Avadon

It would be best if Jeff the developer includes a new cheat, "iammax" in future that maxes out every attribute, level, hit point and skill in the next game.

So let me get this straight, increasing my level is useless once I have used the editor to max my stats? As in in terms of damage, hit points, skills etc?

@MMXPERT How about including a crashed spaceship? Ultima players would know what I am talking about...

I found the quest markers useful, but they could be better as these markers only indicated the locations to go to for doing the quests, but do not update where to return to after doing so. Hence after completing quests, I have to hunt for the quest giver to mark it done. Maybe developer Jeff can add in a toggle to hide or show quest markers and perhaps to update where to return to after completing the quest.

I went with the sorceress for the third expedition. What does DPS mean and when I had the shaman in my team during an earlier foray, she seemed well nigh useless.

@Master1 Thanks, but it doesn't work on iPad. Nonetheless, I believe that the hidden doors' tiny switches are no longer an issue moving forward as the ones in the newer game, Avernum: Escape from the Pit, are huge. So the newer games should be just fine and dandy OP.

@SapientCrow Good luck with the hidden doors. I couldn't really activate them in Avadon even when I knew they should be there. Frustrating. Now Avernum has the right idea and I could actually see the switches...

@King Dinosaur Games You definitely want to visit the Tower of Magi in order to Click to reveal.. activate the pylons for teleportation. This will save you a lot of time very soon when you are exploring all over Avernum and quests might take you all over. Additionally, most of the pylons Click to reveal.. can be found in the major towns, i.e. those with mayors, and a few important places of interest.

@confused I guess most of Spiderweb's fans are old timers who remember playing CRPGs back in the old days. I can see how these games can be a bit of a shock if you are coming in fresh from playing Oblivion or Skyrim. If you have not played CRPGs where the dungeon screen goes dark like in Ultima, or faced teleportation traps in Eye of the Beholder, or searched for secret doors, then it can be quite daunting. However, unlike the old days where once you are stuck, you are stuck, nowadays all the solutions are easily found on Google. However, judging from your post, it really does sound like these games might not be your cup of tea. Did you try out the free demos first? I think you would be much happier with Oblivion/Skyrim/Fallout 3 as you cannot really get lost in those games. If you can still persist with Spiderweb's CRPGs, perhaps you could try Avadon, which is more linear than Avernum and so it is less likely that you will become lost or frustrated.

I felt that Avernum ended too quickly, whereas Avadon didn't end quickly enough. I guess that is a reflection on the amount of fun I had with each. Click to reveal.. The actual assasination of Emperor Hawthorne felt way too cut down. I had thought that it would be the quest for Avernum II, not the super short corridor crawl to kill the foozle.

@Rehctawthgin What is the difference between using the editor and using "iamweak"? I have Avernum on the iPad and used the editor to max stats at 40 when I started, but when playing my party's stats went up to 41 then 42?

Are any prototype or concept art of sci-fi Geneforge available on the internet? I am curious about what it would look like.

@tyrtix Frankly fantasy and science fantasy are similar in so many ways that I don't really see the point. Wizardry versus "the Force", "magic missiles" versus blasters etc. In fact, you could see some of that in Might and Magic, Wizardry and Ultima. Now if you are talking about science fiction, then it would be a very different matter. Who is up to crafting a science fiction RPG?

@MechaTofuPirate Go with Avadon if your mark enjoys thought provoking stories, but ride him until he has unlocked at least the first two areas as it starts out slow. Push Avernum if he enjoys exploration over plot. By the way, Avernum is the more technically polished of the two, so if he can't stand bugs or weird pauses in gameplay, go with Avernum. For what it's worth, I started with Avadon on the iPad, with prior Geneforge etc experience on the PC, and totally shelved it until Avernum was released. Make what you will of it.

I am ready for my third foray into Avadon. The first expedition died a natural death as it was during the time of the 1.0 where the screen was upside down and my Hand could not climb walls like Spiderman. The second expedition was ravaged by the savegame deletion bug and savaged by the whole app went tits up and refused to start up bug. For the third expedition, now that I have enjoyed Avernum, which class should I choose? Let me clarify, I would be the Tourist, to borrow a class from Nethack. I have used the cheats in Geneforge, Avadon, Avernum and the other games, as well as the character editor in Avernum. I am uninterested in exploring the combat mechanics, and am only interested in the role playing aspects. That said, which class and companions should I pick to breeze through the combat in Avadon?

Hmm, I seem to be the odd one out. I guess reading books within the game just reminded me too much of Morrowind and Oblivion where the books added nothing useful to the quests at hand... I had not read any ingame books since then.

@Darklea I bring good tidings. Baldur's Gate is on the way to the iPad, probably in 2012. The bad news is that, like me, you have both Avadon and Avernum, which means that you will soon be bored when you complete them as there aren't any other comparable games up on the App Store.

There are quite a number of books included in Avadon to fill in the backstory, but I had not read a single one of them. Has anyone else avoided reading them too?

Is that barrel at the underground prison located at bottom right hand corner of the castle? Thanks Ernie and Jerakeen

/Spoilers alert /Spoilers alert Where is it? I consulted http://homepages.uni-regensburg.de/~mim09509/Avernum/Avernum1/Towns/Castle.html which said under the barrel, but how do I check under the barrel? Also how do you guys do that spoiler reveal box thingy?

Got both. Just completed Avernum and almost completed Avadon before the bug of doom ate it. My brief thoughts on the pair. Technically, Avernum is more polished. There were no out of sequence so the quest is borked designs like the smuggler's quest in Avadon. Also no weird pauses during combat, my save games did not disappear and the app did not become unstable to the point of being unable to be started. Winner: Avernum. The storyline in Avadon, however, triumphs over the ho hum been there done that Avernum plot. It was the exploration that kept me going in Avernum. Winner: Avadon. Exploring Avernum is fun, if you enjoyed exploring the world in the Ultimas or Questrons. I did and so it was great. Winner: Avernum. Being able to edit my characters off the bat was a boon too. I am more of the touristy gamer who is there for the sights and plot, so that and the cheats really helped. If you enjoy minmaxing your own way through, then the editor could be a hindrance instead. I hope Avadon 2 incorporates an editor too. Winner: Avernum. Somehow though, the graphics in Avernum looks more cartoony than Avernum's? It is like the difference between EGA graphics and VGA graphics. Did anyone else feel the same way? Winner: Avadon. In all, Avernum was the more technically polished game that was great for exploring, unlike Avadon's confusing hub system, but Avadon's story was leaps and bounds more thought provoking than Avernum's. I hope the developer, Jeff, will be able to use the optimizations discovered in Avernum for Avadon 2. Till then, that means no more Spiderweb CRPGs to play, unless I want to try playing Avadon and hope that it doesn't eat my saves or bork the installation again. Avernum is a solid 4/5 in my book, where 5/5 is Ultima V-VII.

Oh crap, it wasn't another two days worth, just another three hours worth. Completed the whole thing. Pondering whether to take a break or to try to play through Avadon?

Just offed Hawthorne, so I think I have about two more days of gaming left. It has been so much more fun than Avadon, although Avadon was the more thought provoking of the duo...

Strange, I've not encountered any such issues...

Get Avadon. You won't regret it. Just be aware of the bugs in the iPad and Android versions and take steps to bypass them. I found the story in Avadon more engaging than in Avernum. FWIW, I played about 3/4s of the way through before something went wrong with that installation. Avadon's pathfinding and pick stuff up routines are also more polished than Avernum's. I am playing Avernum now and I am at the first dragon.