Blxz

Not everything in the real world has a nice diplomatic option that solves everything. Lankan frustrated me to no end and I love his character for that. I loathe him at the same time and it frustrates me that killing him brings such censure from the shapers too. This is grey area done right. Sadly from about that point on the game loses more and more grey area until we end up with G5 which is a game in which everyone can win. I mean, I literally went in and caused a mass genocide at the end of that game and got a pretty bloody good game ending. G1 and G2 had a lot more grey area, at least in my misty memory they did (likely not that much in practice).

I always felt there should be more of these. This is one of the most dangerous people on the entire continent and yet he is strangely lax with disobedient hands, especially ones that answer his first question in the games in a pretty self serving manner.

I've always found it funny that the hardest bosses in all sorts of games tend to drop good equipment. I mean, after beating the toughest challenge what the hell would I need that equipment for?

Although I might regret wading into the paragraph slinging match I did want to comment on the dog sentience thing. Alhoon, you are correct that many dogs fail the mirror test. They have designed a smell test version though and they think, with a high degree of certainty, that most dogs pass the 'smell mirror' test and are able to recognise a sense of self when their urine is sprayed by the researchers in unfamiliar places.

This thread just has so many wordy answers. Are you not able to present your thoughts concisely?

I find the record button rarely is relevant in the more recent games because there are extra places to find information if you forget. (this is a good thing) The only time I have found it to be very useful is during geneforge games when you occasionally stumble onto secret recipes and things like that. Recording the recipe for future can save some time and effort trying to remember it.

This is one of those situations where someone on your own side just argues so badly that they nearly make you change sides. Florence, you are that someone today.

Still reading it. It's sitting there at about 2/3 finished. And your spoiler.....ohh your spoiler.....

Wow. The paragraphs just got longer and longer. I haven't kept up. Although it seems at this point you seem to be going back and forth.

Have you ever wondered what stops you from writing a document that states you are the all powerful authority and everyone should listen to what you say? The ability to enforce it. In this world the 'magocracy' essentially exists because there are a bunch of people able to enforce the constitution/laws/whatever binds them together. Without some sort of power behind the government it wouldn't exist. And in a world where mages and shaping abilities exists you simply cannot divorce that from power. Either they need to be in control or someone who controls and wields them needs to be in control. Short of another power (like guns) existing there is no way to separate out the magocracy part of it.

It is so odd with you playing the games in reverse. You are watching society stitch itself back together (rather than slowly unravel) but you have the knowledge of what happens later on to cloud your judgement. Or I suppose to give you a unique perspective. It's just so odd, the first genuine shaper you've encountered happens to be one of the weakest most pathetic shapers in the entire series. He is also the one responsible for trying to win you away from the rebel cause. Either way, you mentioned the social contract where the shapers protect and the people serve in exchange for that protection. There are times though when resources are stretched thin. This happens in our own world during times of war, natural disasters, etc. Now imagine a massive act of terrorism in the real world, an act unprecedented and in a location inadequately prepared to defend and isolated enough that it might well take weeks or months to get a message to the authorities and get them to bring back up. It is not unreasonable that the authorities might lose a bit of local power but in the interest of controlling the situation and avoid mass riots, death, starvation, etc. they try and prevent the situation getting worse until backup arrives. This is how I view Diyawania. Despite all his flaws he is maintaining the situation as is his job and as is the law.

To my knowledge the first two islands have virtually no effect on the game. They seem to be part of the build up towards making the real choices form island 3 and onwards. I'll be honest and say that I've only completed the game once and the second half of the game is a blur but I've done those first 2 islands extensively while testing different builds. How is G3 going? Do you have either of the two party members tagging along with you? I remember in my early plays I'd basically chosen a side and didn't have the other npc join me. However, it can give you some great insight to have them both tag along. There are a number of points where each one can speak out and sometimes they speak to each other if you have both. Worthwhile watching the growth and change in each character. (if only I'd known how important they would turn out to be in later games)

I noticed on the other thread you posted that you have already bought the game. As you are now aware they are exactly the same game regardless of platform. While I'm keen to support developers who make great content (by buying on their website for full price) it is important that the market drive the purchasing actions of the masses. If that involves buying the product elsewhere for a lower price then by all means, go for it.

Lankan doesn't want a solution. That is what turned me off him. To be fair though you really don't have that information until you've played through all the alternatives across a number of different attempts at the game. What wins me over to Diyawania is what happens if you kill Lankan and make his problem 'disappear'. He gets seriously pissed at you for doing the wrong thing. Diya is trying to hold the island together. He lacks the power to stop everything and so is working his best to keep the situation under control and his people protected. That involves keeping them from going out into the swamps and his methods are poorly communicated (combined with the lay persons assumption that shapers are all-powerful) and so there is resentment building at what they see as inaction. In the end though he has no desire to assault and destroy the 'rebels' with Lankan and is seeking a peaceful resolution. Lankan doesn't want that resolution due to pride and what appears to be a distinct lack of insight and awareness.

You are seeing the evil, the darkness. Purge the rebel. Keep going further back into the bowels of history. Geneforge 2, geneforge 1. The 'rebels' are worse there even if they go by a different name.

I'll be calling you ThricebornOtter in my head from now on.

So buy it then. If you think the price is right then now is clearly a good chance. What are you waiting for? A special here on this website?

I really wasn't aware there was enough of value in the first dungeon to fill up two or three characters worth of inventory slots. You do realise that many items (including basic daggers, etc) have no value. When you mouse over an item it will say the value of the item. It this value number is not written my understanding is that the item has no value. (All basic items like tunics, daggers, pants, etc) Not to mention the junk items like plates, rocks, jugs, and so on and so forth. Leave them on the ground where they belong.

She attacked my character and by extension me personally. I have a deep grudge that resulted in me releasing a virus that killed every single creation. Blame Litalia.

I appreciate that you are responding to changes and I don't want to be a whiner. However, have you considered something else to make Shamans a little more interesting? Something as simple as a reduced cooldown on their healing abilities so that they can more reliably heal a party - the tradeoff being that they will obviously chew through vitality. Currently the cooldown seems too long so that they tend to lose some of their 'supporty-ness' when I can only heal so rarely. The other issue was what I mentioned earlier in the thread. Enemy immunity to their attack type. I lack the experience with Av3 shamans so take this with a grain of salt, but previous iterations of Avadon (especially the Av1 Redbeard fight) turned me off their damage output. Since their support is also so lacklustre I am left wondering why I wouldn't put a (much) more competent class in one of the very limited party slots instead.

Does this mean that you think a patch is possible or even likely?

Ahh Shamans. Already the least reliable (and for me, least interesting) class. If anyone deserved a buff it was the Shaman class. I can safely say they have gone from "I swear I'll bring a shaman this time. It'll switch things up and make it more interesting" and changed to "Ahh, so we are back to 4 different class choices again". At the very least has Jeff changed what felt like an absurd number of enemies that seemed to resist their standard attack?

Good to hear. I'd all but given up. Looking forward to next week.

Is it a laptop or something? My first thought is 'integrated graphics' which can be a problem for anything that requires significant graphical power. No idea if Avadon 3 fits into the 'significant' category but if you can't find a graphics card then that is the first thing that would come to my mind.

The picture of the character works for me. There are very few characters comparatively and each one looks significantly different to the others on their screens. Within a few minutes you should be familiar with them enough to recognise them at a glance. The actual names of the classes are mightily irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.