Mechalibur

I think there hasn't been a big call for a reputation guide since it's usually pretty clear which choice is pro-servile and which is anti-servile. And Darian can set your opinion to the threshold needed to join whatever faction you want. QW2 had your ending and the outcome of the final act depend on your reputation and had some dialogue options that were a lot less obvious.

My understanding is a "good" ending requires using, destroying, or letting Trajkov use the geneforge.

Here's my "headcanon" so to speak. Non-shapers who can cast magic are capable of using essence in their spells. Essence itself isn't what separates shaping from magic, it's the complications that arise when creating life out of only essence. The creations able to be shaped are the culmination of hundreds of years of Shaper collaboration and expertise. The Shapers have spent countless years determining the exact parts of each creature to incorporate into a creation's DNA and constantly iterate on existing creations. It's not something that can be replicated at random or by chance from someone unfamiliar with shaping arts, which is why non-Shapers don't develop shaping abilities outside of extraordinary circumstances (i.e. canisters or the Geneforge). Charging a spell with essence, on the other hand, isn't necessarily something that requires training - someone already familiar with magic might be able to master a spell using essence through dedicated training - raw blasts of magic require less precision than creating a living, functioning creation. This isn't really supported by anything in game, though.

I've been able to compensate for speed penalties on armor without too much trouble. The speed cap is 65 anyway (of which haste contributes 40!), so it's not unreasonable to get to or near the cap even with heavy armor on. My setup for torment was one person in plate armor in the front, and everyone else in light armor or robes. I think that torment multiplies damage taken *after* accounting for armor damage reduction, so even on torment, I've had the frontline character able to completely block weapon attacks with their armor.

I'm also assuming all the backer artifacts from G1 will return (Queen's Wish 2 included backer artifacts from the first game, so we have precedence!). By the time we hit G5, we're going to have more artifacts than we know what to do with. I can see it hitting 80k, Kickstarters tend to get a large boost in the last few days. However, since we ran out of the high price backer options, I don't think it will be as big of a boost as some Kickstarters end up getting toward the end.

The Geneforge 5 protagonist is actually an unsubtle metaphor for Abraham Lincoln.

I agree with more diverse upgrades for creations. Battle Alphas and Battle Betas having identical skillsets is disappointing. I don't think they need to be wildly different or anything, but I'd appreciate something even relatively small like replacing their leap with an AoE attack.

It's an interesting parallel, for sure, although I also don't think it was intentionally meant as a metaphor for Afghanistan specifically. Regarding the sad ending: it's worth noting the Queen's Wish series it the most connected narrative between sequels that Jeff has done before, as well as the only one that carries over the protagonist from game to game. Having the end of the second be a low point makes sense from the perspective of a powerful Game 3 climax. I know the series isn't the most popular of Spiderweb's, but this is probably my favorite Spiderweb game narratively. I'm not against happy endings or anything, but I like them better when they feel earned.

I'm pretty excited! I think "Battle Shaping" should probably be changed to "Weapon Shaping" or "Combat Shaping" since it's already, you know, an existing school of shaping.

Zackary sucks, but Rawal is definitely the worst offender for me. Especially since you're not supposed to kill him.

I meant in terms of gameplay rewards, not morality.

Considering how high damage gets in the higher difficulties, I'm often replacing my team anyway. Definitely encourages changing up my team more often than in the originals.

If I remember correctly, getting augmented by Tuldaric doesn't change your stats or anything, it just expands the spells he's willing to teach you. Which is nice, but I think the Barzites/Takers could teach you most of those spells as well. It's been a while so I could be wrong, though.

They're way better in Mutagen simply by virtue of creations no longer levelling up from exp. On torment I was struggling with this one fight where as soon as you open up a gate a bunch of ghosts spawn in and immediately attack. Then I tried just siccing a bunch of pyroroamers at them and the chain-death explosions took out pretty much all of them.

I don't mind how it's set up in Mutagen. +1 level for +1 level's sake is pretty good already, since level affects damage, hp, and accuracy. Still, I do like your idea. Having a locked skill that's only available when you hit 3 points in that creation could be interesting.

In general, I would like to see a bit more reason to join the Awakened, and have the Loyalists fleshed out a bit. I think the Loyalist and Awakened intentionally gave fewer rewards since they were a lot easier to join, though.

Some areas aren't really meant to be assaulted head-on, like the bridges. While you certainly can beat them with the right character, there are usually alternative paths through less dangerous areas.

You don't need that many levels. My latest torment character ended at level 18. I think airshock is very good, even for shapers. The stun chance is the same regardless of how many points you have in battle magic. The base damage is also perfectly acceptable even if you don't have a bunch of bonuses. Dominate is probably even more useful though.

No. Bite is strength, the ice blast (and Swoop and Ice Breath) are based on magic.

Yeah I've heard others mention it doesn't actually seem to check difficulty. Oh well, free achievement, I guess 😛

Sure. I just don't wanna. 😅

It's not a traditional gem puzzle like the others. You're supposed to hit specific squares in a specific order. There's a clue you can get in the Geld Nas quest line that tells you which to press.

There's also the pleasedontsteal cheat if a lot of your stone loss in coming from theft.

I assume it's human enemies belonging to the Kranas/Lithia/Dhaga. I don't really have a reliable way to test that for sure, though.