G2 - of all things, why Thrusting Gauntlets?

[Enraged Slith]

I blew up the Awakened's Magus Complex and all I got from Zakary was a lousy pair of Thrusting Gauntlets. Sure they're nice, but I found a pair lying around in some dumb Roamer's nest just outside of the complex. This is the dumbest reward I've ever recieved in one of Jeff's games, ever.

 

Zakary might have to meet an unfortunate accident sooner than planned...

 

Does anyone know where I might find a good weapon for a Guardian in the southwestern region? The best thing I've found is a Living Knife, but I don't use creations.

[Student of Trinity]

I'm afraid I don't remember what sort of best weapons are available early for a Guardian, but I can point out that the lame reward from Zakary is intentional. Sort of makes you wonder whether you've backed the wrong horse, doesn't it? The other factions may be dangerous lunatics or whatever, but they do seem to have a little more power to throw around ...

[Enraged Slith]

Quote:

Sort of makes you wonder whether you've backed the wrong horse, doesn't it? The other factions may be dangerous lunatics or whatever, but they do seem to have a little more power to throw around ...

My favorite thing about the Geneforge series is the open-ended gameplay which leaves room for roleplaying. My Guardian is a typical conservative, Pro-Shaper bull. No canisters, no association or diplomacy with non-Shapers, just strong arm tactics and an iron fist.

[Xaiya]

Well if you get to this area (can't remember the name, but it involves a quest from a guardian shade), then you can complete his quest.

 

When you do, he will go hostile. Kill it (again!) for a guardian claymore, the best wepon in the game in my opinion.

 

It is hard, but there are some ways to do it. And if you killed Zakary, then I think you can do it.

[Enraged Slith]

Thanks, I found it. It's definately the best weapon I own, though I'm sad to say it isn't as much of an upgrade from the Spectral Rapier as I had hoped. A little less than half of the world map has been uncovered, I'm level 32, and I'm probably sitting on the some most powerful equipment I'll find all game. Since I don't use canisters, is it safe to assume that my Guardian wont increase that much in power anymore? Is there anything I can do (aside from using canisters) that will make the rest of this game easier?

[Corrupted One]

Assuming script-edittig and cheating are out of the question not much comes to mind

[Dikiyoba]

Creations, if you don't have any yet. You are fighting on the Shaper side for a reason, after all.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Student of Trinity]

Since this is G2, and you will still gain some levels: pump Parry. At high levels it makes the game rather too easy.

 

Also, collect artifacts. Various skilled craftspeople around the game will make amazing items for you, if you find and bring them the right exotic components. In particular the Emerald Chestguard will make the game a lot easier once you get it.

 

And try to get speed. Speed pods, speed spores, maybe even try to get enough intelligence to cast the speed spell on yourself.

[Enraged Slith]

I just slew Barzahl (or however you spell his name) and I'm pretty disappointed. He's supposed to be this incredibly powerful, canister ridden Shaper, and yet my unaltered (no canisters, no special augments, etc.) Guardian killed him in a single round. Learned Pinner was much tougher than this clown.

[Micawber]

And Danette is also a wimp, disappointingly.

 

Alas, this is the usual pattern; by the end of the game you are able to annihilate even the hardiest bosses without undue effort. The A3 Rentar-types being very much the exception.

[Enraged Slith]

So I just beat G2 for the first time (as well as finishing my first Geneforge game ever), playing as a no canister/no special augmentation, melee Guardian allied with the Servants on torment difficulty. Disappointingly, the only difficult fight was the one against Learned Pinner, and believe me when I say I killed everyone and everything but Zakary. Do I deserve a medal or is this game just easy?

[Slawbug]

Parry is broken.

[Student of Trinity]

I seem to recall inner Gazak-Uss seeming a little tricky; though with 18 AP and very high Parry, this was probably some sort of illusion. Though the place had definitely been a bit scary my first time through it, with an Agent who kept running out of energy at the most inopportune moments.

 

Likewise the Inner Crypt from G1 always keeps me on my toes. When you know what you're doing, nailing Danette's shade isn't so hard. But if you leave combat mode and just start waltzing around the joint, it will punish you.

 

The basic fact is that Jeff is not in the business of providing truly challenging combat, since this would mean games that were frustrating for most of his customer base. He tries to make his games more challenging on Torment setting, but there is a point at which the rapidly proliferating options available to an intelligent player simply overwhelm any reasonable opposition, unless you can build a truly intelligent AI — which is out of Jeff's league. So in most of Jeff's games, the truly challenging fights are usually somewhere in the mid-game, where you push yourself to do something you shouldn't really be able to do for a few more levels. The resulting reward then makes the rest of the game easy.

 

There are some exceptions. I had an Agent once in G3 who totally stormed the second half of the game, using high Quick Action; then at the very end it turned out that Akhari Blaze was a mite quicker. It made for a tricky final battle. The Alpha Creator in the Monastery Caves was also no joke. The last battle in A4 is one of the tougher ones in the game, I believe. And G4 does a pretty good job of making the final battle memorable, whichever side you take; while the Titan is again pretty formidable.

 

None of this is to say that beating Spiderweb games makes you a chessmaster. Once you know what you're doing, you can slaughter every living thing without too much stress. The main point of the games is the story, for which the battles are mainly a sort of participatory illustration, or sometimes a sort of thematically relevant puzzle.

 

But Jeff did begin to do a bit better at building interesting fights after G2. Come to think of it, that was actually the last Spiderweb game of the old style, in which monsters just sat in their designated spaces and whacked at you when you showed up and whacked at them.

 

G2 is the last and perhaps greatest of a certain style of game, I suppose. A style in which a lot of pretty ancient conventions about how a CRPG should work were taken for granted. The player is a tourist in a big strange world, in which everyone else sits patiently waiting for the player to show up and either fight or talk. A few times in the game someone gives you a big mission, which you can accept as a goal, or ignore; other than that, you're on your own. Within those rather peculiar conventions, G2 is a masterpiece.

 

Starting with G3, Jeff began introducing scripted elements into battles, and also began using more than a sparse handful of text boxes to carry the long main story arc in the game. In general he just started making the game's plot, and the main NPCs, more aggressive in interacting with the player.

 

The transition to a new style of game didn't completely click for G3. Jeff had a story more directly expressed in the gameplay, with recurring NPCs, and a clear and present dilemma at every step; but he lost the wide-open feel of the old games. People seem to have appreciated the upgraded technical features but resented being run through the game on rails, and sales suffered.

 

In A4 Jeff had the guts to keep on trying to make his new and more sophisticated game style work, but he hedged his bets by making sure he had a huge world to explore freely, and a lot of good fights. He achieved this combination, within the time frame his business demanded, by using a very simple plot. Critical response from his old fans was a bit harsh, but sales were great, and Jeff hasn't looked back.

 

G4 was a major step forward for Spiderweb games, in my opinion. Instead of the old style of story and game in loose association, it's a plot that you play through. But it's a complicated enough plot, with enough options and issues, that you don't feel railroaded. And Jeff pulled off Ghaldring, against all expectations. That's where you see the new style beginning to really pay off.

 

That of which we may not speak, because we have signed non-disclosure agreements, we must pass over in silence. But A5 looks like Avernum's turn to get the G4 treatment, and maybe then some.

[Starman1985]

Quote:

Disappointingly, the only difficult fight was the one against Learned Pinner, and believe me when I say I killed everyone and everything but Zakary. Do I deserve a medal or is this game just easy?

People havew said what i am about to say before but it is still worty.

RPG's can't be to hard beacause know one will play them and if their to easy people will just be meh over them so therefore RPG's must create the illusion that every battle is hard and the player just barely won when in truth the player kicked ass. Jeff did a exceptional job on the Romans in Nethergate.

[The Mystic]

Quote:

Originally written by Student of Trinity:
And try to get speed. Speed pods, speed spores, maybe even try to get enough intelligence to cast the speed spell on yourself.

Also get items that increase your APs, regardless of your character class. Speeding up works great on its own, but combined with AP-enhancing stuff, it can be awesome.