Game News Spiderweb's Nethergate released!

Tags: Nethergate: Resurrection

I dedicate this newspost to RPG Watch's Dhruin, whose loud complaints and endless bitching were finally heard. So, uh... <a href=http://www.spidweb.com/nethergateres/index.html>Nethergate</a>, an indie RPG filled with treachery, battles, and other awesomeness, has returned to Windows once again.
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<blockquote>Nethergate: Resurrection is a huge, exciting, fantasy role-playing game, that features:
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* Two different sides, the powerful Romans and the savage and cunning Celts. Each side has a completely different full-length adventure.
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* Enormous game world, with dozens of dungeons and many characters and quests.
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* Fascinating storyline. Fight for freedom, or further the glory of the Empire.
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* Lost secrets of magic! Dozens of spells and hundreds of hidden magical artifacts.
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* Innovative story and unique setting. Unlike any fantasy game you've ever played. </blockquote>Give it a try, will you?
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPG Watch</A>

 

I played through the Roman campaign during beta testing. Lots of fun, and both the Roman and Celt plots actually happen simultaneously. It's a Blades of Avernum derivative, so expect the old shitty inventory system, but the combat is actually balanced.

Surprisingly enough, it's even played straight apart from the Giant Intelligent Friendly Talking Spider cave.

 

Hey, I first learned about endless bitching here.

Much appreciated. It won't convert non-fans but I'm having a great time with this. Played Celt; just about to start Roman.

 

If the Spiderweb fellow would just code his games so that the sprites scrolled from tile-to-tile, instead of snapping suddenly...so much easier on the eyes.

 

I wish Jeff Vogel would stop rehashing engines and games so he can crank out games faster than Steven King cranks out books and actually make a very nicely polished indie title. He seems to have talent, if he just focused a little more....

 

I'm pretty sure the issue is, he does this for a living, and it's not a very GOOD living. I think it was Avernum 5 that pretty much saved him from going out of buisness.

 

Making games is his primary job nowadays and he's worried the time spent on developing new technology or designing new game systems will be wasted if the game doesn't make enough profit. He knows the endless variations of the Geneforge/Avernum formula sell quite well (didn't the latest instalment in each series do very well for a SW game?) so he doesn't want to take risks.

But I agree with you. Time to make something new. The combat system in his games is too weak to justify all the hack and slash they're focused on. I bought G4 because I liked his storytelling, but as I fought my way north I just lost all interest. The games would be great if they relied more on story, dialogues and the awesome text descriptions.

 

It was Avernum 4, but you're on the right track. He has hinted at 3D when he wraps up Geneforge and Avernum...I forget exactly what the plan is off the top of my head (AV6 and that's it? Can't remember).

I think we'd all like to see new stuff but his current setup works - and do you see any other indie CRPG developers proving it can be done better? Don't point out Basilisk or Iron Tower - I'm right behind them but they haven't put out products yet, let alone proven 10 years of sustainability.

Anyway, Nethergate is a gem for explorer type players. A straight forward classic adventure/RPG with lots to find and explore and lots of hidden/difficult to access stuff, along with an interesting intertwined twin storyline.

 

No animations and making me press a generic "pick up" button to then search to a item list for the one I actually wanted means the game's story, dialogue and C&C had better be brilliant.

 

Prolly not. I played Avernum and Geneforge, and while it was decent, it was nothing to fawn about, though the latter had quite a bit of nice C&C, I admit. But all the C&C in the world still leave the games with a broken interface, eye-cancerous graphics, a stark lack of animations and, in general, a feeling that Vogel is trying to milk what once was a good idea until it is completely sucked dry and lifeless. Heh, maybe it already is? I can't tell, though the demo of Avernum 4 told me yet again that there is no progress at all in his games, only staleness and more of his bland and unimaginative writing.

Look- I like C&C, dialogue, yay! It's a lot better than graphics, but- if a game is so unappealing, so ugly and so difficult (interface) to play, then all the C&C in the world won't save it.


Are you fucking kidding me? Even the goldbox games featured, with each new incarnation, improvements in the art, graphics and interface.

I wish Roqua was here to bitch at me for this, though. Maybe the C&C and whatever is really good enough to make the games worth playing. But honestly, if the game actively tries to prevent me from playing it by looking plain ugly and by not even being easily controllable, then all the good effort that went into it is for naught.

I miss the Amiga times! Back then people managed to have good graphics, gameplay AND sound all at once, and all without dumbing down.

 

^
Graphics whore!

Oh, and is that a skateboard Bruce is holding in that pic?

I also miss the Amiga days... just wish I'd have had more money for games back then.

 

Neither the interface nor the graphics are that bad, for heaven's sake. It isn't perfect, but what is "broken"?

I didn't quite understand that "generic pick up" button issue. Right-click to look and press "g" to get anything in the area. *shrug*

 

Aww, it doesn't work in WINE. So far, all Spiderweb games worked in WINE without any major problems.

Still, I rebooted to Wintendo for this one, too, and I didn't regret it. Gave me nice Avernish feeling. I'm not far into it yet, but so far, so good.

 

I don't know, it's just one of those little things where I understand why they would be easier to implement that way but that I feel get in the way of intuitive usage of the UI. Go ahead and have an area inventory for me to look through if you must, but give me the ability to interact with something I can see by clicking it. Yes, I may be nitpicking, but Jasede said it well: If the game is fucking ugly and lacks inovation, at least make it easy to use.

 

Actually graphics is passable. Inventory art is somewhat questionable for my taste. And SW games looked better in flat 2d then isometric. But that was long ago.

 

If there were animations, the graphics might be passable. The static teleportating mantrain that's supposed to be my party is not.

 

AV4 and GF4 have walking animations - NG is a quick-turnaround project because the the sales expectations just won't support longer development.

I understand the comments but having actually played it quite extensively, it works fairly well. When you leave town mode, the scale makes animations moot while allowing a surprisingly detailed world that you can move around in quickly. After playing for perhaps 20 minutes to an hour, I just don't notice the lack of animations.

Or don't. Maybe you have plenty of games in your play queue but for my tastes, this is a decent match. I can name any number of improvements that would be desirable but on balance, I still find it compelling.

 

Absence of animations never bothered me, but I suppose you have a point. Perhaps I am too used to old SW products.

 

Don't get me wrong, I played old non-animated rpgs, too, going as far back as having played them on the C64, in fact. Obviously the lack of animation didn't bother me back then, and I'm quite sure that it wouldn't bother me all that much if I was to replay them today - UI might be much more of an issue there, I guess. It's just that the game in question here dates to 2007. Possibly more importantly, I actually got the demos for the Geneforges and Avernums, and neither of them impressed me all that much, they all relied too much on unavoidable combat that wasn't even all that impressive. I might be a little biased against SW games as a result. Does Nethergate follow a similar pattern as far as being hack'n'slash heavy goes?

 

I am playing the demo right now and quite enjoying it. I really like the setting, I wish there would be more RPGs with (pseudo) historic settings... Go, Wolf Mittag!
The graphics are certainly a plunge into icy water, but I agree with Dhruin, the game works.

Hazelnut: You bought games in the amiga days? Those were the days I my friends dropped by with the latest cracks every second week. Maybe I should be ashamed, but on the other hand its the only reason I am still playing video games today, although its too late for Commodore, I guess...

 

Blargh. It looked a decent game and I've played several hours. I don't mind that there's no animations of any kind. I don't mind the poor graphics. I don't even mind the really weird interface. What I mind and what really killed this for me is the fact that rats (the mean green ones) keep appearing directly in front of my guys out of nowhere and killing them in one turn before I can even move. Blah

 

No, it's a snowboard.