Best geneforge game?

[Mallux]

Now with the geneforge series finally coming to an end, which do you think was the best game in the series? And do you think geneforge 5 did well ending this massive saga?

[Lingti]

I played geneforge 4 first, and the guilt i felt when i lead all of the serviles to their deaths was incredible. It drew me in straight away.

 

Trying to work out the big secret, and the general feeling of mystery in many areas of Geneforge 1 was also really really good.

 

I don't have any really strong feelings for 2, and greta and alwan were just far too annoying, and experience thieves in Geneforge 3. I haven't played 5 yet.

 

If they all had the same graphics and interface, i'd be tempted to say 1, but am not sure. Sorry for my Krykk like answer

[Feo Takahari]

So far I love the original best, because it's so open-ended, but I may change my mind if and when I buy the final game--it sounds really cool. G3 was my least favorite, for fairly standard reasons about lack of choice and the annoying island system and yada yada yada. G4 was pretty good, and G2 wasn't bad either.

 

P.S. Suddenly realized something: G1 was the only game in the series where you could play a "good guy" and not get creamed. I didn't kill anyone who wasn't canister-mad or genocidal, and consequently I had a lot more fun, even if I wasn't "enlightened" much.

[Paladin95]

Haven't yet played G5 (PC'er), but G1 and G2 are the best, IMO. Both let you powergame effectively, stay loyal to a given sect (even the weakest alignment is winnable), or stay totally independent. Island hopping in G3 is annoying, but I also don't like the introduction of the ultimate rebel-loyalist choice. G4 is my favorite to play with solo characters, but the comparative lack of variety and the fact that "secret" actions somehow make the damaged party like you less are turn offs. They're all awesome games, just not quite equally so.

[Dikiyoba]

Dikiyoba hasn't played G5 yet, but G1 is the best of the other four.

[Serene Tempest]

GF 5, with GF 1 as a close second. They both had very strong plots, a wide range of paths for which reasonable arguments could be made, and well-balanced gameplay. GF 5 had better opening music though.

 

Edit: I should mention that I skipped GF 3 as I had too much work at the time, and because I felt that GF 2 had been a little lackluster compared to 1. But, happily, the GF 4 demo sold me on giving the series a second chance.

[Danny the Fool]

GF3 was the reason why I never even tried GF4. I did try (and buy) GF5 mostly due to the much improved UI. Recently, I went and downloaded the GF4 demo, but I haven't gone very far yet. It seems much better than GF3 so far, but the UI feels clumsy now that I've seen GF5, and doesn't work very well with a widescreen display anyway. So my favourite is easily GF5.

 

That said, I'd probably buy a GF1-4 compilation with the UI of GF5. (Like that will happen...)

[Ohtar]

GF5, followed by GF1. GF1 felt like it had more rewards for exploration aside from loot or artifacts, which never really appeal to me in spiderweb games. GF5 is just amazingly done. GF2 and GF4 were ok, but 2 felt like it was just GF1 redux (now with more factions) and GF4 felt constrained oddly. GF3 had good endings but getting there was torturous.

[Uberdhizon]

I didn't much mind schlepping my creations around from island to island in GF3, but there just weren't enough factions.

[othersean]

5, 2, 4, 3 -- I'm not sure about 1. G3 was just painful, with its island-schlepping and forced faction choice. I bought the full version of G2 first, and the G1 UI felt too clunky after getting used to G2's improvements. If G1-G4 were ported to G5's engine as someone above suggested, I would probably buy the set to finally play G1 through.

 

One thing I liked best about G5 and G2 was the freedom to sneak ahead into areas that would totally destroy you to either grab stuff or just see what lay ahead. I hate getting somewhere only to find that long ago I should have kept item X or not killed enemy Y. This kind of scout-then-return-in-force gameplay prevents a lot of that.

[kaspian]

I liked G2 best. For a couple of reasons.

 

1. I could strongly identify, emotionally, with the Awakened faction. They appealed to my hippie, can't-we-all-get-along temperament.

 

2. The design of the map board -- basically a big circle with a few crucial passages between faction-dominated zones -- made it possible to play in game in a variety of ways. You could, for instance, ignore the Awakened in the NE and plunge directly into the more challenging territory of the SW. You could game the factions (as I think you can in GF5, though I haven't tried it yet), switching from one alliance to another and maxing out on all the goodies.

[Txgangsta]

I played the G2 first, and it is the best.

 

It gave me the info about serviles and everything, and gave me a shock when they had secret cities of their own. I then played G1 and it too was amazing. All the history stuff in G2 came alive when I backtracked. I played both of them multiple times, getting every ending availible, and every secret passage trekked.

 

G3 was the worst. But it had to be there as a prelude to G4.

 

G4 was unique, as it was finally an actual war. It also had my personal favorite faction introduced, Trakovites.

 

G5 has the Trakovites as an actual faction, and who can argue with that? I get to see my ending!

 

In order:

G2,G1,G5,G4,G3

[Kalkin]

I liked the GF1 best. In fact I just finished it again yesterday. I always use the Geneforge and get my own empire. All the sequals have been a disappointment, because the best the character can get is lots of canisters and a high position. He never gets to be the leader of his own thing, but ends up as a servant (albeit a high ranking one) for others. In GF1 the player could use the power given by Geneforge to forge his own fate. Later Geneforges could never match up to that ending. Even in GF2 barzaite ending the player ended up as just one of many.

 

IMHO Jeff should really make one more GF-game: 'Geneforge: Return to Sucia island'. Sort of a nostalgic closing the circle-thingy.

 

Here's the background story: A sect of shapers (Neo-barzaites) decides that since the cat is out of the bag and canisters are widely awailable, there's no longer any reason to try to suppress the self-shaping of shapers. So they sneak to the island and secretly prepare to make one last Geneforge - the best and strongest of all that can finally give shapers the raw power to defeat all rebels. As they make final adjustments a newly appointed Shaper/lifecrafter on his way to continent gets caught in a storm and crashes into the shores of Sucia island. He starts to explore the island in hope of finding a new boat to take him home. He finds out that many factions have found out about the Neo-barzaite scheme and send attack forces to take the island. Little does he know that events on Sucia island shall change the world once more as it becomes scenery of the last chapter of the great war as all the factions send forces to capture/complete/destroy the last Geneforge. As the shaper/lifecrafter joins in the conflict he has to journey through the familiar landscape. Finally he shall reach the Geneforge and has to decide, what happens to it. The final victory belongs to whomever controls the Geneforge (the genuine shaper made Geneforge, not some drakon hackjob).

 

Of course the player can then use the Geneforge himself, destroy all other factions and rule the world himself.

[The Ratt]

I think your idea has possibility to it, but is just too hard to arrange canonically. It may make sense if it the shapers had defeated the rebels in western terrestria and the rebels had fled to Sucia to make the geneforge. the factions could be traditional shapers, peace-seeking Shapers, Trakovites, Human rebels that don't want to use the Geneforge, and Human/Drakon rebels that do want to use the geneforge. It could be an interesting story.

[Ouroboros]

How about you just write it as a fanfiction?

[Paladin95]

Quote:

Here's the background story: A sect of shapers (Neo-barzaites) decides that since the cat is out of the bag and canisters are widely awailable, there's no longer any reason to try to suppress the self-shaping of shapers. So they sneak to the island and secretly prepare to make one last Geneforge - the best and strongest of all that can finally give shapers the raw power to defeat all rebels. As they make final adjustments a newly appointed Shaper/lifecrafter on his way to continent gets caught in a storm and crashes into the shores of Sucia island. He starts to explore the island in hope of finding a new boat to take him home. He finds out that many factions have found out about the Neo-barzaite scheme and send attack forces to take the island. Little does he know that events on Sucia island shall change the world once more as it becomes scenery of the last chapter of the great war as all the factions send forces to capture/complete/destroy the last Geneforge. As the shaper/lifecrafter joins in the conflict he has to journey through the familiar landscape. Finally he shall reach the Geneforge and has to decide, what happens to it. The final victory belongs to whomever controls the Geneforge (the genuine shaper made Geneforge, not some drakon hackjob).

I second the motion. It doesn't necessarily require a rebel defeat in Western Terrestria, since there's no evidence that the rebels control or even monitor Sucia. I'm just not sure which G5 ending(s) could allow for this to be plausible.

[Blurb]

G1 was the most heart-rending and compelling of the stories because of the abandonment theme. It was a great story!

 

I'd like to see a prequel. Not my idea, as I've seen it mentioned here a couple of times. I think it would be awesome to have a what-led-to-the-abandonment story. It would be a return to simpler creations. No wingies, no rots. Maybe your first creation would be a fighting rat or an ornk.

[Lattan]

Geneforge 1 undeniably has the best plot; in terms of gameplay mechanics presumably Geneforge 5 wins (though I dunno; I'm just now finishing G4 due to a computer crash long ago).

Why the best plot? Well, it's a completely new world you're discovering, as both the character and the player. Later games where you introduce the character to game mechanics that the player already knows about get tedious. Exploring was a lot more rewarding than in later games because it wasn't just for loot (which I generally turn into boring gold) but told you more about the history of this banned island, and of the Shapers and their history as a whole.

And, perhaps most importantly for me:

Originally Posted By: feo takahari

G1 was the only game in the series where you could play a "good guy" and not get creamed.

I really like a lot of the thought processes that Geneforge 4 subjects you to (if you actually pick sides morally), but it's killing me that I can't play as a good guy. Either I prop up a corrupt regime or I help set up a new regime that is already corrupt and will kill the entire world, or I create a stalemate guaranteeing the death by violence of a great portion of the world's population. That's just icky.

[jlsgaladriel]

Quote:

in terms of gameplay mechanics presumably Geneforge 5 wins (though I dunno...)

For the most part it does, but I do miss the keyboard targeting the older games have. Otherwise g5 has the better interface: certainly inventory management is hands-down better than the older games, and the shopping interface is likewise also better.

(I guess I'm just lazy, but if I'm on the keyboard to cast, say, charm (the eighth mental spell, 'h') -- mh -- I'm happy to stay on the keyboard to target character a or b -- mha -- rather than move back to the mouse.)

[Dikiyoba]

Meh. I'm probably the only one, but I like G1 and G2's inventory system (though not the encumbrance system) far better than the one in G3-G5 (I'm assuming G5's is basically the same). I like to loot everything and horde it all in a stash somewhere. It takes more effort to do that under the new system.

 

Dikiyoba.

[Lilith]

What? It's much easier to loot things under the new system, now that carrying a bunch of stuff doesn't encumber you. What other aspects of the inventory system were changed?

[Acky]

Master Archon = I have to say G4 is my favorite. It's got the best plot than the other 3(I've got windows).

 

Ackrovan = Naw, G2. Most choices and most replay value.

 

Dikiyoba, stop sniffing the canisters.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Thuryl

What other aspects of the inventory system were changed?

The old inventory moved things up automatically, so you didn't have to move your mouse around quite so much to sell things or throw them on the ground. They were organized automatically too (though granted, not very well), so things were easy to toss into separate piles. Really trivial things, but they added up.

Dikiyoba.