What do YOU want to see in G4?

[archangel_14]

this isnt a poll, this is completely open ended...but, be remotely serious. like, how do you want the game to start, new creations, new spells, new power, new factions, storylines...etc. and i want to say before i start this...i completely respect the spiderweb software people and the wonderful games they create, im not trying to be insulting in anyway, i was just saying that i had thought of some things and maybe other people had too.

 

personally, i think it would be pretty sweet to continue with this line of different types of shapers. For example, in the first game, you were a shipwrecked apprentice. next game...you were an apprentice with your teacher...next game...oh, still an apprentice, but at a school. i suppose that makes sense so you have a point to start from...but...

 

what about a human who has always from an early age had this strange, natural ability to shape and to use magic. like an outsider from G2.

 

or a young, newly created drakon from the rebels...

 

or maybe a weapons crafter?

 

or a human who starts the story with his village being razed by rebels and runs off, finds a cave with a few canisters in it and... holy cow batman! i can shape!

 

i mean...none of these are too far-fetched and all of them are a departure from the apprentice storybase.

[Drakefyre]

In GF4, you will not play a shaper. Whether this means a servile, human, or drakon is unclear.

[Donald Hebb]

Finally! Then we won't have dialogue that consists of "press 1 for Shapers, 2 for Rogues, 3 for Medium"?

[genexile]

Maybe, wear multiple rings?

After all, we don't have only 1 finger...

And, if we could get a GOD item (like a style of bonus that the Geneforge give you but in an item).

Or maybe we could do these worms thingy in the attacked school.

[Hawk King]

Quote:

Originally written by Drakefyre:
In GF4, you will not play a shaper. Whether this means a servile, human, or drakon is unclear.

are you Jeff's next door neighbor ???

or at least a very close friend

[Student of Trinity]

It would be cool if you could be a Sholai. Since they have warriors and mages you could end up with Guardian-like and Agent-like classes, and perhaps some kind of Sholai shaman would find themselves good at storing essence, once they had picked up some training and/or canisters. We already know from G1 that Sholai can use canisters.

 

Plotwise, I think it would be nice if the GF series introduced some prospect for resolving the power paradox which has been its main theme so far. It might be that the resolution would fail, or it might succeed or fail depending on the player's actions.

 

By the 'power paradox' I mean the fact that you can only gain enough power to change the Shaper world by becoming something at least as bad as the Shapers in the process. The problem has been pretty thoroughly presented by the end of G3. Just to keep harping on it would get monotonous. To try to do something about it, this time, would be very interesting.

 

According to one of the G1 endings that the G2-3 history line doesn't take, the Sholai leader Trajkov basically manages it, while the Shaper PC cannot. So perhaps the Sholai have something the Shapers lack.

[Dolphin]

I would like to be a servile, so I could lead the crusade, or a Drakon so I could actually use the Geneforge

[Flaming_valkrye]

it would be awsome to be anything BUT a shaper because wev been shapers through the whole Fricking series and id like to see something new!

[VCH]

I have not been a shaper. In GF2 I was a gurdian. Perhaps I shaped 3 times in the course of the game. No, no its much better to play a knight sticking things with your sword.

[Claymore]

well hawk king,

Drakey is only a Triad Mage Member #7 and a beta tester; so not exactly a next door neighbor

[Mav]

Some humble interface improvement suggestions:

 

1) The ability to travel within a zone more quickly. For example, if you could just option-click to zap straight from Dhonal's Keep to the front door leading to the Inner Keep, or go from the edge of Fort Wilton to the skiff instantly. If "game-breaking" were a concern, you could limit it to function only in areas you've cleared. Or heck, even make it a magical item that you could purchase. It'd make navigation much quicker.

 

2) Make the "see abilities" tab more conspicuous. I didn't notice it was up there in the top right corner of the stats page until checking just now.

 

3) Character input repeating when saving games (e.g. if you want to rename a saved game, just hold down the delete key instead of having to hit it each time to delete a letter).

 

3b) Related: Being able to navigate the save menu with arrow keys.

 

4) Inventory navigation: The ability to use arrow keys, and the ability to use keyboard commands to, for example, drop selected items on the ground with a single keystroke.

 

5) The ability to use keystrokes to attack in combat, like in Avernum. Occasionally enemies right next to you are positioned such that there's a good chance you'll click on yourself and end your turn instead of attack.

[eztaren]

I suggested this for GF3 without success so I'll just suggest it again:

 

Have any female characters look and sound like females and any male characters look and sound like males.

 

Just a pet peeve of mine I guess.

[Stormlord Windspire]

Quote:

Originally written by archangel_14:

or a young, newly created drakon from the rebels...

I'd like that!

This could be the story!

You are in a holding cell.You hear that you will be let out for a bit of augmenting.This is your chance!

Will you serve the Rebels?Or will you go rouge?

P.S.I would like it so that when your making a charactor you could click a "random charactor" button that randomizes your charactor & stats

[Slawbug]

I'll second all of Mav's suggestions. Actually, these are all things that have really gotten to me. #1 is particularly annoying for those of us who are used to "powergaming the directional pad" in older style games. In Exile, when you had a long stretch of cave or whatever to go across, you could just rat-a-tat-tat on NW/N/NE or whatever the appropriate direction was, to maximize the input, and you'd be there in seconds. The smooth movement in GF is quite elegant and the speed is handled extremely well, IMHO, but it can still be annoying.

 

However, #1 would be less of a problem if boats and "dungeon" zones were accessible from the map. Especially since the dungeons are used inconsistently. Why is the Inner Keep handled this way, while Khyryk's Tower is on the map?

 

I'll add to #4 that the keyboard commands should also include equipping. It's pretty normal in GF to carry around light pieces of equipment that you don't normally wear, but which give a Mechanics bonus, and it's really annoying to repeatedly click-move-click all of them just to open a door.

[Doctor Albert Halfmann]

The Shaper world from the viewpoint of a sentient drakon would offer very little choice. After all, a drakon can't very well join or support the shapers, as he will never be thought of as anything better than a dangerous rogue. And the "choice" to go rogue is hardly a choice for the many creations that travel that path- isolated from the stabilizing influence of their creators, they basically lose their minds. That's hardly a reasonable in-game choice, and drakons are depicted as being far too intelligent and independent to go mindlessly rogue anyway. If Jeff decided to go with a drakon PC for GF4, he would be forced to do away with the entire choice between factions element so important in the GF series. It would undoubtedly be a risky move, and Jeff as a game designer is often depressingly conservative.

 

A servile PC is even more unlikely than a drakon, as serviles are of course incapable of shaping. There's no way Jeff will make a GF game that does not allow the player to shape creations.

 

That seems to leave us only with the human PC, the most prosaic option but clearly the only one that will allow for real choice and power along the lines of the typical GF game. I'd be surprised and impressed if Jeff managed to come up with something new to compensate for the choice/power deficit that would make drakon or servile PCs more feasible, but at this point I'm doubting that he'll bother.

[Stormlord Windspire]

I didn't ask for YOUR opinion weasel

 

P.S.A drakon can do anything a shaper can.In other words you could help whoever made you or just choose not to serve anyone and kill whoever made you.They are like 'factions'.Or failing a drakon charactor I would like to at least not be the main charactor.But a COMPANION to the main charactor

[Doctor Albert Halfmann]

Whether or not you specifically asked for my input, I certainly had the right to offer it. And although I undoubtedly like weasels, I most certainly am not commonly addressed as such. Call me Stughalf, Stugie or Stug.

 

I suppose factions could be developed within the drakon fold, but it seems highly unlikely. Why would sentient drakons ever join together against the drakon lord royalty? Certainly not out of loyalty to the Shapers, who would certainly exterminate all drakons if it were possible. Drakons as they have been depicted in GF2 and GF3 are uniformly arrogant, greedy and power-hungry, possessing great intelligence and cunning but very little moral clarity. Unless a significant group of drakons were to come to the conclusion that Ghaldring was too jealous with his power or riches, a rebel drakon faction would never be formed.

 

Your second suggestion is rather ridiculous. A companion to the main character as the PC? It's fine to start off a game in a subservient position, as the player does in GF2, but to proceed to play second fiddle throughout the remainder of the game would be truly odd. Would the scripted "main character" allow the player-controlled lackey to make all the relevant decisions? Such a relationship is hardly plausible. And allowing for a normal leader/follower relationship would mean that the head shaper would often choose to overrule the player's decisions, making for a thoroughly frustrating gaming experience.

[shell]

I agree, the PC must be human. Being a creation offers too little choices, as creations will not be accepted into any Shaper establishment (except possibly a servile who sneaks in through the back door, but that wouldn't be very exciting.) Gazers and Drakons are out as they are too powerful for the lower levels. Imagine if you were an eyebeast, how challenging would defeating a few artilles be?

 

That being said, the prospect of being someone other than a Shaper is pretty exciting. Maybe you could be a Sholai spy sent to steal the Shaper's secrets and report back to your homeland. Or perhaps you'll be a mage who is able to rise up to the Shaper ranks through the odd providences of war. Or perhaps you can be a squirelly merchant just trying to run his shop make a buck. (OK, maybe that last idea doesn't hold too much promise) Whatever the case, there are a few things I would like to see in the next installment.

 

1.) We should be able to to train up to level 6 in any creation, making a new version available. There are plenty of creatures out there for us to make. It was frustrating that I could only train up to level 5 in Fyora creation, it would have been neat to be able to make a "charged fyora" or some such thing. Also I'd love to be able to get my hands on an inferno worm, which could easily be one of the best creations in the game.

 

2.) I'd like a way to arrange the journal better. putting everything in one linear order is not the best. I would have liked to file similar entries together. For example, it would have been helpful to put all of the recipes together. So when I was wondering "was that a Demon's or a Rothgroth's claw that I needed?" that info would have been readily available.

 

3.) Story wise, I would like to see some divisions arise within Shaper ranks. Up to this point the Shaper system has been a monolith; "either you join us and do as we tell you, or else." But perhaps we started to see some chinks in the proverbial armour in GF3, it's time the Shapers thought long and hard about the way they have been doing things. There should be a growing awareness among the community that the threats they are facing are the result of their own fascist policies and reckless experiments. What is to be done about this, will of course be decided by you.

 

Oh, and

4.) I want to use the Geneforge!

[Mav]

More Living Tools. They're incredibly scarce in GF3, and I've tried my darnedst to conserve 'em and keep my Mechanics skill at a decent level (currently at 14).

 

Btw, if this more properly belongs in a separate thread, just let me know and I'll start a different topic.

[Slawbug]

What about the ability to shape creations that aren't fighting characters? We know that shaping is involved in the creation of living tools, spores, pods, and so on. You could implement some really practically useful things here -- say, some kind of "pack" creation that you can toss your items into. Having to juggle reagents, charging stones, and heavy collectible items gets pretty annoying... as does being encumbered just because I'm carrying a bunch of living tools.

[Altimus]

Some things I would like to see:

 

1. Not actually a gameplay element, but still useful--the ability to pause and minimize the screen so I can work on something else if I need to. I like to multitask and consequently am forced to quit playing when something comes up.

 

2. A new tier of creations, by which I mean (for example) a Fyora, a Cryoa, and something stronger. We've had the first two for three games already, and a few new groups of creations for two. I think the idea of a Hydra Artila (with multiple heads, not water-based) is really cool; at the very least it could substitute for Spray Crystals.

 

2b. On that note, maybe some new spells too. The Exile games have a HUGE number of spells; surely some of them can be adapted for GF. I have fond memories of casting Wall of Force.

 

3. Further development of the conflict between orthodox Shapers and the rebelling ones. Maybe as far as full-blown war, in which the PC has the option of accepting attack/defend missions and has to be in a certain place by a certain time (making use of the day tracker) to fulfill them.

 

4. A different way of teaching newbies the basics of the game. Maybe something like being forced to cull and tame a creation from a group made by a controlled Spawner. The player could be given Ensnaring Crystals and a Rod of Control (or whatever), then forced to return any unused items so they don't have an unfair advantage.

 

Side note: the starting point seems to be progressing steadily with each game (first one--not yet apprenticed, second one--just starting apprenticeship, third one--about halfway); maybe the fourth one will start with the Test.

 

5. Keyboard shortcuts for spells and combat, if not also for equipping items. Also, moving the Quick Spell/Item buttons to various letter keys (maybe ones in the upper row, which aren't really used) instead of the function keys would be great. Having to press the 'fn' button every time I want to heal is a nuisance.

 

6. Some way to store items, with in some sort of bank or a creation/companion that carries stuff. Having to drop my heavy Crystals or face severe encumberment and go back for them later is a pain.

 

One final note: playing as a human (instead of a Shaper) isn't very plausible unless you start, play, and end as a rebel because the Shapers have constistently guarded their power with extreme jealousy. If they found out that you, a measly human, were using their powers, they'd probably put a price on your head and/or send a small army to kill you.

[Dolphin]

I like the idea of being a human. The Shapers underestimate you, but you gain strength and wisdom and finally take the power that is their mighty Geneforge. It seems if you were a servile you would end up getting pushed around a lot. Also they can't use canisters, so it would almost be a guarantee that you wouldn't be using the Geneforge.

 

I would like to be able to shape living tools so I could stop carrying them all the time and mines for protection. That would be very useful.

[shell]

Quote:

One final note: playing as a human (instead of a Shaper) isn't very plausible unless you start, play, and end as a rebel because the Shapers have constistently guarded their power with extreme jealousy. If they found out that you, a measly human, were using their powers, they'd probably put a price on your head and/or send a small army to kill you.

Hold on a minute; we are now entering a time of war, and a very serious one at that. In an emergency people don't tend to be too particular about where help comes from. So if you are a non-shaper who saves the day, they will probably take you in, maybe declaring you a shaper ex-post-facto.

[JadeWolf]

More spells. More creations. More graphics. maybe more classes. More sects.

[Stormlord Windspire]

A servile would be possible.Heres how

 

A shaper tries crossing a human and a servile in hopes of producing a better worker.The result has a mind of its own.Running away it hides in a hidden canister store.As being part human lets it use canisters...HOLY COW YOU JUST GOT YA FIRST KILLER SERVILE!!!!

 

And drakons aren't greedy.They just take what they can WHEN they can!

 

But heres what I want if non-shapers fail

 

1)A change of Ornks.They could carry stuff for you and upon death drop meat for you

 

2)(optinal)

The Ability to make mountable creatures?

 

3)More creations

 

4)A Mage class?(bad at melee,good at magic,OK at shaping)

 

5)A class thats good at melee,ok in magic but rubbish at shaping?

 

6)(optinal)

A class thats not strong in anything but not weak at anything either?So overall.A balanced charactor?

 

P.S.Dragons like to gather wealth.Drakons and Drayks(being part-dragon themselves)

Are NO different!

[Eigenvalue]

I was always quite puzzled of the following thing:

for many years a young shaper apprentice trains

hard, memorizes lots of spells, does lots of routinely shores, blah, blah and blah, and then we start playing the game and in several months this youngster reaches the power to beat up everyone else around. This does not look very realistic in my mind.

 

What I would have liked, although this seems impossible to implement, while producing the same

satisfaction out of the game, is to start with a completely strengthwise and knowledgewise

grown individual who needs to save the world by going around, talking to people, killing stuff when necessary and making

intelligent choices throughout (and, yes, he has

heard of spawners and can shape gazers in the very beginning). Something like a

shaper from the shapers' council who has an enlightment...

 

Or, continuing with the stream of absolutely nonsensical ideals, a human karate master/gladiator/king's son (always nice to introduce somebody with connections)

who retired from the wars/pubs/women/men and

came to a deserted island he/she knows nothing

about and one day finds her favourite banzai tree/

wooden stick/weed plantation burned by a gazer/drakon/fiora. Since this was a sole memoty of a longtime dead grandmother, this person wants to get revenge and first finds the creature

and its owner making the last one pay for the damages. While looking for the owner he gets

in the midst of war between shapers, rebels, takers, blood-hungry serviles, drakons and genetically modified ornks, and... the revenge

list keeps getting longer and longer.

 

Having said this, I hope I am kept at least 10 miles away from designing GF4, when does it come out anyways?

[jeffdeboard]

one thing i would really like to see is cursor change when you are over a monser have the cursor change to a sword, and over yourself to a shield. something like that, or where the first time you click on a space you see a line/mark showing what you are going to do, so that you can change your mind (ie click on what you think is to attack a monster, and see if you are going to attack, or if you would just move to a new location). some way of seeing what the move you are going to do will actually do. i for one get tired of trying to attack a monster, and then accidentally moving next to the monster instead.

a icon shange for the cursor to a sword or spell icon or feet/legs for moving would really help.

[MacProject]

Since I am a quest completist, I would like to see the available quests list revamped a bit.

 

Specifically, keep current/open quests in bold or colored font. And when a quest is completed, don't remove it from the list, but rather mark it completed or in a faded font.

 

I like completing the various quests, but it does get hard to keep track of which one's I've completed since they disappear completely from the quest log once you finish them.

[bogus standard candidate]

*) A second ring, at least.

 

#) Be able to equip both missile and melee weapons.

 

!) More creatures, different creatures. It seems that this world is either bereft of nasty critters (outside of creations and shades, which some have been illegally shaped).

 

() It makes sense that we begin as a human, or servile. That way Jeff can keep up his leitmotiv of being amazed by the things we see (look a spawner, look a drakon!).

 

-) Not as much better dialogues (they're alright but could be improved), but make sure that we have dialogue choices according to our actions. An example: If I kill the Serviles in Stonespire, why can't I tell this to Agatha? Instead she goes hell bent on killing them all and the game acts as if she did. Other examples of this type exist in all three games.

 

%) It seems we're going back to a continent, but if we aren't and we'll have the same structure as GF3, then an easier way to retrace our steps to previous areas.

 

$) Shops where you can buy back what you sold.

 

^) More creations.

 

@) This is a pipe dream and will never, ever happen: be able to export characters to the next game.

 

)) Another pipe dream: be able to carry our plotline to the next game.

 

+) And yet another pipe dream: be able to start the game with a party of adventurers.

 

~) Ignore the last three.

[We Didn't Shard of Fire]

I want to see a new faction that has no incredible respect for Shapers, but is neutral towards them. Most human towns in GF2 and 3 were awed at Shapers, and expected them to solve anything in the blink of an eye. This new faction would say hi and treat you like anyone. But they would assume that they could solve all their problems without Shapers and just solve them. Because of this, they would flourish. They wouldn't trust you if you told them something along the lines of,"I am a Shaper, and you shall respect me and obey me for that." It wouldn't be like the Awakened, because the Awakened are convinced that they are equal to Shapers, but are unsure about Shaper thoughts on it. This faction would try to act equal, and not give a dang about what Shapers think about it, but be unsure if this is the way to go.

[shell]

Jeff worked hard on GF3 to create a scenario whereby nothing that the player did would have a huge impact on the next game, but I would like the results of this game to be carried over to the next, either way it was played. Perhaps somewhere near the beginning of the next installment, the player can choose how they wanted GF3 to turn out, perhaps just in the course of conversation. This will add a more significnt backstory, rather tahn just "well, some foggy stuff happened and here we are." I hope that makes sense!

[Silver Shadow]

Personally, I'd bet on the outsider human as the next main char.

[Dolphin]

I could see being an outsider human, but they have said they are unable to create life the way the Shapers can.

[JadeWolf]

More enemys. More items. A bigger game. More early training in creations, like in GF2, unlike in GF3.

[I_am_a_Minotaur]

i woudn't mind being an apprentice again if they had new classes like...

 

Mage Strong at magic ok at shaping ang horrible at fighting (wouldn't go along with me. I play as a guardian but increase my shaping skill big time)

 

Palidin Strong at fighting ok in magic bad at shaping

[Suspicious Vlish]

Quote:

I could see being an outsider human, but they have said they are unable to create life the way the Shapers can.

Really?

I know that the Sholai can use magic, and it is actually very similiar to shaper magic. I'm not sure about Shaping, though... I don't see why they couldn't. They are humans, and hence have no restrictions placed on them (like the Serviles have, who have been purposely created so that they couldn't shape/use magic. But even that failed).

[Faizah]

Quote:

Originally written by Dolphin:
I could see being an outsider human, but they have said they are unable to create life the way the Shapers can.

Didn't they create the spawners and turrets in geneforge 1? Weren't the turrets supposed to be difficult to make?

I should go play that again, actually...

As for improvements to GF4: How far can you 'improve' a game before it becomes a completely different game?

I really just hope that it is like the other Geneforge games, and runs on my clunky old computer.

EDIT: Isn't this question just a bit premature? Geneforge 3 isn't even out for windows yet.
And if anyone tells me to get a mac, they'd better be willing to pay for it.

[shell]

Quote:

Originally written by Waylander:

Quote:

I could see being an outsider human, but they have said they are unable to create life the way the Shapers can.

Really?

I know that the Sholai can use magic, and it is actually very similiar to shaper magic. I'm not sure about Shaping, though... I don't see why they couldn't. They are humans, and hence have no restrictions placed on them (like the Serviles have, who have been purposely created so that they couldn't shape/use magic. But even that failed).

It's not that the Sholai can't shape, it's that they can't do it legally. You know how jealous the Shaper's are in protecting their secret's; the Sholai in GF1 got the ability to shape by stealing Shaper secrets.

[Dolphin]

I wish I could say where I got that from, but I don't know, probably GF1.

 

In GF1 the Sholai were hiding in a cave where there were turrets, not the cave to the far east. Part of the dialogue was “you are living here with rouges.” They responded, “We don't bother them, and they don't bother us.” Keep in mind this was a Shaper island. The existing creations may or may not have been there before the Sholai arrived. They may have just tamed some of the more docile creations.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Dolphin:
I wish I could say where I got that from, but I don't know, probably GF1.

In GF1 the Sholai were hiding in a cave where there were turrets, not the cave to the far east. Part of the dialogue was “you are living here with rouges.” They responded, “We don't bother them, and they don't bother us.” Keep in mind this was a Shaper island. The existing creations may or may not have been there before the Sholai arrived. They may have just tamed some of the more docile creations.

The first time you see mines and turrets in GF1, I'm pretty sure you get a message saying they look like they were created recently.

[VCH]

More polish. GF3 did some really cool things. But perhaps not enough times. I want real cut scenes not just a walk up to some creature. Less stupid inventory system. Do I really have to click a letter to pick that up? More ways that a guardian could increase shaping skills for money. I usually don't shape but towards the end game that's because I have like level one in all shaping skills. I really like the cold isolated atmosphere of the isle of spears. Some Replication in GF4 would be cool. Portals, a new shaper creation would be sweet, perhaps between major cities. I now if the area is green that's basically what happens. But if you could take a portal far into unexplored lands it it would add an element of extreme exploration to the game.

G OUT.

[Drakefyre]

What problem do you have with the inventory system? I like it a lot, and what would you have instead of a letter to add an item to your inventory? We don't always want to pick up everything on the ground.

[Delicious Vlish]

The Shaper and the Guardian got a makeover, while the Agent, the most powerful godlike character in the game, got shafted. Same old same old.

 

That's what I want in G4. A better looking Agent.

[Slawbug]

Drakefyre-

as mentioned previously (I think in this thread, possibly in another) the complaints about inventory management are mostly about the *complete* lack of keyboard management *except* for picking up items. Given that GF3 pretty much encourages you to carry around various infiltrator items, etc., to switch on and off, it becomes a huge hassle to click move click, click move click five times before and after every door I want to jimmy. That said, for picking up items, once you get up to I and J it's hard to remember which key is which box and I've mistaken the j label for an i an awful lot of times. Click move click is very slow.

 

What I would envision might be a highlighted item box, which you move around with the arrow keys, and a small command set - d to drop, e to equip, and so on. It certainly wouldn't have to replace the clunky mouse movement, for those who appreciate it.

 

Of course, this is all nitpicking.

[Mikkyo]

they should make a geneforge online. where players can play with each other

[Harlequin]

i really really really want to play a servile

[Doctor Albert Halfmann]

Quote:

Originally written by Mikkyo:
they should make a geneforge online. where players can play with each other

Never going to happen. SW doesn't go there.

t Leonard the inability to shape would make the game mind-numbingly boring, I think. The ability to form a creation army is pretty much the only major element that distinguishes Geneforge from Exile/Avernum.

[mok]

It seems like all of you who want to play a servile or drakon or human instead of a human are missing the best excuse for doing so -- there's a war on people. GF1 and GF2 were both fairly isolated happenings. Sure, if you lived in the area or were part of the shaper council you heard about it, but otherwise?

 

But now we have an entire continent in flames! Everyone knows at least two things:

1) Shapers ARE NOT omnipotent. There are forces out there that can kick shaper-butt, or at least fight them at an equal level.

2) Creations can exceed the power of the shapers, think for themselves and create new creations. Indeed, the drakons can out-shape the shapers. (though not everyone knows that part).

 

So now we have a world where instead of growing up in fear/awe/respect of the shapers and their power, you grow up thinking, "eh, they're ok, but I really like those drakon fellas -- they're the top dogs (ornks?) as far as I'm concerned."

 

Now, as a human, you can go up to the drakons and say, "the shapers killed my parents! I want revenge! Make me your weapon!"

(or to the shaper council and say, "the drakons.... i want revenge and they'll never suspect me! give me some power and i'll take them out")

 

As a drakon, you can either just join your side and try to pacify the rest of the continent that hasn't been taken over yet, or you can see that the drakons have become just like the shapers and now it's time to change that and get rid of both sides and let people rule themselves (and drakons rule themselves, and shapers... etc) and everyone tries to get along.

 

(of course, just trying to write the dialogue for this would be amusing when you, as a drakon, walk into a shop to do a little trading --

drakon: "human, give me a GOOD price on that essence pod!"

human: "uggh..." *thunk* passes out.

drakon: "ok, i'll just take this, and this and ...."

 

* * * * * *

I'd actually like to start out as a shaper apprentice in occupied lands. Your mission is now to get to freedom by fighting back to "free territory" or overthrow the local Drakon lord OR make friends (the rebel line) with the local Drakon and help it to overthrow the Drakon lord on his border and become an assassin to try to take out the shaper council.

 

So now you can actually finish the war. You could either wipe out the shaper leadership and bring down the society from the top, or you could bring down the drakon ruler from where you start and then go after Ghaldring and wipe him out.

 

(and of course, GF5 can always have an new mighty drakon who was over on the Sholai continent which is, according to the one you meet in Rahul's place, a "long, dangerous journey away" across the sea.

 

Wow, I'm good. I just laid out the plot not for GF4, but for GF5 as well!

Jeff, if you need more help, just let me know.

[Eigenvalue]

In reply to Moc's idea of GF5 series, I propose the new project called "Geneforge Infinity". For a long time in the history of human race, an alien fleet from a galaxy far away for awaiting the final order to colonize the planet and to populate it with toxic-breeding plant forms, very valuable on inter-galactic trading market. When a human starship Voyager from a parallel universe crushes into the planet, the order finally comes. The geophysical cataclysisms due to the crash and to the initial stages of alien colonization produces hordes of mutations, in humans, shapers and dragons alike. And in the midst of all this crisis and chaos, a university student (I recommend myself as a prototype) needs to obtain his diploma and to get a job at the local shoe-polishing company. His dreams starts coming to life when one of seventeen survivors of Voyager offers him his protection and preparation material for the aerodynamics exam in exchange for the dangerous scouting mission deep into the enemy territory.

[VCH]

I just want an inventory system that allows a single click to pick an item up. That along with the current letter system would be great.