Review Submitted By: Matt
Author Status: Player
Started on Avalon: The First Age: 2000
Submission Date: Aug 7, 2005
TMC Listing: Avalon: The First Age
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Matt]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
I first played Avalon Legends some 5 years ago, and after a long
break recently decided to give Avalon First Age a try. Here I'll
briefly cover the experience of creating a new character, and then go
on to mention some of the features that I feel make Avalon a unique
and enjoyable mud.
There is no character creation beyond choosing a name, password and
gender so there is no race to choose or stats to roll. Your character
will randomly start in one of three cities about the land where there
is an automated introduction involving several simple quests which
will teach you basic commands, navigation, and introduce the Avalon
skill system. You can skip the intro if you wish, but it's quite fun
and doesn't take too long. Once you complete the novice introduction
your character should join a guild. By joining a guild you gain some
specialist skills and are effectively choosing your character's class
or profession. Guilds and cities are player run organisations, with
leaders elected by the members.
The first thing that strikes you upon playing Avalon is how
wonderfully detailed and well written the locations are. The land of
Avalon is not a collection of diverse areas, as in many other muds,
but is a seamless landscape that has been designed with a coherent
theme and history. Throughout the lands are many quests that can be
completed, ranging from simple fetch an item and exchange for gold
through to complex multi stage group quests. As well as providing
experience or gold as rewards, many of the larger scale quests also
have an effect on the lands by aiding or hindering certain guilds or
cities. This element of player conflict runs throughout every facet of
Avalon's gameplay.
For many players the biggest attraction of Avalon The First Age is
the player combat system. There is no automated combat, instead you
choose from literally hundreds of attacks, defences and counters in a
dynamic system which rewards player skill. Success in combat requires
quick thinking, a cool head, and a detailed knowledge of your
character's skills. Most people use some kind of mud client software
in order to help with triggers, aliases etc during combat, but I
should point out that unlike some of its imitators, Avalon's combat
system cannot be automated or botted to any great degree. As well as
player combat, there is also a military system involving large scale
troop warfare.
Another unique aspect of Avalon is the character skill system. Each
character has 10 general skills, and then 4 or 5 specialist guild
skills. Each skill contains around 30 different abilities which you
gain access to as your proficiency in the skill increases. As well as
many unique skills, each character can make use of magical items,
potions, herbs and poisons.
All equipment is player crafted, there are no loot drops or special
treasure. For example, knights can forge a wide variety of weapons and
armour, rangers can pick herbs and poisons, and alchemists can make
potions and magical items. More mundane items such as clothing, food
and backpacks can be made in city stores by members of the Barony
using raw materials from villages around the land.
Avalon The First Age is a land centred on player conflict where you
will quickly make firm friends and bitter enemies. The world is richly
detailed and offers probably the most exciting player combat system of
any mud. You can choose to become a mighty warrior, a rich merchant, a
learned scholar or a great leader.
