Morkar Left
Guest
I'm writing this as practically a newcomer to the Avernum series or Vogels games (only tried A6 and Exile2). Played the demo so far till the first city Silvar plus the sewer. All in all I like it. I was able to play and enjoy the game without checking the clock every 20 min which is rare with later games these days.
The graphics are topnotch for me. Really, for that kind of game the only way he can improve the graphics for me is a paperdoll-system and more chars to choose from etc. and maybe more combat animations. But that isn't necessary by any means. I really like the current style. There's some great artwork into the game.
Sounds are nothing new but it brings enough atmosphere and doesn't get annoying so far. But the sound seems to mess with my soundcard because it changes the configurations of it. Watching Brian Fargos interview I was annoyed of the hall effect he had in it till I realized my soundcard settings were changed and that this happened from playing Avernum. But the rig I'm playing is very old and basically a business pc anyway.
Interface is very convenient but lacks a few things. I highly appreciate that you can use your keyboard for 99% of your transactions and commands. The get-command and the junkbag are good systems that allow quick handling of standard loot management. the instant comparison between actual weapon and loot is appreciated, too.
A bit annoying for me is that I always have to hit Esc to close a menu instead of just typing the key again that opened it. Another inconvenience is that I don't have a direct status bar for my attack rating and damage rating. I would like to see this as a summary with all modifications shown (How much does strength raise my damage/attackvalue and the like).
There is some sort of quest compass that you unfortunately can't deactivate. I don't know how detailed it is but I can already see how it comes into the way of puzzling things out and searching/exploring things on your own.
Plus it seems unnecessary to me because conveniently with a mouseclick you can copy dialog into your journal.
Combat is standard fare. I'm playing on hard and I suppose the combat can get challenging later on. In fact I had to watch out already sometimes that nobody falls down. But all in all the combat seems to be mostly about getting hp heavily drained by one attack and trying to raise health again with potions/magic before getting hit again plus mandatory buff/debuff spells (shield/curse) you use for every encounter. In this part it plays like a standard blobber. Positioning is useful but could be even more useful, but I'm just in the demo. Maybe all that will change later on to get more tactical when resistances, special attacks from enemies and encounter design (location/surprises) come into play.
Battle disciplines are a nice addition but so far it comes down to use a battle discipline as soon as it is available again. But all in all they are a good way to distinguish fighters from casters and make a difference. Melee becomes less boring this way because you can vary your attacks a bit.
The skill system isn't great but works and there is some specialising in it and crossclassing, too. But Frayed Knights for example does it a lot better. There are some non-combat / non-caster skills in it but overall this comes very short. I wish there would be some more non-combat skills like diplomacy, bartering, pickpocket, crafting.
You raise your stats and get new skills/battle disciplines by earning xp and advancing a level but you can also get new abilities / improve your abilites by available trainers. The use of trainers is limited (two times) and expensive (at least at start). All in all I think it is a good design solution for trainers.
Magic seems very standard and there seems to be only 20 spells per priest/mage class. This sounds a bit short for such a combat centric game but I don't have looked at it to much so far.
Items and loot seem to be good. Armor for example not only gives you protection but has second value for avoiding strikes alltogether, weapons have additional possibilities besides raw damage like striking another opponent in one go. And that's without enchanted items which come on top of that.
There seems to be a lot of clutter items lying around and it always comes to my mind why Vogel doesn't make something out of it in the sense of crafting. The established system seems already a good basis to introduce something like that and it would really make sense setting-wise.
Ah yes, the setting. I really enjoy the writing and descriptions. They add a lot of flavour and Vogel spent some time to make the world believable which always pays off. There are some inconsistencies but they can be easily overlooked (The woman Warwick? looking for her sister e.g. Nobody has heard from her but she is the armor shop owner in Silvar).
What's disappointing is that the dialog is as biowarian as it can get; no choice whatsoever. You just click textphrase after textphrase till you have read them all. It doesn't matter in which order you do it nor does your dialog choice influence the outcome. That's basically the biggest flaw of the whole demo so far.
Vogel isn't the best writer under the sun but I would call him competent in every way and he really falls short here with his abilities. He could highly improve the experience here by giving the player some real choices. I'm not talking about worldshifting choices but about minor things; choosing the right dialog / having the right skill allowing you to get a discount / make a special deal / bluff a guard / get some additional info / open some new solutions for a quest etc.
A bit annoying is that the setting is constantly telling you how short on resources and food they are but the engine doesn't really support it. There is no weariness for weapons and food consumption only gives you hp back instead of being necessary for survival. This cribbles the mood of the setting for me and as an openworld dungeoncrawler I would highly appreciate to have some more survival-feeling.
In conclusion Escape from the Pit is entertaining so far and I'm pretty sure to buy it. I looks like a great starting point to get into the series for me and probably everybody else. Maybe he can improve some things I mentioned above in the future to further improve the gameplay.
The graphics are topnotch for me. Really, for that kind of game the only way he can improve the graphics for me is a paperdoll-system and more chars to choose from etc. and maybe more combat animations. But that isn't necessary by any means. I really like the current style. There's some great artwork into the game.
Sounds are nothing new but it brings enough atmosphere and doesn't get annoying so far. But the sound seems to mess with my soundcard because it changes the configurations of it. Watching Brian Fargos interview I was annoyed of the hall effect he had in it till I realized my soundcard settings were changed and that this happened from playing Avernum. But the rig I'm playing is very old and basically a business pc anyway.
Interface is very convenient but lacks a few things. I highly appreciate that you can use your keyboard for 99% of your transactions and commands. The get-command and the junkbag are good systems that allow quick handling of standard loot management. the instant comparison between actual weapon and loot is appreciated, too.
A bit annoying for me is that I always have to hit Esc to close a menu instead of just typing the key again that opened it. Another inconvenience is that I don't have a direct status bar for my attack rating and damage rating. I would like to see this as a summary with all modifications shown (How much does strength raise my damage/attackvalue and the like).
There is some sort of quest compass that you unfortunately can't deactivate. I don't know how detailed it is but I can already see how it comes into the way of puzzling things out and searching/exploring things on your own.
Plus it seems unnecessary to me because conveniently with a mouseclick you can copy dialog into your journal.Combat is standard fare. I'm playing on hard and I suppose the combat can get challenging later on. In fact I had to watch out already sometimes that nobody falls down. But all in all the combat seems to be mostly about getting hp heavily drained by one attack and trying to raise health again with potions/magic before getting hit again plus mandatory buff/debuff spells (shield/curse) you use for every encounter. In this part it plays like a standard blobber. Positioning is useful but could be even more useful, but I'm just in the demo. Maybe all that will change later on to get more tactical when resistances, special attacks from enemies and encounter design (location/surprises) come into play.
Battle disciplines are a nice addition but so far it comes down to use a battle discipline as soon as it is available again. But all in all they are a good way to distinguish fighters from casters and make a difference. Melee becomes less boring this way because you can vary your attacks a bit.
The skill system isn't great but works and there is some specialising in it and crossclassing, too. But Frayed Knights for example does it a lot better. There are some non-combat / non-caster skills in it but overall this comes very short. I wish there would be some more non-combat skills like diplomacy, bartering, pickpocket, crafting.
You raise your stats and get new skills/battle disciplines by earning xp and advancing a level but you can also get new abilities / improve your abilites by available trainers. The use of trainers is limited (two times) and expensive (at least at start). All in all I think it is a good design solution for trainers.
Magic seems very standard and there seems to be only 20 spells per priest/mage class. This sounds a bit short for such a combat centric game but I don't have looked at it to much so far.
Items and loot seem to be good. Armor for example not only gives you protection but has second value for avoiding strikes alltogether, weapons have additional possibilities besides raw damage like striking another opponent in one go. And that's without enchanted items which come on top of that.
There seems to be a lot of clutter items lying around and it always comes to my mind why Vogel doesn't make something out of it in the sense of crafting. The established system seems already a good basis to introduce something like that and it would really make sense setting-wise.
Ah yes, the setting. I really enjoy the writing and descriptions. They add a lot of flavour and Vogel spent some time to make the world believable which always pays off. There are some inconsistencies but they can be easily overlooked (The woman Warwick? looking for her sister e.g. Nobody has heard from her but she is the armor shop owner in Silvar).
What's disappointing is that the dialog is as biowarian as it can get; no choice whatsoever. You just click textphrase after textphrase till you have read them all. It doesn't matter in which order you do it nor does your dialog choice influence the outcome. That's basically the biggest flaw of the whole demo so far.
Vogel isn't the best writer under the sun but I would call him competent in every way and he really falls short here with his abilities. He could highly improve the experience here by giving the player some real choices. I'm not talking about worldshifting choices but about minor things; choosing the right dialog / having the right skill allowing you to get a discount / make a special deal / bluff a guard / get some additional info / open some new solutions for a quest etc.
A bit annoying is that the setting is constantly telling you how short on resources and food they are but the engine doesn't really support it. There is no weariness for weapons and food consumption only gives you hp back instead of being necessary for survival. This cribbles the mood of the setting for me and as an openworld dungeoncrawler I would highly appreciate to have some more survival-feeling.
In conclusion Escape from the Pit is entertaining so far and I'm pretty sure to buy it. I looks like a great starting point to get into the series for me and probably everybody else. Maybe he can improve some things I mentioned above in the future to further improve the gameplay.
