FrenchFries

Decided to skip G2 for now. I might come back to it. it isn't just cost of creations that kind of bug me about G2 there are other things. G2 just feels like the odd out Geneforge game compared to others. It almost feels like Jeff changed his mind about something at the last moment then re-did a few things in somewhat of a rush. Avadon gave me a similar feeling. Started up G4. And yeah, trying the same thing except this time I'm trying to increase both battle and magic shaping. So far it doesn't seem so bad. I've noticed one only needs 1 action point to attack instead of the usual 5. That seems to make it easier on battle creations. They're not getting murdered while running up to enemies or turrets. See, in G3 I got fire shaping up to 13 I think. The hardest part of that was getting from say 8 to 13 due to increasing skill cost. Sure, creations had a few more levels, but I wondered how much a difference did that really make. I'd also spent points in battle magic (up to skill 4) but then stopped and hardly used it at all. So, I was thinking that I might try to get battle and magic shaping up to 8 each, possibly 10 if I can. In G2 the only thing that stopped me from trying all this was that incredibly steep cost if just learning a new creation type. Doesn't seem to be the case in G4...... so far. Something inside me keep saying that I'm sure someone, somewhere has gotten through a Geneforge game with a shaper type while leveling up two shaping skills and not just one. Surely someone has. I guess we'll see in G4. Just got through boiling caverns.

Ok, so I finished G3 with a shaper. Only focused on one shaping skill-- fire shaping. Game is done. Had a great time. I recently tried out some G2. Went with both fire and battle shaping. I did both fire and battle shaping quite some time ago in G1 and don't recall it being too hard to do. Doesn't seem the same in G2. Have just gotten up to Medab and now feel like I've got a gimped character. The cost for both create roamer and create clawbug are so sky high it costs my life savings just to get one of them. I got create roamer. I fear that by the time I can afford create clawbug it'll be outdated or close. The Thahd just doesn't cut it anymore in the areas around Medab. Getting hit with that instant burn out feeling, thinking I just wasted a day playing the game. Why such a huge cost for what feels like badly needed skills? All the guardian has to do is look in a clay pot somewhere for his next shield. But, anyway. Also, I'm unaligned. I have not joined a faction yet because I fear I'll lose access to some needed (or much desired) shaping skills down the line. I'd like to be a shaper loyalist (too many 'hero' games out there and it's nice to be semi tyrannical for a bit). But, yeah, main question is does it work if I only focus on fire shaping with my shaper in all Geneforge games? Did it in G3 and it was great. Would sure be nice to mix it up with both melee and ranged creations. But, if focusing on two shaping skills is going to gimp you then I'll stick to one.

I wasn't even aware that it existed. Might be interesting to see. I'll have to try it later, though. By the time I'm getting to the end of a game I'm usually ready for something different.

Well, Geneforge 3 is done and I enjoyed it. When I first tried G3 I had a feeling it would be something I'd enjoy. Not sure what gave me that impression. But, it turned out to be true. Glad I found a way to play the other Geneforge games, too. But, I think I'll do something else first. Think I'll finally dive into the first Avernum, the most recent remake. Also have to say I really like how the Geneforge games seem to have no clearly defined good or evil. Most is a big shade of gray, yet there are still NPCs you sometimes meet that have a strong moral compass and others who don't have any. I also enjoyed those times when I got to be ruthless. Seeing those red dots swirl around enemy serviles, which indicates the terror that they feel, as my shaper and his monster army came into view. Running through that rebel town on Harmony Isle, seeing those red dots of fear appear around the townspeople as my monster army attacked. I enjoyed being a shaper loyalist lol. Don't mean to waste anyone's time with a post like this. But, if Jeff ever glances at these forums I'm just hoping to let him know someone enjoyed his game.

Got it. It works. The solution was simple. The modern dxwnd comes with scripts already set up for the steam Geneforge games. All I had to do was open dxwnd, then go file > import and look for the Geneforge 4 (steam) script in dxwnd's own directory. Someone already went through all the hassle (thank you whoever you are). All I had to do then was right click Geneforge 4 (steam) script, select modify. in "main" just set the window size to what you want and to start the game in center of your screen. G4 now works, it looks good in a 1600x900 window, the mouse responds fine. We're off. That's the end of that hoo hah.

Found it. Odd. All other Geneforge games save their info under My Documents/Spiderweb Software. Geneforge 4 saves it's own folder outside the Spiderweb folder. I deleted Geneforge4Settings.dat. It made no difference. The mouse still acts wacko. It's like G4 ignores windows hardware mouse inputs and instead tries to read and create it's own input settings for the mouse and gets it all wrong. The way the cursor pulls and yanks around it reminds me of playing 90s flight games with an uncalibrated joystick. Let me add that I've even tried two difference mice and it's still janky.

Well, that kind of fixed it. It's now in a small window on my screen, but at least I can see the whole thing. I'll see if I can increase the window size. However, the mouse is still wacko and barely even responds. Completely unplayable with mouse like that. Mouse wants to hug the bottom right corner of the screen and struggles to move out of that bottom right corner.

Which settings are you referring to? I've already tried uninstall and re-install. It makes no difference. Yeah. I wish I could play it.

https://imgur.com/peLvKo8 https://imgur.com/mcDC2P1 https://imgur.com/5oTXtlg

Let me just add that I normally have windows at 1920x1080 resolution, but like I said above G4 did the same thing even with windows set to 1024x768. Also, only G4 has this problem. No other Geneforge game does this.

Thought I'd fire up G4 and sample it while still playing G3. The Geneforge games I have are the steam versions. Running on Windows 10. G4 starts up displaying everything off center. It's like it's only showing the upper left part of the screen with the main menu down around the bottom right. The mouse behaves weirdly, too. Move the mouse to the bottom right and it shoots down there like lightning. Move the mouse to the upper left and it struggles to get there. Tried running the game in various compatibility modes with no luck. Even tried setting windows to 1024x768 and it still does the off center thing in the exact same way.

I tend to be patient with such things but I have yet to discover how bad it is in g3. In general though, I am oddly more patient with things many people lose patience with, and less patient with things others don't mind. I quit playing Avadon 1 (for now anyway) to do G3 because I began to realize I was getting annoyed after every battle in Avadon. Not saying it was overly hard or anything. It just gets annoying at some point. This is coming from someone who went all the way through Geneforge 1 and had nothing but a good time (got the mad god ending). Avadon feels like Jeff slipped up somehow or he just "wasn't there" for lack of a better term.

Finished Greenwood island. I have read that G3 is the least popular of this series but I am liking it so far. The fact that moving to a new island is a semi-major endeavor makes the islands feel like their own self contained little worlds. Sort of gives the game a bit more of a down to earth kind of feel.

Letalia or whoever that is that meets you just outside the school in G3... I meant to tell her that I'd never betray the shapers but accidentally clicked on "I want to join you." Oops. I'm wanting to go for the loyalist ending. Should I go ahead and re-start since I'm close to the beginning anyway? Or is it not a big deal? Also... howlongtobeat.com says G3's main story can be completed in about 6 1/2 hours. Seems unlikely for a Spiderweb game. main+extras lists about 48 hours, is that more like it?

Before posting here, I took a chance and talked to Ryozo about it. I used the dialog option "I think these are forged" but it didn't produce anything useful. Side note- Just after posting here about lamps not being useful, I found more of those semi-dark caves where they are kind of useful, even in a RP sense.

I just wish there was another option as far as dealing with this wayfarer and his tasks. I don't want to just simply not finish a quest if I feel like it's a set up to frame someone. I want other options. It leaves the whole thing feeling incomplete. I almost want to say poorly done. I'd expect crappy quest handling choices from AAA games, but not Jeff's. But, I hope that doesn't sound too bad. I'm actually not bothered by it. Just making observations. All things considered, Avadon does have a good story to it, even if it was a little slow in the beginning. I've actually read the lore from the books I've encountered. I'm hoping I'll run into a lore book on the corruption at some point. And yes, I think you're right. That some things didn't get fleshed out. For example, you find light sources like lamps, but there's no place where they're really needed. I encountered some "semi-dark" caves in the beginning of the game where I'd get this lit-up effect when I used a lamp. Yet after Kva, caves I ran into are as brightly lit as the outside. It's like he wanted to have dark places, but then made dark areas not so bad because he decided it was going to be too harsh, then later on wound up not adding any darkness to cave areas at all. I also can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels like combat was initially something different before some things were changed to the way it is now. Like, maybe he was going to make a system that was more akin to previous games before changing his mind. One thing is how vitality only really impacts spellcasters, and even then it's not a big deal. All this makes me think some things, not everything, were originally different, but got changed and there wasn't time to flesh it all out.

Please give me as few (none if possible) spoilers as possible. Did the first job for the wayfarer, which provided him information about Commander Ryozo. So, now he wanted me to find proof that Ryozo's a traitor to the Pact. Found the proof just where the wayfarer said it would be. It just feels.. wrong. I actually took a chance and talked to Ryozo himself about it. He was shocked and all, which is kind of to be expected. But, it was kind of convincing, too. I went back to that Heart lady, the one that gives you the missions. I forget her name. No options to discuss the wayfarer or any of this with the Heart lady like before. Even tried talking to Redbeard and found no options. Disappointing. Figured the most logical thing to do is to talk to your superiors before having an important military leader arrested. Basically, I don't want to have ryozo arrested because it feels like he's being set up. At the very least, I'd like to have more options than to simply have him arrested for something I'm not convinced of. It feels like my only options are: 1. Turn in the quest and have ryozo arrested, which I don't want to do. 2. Do nothing? I don't know. It feels like I'm breaking game mechanics by leaving the ryozo papers quest in the quest log. I guess I just want to do something other than the first option. But, I'd also like to not ruin any part of the quest chain if I'm actually doing something right. As a side note, I get the feeling Avadon was originally a totally different game than what it is now. Feels like it was decided to go in a different direction while the game was still in development.

After some consideration, I'm thinking about getting the Spiderweb Software Complete Pack on Steam. I honestly do not think I'll have enough time in this life to do them all, but I sure won't go hungry if I desire any old-school (modern term- tactical) RPGs. After reading around in the forums, I noticed some of these old games can't be played in a window. I think I can deal with that, but do any of them have problems with the Steam overlay? At the very least, I need to be able to chat while doing a game.

A long, long time ago in a galaxy somewhere around here... I played Exile on Windows 95. Really liked it. On faith, I got Exile 2 when it came out. Didn't like it because it was incredibly hard. Haven't touched a Spiderweb game since then. Keep seeing Spiderweb games on steam when I browse around. When I do, I remember Exile and wonder if Spiderweb games are still super hard games. Finally decided to come to the forums here and simply ask. I've never been into the really hard games. Guess I'm just not looking for the greatest challenge I ever faced in my life. On that same note, I don't care for super easy games either because they put me to sleep. Hope you don't get the wrong impression. I don't think I'm special or anything. Just here asking the experts. So, there it is. How hard is Avernum? For that matter, does it work on Windows 8?