Questions...

[Guest]

Hi,

 

After playing ToME for a few years, I found this great game (Avernum). I did most of the demo of A4 and it looks very good and addictive. I like the way fighting is done. (But I agree that there seem to be a lot of it.)

 

I also downloaded some of the previous installent and they look very solid too. (A2 and A1)

 

So, any ideas, or recommendation about what game I should start with? Is it ok to start with A4 and then do the previous ones? Also, are all game about the same play time in real month? (ie. how many hrs to finish them typically?)

 

Oh, and I would like to play on my home computer and (occasionally..) on my work laptop. Do I need to buy 2 copy?

 

I can see there is substential changes between A4 and the earlier titles. Can someone give me a quick overview on A1, A2 and A3. How they differ, did you liked them? ... (Thinking of buying the trilogy...)

 

Thanks a lot.

(Maybe this post should go in General??)

[Dolphin]

Jeff makes his games in such a way that you can start at any point in the series you like. It does help to play them in order, but it's not necessary. I can't really give an estimate of how many hours it took me to finish the games, but they are fairly large.

 

You can use the same copy for both computers. The main difference between A4 and the trilogy is that A4 uses the Geneforge engine instead of Avernum's. This makes some differences in how combat and dialogue works, but A4 is still turn based like the previous Avernums.

 

Edit: As far as what game to start with, if you don’t mind playing out of order I would recommend A2.

[*i]

A4 is a continutation of the previous three games plotwise. Because they are earlier, the engine and graphics of the previous three are a bit more crude, but still worth a play.

[Kelandon]

I typically recommend starting with A1, and I think I'm going to stick with that here. A4 has the latest engine, A3 is the biggest, and A2 has the best plot, but I think that A1 sets up the other games well.

 

If you like ToME, you might find yourself liking the Exile series, which is more or less the same thing as the Avernum series with a different (more old-school) engine. Blades of Exile is definitely worth a look, because it has a look-and-feel much like ToME (judging from some Googled screenshots of ToME), and BoE features several hundred scenarios for literally thousands of hours of gameplay.

 

I personally prefer Avernum to Exile, but you will hear varying opinions on that.

[Zeviz]

First a warning: if you plan on playing A3 and don't want plot spoilers, avoid these boards until you are done with the game. The identity of main villain behind the plagues in A3 tends to show up randomly throughout the boards.

 

As for the order in which to play the games, I suggest playing them in order both because the plots are a continuation of each other (revisiting old cities in A2 is more fun if you had seen them in A1), and because the engine evolved over time (so going from newer to older games might be frustrating).

 

The earlier Avernum games arguably have much better atmosphere and stronger plot, but less sophisticated engine, so the experience will be different from A4.

 

EDIT: I'll second Kel's suggestion to look at Exile (same plots as Avernum, but a much older engine), and especially BoE. You can find reviews of BoE scenarios here: http://p080.ezboard.com/fthelyceumfrm27

[Randomizer]

I enjoyed the Exile versions more than Avernum. I agree that you should play the games in order because the older games seem poorer because of the interface. But play whatever seems fun since you might as well enjoy yourself. Each game has something fun.

[Fort]

Blades of Exile if you plan to primarily stick with newer series like Avernum. E1 and E2 can be difficult to work with if you are used to E3 or Avernum style dialogue.

 

A1 is nice, but your aching finger muscles will appreciate A2 or A3 much more because the small improvements in user-interface will save you cramps in the morning.

[The Lurker]

Exile tends to be much more complicated than Avernum. It has a lot more spells, a lot more tactical challenges, and a few features that Avernum doesn't have, such as conveyor belts. Scenarios are also much easier to make with the BoE editor - you do not need to create TXT files for your scripts. I'd say BoE is definetely worth buying, if only because of the fact that there are so many BoE scenarios out there (and, in my opinion, all of the BoA scenarios released so far are not nearly as 'good' or 'interesting' as some [read as : a lot of] BoE scenarios, perhaps due to the engine).

[Guest]

Thanks a lot!!!

I will be registering the trilogy to start with.

That should give me plenty of hours of fun. ;-)

 

Again: Thanks a lot for all the anwsers.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Avernum is a remake of Exile. There's also Blades of Avernum and Exile, which are both very good. You'll probably want to try Geneforge too.