A4 At Last

[Lazarus.]

I finally downloaded the windows demo version of Avernum 4, and after all the negative opinions of it I expected a complete piece of garbage (no outdoor map!!! Preposterous!!!) Some of the new quirks seem to work, others not so well. I'll hold out on the final judgement, but before I continue playing I have to ask if a few annoying things I found could be overcome.

1. Is there anyway to change the way you move with the mouse?? I set it so the screen will follow me, but I still dislike the move to a spot system, and the keypad is kind of disorienting.

2. Are there any secret passages?? I will stop looking for them if not, if so then how do you even find them. You cant attempt to walk into walls anymore.

3. How can you look at a spot. Right click does nothing, and pressing 'L' does nothing too. I want to know what these strange new terrain are supposed to be, but can't search them.

4. Is there anyway to change between the automap and your inventory? This is usually just a minor inconvenience, but when you are shopping for new equipment it can be a big pain.

5. This isnt so much a question as a rant. Where are all the different PC graphics? My adventurers hold their swords like flagposts, and I only have two choices for Ssssschah. My god why must area of effect spells cost the lives of alchemy and any diversity in graphics.

-Before you ask, yes I have looked at the help files. I skimmed them thoroughly and found nothing of use to me.

[Universe]

Quote:

Originally written by Lazarus:
I finally downloaded the windows demo version of Avernum 4, and after all the negative opinions of it I expected a complete piece of garbage (no outdoor map!!! Preposterous!!!) Some of the new quirks seem to work, others not so well. I'll hold out on the final judgement, but before I continue playing I have to ask if a few annoying things I found could be overcome.
1. Is there anyway to change the way you move with the mouse?? I set it so the screen will follow me, but I still dislike the move to a spot system, and the keypad is kind of disorienting.
2. Are there any secret passages?? I will stop looking for them if not, if so then how do you even find them. You cant attempt to walk into walls anymore.
3. How can you look at a spot. Right click does nothing, and pressing 'L' does nothing too. I want to know what these strange new terrain are supposed to be, but can't search them.
4. Is there anyway to change between the automap and your inventory? This is usually just a minor inconvenience, but when you are shopping for new equipment it can be a big pain.
5. This isnt so much a question as a rant. Where are all the different PC graphics? My adventurers hold their swords like flagposts, and I only have two choices for Ssssschah. My god why must area of effect spells cost the lives of alchemy and any diversity in graphics.
-Before you ask, yes I have looked at the help files. I skimmed them thoroughly and found nothing of use to me.

1. You either have to use the mouse or keyboard.

2. There are no more secret passages that YOU have to find. Some can be revealed by special messages.

3. If you can't click on the item using the left mouse button, you can't look at it.

[Dintiradan]

1: Unfortunately, the answer is "live with it". Really, the movement system is not that much different that the other Avernums. I recommend using the mouse in towns and outdoors, and using the keypad in dungeons.

 

2: No.

 

3: Left click, I believe. This is my biggest problem with the interface: you can't solely depend on the keyboard as you did in the other Avernums. To look at a terrain, or to fire on an enemy, you must use the mouse. If there's another way to do it, I don't know. Sometimes bumping into the terrain automatically searches it.

 

4: A4 doesn't have the automap/inventory switch. Just click on the inventory button, or type 'i'. 1-4 toggles characters.

 

5: If it's any consolation, JV has promised more character graphics in A5.

 

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High on sneak, low on spot. Go figure.

- Big Stick

[Alorael at Large]

There is no look command anymore. No terrain has a name, and if you can't interact with it then it's indistinguishable from everything else you can't interact with.

 

—Alorael, who also misses looking. At least tab shows monster names. Seeing all the monsters at once is helpful.

[Fort]

I suggest setting the directional arrow keys to move the screen and reserve the numeric keypad for manual movement of the party. I find that this makes moving over long distances much more efficient becuase you can take advantage of the maximum range of the pathfinding engine.

 

Concerning needing to use the mouse to play, it is important to remember that bringing back area of effect spells, one of the most missed features from Exile, requires the mouse.

 

The inability to "look" specifically at a spot disappeared in Avernum, as did reading terrain names in Geneforge.

 

Sometimes I want to be able to access the inventory while buying as well, but I remember that I hated not having the automap all the time.

 

The disappearance of true secret passages is a huge loss in terms of how Spiderweb games usually are like to play, but I think most of the other changes were beneficial to user interface.

[Lazarus.]

Well thanks for the advice. I'm kinda bummed over that there aren't any secret passages, but I'm glad I asked here so I won't have to go crazy looking for things that aren't there. I've got pretty used to movement, but I still sometimes get messed up when it automatically puts you into battle.

This is another question that I just thought of. I've noticed that the log of turns in the game is gone. Instead things like "Hits for 10" or "Goblin Dies" are flashed up in the lower left corner. But I usually don't have time to read these in battle, is there anyway to make them stay up for longer?

[Wizard]

You can press T which makes the game display all recent texts again in the lower left corner

[Dikiyoba]

I dislike that command. I keep hitting T whenever I want to talk to someone and all I get is a repeat of the most recent text.

 

Dikiyoba doesn't hit T in Geneforge, which is odd. Oh well.