Thursday, March 27, 2008
Avernum 5 Wrap Report
RPGVault has Jeff Vogel's "Wrap Report" (a better term, IMO, than "postmortem") for Avernum 5, the latest in Spiderweb Software's long-running indie RPG series.
Avernum 5 Wrap Report at RPGVault
An excerpt:
"I have become really impatient with RPGs, both single- and multiplayer, over the last few years, and I was determined to write one that had as few as possible of the elements that annoyed me. One example is repetitive cookie-cutter fights... trash, in other words. I hate battles that only serve to eat up time. I removed as many of those as I could."
He also set out to put more humor in the game (hey, I'm not at all opposed to humor in RPGs...).
And he notes that - so far - it's sold better than any game he's written in a long time. So maybe he did something right.
He also confirmed that there is only one chapter left in both the Geneforge and Avernum series, and that the new engines will be brought more up-to-date with improved engines that use OpenGL.
(Spotted on RPGWatch).
Labels: Indie Evangelism, Roleplaying Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:27 AM (Permalink)
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i might have to take a look. I have not liked any of the avernums.
looking at the screenshots, the display doesnt impress me. the map screen looks nice but... i might pass again on #5...
looking at the screenshots, the display doesnt impress me. the map screen looks nice but... i might pass again on #5...
I tried one of the earlier Avernums ages ago and couldn't get into it...
I tried Avernum 5 two days ago, and was hooked. Despite the bare-bones presentation, the story was of reasonable quality, and more importantly, party creation, combat and leveling were incredibly satisfying. I also liked the attention to detail in the items that littered the landscape.
The only reason I'm not playing it now is that I finally found my copy of Wizardry 8 - I'd lost it before having a chance to install the program when it was first released.
Now that I finally have a chance to play it... wow. (Runs flawlessly on Vista, btw.) It provides the same type of excitement that Avernum 5 does, except... well, with the polish of Sirtech's final effort.
Once I've gone through it a few times, I get the feeling I'll be making a few payments to Spiderweb Software to obtain my next fix.
I tried Avernum 5 two days ago, and was hooked. Despite the bare-bones presentation, the story was of reasonable quality, and more importantly, party creation, combat and leveling were incredibly satisfying. I also liked the attention to detail in the items that littered the landscape.
The only reason I'm not playing it now is that I finally found my copy of Wizardry 8 - I'd lost it before having a chance to install the program when it was first released.
Now that I finally have a chance to play it... wow. (Runs flawlessly on Vista, btw.) It provides the same type of excitement that Avernum 5 does, except... well, with the polish of Sirtech's final effort.
Once I've gone through it a few times, I get the feeling I'll be making a few payments to Spiderweb Software to obtain my next fix.
# posted by 
: March 27, 2008 11:03 PM
: March 27, 2008 11:03 PM
I note that he said, "I removed as many of those as I could."
If he's so aware of the issue, why didn't he just remove ALL of them? Is he implying that this is impossible, or that he just didn't care to go that far?
I'm not trying to critizise or anything, I love all the avernums. I just find the position curious.
If he's so aware of the issue, why didn't he just remove ALL of them? Is he implying that this is impossible, or that he just didn't care to go that far?
I'm not trying to critizise or anything, I love all the avernums. I just find the position curious.
# posted by : March 30, 2008 4:40 PM
: March 30, 2008 4:40 PM
Eh, you know what, disregard my comment, I took the time to read the entire interview (which I should've done in the first place) and I realize it's just a self-effacing 'I did my best' kind of comment.
Anyway, the game sounds great and I look forward to working through it.
Anyway, the game sounds great and I look forward to working through it.
# posted by : March 30, 2008 5:04 PM
: March 30, 2008 5:04 PM
I'll echo the comments of a previous poster - I tried one of the earlier Avernum games (Avernum 3, I think), and it really didn't do much for me.
I just plunked down the cash for Avernum 5, though. The demo is great, the story is interesting, and the gamegplay is good. Spiderweb gets definite kudos for putting together a UI that has let me play through the entire demo without having to do a "tutorial" to learn the controls.
Oh, and major additional cool points for a starting scenario that explains - it a very believable way - why your group of absolute n00bs are the ones running around saving the world :-) That alone is worth the price of admission.
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I just plunked down the cash for Avernum 5, though. The demo is great, the story is interesting, and the gamegplay is good. Spiderweb gets definite kudos for putting together a UI that has let me play through the entire demo without having to do a "tutorial" to learn the controls.
Oh, and major additional cool points for a starting scenario that explains - it a very believable way - why your group of absolute n00bs are the ones running around saving the world :-) That alone is worth the price of admission.
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