Exile III: Ruined World Review - The Predecessor to the Avernum RPGs for Mac & Windows from 1997

[@Kizunaut]

One of my all time favorite games, I remember how magical it felt as a kid.

[@NadavMerom]

Yep totally magical. Same for Exile 2, the shareware version

[@planescaped]

This game, Beyond Oasis, Secret of Evermore, and Valley of the Eternal Sun are my earliest video game memories. Also those damn Indiana Jones and Star Wars top down randomly generated adventure games too!

[@quatrendo4544]

are you people retarded? it was the worst game ever

[@TarksGauntlet]

Been looking for this for a while. Played it way back on PC off one of those "100 in 1" demo discs. Those introduced me to a lot of awesome titles back then.

[@VillainViran]

Knuddle's Quest

[@slanderoid.mp4]

I remember being a kid and playing the demo for Exile 2 over and over for hours until I understood the mechanics and was able to reach the end. Thanks for this video - I'm thinking it's time to revisit this series after all these years!

[@NadavMerom]

Same here! The shareware Exile 2 was magical! The full version was... a bit too big.

[@NadavMerom]

@Oliver Eales Lol, flet like a mage in real life ha? I remember myself altering some the the BMP file (the monsters graphics), it was great fun!

[@NadavMerom]

@Oliver Eales I would love to get my hands on those BMP files (Exile 3 also), I can't even install the original games on my PC!

[@HallyVee]

Magical discovery from the past out of nowhere gives +1 Mood for the day!

[@goblet001]

I remember loving this game, but never really getting anywhere. I played it a lot on our family MAC, but being like 10-12 years old and from a non-english speaking country it was very hard to understand and I didn't get very far. I still loved rolling up my characters and playing, looking up words in the dictionary. Some of those sound effects gives me flashbacks.

[@Nick-hz7zo]

Exiled 3 is the game we so desperately need a port/rerelease of

[@Supremerob20]

One of my all-time favourite games. I have such fond memories as a child playing this and Exile 2 with my older brother. I was so immersed in it.

[@arturom31]

I really wish this and blades of exile were on Steam. People love pixelart games. I just know than this would be a great success. And Blades of Exile would have even more success, simply because you can make your own maps and adventures.

[@orelas167]

Never played Exile or owned a Mac, but the absurdly fast speed clip takes me back.

[@ExtremeMusicPromotion]

loved these games as a kid. me and a friend used to edit the .bmp files and change what the monsters looked like

[@ogdenville]

This is the game that made me fall in love with RPG's. Great review!

[@NadavMerom]

Word

[@TheEarPlugs]

Great review! I'm so excited to play Avernum 3 Ruined World.

[@Opuchki]

Would love to find a soundboard for any of the Exile games.

[@NadavMerom]

Same here

[@dracolithe4450]

I spent so many hours in to this in my youth.

[@Boneripper16]

Love these games

[@lordpalandus11]

So I'm a huge latecomer so apologies on the necro. Exile 3 was and is my favorite of Jeff Vogel's games (having played all the geneforges, avadons, nethergates, avernum 1-6, and then the new avernum 1-6), narrowly beating out Blades of Exile. 5 things, I'd say Exile 3 did better than Avernum 3 are: 1. I completed all of Exile 3 without using cheating once. I had to cheat several times in Avernum 3. Mostly because fights would slog on, because enemies are huge damage sponges in Avernum 3. 2. The wandering merchants could give you some of the best items in the game if you were lucky. And prices were really reasonable and selling stuff netted you 50% of its value. While in Avernum, it was rare to find prices at base value (never less) and more often higher. You'd sell at 25% of the items value, but if you got that special skill, you'd be able to increase it to 40%. 3. Secret areas were better telegraphed in Exile, while in Avernum you often had to hunt for a tiny button on a wall, and then figure out what opened with that button. In Exile, you simply humped every wall until you found a secret. 4. More variety and power to spellcasting. Sure there was a lot of garbage, but there was a lot of cool effects that I've not seen since in Jeff Vogel games. I loved to decimate a lategame town with a blast of quickfire, and then hide behind barriers, while I waited for the town to die off. Can't do that in Avernum, and in fact must find specific items to produce quickfire. 5. When you combined strong melee skills and gear, with powerful blessings, and poisons, you were a total badass. I never really felt that way in Avernum. In exile, good preparation and usage of resources made you feel like 200% of normal capabilities, while doing the same in Avernum, only made me feel like I was operating at 100%, and without them at 25%. Not to say that Avernum didn't improve on lot on controls, dialogues, UI, and worldbuilding, but Exile's gameplay was better. Just wish the remake mentioned here played better (avernum 3 remaster 2)

[@sprayk2668]

Very well said, 100% agreed

[@FlameOfGodith]

Exile was a little before my time, but I grew up with the Avernum and Geneforge series. They undoubtedly shaped how I approach and play RPGs for better or worse ^_^” Still love them to this day though.

[@1234a-j3x]

You're supposed to charm that acolyte .

[@SunshysContentRanch]

I'd love to see more of these reviews.

[@ReignTracer]

If you charm the dark acolyte in that house, you can talk to him and he'll say that his eyesight is poor, that is why he attacked you. Also have you met the monks that attack with "feisty slaps of pain" yet?

[@YesterYearsMacGames]

Well now I feel bad for killing him :P I dont think I met them, that sounds hilarious

[@ReignTracer]

I think around the islands of bigail, you will need to take a ship, i underestimated them since the dialogue sounded funny but they attack i think 4 to 6 times in a row, only my fighter survived

[@JD..........]

It’s so cool how you can attack, fail to finish the enemy, retreat whole heartedly, heal, attack again, and repeat...

[@CST1992]

@@ReignTracer That is one of the artifact quests, and can be reached from Storm Port I think. That is southeast of Sharimik.

[@Huckabeast22]

Yyyuup, I had the trilogy and Blades of Exile. Great games

[@GreetingsField]

I gotta say, I don't much like the modern Avernum games as much as the original Exile. Yeah, there's some usability improvements but I like having lots of stodgy spells, makes me feel like I'm playing a tabletop game. There's stats in Exile, I feel like my characters have a more strongly codified build. The best part of Exile though is it's aesthetic and it's vibe. I like the tight, claustrophobic camera, the darkness of dungeons, and the vibrant and unique sprites. Goblins in Exile have this bright bug eyes and they are stuck in my childbrain. Now they look like just... green people.

[@IronOverlord]

Exile III was one of the first games I ever played. Still love it to this day. I enjoyed the first Avernum remake quite a bit as well. I'm working my way through the second remake, Avernum III: Ruined World, and honestly, I'm not liking it that much. There's just something so off in the interface for me and I can't put my finger on it. Oh well, to each his own. I'm glad you enjoyed playing the game. Oh, and the evil acolyte in Bolton actually has dialogue. You just had to cast a charm spell on him first. I always assumed that was a bug.

[@OhioDan]

The lack of horses is pretty disappointing.

[@JD..........]

Pretty identical perceptions here. Was in awe of the first game and now I’m not so into the remake. I’ll give it some patience... but I’ll try to replay the original thanks to this review and others.

[@CanadianZangief]

Loved these as a kid!

[@Dracomut]

I'll stick with the remakes, but that original version does have a certain charm to it despite its many shortcomings.

[@McHermit1]

Really great video for a really great game. I dig the music in the video. Can I get a link to it, please?

[@SorelyFrigid]

Its so sad remakes arent as good as original cult classic. I will never forget sounds. My favourite is vapour rat spell cast.

[@JD..........]

The death sounds were so hilarious 😆 especially when you hit 4 or 5 w a fireball

[@LeafyNebula]

Man this game was great when I was 12. The fun and adventure the role playing experience with npcs. I use to like to go in towns and rp in the inns. Talk to diffnpcs see what they knew. Might buy a room for the night and sneak into someone else room to rob their stuff. Just fun man fun fun

[@DoCKathos]

Aw man I remember playing 1 of the Exile games from 1 of the many demo disks I had. I never had a fucking clue what I was doing and I died all the time but it was great! I should pick one of these up off GoG.

[@planescaped]

I tried playing Exile so much as a child. Try being the operative word... :P

[@Gomezli16]

I had fever dreams about this.

[@icysaracen3054]

This had so much potential to be a first person RPG, but I suppose people would have called it an Elders Scroll rip off

[@dragonxan1078]

Hi! I want to play this game but I can't get it working. I have Windows 10 64-bit pro but I've been trying to get it working. Can you please help me on how to get this working?

[@diji5071]

32bit framework simulator/or emulator.

[@standman-ft7zo]

DXWnd may help.

[@gangstalkerofgangstalkers]

Yeah what do you want?

[@Vednier]

Actually, remake from 2018 is NOT gen 3 version. Its Gen 4. Exile 1-3 used first version of engine. Avernum 1-3 used gen 2 engine, Avernum 4-6 was Gen 3 (quite similar to newest games) and starting with Avadon Gen 4 was created.

[@Thaleron66]

oh the nostalgia :)

[@SteppingRazor762]

The hostiles moving super fast is normal but it does seem very strange lol

[@TowerBooks3192]

How in the world do you run this on PC? I downloaded one with dosbox that is ready to use but the screen has black borders and I can't didplay the game and the whole map like this.

[@YesterYearsMacGames]

Im guessing that the black boarders are due to the game's fixes resolution. What your seeing in the background of the two windows is my old Mac's desktop which I suppose dosbox can't do. If you could get an emulated instance of Windows 95 or 3.1 going, you may be able to have the map sat to the side but unfortunately I cant say that its definately possible as Ive not tried it. If however you fancy emulating an old Mac with Basilisk II or SheepShaver, you can definately do it like I am here.

[@TowerBooks3192]

YesterYear's MacGames I am actually happy about the dosbox version save for the derpy keyboard not working at times needing to restart the game. The map being not on screen at all times really bothers me.Other than that I might try to emulate an OS and fire it up then. Unfortunately I don't have a clue how to go about doing that. I am currently waiting for my brother to figure stuff out since he is usually the one who mess around with vmwares and the like on PCs and Macs. As much as I am loving the 2nd and 3rd remake, I wanna experience it in all its glory.

[@Gomezli16]

I remember playing a game like this with grey alien characters.

[@graciedanielson]

I think that was exile 2 crystal souls or something like that? I had that one too.

[@Withmusic0414]

This is Rpg Legend.

[@Venatius]

Never played this one, but I'm more than a bit reminded of Realmz. Cut from the same cloth, I suppose!

[@robertreckeweg8533]

For me it was the other way around, the newer ones felt more immersive, probably because I played through those first before tackling exile.

[@jaredm1162]

how do you get the game on windows 10??

[@shawnfoster3023]

run windows xp in a virtual machine

[@NappyLocsKing]

This the one i used to play

[@HoopleBogart]

I love the Exile series, but I can't stand how the remakes look. Bring back the old school graphics!

[@kit10]

Omg I finally found it again. I played it as a kid in the mid 2000s on my grandmas pc. My uncle had put it on. I loved it especially the nephilim because duh I'm a cat girl lol 😆

[@orphandjones8193]

UwU we love cat girls 🐻

[@megamike15]

i think when it comes to the three version i kinda prefer the first remake. the newer remake takes away to much. and exile 3 has issues on modern windows. so avernum 3 is a nice middle ground it aged better then exile 3 but is not as stream lined as the new remake.

[@JD..........]

megamike15 Appreciate the thought dude.

[@BelovedOfFreya]

I love the Exile series, never liked the remakes though.

[@changl84]

I learned the word "troglodyte" from this game as a kid, good memories

[@TheDiazDarkness]

I like the newer versions, but this one and the first remakes have something the new ones don't

[@Menzu1]

Exile 3 is WAY better then Avernum 3. In exile u can get into massive fights 6 vs 20+ enemies. But in Avernum you normally only fight 6 or less mobs. It takes all the fun out of it

[@patrickrobinson545]

i like having 6 characters!