More Spiderweb games...
After doing a replay of the 4 Avernum series titles on iPad (out of 6), I finally replayed the Avadon series, finishing Avadon 2 in the process (previously, I had never got past a specific boss fight). I played them when they were first released on the Mac, and picked up the iPad versions when they came out.
Nice graphics, shame about the storyline.
As in the Geneforge series, you work for a rather unpleasant organisation; herein called the Avadon who rule over the lands of The Pact. Basically, the organisation is a sort of secret police working behind the scenes to (a) keep Avadon's grip on power and (b) to keep the peace. Unfortunately, the cracks are starting to show... In all 3 games, the basic choices are:
1. Maintain the status quo staying within Avadon supporting the tyrant (or at least not actively working against him)
2. Maintain the status quo staying within Avadon assassinating the tyrant (this is actually how the leadership succession usually happens) which may weaken The Pact, depending on who takes over the leadership
3. Join the rebels and break Avadon's power, probably destroying The Pact in the process
Unlike Geneforge, there isn't the same moral choice about the created race, so in that sense there isn't the same bad taste of slavery in your mouth. However, your choices still tend to range from bad to worse; there doesn't seem to be much optimism involved. At least with the Avernum series, there's a sense of genuine heroism and hope.
The two Queen's Wish games seem to sit between Avernum and Avadon; you have the moral choices of Avadon with a more optimistic outlook in that you feel you can genuinely make a difference. Avadon doesn't seem to have that feel - the best way to act is 'kill them all, let God sort them out' on the grounds that a dead rebel is no longer a problem for Avadon. Some of the fights in Avadon are all too obviously scripted in that you literally cannot affect the outcome. Other fights you have to keep your allies alive in order to receive your reward so instead of fighting you're the battlefield medic.
Still, looking forward to the remake of Geneforge 2 which is on Kickstarter now. I think Jeff Vogel plans alternating Geneforge remakes with new Queen's Wish titles for the next few years. Sadly, he doesn't plan to revisit Avernum; 4 and 5 never got iOS ports, and 6 (although on iOS) has the original game engine and skill tree which isn't as seamless.
