(Which does not mean that I think Avernum is toilet paper)
But I've been playing for a good two days now. This is what happens with Avernum games. You get caught up in them and can't stop. I'm sure it's because it's so open-ended. You can wander where and when you will, almost, and there's always that next thing to do, unlike Avadon, which has definite chapters. Some will prefer one, some the other. I like the freedom.
It's dangerous though. It's addicting.
Stupid stuff: I'm so used to having Sschah as my second fighter that I forgot I don't need to have my second fighter doing pole weapons and javelins. There are so many good bows in this game that I finally realized I could switch Marion to bows. So I just junked my javelins or sold the good ones. What took me so long to realize that?
So! I finally made my way to the Giant lands and conquered them. I found Lost Bahssikava and retrieved the sacred answering stone. By the time I did these things I was a bit too powerful for the enemies involved, so they weren't at all difficult.
I've met with Erika, cleaned out every hostile Slith area I could find, got the Silver Circlet, got the black drake fang, met with Sulfras, slaughtered Pyrog (not that tough, for all his/her arrogance). Got Sss-Thsss and Lord Chuckles yesterday. (I kinda got lucky with Lord Chuckles--I just happened to find where he jumped both times.) After doing the Chasm Drake, the Slith Island Fort and Sss-Thsss weren't all that tough. Sss-Thsss personally does take some time to go down and he did get me once, but all I needed were some armor elixirs and after that he was a piece o' cake.
I also got the Royal Seal from the First Expedition out of the Ruined Fort. That was always my least favorite dungeon--but I waited so long to do it this time that it was a snap. Got the Orb of Thralni--which you can do with no fights, if you want. The fights weren't all that tough though, so I did 'em anyway.
Actually I've found lots of stuff from the First Expedition. I'm wondering when Jeff will do a prequel about it. That easily could make a whole game. He needs to do that, and at least one prequel about the first prisoners sent down to Avernum, when Erika, Solberg and X make the mushrooms and glowing fungi and fight the resident monsters to establish the Avernum civilization. One or two games could come out of that.
I found what I think is a new quest, this guy who's set up a whole town in the giant lands. Also there's an empire agent under Formello who seems to be working in league with King Micah--how's that? Her quests conflict with others, but I'm doing what I can. I killed her at one point, but clearly that was a no-no in the game, so I restored a saved game and brought her back to life.
I finally found the boat to the northern islands and got the Level 3 Dispel Barrier spell. Now I have to revisit almost every dungeon in the game to find level 3 barriers that I need to dispel. I haven't found the Jade Halbred yet, so I'm sure it'll be behind one of those barriers. That might be a good idea anyway, because sometimes you miss stuff. However, I really don't remember having to do that in the original game. Normally when you found a barrier, by the time you had the strength to get to that area, you could dispel it. Yeah, it's always been difficult to get Dispel Barrier in the first place, but damn, you miss stuff when it takes this long. (Truth: it's my own fault. I could have gone after the Giants much earlier than I did, and you can't get to that spell until you defeat them.)
However, I also have all five brooches to get me to Emperor Hawthorne (and back--apparently you can't get back if you don't have all five) and all four parts of the password to get me to the surface. I'll do that quest last, because you really do have the opportunity to end the game there.
I'm trying to clean up all the quests. A few more to do, then I have to get the Onyx Scepter and the Blessed Athame from the Tower of Magi, and then I'll set out to do the three major, game-ending quests.
Which I imagine will take me at least a few more days. I really do need to do things other than play Avernum.
But golly, it's been fun!
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