Avernum 6 - Review @ ATPM

A site called About This Particular Macintosh has a review of Spiderweb's Avernum 6. It's one of those articles where the author goes to great pains to explain they hate this genre, although I guess that's more credit to AV6 that he actually enjoyed it:

Although I found myself spending a few nights staying up late wandering Avernum and trying to complete some tasks, I still do not like the game genre itself. It is too much work and not relaxing. However, I am sure any fan of RPGs will like Avernum. It is a vast world with many characters to interact with, whether to engage in battle or to get help.
There are plenty of things to find to equip your characters with, and they can also improve their skills through learning or trading. If you want, you can carry out side tasks while you try to perform your duties.

More information.

The graphics are good…

That claim makes me very suspicious. I found the graphics and UI in a previous version of this game too crude to bear, and I'm not even a graphics snob. I wouldn't exactly expect somebody who prefaces a review with a statement that he doesn't even like the genre to make that kind of claim about Avernum's graphics.

The graphics are good compared to the previous Avernum games. The graphics for me are good, yeah they are not like any modern game but for it's type they are decent. An improvement over the previous games too, just compare them to avernum 1, it's a massive step up. You very quickly get used to them anyways and the games suck you in. The avernum series is some of the most enjoyable I have played.

I suppose it really depends when you started playing games that has such a great influence on your view in regards to graphics. I actually like this style of graphics over many a modern 3d game.

I've always thought hand-drawn 2d graphics looked way more charming and intricate than full 3d, perhaps because I was around before full 3d which - at least when it got started - looked angular and sterile. The fact of playing in 3d at the time was great however I couldn't play Quake 1 again ;-)

I have tried playing both the Avernum and Geneforge series (including the last released Geneforge and Avernum 5) and they look worse then the first rpgs I played back in the late 80's and early 90's. Those games were 2d also but looked much better then these games do.

I might check out this game if it does look much better then Avernum 5.

Well, the graphics are better than Dragonstomper or Adventure for the Atari 2600. Or even Ultima 3 or 4, no?

One doesn't play SpiderWeb games for the grafix, one plays them for the gameplay… er oxymoron…

Originally Posted by Daroou
Well, the graphics are better than Dragonstomper or Adventure for the Atari 2600. Or even Ultima 3 or 4, no?

IMO you can compare A4, A5 and A6 to Ultima 6 and Ultima 7. Not as detailed as in U7 (but A6 is full screen like U7), sharper than U6.

Good enough for me.

Avernum 6 is a grand finale to the Exile/Avernum series. This game has well designed and proven game mechanics, a very good difficulty balance, tons of quests, a cool story, choices & consequences, unique items, memorable characters, a good crafting system - highly recommended for every true crpg-gamer.

P.S: Who cares about gfx ?