In which I offer my COMPLETLEY UNBIASED and GUARANTEED 100% ACCURATE review of Avernum: Crystal Souls

[Dantius]

tl;dr: Disappointed expectations, 6/10.

 

Longer form:

 

I am, of course, a longtime fan of Jeff’s games, though my tastes tend to run towards the Geneforge series rather than Avernum/Exile. Still, I’ve played in full G1-G5, plus A3 and A5, plenty (most?) BoA scenarios, and in large part A1, A2, A6, and Nethergate, plus a smattering of Jeff’s other games. I came into the game expecting, more or less, the typical Jeff package: fairly tactical turn-based grid combat, tight writing, an engaging plot, plenty of areas to explore, replay value, and generally a game that can be a huge timesink but doesn’t actually feel like one (isn’t grind-y, etc.). Of those six objectives, I feel like I got maybe two to three- the game wasn’t bad by any stretch, and certainly worth the money, but it definitely pales in comparison to his prior work. Far be it from me to be a cynic, but would almost think this is little more than a soulless repackaging of an old cash cow to exploit a loyal fanbase and also appeal to a wider audience on Steam for a quick buck.

 

First, the gameplay. I played through on Normal as a singleton, optimized for mage/priest spells with a little combat skills tossed in. Full disclosure, I did use the character editor to max out party skills (tool use, cave lore, etc.), but other than that, nothing. The spells list has been remarkably dumbed-down, even from Avernum (I am told that Exile supposedly had like a zillion spells, but cannot confirm for myself.). Gone are spells that add any level of tactical sophistication, like recurring area damage (CoB), enemy specific damage (Repel Spirit), or effects beyond bless party, curse enemy, damage enemy, summon thing. Combat becomes a matter of moving my mage a few squares to maximize the number of enemies caught in my cone, and then casting whichever attack the current batch of enemies don’t resist, occasionally pausing to quaff a potion. I used summons maybe twice, and curses in exactly one fight. By the endgame combat had become simply pressing “p”->”t” until everybody died, or at least until only Gazers were left to finish off with Fireblast. Lack of spells isn’t inherently a bad thing, G1 had like nine total and as many creations, but combat there was interesting and varied, whereas combat in CS was just dull. The only actually difficult (read: interesting) fights I ran into was the drake in the NE lair at the beginning, because I was so weak, and maybe Garzahd, because his spells apparently bypassed my Invulnerability elixirs (bug?) and could two-shot me with castings of Arcane Blow. I found most consumable spells (excepting Piercing crystals) are useless by Act III, and pretty quickly my character had enough spell energy to clear out a dungeon without needing Energy potions at all. Bosses were made “difficult” by adding lots of HP or minions, but nobody could hit me and so I just stood around while they made futile swings with 20% TH. And speaking of TH, it’s clear Jeff needs to fix his RNG, since my character had 90% TH but maybe 70% accuracy- there were numerous places I missed three or four times in a row with 90% TH, which should be nearly impossible. Also, the pathing algorithms (especially outdoors) suck. If I click a point downriver, the AI should be able to figure out I want to sail to it, and not ram repeatedly into the banks and stop. A* isn’t a secret, it’s been around since the 60’s. Equipment was randomly dispersed and there was no clear rhyme or reason as to why- one of the best spears is found right at the beginning in a random bat nest, but you can’t get a good sword for love or money until you hit Chapter 3, if not 4 (Also, removing the Alien Blade made me sad, and the Venomous Blade was hidden in such a obscure place that even Randomizer didn’t find it). The best mage armor in the game (Runed Plate) is the reward for an early fetch quest for magical notes, but you don’t get the Robe of the Magi until you take it from Garzahd’s corpse.

 

The writing is probably the strongest part of the game. There’s plenty of fun, quirky humor that doesn’t feel too out of place, possibly because it’s usually grimly sarcastic Jeff-isms, which fits well with the setting. Some of the responses are gold, like when you finally approach Garzahd to duel him for Avernum, pausing only to ask “WHAT did you do to your FACE??” I didn’t have any real complaints here, full marks.

 

The plot is more or less straightforward: Thing happens (Chapter I), go through linear intro mission (Chapters II/III), complete three objectives in open world (rescue titular Crystal Souls), endgame (kill Garzahd/destroy portal). There’s little nuance, though there are hints of what’s to come in Avernum: Ruined World and how both Rentar and Erika are crazy psychopaths who’ll burn the world if it suits them, and generally it’s a straightforward scrappy rebels vs. evil empire narrative. Still, nothing really wrong with that, and there’s no obvious flaws, so half credit, I suppose.

 

The pacing, on the other hand, was atrocious. I emerged from the Vahnatai lands having 100% completed the game thus far, ready to zip up the ranks as befits my prestige as the trusted ambassador to the Vahnatai and master negotiator who literally saved the war effort for them, only to find myself doing fetch quests and delivering letters to people in irrelevant forts for HOURS on end, which really killed immersion. Even when I did huge assists like hunting down and killing the notorious Empire general Lemon Gelato (sp?) or devastating Imperial supply lines or recovering powerful artifacts, I didn’t get more than a pat on the head and vague promises of future support, all while my equipment and spells stagnated because all the good stuff needed Magi clearance to get. The threshold needs to be seriously lowered, to like 20-25 rep. And with Crown clearance it was the opposite problem- I did like three quests after Magi before I got it, going from persona non grata to trusted confidante of the King in like a half hour. If you’re going to have dumb barriers to the player’s progress like that, then an effort should at least be made to ensure that the player spends roughly the same time in no-clearance, Magi-clearance, and Crown-clearance tiers.

 

I do like the indoor/outdoor split more than a minimap with fast travel like Geneforge, and the outdoor areas were interesting to explore and find all the fun little mini-zones, and thre was also an element of tension when you had left a dungeon and needed to avoid encounters until you could get back to a friendly town. The map was large and fun to explore, and (especially in Dark Waters, far and away the best part of the game), the atmosphere was great. Level design was also nice, and I did like the few twists thrown in to mess up people following A2 walkthroughs. Full marks for that.

 

Replay value is minimal to none- one playthrough can get pretty much everything to see in the game- all the quests, interactions, and locations, and since I’d guess most play with a party of 4, most combat styles. You don’t get any real choices beyond what order to do things in, and there’s no factions or anything. This may just be pro-Geneforge whinging, but I feel like this is unnecessarily constraining, and most of Jeff’s better games have more depth than that. You don’t literally have to copy-paste A/X2! It’s a remake, do things differently. Maybe I want to defect to the Vahnatai and go native, or sabotage them in preparation for a future Avernite conquest. Maybe I only wanted to kill Garzahd so I could take his place. Maybe I was a loyal Empire plant this whole time! What if I want to supplant Micah’s drooling idiot of a son and usurp the throne? I can’t even sell my soul and morals out for unlimited power and a nifty facelift like I could in earlier games, and that’s definitely thematically appropriate for the setting. (BTW, all these suggestions are offered free of charge for the inevitable fourth remake of the series, whether at Jeff’s hand or by whoever he auctions off the IP to at retirement. No credit/fantastic royalty payments in Swiss francs need be given, though they are appreciated.) I really can’t let this one slide, I guess, so no credit here.

 

All in all, I felt disappointed by this game. I had high expectations, considering most Avernum fans cite 2 as the high point of the series, and it let me down. That doesn’t mean it’s bad by any stretch- Steam has me logging 80 hours in total, and at a quarter an hour it’s a fantastic entertainment bargain and really a fun way to while away time. I’d almost certainly buy and play it again even knowing what I do now. I just can’t shake he feeling that now that we’re on Remake #3, the eleventh/thirteenth game in the broader series, Jeff should have made bigger steps forward than just shiny new tilesets and a bigger windows (one last complaint: now that the windows are huge, more quick spell/item slots would be nice). It’s better than most other post-bubble Indie games, more fun than plenty of full AAA RPG’s, but just not up to Jeff’s prior high water marks. 6/10, if I had to assign a numeric score: Above average, but plenty of room to go.

 

In an unrelated note, it's good to be back, no need to say you missed me.

[Aoslare]

We missed you anyway!

[Randomizer]

This is why I have to do a completely new play through. Back during beta testing Jeff kept changing reputation needed to get Magi and Crown clearances, the spell book in Eldaron's Tower was removed and then added back in, and named items kept being moved around. Garzahd used to drop a platinum ring the two times I killed him; true it's near the game's end so who needs items anymore. Yeah I missed some things, but part of it was it wasn't there the last time I looked.

[mikeprichard]

Although I'm only about 1/3 through my first (and probably final) playthrough, I agree 110% with the OP so far. While I'm also having a great time (as expected), I can't shake the feeling these remakes are in fact "soulless repackaging(s) of... old cash cow(s) to exploit a loyal fanbase and also appeal to a wider audience on Steam for a quick buck" - especially when Jeff's basically admitted as much in his interviews/blog posts. The issue, as you pointed out, is the almost complete lack of intent to try to "improve"/expand/something the original games with the remakes beyond the (welcome) interface updates. What's more, the combat (as discussed in other threads) is starting to slip into stale and repetitive HP-bloated slogs, not helped by the weak melee/ranged vs. magic balance and unimaginative treatment of armor/resistances. It's still not "bad," and still much better than Avadon IMO (hard level caps you reach 2/3 through the game, almost exclusively bland trash mob combat, vanilla setting... meh), but it's somewhat disappointing to a player like me who's been enjoying Spiderweb games since the '90s to witness this gradual decline in quality and innovation.

 

That said - I've been away from the game for over 10 minutes, and am starting to feel withdrawal pangs, so signing off here. Cheers.

[Matchstk]

Wait ... you play with a Singleton on Normal (giving you base stats well above what the game expects you to have) while also using the editor to give yourself free Cave Lore, Arcane Lore and Tool Use (giving you 30+ extra points to allocate to combat/defense skills) ... and you're compaining the combat is repetitive and dull? Try playing a four character party on Torment without using the editor - see if that makes it more interesting for you.

[Dantius]

Wait ... you play with a Singleton on Normal (giving you base stats well above what the game expects you to have)

 

Yes, but also only having 1/4 the total damage per round, 1/4 the actions per round, no resurrections, no ability to target multiple enemies outside of AoE spells, no specialization, etc. Sure, the character was much more powerful than a random character in a four-man group, but 4x as powerful? I think not. There's a reason why singleton characters are usually considered a challenge in SW games.

 

giving you 30+ extra points to allocate to combat/defense skills

 

No, since those are group checks in the course of normal play, I only really "gave" myself 8 skill points (30/4). Considering my levels were well into to 50's by game end, that's really a negiligible difference even factoring in the soft cap. I have little doubt that it would still have been smooth sailing had I invested those points manually, especially considering I was wiping the floor by level 20-ish. The main difference in my effective power that I found was the spells (and spell levels) and items I had access to, not the skills I posessed.

 

Try playing a four character party on Torment without using the editor - see if that makes it more interesting for you

 

Will this magically unlock new spells, reorder item drops, and alter enemy AI and combat behavior? Or will it just give bosses a ton of extra HP I have to chip away at and make me have to heal more frequently? I'll hazard the latter.

[Lilith]

Even when I did huge assists like hunting down and killing the notorious Empire general Lemon Gelato (sp?) or devastating Imperial supply lines or recovering powerful artifacts, I didn’t get more than a pat on the head and vague promises of future support, all while my equipment and spells stagnated because all the good stuff needed Magi clearance to get. The threshold needs to be seriously lowered, to like 20-25 rep.

 

Um, I dunno what you were doing wrong, but the rep requirement for magi clearance is 22.

 

Also, a second Robe of the Magi is dropped by Midori in Angierach, although it's not that great a piece of armour anyway.

 

Will this magically unlock new spells, reorder item drops, and alter enemy AI and combat behavior? Or will it just give bosses a ton of extra HP I have to chip away at and make me have to heal more frequently? I'll hazard the latter.

 

The behaviour of some enemies does actually change on higher difficulties, for what it's worth.

[Aoslare]

Singleton = challenge is actually a relatively recent development, not one that applies to all SW games. In the Exile trilogy and BoE, singletons actually became somewhat popular because people found them simpler and faster to play, believe it or not (and because they avoided the XP distribution problems of deathblow-based XP). Meanwhile, Geneforge was designed to be Agent-friendly; even as late as G4, serious challenges had to go further (remember the Trakovite Royale? No creations, no canisters, and no spells!). A4 was not difficult to solo, either. It really took until A5, and especially A6 with its more robust balance that really made it an actual challenge -- and on Normal, I don't think there's any SW game that would give a singleton problems.

[Languorous_Maiar]

Wait ... you play with a Singleton on Normal (giving you base stats well above what the game expects you to have) while also using the editor to give yourself free Cave Lore, Arcane Lore and Tool Use (giving you 30+ extra points to allocate to combat/defense skills) ... and you're compaining the combat is repetitive and dull? Try playing a four character party on Torment without using the editor - see if that makes it more interesting for you.

Will this magically unlock new spells, reorder item drops, and alter enemy AI and combat behavior? Or will it just give bosses a ton of extra HP I have to chip away at and make me have to heal more frequently? I'll hazard the latter.

 

OP is damn right. My entire problem of torment rus was deciding if I want 3 mages and 1 priests, or 2 mages and 2 priests. First setting - possibility to end faster every battle with like 3 AoE per turn early, 6 in mid, 9 in-late game, while latter allowed for more survi. I remember when i played first game in A:EFTP with warrior/archer in my party and then I stumbled upon AoE spell. Instantly started again with 2 mages instead of archer, went for that AoE and then I was just pwning everything on my way. And i was like, woah, it's seriously how it's supposed to works? But seems like yes. In most cases in Avernum combat, it isn't about actual tactics... but tons of dmg.

 

So for example. You encountered new boss? Don't care about his weakness, some tactics or any sort of preparations, just do a mass dmg for him. Worked for entire A:EFTP.

 

There are a lot of guys praising Daze spell for torment run in early game. And you know what's funny? During my A:EFTP torment run I never really needed to use it. Just Ice Rain, again and again. If i was dying somewhere, just get there a little later, and do same.

 

Probably my best fight in A:EFTP was when I was pretty too low for Slith villages, but still wanted to make them. I needed a little lucky RNG (so I had to load more than few times) but after i managed to kill enemies using my actual resources (potions/scrolls etc) I was really feeling great, that i did something other than just spamming enemies with AoE:

 

[Callie]

I've only completed half of the demo area so far, but I feel that this review will sum up my impressions for the rest of the game.

 

Also, why are there no naga in the swampy cave?

[Lilith]

Also, why are there no naga in the swampy cave?

 

probably because there's no graphic for them

 

im still annoyed about the removal of hydras tbh

[Callie]

im still annoyed about the removal of hydras tbh

What?! How can there be Dark Waters without any hydras?!

 

*pouts*

[Aoslare]

The "Twelve" also lack nagas, and as a result, the number 12. Not since "all 100 of the monsters in Magus's castle" have I been so let down.

[Randomizer]

I did point out to Jeff there was 10 and 12 used in Angierach in the text.

 

Also I was sad to go down the Dark Waters and not see hydra. Jeff didn't update the graphic. *sigh*

[Jerakeen]

Me too, but I do not miss giant slugs.

[Dikiyoba]

Me too, but I do not miss giant slugs.

They're still in the game, just as boring generic worm things instead of as actual slugs.

 

Dikiyoba is rather peeved that the Serpent Cult still exists, now badly changed to worm worship, despite the removal of snakes from Avernum. Worms are a boring substitute, even if they had replaced all the snake references correctly.

[Aoslare]

Giant Slugs actually weren't in Exile 2; they were new in Exile 3, along with acid. So I don't miss them either

[Jerakeen]

They're still in the game, just as boring generic worm things instead of as actual slugs.

Not the same. On normal, most worm things are fairly trivial to beat even in numbers (ice excepted), but stumbling across 3 giant slugs meant a world of misery.