Different enough to buy?

[Commodore Redmark]

I got into this shareware only two years ago and started playing Avernum 1, at first I did not like the games but they grew and I came to love them.

 

Later I discovered that they are, if you will, "remakes" of the Exile series. My question is, are they different enough to buy, or are there parts to the story that are explained in Exile and not Avernum?

 

Add: I'm asking about Exile not Avernum.

[Sarachim]

The story is more or less the same, but gameplay is significantly different, and many people, myself included, prefer Exile's setup to Avernum's. I suggest you check out one of the demos and see if you agree.

[PantherShadow]

Heh... I did a very nice rant in favor of the old-school Exile. It's on the Avernum boards, go check it out for the primary differences.

[Commodore Redmark]

YOU COULD USE AN ANTI-MAGIC FIELD SPELL?!?! I heard Exile had a larger selection of spells, but was told most served no purpose. But if there is an anti-magic spell, then it already sounds great. *I haven't had much of a chance to test Exile yet*

[Toenail Returns]

The best part about Exile is that you have a HUGE spellbook of interely useless spells. Sometimes I'll try a new spell like venom arrows, or Slow Group...

[Alorael at Large]

The Exile games have a huge selection of spells. Some are the workhorses like Fireball, Long Light, Unlock, and the other assorted standard healing, buffing, and damaging spells. But there were also things like Conflagration, which can be better than Flame (the Bolt of Fire equivalent, only pathetic), field spells (including null field), spells to create magic barriers, and the always fun Quickfire.

 

No, not all of the spells are useful, but some niche spells have their moments of glory, and there are a surprising number of overlooked but really great spells. Just having fields and areas of effect (along with a few multiple target spells) gives the Exile spell system more spice.

 

—Alorael, who can't argue that the Avernum spells compare with Exile's. Exile wins hands-down. More variety, more fun, and 100% more gratuitous destruction by Quickfire. You have to love the Ermarian equivalent of the small nuclear weapon.

[ben4808]

Since Exile is simpler, north is actually up, the BoE editor is easier to use, you can have 6 people in your party, and the demos files are smaller and therefore take less time to download, I say that if you haven't tried Exile, definately do.

[Sarachim]

Quote:

Originally written by Slasher:
The best part about Exile is that you have a HUGE spellbook of interely useless spells. Sometimes I'll try a new spell like venom arrows, or Slow Group...

Slow Group is actually one of the more underrated spells in the game, especially in outdoor combat. For 4 SP, everything within 12 spaces misses every other turn. Definitely more bang for the buck than any other level 4 spell.

[PantherShadow]

Curse All is also wonderful. Once you get the mage version of Ravage Enemy, however, they both become relatively obsolete.

[HoB0]

Still you can't beat the fun of Quickfire

[Toenail Returns]

Don't forget the Force Barriers. They come in handy SO much, At the begging of the Golem Factory I used force barrier to trap those pesky golems in their nice little cubbyholes.

[ben4808]

Firestorm!

 

Just walk up to a bunch of monsters, see 8 spell points fry them to a crisp, and then laugh your head off---menacingly.

 

Repeat.

[HoB0]

What about Avatar a really cool priest spell and very handy

[Sticky]

Divine Thud-

YEAH-YEAH

or even the unresistable Wound was a nice priest spell. With six level 50 priests you could kill Rentar Ihrno with it. Oh the fun fun fun. If/when jeff does come out with A4, better spells is one of the things that I would dearly love to see.

[Sarachim]

Quote:

Originally written by m's devotee:
Divine Thud-
YEAH-YEAH
or even the unresistable Wound was a nice priest spell. With six level 50 priests you could kill Rentar Ihrno with it. Oh the fun fun fun. If/when jeff does come out with A4, better spells is one of the things that I would dearly love to see.

Really? Wound never did any damage to Rentar for me, even though the game always showed a "1" on the battle view. I had to kill her other ways.

[ben4808]

And those ways are?

[Lilith]

Tedious bludgeoning.

[Commodore Redmark]

That sounds nice, if horribly evil. I will have to wait till I get through E1 and E2 before E3. I went through Avernum out of order and I regret it, just a little anyway. But it will be fun to kill that alien like freak...

 

Which raises another question for me, does Lady Erika die in Exile? Or does she avoid horrible death by means of UV rays?

[Rabid Pigs Eating A Wolf]

UV rays????

You must know nothing of Erika. Erika was not cursed and thrown into Exile needing the sun. She was cursed to never be able to live on the surface again, because the sun would kill her. My guess is that UV rays, wouldn't have much better an effect...

[Commodore Redmark]

I am sorry, I typed that sentence and now I look like a fool. I meant, "does she escape death by UV rays?" I can lose my head, even when talking about the coolest person ever in a game. But, my question still stands. Die, or not die? What may be the answer?

[Alorael at Large]

Spoiler, obviously... and the answer is yes and no, depending on a certain decision you make in E3.

 

—Alorael, who would say that the answer is more yes than no simply because most people choose the lethal option and because Erika's death has become part of the Exile/Avernum unofficial history.

[Sarachim]

Quote:

Originally written by burglar ben:
And those ways are?

Trade secret, Benny. It's really not worth the time and effort, to be honest.

[Rupert]

Not got that far yet, but surely in A3, it could be possible to kill Rentar through extremely liberal utilisation of the editor? Put your strength etc up to max, punch up your level and go.

[Imban]

In A3, it is far simpler to acquire a Basilisk in your Soul Crystal and use that to one-hit Rentar, from what I have heard.

[Kelandon]

Bah, that is far easier than what I did. You can't just hit her with maxed stats, because no matter what your stats are, you'll end up doing no more than three or four damage per hit, and she starts healing herself at a certain point. But what I did (and this took forever, and Imban's plan sounds much better) is Forcecage her, wait for it to wear off, then hit her with three Cloud of Blades spells, and use the last mage to Forcecage her again before she could move.

 

This required four magic-users with incredibly high Dexterity (and a LOT of patience), though.

[Sticky]

Quote:

Origanally written by Sarachim

Quote:

quote:Originally written by m's devotee:
Divine Thud- YEAH-YEAH
or even the unresistable Wound was a nice priest spell. With six level 50 priests you could kill Rentar Ihrno with it. Oh the fun fun fun. If/when jeff does come out with A4, better spells is one of the things that I would dearly love to see.

Really? Wound never did any damage to Rentar for me, even though the game always showed a "1" on the battle view. I had to kill her other ways.

It took me forever because you had to cover her with antimagic clouds and then use the spell on her for one turn at the end of which you recast the antimagic cloud. It took a very long time because sometimes the antimagic on her lasted for a long periond of time. And then when I made a mistake and let her heal herself it took even longer. It really was not worth the effort.

[Toenail Returns]

It took me so freaking long to kill her... I almost decided to not kill her... almost...