This looks cool-Where do I start

[Valdain the King]

Hi all. I have spent some time away from video games and happened to cross your website in interest. Ive seen a few of the pictures of the games and am not really sure which game to start with. I like games with parties, but am not a big fan of the large party systems. I played arcanum and had just a team of 2 characters both casting spells and both fighting. Your avernum series looks to be promising however, the earlier games might not be my style graphics wise. If I could start at any game partywise, what would be a good choice. Im into plot mostly, but if its got a good party sysem then thats more important.

 

Like I said, I havent played games in a while and am really just looking for something I can slowly go through.

[Randomizer]

You can download demos for all the games and then when you purchase one you register it and can keep playing from where you stopped or start over if you want to. All of them have decent plots and the first three games allow you to just explore the world without having to always follow the main quest line. The last three games are very linear with barriers that prevent you from entering a new area until you complete certain quests.

 

Avernum 1 is being remade for newer computers and the iPad with additional content and updating the character system to use features from the most recent games.

 

Most newer players dislike the older graphics of the first trilogy, Avernum 1 to 3, and the interface. Older players dislike Avernum 4 because it repeats the basic plot of Avernum 3. You have to try them out to find what you like. Also some of the older games don't work on new computers.

 

All the Avernum games use a party of 4, but you can delete characters to play with less or leave a character behind in Avernum 1 to 3 and recruit an NPC to travel with you that you control.

 

The character system is classless so you can start with a pregenerated group of characters or a custom character with the skills that you want.

 

Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Please leave your sanity at the door. All the advice you will receive will be contradictory, but without sanity will make perfect sense.

[Valdain the King]

Cool thanks. Im not really sure what ill do. I was thinking of maybe replaying my last rpg party. It consisted of 1-Main upclose warrior mixed with cleric spells. This guy will wield 2 handed swords and cast spells that heal party and curse or destroy enemy. The 2nd character would be the trap disarmer, partial melee fighter and ranged weapon fighter. He will shoot out the little guys and make the main tanks life easier. Could i do something along those lines? I would like a challenge and might have to set the difficulty rating down a bit, if that works.

[Earth]

at Avernums you can have max 4 chars so you can specialize each char (except its good to have 2 spellcasters who can do mage and priest spells).

[Jerakeen]

Originally Posted By: Valdain the King

Cool thanks. Im not really sure what ill do. I was thinking of maybe replaying my last rpg party. It consisted of 1-Main upclose warrior mixed with cleric spells. This guy will wield 2 handed swords and cast spells that heal party and curse or destroy enemy. The 2nd character would be the trap disarmer, partial melee fighter and ranged weapon fighter. He will shoot out the little guys and make the main tanks life easier. Could i do something along those lines? I would like a challenge and might have to set the difficulty rating down a bit, if that works.

Yes, it will work. I've done very similar parties, but Avernum has both Mage and Priest spells, so you might want to have some of each. And archery ranges from pretty good to nearly useless, depending on which Avernum you're playing.

Playing with less than a full party doesn't leave much room for error, though; I hope you won't get frustrated on your first try.

[Valdain the King]

Originally Posted By: The Turtle Moves

Originally Posted By: Valdain the King

Cool thanks. Im not really sure what ill do. I was thinking of maybe replaying my last rpg party. It consisted of 1-Main upclose warrior mixed with cleric spells. This guy will wield 2 handed swords and cast spells that heal party and curse or destroy enemy. The 2nd character would be the trap disarmer, partial melee fighter and ranged weapon fighter. He will shoot out the little guys and make the main tanks life easier. Could i do something along those lines? I would like a challenge and might have to set the difficulty rating down a bit, if that works.

Yes, it will work. I've done very similar parties, but Avernum has both Mage and Priest spells, so you might want to have some of each. And archery ranges from pretty good to nearly useless, depending on which Avernum you're playing.

Playing with less than a full party doesn't leave much room for error, though; I hope you won't get frustrated on your first try.

Oh, then im not sure how it will work. I dont usually use bows, when i played my last rpg i used throwing weapons instead and when i got too close, engaged in melee. I dont know if they will work in this game however.

[Randomizer]

Bow and thrown weapons vary in usefulness in the different games. Until Avernum 4 you had to carry arrows and equip them. From Avernum 4 the arrows were implied and damage changed with the bows. Thrown weapons always have weight so they are slightly less useful but in general do more damage.

 

Some places you need a range attack because you can't reach them or you want to slowly move up and pick them off one by one.

[Jerakeen]

Thrown weapons are pretty good through the series, in terms of damage, but they can be scarce and weight is an issue. It's better in the later games, because items in your pack no longer count toward encumbrance.

 

Avernum 5 is a good place to start - it's a newer engine and you can immerse yourself in the world without knowing any of the background. Just play around with the demo and see what you think. It's pretty big, so you'll have plenty of time to make up your mind.

[Randomizer]

Avernum 5 has the smallest of the game demos except for Avadon. Still you can get a decent 8 to 10 hours of play. Avernum 3 has the largest demo so you can easily spend 20 hours playing before you run out of restricted places.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Originally Posted By: Randomizer

Avernum 3 has the largest demo so you can easily spend 20 hours playing before you run out of restricted places.

More like 20 days for someone not used to avernum.
(Also you don't run out of restricted places, you run out of the ones not restricted.)

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

Originally Posted By: cute Melnachion

More like 20 days for someone not used to avernum.
(Also you don't run out of restricted places, you run out of the ones not restricted.)

as in "i'm not afraid of falling off a tree, i'm afraid of landing afterwards"

[Valdain the King]

Just started playing the game a4 a bit, it's sort of ok. The only thing is is there any dialogue between your characters or can you get them to talk through modding? I wasnt sure. Im looking for something that has the mentality like planescape-torment. Im really into a decent story with parties that can be done differently. I want to make my character and then get to join with another warrior in a mission. I learn more about that npc and they progress, gain new abilities and other benefits. But it can be done differently, as mentioned before.

 

Is that avadon game like that and could i do the sample 2 party that i mentioned before, or is it too much like avernum?

[Valdain the King]

I just started out in the game and there are 4 classes i can choose. Of the 4, I'd like to try either the shaman or the blademaster. If i pick her or him, do I have to pick a fighter to join me to back me up like in icewind dale/baldurs gate? And if so, what would work as a good team of 2 for either of those classes?

[ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε]

you can pick the other characters everytime you leave avadon.

 

for further info look in the avadon forum

[Harehunter]

My personal preference is 1) a shaman with Elite warrior (mostly melee skills) 2) a shaman with high tool use (pole weapons) 3) hedge wizard (pure spirit, concentrates on priest) 4) hedge wizard (natural mage, concentrates on mage spells).

The best part of Avernum is that there are many ways to combine your parties skills, including different races in order to gain access to inherent skills. In the last three Avernum games a new set of abilities called 'battle disciplines' comes into play; gaining access to these alters the general strategy of how you build and develop your party. Then just for fun, you can replay the games with fewer than four PC's for a greater challenge.

If you are looking for a RPG with an extensive story line, Avernum 3 is probably the best. The only problem I have with starting with A3 is that a lot of the dialog is based upon experiences defined in Avernum 1 and 2. Also in the first 3 Avernum games there are a few places where you can drop off one of your PCs and pick up a NPC to replace them.

[Aoslare]

Originally Posted By: Harehunter

If you are looking for a RPG with an extensive story line, Avernum 3 is probably the best.

Wait, seriously?

In terms of pure length it's extensive, but it's also repetitive, bland, and full of huge amounts of filler.

[Harehunter]

Having played the entire Exile/Avernum series, my preference is to play all of them in sequence. The UI in Exile is klunky compared to Avernum, and most of the dialog is the same in Avernnum, so I can understand if someone elects to skip them.

 

Which game do you like the best Slarty?

[Aoslare]

I wasn't comparing it to Exile 3. The storyline is repetitive on its own:

 

- Oh look, a monster you haven't seen before. Oh look, there are lots of them and the Empire is strangely unable to deal with them. Guess you'd better destroy the plague.

- Oh look, a monster you haven't seen before. Oh look, there are lots of them and the Empire is strangely unable to deal with them. Guess you'd better destroy the plague.

- Oh look, a monster you haven't seen before. Oh look, there are lots of them and the Empire is strangely unable to deal with them. Guess you'd better destroy the plague.

- Oh look, a monster you haven't seen before. Oh look, there are lots of them and the Empire is strangely unable to deal with them. Guess you'd better destroy the plague.

- Oh look, a monster you haven't seen before. Oh look, there are lots of them and the Empire is strangely unable to deal with them. Guess you'd better destroy the plague.

- Oh look, a monster you haven't seen before. Oh look, there are lots of them and the Empire is strangely unable to deal with them. Guess you'd better destroy the plague.

 

Admittedly there are some better points, but those are mostly one-shot missions like the COTSI and the Tower disaster. The main story arc is as above, complete with tons of generic towns with the exact same NPC dialogue as in the other generic towns (Merry the toolsmith, etc).

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Originally Posted By: Darth Ernie

Originally Posted By: cute Melnachion

More like 20 days for someone not used to avernum.
(Also you don't run out of restricted places, you run out of the ones not restricted.)

as in "i'm not afraid of falling off a tree, i'm afraid of landing afterwards"

Nope,, as in "i will fall from ground and land on a tree"

[Valdain the King]

Ok I read up a bit on avadon. Sounds like an interesting story after reading all the stories and intros in game section of spiderweb. Who would go well with a 2 man party with me being the shaman? I dont know the game's toughness but i know that its a 3 person game. So, any info on what class would mesh well with that, would be helpful.

[Randomizer]

If you are playing Avadon, you need someone that can unlock doors and boxes. A Shadowwalker works best since it can also take lots of damage.

 

You need to balance out different types of damage since some areas have monsters that are resistant to fire and others to all but physical damage and acid.

[Death Knight]

Although Avadon is not my biggest favorite, Its the only game with actual party members that interact. Its also the closest thing nowadays to Baldur's Gate series. Whereas Avernum 1-6 are more like icewind dale series. The characters in your party dont talk or interact, but you are into it more for the story and to make a cool character as the class system is practically custom char all the way. The only thing I was surprised about for Avernum was the stories in the games. I found that of avernum 1, 4, 5 and 6, the only story I felt got me engrossed was a5.

Then there's geneforge. Its essentially-Pick your character class like avadon and that defines how you will play. What also defines the game is the creatures, the great plot and the ability to play the game differently. Of the games spiderweb makes, the geneforge series is not only the hardest (which most would agree), its probably the most diverse.

 

I would go with avadon. Jeff's just started on npc relationships, and i think he will do much more in the future down that alley. Aside from that, if you are interested in epic turn-based battles, avadon is your choice, although avernum rewrite's around the corner.

[Earth]

some enemies at Avadon are resistant to energy-attack so shaman needs ranged weapon to do damage unless job is to be healer.

[Valdain the King]

If i go with missile weapons, what should i put my stats into: I dont want to spread them out too much. I should probably work on two stats, right?

[Harehunter]

Okay, you don't like EA3. Which one would you recommend? And it does not have to be restricted to the Exile/Avernum series.

[Aoslare]

Was that to me? I do like Exile 3. I just think it's ludicrous to use the word "best" in connection with its storyline.

 

If we're talking purely about good stories, E/A1, E/A2, Nethergate, and Geneforge 1 are at the top of the list.

[Jerakeen]

Originally Posted By: Valdain the King

If i go with missile weapons, what should i put my stats into: I dont want to spread them out too much. I should probably work on two stats, right?

Dex is good for missile weapons, and very good for evasion. Some of the Shaman's offensive spells (the ones that do physical damage) also depend on Dex for damage. Unfortunately, the others depend on Int, which may tempt you to split your attribute points. Probably not a good idea. However, summoning and healing are based strictly on the skills, not tied to any attribute.

For your warrior, you want enough strength to wear your armor, some endurance, and the rest dex. Unless you really want to invest heavily in melee, which is another way to go. A high-strength Shadowwalker can do obscene amounts of damage on a backstab (the shaman can keep him supplied with pets). Of course, he'll take some hits.

[Harehunter]

I'll grant you that quantity does not necessarily equate to quality. I've been putting off getting into Nethergate and Geneforge for too long now. I guess I'll just have to break down and get them, although I'm getting pretty loaded up at work. Thanks, House of S.

[Aoslare]

Nethergate first. Given your preference for having all kinds of skill combinations, you'll probably prefer that to Geneforge.

[Trenton.]

Nethergate has the most skills I think. In it you have the differant types of magic, you have differant circles of spells instead of the regular four, attack, blessing, mental, and healing. There's also something about faeries or something right?

[Jerakeen]

Hey, Trenton. Where've you been?

[Trenton.]

Ive been posting on here all summer. Where the hell have you been?

[Jerakeen]

I guess I didn't notice you somehow.

[Trenton.]

0.o Ok then. Hello anyways. Now then, Nethergate wasnt my favorite game story wise, but geneforge was. The story was kewl. I mean, to create creations under your complete control!