Let's Play Geneforge 5

[alhoon]

Emm... do you mind posting the links here so that in ... how many weeks I get to them, I could find them from the site?

[Blxz]

Emm... do you mind posting the links here so that in ... how many weeks I get to them, I could find them from the site?

 

Since alberich seems to sub to the channel and you are so far behind it seemed more reasonable, now that they are coming out daily, to just post them in bulk every few days. Otherwise I'm just going to clog up the thread with unproductive posts.

[alhoon]

That works too... Just don't forget to add the bulk here. It will be weeks before I get to that.

 

What level are you?

[Blxz]

What level are you?

 

High forties. Could be around 47 or 48. I forget the exact number.

[alhoon]

I was 47 level at the point I said "enough is enough, let's finish this". I haven't been in a couple areas since I was hyped about the end. Well... it will be probably 5-6 episodes or so for you. How do you feel? You probably spent the last 3-4 levels bulldozing every fight.

[Blxz]

To be fair, I've been bulldozing fights since I killed my first unbound. There is a line that seems to get crossed and apart from a few issues with status effect bosses or me getting lazy I just seem to bumrush through most fights.

 

I think my most difficult one in recent times was when I charged right into the middle shadow road and fought the respawning waves without realising that they respawned until part way through.

 

But I've not felt the 'lets finish this' mentality just yet. I've been loving this game and was mentally torn when I needed to choose a faction to start progressing things further. Been a fabulous game so far.

[alhoon]

They're respawning? Do they give XP \ money?

That's a good way to burn a dozen essence pods. With my artifacts and shaping skills and items, I bet I can make things the Shadow road-runners will barely be able to hit.

 

It is an excellent game and many of the finales validate some of the player's choices. I went to the "let's finish this" because I burned to see how the saga ends, not out of GF5 fatigue.

I have left a couple of areas or parts of areas. And I haven't done the high-level challenge zone. I have once found the 2nd pink gem, but I have forgot where I found it. For example... I've seen 3 places so far in your videos that I haven't been into. I never figured where the caravan supplies were for example, missing that 10+ clawbug cave.

[alhoon]

Look, I haven't done it myself. But perhaps you'd be interested in this experiment:

have you tried cranking up the difficulty to hard from normal?

[Alberich]

Been a fabulous game so far.

 

Agree completely...and with your assessment that this and GF2 are the best two.

 

Alhoon – The site where your patch is located is giving me troubles; I try to register and it hangs all night; I try to log in and it gives me error messages in Russian. Is there any other site where you’re hosting it?

 

 

Personally, even though I do my first play-throughs (never replays) on Torment, I don’t mind the in-between fights getting easy near the end of a game. It’s like a “victory lap” that I earned after slogging my way through the hard days. (And yes, Blxz definitely had to do some “easy listening speed-ups” in episode #99, with a few reloads.)

 

(But if I were the responding golem and someone kept asking me, “Where shall I insert this key?” he might get a rude answer after a while.)

[alhoon]

The site where your patch is located is giving me troubles; I try to register and it hangs all night; I try to log in and it gives me error messages in Russian. Is there any other site where you’re hosting it?

 

You don't have to register as far as I know. Hit Download now and you should be good to go. If it doesn't work... I can email it to you.

[Alberich]

Why, so it did. I was used to the other sites where the big green "download now" is an ad for some kind of bloatware...thanks!

[alhoon]

You're welcome. And you're officially my first beta tester...

[Blxz]

Finished the game after a marathon recording session. What a fantastic feeling. I've been playing this game since I started youtube back in October last year. A phenomenal accomplishment to have completed the thing since I so rarely complete games in my own casual play. Will likely be another weeks worth of episodes as they keep going up daily. After that I will have to fill the space with something else. I do hope that some of you will stay on for the ride, I've had great pleasure talking in the forums and having people to bounce ideas back and forth with.

[alhoon]

Congrats on finishing the game! You went for Alwan I guess.

Did you try harder difficulty? Did the final battle present any problems for your Uber-mechanic-but-also-uber-creations char?

 

 

If I may...

 

GO FOR THE TRAKOVITES NEXT!

The ride will be different AND entertaining. You'll see parts you haven't seen in the game.

[Blxz]

Congrats on finishing the game! You went for Alwan I guess.

Did you try harder difficulty? Did the final battle present any problems for your Uber-mechanic-but-also-uber-creations char?

 

 

If I may...

 

GO FOR THE TRAKOVITES NEXT!

The ride will be different AND entertaining. You'll see parts you haven't seen in the game.

 

I suspect you will indeed be interested to watch through when the episodes come out.

 

The final battle was indeed interesting - again you will need to watch through to find out.

 

I did complete it on normal difficulty though. I explained my reasons back in the first episode and the idea of increasing enemy HP to make battles go on longer is not my particular idea of fun. This sort of game has a standard of difficulty that is intrinsically built in and is not possible to just be tweaked simply with a difficulty slider other than through changing stats (and that rarely scales well). I'd have probably switched to easy if I thought it would make the end game battle grind go any easier. (I didn't)

[alhoon]

I suspect you will indeed be interested to watch through when the episodes come out.

I am sure of it. I enjoy your foray quite much.

 

 

 

That's all the difficulty slider does? Increase enemy HP? Not how much damage they do or the chance to hit? I would say it IMO would be better if it gave enemies +4 levels. They would have more hp (although not much more) but they would be harder to hit, they would do a little more damage and scare less easily.

 

 

If I may re-suggest: Could you perhaps record the extras you may do? There are faction only areas for example and quests that are different even in areas that you've visited.

[Blxz]

I'm sure the difficulty slider does other things too; hit chance, damage, etc.

 

My point is that the intrinsic level of difficulty is set by the availability of items, the effective gating of certain areas and the lack of resources. Making me spend more time killing enemies and creating the need to slowly creep through a battle to avoid pulling aggro does not strike me as a fun gameplay style and doesn't change the base difficulty built into the game. Especially when the time spent killing enemies is the single most frustrating thing about this game.

[alhoon]

You certainly have a point.

Just different perspective I guess; at times (and not always) I like the "Squad strategy" aspect of the battle. And after I got Gazer\Tralls I didn't need to think about my strategy. I let them reign. At other times I wanted just to get through the combat and go on with the story.

[Alberich]

Glad to hear you're through....I've enjoyed the ride but it feels like about the right time to end it. That's one thing I liked about GF5 (and GF2 too)....they're big games full of fun stuff, but they end before they can get dull.

 

 

 

One thing I liked about Avadon 2 is that the “torment” level seemed to apply most strongly to boss and major fights…the in-between battles remained pretty easy, so that the whole game didn’t become a slog, but you still got the extra challenge at key points. I hope Avadon 3 is similar. (However, when I replay any of these games I go down to normal…I treat it as a casual game at that point, something to do with my hands while I listen to something I like. But I am not a big replayer.)

 

 

 

Btw, that guy “Alberich” is entirely correct about you being talented as a voice actor, as anyone must agree who listens to your renderings of Alexia and the Scottish drakon (“Ach, yes, I’ve been a fule!”), as well as your second encounter with Taygen (when you decide to make him sound “crafty”). (And yes I caught the pun in ep. #101 but I won't spoil it for Alhoon.)

 

 

Looking forward to your posting of your last episodes!

[Blxz]

Yes, I was a bit disappointed that the scottish drakon disappeared so quickly. Most of my voices were fairly generic but I did have fun with that one. And Alexia was just me getting a bit fried in the head from too many recording sessions (the ease with which I can do a giggly girl scares me slightly). Sadly I could never quite get the right voice I envisioned for Taygen; made do with what I had in the end. Not to mention the number of times I forgot the voice I used for each character. Hence the fact they changed so often.

 

Chessrook44 is far better at being consistent with character voices. I personally find them a little cartoonish at times but I think some sound editing on his part would work wonders. I suggest you check out his Avadon 1 & 2 plays if you have not already done so, they are by far some of his best work.

 

EDIT: And no upload today, I couldn't get my post processing done in time for the upload before bed last night. I need to plan nearly a full day in advance to cater to my very slow upload speeds. Episodes need to be left on overnight to upload in bulk.

[Alberich]

Most likely this is it for me and let'splays, at least for a long while, once I'm done with yours. Avadon is a great game but it doesn't offer that extra fascination of seeing which of many morally challenging pathways a different player goes down. And there's a special charm in yours that just clicks with me.

 

102:

 

There was a little “robotic Gollum” in that last eyebeast…and I thought it was great. Plus the bumbling guard (who’s just a little like the Vogon guard in the radio version of Hitchhiker’s Guide…”I quite like the shouting...resistance is useless!” Or was it the depressingly stupid robot who couldn't guess what Marvin was armed with?) I happen to know the next episode will have a plethora of fun voices to test and expand your talents so I am eager to see how it came out.

Is it going to be “Blxz the Unbound Slayer,” or “Blxz the Venal Lobbyist for petty commercial interests”?

[alhoon]

Episode 64:

The way Shapers treat Trakovites is abominable... I still remember GF4's cages that they locked them up to die of starvation.

At least the Rebels, once Litalia left the Rebellion, are not actively hunting the Trakovites. Because in case you forgot, Litalia in GF4 was hell-bent in wiping out the Trakovites despite Greta's objections.

That woman is hillarious...

 

Shaper Alexie... I laughed. Good impersonation of a bizzare person in a bizzare organization.

The "cuttings" you did here, to jump around the world were OK. Well, not sure why I tell you that since you finished the game, but just in case you record a bit more (or for other games), I do tell you.

 

 

Episode 65:

Weeeeell... If I may say (and don't take this wrong):

At the veeeery beginning of the episode, we see in the log text that you have been in Alexie's lab, took the quest for the notes and have loaded back.

But in the episode you say that you're concerned you forgot something and that perhaps Shaper Alexie can give a quest and go on to say that if you're wrong you would delete that part.

I thought at first that you accidentally changed the order in the recording, but the log shows that it wasn't recorded out of sync.

Not a big thing, just wondering what happened.

 

Anyway... I returned and cleared those Kyshaaks with my 46-lvl Shaper. They had nothing of interest.

And about the Cryodrayk guarding the cave. One of the most failed things it could say to dissuade you was what it said "We're just here to guard this cave. Nothing else. If you don't go in, we're cool. Just stay out of this cave."

Yeah buddy, not going to happen.

There was a biiiig fight with rogues in the desert that I skipped. I appreciate far more now your "let's not prolong fights" viewpoint.

What I saw is... that you forgot to search he dead body after that big battle with the Gammas! Since I haven't cleared that part, I don't know what's there but probably something cool.

[Alberich]

Alexia is one of his best voices for sure. One advantage you have reading from further back...you don't get these dadblamed cliffhangers that he says he isn't doing on purpose.

[alhoon]

Well, once (59-62 episodes) I said I would watch 2 episodes and watched 4 instead...

[Blxz]

But in the episode you say that you're concerned you forgot something and that perhaps Shaper Alexie can give a quest and go on to say that if you're wrong you would delete that part.

I thought at first that you accidentally changed the order in the recording, but the log shows that it wasn't recorded out of sync.

 

Shhh, it's for dramatic effect.

[alhoon]

You tease...

It worked.

[Alberich]

He sure is a tease...even turns the final fight into multiple cliffhangers...but still fun to watch.

 

Btw, I got your GF5 mod installed so will be playing that at a leisurely pace. (I played far enough to check the library and see it was installed. If possible I would recommend adding some kind of sign to the very beginning of the game, so that you don’t have to play through the whole intro to figure out whether the mod was installed or not.)

[alhoon]

Thanks. Well, I haven't thought of it. (Perhaps we should move that to the mod thread and keep this about the videos)

The last fight is multi-episode?

 

No cliff-hungers eh? Good one.

[Blxz]

The last fight is multi-episode?

 

 

Considering it took about 1 and a half hours to get to the endgame once I'd committed myself to do it I don't think I had a choice about multi-episodes.

 

To put things into perspective, I started uploading 11 episodes of various scheduled content last night at 9pm. It is now 10.13am the next day and I've managed to do 7 out of 11 so far. Australian internet.... (the fastest I can get in my area). So slow.

 

Anyway, I do believe that means the final episode released 13 minutes ago. For alhoon and any others who are ghost reading this thread I will post the links to every remaining episode.

 

| (SCOTUS - Surely the Americans will get this reference)

 

And that is it for the series for a while. I will be back at some point to play through Alhoon's mod as it might make a nice little bit of variation as I play through some/all of the alternate endings. But that will not happen for at least a week and possibly for slightly longer. I'm riding high on G5 right now and I don't want to overload that by forcing myself to play through too much too soon.

[alhoon]

No worries, but we will keep talking about those videos here.

[alhoon]

I jumped to the Finale... thinking I knew what to expect!

 

HOW WRONG could I be! My jaw hit the floor...

 

Now I absolutely have to watch to see what brought you to choosing Taygen. The ONLY faction I haven't done.

Well played sir, well played.

 

Thank you for the effort. I really have things to watch up to now! Aside of seeing your choices in various paths, there are probably quests I haven't seen.

 

 

Again, well played sir.

[alhoon]

Aha! Even the Shapers realize that Astoria was right in Taygen ending and Alwan dies in shame.

 

O_O

Taygen killed all the Serviles. ALL the Serviles. With bio-weapons that would make the Shred-bugs seem like the good ol' times. And... batons and living tools too. He pushed the "reset" button on civilization. As if someone knocked electricity out for our world.

IMO (and I know you disagree) Taygen goes above Litalia in the list of "worse person that can Shape in GF5".

 

Taygen and Rawal are not really Shapers (despite being on the council). One is a genocidical bio-WMD hater that bypassed completely the tenet about diseases and looking after creations. The other made a geneforge and has a book on canisters.

 

Thanks for the citation in the end man! You've all been very supportive.

[Blxz]

I'm glad the whole thing wasn't totally expected.

 

And I wouldn't search too deep into what led me to Taygen. The truth might be....unsettling

[Alberich]

Considering it took about 1 and a half hours to get to the endgame once I'd committed myself to do it I don't think I had a choice about multi-episodes.

Well, if you want to be reasonable, yeah…

That said, I enjoyed it thoroughly, right down to the last “g’day, cat!” Though I believe you missed a thing or two that could’ve made the last fight easier. My own judgment is that you are doing well to wait a while before replaying for other endings. I’m not a huge replayer myself, but there’s a lot of combat to slog through in any replay of this.

I agree wholly on your assessment of the game and the series and am glad you enjoyed it so much, and shared that with us. This is probably “it” for me and letsplays for a long time, so have a great year!

[Blxz]

Been a pleasure to have you onboard Alberich. Glad you've enjoyed it. See you around.

[alhoon]

Yes, the last fight can be made easier. I usually (played it a few times for different factions) don't lose anyone except perhaps my Cryora.

However I've found a trick.

I send expendable "just made" creations (Gazers 44 level \ Burning Kyshaaks And they have +10-13 to all stats from items\artifacts) to lay waste on Ghaldring and his guys before I lead everyone in. I don't drop any of the bosses below 1/2 hp just to be on the safe side in case an event triggers.

[Blxz]

True, although by that point in the game I was so canister addled that my thinking was I could take on the world. Perhaps not so far from the truth. The loss of gazer alhoon was a....necessary sacrifice. For the greater good.

 

Honestly, I'm disappointed that I stopped losing creations about halfway through the game. I sort of liked the rapid deaths early on as it made me feel more shaper-y. I think I prefer the G1 mechanic where it is actually beneficial to absorb a creation and make a new one each time you put additional points into the skill. I think Jeff made a thematic design mistake when he made levelling up more powerful than higher skilled fresh creation levels. It certainly takes away from the moral quandaries of the situation and encourages savescumming to prevent creation deaths (which I have sadly seen too much of in geneforge LP's).

[alhoon]

First, I follow the honorable tradition of Savescumming to save creations myself!

 

Second: Nope, leveling creations is often not as good as making new ones.

I don't do the recommended "Go berserk and fill Shaping skills first and then you worry about intelligence, endurance, blessing magic, healing, etc."

As such, my Shaping skills advance during the game. Aside of putting points into Shaping arts at level 35, I also find Shaping cannisters at level 35. And I make artifacts that give +3 Shaping at level 35.

Hence: At level 33, I may have battle shaping 4, War Trall 1. 37 level war trall.

Fast forward 2 levels. My war trall A is level 39 now.

Yet level 35, I may have bumped it to battle shaping 6 +3 from artifact and I may have found a trainer for tralls +2

My war trall B would be 32+11 =43. It blows War trall A out of the water. Hence war Trall A is absorbed.

 

Third: There are... certain mods by enlighted people that increase your shaping power of low-mid tier creations in the later part of the game.

As such, if you had say a Cryodrayk that got 7-8 levels and you've invested a lot of research on mid-tier creations, you would be better served to absorb it and create a new one.

[alhoon]

was so canister addled that my thinking was I could take on the world. Perhaps not so far from the truth.

 

Load the pre-battle save.

Go to Oklavano Fence.

Cross the mark and fight the whole Rebel army + 4 Unbound.

 

I did it without losing a single creation*. Their Kyshaaks had 1% to 5% to hit most of my creations.

 

*From the permanent ones**. I sent 2 Burning Kyshaaks to soften them up. They could probably take half the rebel force by themselves but the Unbound killed them fast.

 

** I have absorbed before the fight most of my creations except 2, to make new, mindless ones to speed up the battle. My "unleveled" creations were 2-3 levels below the level ones at most and I boosted their dex and str by 1 to make them mostly equal in damage and evasion.

[Blxz]

I don't feel I am a very good player by any stretch. I'd probably lose my army a few times. But in Typical Blxz fashion I would simply tank with my face and build a new army (and possibly run away screaming to refill on essence....but don't say that too loudly).

 

I do like the HP buffs in G5 but I still think I have a lot of HP for a 3 endurance shaper.

[alhoon]

We both seem to forget something: We were both completionists.

A LOT of the areas are not needed to complete the game. If you don't go after the Unbound at all, that's 3-4 regions you avoid. Avoid Bennhold's questline and that's 3-4 too. And others.

I believe someone that just visited mostly essential areas would be very hard pressed in the last battle (no artifacts or 1 at most, lower level, less powerful items etc).

[alhoon]

Programming. Hitting the "run" button. Having to wait for 20-30 mins for the program to finish.

What to do in the meantime?

Oh, right! See what set Blxz to the path of obliterating civilization as Terrestia knew it.

 

Episode 66:

If I might say, the gazer battle that took quite a long and was reloaded could have been sped up.

And at about 13th minute there's starts some graphic glitch on the top of the screen, which I don't mind at all but since you want us to notify you on this stuff...

I liked the Servile hunter voice too BTW. Your voice acting is getting better.

 

About Rots: If you haven't killed that nice mage that was trying to shape Artillas hiding behind tons of pylons outside the fort, he COULD have taught you 2 levels of Rot, so you could get Rothidzons or how they're called.

And it even says in the text that he CAN'T actually make them himself but he can teach you how to make them.

[alhoon]

Episode 67:

The way I handling such combat-heavy areas was going Moseh (from GF4):

Sit on the exit and send 2-3 mindless expendables to their death. At this powerlevel I would send a Vlish+clawbug+Drayk + regen aura combo. Soften up the enemy while I hit space on my turn having turned off the permanent creations.

Then I would either drink an essence pod or leave and return.

 

Episode 68:

I was vaguely remembering Footracer. But I've forgot that RAWAL turned her to a Shaping Servile. That's a member of the Shaper Council everyone: Uses his geneforge to attempt making loyal servants that can Shape outside the order.

Preposterous.

 

Episode 69:

Hmmm... interesting approach on returning the amulet although you figured you could have used it in another quest.

 

About the missing crafting supplies: Didn't you left them in the other anvil's room? Or chest?

I guess you probably found them and in any case it wouldn't matter now that you finished the game. But, that's where I think they are.

 

About the Traitor Toroth: I hadn't found him. I was too interested to go to Gazaki-Uss and find the rebels (I was already pro-Rebel at that point) to search around.

I loaded and went there. I was going to let her live of course, since she seemed very nice and I, as an engineer and a researcher totally appreciate her efforts.

Then I found a crystal. I clicked it, it exploded and killed Toroth.

The most nonsensically easy mechanic solution ever. The other Drayks fled outside, disturbed by the accident and leaving all their loot around.

Not worthy loot for killing a fellow engineer and researcher. I felt bad about killing spawn-of-evil Platano, I wouldn't kill Toroth.

 

As a note, I spoke with Toroth and found out that the Drakons do not go the Shaper oppression rule, hoarding their power to themselves. They just don't help those not worth it from learning how to Shape.

 

 

Episode 70:

Yeap, you found that spiral. You click it, Toroth dies.

You RAN from a single 330 hp Servile Cultist.

For the record: They didn't attack me, they talked to me and insulted me. Cannister madness threatened to take hold of my char (which would be reaaaally bad for the cultists).

Then I exposed to them the shaper spy in their midst. Interesting quest... not a great reward for me. (A cloak +2 to missile)

Then I reloaded and goaded them to attack me. 20+ rebels nearby nobody lifted a finger to help me. They completely ignored the Serviles.

 

Trahan, the Rawal servant in Perikalia is as you saw... illegally shaped. I wish in at least one of the endings Rawal was executed or at least punished for the geneforge and cannisters.

 

I haven't finished that quest (I told Trahan to #### off) but keep in mind that at your level, battle magic is not that useful. OK, you would do what, 10 more damage per attack? While your creations deal 150+?

 

Episode 71: Ah, the episode with the Unbound, where you couldn't believe you could do it. Always expecting SOMETHING to go terribly wrong. A message of "That was all a ruse. The Unbound will now do his full damage" and go like 200% more dangerous.

Watched it again.

[Blxz]

My obsession with Battle Magic will continue. I will regret it every step of the way but I will keep putting points into it. I'm not a powergamer by any stretch of the imagination.

[alhoon]

I feel you. I ended the game with BMagic 9.

[alhoon]

Episode 72: If I may say... not that it matters now that you finished the game, but still: Shaper Robe is not useful at all... unless you're shaping. I kept it in my inventory and don it only when I wanted to Shape something.

Also, it should have been blue. There's no Shaper in the game that wears yellow robes. Not Even Taygen, Rawal or Litalia (that are not true Shapers but just have the class)

 

73: I found out the hard way that Rots are actually not worth the effort. The Cryodrayk is better and cheaper.

[alhoon]

Episode 74:

First thing first: In case you can post-work it, could you increase the sound volume? To listen it comfortably, I have to have the laptop's volume at 100% and Yutube volume at 100%.

 

Second, I use captions because I'm not a native English speaker. Your Ghaldring voice does WONDERS for it as you can see in the spoiler. :D

 

 

 

I would like to know where did Ghaldring keeps those Rebellion lawyers and Jews he has in Gazaki-Uss...

 

 

 

About the question from Ghaldring, where your loyalty stands... IMO, you were clearly Pro-Shaper at this point. Saying it, wouldn't be a lie. You helped them time and again till this point and you think they're in the right side of this war. That makes you as pro-Shaper as possible.

 

Elik, the servile smuggler trader's voice was awesome. Hillarious.

[Blxz]

I'm glad you appreciate the voices.

 

As for that screenshot, hilarious. But perhaps he is simply hiding the Lawyers and Jews from Taygen. It does seem oddly fitting.

 

As for being pro-shaper, yes I'd pretty much decided by that point but I wanted Ghaldring to try and win me over. You'd talked him up and so I figured there would be a big info dump and I would be swayed by his passionate words. Instead he tried to have me killed by an underling. (keep in mind that I had never met Ghaldring in any of the previous Geneforge games not having completed G4. I was in awe as much as the character would be) I do address this in the final episode though and recognise my internal bias by that point.

 

But there is a lot that needs to happen between here and there. I hope you continue to enjoy the series.

[alhoon]

I do enjoy the series.

And if you've met the previous Ghaldring, you would have appreciated this one. The previous one ALSO tried to have you killed. The Drakon in this one if you follow the discussion paths tells you about how Ghaldring tricked another drakon years ago to do the same thing.

 

About the issue with the sound, could you perhaps scale the sound higher for the future viewers or once it's done, it's done? I don't know how this works.

 

 

NOTE: You should have gone to the labs. I played as a canister-light character avoiding canisters unless they were VERY useful. I used like 3-4 from the labs.

[Alberich]

Alhoon - His dialogue with that Drakon, the one who talks about the past sucker, is one of my favorite parts of the Letsplay (And one of the best voices he did.) You're in for good times!