Welcome to the annual Avernum body builders contest
Well as of now I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach to things and I’m going to try to keep each game down to three posts covering my progress and impressions at the beginning, middle and end of a game. When I left off last time my party had explored much of the eastern section of the map and I was finally getting to the middle and west. Little did I know there was still a lot more to this game and tons of unexplored areas. The great cave is basically the center of the Avernum government and its where the king resides. When you get to this point in the game and talk to the king the new focus is on the Sliths who are the lizard men and there evil leader Sss-Thsss. I really want to make a witty joke about that ridiculous name here but..alas. This involves exploring much of the middle of the map which is there domain and you do a lot of this buy buying boats and navigating the rivers. This is also where the game feels a little more mysterious since these are unsettled lands and there’s lots of fun things to discover. even in the map that comes with the DDL of the game these areas are not clearly marked adding to the mystery. This is also a point where you need to really start looking out for artifacts left by the fabled first expedition from the surface such as parts of the “Demonslayer” sword and the orb that allows you to fly. One thing you really need to do is look for secret passages EVERYWHERE. I had to end up going back to places later in the game and search dungeons and areas because I was so unaware of the huge amount of secret passages , many that lead to things like spell books. Another thing I learned is do not be afraid to pick locks. I didn’t do this at first because I was afraid it would hurt my reputation but it doesn’t. It also doesn’t matter if a guard is right next to you as long as you don’t actually steal anything labeled “NY” (not yours). There are a lot of things like spell books and a few vital things to the game that require you pretty much break into areas. The land of the giants is also above the Slith territory and although your technically supposed to go there later I think I ravaged those lands at this point.
Liberating the first piece of Demonslayer from the Slith
After the defeating of the Slith be sure to report back to the King and he tells you that there’s more trouble this time at Fort Remote that guards the pass to the unknown west. I also journeyed north at this point into the Abyss where all the people that Avernum doesn’t want like bandits and such are double exiled? There are only two cities there but a good deal to do in them. Its sort of this semi lawless area with corrupt officials and where everyone hates Avernites and looks on them only slightly better then the Empire. Its here you start learning of a secret organization that’s working to strike back against the Empire and its also where you start finding heavy clues that the Empire actually has a covert presence in Avernum and that War between the two is coming. Now, I though this was cool and all but of course my mind starts asking questions. What did the Empire think was going to happen to the thousands of people exiled? I guess it assumed they would all wonder around and die. I guess that makes sense but once learning they were forming a rival nation why does it continue to supply them with food, materials and manpower via the portal only making them a stronger threat? I also wonder at the timeline. Its stated the exiles started something like 50 years ago and granted that’s a long time but how did these people build all these cities and such infrastructure in a mere 50 years from such meager resources? Yes magic accounts for some of that but damn. Anyways that ridicules nitpicking but that’s usually how my mind works.
Another cluster f@*k battle at the ruins of Fort Remote
Now at this point as you continue to explore you become more aware of three “Great quests of Avernum” as the game calls them.
1 – defeat the ancient demon Grah-Hoth
2 – find and escape route from Avernum to the surface
3 – assassinate the Emperor Hawthorne
But these can be a bit tricky and confusing cause they require multiple fetch quests and searching and mini quest upon mini quest. Its made even harder to keep track of things as there’s no real quest log as in more modern games to keep track of all the side quests and there’s literally a ton of them. The only way in game to really keep track of side quests and information is in all dialog there is a little book icon and if someone says something you think is important you click it and it saves that snippet of dialog in your journal. its not a terrible method but it is cumbersome and your journal can fill quickly with lots of pages. also these pages do not indicate when the quest is completed, you must manually delete the entries. For awhile I was also a bit confused because I though escaping from Avernum and killing the emperor was one combined thing but its not. There are actually two separate ways to leave Avernum and although it makes sense now at that point it didn’t to me as I was finding separate information on what I though was one means to escape.
Tower of the fabled enchantress Erika
One enemy attack I started encountering at this point was the dumbfounding ray that sometimes…many times demons would use. It kind of acts like a silence spell and zaps your MP which can be really really annoying. I’m usually not a potion user in these kind of games either so I rarely stock up on potions but in Avernum its really to your benefit to stock up on healing and energy elixirs as well as others or better yet invest skill and money into potion making. So after exploring most of the map and generally finding all the important locals its mostly a game of running back and forth getting all the pieces you need to complete the quests. for instance to get access to the teleporter to take you to the royal castle to kill the Emperor you first need to talk to Erika. she tells you you need a royal seal and a ritual to make it past the defenses. so you need a royal seal then also you need to learn who created the magic barrier. I discovered it was the dragon Koth but to teach you he requires I get his scroll back that was stolen by the Empire. Once that’s done and you get the ritual you learn that now you need to find five brooches (I already had two) to enable accurate teleportation. All the clues are in the game so you can do it but its just a lot of steps and a lot of back tracking. For the exit quest you have recover two items stolen from the dragon Sulfras and then track down four parts of a password that various people around Avernum have. Granted the game points you in the right direction and your not left clueless or with obtuse solutions like some early 90’s point and click adventure games but it can get to a point that its like “really? more stuff?”. Your really going to need a few of the ancient relics that have been talked about in game at this point like the blade that cuts anything found in the Tower of Magi (its not a usable weapon) and the orb of flight. Things like the Demonslayer sword really help and finding its three parts isnt to hard if you have been keeping track of notes though its requires backtracking and it stumped me for a little as to where the pommel and tip were hidden.
The demon lord Grath-Hoth
The easiest of the main quests to complete is probably finding the exit from Avernum as there’s really no boss battle involved just an annoying back and forth trek through a area littered with respawning golems and impenetrable “fog of war” darkness. Its really more of a test of endurance as you trek back and forth finding wheels to turn to unlock areas when being assaulted by monsters. The trek through Grath-Hoths lair though can be frustrating if unprepared though and it took me a few tries. You really want to battle him at full strength. I had to use some strategy other then charge him since anytime I tried that I was decimated. I basically retreated to the back of the room killing the monsters there then spammed monster summons and used as much range attacks as I could to whittle him and his allies down before running in to attack him. Killing him will eliminate any remaining demon underlings.
The last Quest involves the assassination of the Emperor which is debatably harder then Grath-Hoth. It only took a few reloads for me since at this point I was prepared but it actually starts as a rush though the castle corridors fighting Imperial troops blocking the way and searching rooms for the Emperor while reinforcements are constantly spawning behind you in hot pursuit. There actually a few rooms that prompt you to rest and recharge (like found in many RPG’s in dangerous places) but if you do attempt to rest as would happen most likely in real life is your captured sleeping within the hour, interrogated and executed. After fighting up the tower I finally reached the Emperor and his guards. I died about twice in this battle and had to reload but at this point I was so powerful I had a spell Arcane Shield which you can cast on one character which makes him invulnerable a few rounds. I just kind of cast that on my main warrior, made sure everyone was hasted. I spammed major monster summoning to keep the guards distracted and just kind of maneuvered my warrior up to the Emperor and hacked him to death. After this a portal appears and you have to get your guys to it to escape.
The final confrontation.
Its pretty much an open ending. after each of the big three quests your just given a text and a nice hand drawn image that reminds me of early D&D art and given the option to keep playing as an open world ending. So now that’s its over what do I think? Well I really liked this game. I never got to easy or to hard though near the end as I became more aware of some powerful spells it may of became easier (besides I think there’s a difficulty setting). It kept me engaged the whole time and the sense of exploration and discovery in my book rivaled games like Skies of Arcadia. Its a shame some people, no offense, (graphics whore’s) will pass this game up solely on its looks. It really is a great throwback to earlier computer RPG’s and its a wonderful game that was created despite the smaller budget and amount of manpower that created it. It defiantly has its flaws if your not going to count graphics. the side quest management was to archaic for my tastes but understandable. At least there was some kind of way to keep track of things. I’m really looking forward to starting the next Avernum game and seeing where the series goes from here. I own 1-6 of the Avernum series so expect more to come.
Year: 2000
Platform: Windows
Length: (2/3)
Difficulty: (2/3)
The Grade
A
Game World – The world of Avernum is nothing short of awesome. A vast underground dungeon setting is certainly not new to the genre but the world of Avernum captured my imagination and sense of exploration as few games do and despite the dated graphics and game engine the world itself drew me in to the same level as something like fallout. The nation of Avernum is well laid out and is full of unique places, encounters and dungeons. it always felt there was places to discover and explore. Grade: A
Controls – The interface is basic but works. There are some control issues though. The mouse controls are oversensitive and I had constant issues walking places I did not want to. The issue with enemies spamming monster summons could also get very aggravating. Probably the worst aspect was the lack of any kind of quest log to keep track of all the side quests (and there are many). Grade: D+
Game play – Avernum can be a long game yet it never seemed to overstay its welcome and I was pretty sad to see it end. The game world is pretty vast and although you can get sidetracked and lost at times the game always seemed to have a general direction and flow. Difficulty could be erratic but never unfair. Grade: C
Plot – I loved the whole plot about being thrown into an underground prison realm and having to explore and find your way out. Its not completely original but it was well done and there is a definite ending satisfaction with the assassination of the emperor Grade: B
Graphics/Sound – This is a hard one because the graphics are obviously very dated yet considering its an independent release by a small studio and with what I think is a retro intention is very hard to judge. but even by the standards of a mid 1990’s PC RPG the look is dated. There really no music to speak of and the sound effects though adequate aren’t stellar. It also gets a little grating to hear the trumpet diddy every time you enter a city or town. Considering the feel and small studio I have to give the benefit of the doubt. Grade: C-
Protagonist (Main characters) – The thing that pulls this category down is the character creation. The mix of classes is nice but being limited to humans in a game like this is slightly limited but understandable. There isnt anything like alignment which one would expect from a game of this type and your characters are silent for the most part. Grade: C-
NPC, Antagnoist (main villain) – The NPC’s and characters that inhabit the world are great and many NPC’s have dialog. There’s a lot of dialog available in the game and I was constantly meeting new NPC’s and wanting to meet ones I heard rumors of (Erika). The villains are good and even though you don’t meet the emperor till the end he makes a decent villain by his deeds alone. Grade: A
Weapons/Armor/Items/Magic – Avernum is a world full of items both rare and mundane. The armor selection is pretty standard but defiantly sizable. The weapons I would say are above average with many hidden rare ones and a fairly extensive variety from swords to darts to crossbows. Magic is split into wizard and cleric and both classes have a good variety of your DnD type spells.. Grade: B
Enemies – The enemies of Avernum are a mix of the traditional and some unique creatures. everything populating the underground realm feels correct and encounters are varied. Grade: B+
Stability – had the game crash randomly on me maybe twice under Windows 7, It may have performed perfect in XP. Grade: B
Random Battles: my life long level grind 