alhoon

Six and a half hours?! O_O That's probably if you are a fast reader or have played the whole game and speed through at blitz speed knowing what to do where and you never hit load.

Wise words have never been said. Killing Zakary is a holy duty for Shapers, Rebels and unaligned alike.

Well, I played the game at easy difficulty. There's no shame there buddy. Also, I don't think I finished Sharon's grove. And I certainly didn't mess with the demon. With magic shaping at 8, I would actually think Vlish should be better than Glaaks since they don't have to move to melee range. But you have to level them up.

It's an example of how Monarch mind-wiped everyone cause he more or less wants to remain the only sentient creature in a very, very large area.

Those serviles that accompany you? They can take the Monarch? IIRC they were weak.

Interesting. How can you take down the Monarch without a hit?

Many of the games can be finished without landing a single blow. I think there are people that have done it. As such, they would make pretty boring doom \ diablo games.

*Cough cough* I dare to disagree with that. However... Diablo is a veeeeeeeery different game than GForge. One is an enjoyable (for those that like the genre) hack-an-slash while the other is a game with complex morals, exploration, a deep story, learning about the world etc. Geneforge is not, and IMO should not, be a diablo-like game where you just lead a bunch of creation to battle through large dungeons. But to say that "be able to build your own base and set up sharper defenses while npc or automated enemy factions try to raid you" is incompatible with the game is ignoring the power of modding. It is perfectly doable (I have two mods about it) but certainly not in a Diablo-like way.

Much better IMO! O...kaaaay, I see the problem now. I thought you mentioned GF3. You didn't. What I was talking about is: Magic (as you said) is good in GF2, and it is IMO the best in GF3 and good in GF4. That was all. I thought you mentioned GF3 but I misread your post.

You don't have to. You can literally walk away from the valley and tell the Shapers what's happening here. But the Awakened ending is IMO the best.

Botched it for GF2. Worked for a couple test items (like blade of Empathy) but I probably mistyped something somewhere after that. It is a bit of a pain to change them all again. So, while I verified that: it_pet_stats_to_affect 0 = 202; it_pet_stats_addition 0 = 1; it_pet_stats_to_affect 1 = 203; it_pet_stats_addition 1 = 1; works to give bonuses to hit and damage levels in GF2 too, I have to go over the whole item list again and change strength to creations push other stats down etc. (I.e. if an item gives bonuses to both strength and other creation stats, you have to change the numbers of the other stats too) I'll do it at another time.

Quoted half the part I was referring to. You mentioned that Magic shaping is the way to go for GF3 and I added it is also very good in GF4 too.

Yes, there are challenge zones. They are not for the brave, they are for the masochists. :P You don't really need to do those. By the time you can beat those, you can beat the whole game, so the items you get from there are already redundant IMO.

Well, I made a work-around mod for GF3. Would you like me to try for GF2?

I would agree. Actually in GF4 wingbolts are also very powerful for their cost.

Cryodrayks? They were very expensive for their buck in my humble opinion. Of course, I didn't get them early nor I had invested in fire so I may be underestimating them. GF3 you'll want to go Magic for sure whatever you are playing.

Since you're still kinda early, may I suggest you go for Magic Shaping and Vlish as soon as possible? Generally it is considered more optimal to concentrate on one type of creation and I believe magic is the best in GF2. A temporary thahd or clawbug till you get better creations is doable too and I wouldn't think you need to invest in Fire or Battle to have them perform respectably in the first zones. There are also some "free" guys you may recruit. I think (I could be wrong) that items that give +str to creations are bugged in GF2 and I also think that Shaping above 10 gives less levels. So, I would suggest getting magic Shaping to 7-8 (It could go up with items to 10) and also start investing a bit in intelligence so you could afford more creations.

Well, I played it on easy so that I wouldn't have to bother with reloads or bothering to collect everything and optimizing build etc. Regardless, shaper is pretty easy if you keep your guy away during combat and concentrate on healing and blessings so that you won't be attacked. Just keep in mind that a "clean hands" Shaper (i.e. a Shaper that doesn't personally fight) is a healthy Shaper. A couple more creations will reduce the XP you get slightly but since you get XP based on your level difference with your enemies it's not as bad as it sounds. I am sure there are more efficient ways to play a Shaper than this but it worked for me and (since I was playing on easy) I breezed through the game. This is the only game I played on easy cause the inventory screen was not something I wanted to mess with. I wanted to experience the story and not the battles.

You asked at the right place. We have a person here that has more or less made so much work into investigating such questions with numbers, tests and statistics that makes you think he's suffering the side-effects from Canister abuse. The diligence of work he has done for all these games is astonishing. However, if you need a "quick and dirty" answer from an amateur like me that finished the game once as a Shaper instead of waiting the answer from that person: I played a Shaper. I leveled up my creations and they became more powerful, until I got new creation types. Some Creations are better than others and you better get them early to level them up. I suggest that you take a good look at your creations when you buy up Shaping or get those Shaping skill bonus items. If Creation A is level 17 and you can make the same creation at level 18+, absorb. If creation A is level 18 and you can make the same creation at level 17 or below, don't absorb.

I don't remember the game and while I have the email buried somewhere, I would trust you and Lilith on that. What you say makes sense. A student of mine, a talented Indian, was very interested at first for such an opportunity. It was he that told me that 300$ in India is a lot and he would love that opportunity to add it to his CV etc. However he decided to stay in Europe for another year and 300$ for 50-100 hours of work per month is not enough. As you just mentioned he found other jobs that were paying better. So... based on what you two said, I doubt that worked for this company, in the long term at least.

Generally, in GF2 I had occasionally trouble finding the levers for doors because of a creation standing in front of them.

I am not a Guardian, Shaper all the way, and I don't really need the enchanted forge. ;-) But I will give it a try at some point.

Yeah, that Shaper guy in front of the gates was ... a disappointment. But he was intimidating. And foolish, cause yes he could not stop a Rebel army singlehandedly. General Crowley now... that guy could do it. That was the first time I saw a wingbolt! I didn't know how to check for HP but him being a Shaper General and warrior while I was a nothing, I knew I had no chance. Then I got in combat with him for some reason; either dialogue choices or for the fun of it. Well, it was no fun. Summoned a Wingbolt and got me down before I even knew what was happening. Had to reload the game and go through the "battle" again just to see what he summoned. It was a "blink-and-you-miss-it-and-you're-dead" kind of thing. Good times... Shaftoe was not a problem for me. Elizah and Moseh were. Spharon now... Nah, I never expected big things from him. I thought he would be a servile to be sincere. It ended up being a non-shaping Barzite-like mage. Using runes on the Serviles to make them stronger and obedient. And what kind of idiot keeps 2 canisters locked up and doesn't use them?! One of them was dominate. He could have used that. The servile behemoths now... Nah, they were nothing really special. Equivalent to tier 2 creations more or less; Stronger than Roamers, weaker than Vlish and Clawbugs. Frankly, Vlish showing up 4-5 at a time would have been a big problem. Serviles that need 3 hits to kill my Vlish? Not so much. They wouldn't survive enough to land 3 hits on a Vlish. I didn't even use mass energize for some battles. What I mean about him is to say... nope, Spharon's army was nothing special or intimidating. In the end it was 30-40 servile warriors (worse than the warbred serviles of GF2) led by a mage that thanks to Litalia had put his lifeforce in a box. I loved his areas because they made me feel a powerful badass. It was after I got mass energize as a spell. This spell really changed my party's power by at least 50% perhaps more. I haven't been in Darkstone Core yet.

Hmm? That's not what I felt IMO. For starters GF4 was my first Geneforge so everything was scary. When I saw that Cloaked Shaper guy in front of the gate of the blasted lands in GF4, reading in the text that he was a Shaper, I nearly panicked. It was the first Shaper I ever met. I have not seen their cloaked hooded and mysterious faces before. I remind you that in the character creation we didn't have the option to see the Shaper classes. I didn't know how they looked. I immediately loaded my game, and before approaching I used all my items and spells to fight that mysterious cloaked figure with the strange powers I have heard so much about but never seen. Moseh and Elizah were some of my hardest fights in Geneforge games. Monarch was also very intimidating and hard to defeat. Moseh and Monarch were also very intimidating after all the hype. I was very scared to approach the guy that had held back both Rebels and Shapers alone; a one-man's faction. Then we have the Unbound prototypes that were advertised as "they can easily take down a Shaper army" which judging my the fight I had with them, was true. And then, in those tunnels in Northforge, we have the elite of the elite of the Shaper armies moving in to take everything Northforge had to throw on them. PS. In my playthrough, Greta was the one to land the final blow on Alwan. So... poetic. On the contrary, the first GF3 miniboss, the mad creator Litalia left for the lulz and giggles in GF3 just to be evil and make it hard for me to join the Rebels, was introduced after Litalia's Shadow showed up to tell me to clean up her mess. It was just not the same as the still-etched-in-my-heart fear of that cloaked figure with the unknown powers that had come to stop, singlehandedly, a rebel army. For the rest of the minibosses that I have faced (I haven't faced them all), from what I remember they were not as intimidating even if they are stronger. NOTE: That feeling of O_O "WOW!" is why I think people should start the games at GF3. If the first Drakon I ever saw was that guy locked inside the cell, it would have a much greater impact. If one goes through the games in the released order, the first drakons are in GF2. For me, in GF2, the first Drakons I saw were random unnamed ones that were guards of the Barzites. I turn a corner and I see a drakon sitting there blocking a good part of the path. Sure, it was a powerful spectacle but seeing one more or less in the same "category" as the creations patrolling streets takes from the experience IMO. It would make for a better story IMO if the first Drakon a player sees was a named, memorable one with hype and all.

It has been so long ago I fought that, but it would explain why I didn't have any creations left when I finished that island... :P