Avadon the Warborn 15: Dealt with It

So! I am basically at the endgame. I had an awful thing happen yesterday. I was cleaning up all the minor quests and had slaughtered everybody in the Velusa temple and had challenged the "god" and survived, and turned in the quests and all that. But when I went to reload, the Steam app had not saved my progress.

It gave me a choice of downloading from Steam or uploading from my computer. I chose the first one, and that was the wrong choice. It opened the game but I had lost every bit of progress I had made that day.

However, I poked around on the Spiderweb forum and learned that the "Thinking Construct" quest doesn't trigger until after I do the first endgame quest for Redbeard. So that saves me lots of frustration. Also, I managed to find the solutions to two different quests I hadn't been able to find earlier. Even got some nice loot from it. And plus, when I went back tonight to slaughter the temple population I found somebody I'd missed and got a really nice item from her.

So now I really have cleared up every quest except the Thinking Construct. Tomorrow I ought to be able to finish this thing, or at least make some major progress toward that goal.

However it doesn't look as though I'm going to get to level 30 after all. I'm at 28, with a couple of my characters just crossing the line into 29. Maybe I'll make 29, but I'm kind of miffed that I won't get to 30.

Well, I never claimed to be a good player of these games. I enjoy 'em and I get through 'em, and that's enough for me.

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Avadon the Warborn 14: Cleaning Up

OK! Having visited the Spiderweb Forum for some advice, I found out that I had missed a quest in the very earliest town, Kirik-Tor. Turned out, actually, that I'd missed about three! But I got lucky and found it all right away.

Helpful hint: use the space bar to see the names of the characters. When you find somebody with a name, good chance you need to talk to them.

Of course, when you go back to the beginning of the game the monsters you face are going to go down when you just breathe on 'em. But I found a quest for getting gifts for a guy who wants to get married. Because I'd read the forum I knew what to get him. Fortunately I had a gold necklace in my junk bag and figured out that I could get a potted plant in Avadon. Had to buy a longbow, but it was worth it for the saved time.

Also there was a quest to clear out imps, and that got me into a couple of areas I couldn't access previously.

Went to the guest tower on my own and cleared out some rats, but they went down on mostly the first blow. My fire turret cleaned out most of 'em, and that was as a singleton.

Finally got Wallace's quest done too, thanks to the Forum.

So, I'm pretty much ready to start on the major quests again. Wanted to clean up all the minor stuff. I want to go back to the Beraza Woods and buy a couple of items I want. Might not quite have enough cash for 'em, but I'll get one at least. Then there's one more in Fort Foresight. But the next quests ought to score enough cash for that one too.

And after that, I'm pretty much ready to advance more in the game.

Probably won't get the chance to play again until Saturday because my sis is coming tomorrow. But, till then!

(And I will just say right now that buying this new PC laptop has been exactly what I needed! Really enjoying it! I can play comfortably with the 'puter literally on my lap!)

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Avadon the Warborn 13: Is Anything Different Here?

Humpf. I've been noticing something about this latest Spiderweb game. I'm not enjoying it as much as usual. True, I've always preferred the Avernum series to this one, but I still got a charge out of playing the first two Avadons. This one though, humpf.

The only thing I can find different is that there aren't nearly as many secret rooms in this game. I've always adored finding secret rooms, from the first Spiderweb game I played, the original Nethergate. This game started with a few, although a diminished number, but I haven't found one in a long time, and I've been looking.

So far it's just the same old same old, but without the thrill of finding the secret rooms. Same enemies, same fights, same basic storyline, same loot. Plus, we don't level up fast enough, and that puts a damper on things. Can't get to the full strength that would be so nice to reach. There just aren't enough points available.

Sure, I've had some tough battles that were challenging. The Warborn Arena fight almost did me in, but with advice I got through it. I got past the demons guarding the dragon's horde by just picking them off two at a time. Easy, if a bit tedious. I got through the librarian fight on the Svar Penninsula with some thought and that was fun, but the rest of it is just too much of the same thing all the time.

I'll finish it. I know I have to be approaching the endgame, although I still have a few major quests to do, but I'm not enjoying it as I have enjoyed these games in the past.

This one's just OK.

I wonder if Jeff indeed is burned out on making these games, and that may be coming through into the game. Or is it me? Have I finally had enough of the Spiderweb brand? I've joyously played them for 20 years or so. I'll give it another chance with the next one, no doubt.

As to this game, we'll see.

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Avadon the Warborn 12: Got out of it!

Aha! I got out of it!

I only did it because I went to the Spiderweb forum and asked for help. The ever-present and knowledgeable Randomizer instructed me on strategy and with that, I found the fights to be nicely doable.

But then I couldn't find the exit to the fort! I couldn't get out the way I got in, so I thought I'd have to go down again. Well, down is the lair of some green monster thingys and they're pretty strong. I had used up all of my wands on the upstairs fights and really didn't see how I was supposed to get through those things.

But Randomizer said those were for a later time. So I went back up and finally found the exit. Whew!

So now I'm just taking care of minor quests that had been accumulating. Redbeard has another major task, but I want to get the rest of this stuff done before I advance on that. I went back to Camp Nightshade to check in with the intelligence officer, and he sent me to a fight that was so easy it was clear that I should have done it weeks ago.

There are one or two other quests that I had difficulty with earlier. Just getting sight of Zethron's horde forces you to battle pretty strong demons. I'm now up to level 23, so I might be strong enough to do that. Think I'll try that next.

I have plenty of quests to turn in at the Black Fortress, but I have no idea how to get back there. Once I do, it's gonna be a bonanza!

So, the game progresses nicely. But sheesh, that Warborn Arena really was ridiculous!

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Avadon the Warborn 11: Can this be Defeat?

I hate to say it, but I may have just been defeated in this game.

I've been playing Spiderweb games almost since Jeff Vogel started making them. I played the original Avernum and Nethergate. I think I started when the original Avernum 2 was released, and that's a long time playing Spiderweb games.

I might not be able to finish this one.

I've done quite a lot of nice stuff. I've found a nice new possible lair for the dragon Zethron and have cleaned out the pests on Svar's peninsula. I've made a pact with the Titans and defeated the Ogres and Wretches in Goldcrag.

I defeated the enemies in the dragon's library. Now if I can ever get back to the Black Fortress, I'll have a buncha nice quests to turn in.

However.

Now I'm in the Warborn Arena and I think I might be finished.

You go into the area that you must enter, and the gate closes behind you. You cannot open it. You must get through all the fights ahead.

The first few are perfectly straightforward. I came with two tinkermages (I am playing a tinkermage) and my Blademaster. Once you get through the first routine fights you face a whole village of ogres. OK, that's fine, but this one has three, count 'em, three (3) seers who keep healing the ogres no matter what we do to them.

After consulting the Spiderweb forum, I took Randomizer's advice and went back to an earlier save and got my shadow walker instead of my tinkermage ally. My shaman is out wandering somewhere and is not available. My sorcerer is available, but she's so weak she won't survive the first two attacks.

Well, by using battle elixers and a buncha wands I managed to defeat the ogre village. OK.

The titans were next, but Zethron the friendly dragon drops in to help, so that fight was fairly easy.

I had made an alliance with the Titans, so I was able to get through that area. Without that alliance that area would have been actually impossible.

But now I'm facing wretches. Well, wretches are easy, right? Not these ones. They're led by a wretch who has stolen a bunch of grenades and he uses them. He appears to have an unlimited supply. He calls bats in to fight you as well, and with the bats and the grenades, I can't even get through the first fight. I know there are three fights.

Tomorrow I will use my potions better and that ought to help.

But I can easily see that I might not be able to get through this.

If I can't, it will be the first Spiderweb game that had defeated me.

So we'll see what happens tomorrow. I don't think I can do it.

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