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Geneforge

13 (29.5%)

Avernum

12 (27.3%)

Exile

14 (31.8%)

Nethergate

3 (6.8%)

Avadon

2 (4.5%)

Total Members Voted: 43

[Aklyon]

I wish I still lived near my friend who had Avernum, you guys are making me want to play it and I can't buy it atm.

[MrWiggles]

Ambrosia Software was another good company.

Was? Ambrosia is still alive and well.

They haven't released a major game in a bit, but they were never a game company. However, they've been pretty awesome with teaming up with Introvision and porting their title to the mac. I'm hoping they'll be doing the same for Subversion.

Also, any fans of Ascii Sector, should play Escape Velocity: Nova. To put it simply, a superior Ascii Sector in most respects. Especially for the combat aspect. Though it is not free.

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/ But well worth the 30 dollar price tag.

[loose nut]

Avernum harder? Because you cannot grind your way to power? That's an interesting pov.

Exile games are RPGs. That's what you do. You have a mission to save the world, your first priority is to immediately turn left and look in that cave over there for something shiny. Anyway you don't have to, like, grind through random encounters to gain levels or anything like that, they aren't that bad.

You make it sound like Exile games are as cruel as Fallout games are, where you peek around the wrong corner and a super mutant turns you into chorizo with his minigun. Exile games don't level-track you but they aren't total quicksave-backup-death-grinders either.

EV:Nova is also an excellent game.

[breadbocks]

Geneforge rocked. I've not played any others, though.

[RF]

Avadon is finally out for Windows, by the way.

[Haspen]

Avadon is finally out for Windows, by the way.

Gotta at least try it. The times of Avernum 3 are far gone, though...

[Caz]

Geneforge and Exile are amazing. Not as fond of Avernum, though they're still good.

Been trying out the demo of Avadon, but honestly it seems a little boring.

[Twerty]

Avernum 3 for some reason seemed to be the only one that drew me in, I really don't like that all of the games take place in a giant cave. It just feels very boring and unvaried. Avernum 3 still had Upper Avernum, but because the majority of the game didn't take place there, the fact that you could/must return there throughout the game make it that much more interesting.

I love all of Jeff Vogel's games, but none of them really seemed to catch my interest quite like Avernum 3 did.

[RF]

Avadon is what happens when you get Dragon Age (2) into your horrible Geneforge / Avernum mix.

And that's never a good thing.

[Vucar Fikodastesh]

The caves were easily my favorite part of the Avernum/Exile series. There was always an ever present feeling that you were delving deep into ancient mysteries, and seeing sights that mortal eyes hadn't seen for millenia. Uncovering ancient horrors was pretty much par for the course.

I own all of the Avernum games, easily one of the best purchases I ever made. I've played most of the Exile games in trial mode, but I prefer the Avernum series.

I'd probably rank the series 2, 3, 1, 6, 5, 4, in order of most to least favorite.

The 'Geneforge-ness' of the second trilogy puts me off a little, as well, and there's a reason that 4 is at the bottom of my list. But, 5 is quite decent; you have a whole new network of caves to explore, and more deep, ancient horrors makes me a happy guy. 6 was an excellent game in its own right, easily worth the money. It isn't Avernum 2 good, but Jeff's excellent writing and storytelling really shine in 6.

FWIW, my biggest pet peeve about the second trilogy's engine is the lack of world map. The fact that the Great Cave seemingly measures a few thousand feet wide just trivializes much of the series wonder for me. I've always enjoyed imagining the massive size of the Great Cave and the Eastern Gallery, and the second trilogy, especially Avernum 4, made it look more like a few holes someone's backyard. Nevermind the fact that there, seemingly, are only a few hundred people living in all of Avernum, and 95% of them are only there for you to kill.

I don't know how many people here know this, but Jeff released the Blades of Exile source a few years ago. You can download full versions from the Google Code page, and there are lots of fun downloaded adventures on the forum.

[Pnx]

What I'm about to say is based on my experiences with the first trilogy of exile and avernum, both of which I played. And geneforge.
It increasingly feels like he's not even trying anymore, and I'm not just talking about the rampant reuse of graphics. Avadon doesn't innovate from the previous games, the setting isn't very interesting. He tried to create a world of grey moralities, but it just makes the game duller. The characters aren't all that interesting. He tried to implement a bioware-esque companion system, which doesn't work out terribly well. The loot bag thing is... Well I suppose it saves time, but just grabbing anything with value and shoving it in your sack is... rather dull, it takes out some of the fun of sorting out loot.

There's a few plot holes too, how the only way to be goody-two-shoes is to take everyone's money while they complain that you're bankrupting them. You act the same no matter your class, and have the knowledge of a country bumpkin, despite the fact that you're supposed to have been heavily trained and educated expressly to be a hand. It's now impossible to anger or attack people unless it's specifically part of the plot. Then there's the combat.

So the biggest gripe I had with avernum 4 was the endless parade of single enemies that you had to go into combat, move your guys one by one, to then take attack it once or twice and kill it. Over, and over, and over again. This game follows the exact same formula. At least in the previous titles I could just walk around in party mode and whack the single enemies with my lead character. In geneforge there was a fun, distinct experience in trying to build up the right creations, you'd have to go out of your way to find them, then figure out which ones you wanted.

Then there's exploration, from geneforge 3 upwards there was very little to explore, and most of it was completely uninteresting. There's no nooks and crannies to root through and discover backstory, with interesting puzzles and characters. Instead it's just an endless series of "go kill this" quests.
Avadon is just a really bland and uninteresting game.

[Yodamaster]

Geneforge is one amazing series, I didn't like Avernum at all and I have great memories of Exile.

I've tried Avadon and just can't get into it. It's just not fun for me. The story isn't very inspiring and the combat is very dull. It's extremely linear now. Geneforge at least had variety, and mysteries and stuff, and the interesting summoning mechanic. I just don't care about the Avadon world like I did the Geneforge one.

[RF]

I don't think ANYONE likes the newest Avernum games / Avadon.

Jeff doesn't seem to understand this, though.

[PrimusRibbus]

I don't think ANYONE likes the newest Avernum games / Avadon.

Jeff doesn't seem to understand this, though.

I know plenty of people that liked the recent Avernum games; however they were NOT people who started on Exile.

I started on Exile: Escape From the Pit (the Exile series, Nethergate, and early Avernum games being some of my favorite CRPGs) but haven't really enjoyed a new Spidweb game in years.

[elci]

Still have not played geneforge series, but Avadon is pretty neat. I even started doing let's play videos, leave any criticism you have here or in the comments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdebkPh5QCM