The first 3 Avernum games

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MegaHassan
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The first 3 Avernum games

Post by MegaHassan »

So I recently completed Avernum 6 (and hence finished the second trilogy! WOOT!!) and want to start on the first one now. I've heard the second trilogy has a completely different engine from the first one. If so what can I expect from the original 3 games? And where would you reccomend I start from? I'm currently see-sawing between Blades of Avernum and Avernum III.
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Kreador Freeaxe
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by Kreador Freeaxe »

I haven't played them, but Blades of Avernum, as I recall, is a separate thing that includes the ability for fans to create additional content, not part of the first trilogy.
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macdude22
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by macdude22 »

Grab the trilogy disk for whatever it is, 45 bucks and start at the first one. They are all pretty graphically similar (with some enhancements as they go along). At any rate the story plays through the three quite well so I'd vote to just start at I.

My cat also enjoys them.


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MegaHassan
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by MegaHassan »

Umm... 45 dollars would be way too financially taxing on me :mrgreen: Otherwise believe me I'd have done it without a second thought.
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by Randomizer »

Buying the trilogy together gets you a discount over buying them individually. If you are really hard up then wait until October for the yearly sadness sale. The game engine is quite different and the biggest differences are the wait command where you can delay a character's action until later in the round (useful for making sure you party is hasted and the foes are slowed) and the map expands for outdoor battles and entering town and dungeons.

Blades of Avernum comes with 4 scenarios written by Jeff Vogel that are really shorter games designed for different level parties. You can start with any party that you have at the beginning of the scenario. Then there are over 50 other scenarios written by people using the game editor that is included with the game. You really need to look at the scenario ratings at Spiderweb Forums or a satellite site to see which are recommended and the expected party level to play them. Play time varies from an hour to weeks since a few are as large as a regular Spiderweb Game.

If you really want to save money and can get it to run on your system than the older Blades of Exile is open sourced and can be downloaded with over 100 scenarios for free. There is a large group of players that have been upgrading the game to run on more modern computers.

See here for Spiderweb Forums (you want to go to the bottom):
http://www.spiderwebforums.com/forum/ubbthreads.php

Nethergate Forums for rating information:
http://forum.nethergate.net/index.php?act=idx
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macdude22
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by macdude22 »

I preferred the A1-3 engine myself. I found them to feel more vast/epic/organic even with the graphical deficiencies. Maybe it's the console tamer in me but I like the separate maps for towns and overworld.
MegaHassan
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by MegaHassan »

How big a jump are the first 3 Avernum games from the Exil series anyway? Graphical changes only or gamelplay too?
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by Randomizer »

Exile has up to 6 in a party and Avernum is up to 4. Different spells and Exile had some really neat ones. Avernum is a three dimensional world where monsters can attack from above and you have to climb up stairs or sloping terrain to reach them. Avernum 3 had caches where with enough nature lore skill you could find hidden items. It really takes different tactics to play each game. Avernum as a remake had additional content in new dungeons and more quests.
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Evnissyen
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by Evnissyen »

Man... MacDude is such a Spiderweb Slut :P

Just look at all those disks!

Anyway... I usually recommend that people work from the most recent game backwards. It gets you gradually used to the progressively less attractive graphics, and they all work as stand-alone games anyhow. Plus, the mechanics in the later games are more elaborate and better worked-out. I think people are more likely to get drawn into the series by working backward than by starting from the beginning.

Maybe A6 - A5 - A4, then A1 - A2 - A3.

Of course, working from the beginning forward will add a little bit since each game becomes history in the next game, and there's overlap with the places and characters, so going progressively from #1 through #6 (well, in your case #5) has it's rewards, but... A1-A3 can be difficult to get used to.

But, as I always say: download the demos of all of them and try them out, and decide for yourself.

I never tried A1 or A2; I tried A3 and got tired of it... I won't go into the details. You'll see, if you play the demo.

And don't forget Geneforge! G4 is my favorite, then G5, then G3. I bought G1 but never finished it; no linearity, so toward the end I ended up having to push through 5 or 6 areas without gaining a single point in experience . . . tedious . . . and the story was a little dull (other people have a different opinion)... played the demo for G2 but never bought that one. Maybe I will some day.

But I like the Geneforge series better than the Avernum series. People on the Spiderweb boards like to trash G3, but I still think it's a good game . . . at any rate much better than G1.

Lots of people also don't like that Jeff started making his games linear with G3 & A4 . . . personally, I prefer the linearity.
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macdude22
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by macdude22 »

Evnissyen wrote:
Lots of people also don't like that Jeff started making his games linear with G3 & A4 . . . personally, I prefer the linearity.
Agree'd, while I do miss the "grander" feel of A1-3, I find the pacing on his more recent games much much better than his older games. In my old age (of 27) I find myself less and less enthralled by the "vast open world" RPG. I suppose with work and kids my time factor is lessened so I want to get moar story with less tedium. That's not to say I don't want a long meaty RPG, I just don't want the meat to be wandering around for hours on end sketching Maps on graph paper. *sigh* To be a kid again (or win the lottery that I don't play).
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hakbart
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Re: The first 3 Avernum games

Post by hakbart »

i really tried to like the avernum games - but i just cant get over the horrible artwork they use-- i dont mind about the simple graphics - its the whole presentation - specially the character portraits of spiderweb-games that put me off.
When i saw Eschalon book 2 - i was immediately attracted by the nice artwork and overall presentation.I think fancy graphics are not so important- but good overall artwork-specially on the character portraits is essential for me to get immersed in a game. :)
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