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The captain of Duvno has some problems with nephilim to the north and bandits to the west. I decided to resolve both of those problems, bandits first. The fort was relatively easy to clear, apart from the bandit’s leader, an apprentice level mage. Before I disposed of him, I asked about Lagran, the bandit that tried to kill me in the Arrival Caves. The mage said Lagran was there, asking to join, but they refused him so he went south. After killing him, I explored the rest of the fort and found the magical scrolls someone on the Silvar job board was looking for in a second floor room infested with goblins. I also found some books which would improve my Beast Call spell, but I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to decipher them.

Avernum - Dragon

Dragons are a big deal in Avernum.

After returning to Duvno, I did some exploring, found a pair of Swamp Boots in a hidden cache a bit to the north, and disposed of some brigands on the road to Formello. East of the brigands’ camp, I found a cave filled with bats and giant rats. I remembered there was something on the job board in Silvar about getting rid of some bats, so I tried to clear it, but I found a blocked passage with a mechanism I didn’t know how to use. I guess I’m going to have to return there later.

Next up, I decided to clear the sewers. I entered at the northwest corner of Silvar and fought my way through the worms, eventually reaching a central chamber where a nephil named Droknarr was waiting. He was the one breeding the worms. He seemed pretty laughable, so I offered him to just leave, but he wouldn’t hear it. He was dead soon enough. I reported my actions to the mayor and got my reward. He also said that to truly test my abilities, I should go to the Castle. To gain entrance, though, I need a Crown token. He doesn’t have one, but the mayor of Formello has. First, it was time to help Duvno with the nephilim.

I entered a cave in the north, from which I assumed the nephilim were coming, and I believe I wasn’t wrong. The lair was infested with both nephilim and goblins, all lead by a goblin shaman. I cleared the cave, defeated him and pocketed a bronze key from a chest in his private room. I’m not sure what I’ll need it for, but it’s probably important. On my way back to Duvno, I stopped by the bandit fort to decipher the texts I couldn’t before and gain access to a chest with a nice amount of gold.

Map of Avernum

Avernum is a series of caves. Sometimes I forget that part.

After reporting my victory to the captain of Fort Duvno, I made my way to Formello. It was a quick trip, but it was time to take a break.

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I was going to save all my money for the Steam summer sale, but Avernum: Escape from the Pit was on sale yesterday, so I needed to have it. This is another one of Spiderweb’s old school role playing games and I remember it as a truly good one. The original was called Exile and I preferred that name, but the remake is worth the cost of a good name. Well, to be more precise, this is a remake of a remake, but I don’t mind that either.

Basically, Avernum is a place deep underground, full of dangerous creatures and huge caverns where everyone who doesn’t fit in with the Empire gets sent, forever. Back when it was called Exile, it was also a state of being, but I guess we can’t have that anymore. The Empire basically controls the surface world and if they don’t like you, you’re gone.

Avernum: Escape From the Pit - Cover Art

Though the graphics receive an upgrade every time, the games somehow keep their style.

Now this is the first game, and I’m familiar with the story, but I’ll write my diary the same way I did with Avadon, like I don’t know anything. I feel it will work better that way. I created my party and started the game.

The intro is a slideshow with some text, as expected. Basically, I we don’t know why my party is thrown in and we don’t need to know. The important thing is there’s no going back. I started in a room with nothing other than some basic equipment on me. I found a cloak nearby and put it on my berserker.

In the next room, a band of nephilim did some gambling. Nephilim are a bloodthirsty catlike race which once had a huge presence on the surface world, but is all but eliminated now. In Avernum, however, they are thriving and they don’t like humans one bit. As soon as they noticed me, they attacked and I got my first combat experience.

A few rooms after that, on the other side of a narrow river, a guy named Lagran greeted me. It seems he managed to get inside the Arrival Caves (this is what he called it) and locked the door behind him. His intentions are to profit from new arrivals using any methods necessary. Basically, he intends to rob me.

I couldn’t do anything to him over the river, so I moved on, soon meeting a girl named Brissa and some other random people. She’s stuck, just like me, afraid to face Lagran and unable to go anywhere. Since I had issues to resolve with Lagran anyway, I promised her to handle the situation. A few rooms later, after fighting some of Lagran’s lackeys, I found and faced him. He would have fallen fast, but once I wounded him, he managed to escape and even slip past the Avernites on the level above. In any case, I was free to leave the Arrival Caves and enter Fort Avernum.

I was greeted by Andrew, whose job apparently is to greet people and give them some directions. He said I could get some supplies at Tor’s place, so I did and this got me some money and food. I also talked to Thairl who described the political situation. It seems the Avernites are having trouble with nephilim to the north, as well as slitzerikai to the west. The sliths, as they are commonly called, are lizard people. There’s a rumour that some of them are friendly, but for the most part, they are just as dangerous as the nephilim.

I continued exploring the fort and talked to a guy named Dunbar. He told me about the magical threes and mushrooms which the wizards created to feed the Avernites. I also met Varan, who said I should go to Silvar. Some other guys said the same thing, so I decided to listen

Avernum: Escape From the Pit, Art

I love the art of Spiderweb games.

Thairl told me some stuff about the slithzerikai and the nephilim and also suggested I go to Silvar.

On the way to Silvar, I found a campsite with some sad looking gremlins. I had the option to approach or attack them, but on approach, it looked like they needed something I don’t have yet, so I decided to spare them for now.

In Silvar, I met Carol, the baker. She complained about some noises behind her bakery, but I couldn’t access the area on foot, so I saved that for later. Jonathan, the mayor of Silvar had a task for me. Silvar is building sewers beneath the town and they have issues with a worm infestation. I’d of course be rewarded if I manage to solve that problem. I accepted, but decided to not do it just yet and explore further first.

I found the job board and took all the available jobs there. I also explored the rest of the town and got a few more tasks. Gary, the Innkeeper, for instance, is looking for a hot spring for his business. Finally, I bought a boat for 350 coins and checked out the area behind Carol’s shop. Some goblins were there, so I quickly disposed of them. After fully exploring the town, I decided to visit Fort Duvno, to the north. Before that, though, I spoke to Anastasia, the armour seller. She jokingly said I should ask her husband, Efram, about Demonslayer. I did and he told me about a legendary sword the first expedition to the caves had, which was extremely good at slaying demons. The sword was lost along with most of the members of the first expedition.

It was late, so I exited Silvar and decided to save Fort Duvno for the next day.

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This one deserves a separate post.

Ladies and gentlemen, a few days ago, the expansion for Binding of Isaac was released!

Binding of Isaac - The Widow Screen

The Widow is one of the new bosses. She’s fast, but low on health.

I bought it the instant the steam add popped up on my screen and I have yet to regret it. The expansion adds so much new content to the game, it completely refreshes the experience. I’ve been playing a couple of rounds per day since release and I enjoyed every single one of them. There’s heaps of new items, a new, alternative final zone, several new room types, new enemies, which behave in a vastly different way compared to the old ones and a whole new item type – the trinkets.

The trinkets are passive items which can drop from enemies, chests and various other places. They give various passive bonuses, some similar and some different to the already existing items. You can only carry a single trinket with you, unless you find a special item which grants you an extra slot. The bonuses they give vary to a great extent. You can get poison tears (or any other projectiles), a magnet-like effect, a change to get unlimited keys for a level, etc.

Other than that, the whole game layout has changed. Instead of a linear path, you can now get alternative versions of each zone, depending on your performance and luck. These alternative versions are harder, but offer better rewards than the regular ones. Also, instead of two levels per zone, you can get lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, and get a single, extra large zone level instead. This single level has double the special rooms as well as two bosses at the end of it.

Another addition is the challenge mode, which lets you play the game under certain special conditions. This means you usually start the game with some pretty sweet item, like flight or the super meat boy, but at the cost of not having access to treasure rooms.

Overall, Wrath of the Lamb is an awesome expansion worth it’s price dozens of times over. The only downside to it were some of the starting bugs, which got fixed after a couple of days and shouldn’t be a problem now.

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been doing several things.

First of all, I’ve finished my master’s degree paper, which means I’m so close to my master’s degree in computer science, I can almost taste it. Right now, my mentor is reading it and soon he’ll tell me which parts I need to polish a bet. Once that is done, I will be sending it to print and will soon hold a presentation of the subject. Once that is out of the way, I will have earned my master’s degree. It took me seven years, but I’m finally there.

Another thing I did was getting ready for Diablo 3. Sadly, the store at which I preordered had some shipment issues with Blizzard, which means both me and a friend of mine are now forced to wait another two weeks before we can get the game. Luckily, I managed to get a guest pass for both me and him. Unluckily, the guest pass is for the Americas region only.

DOTA2

Thirdly, I’ve mostly been playing DOTA2. I got an invite for both myself and the above friend so we play a game or two every evening. He’s stuck in Germany right now and he barely speaks the language, so this game is his main source of entertainment. We both still pretty much suck at it, but the game is fun anyway. The community is very slightly better than League of Legends, but at least you can do more about it, via the report/commend system.

Valve has recently released the in-game store which offers mostly cosmetic bonuses and items. The fun part is, you can also get items by leveling up, which means there could be something great in store for you after every game. As of right now, all I have is a single treasure chest and a piece of gear for my Dragon Knight.

Diablo 3

As for Diablo 3, there has been controversy, but none of that bothers me really. Sure, there are some valid complaints about the game (and a whole heap of invalid ones), but those really don’t affect me, so I think I’ll greatly enjoy the full game once I finally get it. I already enjoyed the beta, as well as the Standard Edition to great extent.

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There was an extremely apparent lack of posting (again) recently, but I won’t apologize for that anymore, nor will I make any promises of it not happening again. It is what it is. Sometimes I feel like writing something, sometimes I don’t. Anyway, what is Legend of Grimrock?

Legend of Grimrock - Cover Art

Any CRPG fan needs to play Legend of Grimrock

It’s an awesome game! This really needs to be said. If you knew about this game before release; if you knew what it was, you will not be disappointed one bit. The game supplies exactly what it promised – an old school first person dungeon crawler in the style of the Eye of the Beholder series.

You start the game as you would expect. You can use a premade party, or you can, as an experienced dungeon crawler, make your own. You have a pick of 4 races (human, minotaur, lizardman and insectoid) and 3 classes (fighter, mage, rogue). Each race provides different starting attributes and a few unique feats, while the choice of class gives you access to different set of skills you can train in. Once you distribute extra attribute and skill points, select your feats and name your characters, the game begins. You start in a dark room, with a torch in front of you and with no possessions whatsoever. There’s a short slideshow “tutorial” in the game menu, but that’s it. There’s no one there to hold your hand, no one there to tell you “push up to move” or anything of the sort.

This isn’t bad game design, though. This is proper game design (and I’m not hearing anything else, la la la la). You aren’t left completely clueless. You move around the room, trying out keys and examining your surroundings. If you look close enough, you might even spot a hidden switch, giving you access to some extra items. What you definitely will spot are iron bars stopping you from moving on, a torch on the wall next to them and some runes on the opposite wall. You step there, look at the runes, try to use your mouse buttons and suddenly you are told that the torch is important. Alternatively, you click on the torch first and you don’t have to read the runes anymore. You take the torch, it’s suddenly dark and the gate opens. What now? Sure, you can go on, but now things are dark. If you don’t have a serious mental defect (apologies to those that do, it’s not your fault), you pretty soon realize you can put the torch back in the wall, or, if you’re especially smart, that you can even put it into one of character’s hands. Let there be light!

This is how the design works pretty much throughout the game. When you encounter a new concept, the game slows down for a bit, provides you with some hints and gives you the chance to discover the concept for yourself. It doesn’t tell you “use this to do this”. It gives you the tools and lets you figure it out. That’s how a game should be designed.

There’s combat in Legend of Grimrock to, of course. If you’re familiar with Eye of the Beholder, it will feel natural, but if you are more of a Wizardry type of player, you might get badly hurt. You see, while it appears completely tactical and turn based at first, it really isn’t. You are supposed to use your skills, as a player, as well as tactics, to avoid getting hurt. You hit your opponent, and then it takes a while before you are able to attack again. While this is happening, the opponent is free to hit you. That is, he is free to do it if you let him. If you move away from him, he has to go after you, but while he’s doing that, he isn’t hitting you. So you attack and move back for a bit, until you get him into an open room, and then he’s yours. Attack, step to the side, turn around, attack, step to the side, turn around, etc. If you’re good enough, he will never touch you. Of course, this is a bit harder if you fight more than one enemy at a time, so you also need to be strategic and try to split the group up. You can also use your environment to your advantage. You can close a gate to split up a group of enemies, or lure one onto a collapsing floor tile, to take him out of battle completely. Of course, if you do that, he will be waiting for you on the level below, so be sure you aren’t actually making it harder for yourself. Some people might say this dancing around the enemy is actually an exploit, but this people haven’t tried to do it differently. If you stand still and just fight it out, you simply won’t survive for long. Even a single stronger enemy will destroy your party on any difficulty.

Let’s discuss equipment to. There is no money in the game, no vendors. You use what you find and nothing else. What you do find can be just regular leather and steel, or it could be a bit more powerful. There is nothing overpowered, though. The game won’t at any point feel like a breeze. Of course, the more powerful items will only be rewarded to those who explore and take time to solve the more difficult puzzles. There’s also a time constraint. While you could play in the dark, it would not be as easy or as enjoyable, so you need to conserve that limited number of torches. This means you can’t just wait around for too long and must keep pushing forward to new areas. Also, your characters need to eat, and not all enemies drop food. There are a couple of points in the game where food dropping enemies respawn, though, so this isn’t as big of an issue. You just can’t overstock on it, since the total weight of the items you can carry is limited.

Magic is another thing that’s handled a bit differently in the game. You cast magic by activating one several runes on a 3×3 board. A certain combination casts a certain spell. You learn new combinations by finding scrolls, but nothing is stopping you from experimenting by yourself and finding new spells that way. As long as your skills are high enough, you can cast any spell you can remember, regardless of finding the correct scroll or not. This makes concurrent games a bit easier, but not by much, since none of the spells are too overpowered and you can’t really use the stronger ones until you level your mage anyway.

The music in the game is limited to a single theme composition. It a nice, memorable, orchestral theme , but there’s nothing else (or there is, but I just can’t remember it). The sounds are atmospheric and fit the theme nicely. The various clicks and clunks of buttons, switches and levers sound great and immerse you in the game. The graphics really make the game shine, with hard shadows and great lighting effects. The dungeon can appear a bit monotone in some places, since you are looking at rock most of the time, but every few levels, the theme shifts, giving you a nice change of pace. The monsters look detailed and imposing, so I can’t complain about anything there.

The replayability could also be pretty big. You most likely won’t find all the secrets on your first playthrough, and if you’re anything like me, you will jump for a second run as soon as you see the first “You win!” screen. Additionally, you can try your luck with a different party flavor, if that’s something you might like. We also can0t forget that the development team intends to add future expansions as well as mod tools so users can create their own dungeons. Once that happens, there will really be no limit to the amount of gameplay this game will provide, as long as the fan base stays big enough.

All in all, Legend of Grimrock is an awesome game and any fan of older dungeon crawlers will absolutely love it. As for the new players – give it a chance. Games like this are rare these days and they deserve our attention. Also, if you get stuck on a puzzle, don’t run for a walkthrough. It will feel so much better if you figure it out yourself.

Links

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My gaming experience over the last couple of months has been mostly limited to the PC. And why shouldn’t it. I know a lot of people love to scream how the PC is dead for gaming, how all we get are crappy ports and how piracy is killing the platform, but honestly, I cannot disagree more.

The complainers are making one common mistake – they are looking in the wrong direction. Sure, a lot of the big dinosaur publishers and developers seem to be having a hard time. That’s because they are short sighted and narrow-minded. On the other hand, If you look at the indie scene, it was never this big. We get small and innovative games, we get big quality games, we get a return to the old, forgotten genres as well as the creation of completely new genres. There is literally something for most people.

This should in no way be a surprise. It’s just how the market works. If it looks like things are bad, it’s only a matter of time before a revolution happens. If people want a product, there will eventually come someone who can supply that product. So, don’t worry about the future of gaming on PC or on any platform. People love games and they will get them, the good ones as well as the bad ones.

And now for some concrete info…

Skyrim

Thanks to an extremely generous person on /r/favors, I got a brand new copy of Skyrim. Bethesda did not disappoint with this game. Sure, it’s a bit simplified compared to Oblivion, but so was Oblivion compared to some of the elements in Morrowind. There are other areas, however, where the games have greatly improved over their predecessors. The graphics shouldn’t even be mentioned. The Elder Scrolls series was always at the peak when it comes to that. The music, oh the music… Nothing needs to be said about that. Again, we have an upgrade of the traditional Morrowind theme. I never thought they could make it better than Oblivion, but they sure did. The Norse theme really adds to it, in the same way it adds to the story. Norse culture always intrigued me and while this is in no way the real thing, the elements it shares with it are more than enough to keep me hooked.

Of course, the gameplay is the critical part and no amount of atmosphere can make up for that. Luckily, this, also, is an improvement over Oblivion. The controls are just as good, maybe slightly better, the combat is the same style, but slightly more complex, the magic is greatly improved and the stealth element actually added some nice moves like proper backstab attacks, rolls, etc. As for the story, it’s classic, but it fits nicely and takes from the lore of Elder Scrolls enough to be interesting. SIDENOTE: If you’re not familiar with the Elder Scrolls lore, but love to read about a fantasy universe, go read up on it now – it’s one of the best and most complex I know of.

Two More Games

One of the games I should also mention is Sonic Generations. It’s been a long time since I played a platformer as awesome as this, so I won’t write much about it here. It, like Skyrim, definitely deserves more than a few paragraphs. This one, I also still actively play, or I would, if my gamepad wasn’t acting up. As for the PSP, It wasn’t used a lot, but I did play some Final Fantasy VII on it, simply for the sake of nostalgia. In short, the game is still as good as it ever was.

In any case, there will be more to follow on all of this. For now, you got a short recap.

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Again, no time for anything substantial today, so I only squeezed in a single run of Isaac. Lucky for me, it was a nice run, so I managed to kill mom. I did it with Cain, so this probably explains some of the awesome items I got, like mom’s bra, or mom’s pad. Awesome run of an awesome game!

I also have a complaint, however. Around Caves 1, the background music went away and only the sounds remained. After that, I started getting low performance in rooms with lots of enemies. The game is nice and fun, but it does have it’s bugs. I guess the fact that it’s a flash game (i think) has a part in it, but still.

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I didn’t have enough time to actually start a new game, so instead I played a few rounds of the Binding of Isaac, which is probably the sickest game I’ve ever played. It’s also very, very fun.

I didn’t get to far, and I haven’t managed to kill mom yet, but I got to the final battle once and even got hero to bellow 50% health. In this lucky run, I also managed to unlock two characters, Magdalene and Cain. Cain was unlocked thanks to a really lucky roll on the slot machine, which got me a 100$ bill.

Overall, I’m liking this game. It’s something fun to play when I got some time to spare, but not to much. I’m still learning the game and discovering new items, but it gets more fun with each new attempt.

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The Review: Is Avadon a True Spiderweb Game?

So, now that I’ve completed Avadon: The Black Fortress once, what do I have to say about it?

I think that the best way to go through the pros and cons is to compare it to Spiderweb’s previous games of the same style – Exile and it’s remake, Avernum.

Story in Avadon

The story of Avadon is decent, nothing more. It will keep you intrigued, it’s unique, compared to mainstream RPGs (I’m looking at you, Bioware) and it will keep you interested in the game. A few minor quests have their own nice little short stories, your companions have a background and it all fits together well enough. Nothing revolutionary, but OK.

Character Development in Avadon

I have to say, the character development in Avadon is different to previous games and also, not as good. The classes just don’t seem unique enough, it’s to unified, to uniform. Each class has their utility tree, their aggressive tree and their passive tree. You are pretty much forced to pick the passive tree and one other, if you wan’t to get the last upgrade for the top skill. Technically, if you make use of skill bonuses on your equipment, you might be able to “max” the last tree to, but that just makes it even less unique.

Avadon - Screen

The writing is where Spiderweb games excel. There’s a lot of it and it’s quite good.

In addition to that, the characters also play basically the same. You blow all your spells/abilities on tougher battles and then proceed to attack with your main weapon and/or use items until they recharge. Vitality is there just for show and to maybe make you go back to the local pylon once in a while. There is no need to conserve your resources. It simply doesn’t feel like there’s enough variety or possibilities. With Avernum, it felt better, and with Exile, even more so.

Also, the fact that level 30 is max and you can reach it before the end of the game if you do any side quests kind of removes the pleasure of making your characters overpowered. Sure, being overpowered makes the game unbalanced, but it’s also one of the charms that make me like this genre.

Still, it’s good enough, and it won’t bother you to much on its own. It just isn’t what I prefer, compared to previous games.

Gameplay in Avadon

I sense a hint of Bioware in the gameplay of Avadon. It feels a bit overly structured and predictable. You pretty much know where your next quest will take you and when your next companion will abandon you. This could be done better, less predictable. Also, the world seems less open than the previous games, with less stuff to do and explore. It kind off reminds me of the first Baldur’s Gate. This isn’t a bad thing, but again, I preferred the way Avernum and Exile did it.

The Verdict

Based on what I wrote, you would probably think I don’t like the game. You’d be wrong. I do like it. I like it a lot. I just don’t like it as much as Avernum or Exile. It’s still better than most of the crap you get today, however. It’s old school RPG goodness with a bit of new design thrown in. If you love this, you will adore this game. A definite buy, even more so, considering the price. At worst, it’s a bit too formulaic.

Meaningless Score: 8/10

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We stepped through the portal, but only Cordelia came out on the other side. The Avadon pylon was damaged, so this must be the reason. I arrived to the sounds of battle. The fortress was under attack. I fought my way through the passages and soon found Miranda in a pylon room I didn’t have access to before. The pylon was active, but I couldn’t tell where the portal was leading. Miranda said that Avadon has been betrayed. Infiltrators gained access and traitors in our own ranks helped them get the upper hand.

I told her everything that happened in castle Vebaux, but she didn’t at all seem angry at the fact that I let the duke go. In fact, she seemed pleased. She asked me about the Wayfarer and I told the truth. I intend to overthrow Redbeard. She then pointed her wand at me and everything was clear. She realized Avadon will fall and she is escaping to the Tavon Empire – the new center of power. Everything that happened to me, she orchestrated. The deaths, the events I’ve seen, even the Wayfarer. Now she wants me to finish it – kill Redbeard and take my place as the new Keeper. I agreed to let her go.

She stepped through the portal and I started fighting my way to the central stairway, to Redbeard. There weren’t many assassins left, so I didn’t have much trouble getting to the upper floor. As soon as I ascended the stairs, I’ve found Hand Callan. I told her about Miranda leaving, but I decided to leave out my intentions. In the next room, I’ve found Sevilin and told him what I intend to do. He expressed his agreement and joined me. I then met the rest of them and did the same. Jenell joined me, and I sent the other two downstairs, to fight off the assassins. We moved on and soon found Redbeard in one of the chambers, fighting off a shadowwalker. It was the Wayfarer. He jumped back and, as they both spotted me, he took off his mask.

Avadon - Final Boss Room

The final showdown took place here.

It was Shadow Tarkus, the same man that escaped the prison on my first day of service. I jumped to battle on his side, but it was too late. Redbeard killed him in an instant. It was my turn. I fought him, and he beat me to a pulp. I tried it again, and he did it again. I tried it a few more times and failed. The closest I got was to about 30%. I tried reducing the difficulty – same thing.

Ok, this is not the outcome I expected. I went to use Google, and found out what my problem was. Apparently, you can have a party of five in that fight. I thought that when I was saying my companions to go defend the bottom level, I was actually choosing which two I’ll take. In reality, I was just gimping myself, because I could take all of them, and, as long as I did their quests, I would have all of them with me in the final battle.

Avadon - Ending

The ending was several screens with flavor texts, based on my choices.

Well, this is disappointing. I decided to go for the “positive” ending and not take down Redbeard. Since I was not at all loyal to him, the only option I had was to stay a hand under his command. Oh well, I guess another playthrough will be needed to see the other endings. I have a few achievements missing anyway. For now, the game is finished.

So, officially, by loyalties were questioned, but in the end, I remained loyal to the pact. Redbeard has seen, partially, the error of his ways and decided to make things different. The Pact is in danger of falling apart, but with work, it can prevail. Avadon is not seen as the omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful institution anymore, but that might be a good thing. There’s hope.

I’m not really sure if there’s an absolutely positive ending here, so this will suffice.