Dragonboy

The best part about Exile 1 was not that there was a branching storyline, the story is basically the same no matter how you play it, but that the game gave you freedom to do whatever you want at any time that you want. Want head to the magical center of Exile in the beginning? Hop on down south. Feel up to some dragon killing now? Take your pick, we've got five (well, as long as you don't kill them to early). Take a hike into the scary abyss or bumble around the honeycomb. Want to get revenge on the Empire at long last? Go ahead, or just spend time with the GIFTS. I actually like JRPGs but I'm a bit disappointed that Jeff's going in that direction.

Daze is pretty overpowered in G3, working on pretty much everyone (besides the undead and turrets) straight through the third island. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Chapter 9: Fight fight fight!!! “I don’t like being exposssed like thisss,” Sss-Sesh muttered angrily as they stared at the four distant figures drawing closer through the marsh. “Well, neither do I but i’m not whining about it,” Adras said as he rolled his eyes. “When you find a hiding spot around here let me know,” he said sarcastically as he swept his hand around the expanse around them. Right in front of them was a marsh and behind them was an open plain, neither of which seemed to offer any sort of strategic advantage. “He’s taking his time,” Frrrrr muttered. Indeed, the approaching man with his monsters were approaching toward them at an unhurried pace. “Just what are those things?” Lorlei asked. “You haven’t seen flying squid before?” Adras asked while rolling his eyes. “I’m more worried about those… whatever they are things,” Lorlei said pointing at the lumbering white giants. Sss-Anes squinted. “I don’t know. They look like sssome sssort of mutated giants.” “But what’s with that one?” Lorlei asked, pointing at the monster that they hadn’t see before. It looked like the other white giant but it was bigger and seemed to be pumped full of energy. It almost seemed like it was disintegrating from it’s own massive power. “I don’t know, but it’sss probably our most dangerousss opponent after the Human.” The man, along with his three monsters finally stepped out of the marsh and onto dry land. He was only 120 feet away now and he didn’t pause for a moment. He showed no sign of attacking, yet anyway. “Fredrick…” Sss-Sesh muttered. “Major Blessing!” Fredrick shouted. “Bless Party!” Lorlei cried after him. Power flooded through the six of them. “Take out the human firssst!” Sss-Sesh hissed just before he charged with his halberd held high with Adras at his side. Frrrrr cocked his Fury Crossbow behind, aiming to put a bolt in the man who was walking behind the giant-like creature. As they rushed forward, hasted, the bigger giant moved. It moved so fast that Sss-Sesh didn’t even realize what had happened. All he saw was a blur of a missile streaking past him. It streaked past him and struck Lorlei in the forehead. She was thrown back by the force and landed in a crumpled heaped. “Lorrlei!” Frrrrr cried as turned to stare at her. It was a mistake to divert his attention, as the flying squid took that moment to send him a blast of magic. Frrrrr ducked under the magic bolt. “Damn you!” Andras cried as he struck the giant who had taken out Lorlei with both of his blades. The blades nearly ricocheted off of the tough’s giants skin. The giant, moving faster than any creature he had ever seen, took a swipe a Andras. Luckily for him, Sss-Sesh was there, moving almost as fast as the giant, and struck the giant with his Black Halberd. It sunk it in deep into its mid-section. The creature roared but remained standing. Meanwhile, Frrrrr was trying to find a open shot at the cloaked man but with the vlish throwing magic bolts at him and the other giant rushing forward he found it impossible. Fredrick was leaning over Lorlei, trying to heal her with whatever Priest spells he knew and Sss-Anes was busy finishing her own spell. Sss-Sesh yanked out his halberd with a twist and raised it to strike it to again. The giant batted an arm at him and forced Sss-Sesh to take a step back although Andras hit it twice as it did so. Sss-Sesh gritted his teeth and stepped forward to deliver a powerful, and hopefully final, blow on the creature in front of him. That was when everything went to hell. The cloaked man hadn’t been wasting his time sitting on his laurels while his monsters fought for him. He had been casting a spell. And when it was done, he raised his arms and let it loose. The flames were immensely powerful and everywhere. Frrrrr crumpled to the ground from the intense flames, while Sss-Sesh, who was wearing a ring of resistance, and Andras, who wore a ring of fire resistance, were merely burnt and stunned. Fredrick got hit with the tail end of the spell, which forced him to cancel his spell. Sss-Anees was far enough away that the flames didn’t reach her. As the flames faded, the giant struck Sss-Sesh who was too stunned to get out of the way. It blasted him through the air. Adras cried out in rage and struck at the giant, inflicted a sizeable wound, but was then but down permanently by a powerful Ice Bolt from the cloaked man. Frrrr, still alive, tried to get up to his feet, but the squid thing finally hit him with one of its powerful bolts, killing him. Fredrick, slightly stunned, found himself facing a charging giant. He cringed as he raised his hand to cast, knowing he’d be too slow. And he was, if only by half-a-second. The giant smashed him into the ground with it’s powerful fist. It raised its arms to strike a fatal blow. There was a hiss of laughter in the air. “Death Arrowsss,” muttered Sss-Anees with a wicked smile. Eight blue bolts struck the giant all at once, blowing it off its feet. “Ssstill alive?” she said as she stared at the fallen giant. It was barely moving after her attack. “You’re a tough creature,” she said as she raised her hands to finish it off. A rock came soaring at her and struck her in the chest, she stumbled back for a moment. She smiled and straightened up, unhurt. “You’ll have to better than that,” she hissed amusedly. The cloak man sent an Icy Bolt at her. It merely bounced off of her. The cloaked man paused to stare at her. “You have no idea with who you are messsssing with, do you,” Sss-Anees laughed. She was glowing with power. She raised her hands to unleash a torrent of power. “Allow me to ssshow you!” Out of the blue, a magical bolt struck her. It had come from the squid thing. Suddenly, Sss-Anees felt sluggish. That creature had blasted away her Haste status away with one bolt. She frowned, her arms upraised in mid-air, momentarily at a loss. The cloaked mage used that opportunity to cast a spell. Energy, shaped like shackles, surrounded Sss-Anees. Sss-Anees hissed. She felt the shackles slowing her down further. Her whole body felt incredibly sluggish now. She knew she needed to Haste herself and began casting Haste. The squid-like thing struck again as she almost finished casting. She felt so sluggish that she wasn’t even able to brace herself against the bolt and she found herself crashing to the ground, unhurt in everything except her pride. “Damn it,” she hissed as she struggled to rise to her feet. Her Avatar spell wouldn’t last too long at this rate. She looked up as she got up. The giant, the bigger one, was bearing down upon her and she was too slow to do anything about it. It punched her into the ground, causing Sss-Anees to wince even though it caused no pain. It then picked her up and tried to squeesh her to death. Sss-Anees snarled. It couldn’t hurt her for now, but she had no chance. Her Avatar spell would fade soon and she felt so sluggish she couldn’t get off more than a spell or two before that happened, assuming it even let her. Instead of fighting a futile fight, she used her energy to curse the cloaked man. “Damn you! Who are you? Ssshow your face coward! I will make you pay for thisss!” The cloaked man was unmoved. The giant increased the strength of its grip. Sss-Anees winced, she could feel the Avatar spell wearing off. “I will kill you! I ssswear it,” she roared. She winced again, she just knew it was going to hurt. “Jussst who are you, Bassstard!” she hisssed. The cloaked man was still for a moment. He finally peeled away his hood. Long black hair fell down. The hood revealed a very pale face that, oddly, was faintly glowing along with glowing red eyes. The face looked barely human, but it was definitely human and definitely female. She stared at Sss-Anees in utter contempt. She spoke just five words to her. “Alana, the name is Alana.” Sorry, this one took awhile. I was busy with other stuff. And the next one should take even longer. We'll see if I ever finish this.

Pokeforge, gotta Shape them all! Fyora is evolving! Congratulations! Fyora evolved into Cyora!

Well, their actual mascot Spider died years ago. http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/misc/jvogel.html Maybe she denied Jeff using her name postmortem.

"Okay that's it! You're Spider A, you're Spider B, you're Spider C, you're Spider D, you're Spider E and you can be Fred! Now! Which one of you is the Spider Chief!?" (A moment of silence.) "You're cute." "This is ANN, Avernum's News Network, and I'm Amyee. This just in; A gruesome massacre has occurred just now in the GIFTS Cave several miles west of Fort Draco. Details are sketchy right now but one thing is for certain, these caves we call home just became a little saner."

Sounds good, but which one of them is the Spider Chief?

You mean Tor right? He also appears in e2 near the beginning. I would count him as memorable. I would think he could be an inclusion.

Um, I already agreed with that in the above post. Also, the graphics seem a bit... clunkier. Oh, man, you're going to hate G2 and G1, then. G3 is actually a huge graphical improvement over G2-- the biggest difference by far between one Geneforge game and its immediate successor. I mean, you think G3 has "clunky" graphics? I'd agree with this but man do I hate the G3 Guardian graphic. I way prefer the original one.

Looking at this https://en.wikipedia...lavery_timeline I find that Russia freed 23 Million serfs in 1861, about 36 percent of their population. A little Google search tells me the US had 4 million slaves in 1860 before the Civil War, or about 12% of the population. I dunno how integral 36% percent of their population was to their economy but I assume it was significant. That said, as Alhoon pointed out, it was the time of industrialization. It made slavery slip to the wayside as people had less of a need to own slaves and so their outlook on things changed. Industrialization is something Geneforge does not have and so yes, I agree serviles are a much bigger pickle than slaves were in the mid 19th Century. (Although I got say, a Geneforge sequel game that would take place in 2015esque year, with all the attendant technological advances we have, piques my interest.) And yes serfs are not the same as slaves but neither had real rights. I didn't mean you could talk Alwan or Greta to go away, sorry if it came off that way. I meant you can give them the wrong response when they talk to you, which will prompt them to give you a scowl or something along those lines. And wow, I didn't know that you could go back to the Shapers on the fourth isle. Learn something knew about the game every time. Also, it would seem apparently that you can get rid of both of them if there's a speech for isle 3 and 4. But Matt P's most excellent FAQ on GameFaqs on Geneforge 3 confirms my comment about alienating one them all the way on isle 2. Maybe there is a check on isles 2.3 and 4? Edit: You sniped me Triumph. I'll get you next time.

I'm not sure you can alienate both permanently, although to be sure you can still tick off the other one off by giving contradicting answers. I do think it's the end of the second isle not third.

Agree totally alhoon but You can take them until just before the third island but that's it. And yeah, Litalia is awesome.

True, in the US slavery ended by a war but was it necessary? Other countries did not have to go to war to do this. The UK did it without a war,and did it even before the US, and I'm certain hosts of other countries did the same. It is pretty obvious that even without the Civil War slavery would've ended anyway as the world was turning in that direction. Do you really think that the Confederates would still have slavery in 2015? There is no western power that has slavery today and the Confederates would? I must strongly state though, I do not mean the Civil War was wrong. It ended slavery in 1865 in the US, which actually should've ended even earlier in 1776. That is a great and tremendous thing for which Americans should be proud. It's just that we have to wonder by just how much years did it shorten things and at the cost of what. Was the Civil War worth the price paid? I heard arguments for yes and arguments for no. Both have enough of a valid argument that I'm hesitant to decide who, in our narrow hind-sight view of history, is really right.

The rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire would prove my point that it is possible. The Roman Empire rode hard upon the Christians, murdering them, but in the end it became the defacto religion without a full-fledged war. Ideas spread and they can even topple Empires if they spread far enough. Again, not saying that the Rebellion is wrong just that it could be and it would've been nice if they at least tried for something less destructive. I'm not saying to go full Awakened but at least try!

There is that one time Garzahd speaks to you in A1/E1. He promises to bring hell down to Avernum/Exile. A quality conversation to be sure. Also he does speak to you in AEftP but I guess that was also about murder, just not his.

I don't think anyone would argue that the Drakons themselves are really any better the Shapers. I agree with Elyssaen. Say what you will about the Shapers, they managed to keep the peace for a very long time and power hungry fellows always manage to worm their way through the woodwork so I can't blame them for that. One thing bothers me about the whole Rebellion, and that's the bloodiness of it. Not all change has to be made through bloodshed, the Black Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement prove this. We've seen plenty of humans that feel for the creations and even a few Shapers. A grassroots campaign for creation rights might've done the trick over time. Instead, we have a bloody war that wrecks practically the entire continent. The Rebel's releasing the unbound does it for me. They'd rather wreck hell on earth for everyone instead of trying to find a more peaceful solution. Perhaps it really was the only way to get what they wanted, Shapers certainly aren't very flexible with their ideals, but the lack of trying for peaceful solution bothers me. Slarty, which G1 ending are you referring to?

Zaego I didn't mean all Crystal Souls have no point, I just meant that with those three in particular you didn't have much interaction. Given Slatry previous post though, I would most definitely concede that the three Crystal Souls fit into his list as they are indeed a major plot point in the game.

Awh, you can't have just one can you... The answer I believe is five or six. People start giving you comments at that point, so that should tip you off you've had too much.

True, but I think the fact that Slarty bundled them up together in the first place shows that they are not really important characters. Actually, it could be argued that any grouped characters listed above are unimportant by the very fact they were bundled up instead of getting their own entry. After all, I could group a lot of these characters under one entry like Avadon's Companions. On the other hand maybe it's just Slarty make the list easier to understand.

I would also agree to exclude the Black Shades, as they lack any real character, but I would also think to exclude the three captured Crystal Souls. I mean, they're important to the plot but not in of themselves. That is to say, their entire purpose was just to be the object a fetch quest. After the fetch quest they pretty much become irrelevant and your actual interaction with them is limited. They could've just as well have been three pretty soulless crystals that the Vahanati wanted back and the quest still would've felt the same.

Heh, I remember that ending. It is funny that the worst ending was the hardest to get.

Chapter 8: A familiar face. “I think they went that-away,” Lando said as he pointed off to the west. “Are you sure you want to chase them? The barbarians are probably just waiting to ambush again like before, ” Deila pointed out. “Let them,” Lando spoke with force. “I’ll take care of them.” “This just some sort of silly grudge of yours again isn’t it,” Deila spoke exasperatingly with a shake of her head. “They threw a spear right at my face!” “Poor baby.” “Well, are we going to chase them or not?” William asked impatiently. “I don’t like hanging out in the opening like this when they’re are enemies about.” “Hmmm,” Deila mummered thoughtfully. Suddenly, there was a sharp sound that ripped through the area. There was a flash of light. A woman in red stood in front of the four them with raven black hair and icy cold eyes. “Ah, still alive I see,” Erika said simply. “You found us?!” Deila said, shocked. “Why are you so surprised?“ Erika asked icily. “I would’ve had to been a fool to be unable to follow your trail.” “What happened? I thought your spell was supposed to send us straight to the Emperor’s Castle!” William spoke angrily. “My spell would’ve worked perfectly,” Erika said, clearly irked. “Outside forces interfered with my spell and brought you here. I merely followed your trail.” “And do you know where here is?” Deila asked irritatedly. “No, where is here?” Erika asked. “The Tournament of Heroes.” “The Tournament of Heroes... I did not know it was taking place now,” Erika said, looking thoughtful. “Well, can you get us out of here?” Lando asked. Erika smiled coldly at him. “Of course.” Deila frowned. “So?” “Why should I help you? You’ll be released back into our world when the tournament is over anyway,” Erika told them. “Don’t give me that,” Erika spoke harshly as the four glared silently at her, “You wish to kill the Emperor as much as I do. If you can not navigate your way through this tournament you’re as good as dead. The Emperor has unbelievably strong defenses. This tournament should be a good way to test your mettle.” “Thanks,” Deila spoke irritatedly. “Can you help us out in the tournament at least?” “There are many rules and magics preventing interference in the tournament. Even me talking with you is toeing the line. I’d better be gone before the organizers get annoyed.” “Out of curiosity,” Lando began to ask as he pointed to the sky, “How can you be here? Shouldn’t the sunlight cause your curse to activate?” Erika gave Lando a very icy glare. “I am not really here, fool,” she spoke through locked jaws. She flicked her eyes around at the four of them. “I choose you four to be my instrument of revenge. I hope you four succeed for all of our sakes. The boon they grant the winner will help your real task tremendously.” “What is it? The boon?” William asked greedily. Erika shook her head. “That is not for me to reveal. You will find in due time,” she said before she faded away. She clearly been only a magical shade. “Fantastic,” Lando said as the four of them stared at the spot where she disappeared from. “What are your orders then leader?” he asked, turning to Deila. “Let’s go chase us some barbarians.” I had a sunscreen joke that fell out of the script.

Come on, you talk more to Lark than any other character in the trilogy! (Okay, okay, I actually agree with you Aloreal. Just poking fun ) As for X, ehh. He's memorable, but he doesn't do anything. Never has... Except for making the most Awesome Spell Evar!!! Edit: I think Nethergate suffers over here from simply being a relatively short standalone game. There is little time to really develop multiple complex characters. Despite Aloreal good point on Raven, I would like any such poll to include Raven as he's the best character of the game. (I find Sylak to be a bit of a jerk to be honest.)

Well, the two chiefs of the Roman's and Celts are pretty important. More so the Celt chief I believe. Can't remember their names off hand though. Is Kelner important though? I forget. Lark would be a funny choice even though she is not very important plot wise. I think she appears through out the trilogy. Oh, and Raven from nethergate! I really liked that bird even though I wished Vogel had been a bit less vauge on his back story.

Chapter 7: Whoah, that’s a lot of dots. “Are you ready?” Sss-Sesh asked Fredrick. “Just a moment,” Fredrick replied as he stretched his blank scroll as flat as he could on the ground. “There,” he said and lifted up a sapphire above the scroll. “Magic Map!” The blue sapphire squirmmed in his hand for a moment. It turned into a smooth but slow moving liquid and splashed onto the blank scroll. As the blue liquid sloshed outward to the edges of the paper it revealed a detailed map in its wake. It took but a few moments for the liquid sapphire to completely cover the scroll before draining off onto the ground. “Here it is, Sss-Sesh,” Fredrick said as he stood up and handed it over to Sss-Sesh. “Thanksss,” Sss-Sesh said as he and all the rest crowded around to stare at the map. “It looks like the Demon wasn’t lying,” Adras said as he pointed at the map and then around them. “We’re about a half mile from the edge.” “And it is about trree miles wide in total,” Frrrrr said. “Yesss, but thisss place looksss very ssstrange.” Lorlei nodded. “Yeah, it looks perfectly round.” ‘Forget that, jussst look at thisss,” Sss-Sesh said as he pointed at the mountains at the top of the map. “Mountainsss? Thisss place isss only three milesss big, how could there be mountainsss that big here?” He waved at hand at the distant but tall mountains clearly visible to the north. “Alssso,” he said as he redirected their attention back to the map, “There’sss a foressst to the wessst, marsssh to the eassst, a river to the north that sssplit off in all directionsss, and I’m pretty sssure that’s a lava field there,” he pointed at the northern western corner of the map which indeed showed an area of lava. “What’s your point?” Adras asked. “Thisss place sssussspiciousssly containsss every type of terrain in sssuch a sssmall area,” Sss-Sesh spoke, fumbling with the word ‘suspiciously’. “What’s the big deal,” Fredrick asked. “They obviously set this place up that way to make the Tournament more exciting.” “What I want to know isss what’sss beyond the circle?” Sss-Anees broke in. “Huh?” Adras asked. “What’sss beyond the circle?” Sss-Anees said as she pointed outside to the blackness outside the circle of the map. They all stared at the blackness for a moment. “Either my spell was blocked or nothing,” Fredrick finally said. “Then where are we?” Sss-Anees asked. “Does it matter? We just have to win this tournament.” Sss-Sesh stared at the map for a moment longer before turning to Lorlei. “Lorlei, if you would?” he asked as he proffered the map to her. “Sure,” Lorlei replied as she took the map. “Detect Life!” she cried. “There,” she said proudly and showed off the map to everyone else. There a was a long moment of silence as everyone stared at the map. “Whoah, that’s a lot dots,” Adras said. “There at least a hundred of them.” “How many teams arre we going to have to fight then?” Frrrrr asked. “We only have to beat two of them,” Sss-Sesh pointed out. “With this many groups, we can take our time wait for the best opportunity.” “Then which one should we go afterr?” Frrrrr asked. “Him,” Sss-Sesh said as he pointed at a few glowing dots that were drawing closer to their own six dots. “They mussst be that cloaked guy we sssaw when we arrived here and his pet monssstersss. He’s the closssessst and he’sss basssically a party of one with two monsssters for aid. We outnumber him badly and he’sss even heading right for usss. A perfect target.” “I see four dots,” Sss-Anees said. Sss-Sesh looked closer at the map. “You’re right. Did he have a third monster hanging?” “I didn’t see one,” Fredrick said. “Maybe it’s one of his allies?” Frrrrr postulated. “Either way, we outnumber him.” “I sensed something very unnatural with that man,” Lorlei said shaking her head. “I’m a little scared.” “True,” Sss-Anees nodded. “He felt... inhuman. He may not be a human at all.” “We’ll just have to be on guard then,” Sss-Anees said. He took the map and folded it up. He turned to the other five and gave them all a stiff nod. “I hope you’re all ready Exiles. Let’sss go show him what Exile isss made of.” Whooo hooo! First battle coming right up! It'll be Exile vs Geneforge! Step right up and place your bets! It'll just have to wait to the chapter after the next chapter though. I like to use chapter switching to indicate some undefined time passing. Instead, next chapter we'll turn over to.... Avernum probably.