Game News Avernum: Escape from the Pit Teaser Trailer

[Marsal]

...You're strengths...

The post is also too short. You're not Azrael!

 

[Mozgoëbstvo]

Oh, my. The number of visualizations is going to clog the youtubes up!

 

[Elwro]

I loved exploring the world of Avernum 1. I enjoyed the lack of hand-holding and the fact that noting down some details could really pay off. Still, I'm not buying the remake since the original is perfectly fine for me.

And I had to take a break from the series halfway through Avernum 4... (which was a bit boring.)

 

[Roguey]

The problem is that Exile was already pretty unimpressive and it's a steady dumbing-down when it comes to tactical combat since then.

Really? It gets even dumber than "haste and bless fighters and watch the idiot AI impale themselves on your weapons in narrow hallways for nearly every single fight"? I imagine it gets more complex later, but I couldn't stand Exile past the first dungeon because of the shitty interface, didn't play 2 because it has the same shitty interface, and got bored with and dropped Exile III after the alien slime because I had already killed nearly 1000 things with that "tactic" and I doubt the ratio of trash:bosses (excepting the alien slime who was just a sack of HP to hit for a few more rounds than the others) was going to change considering his views on the subject.

 

[Mozgoëbstvo]

I never played any of them, but I have a friend who was absolutely adoring of Vogel (you should see this! It's awesome! There are like ten ways to win against the final bosses! Etc) BEFORE Avadon, so... fuck Vogel, I guess?

 

[flushfire]

I suspect that they were inspired by the Vault Boy.

You do realize that Exile was released 1994, right?

Exile didn't have goofy cartoons for perks.

If I remember correctly it did. It's the Foglios' style, haven't seen anything from them I'd even consider generic fantasy art, even if it was for something that was supposed to be serious.

 

[Kalin]

Bioware and Bethesda should be looking at the Geneforge series and taking lessons from YOU, not the other way around. If we're getting rowdy it's because you've already proven to us that you can do so much better - don't blame us for asking you to live up to your own talent.

 

[GreyViper]

To be honest i had a lot of fun with Exile 3 and Nethergate. But Im not a fan of the remakes, still if it sells on IOS why not, I can allways return to the old ones and ignore the new ones. I think I enjoyed the great open world of Exile 3 most and story as it was. Its strength was you had lots of stuff to explore. As for fights, I guess each to hsi own, me I liked to capture the toughest mofo soul and let them battle for me instead. A bit like monster pokemon got to soul catch them all.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I suspect that they were inspired by the Vault Boy.

You do realize that Exile was released 1994, right?

Exile didn't have goofy cartoons for perks.

If I remember correctly it did. It's the Foglios' style, haven't seen anything from them I'd even consider generic fantasy art, even if it was for something that was supposed to be serious.

It didn't. I'm playing Exile 2 now.

The problem is that Exile was already pretty unimpressive and it's a steady dumbing-down when it comes to tactical combat since then.

Really? It gets even dumber than "haste and bless fighters and watch the idiot AI impale themselves on your weapons in narrow hallways for nearly every single fight"? I imagine it gets more complex later, but I couldn't stand Exile past the first dungeon because of the shitty interface, didn't play 2 because it has the same shitty interface, and got bored with and dropped Exile III after the alien slime because I had already killed nearly 1000 things with that "tactic" and I doubt the ratio of trash:bosses (excepting the alien slime who was just a sack of HP to hit for a few more rounds than the others) was going to change considering his views on the subject.

I never thought about using haste and bless. I always preferred using fireballs and stuff like that. But yeah, it gets repetitive quickly. IIRC there's less party members and less spells.
As for the interface - I usually use keyboard shortcuts for most of stuff.

 

[flushfire]

ah, you're right, i just looked at the game files. exiles don't have the cartoony line art. i'd be disappointed they're making a comeback but then i wasn't planning on buying anyway... so yeah

 

[Roguey]

I never thought about using haste and bless. I always preferred using fireballs and stuff like that.

Direct-damage spells just didn't seem worth it to me (at least in the early levels) because their damage doesn't make up for their larger point cost whereas minor bless and minor haste are just 1 point each, they're effective for multiple rounds and the effects of cumulative castings stack. The downside is that it means the spellcasters trail behind the fighters in leveling, but I guess I'll never know if that would end up hurting too much in the long run.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

The beginning fights would usually be over before I would run out of spell points.

 

[Stabwound]

Wow, how many times is he going to remake them? Does one game really need more than 1 remake?

I guess business is business. I can't imagine having the patience to remake the same games over and over, but I guess it pays the bills.

 

[Lightknight]

But here's the thing: the Geneforge series, and especially G4 and G5, shat all over Baldur's Gate and KoTOR.

In story and open-path-edness maybe, but KOTOR combat, however primitive i found it, will trump Geneforge combat many times over.

I never thought about using haste and bless. I always preferred using fireballs and stuff like that.

Come now, fighters always outpowered mages in Avernum games.

 

[PorkaMorka]

I would definitely download the demo of an updated Exile where the mechanics were made more complex and balanced and the fights were revised to include more handcrafted and tactically challenging encounters.

But that would pretty much be a new game anyway.

Early Avernum games might benefit from a remaking, because they still operate largely on the "kill endless waves of trash mobs" model.

But, I'd really have liked to have seen a 6 man party like Exile had, so you have some room to play around with the free-form character gen. system. And if this resembles Avadon mechanically, I'll stay far away. I really found the mechanics of Avadon to be intolerable. I've never seen a less appealing skill tree in any game.

 

[Johannes]

I haven't completed Exile 1 nor Avernum 1, so if this has a better combat system and/or better encounters then it's worth it. Combat system in avernums 1-3 is really straightforward trash slaying, and Exiles aren't too much better. Dunno about Avadon but to me GF5 for example had more interesting combat than those systems.