Avadon - Released on iPad

Can someone possibly talk about how the game is? I missed it on the pc and recently got an Ipad 2 and wonder if I should give it a try because I'm about to go on a trip for a week coming up. Does it have good length?
 
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Can someone possibly talk about how the game is? I missed it on the pc and recently got an Ipad 2 and wonder if I should give it a try because I'm about to go on a trip for a week coming up. Does it have good length?

I believe there are several threads here on this very subject.

Most people seem to like it as a somewhat "streamlined" Avernum game, though opinions differ on how much of it is actual streamlining.

I'll spare you my own personal opinion, and I've only played the demo :)
 
Well if he does an andriod version drop me a note ;)

I like the andriod tablet I have and I'm not about to swap it for an ipad :)


There is a reason - Android isn't making folks money. There have been loads of studies, tons of articles - it isn't political, just money.

I have been beta testing this … and after some tweaks he made (and he and I butted heads a bit on it), this is my favorite version. Too bad that Apple's release schedule is so screwy, I had planned a 'Day One' review … oh well, I'll have it this week.
 
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Can someone possibly talk about how the game is? I missed it on the pc and recently got an Ipad 2 and wonder if I should give it a try because I'm about to go on a trip for a week coming up. Does it have good length?

I've only played the very beginning on the first iPad, but from what I understand it has good length with about 20 hours, I think. I read that it is more linear than some of his other titles. The graphics are tile-based and in my opinion not very impressive, but they are servicable. There is lots of text and dialogue; often you will run into a new room and be presented with a pop-up with a textual description. This is a strong point of the game. The combat is turn-based and seems to be pretty deep. People say this is old-school cRPG'ing with all the annoying stuff from those days removed.
 
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Personally I have voiced my feelings for the game in my Mac and PC reviews which were linked here from GearDiary. The iPad version is the same game, optimized for touch. I have played through a couple of times, and it is my favorite version.

As for the rest ... I will write about the cannibalistic tendencies of socalled fans of RPG elsewhere ... -
 
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Can someone possibly talk about how the game is? I missed it on the pc and recently got an Ipad 2 and wonder if I should give it a try because I'm about to go on a trip for a week coming up. Does it have good length?

Apparently, getting your Apple-hate on and proving your CRPG pc-purity-bias is far more important around here!

When I get my iPad some time next year this will be a day one purchase. I messed around with the demo a bit and it seems perfect for touch based platform — and from what I saw, pretty fun and well put together. I wish they had slowed some of the movements down as the animations (walking for example) are so fast they're almost hard to see. I stopped the demo before going too far in hopes that the iPad version would indeed come out. And indeed it has.

The graphics will not blow you away. And my one little peeve about his games is back... Every damn room you walk into is absolutely enormous. Even a farmer's house is a gigantic sprawling room. But it's a stylistic choice, and not a deal-breaker in my opinion.

I'd also love to hear some impressions about how this plays on the iPad.
 
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Dartagnan: A thread opens up here announcing Avadon for iPad, and it gets pounced on by people bitching about the price and the platform. Someone even said "As much as I think the platform is destructive to gaming as a whole…"

My point above was that it would be more interesting — not to mention actually useful to readers — on a video game blog to hear about people's experiences with the game itself versus personal gripes and complaints about the pricing, the state of the industry and how a certain company sucks, and how its tablet is destructive, etc. how certain people will accept anything from anyone, etc., etc.
 
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about the game ...

I bought the PC-version of Avadon at realease day for 25 $ (= 17.5 €).

Tell you what - I enjoy every cent for this game. I'm playing for mor than 60 hours and I'm still not at the end.

+ good story
+ choices & consequences
+ re-visiting old areas -> new quests
+ nice character development
+ interesting characters
+ turn based challenging combat
+ unique weapons
+ gear enhancement (but streamlined in comparision to Geneforge)

+/- pre-defined party members -> better story/quests -> less customization

- combat balancing could be a bit better - I play on "Hard" for 98% of the game - for most boss fights I have to play on "Normal" - I hate difficulty switching ;)
- map system was better in Geneforge and Avernum, new areas are free when the story advances not with exploring -> bad.
- no background sound in houses

Two thumbs up - I would pay 50 bucks for this game!
 
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While I am not a fan of his price point for PC games, even if I had bought it, I would not feel 'cheated' or whatever just because he put out an iPad version for less. The medium and market dictate the price. There is no market for $25 iPad games, and hopefully he'll pick up some new fans.

I sent a link to the game to my brother who has an iPad. He doesn't game much, but when he does, he's an old school gamer (He spent about 30 hours straight playing Ultima III-V when I set up dosbox for him a few years back). There is no way he'd buy this game on PC. Just not his thing. But as something to do on his iPad when he's sitting in the airport, or waiting at his construction site for various people? Yeah, he'd be interested, but no way at $25. At $9.99? I think it will pique his interest enough for a purchase.
 
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...would be more interesting — not to mention actually useful to readers — on a video game blog to hear about people's experiences with the game itself...

Bigger part of the announcement was the (absurd) attempt at reasoning for the lower price. It's not surprising that the discussion covered this too.

Two thumbs up - I would pay 50 bucks for this game!

Than feel free to do so!

Yeah, he'd be interested, but no way at $25. At $9.99? I think it will pique his interest enough for a purchase.

These are not completely separate markets. This is the video gaming industry. If the same game gets much greater price on certain platform/market/webpage/whatever, one can be sure that it will lead to higher price being paid less often. I can certainly say for myself, that I will never pay 150% more for the same product.
People hate overpriced* goods.

* - or relatively overpriced. That's why the average price is kept so low on the "mobile market".
 
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The question is how separate are they? IMO, I would think that the console market has a lot more overlap with the iPad market than the PC market does.
 
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Dartagnan: A thread opens up here announcing Avadon for iPad, and it gets pounced on by people bitching about the price and the platform. Someone even said "As much as I think the platform is destructive to gaming as a whole…"

My point above was that it would be more interesting — not to mention actually useful to readers — on a video game blog to hear about people's experiences with the game itself versus personal gripes and complaints about the pricing, the state of the industry and how a certain company sucks, and how its tablet is destructive, etc. how certain people will accept anything from anyone, etc., etc.

Except you're only bitching about the one side aren't you. You're reading what you want to read, and ignoring how this thread actually developed - and who reacted strongly to what.

If you have something more interesting to add, then do it. If you want to bitch about people who don't agree with you - then do it, but don't embarass yourself by pretending your complaint is "for the sake of the thread".
 
An average Spiderweb game sells ca. 4000 copies (Jeff: Avernum 4 sales).
4000x25$ = 100000$ = 70250€.

minus tax minus costs = not so much profit!

Jeff has to reach 10000 iPad customers to get even 10000x10$ = 100000
-> should be possible.
 
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4000 copies?

That's quite a bit lower than I would have expected, actually.

Personally, I would have guessed Avadon sold AT LEAST 10000 copies on PC/Mac combined, and I would probably have guessed around 20000.
 
His problem is marketing. Prior to coming to this site a few years ago, I'd never heard of ANY of his games or his company.

I'm not saying I have the answer, I don't. However, if he wants to increase his sales, he has to find a way to market to people that aren't hard core old-school gamers that browse these sites. That's a very small amount of people. Maybe the iPad game will expose a larger crowd to his work.
 
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I have nothing against the iPad (except considering it an inferior gaming platform) or his desire to earn more money.

I simply think the price difference is too staggering, and it's evident that he's aware of how it might "offend people" if you look at his comments about it.

Personally, I would probably take care of my loyal fans SOMEHOW - by giving them a free game or a price reduction - or whatever.

Why? Because it's a tiny niche market - and his fans are pretty dedicated and supportive. Now he's selling Avadon at a MUCH lower price on a platform that's pretty much the anti-PC platform. A game that's already been streamlined and "casualised" (admit it, at least partially) for larger sales.

I'm platform neutral myself, and I have zero interest in Vogel's games as they don't appeal to me. I tried Avadon and found it to be dreary, bland, and downright sleep-inducing. But I'm not the one he should be caring about.

When I say I'm platform neutral, it doesn't mean I think all platforms are equally good. For instance, I happen to think the Smartphone gaming market is destructive to the PC gaming market - as is the iPad market, in a lesser way. But I have to accept that people are loving the shit out of those gadgets, and obviously the market is so ripe that everyone and their mother is jumping with glee to make shitty little games so they can get rich.

That said, I own an iPod - and I'm kinda tempted to get an iPad 2 for various reasons. The iPad is just large enough to make sense as a gaming platform, but it will never do me any good as a PC-first player. Since I'm not religious - I'll just go where the games are, regardless of what they'd be on the stronger platform. That's what I mean by platform neutral.

Vogel smelled money and he went for it - good for him. But he DOES have a loyal following - and even though they might not bring him much profit, I think they deserve to be thrown a bone now and then. But that's just me.
 
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