A:EftP - I think I found where I went wrong

[kensuguro]

Reading a walkthrough:

http://www.gamesover.com/walkthroughs/avernum.htm

Some content is outdated, but the storyline and quests are the same as the current version more or less.

 

I think I see more clearly why I'm so confused about this game. I'm having a very difficult time figuring out which quests relate to what tasks, and what the logical order is to do them in. I think the main issue is that I got Grah-Hoth, revenge on the empire, AND escape from Avernum started at the same time, and it confused the hell out of me. The quest list wasn't too helpful because it was hard to understand which quests related to which mission. (task dependencies) Reading the walkthrough really helped. Before that I didn't even understand that the missions were supposed to come in a specific order. (well, escape would be last, logically)

 

I felt like Avadon had much cleaner flow, where you go on an expedition one by one, and get the next one when you finished. The handholding cut down the confusion a lot. I guess it's a much newer game, and was designed in a different state of mind.

[Lilith]

On the other side of the coin, lots of people have complained about Avadon being too linear.

 

Really, the optimal solution probably involves some kind of improved quest list with better organisation. But as you might have noticed, it takes kind of a while for Jeff Vogel to adopt new ideas.

[kensuguro]

Agree, it won't be nearly as confusing if there's some way to organize the quests in a comprehensible manner.

[Juan Carlo]

It's been a while since I've played this, but I remember having the same problem as you. I'm not sure if you need to order things by quest as much as geography.

 

So, if I remember, do all the quests in the starting area and the area above that first (culminating in getting that mayor chick's necklace), then move down into the honey comb. You could tackle the first part of the spiral pit at this point, but won't be able to finish it until you are stronger.

 

So go down to the mage's tower and do what easy quests you can, then go to the great cave and the castle. Most stuff is out of your league there so just focused on doing fetch quests and easy stuff to grind experience.

 

At this point (can't recall what level I was), it's best to go back and start all the slith quests as you should be able to kill slith by now. After you take out the Slith leader you should be strong enough to start any of the other quests, so at that point the game opens up a bit.

 

But, yeah, the opening portions of the game can be hard because you are given tons of quests all at once so it's hard to tell sometimes which ones you are strong enough to do right away. Personally, though, I don't think I'd like a more linnear quest order as I think the trial and error of finding what you can and can't do (and the freedom of finding easier ways to do stuff early that should be way out of your level) is part of the game's appeal.