Avadon: The Black Fortress Preview
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As with all Spiderweb games everything is in real time except for when you enter combat mode at which point it goes turn-based. You have so many action points per character to move, attack, cast a spell, heal and so on. Anyone familiar with a Spiderweb adventure will be instantly at home with the mechanics here. There's a new nifty combat grid around each character (or the whole area if you want it to be) which highlights them on the map. If an enemy is within that space and engaging a member of your team, they can't run away. I thought it was a realistic touch, and adds another layer of strategy. You can't just keep running away, once you get up close, you are committed to the fight. I thought this might be a problem for my fragile Sorceress, but her shield charm and my character's taunt ability kept her alive and well.
Also on display is a whole host of new weapons, skills and spells. The character screen is a treat to look at, with higher level abilities teasing you further up the tree. Each skill or spell gets more effective per rank, and gains an additional effect every several ranks, which makes them worth leveling up (reminds me of Mass Effect again, also a good thing). It remains to be seen what kind of level you reach by the end of the game, but each skill tree has three branches with active and passive skills. Each ability or spell has a tantalizing description, which is just begging to be tried out once you have the requisite level and points available.
