The end of Redbeard's Reign: A gameplay post-mortem (spoiler free)

[SpiderFan]

Hello Jeff and (present) Company,

 

I recently completed Avadon on Normal difficulty, and now feel qualified to share my gaming experience after lurking in this forum for the last 5 days.

 

First, some disclaimers:

 

(1) Until Avadon's release, none of Spiderweb Software's existing game catalog appealed to me. (2) Because I travel a lot, 90% of my RPG gaming is on my Nintendo DS Lite. Fortunately, Avadon played well on my Macbook.

 

Second, some constructive criticism:

 

The interface was intuitive and self-explanatory with the exception of the keyboard shortcuts not being able to close the same menus they opened! Having to constantly grab loot with "get item" and then having to press either "enter" or "esc" to close menu screens was extremely annoying. I remapped "inventory" to "/" just so my left index finger was close to the "enter" key.

 

The use of dialog tress is commendable, but their implementation was another source of frustration. Except when dialog choices resulted in actual, immediate consequences, every conversation reset to its root menu. The illusion of choice is easily broken by restarting conversations and selecting the other options. Why must I click-through dialog tress when simply displaying the entire conversation topic would achieve the same result with less hassle?

 

The semi-transparency of the way stat increases were calculated as percentages is also commendable, as such math is often hidden from the player, but in this case the system is broken. Such calculations negatively affected the effectiveness of equipment, such as armor that granted 20% protection against poison. That 20% didn't apply against all poison attacks, thereby reducing your chance of being poisoned to 8 out of 10 times, but rather stacked upon a character's existing poison resistance percentage. When it came to equipping this armor, the character with the highest poison resistance further benefited the most from the armor's poison protection! Statistically, I would be negligent not to equip such armor on a character with the highest base poison resistance, as 20% of 50% will result in a higher combined total than 20% of 30%.

 

Third, why I chose Avadon vs. Avernum or Geneforge:

 

The argument can be made that from a presentation standpoint, Avadon simply looks "more modern", and I would also argue that Avadon almost plays as well as it looks. But most importantly . . .

 

When I play through a RPG, I want to play as predefined characters with their own unique motivations, strengths and flaws. My favorite examples of this genre being Chrono Trigger, Skies of Arcadia, Dragon Quest 5, Knights of the Old Republic, and most recently, Radiant Historia.

 

In this regard, Avadon's four companions were a welcome surprise in a CRPG. Wanting to maximize the character interactions, I made sure to take the Blademaster with me on Kva missions, while the Shaman accompanied me to Khemeria, and the Sorceress and ShadowWalker fought with me through the lands of the third and final portal.

 

Knowing Jeff's admiration for Knights of the Old Republic, (and Bioware in general) which featured playable characters who all originated from different planets and cultures; I suspected that the lands of the Pact would be equally represented amongst the 4 playable characters. This highly narrative dynamic would not have been possible if your companions lacked any and all personality like those of Avernum or Geneforge.

 

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the ultimate of characters, Avadon the Black Fortress. Exploring its darkest depths and various heights was a game unto itself. The collective secrets of Avadon, and thus Redbeard, were a joy to discover and I was truly disappointed when my explorations were complete.

 

During my entire play through on Normal difficulty, I used only one save file until the very end, and I am confident that I completed every side quest (including all character loyalty missions) and otherwise did everything I could possibly accomplish as a rebellious Hand. In fact, all characters achieved level 30 before the final 2 portal missions were assigned.

 

As for "the very end", I did witness "both" endings and consequently will probably not replay Avadon anytime soon.

 

For those who have read this far, my Thanks for allowing me to share a moment of your time.

 

And to Jeff: I am now a SpiderFan, and look forward with eager anticipation to Avadon 2. Your master plan to streamline the playability of your games is indeed working. Any comparisons I made to KotOR are meant as the sincerest compliments.

[Lilith]

Boy howdy, you sure put some effort into this. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

 

Originally Posted By: SpiderFan

Such calculations negatively affected the effectiveness of equipment, such as armor that granted 20% protection against poison. That 20% didn't apply against all poison attacks, thereby reducing your chance of being poisoned to 8 out of 10 times, but rather stacked upon a character's existing poison resistance percentage. When it came to equipping this armor, the character with the highest poison resistance further benefited the most from the armor's poison protection! Statistically, I would be negligent not to equip such armor on a character with the highest base poison resistance, as 20% of 50% will result in a higher combined total than 20% of 30%.

 

If I understand your complaint correctly, resistances don't actually work the way you think they do. Each source of resistance affects damage received independently: the resistances are multiplied, not added. For example, if you have 50% poison resistance to start out with, and equip an item that gives you 20% poison resistance, your total poison resistance will be 60%, not 70%.

[Alberich]

I finished a couple of days ago - and I think this is the best game Spideweb has done yet. Like you, I enjoyed the customization of the companions, and I did sometimes pick which companions to bring based on my hopes for dialogue. Other improvements over previous Spiderweb games:

 

- I don't feel stupid spending my money. I mean, there's good stuff to buy (like the Titansteel breastplate, which I believe was with the quartermaster) - and if you do buy it, you don't feel like a ninny when you promptly find something better in the very next fight, nor do you discover you *needed* all that money for training.

 

- The skill system and the retrain options are also designed so that, assuming that I play without hintbooks (as I do), I don't suddenly figure out that I should've built my character some other way when I'm reaching the late stages of the game. So you're not constantly and irreversibly punished for a bad character build. (And the way the skill tree system works, you can fix a lot of mistakes even without having to retrain - for example, I was rushing to get the salamdander summon for my Shaman, and took a lot of level-1 skills too early; but I wasn't spending points I'd never get back on skills I'd never need, so I was able to fix that issue by concentrating more later.)

 

- Torment level (I always start on Torment) is much improved. The low-level fights you have to slog through are much easier than in other SW games; the major fights earn the "torment" title. The healing/fatigue system means I don't have to spend so much time running back to town.

 

After winning, I thought at first that this was a much smaller game than other SW games, but now I'm thinking it simply *seemed* smaller because not every encounter with a pack of wolves or wretches required me to leave the area to heal. And that, I appreciate. The game gave me a higher payback for the time I spent playing it.

 

- This game, I can retreat off the edge of the map or up a staircase, even in combat, a handy way of getting out (especially since some of the opponents are very, very aggressive in pursuit...which sometimes makes it easier to lead them into an encounter with some friendlies).

 

- The player dialogue options - they include more opinions that a real person might believe. In some of the GF games, it seemed you were left with the option of saying, "Everyone's neck belongs under a shaper boot," or "The shapers should be tortured to death," without much in between...in this game, I often *took* some of the extreme options (the logic of power dictates some unpalatable results), but I liked seeing more humane opinions available. (Mind you, the options and factions in GF gave the game an "alien" feel that I enjoyed, but this game felt warmer, and I had an easier time identifying with some of the personalities.)

 

- And as I've said before, the level cap...there's no obligation to have every fight possible just to be strong enough for the later fights; you can spare the folks who don't need killing, or sometimes just avoid a fight you don't want to have.

 

One thing I do miss is the ability to see the enemy's hit points (as opposed to just the health bar) - it's not a big loss and I can get a feel for where they are - but since I can see how much damage I'm doing anyway, seeing their numbers would be nice.

 

Still, I think if I try replaying some of the older SW games later, this one will have "spoiled" me. I'm definitely looking forward to the sequels.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Alberich

in this game, I often *took* some of the extreme options (the logic of power dictates some unpalatable results)

i like how pretty much every dialogue option that begins with "I am a Hand of Avadon" involves you being a huge jerk to someone

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Lilith

i like how pretty much every dialogue option that begins with "I am a Hand of Avadon" involves you being a huge jerk to someone

The game needs more Renegade Interrupts, that's for sure.

Actually, just about every game I can think of would benefit from Renegade interrupt- *gets punched*

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

i loved the fact that when people give you attitude you can say "i am a hand of avadon....." and get them to practically pass out from fear

[Superba]

Remember a trading post reluctant keeper in Dhorla Stead? She was full of anger to hands of Avadon and refused to trade until the party intimidated her, and still she maintened her pride (I liked her behaviour, by the way).