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The artifacts (SPOILERS)


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EDIT: Final (?) draft

 

The eight artifacts are great things, but several of them compete for scarce ingredients, so you have a few choices to make about which ones to forge first. To choose you need to consider not only what the various artifacts do, but also how hard it is to get their ingredients. One artifact may be better than another in itself, for your particular character, but have a prohibitive opportunity cost, in that making it will prevent you from making an even more important artifact.

 

The major ingredients and their locations (third draft, needs a bit more correction):

 

On Greenwood:

Blood Poison: dropped by the venemous artila in the caves under Kentia South Gate on Greenwood.

 

On Harmony:

Crystalline Fibers (1): Krya's Refuge (crypt under West Dock)

Solidified Flame (1): storeroom in San Ru Tunnels.

 

On Dhonal's:

Crystalline Fibers (2): lying unguarded just inside Purification Plant south door!

Deep Crystal: in the Inner Purification Plant, golem-guarded storeroom

Deep Focus Orb (1): in Spharon's back room

Purified Essence (1): Darkstone Core, SW corner.

Unmelting Ice: NE entry area of Creator's Hall, unguarded

 

On Gull:

Demon Claws (1): Khyryk's Tower, in a back room.

Pure Crystal Shard: Khor's Deep, Hoge's bedroom

 

On Spears:

Drakon Skin (1): Orois Blaze, Breeding Valley

Drakon Skin (2): vatbrood Drakon, Forest of Spires

Demon claw (2): Benerii-Eo, demon-golem NE corner.

 

In Monastery of Tears:

Solidified Flame (2): Firewind Wyrm drops it, NE corner

 

In Monastery Caves:

Purified Essence (2): Ratlord Eye drops it

Crystalline Fibers (3): In Ratlord Eye's cabinet

Deep Focus Orb (2): Alpha Creator drops it

Drakon Skin (3): Radiant Ur-Drakon in NE corner

 

What objects you can make when (assuming you find enough Demon's Bile for the elixirs!)

 

On Dhonal's Isle you can make:

Creator's Belt OR Crystalline Shroud as soon as you finish off Spharon;

Essence Aegis as soon as you finish Darkstone Core (if you are willing to postpone the Infiltrator's Ring to near the end of the game);

All-Protector, when you have gotten to the Creator's Hall through the Searing Chamber.

 

On Gull you can make:

the Emerald Chestguard (if you postpone Avenger's Ring from near end of game to very near end);

the Infiltrator's Ring (if you held off making the Essence Aegis);

 

On Spears you can make:

the Lightning Girdle;

the Avenger's Ring.

 

After pulling stuff out of the Monastery Caves you can make anything. You can also make a second Essence Aegis, which you should wrap up carefully and leave in town, so that it doesn't get all scratched up the way your first one surely will have by that point. Then you can polish it nicely and carry it in your victory parade, looking very sharp for the cameras.

 

In what order should you make the artifacts?

 

The game's biggest artifact choice is between the Creator's Belt and the Crystalline Shroud, because the second Deep Focus Orb is guarded by the worst monster in the whole game, deep in the Monastery Caves. So either one of the Creator's Belt and the Crystalline Shroud can be your very first artifact, and will make a big difference in your game; but then the other will pretty much have to be your very last, and won't really make any difference at all. Choose carefully! Agents and offensive Guardians should take the Shroud, Shapers and defensive/creation-making Guardians the Belt.

 

Making the Essence Aegis uses up your Purified Essence, which will force you to postpone making the Infiltrator's Ring from Gull Island until very late in the game, after you get into the Monastery Caves and beat Ratlord Eye. There are enough Tinker and Infiltrator items in the game that this is probably just a matter of personal taste. Even a melee Guardian may want to have an Essence Aegis in the wardrobe, so they can equip it at the start of a tough zone to get better Augmentation, Essence Shield, etc., or to raise Energy high enough to cast Speed. On the other hand the Infiltrator's Ring is a lot easier to carry around all the time, for a convenient Mech boost whenever you need it in the game.

 

There is probably no reason not to make the All-Protector as soon as you can on Dhonal. The only case I can see is if you really want the Lightning Girdle as soon as possible, and feel able to take out Orois Blaze or the Forest of Spires vat-drayks before you think you can make it in the Monastery of Tears. I generally try to clear the Monastery before the Isle of Spears, so I make the All-Protector on Dhonal, knowing I'll get my second Solidified Flame before I get my first Drakon Skin anyway.

 

It seems likely that everyone should go ahead and build the Emerald Chestguard as soon as they get the Demon Claw. The Avenger's Ring is great, but the characters who will benefit most from it will benefit even more from the Emerald Chestguard -- even if they already have the Crystalline Shroud for its +2AP -- and they will enjoy this benefit nearly a whole island sooner. The only uncertainty I have about this is that +4 QA might make a surprisingly big difference to some characters. My characters always have high Quick Action throughout the game anyway, so it is never that big a deal for me to get a bunch more.

 

The only other real conflict is over the Drakon Skin for the Lightning Girdle or the Avenger's Ring. A loyalist has no problem because two Drakon Skins are available near the beginning of the Isle of Spears, but a rebel can only get one of these without angering Icy End. The Lightning Girdle is probably a better item, though again +4QA might possibly make a surprisingly big difference, depending on what your Quick Action already was.

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They are scattered throughout the game. Some people tell them to you (e.g. Hawthorne). Most of them you find written in old books. Or you can just look at the hint book, or at the old topic posted by Drakefyre in this forum some time back.

 

If you're looking here I expect you don't mind a spoiler, so:

 

Recipe for a Geneforge 3 Artifact.

1 cup Demon Bile

1 cup Mandrake Tincture

1 shaped belt/shield/plate OR 1 platinum ring

2 rare special items

 

First, combine the two liquids on an enchanted forge. Mix well to produce one pint of Purifying Elixir. Then combine that with the equipment item, to produce a Perfected Belt/Shield/Plate/Ring. Finally combine the Perfected item with the right pair of special items, and you have made yourself an artifact. Serves one.

 

The pairs of special items, for the eight artifacts:

Creator's Belt: Blood Poison and Deep Focus Orb

Lightning Girdle: Solidified Flame and Perfect Drakon Skin

Crystalline Shroud (it's armor): Crystal Fibers and Deep Focus Orb

Emerald Chestguard: Deep Crystal and Demon Claw

Essence Aegis (a shield): Crystal Fibers and Purified Essence

All-Protector (a shield): Solidified Flame and Unmelting Ice

Avenger's Ring: Demon Claw and Perfect Drakon Skin

Infiltrator's Ring: Pure Crystal Shard and Purified Essence

 

Guten Appetit.

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You can enhance both armors and both belts, but for some reason not the shields. I think you can enhance the two rings, but I'm not sure. Golden crystals are rated the best enhancement by the marketplace, though for melee Guardians a Reviving Crystal on your sword is too good to pass up, and a lot of Steel Spines on your other gear are excellent automated payback.

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The Reviving Crystal, btw, is probably the best weapon enhancement for any character, since none of the others are defensive, and the extra damage from the other enhancements will likely make little difference for a character who hasn't put many points into sword skills.

 

Incidentally, has anyone experimented with the elemental blades (well, the Acid and Ice ones, since the Fire one didn't get tagged with the fire effect, presumably a bug)? Are they very effective, and at all worth considering over the Guardian Claymore?

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The Oozing Blade is quite a bit better than the Claymore against golems and Drakons, and it seems to be fine against Gazers, Drayks and Glaahks. It is awful against Rotghroths.

 

The Frozen Blade doesn't seem to be that great for damage, though it has a nice slowing effect and a cool sound effect. I gave up on it quickly, though.

 

The Puresteel Soulblade is pretty good, but my tests weren't that extensive because by the time I got it there wasn't much left to fight.

 

The Oozing Blade is most definitely worth keeping for a melee Guardian. Pack it along with the Claymore -- it's worth switching back and forth. I doubt any of the other weapons in the game are important competitors for those two.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I revive this topic to settle it. The first post has been edited into what I think is the final version.

 

I do not believe there are three Purified Essences in the game, despite a few people claiming that there are. I haven't been able to find more than two, despite looking carefully in my last run through the game. And nobody has ever been able to say where the third one is.

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The shaped items are everywhere-- not a ton of it, but more than enough to accidentally sell that shaped plate and still find 2 more to do stuff with.

 

Heck, you can get a shaped shield (2?) on the 2nd island. When you get to Lord Rahul, one of his guys'll sell you shaped stuff.

 

If you're playing with your eyes open you can't miss them.

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