ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I finally finished Avernum 2. I don't want to say how much time I spent on it, because Mike will get mad at me for not using that time to work on JtRH. But I think it was at least a hundred hours. And that was on the easiest setting with liberal use of walkthroughs. I'm impressed with the amount of play I got out of the game.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

* Mung demons are not nearly as difficult as they were in Avernum 1, for the simple fact that you can Phew! I hate those guys.

* One thing I noticed in both Avernum 1 and 2 is that respawning is infrequent and unpredictable. There seems to be just enough generated monsters appearing to make areas feel "lived in". I figured that if the designer were ever to put in a reliable respawner someplace, the munchkins would keep killing monsters at that place to beef up experience, thus promoting tedious meta-gaming as a way to advance in the game. Ah, but then I found the reliable respawner at . I started killing off basilisks until I realized how pathetic I was and went back to finishing quests. Another obscure way to express your munchkinism: Unlimited gold if you ...And that get-rich-slow plan may be the worst game tip ever offered.

* Dumb, boring ideas like the ones above beg the question: why not just use the editor? I am so glad I didn't even glance at the editor until the end of the game. The temptation to use it would have been too great for me. I think there should at least be some flag in the saved games that is set if the editor is used on them, and then you see not-quite-as-good end game messages if you cheated.

* Earlier I complained about the similarities between maps of Avernum 1 and 2. I take it back! After playing it all through, I think the design is perfectly balanced between showing new territory and using your familiarity with Avernum 1 to create nostalgia and interesting story events. There is one place of Great Evil () that you couldn't completely conquer in Avernum 1, but are finally able to in Avernum 2--cool! I am left a little unsatisfied by

* There are maybe 10 or so different puzzles in the game. Unsurprisingly, I find myself evaluating them by DROD standards and that probably isn't fair. Avernum's engine wasn't really made for puzzles, so when one comes up in the game, they end up being irritating for me. For example, I don't like pushing boxes around in an isometric display that is more designed for cosmetic value than for clarity. Trial-and-error puzzles were common, i.e. avoid hidden squares that will transport you to beginning or pull lever and tromp across the dungeon to see if it opened some gates. The puzzles tended to be pretty simple, but often you have try many things to see what will work.

* Hidden passages: I got tired of searching for secrets and started relying on walkthroughs to tell me what important things are to be gathered in an area. It got better once I had Far Sight 3, but then I had to be careful about overusing Far Sight since I use the map to keep track of what areas I've already explored.

* Picking locks/brewing potions: Ugh. Must save before opening any locked door or brewing any potion. If your pick breaks or potion curdles, reload and try again. Repeat as many times as needed. This is a boring bit of meta-gaming to put me through, and illustrates how unlimited save/load can influence the game for the worse. If I didn't save beforehand, avoiding the meta-gaming, I would buy and use up all the lockpicks in the game. Given that the only realistic strategy is to save/reload for any test of luck, I feel the game should just decide without use of "luck" whether you can perform the transaction or not.

Minor complaints aside, this was a great game to play. I could see myself playing it again from the beginning now with some kind of twist (i.e. three archers, one mage/priest), but I won't, because Avernum 3 is waiting for me. I really hope the timed events aspect of A3 isn't going to put me off, because I feel heavily "invested" in the series at this point.

-Erik

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silver
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 915
Registered: 01-18-2005
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the time aspect is barely noticable. ye'd have to leave a rock on your wait key to really mess up and fail to get to the (insert secret place name here) before (insert secret bad thing that happens after a certain amount of time here). and that's the only time aspect, really, minus that some towns "decay" (but still include most of yer necessary shops, or shops can be found 'nearby', or the shop keepers ye love have moved a town 'back from the front'). even my first time through, when I was exploring everything as much as possible, I "made it in time" and had very little decay of major towns (quite a lot of the generated-template-towns fell down, though). but if ye really strongly rely on "sitting on the outdoor map and hitting wait" to heal, then ye might suffer.

for mung demons, I generally just tossed on level of priest magic on my melee dude because they hit the nearest "spell caster" (both Av 1 and Av 2) and, believe me, I kept my melee dude much closer to them than I kept my mages



[Edited by silver at Local Time:03-09-2005 at 05:25 PM]

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ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
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SKWERLL
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 77
Registered: 02-22-2004
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silver
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 915
Registered: 01-18-2005
IP: Logged

oh, one level of priest spells on yer fighter didn't work for ye, Erik? weird.

anyway, if ye MUST sit outside and pound "wait" to heal, might I recommend that while healing is dreadfully slow that way, spellpoints come back fast, so use yer priest(s) to heal everyone to full hp and then just wait for the spell points. much less time wastage.


[Edited by silver at Local Time:03-10-2005 at 08:33 AM]

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