Finished Avernum 5

Last evening, I finished Avernum 5, the middle game in the second Avernum trilogy. It was a two month affair, just as Avernum 4 was last year. I could be wrong but Avernum 5 seemed larger and longer than its ample-sized predecessor. In addition to the main story line, I completed many of the side quests. With so much content, however, I had to forgo some of the quests.

In Avernum 5, your characters are members of the Empire. After an attempt was made to assassinate Empress Prazac, you are sent down into Avernum to track down Dorikas, the traitor responsible. As you might imagine, this was a long and arduous task. You travel across many lands in Northern Avernum and the Northern Frontier before reaching the final showdown with Dorikas. As members of the Empire on the surface world, I decided to create a party of all humans. My characters were Tirion the soldier, Ollin the scout, Lunas the priest, and Darisis the Sorcerer. By the end of the game, all had reached level 33.

Overall, the game engine and game mechanics were very similar to Avernum 4. There were a few improvements, however. There were hotkeys for targeting enemies, which came in handy. Encumbrance was reworked in a way that was less realistic but more forgiving. Items only counted against a character’s encumbrance when they were equipped. I look forward to completing the second Avernum trilogy, probably sometime next year. Before I do that, I need to play the last game in Spiderweb Software’s Geneforge Saga.