14 DAY TRIAL // You've played Avernum and Geneforge right? What? You didn't? Well...for your information, they're two pretty good RPGs developed by Spiderweb Software whose president Jeff Vogel recently revealed in an article on RPGVault that he actually hates fantasy RPGs and himself for making them. The article is pretty big, but everything Vogel said can be concluded in just a small piece of it:
"The first horrible thing. Fantasy role-playing games are unique among computer games in one thing: they are fundamentally about starting out weak and learning to be strong. And that learning process generally involves a lot of tedium... But the fundamental, unifying quality of pretty much all fantasy RPGs is that you start out as a puny loser, barely able to flush a toilet with both hands, and then you train and practice and work until you are a certifiable badass."
Blades of Avernum's most notable feature is a free scenario creation kit that can be downloaded and used to make adventures which one player can distribute to others. It is said to be even "too complex" in comparison to Blades of Exile, its predecessor, which used a very simple instruction list instead of a C-derivative script system. The game also allows many new possibilities using said script system, which again, wasn't available with the Blades of Exile system.
How is that a bad thing in any way? Looks pretty much like the game hits just the right spots on every level, even if it's an old 2D game for the PC. The greatest satisfaction a player gets with a fantasy RPG is exactly starting out barehanded after which achieving powers and gathering items and lute becomes the most fun part. So how did a great title such as Avernum pass beta anyway, when the very guys who developed it hate making fantasy RPGs? A bit of a hazardous statement, wouldn't you say?