RPGWatch Feature - Avadon 3 Review

Myrthos

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We were provided with access to Avadon 3, prior to it being launched and gave it to Forgottenlor, who dived into the game to come back with a detailed analysis of the game.

The Avadon games are story driven. While they allow a decent amount of exploration and character building, it's clear that they aren't as open as, for example, the Avernum series, but make up for this with their main stories and companions. Obviously if you don't like story driven RPGs (such as most RPGs by Bioware, Obsidian, or the Shadowrun games), then Avadon probably won't be your cup of tea. If, like me, you can get really caught up in a story, provided you're given a decent combat system, character building, and exploration, then you'll probably like the Avadon series. As far as The Warborn is concerned, the story is great, and probably my favourite of the Avadon series. It gradually builds tension and sucks you in. In fact I much preferred the way the narrative was built up in this game compared to the two previous games. The one thing that has to be said about The Warborn is that it is a true sequel. If you don't have prior knowledge of some of the NPCs from previous games, the events that occur and choices you'll have to make won't have quite the same impact as they do if you have played the earlier games. The price of peace and loyalty, as well as the worth of personal sacrifice drive the story forward, and you're often put between a rock and a hard place. You can die from making story based decisions (as I found out the beginning of the third chapter, though I decided to reload, decide differently and continue.) Also you'll have to like to read if you want to play these games. There is nothing voiced, and while you're never confronted with huge blocks of text, there is a significant amount of dialogue and environment description, and it's all pretty well written.
More information.
 
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Thanks Forgottenlor for doing this review.
 
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Quality review from Forgottenlor, as usual.
 
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I'm in chapter 3 now and agree completely with Forgottenlor - thanks for the review!
 
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Another great review, Forgottenlor!

Thank you! :)
 
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I'm in chapter 3 at the moment and I'm very much enjoying this game. It's more of the same Jeff Vogel, to be sure - but I love me some isometric Jeff Vogel gaming.

The character advancement/skill system is *slightly* different, and I agree with the review in that the pacing and "story" of this game seems better than the previous two Avadon games. I liked Avadon 1, had a little harder time getting into Avadon 2 and am loving this game.
 
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I tried the demo and liked it enough that I quit and started with The Black Fortress. I'll catch up to you guys sometime next year! :-/
 
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Does the game really look that primitive? I am far from a graphics whore, but this is just....
 
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Does the game really look that primitive? I am far from a graphics whore, but this is just….

We've had a looong dsiscussion about the graphics in another thread. Graphics are simple, but sharp, and I like the style.

Another thing I like with them: the games work very well on pads. So while there is a lot of garbage on that platform, Vogel's games ensure that there at least is some high quality stuff available.

Pibbur who is happy that there are different types of games with different types of graphics.
 
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I like the story and pacing so far. My big concern is that I've played a decent amount on hard level difficulty and I've never encountered a fight that was even remotely challenging. Hopefully this changes.
 
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I like the story and pacing so far. My big concern is that I've played a decent amount on hard level difficulty and I've never encountered a fight that was even remotely challenging. Hopefully this changes.

The hard level difficulty will be challenging later on, especially in boss battles.
 
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Pibbur, do you run Avadon with some kind of emulator or are they purchasable in the App store? I'm pretty sure they aren't on google play sadly (I have several android devices but dislike Apple products). I can imagine these titles being great on a pad or phone.
 
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I like the story and pacing so far. My big concern is that I've played a decent amount on hard level difficulty and I've never encountered a fight that was even remotely challenging. Hopefully this changes.

Every Spiderweb game I've played has a steep difficulty progression. I only had difficulty with one battle in chapter 2. In chapter 3 there were a few pretty brutal ones, and also in chapter 4. Personally I like more of a smooth difficulty curve, since I'm either old and learn from my mistakes slowly, or I'm experienced and don't need such an easy start. I usually switch difficulty two thirds of the way in(to a Spiderweb game), but you seem more skilled in battle than I am :)
 
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Does the game really look that primitive? I am far from a graphics whore, but this is just….

In short, yes. And they look better than his older games did. But Avadon:The Black Fortress was the first game of his I played, partially because the older games had graphics which scared me off. Now I'm used to them and they don't bother me anymore. I think it would be a shame to not have played Geneforge (my favourite Spiderweb game), because of the graphics. Nevertheless, I understand. There are games which I'll never give a chance, because I find their art style so off putting. The recent Champions of Anteria is one example.
 
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Great review, thanks Forgottenlor. It manages to build my anticipation to play it very well indeed. :)

Just a question of clarification: I'm curious to know more (yet are wary of spoilers of course) on the subject of making story-based choices that result in death.

Is this similar to say in Avernum: Escape from the Pit where if you went down the wrong corridor near the last fight you were essentially a goner? :)
Or are these deaths just used to signpost that you've simply made a bad choice and need to reload? Also, any estimates on the amount of these situations that you experienced?
 
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Great review, thanks Forgottenlor. It manages to build my anticipation to play it very well indeed. :)

Just a question of clarification: I'm curious to know more (yet are wary of spoilers of course) on the subject of making story-based choices that result in death.

Is this similar to say in Avernum: Escape from the Pit where if you went down the wrong corridor near the last fight you were essentially a goner? :)
Or are these deaths just used to signpost that you've simply made a bad choice and need to reload? Also, any estimates on the amount of these situations that you experienced?

Well, I died once in the story from my choice, and reloading and choosing differently was no problem as it occurred shortly after an auto-save.
 
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