Avernum 2: Crystal Souls - New Video Preview

Staff member Fluent posted a new video preview of Avernum 2: Crystal Souls.

Hello folks! In this episode, we check out the first 40 minutes or so of the indie CRPG - Avernum 2: Crystal Souls!

Avernum 2 is a game made by Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb Software, and is an indie RPG. The game takes place in the underground empire of Avernum, and features some open-world type mechanics, customizable party members and full-on tactical, turn-based combat. It's a very slick combination of classic, traditional and old-school mechanics that makes for a very interesting game to play.

I take it for a spin (blindly) and play the first 40 minutes of the tutorial. If you like this game, please support the devs and pick up Avernum 2: Crystal Souls for Mr. Vogel's own website here - http://www.avernum.com/avernum2/index…

As always, I hope you enjoy the video and please comment/like/subscribe for more! Ciao!

He also needs your help to fund future videos on his Patreon Page.

More information.

Nice preview m8. Game looks nice. Btw, did you try Avernum 1: Escape from the Pit?

Poor Fluents name is spelled wrong.

I am still in the middle of my let's play of Avernum 2…and that's 87 hours in…guess it will be at least another 20-30 hours or so until I finished it.

The timeframe Mr Vogel is putting on his games are a big understatement.
Avernum 1/2 are HUGE.

Couch, thanks so much for posting this along with my Patreon page! You rock, sir.

Originally Posted by kuki
Nice preview m8. Game looks nice. Btw, did you try Avernum 1: Escape from the Pit?

I didn't! I really, really want to, and it's been installed on my SSD for months now. I think if I find the time to play through an Avernum game now, it's going to be Escape From the Pit!

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Poor Fluents name is spelled wrong.

I am still in the middle of my let's play of Avernum 2…and that's 87 hours in…guess it will be at least another 20-30 hours or so until I finished it.

The timeframe Mr Vogel is putting on his games are a big understatement.
Avernum 1/2 are HUGE.

Awesome to hear, Kordanor. I love Mr. Vogel's games, and I've only really played Avadon 2. I hear that the Avernum games are more open and that makes them especially interesting to me. But Avadon 2 was spectacular and this style of RPG is a rare thing nowadays.

Don't know if I have another 100 hours for a new playthrough, though (especially considering I put all my playthroughs on YouTube now)

I'm just coming to the end of Crystal Souls having absolutely loved Escape from the Pit. Crystal Souls is almost as good with a few minor issues that I would assume will be ironed out over time (I'm guessing Spiderweb patch their games afterwards but maybe I'm wrong). It's mainly some balancing issues for me with combat being fairly easy (almost too easy) and at a certain point in the game it jumps in difficulty by a huge margin. Players tend to miss their hits a lot more than the previous games too and yet it remains easier during that early to mid-game period despite that. The misses are frustrating though. Overall though I've enjoyed it almost as much as the first game and having come to these games late I have a huge backlog to look forward to now and I own all of them thanks to gog sales over the last year or two. These games have a wonderful style and enjoyable mechanics that keep me coming back. That "thinking about what you will do next in the game during the day at work" feeling that so few games achieve for me.

Originally Posted by Fluent
Couch, thanks so much for posting this along with my Patreon page! You rock, sir.

We should be thanking you Fluent for your hard work. So good luck with your campaign, and I hope you get to realize your dream as you said on your Patreon Page.

Now I wish I could get paid for all the time I put into this site myself.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Poor Fluents name is spelled wrong.

Fixed and thank you for pointing it out.

I really need to play this one soon, perhaps after I finish with Arx Fatalis. Gotta keep ploughing through this backlog!

Originally Posted by Fluent
I didn't! I really, really want to, and it's been installed on my SSD for months now. I think if I find the time to play through an Avernum game now, it's going to be Escape From the Pit!

While I recommend to start with the first game (as they are of extremely similar quality and there are several references in the second to the first game), I also really recommend to not play the second game immediately after the first. Imho you should put a break between two spiderweb games to fully enjoy them. Otherwise it just becomes too much of the same and it's tireing.

It's mainly some balancing issues for me with combat being fairly easy (almost too easy) and at a certain point in the game it jumps in difficulty by a huge margin. Players tend to miss their hits a lot more than the previous games too and yet it remains easier during that early to mid-game period despite that. The misses are frustrating though.

I cannot confirm that. On which difficulty are you playing?
While I have the feeling that it is easier than Avernum 1 and Avadon 1 (until now there was only 2 fights which took me more than an hour or so) I wouldn't consider it being too easy. I am playing the game on torment. Imho there is always a fairly good balance. There is always some stuff you can do. Unlike Avadon 1 where I hit several "walls" like "I could go passage A, B, or C. I will try A again, maybe with better tactics and some luck I can beat it now". This only happened once or twice for me yet (almost directly after coming back to the original map).

Well, I hardly use potions and I never let someone die. So if you grind herbs and use potions in all fights I guess it can get quite a bit easier.

But I have the feeling that the "level" of the characters is one of the main factors how good your chances are against various encounters. And so you will not have the slightest chance against some encounters with level 5 or so, while on level 15 they will hardly hit/damage you. So basically you always need to find enemies which are about "your level" (which you cannot see, but when you see that you hit with 20%, you should go find some place else), which also should make it rather easy for Spiderweb to balance the game (in comparison to a game balance where weapons and skills have the major influence).

Thanks for the tip, Kordanor! I'll keep that in mind.

I may actually fire up Nethergate: Resurrection instead! Maybe not the sexiest Spiderweb pick, but for some reason it intrigues me greatly. Maybe because the idea of the setting is so unique, with the Celts vs. the Romans, and one side being fierce warriors while the other side is magically inclined. Then again, Escape From the Pit intrigues me a lot as well. And then I still have to finish Inquisitor which I already love dearly.

Bloody hell! I'll be busy for the next 10 years with my backlog alone!

Originally Posted by Kordanor
While I recommend to start with the first game (as they are of extremely similar quality and there are several references in the second to the first game), I also really recommend to not play the second game immediately after the first. Imho you should put a break between two spiderweb games to fully enjoy them. Otherwise it just becomes too much of the same and it's tireing.



I cannot confirm that. On which difficulty are you playing?
While I have the feeling that it is easier than Avernum 1 and Avadon 1 (until now there was only 2 fights which took me more than an hour or so) I wouldn't consider it being too easy. I am playing the game on torment. Imho there is always a fairly good balance. There is always some stuff you can do. Unlike Avadon 1 where I hit several "walls" like "I could go passage A, B, or C. I will try A again, maybe with better tactics and some luck I can beat it now". This only happened once or twice for me yet (almost directly after coming back to the original map).

Well, I hardly use potions and I never let someone die. So if you grind herbs and use potions in all fights I guess it can get quite a bit easier.

But I have the feeling that the "level" of the characters is one of the main factors how good your chances are against various encounters. And so you will not have the slightest chance against some encounters with level 5 or so, while on level 15 they will hardly hit/damage you. So basically you always need to find enemies which are about "your level" (which you cannot see, but when you see that you hit with 20%, you should go find some place else), which also should make it rather easy for Spiderweb to balance the game (in comparison to a game balance where weapons and skills have the major influence).

I play on normal. I have never really gone for high difficulty levels in games. Not my thing really. I want a reasonable challenge that doesn't frustrate my enjoyment of the story and so on. As I have literally just exited Crystal Souls having completed it I want to make it clear I didn't come across a battle I couldn't win. My whole point was that I had basically maxed out at level 30 (I know you can go beyond that but essentially 30 is high enough to beat the game) and went from finding all fights too easy, so much so I was about to up the difficulty as I want at least a challenge, to going to the location of the second crystal soul and at the start of that area you end up in a fight that frustrated me for a long time - . I just thought the jump in difficulty was very pronounced. Regardless having just finished I can highly recommend it. These are fantastic games. I take the point about not playing one after the other but I have managed the first 2 now without losing interest but I can see how you might overdose on them. I'd also point out the miss rate was consistent even later when most of my hits were 90% chance. I just think there might be an error rather than bad planning on their part although I know fatigue plays a big part too.

Some of the stuff is calculated after 90% as it seems. Like parry and similar. There was one Boss who used a special buff which you had to counter. Otherwise you missed him every time even with 90%.

I haven't secured a crystal soul yet (and therefore didn't read what you wrote in the spoiler tag, thanks for doing it that way), so I cannot comment on this jump of difficulty yet. I may come back to that later.

But all in all I think it's the wrong approach to call a game easy if you play on a easy difficulty level. Normal is not designed to be a challenge in most games (only exception I can think of is FTL)
The description of "normal" in Avernum 2 is actually:
The game starts out quite easy but becomes a challenge as you get close to the end. A nice moderate difficulty level
Which sounds exactly like what you wrote about your experience.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Which sounds exactly like what you wrote about your experience.

That description fits the first one much better for me. Escape from the Pit was a good challenge for me on normal (maybe I'm just crap at games - only been playing for 30+ years or so after all) with a more gradual increase in difficulty rather than a sudden sky-rocketing but anyway enjoy the rest of the game.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, fellas! Appreciate it.

I just fired up Nethergate: Resurrection and I'm already hooked! The rich storytelling just draws me completely into the experience to the point that I don't even care what the game looks like! It's a really amazing thing that happens with Jeff Vogel's games. It's like reading a good book almost. Very impressive stuff.

Don't sleep on this game! Jeff Vogel makes some fine RPGs, and this game seems no different.

Great to hear.
Didn't personally check out Nethergate yet. And probably still got a few dozen of hours left in Avernum 2.

Kordanor, you MUST check out Nethergate! I've spent several hours with it thus far, and it is just a gem of a game, man. Here's a few genius aspects that I really dig about it:

1 - Rich, detailed story-telling and encounter system. Talking to an NPC is a journey through a story, and exploring the large, open-world, finding all the encounters is truly rewarding and fun. You will stumble upon scenarios that are brilliantly detailed via text, and you will often have some options as to how to act. And these are scattered all over the place.

2 - Immersive exploration. NO hand-holding, no guide through this world. You are sent to a place to begin the game, and the exploration there is truly expansive. No one tells you to explore the entire area, but if you are curious and like to explore and see what there is to find, you will find many unique encounters and scenarios, NPCs, unexpected surprises, lots of great loot and plenty of reason to continue naturally exploring this very detailed world.

3 - Excellent and interesting combat system + stat-heavy character development. I really enjoy the combat in this game. Turn-based, obviously, and plenty of challenge in the tougher encounters. There is plenty of strategy, lots of good battle spells and potions to use, fun ranged combat and overall it's a very rewarding and fun combat system. The stat system to support the character development is very rich and detailed as well, and very fun to craft your unique characters and spend time pondering over those wonderful numbers.

Couchpotato is going to post Episode 1 from my Nethergate Let's Play that I just started. Here is a sneak peek. Check it out here if you're interested. I spend Episode 1 creating my party from scratch, and you can see the excellent Stat system designed for this game.

Here is Episode 1:



And please keep an eye out for Couch's news post of the Let's Play soon.