore because they're boring, so i did the logical thing and played a 20 year old game. I played loom. I'm about to gush now, i think I'm aloud to gush on this board. You still there? ok stand back I'm gonna gush. Man that game is amazing, the music and the script and all the characters are crafted with such care and Ive never seen anything that's quite like loom before or since, and that might be part of its appeal. The game just has a magical, philosophical quality to it that touches you right inside without ever being zealous or enigmatic. The graphics are pretty dated but they're never alowed to detract from anything else in the game somehow, hell bobbin could be a big pixily blob and id still be entranced. The open ending sucked at first but the game just keeps on spinning around and around in my head long after i finished playing it, the level of thought and speculation it inspires in my head (which really should be focusing on getting ready for school, dammit) makes up for the lack of closure, hell the open ending pretty much moulds the game, it makes it real instead of a cliched battle against the evil forces of yada yada and blah blah blah. An yet i still want to play more, dammit, why did adventure games have to die out? why! But i digress, the philosophical, magical qualities of loom seems to have been lost to the game industry today cause i cant find anything else that i can play without comparing it to loom, granted this will probibly ware off by tomorrow, knowing me, but i think ill always have a spot in my heart and my hard drive for it. Imagine my shock when i find that that there are not one but two fan sequels currently in the works by two different groups of people no less!! I want to play them, really i do but I'm scared it might break the magic, but at the same time i want to know what happens next. Is there anybody left? Sorry to go so wildly off topic, but there isn't another gamers forum i know of that doesn't degrade into statistics and programming after a few posts, or simply state that if it isn't current it isn't cool. You guys, however, are awesome but knowing you this topic will steer of into a conversation about linguistics or 19th century music theory after a couple of posts, if this gets any posts, ah well you have to throw out a few fish to catch a whale after all, at least I think that's how the saying goes, do correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally Posted By: Dantius Originally Posted By: CRISIS on INFINITE SLARTIES frpwns I was unaware that the Nine-Headed Cave Cow dished out pwnage. Although that was a hilarious tyop... And no. If Jeff wanted crossover Avernum/Geneforge/that one game with the Scottish people in it/Avadon games, he'd make them. And it would be seen as the ravings of a madman, unless thee Ecksian Skull said it (To the best of my knowledge, that is the only other time there is a direct reference to the other series in-game) While i dont think there have been any direct crossovers, there was a quasi-crossover in that one game with the scottish people in it (otherwise known as nethergate, ressurection) there was a very powerful fairy/elf man who lived in the fairy bazaar who was called Solberg. Nethergate also had the GIFTS in it.

Originally Posted By: Insanity on a stick. Originally Posted By: Miriam This place still exists. Wait....this isn't a figment of my schizophrenic imagination? No it is all a false website which has been bugged by the mafia in order to infiltrate your computer and steal your desktop wallpaper.

considering that duel-wielding is possible in Avernum 6 it seems likely. Not sure about bashing or spells however.

Originally Posted By: Insanity on a stick. There is one thing from the avernum series that I think would still be good in Avadon. GIFTS, everyones favorite giant-intelligent-friendly-talking-spiders! Quote: ..The avernum series is just getting old.. Theres plenty of games and other things that are older, yet are still loved by plenty of fans. No matter how old the first Avernum trilogy gets, im still going to love it. Thats not what i ment by old i supose i should have used a different phrase, meh. I ment that the series is starting to feel drawn out and tedious. The games are chrononlogicaly old, that is true, but in a game-enjoyment sense the original trilogy is still quite "fresh" but dragging on the series for too long by introducing remakes so soon after the series conclusion could cause the game too loose its freshness. As for the GIFTS i would love to see them in Avadon, that would be neat! Originally Posted By: Traveling Mad And I'm in favor of both being able to play games on newer computers and and letting people who have overlooked Exile and Avernum get another chance to play a "new" game. I cant speak for PCs but im pretty sure that the Avernum games will work fine on most of todays new computors, at least the Exile and Avernum trilogy does work fine on my dads macintosh and its a new top of the line sort of deal, the screen is ginormous As for people overlooking exile and Avernum i think that jeff needs to put a variety of new material on the market, that way he will not only have the support of us loyal spiderwebbers but he will also have the opportunity to attract a whole new group of gamers that were previously uninterested in his games. Im not saying that he should not remake Avernum, i just think that he should not remake it now. The point of a remake is to introduce an old idea into a new enviroment and/or audience. I think that jeff needs to focus more on creating a totally new and fresh product in order to attract a new audience before remaking the trilogy. Besides the main selling point of remakes is nostalgia, and at the moment Avernum is still relativly new, personally i don't believe that the remakes would have any nostalgia value in them.

I know, and i wont condem anybody for it. The avernum series is just getting old and Spiderweb really needs some fresh air. At least by trying out new things like Avadon he has the oppertunity to attract new kinds of spiderwebbers to buy stuff from him, rather that apealing to the same group over and over again.

Originally Posted By: Goldenking The issue is that Avernum is such a long series, now, that by the time you finish one trilogy, the old one needs polishing to compare. I'm a bit hazy on my timeline here, but it's been about ten years since the Avernum series was first started. Those games are starting to show their age, and it's time for a face lift. Thats a valid point, but if Jeff did that to every game he would never have the time to make new games, he would be to busy remaking the remakes so that they stay current. I just think that the people at spiderweb need to give Avernum and Geneforge a rest for a while (preferable a long while) so that they can devote time and energy to new games.

I resently read that our beloved gamemaker Jeff Vogel is thinking of remaking the original avernum trilogy after he finishes avadon, normally id look forward to such an event but in this case ive got something i want to say. Before i say what im going to say next i would like to make it clear that i am just a fan who is voicing her trepidation. I will not pass my judgement on Jeffs handiwork until i actually play the games. I am just voicing my opinion because in my experience it is better to have warning before the event takes place. First of all the avernum trilogy is already a remake, and both the Exile series and the Avernum trilogy are awesome. But remaking a remake? Don't you think its a little bit to soon? the series has bareley been concluded cant you wait just a bit, mabey do something new? i know that avadon is in the works and i cant wait for its release, but i think spiderweb really needs to stop using geneforge and avernum as a sales crutch. Secondly i dont think that the avernum series really need remaking. The graphics are sub par that may be true but the story and system are shinning examples of Jeffs craftsmanship, i really dont think that they can be improved. Sure playing new quests is always fun but that is what BOA is for. Which brings me to my third point, what exactly will this remake impliment? I can guess with some certainty that Avernum version 2 will utilize the avadon/avernum 6 engine and the avadon/geneforge graphics. I know that Jeff is going to add in some prime quality writing and new side quests to the mix but i cant help but feel that this remake is going to feel rather flaky and predictrable, at least to those of us who have played one f the original series. Now what i am saying is that i really dont think a remake of the Avernum series will work. The games had a good run and a good conclusion (i have not finished 6 yet but its looking pretty good so far) a franchise can only be dragged on for so long before it begins to feel tiring and tedious and thats what i feel is about to happen to avernum. Just please take a break away from Avernum and Geneforge! finish Avadon, make a couple of sequels, mabey even do some of that inovating that Jeff hates so much. I love spiderweb software games because of all the individual care and personality that is poured into their products, but please give the old franchises a break before you go dragging them out of retirement.

Originally Posted By: waterplant Originally Posted By: Lilith Originally Posted By: Upright and Thrifty I enjoy the fact that the paragon responses also let you abuse people. But none quite reach the level of some of the more excellent renegade responses. i dunno about this either, punching your own party members in the face and having them thank you for it is pretty awesome You're talking about the Australian Labor Party here I presume... LOL! the public sure loved it but i dont think Fuddy Ruddy is thanking anybody.