Avadon - Windows Release on Monday

I'm jealous. I'm going to be stuck in Las Vegas all week and won't be able to play Avadon till I get back home. Since The Witcher 2 is coming out so soon after I get back, I'll have to settle for Avadon third after Las Vegas and TW2. You guys who can play it day one are SO lucky :D
 
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Hmm, it's too bad he is waiting til monday....most of us have our weekends free.
 
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I don't want my posts about the game generate wrong expectations. There's some points to quote:
  • The first is you won't find the same very open approach of some Avernum games, I'm thinking of Avernum 1, a large part of Avernum 2, and Avernum 6.
  • The second is if you want compare companions to those in more recent Bioware games you won't quote the same character developing level nor the same writing tuning. I'd say it's quite well done, well developed and with an interesting subtlety but it's not the same efficiency level. I don't remember fully well but I think that BG2 companions are more developed but interfere much less in dialogs than companions of Avadon. BG2 companions requires more player talk them. And the character writing level could be more cliché in BG2 but is more efficient if I remember well. For BG1 there's no comparison possible, the number of companions available is just huge, so necessarily only few are well developed.
  • The third point is the class system is more developed than it seems because behind a skill there's much more often 3 levels and many bring one new talents plus two special additional effect. Also the specialization is a choice more important than it could seems, and the scarabs is an interesting design. But it still won't compare well with the RPG with a complex and very develop class system. I think there's more talents and choices and different effects in DA2 for example and it's not the deepest class system ever released.
  • The fourth point, is well it's still an indie, so yes you won't get top 3D graphics, but also you wont get the same constant high quality level you'll get with A RPG with a much bigger team and budget. I'm thinking for example about Mass Effect 2, or even The Witcher 1. If you take their constant writing quality level, it's almost constantly impressive in the Witcher and constantly very very solid in ME2. In Avadon, I think the writing is better than in Avernum games, the best improvement is the setup of intriguing elements and preview of future to make you wish know more. But there are quests with just a fair story, some with a flat story, and if most often the quality is solid, only few will have the same pure efficiency you can see in few A RPG with a very solid writing quality.
  • For fans of old school game, for sure you'll get here a level you won't see in any modern RPG, not even DKS will compare well, you just need compare a map of an area or dungeon in DKS to one of Averdon, yeah DKS has other qualities. But if Avadon is using a solid old school approach, it's also a significant change when compared to Avernum series, and it's hard to deny many points are somehow dumbed down when compared to some Avernum. Myself I consider the new balance just better but not all players will think the same, and also it's hard to compare because Avadon approach is also quite different, and I think quite more tuned from a game design and writing point of view.
  • Also I know many complain the disappearing of puzzles in RPG, and I'm the first. But even in Avadon you won't really find puzzles, only some are sort of, but like in modern RPG, when it happens it's quite easy. There are stuff to search and think a little to find the solution, but it's totally in the mood of modern RPG, ie when it happens it's most often not hard at all to solve. And for the few harder they are hidden and non required so it's tempting to ignore them once you have search a little and didn't solve it.
  • You can find many secrets and plenty have a good design between hint/hidden, but you can fly through the game and ignore them totally. This will certainly change the global feeling on the game.
So nope it's not yet the perfect RPG, but if you admit some aspects like graphics and more, and sink in it, and play it more than the beginning to let time to the game to grab you, then, well at least myself, I consider it as a quite amazing RPG. I'm almost sure now, from my point of view, it is better than any Avernum I played including Avernum 1 (I could not have played enough Avernum 6, so could not have a good point of view of it).
 
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Playing the demo now. Feels good, very good actually. It is simulair to avernum but better. Worth 18.4 euro to me :)
 
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