So, I thought I'd turn you guys on to a little indie RPG I've been having huge amounts of fun with. It's made by Spiderweb Software, which makes a lot of cool RPG series like this(I also reccomend the Geneforge series, but that's another thing). Despite this game technically being a remake of a remake, it's pretty damn fun.
It's a very "old school" style RPG, so if you long for the old days, you'll enjoy this game for sure. The plot is straightforward--An evil empire sends anyone it doesn't like into an underworld called Avernum. Said evil empire doesn't like you. Welcome to Avernum--try not to die.
The big appeal for the game isn't the plot though. It's two things. The game is almost entirely non linear and has no classes--everyone is fully customizable. (There are "technically" character classes you can choose, but all they do is spend your first level skill points for you in a way that sort of works with a certain build. You are FAR better off to choose "Custom" for each character class).
The class thing is obviously the funnest part of the game. My first party consisted of a standard meat shield warrior, a "ninja"(part swordsman, part missile thrower, backstab, high evasion, occasional chance at extra actions), a cleric/archer cross class, and a mage. Essentially, there are a bunch of different skill "trees" that crisscross with each other, and you can spend on whatever you want for whichever character you want--there's no locking yourself out of certain abilities. That said, "standard" RPG classes tend to be your best strategy for builds, but almost anything can be viable and get you through even the highest difficulty.
Now, obvious question is obvious: Can I play as the Order of the Stick in this game? You can only have a party of 4, so I'll go through the individual characters:
Roy: Fighter is a pretty standard class, so sure. If you have a huge attachment to Roy's high intelligence, there's no real need for a fighter to have it unless he's casting spells. Spellcasting knights are a-okay, but that's not Roy. Otherwise, you're golden.
Belkar: Dual-wielding is actually the most viable melee set up in the game, so big yes on this. There's not REALLY any Ranger-esque skills though..."Cave Lore" is the closest, but you are better off to buy this skill at a trainer for all your guys. There is a First Aid skill that might be vaguely ranger-esque. The main issue is that there's no sprite that looks like Belkar.
Haley: Archers are a good choice, and can evade very easily. There is also a "Tool Use" skill which is essentially lockpicking. There's "backstab" as well but it only works for melee attacks. There's a Luck skill too.
Durkon: There's no hammers, though there are spears and halberds. Otherwise, it's entirely viable to split do a cross between a melee fighter and a priest.
Elan: Not really any bard related skills, except for "Cave Lore", but again, this is a skill you are better off buying rather than investing skill points in. No illusions either, though Priest magic does have a "dominate" spell as well as some blessing spells, which with enough imagination are not unlike bard songs, I guess.
V: Well, V is essentially just a standard caster, so yeah, just invest a bunch in mage related skills.
Anyway, it's a good game. Go for it.
Last edited by Thrillhouse : 05-23-2013 at 08:08 PM.
I'll certainly give this a whirl sometime. I've played Exile and Avernum many times, though I don't think I've ever done a full completion game (I think I've only ever gotten the Safety ending, never Revenge or Freedom). I've always enjoyed Spiderweb games, from the first time I played the Exile demo off a shareware CD many years ago.
Spiderweb Software is one of the best indie game companies in existence. I played the original Exile trilogy to death repeatedly, and loved Avernum almost as much (the isometric redrawing didn't work for me, I honestly preferred the 2-d tile art).
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Originally Posted by GungHo, on Battletech
The Atlas is also goofy but it has that whole "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man" menacing smile thing going for it. The guy who drew that one up was obviously taken to the Nutcracker when he was a child... and he was screaming in terror the entire time.
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enterti, Cogidubnus
Glyphstone, out of all the playground I think you scare me the most...
Pfft, you kids. I played this back when it was Exile, thank you very much
I kid, I kid. Yes, great series, though I never had the full version before. I miss the 2d charm of the original (and would have loved to make a NWN-style conversion of some D&D modules using the sprites.) But yeah, now that you mention it, I think I'll plunk down a few bucks on GoG and get the series, I have some time to kill.
Note that in Exile, you could have a full party of 6. Pity they nerfed it!
EDIT for disclaimer: Above grognard trash-talk was typed before other grognards joined the thread.
I kid, I kid. Yes, great series, though I never had the full version before. I miss the 2d charm of the original (and would have loved to make a NWN-style conversion of some D&D modules using the sprites.) But yeah, now that you mention it, I think I'll plunk down a few bucks on GoG and get the series, I have some time to kill.
Umm...You know that Blades of Exile is completely open-source now? It's got an editor and everything. You just need to compile it.
Umm...You know that Blades of Exile is completely open-source now? It's got an editor and everything. You just need to compile it.
I didn't, in fact. It would be nice if I could convert it to run a hacked-together Pathfinder module. I lack the technical knowhow though, at least at present. (I haven't done any monkeying around with code since my college days...)
I didn't, in fact. It would be nice if I could convert it to run a hacked-together Pathfinder module. I lack the technical knowhow though, at least at present. (I haven't done any monkeying around with code since my college days...)
Actually, it's not that hard. Whoever put together the BoE codebase on Google Code did a really good job, because I think it compiled cleanly for me.
Lump me in with those who liked Exile better. The gameplay was deeper and more tactical, and the world felt much larger.
I can't agree with the gameplay being deeper. A single heavily buffed fighter could pretty much beat anything in the game while the other 5 guys hid 'round the corner ready to chuck heals and buff refreshes (though the buffs were good and long enough that these were rarely needed). I don't really like Avernum's streamlined magic system (I can only speak to A1-3, not the new trilogy or EFTP), but the logic behind it is sound, and as far as gameplay depth goes you don't really loose much (damage fields is about it IIRC). The biggest loss is the extra party members, but that makes party composition decisions harder, which adds gameplay depth.
As for the world feeling bigger, that's true, mainly because you couldn't see as much of it at once.
I can't agree with the gameplay being deeper. A single heavily buffed fighter could pretty much beat anything in the game while the other 5 guys hid 'round the corner ready to chuck heals and buff refreshes (though the buffs were good and long enough that these were rarely needed). I don't really like Avernum's streamlined magic system (I can only speak to A1-3, not the new trilogy or EFTP), but the logic behind it is sound, and as far as gameplay depth goes you don't really loose much (damage fields is about it IIRC). The biggest loss is the extra party members, but that makes party composition decisions harder, which adds gameplay depth.
As for the world feeling bigger, that's true, mainly because you couldn't see as much of it at once.
A single fighter can solo everything in avernum as well. You just had a lot more versatility and options with characters in exile.
Along with a much more diversified and interesting spell list...that was the biggest disappointment I had with Avernum, seeing how more narrow mages and priests were in their spellcasting.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GungHo, on Battletech
The Atlas is also goofy but it has that whole "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man" menacing smile thing going for it. The guy who drew that one up was obviously taken to the Nutcracker when he was a child... and he was screaming in terror the entire time.
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enterti, Cogidubnus
Glyphstone, out of all the playground I think you scare me the most...
You just had a lot more ... options with characters in exile.
Such as? I'm pretty sure the skill and trait lists were almost exactly the same, and the only actual spell functionality lost was damage fields. Kind of a silly argument anyway, as the new version does add plenty of new options over A1.
Such as? I'm pretty sure the skill and trait lists were almost exactly the same, and the only actual spell functionality lost was damage fields. Kind of a silly argument anyway, as the new version does add plenty of new options over A1.
Well, they took out dual wielding...they took out a lot of spells besides just the damage fields, such as summoning spells, and buff spells...they lowered the party size....greatly reduced the number of enemies you encounter...greatly reduced the number of NPCs....dumbed down the talking system...made the world map smaller...reduced the number of random encounters...
I'm also not very fond of the way that every single battle in the game now conveniently takes place in a narrow hallway, and thus encourages you to use the exact same tactics in every fight for 6 games in a row.
The only real thing Avernum has over the originals in my mind is the graphics...and let's be honest...they're still pretty bad. I actually liked the old sprite graphics better...but I can see where people would prefer the 3d style.
Keep in mind that I'm not saying that Avernum is a bad game or anything. The series is fairly entertaining, and I played through most of them just to see where they went with the plot. I just think the original trilogy was better.
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Avernum: Escape From The Playground
