Game News Avernum 4 for Windows is out

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Avernum 4; Spiderweb Software

Jeff Vogel has announced the release of <a href=http://www.avernum.com/avernum4/index.html>Avernum 4</a> as part of his critically acclaimed More-of-the-Same strategy.
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<blockquote>Spiderweb Software, makers of the award-winning Avernum and Geneforge series, happily announces the release of Avernum 4, the long-awaited, all-new continuation to the Avernum series. This epic fantasy-roleplaying adventure returns you to the enormous underworld nation of Avernum, whose shadowy lands are once again facing horrible peril.
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Avernum is a nation underground. Its pale people live in endless miles of tunnels, pits, and gigantic caverns. Some come to Avernum to work the mines. Others come to hunt monsters for their treasure. And some risk life in the underworld because it is the only place where a person can be free from the total rule of the Empire.
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But life in Avernum just became a lot more dangerous....</blockquote>At least we won't have any stupid "Will my computer run Avernum" threads
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[Rendelius]

Jeff Vogel has announced the release of <a href=http://www.avernum.com/avernum4/index.html>Avernum 4</a> as part of his critically acclaimed More-of-the-Same strategy.

<blockquote>Spiderweb Software, makers of the award-winning Avernum and Geneforge series, happily announces the release of Avernum 4, the long-awaited, all-new continuation to the Avernum series. This epic fantasy-roleplaying adventure returns you to the enormous underworld nation of Avernum, whose shadowy lands are once again facing horrible peril.

Avernum is a nation underground. Its pale people live in endless miles of tunnels, pits, and gigantic caverns. Some come to Avernum to work the mines. Others come to hunt monsters for their treasure. And some risk life in the underworld because it is the only place where a person can be free from the total rule of the Empire.

But life in Avernum just became a lot more dangerous....</blockquote>At least we won't have any stupid "Will my computer run Avernum" threads

Lost.

Will my computer run Avernum? 3.7ghz, 2gb, 7800gfx.

Please help me.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Your video card might not be enough.

Anywho, good to see it finally on PC. I've heard mixed reviews from Spidersoft fans, but i'll give the demo a run through sometime this weekend.

 

[Jason]

I had to overclock my rig to get it to work (the fps just weren't extreme enough), but it was totallly worth it.

 

[deus]

If there was GNU/Linux version I might actually have a reason to buy it.

 

[Relien]

Lost.

Will my computer run Avernum? 3.7ghz, 2gb, 7800gfx.

Please help me.

It won't. You have to buy XBOX 360 PREMIUM VERSION and wait for the port.

 

[Elwro]

Funny but I really had hardware problems with Avernum - I had a laptop during last year's holidays and took Avernum 2 with me thinking "This'll be so sweet", but the game had to change the screen's resolution and the result was just awful, text was barely readable. I wasn't able to do anything with it on the laptop and switched to other games.
Does Avernum 4 run at more resolutions?

 

[wizard]

Does Avernum 4 run at more resolutions?

Runs in 1024x768 instead of 800x600 like earlier games.

 

[Jed]

Run it windowed, Elwro.

 

[wizard]

Well just played A4 for an hour and must say that it feels fun for now atleast.

The Good
-Combat is challenging (and fun).
-Bows are finally useful. You can actually kill stuff with them
-Different animations depending on the weapon equipped.
-Inventory is much better than in previous Avernum-games.
-Resolution is bigger.

The Bad
-No elevation
-You can't always see the creature that has triggered combat but most of the time you can see it. Not as bad as in Geneforge though.
-Item identification is gone. Now the characters know every single item from the beginning. Avernum must have excellent school system.
-Spears are only two-handed. What happened to single handed spears?
-When you use keyboard to move your party the camera focuses on your party which is little annoying.
-The forced tutorial

Can't say much about story yet.

 

[Gwendo]

Let's see if it's just more of the same. The interface is still horrible, that I can see.

 

[Elwro]

Run it windowed, Elwro.

Meh, I have an innate disgust for games in windows. Full screen only. And iirc I wouldn't see shit on the laptop screen anyway if the game was in a window.
I played Fallout and Quest for Glory 1 instead, so it turned out OK :D .

 

[undead dolphin hacker]

If there was GNU/Linux version I might actually have a reason to buy it.

LUNIX FAGOT

 

[Jed]

Meh, I have an innate disgust for games in windows. Full screen only. And iirc I wouldn't see shit on the laptop screen anyway if the game was in a window.
I played Fallout and Quest for Glory 1 instead, so it turned out OK :D .

I was just playing AV1 on my widescreen laptop. If I didn't run it windowed, then everything was stretched out and distorted.

Truth be told, I rather prefer windowed for 2D games.

 

[dipdipdip]

Run it windowed, Elwro.

Meh, I have an innate disgust for games in windows. Full screen only. And iirc I wouldn't see shit on the laptop screen anyway if the game was in a window.
I played Fallout and Quest for Glory 1 instead, so it turned out OK :D .

Heck yeah.

 

[Zufuriin]

I'll wait for some reviews. Where would be a good place to start with Spiderweb games? I assume the first ones are not the best ones, so what would be the best choice to try?

 

[Elwro]

Frankly, I think Avernum 1 is just great, but it's primary a dungeon hack. Mind you, there's some nice exploration to do, detailed and well-written descriptions, mysteries to be solved and the world is interesting, but e.g. as for dialogue don't expect miracles. Geneforge is a 1 fantastic, original game which can be finished in many ways; it also presents the player with some tough choices in which there is no "best" option. Be warned that combat in Geneforge is worse than in Avernum. But Geneforge has e.g. a Leadership skill which, if trained high enough, may really come in handy and provide you with more (meaningful) dialogue options...

I'd recommend starting with Geneforge 1 demo, and than checking Avernum 1 demo. Spiderweb demos are always quite large and offer lots of free fun.

 

[LlamaGod]

Avernum 2 is way better than Avernum 1

 

[LaDoushe]

I just played A4 for about an hour, and I'm pretty disappointed to see that he's used the Geneforge engine. As far as I can tell, use of the mouse is necessary for almost all aspects of the game, unlike the previous av/exiles, where one could play w/o the mouse. Not that I'm anti-mouse for all games, its just for spiderweb games, which tend to be fairly simple in concept and in gameplay. They are also very repetitive in terms of combat, so constantly switching from the keyboard to the mouse makes them an ergonomic nightmare. Of course, maybe I just need to change my options or read the manual...

 

[Trash]

So far I've been really enjoying avernum 4. The combat seems a bit more challenging, and indeed bows are finally usefull. The graphics actually portray the world in a much better way this time, with some neat sound effects thrown in. I also really like how he got rid of the outdoors map and just went with areas that connect to each other. The world seems a lot more alive because of it. Seems like dialogue has a much bigger influence this time, like with the goblin chieftain and the swamp ogre. Finally I get to rp, instead of just exploring!

There are however some things I'm not that enthousiastic about. The fact that all items are identified seems a bit silly, especially concerning how much fun it was in the past to find out what that new item would actually do. Though I do like the new travel and map style, I do wonder how much detail will be lost. In the previous avernums the world was littered with villages, caves, special encounters, etc. If Vogel has portrayed all of avernum in this game, I wonder if he just went with the bigger things and left a lot of that detail behind. I hope not, for that exploration aspect made these games so much fun. I also feel as if there are a lot less text descriptions around this time, perhaps I'm wrong but to me it feels a bit empty. Concerning how cool and immersive I tend to find these, I sure hope to find more when I get a bit further.

All in all, it's the same old avernum again, but this one breathes some new life into the gameworld. I hope it keeps up the good work, but so far I'm thorougly enjoying it. I must admit that I had enough of the setting, but the portrayal this time around seems to rekindle my curiosity to it. That's good in my book.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

With all those underground caves it must have awesome soil erosion!