Juan Carlo

I just played through Fallout 1 and 2 for the first time ever like a year ago, and while the interface took some getting used to in the first half hour or so of playing, after that I was so sucked into the game I didn't notice it (and it's definitely no more or less clunky than your average Spiderweb interface, so if someone can't abide "Fallout" I'm not sure how they could stand like 75% of Spiderweb's output). Plus, not sure what version of "Divine divinity" people are talking about, but the versions they sell on steam and GOG at the moment have slightly updated interfaces and increased resolutions and stuff like that, so they are worth seeking out over older boxed copies of the game. Larian still patches those games occasionally even ten years after their release, which is kind of nice and a rare thing for studios to do. The only older game I played whose interface really tried my patience was Gothic 1. I stuck it out until the end, but someone really, really, needs to mod standard mouse controls into that game as Gothic 2 kind of set up what would become the standard (ever since then) for ARPG controls, but Gothic 1 controls like its "Doom" or something. In fact, I'd say that in general action games tend to age much worse than turn-based RPGs. I can play a turn-based RPG from the early 1990s or even the 80s and be fine, no matter how obtuse its interface, but I don't have much patience for any action games from the "pre-mouse" era (e.g. anything before "Quake 1" appeared and standardized the common "mouse + WASD" controls that most action games use to this day).

I didn't hate A5 as much for the linearity (although I didn't love the linearity), but for the way it was designed. It has absurd levels of hit point bloat and trash mob after trash mob after trash mob. You can't walk 10 feet in the game without having to dispatch another herd of cattaracts (or what ever those things are called) or rabid rats or 4,000 hit point packs of wolves--so getting anywhere takes FOREVER. Because of this, even though it's my least favorite Avernum game by far, it ended up taking me longer than any other Avernum game to finish---like by a good 25 hours or so. It's just a terrible, tedious, game to play--not so much because of its linearity or any specific area (I agree, actually, that the Solberg thing is kind of interesting and the game does introduce Melchianon (sp?) the dragon who is pretty awesome) , but just because the way its difficulty was designed (far too many meaningless enemies with far too much hitpoints). Vogel seemed to be experimenting with difficulty settings in A5, perhaps because A4 was way too easy. So in response he did the worse thing you can do in increasing difficulty--i.e.just jacking up the hitpoints (which doesn't make things hard, it just makes fights take longer). To his credit, though, he seemed to realize that the difficulty in A5 sucked as A6 didn't rely as much on hit point bloat to increase difficulty (in fact, I think the way difficulty was done in A6 was just about right). Plus, it has no story to justify the aggravation in playing it. You know pretty much everything about the over all plot from the very first scene: there is a really bad guy. You have to kill him. End of story. Other Avernums usually have mid game storyline twists that change things up a bit, but with A5 you know everything there is to know about the main plot from the very first scene. But yes, it's also basically just one long winding corridor. I mean, look at the map, you can't really get more linear than Avernum 5: http://hasenjs.byeth.../MainMap51.html

Last Year I played through all the Geneforge games in order. It was awesome and the series quickly became one of my favorite CRPG series ever (right up there with Fallout and Baldur's Gate). The interface is a bit wonky in the first three games, but it's one of the only video game series where I think each sequel significantly improves on the game that came before it, culminating in "Geneforge 5" which I see as the best game spiderweb has ever made. So I say start with the Geneforges. Compared to the other Spiderweb games, they really don't take that long to beat, either (they average in the 30-60 hour range, depending on how much you want to do, whereas most Avernums can often take 100+ hours to beat), so playing all 5 of them isn't as daunting as it sounds. As to the other games in the collection, Avadon, Escape from the Pit, and Avernum 6 are all awesome. So Avadon or "Escape from the Pit" would also be good places to start, although they are much bigger games than the Geneforges so will take longer to complete (Avadon less so, but it still took me longer to beat than any of the GEneforges). Just my humble opinion, but I definitely wouldn't start with Avernum 4 or 5. Avernum 4 isn't awful, but there's not much to it storywise to justify its existence. And Avernum 5 is awful (the only bad game Spiderweb has ever made, I think). Avernum 6 is quite good, though, and even arguably the best Avernum game on steam. NEthergate is the only spiderweb game on steam that I've yet to play so I can't comment on that. I'm looking forward to it, though, as I hear good things.

Yeah, I loved "To The Moon." I like to describe it as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" + "Citizen Kane" + RPGMAKER = "To the Moon." It's an awesome game, but it's really more an interactive storybook with the occasional push puzzle. So it's not really much of a "game," but I'd still recommend everyone play it as I think it's kind of revolutionary in the way it tells its story. It's good to hear that you enjoy Winter Voices. I tried the demo and liked it fine, but I've heard it had so many bugs that I've been waiting. They supposedly released a massive game wide update along with episode 5, so I think I'm ready to play them now. Like I said, I'm just hoping they go on sale this Christmas so I can snap them all up in one go.

Eschalon's worth playing and it looks very much like a Spiderweb game on the surface, but the writing and world design aren't anywhere near Spiderweb quality so I kind of had a hard time keeping with it (Haven't played the sequel yet, so who knows---maybe it's way better). I've never played them and I've heard mixed things, but I really want to try "Winter Voices" at some point. I know a lot of people hate them, but they just look so strange that I have to try them. I don't want to pay full price, though, in case they end up sucking so I've been waiting and hoping they will go on sale on steam this Christmas (here's a link if anyone has never heard of them): http://store.steampowered.com/app/72900/?snr=1_7_suggest__13 Also, Beamdog just released the remake of :"Baldur's Gate." I mention this because they completely rehauled the interface to make it more user friendly (Among other changes) That'd probably be worth a try if you still haven't played that, but are scared off by the interfaces of older infinity engine games. As of now, though, you can only buy it direct from their website: http://www.beamdog.com/products/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition

I've always seen the Geneforges more as fantasy takes on "Fallout" than "Planescape." They are (mostly) non party based RPGs, turn based, and the factions and decisions in the Geneforge games are more similar with the way you interact with factions and make decisions in the Fallouts (especially Fallout 2---which I think has more influence on the Geneforges than any other game). Avernum is more "ultima" than anything else, I think. I don't think they are story or character focused enough to compare with most of the infinity engine games like Baldur's Gate, etc. Avadon is very much inspired by Bioware, though. Just the basic party structure and way that you recruit and interact with your party (e.g. they all have their own missions, etc), is straight out of a Bioware game. Anyhow, I actually don't like the idea of describing Spiderweb as an "Indie Bioware" as they've only ever really made one overtly Bioware-esque game, I think (Avadon), so it shortchanges the diversity of their games somewhat (I like that Spiderweb varies its formula between its franchises--from Ultima, to more Black Isle type Fallout-esque games, to Bioware).

I think it's easier than both EFTP and Avernum 5, but much harder than Avernum 4. So about in the middle as far as Avernums go. I think Avernum 5 is the hardest just because it has massive jumps in difficulty (that mission with the sentinels half way through the game is bloody hard and comes out of nowhere as the game up to that point isn't so difficult) and insane HP bloat so that battles (even random ones) take FOREVER. And given how linear A5 is there's no opportunity to leave, grind, and come back later like you can in Avernum 6. There are some really hard fights in Avernum 6, but most of them are entirely optional, and most of the main quest missions in A6 are really easy (I actually think you could complete A6 at a really low level if you mostly just stick to the main missions, do the minimum amount required, and only pick the easiest ones). Whereas, Avernum 5 is basically just one long corridor, so you have to do stuff in order to advance at all. I remember having a harder time with EFTP than A6, but that could also just be because EFTP was the first Avernum game I ever played and I was an old pro by the time I got to A6. So maybe EFTP is easier, I don't know. But I do think most of the main quest missions are much harder in EFTP than they are in A6, so there's that. PS: people complain about nerfing haste in A6 a lot, but personally I never had a problem as speed potions and wands are SO ABUNDANT that you have enough for every big fight and then some. I played through on torment and ended the game with a whole stash of extra speed potions and like 30,000 dollars in cash on top of it, so I could have bought more if I really wanted to. Resources aren't really scarce in A6 so don't be afraid to use stuff when you need it, even invincibility potions.

Heh. I tried this out of cursorily and got wiped by the rats. So I ended up having to pump up all my defense stats right at the start just to make it past the rats, but then my guy did so little damage it took forever for him to kill stuff so I got bored and lost interest before I even finished the first dungeon. I'm not sure I have the attention span for a torment singleton run. Especially since it took me almost 100 hours to beat the game on torment with a party of 4, so I can't imagine how long a singleton run would take.

A6 is easier than EFTP, IMHO. As long as you aren't playing any weird combos, I wouldn't worry too much about party planning in A6. I just finished A6 on torment with a traditional party (priest, mage, and two melee) and I didn't have much trouble. There are a few hard fights but all the really hard ones are optional and as long as you don't wander too far outside of where you are supposed to be (which, unlike EFTP, is much harder to do in A6), you should be fine. I would pay attention to skill trainers, though, as in a lot of cases it's feasible to hold off on raising skills until you can train them, which while not necessary will give you an extra boost by the end of the game.

As to music in general, though, I really love music---everything from oldtimey folk music, to hip hop, to opera. My all time favorite bands/artisits are probably The Magnetic Fields and Tom Waits, but I like all sorts of stuff. 2012, especially, has been a really good year for music so far. My top 5 favorite albums so far this year: Perfume Genius' "Put Yer Back N 2 It" (terrible name, awesome album. probably my faborite of the year): Dirty Projectors' "Swing Low Magellan": Xiu Xiu "Always": Dan Deacon "America": www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpLsZ5cgQY0 Frank Ocean "Channel Orange": www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7HyAJAQuXc

lol. Well, in retrospect perhaps I was a bit manic, but like I said I usually don't do stuff like that which is why it sticks out as so strange. It's a really nice violin, though, so I suppose I could sell it, but I like to keep it around as a humiliating badge of honor. So when people come over and see it they can say "Oh, so you play." Then I have to awkwardly say, "No, not really" and try to change the subject. Well, I would imagine it depends entirely on how popular polka music is in your area. Around here it's INSANELY popular, so perhaps I bashed tubas too soon. I just think they are such silly looking and sounding instruments, though. There's pretty much no way to look cool while playing a tuba. In fact, I'm pretty sure all tuba players are ruddy checked, over weight, alcoholic german guys (which, on second thought, I guess is kind of cool).

I bought a violin a few years ago with the intention of taking lessons. .......never happened. I don't usually do stuff like that (i.e. foolish impulse buys) but I was really depressed at the time and in grad school and suddenly, amidst a torrent of stress and other stuff I had to get done, got it into my head that I absolutely had to have a violin RIGHT NOW! So, yeah, I obsessively researched the best ones to buy and got one off ebay. It didn't make me any happier, but I do now have a really nice violin I can't play, so....that's something. I guess in retrospect I should just be grateful that I wasn't overcome by a sudden irrational desire to buy a more impractical instrument, like a Tuba or a harpsichord or something.

I won't post the whole thing, but my favorite Wilde is the "Ballad of Reading Gaol." Especially this part: Yet each man kills the thing he loves By each let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword! Some kill their love when they are young, And some when they are old; Some strangle with the hands of Lust, Some with the hands of Gold: The kindest use a knife, because The dead so soon grow cold. Some love too little, some too long, Some sell, and others buy; Some do the deed with many tears, And some without a sigh: For each man kills the thing he loves, Yet each man does not die. I'd recommend you read the whole thing if you haven't. He wrote it in prison and it's devastatingly sad: http://www.literatur...ing-gaol-1.html

This is kind of a hilarious summation of the election in easy to digest .gif form: http://i1.kym-cdn.co...431/615/b32.gif Plus, Romney/Ryan as Terminator 2: http://i.imgur.com/ygcdX.gif I lol'ed

OK, thanks, good to know. Side note: I actually didn't realize that you need to eat food in this game until I had already finished Formello. LOL I wonder how long I've been walking around weakened from starvation?

What does skribbane do exactly? Is it just like a speed potion? Or does it have negative effects as well? I haven't used any yet because everyone always talks about how awful it is.

Bah, I'm an idiot. I just realized it was the priestess in Spire who wanted the secret passage, not the mayor. So number 1 is worked out now.

I'm currently playing through this and didn't want to start a new thread every time I have a question I can't find the answer to. So I thought I'd start a catch all question thread. I have a couple right now: 1. How do I get the "Farrar's Keep" quest to complete? The mayor of Spire wants me to find the secret entrance to Farrar's Keep in Bahrga and report back to her. I've found what I think is the secret entrance (via the secret buttons in the Inn) and gone inside it, but this doesn't seem to complete the quest. Perhaps I am not entering far enough into the keep to trigger the quest complete, but every time I try to go inside farther I am spotted and the town turns hostile. Anyone remember what to do? 2. There is a worm ichor quest in Spire that requires I have some sort of rotting meat to attract worms. I can't seem to locate where this meat is. Anyone remember? Thanks!

Geneforge 5. By far. It's like all the best pieces of the previous games, combined into one super game. IT has all the factions of Geneforge 2 (and more) + the compelling plot of Geneforge 4. What's not to love? Plus, the combat is the most balanced its ever been. Unlike previous games, there's very little room for cheesing one broken skill because everything has been mostly balanced. Given this, I actually think G5 is also the hardest Geneforge game (which, again, is a good thing). I do like G4 as well, but G5 has everything G4 has, and more. Plus, I think Alwain is way more interesting as a character in G5 than he is in G4. Although, G4 is probably a close second to G5.

This is awesome. I'm on my very last spiderweb game that I own (Avernum 6), otherwise I've played through everything except Avernum 2 and 3 (which I'm waiting on the remakes to play). So the timing is just right.

Maybe this has been answered, but I don't see it in the faqs. How does spell training work? 1. If you read from a spell book can you still buy three levels of the spell after that? Or do you have to buy three, then read from the spell book? 2. I know people have said that in Avernum 4/5 it wasn't always worth it to buy levels of spells because of the way that spellcraft and mage/priest skills worked. Is it worth it in Avernum 6 to buy all three levels of a spell? Thanks.

Originally Posted By: stars2heaven I'm on the third book right now and enjoying it. I hated the first season of the HBO series. I almost didn't bother with the second season I hated it so much. Good thing I did in the end since the second season is almost better than the second book. I agree with this. Especially the character of Cersei who is more of a straight forward villain in the novels, but in the TV show they've attempted to explain why she's doing what she does more, which has made her seem much more nuanced and much less of a monster. I actually feel sympathy for TV Cersei, whereas I pretty much just straight hated her when I was reading the books. They also just streamlined a lot of stuff that probably should have been streamlined in the novels anyway (as I said, GRRM has a bad habit of both redundancy and adding a whole bunch of new characters to accomplish something that could probably be better done with either just 1 or by using an existing character). Anyhow, apart from the most popular stuff (Tolkein and Narnia when I was a kid, "The His Dark Materials" trilogy, which I LOVED) and a few one off air port reads (I really loved "Mr Norrel and Jonathan Strange," for example, which was like an awesome combo of Harry Potter and Jane Austen) I actually don't have much experience with modern fantasy. Any authors that anyone would recommend?

Originally Posted By: The Mystic I had a coworker who told me (and anyone else who would listen) she was quitting because she "knew" that she could get twice as much money by mooching off the government than by working in fast food. However, according to the store's rumor mill, she came back a few months later, begging the manager for her job back. I never found out how much aid she was getting, but apparently, it was a heck of a lot less than what she expected. Plus, I don't think people realize how humiliating it is. I remember when I was little we were on food stamps briefly because my dad lost his job for a while and my mom still talks about how nearly every cashier was a total [censored] to her about it and basically made her feel like dirt every time she'd use them. But the Welfare state doesn't really exist anymore in the same way as it did in the 1970s. In the 1970s and 1980s people could live off of welfare, but that was all gutted in the Clinton admin. Now days there are supplemental programs (e.g. like food stamps, low income housing deductions, etc, etc), but in most states it's really not possible to just sit around and collect a welfare check while doing nothing if you are an able bodied person. The closest thing would maybe be disability benefits, but many people do need those, it's incredibly hard to get them, and they really don't pay much at all. Yet the right wing still loves to push the fantasy of the Welfare queens in their Cadillacs from Reagan's heyday. Just because they are an easy villain that everyone can hate, even if they're mostly fictional.

Heh. I sometimes think that I only play video games as an excuse to listen to music. Unless the game is an adventure game (which are usually too dialogue heavy for music to work), usually the first thing I do when starting up a game is turn off the in game music so I can provide my own soundtrack. I do this so often that I usually associate specific games with whatever I was listening to most while playing them, which is kind of weird. In fact, if you name any game from the past decade I usually have an album or two that goes with it (I have a really musical memory, so often times my memory of the game is inextricably linked to the music).

Any fans here? I devoured the first three books, was less thrilled with books 4 and 5, but am still kind of obsessed with the series. They can be incredibly redundant, a bit lazy in writing style, and often take a somewhat juvenile approach to sex, but I really do think that few authors do world building, fictional history construction, and sheer scope better than GRRM. And I like the "light on magic" approach to fantasy. I even just finished the RPG (which was way, way, better than the reviews claimed. In fact, it's actually kind of good. Like a slightly dumbed down and more linear Dragon Age, only with better writing). Anyhow, since Vogel seems to be going for an almost "PG Game of Thrones" type politics focused universe with "Avadon," I was just wondering how many fans of "Song of Ice and Fire" are lurking on these forums and what people think of the series in general.