My only complaint with combat is that it isn't uncommon for you to accidentally target the wrong enemy, though this rarely has catastrophic consequences (it might on the higher difficulties, though). There is a wide variety of enemies for you to fight and the fight against regular enemies is interspersed with challenging and engaging pseudo-boss-battles. Combat is a simple turn-based affair and is also very enjoyable. As with any RPG worth it's salt, you can customise the skills and abilities of all of your characters, and there is much scope for creating several diversely different characters. In Avernum: Escape From the Pit, you control a party of four people (less if you want). The most important aspect of any game, and where this one truly excels. My only complaint is that the caves of Avernum seem a bit too brightly lit, but it's nothing jarring.

Despite the nostalgic appeal of Exile's old sprites, I can't deny that these new graphics are far superior, An isometric view of the world of Avernum is so much more pleasant and flexible than the old 2d sort-of-top-down view (in fairness to the original Avernum, it introduced this) and far, far nicer than the old Avernum's graphics.

I'll now break this review into the different aspects of the game. Avernum: Escape From the Pit, surpasses the original in every way. This was a shame, as the new engine 'Avernum' was built on ironed out most of the small problems present in the original. I also played the remake and, whilst I enjoyed it for a while, it just wasn't as fun as Exile and I never finished it. Alright, so there were a lot of things wrong with it, but I loved it. I played the original incarnation and I loved it. It started life in (I think) 1995 as 'Exile: Escape From the Pit. It This game is in the interesting position of being a remake of a remake.

Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition ($9.This game is in the interesting position of being a remake of a remake.

Once again, thanks for listening!ĭirect Link: RPGReloadPodcast-002.mp3, 80.4MB It’s a wonderful little remix of the Dragon Quest theme song. The music in this episode of the podcast is once again courtesy of OCRemix, titled “ /Overture Variations/“, from Remixer Patrick Waters. Oh, and we’re still hunting for a theme song, so if you can help us out, please let me know via one of the regular channels. Also, it’s not in weird stereo-vision this time around, so while it has lost something in terms of immersion, it has gained considerably in being less annoying to listen to. I tried to level out the sound a bit to compensate for my booming pipes versus Eric’s slightly soft-spoken nature. I’m still getting the hang of the editing stuff, but I think this one is a little bit better. Lots of good stuff to keep you occupied while you’re grinding out levels in whatever RPG you’re playing at the moment! There’s some discussion about the controversial issue of updates to older games, a little bit about review scores, some Dragon Quest talk, some Final Fantasy: Record Keeper talk, and even a little of me shaking my fist at the burdens of my Kemco-entwined fate. We talk about a whole lot of other stuff in addition to Avernum, with no less than two complete tangents onto topics barely related to RPGs. Oh well, it just means I get to enjoy the games freshly now! I think I was in the middle of a Final Fantasy 6 ($14.99)/ Chrono Trigger ($9.99) sandwich when that developer got their start, which explains how I missed them.

My co-host Eric Ford relates his history with the game to compensate for my being almost completely new to it, and it turns out he goes back pretty far as a player with developer Spiderweb Software. It’s a really interesting open-world RPG done in a classic style which is oddly coming back into vogue of late. However, better late than never, and this time around, our main topic is Avernum: Escape From The Pit ($9.99), which I covered in my RPG Reload column two weeks ago. Normally, the RPG Reload Pocast will go up on the first Monday of each month, but with GDC that didn’t quite pan out. I hope you enjoyed the magical and mysterious GDC week last week.

Avernum 6 ending