Editor's nook...

Siege of Avalon Preview

Woo! So are you excited?!! <cue trumpet fanfare> The Release Date is upon us!

For those of you who have downloaded the game already, I guess you know more than I do, since I only played the game last Tuesday and the rate of change in these parts is rapid and apparent.

But for those of you who haven’t, think fast: do you want to read this preview? Don’t worry, I won’t give away the story. I only played 2-3 hours and believe me, that’s not long enough to know any juicy spoilers.

Say, it’s been a while since I’ve played a RPG of this type. The interface kinda assumes that you knew Diablo or something similar. You do choose which class you intend to go for: fighter, scout, or magician. Depending on your choice, your initial attributes change. Then there’s 10 training points which you can allocate as you please. After the first journal entry, you’re on your own.

Personally, I spent some time figuring out how to close doors. I guess I was afraid that the horses would get loose or dogs would come in or worse yet, monsters would come tearing through the castle, all because I forgot to close a door. Of course, when it’s all neat and tidy, I forgot which rooms I had gone into it.

I did engage in battle and I did not die ever. However, I would recommend frequently saving your game because once you die, you do not resurrect.

There’s a place where you can practice spell-casting. The spell effects (seen on the front page, if you haven’t checked it out for a while) are so cool. I found myself trying out all the different spells just to see the effects. Then, I’d have to dawdle around until my mana went up again. I never summoned a rat or a wolf, though. It must be that neatness thing, I think.

If you saw the insides of the castle, you wouldn’t want to muck it up either.

There’s a place to practice fighting and the first time I went up against my sparring partner, I had a bow and arrow, which wasn’t very effective in sparring. Next time, I had a knife and that worked out much better!

I played the preview on an older machine. No one remembered exactly how many Mhz it had, but it might have been in the 300’s. There’s a toggle to turn off shadows to speed up performance. When I did that, I didn’t perceive that much difference in the artwork.

Story-wise, the quests are pretty clear. When you accomplish one, the story will move you along to the next one. Or sometimes, there’s a choice of quests. If you shirk your duty long enough, someone will say something to push you in the right direction.

The music and sound effects come up every once in a while. I actually didn’t pay that much attention, but I’d hear horses whinnying and people fighting.

I met the chaplain and the monks and all assorted NPC’s. For the people who are interested in Contest #2, there are a lot of opportunities for other characters. In particular, people will talk about where they come from. That will give you the names of the cities in the realm.

That’s all I can think of right now. Just remember, I played a preview and not the game that’s available right now. Tell me what you think.

Have fun!

Sandelistening to Molly Half Head