alhoon

Nah, if I lie he just suspects me and kicks me out, doesn't attack. I have to provoke him to start a fight by telling him "OK, I confess I broke in your lab, stole banned equipment that shouldn't exist and gave it to your enemies. Now your enemies have powers the Order didn't want them to ever have, through means that the Order forbids." It is so blatant betrayal that I find I can't do it, at least not yet. I sympathize with the rebels, I consider the Shapers the bad guys generally but... I can't go that far. Not yet. Not just because I hate Diwaniya's whining and not so soon after the rebels tried to kill me, killed my friends and said "oh, you survived. Want to join?" :-/ I want to fight for the rebellion, but honorably. Or at least more honorably.

I already mentioned Lankan has anger issues didn't I? I also mentioned I'm biased; hence I don't mention everything bad the rebels do... But Lankan was more convincing in his anger. "You couldn't let us have hope" speech as he sees the only means he could use to fight back against the Shaper Tyranny evaporate was touching. It would STILL be asymmetric warfare; One guy able to throw fire-bolts wouldn't be enough to win against the massive force Diwaniya has hoarded in his home*. But it would give them hope, access to secrets and powers the Shapers decided they were not for them. And yes, it's just firebolt. Come on, is turning someone to a sentient fyora THAT bad? Though, I wonder how Alwan didn't attack me when I gave the canister to Lankan. I kinda felt as betraying everything in one grand motion of disobedience when I gave him the canister. No, turning someone to a sentient Fyora is not that bad. It is a grand betrayal though. And empowering people that align with those that killed my friends. I am not ready to do that. Not yet. I think I won't give him the canister. The rebels haven't won me over yet. But I won't destroy the canister either. *But I plan to take care of that for him. I am deeply against Diwaniya, even though he's not the worse the Shapers have shown. He's far from the visionary you portray him to be though; he's totally committed to the status quo and holding to the threads of his power in a world that is changing. That's what I plan to do Owen. The "official" one will be me not giving Lankan's canister till I'm sure I'll go with the rebels. Which at the time, I'm not cause as I said it feels like a betrayal in this game, and Litalia killed my friends.

I did and he didn't believe me. He kicked me out. Anyway, I would like to ask: Is there a way to kill Diwaniya? He keeps kicking my butt whatever exploit I try. I've even tried the tested-and-true method of locking inside the room with the essence pool and spawning an endless stream of creations to take him down hit by hit. Didn't work. He had his own creations swarm in the moment I open the door. I rarely have the time to close the door once the first wave is in, and even if Succeed, they get me in the next wave. What level should I be before I liberate the Harmony from that ... not-madman?

Just to see what would happen, I gave the Canister to Lankan. He promised to fight the good fight (against the Shapers and the monsters created by his benefactor...). I talked to Diwaniya... he went batpoop crazy and killed half my party before I had a chance to act. So much for his weakness...

Yes, Dubi-? is the exception although he still acts superior and pompous. I don't accuse Diwaniya for setting Harmony island on fire more or less. Litalia did that on her own. I accuse the Shapers for fermenting such disloyalty that people would prefer to sit in the mud and get eaten by monsters and I accuse Diwaniya for not doing a better job before the rebellion broke out to build bridges and for failing to communicate to the people his not omnipotent, and that they could and should stick with the Shapers cause the alternative is worse. Thinking on it, Greta hasn't said anything bad about Diwaniya although she seems to like Lankan. EDIT: gave the canister to Lankan. Diwaniya, with extreme ease, wiped me out for the betrayal. So he showed enough strength to do something about the rogues, and not enough control to allow me to explain why I did what I did. He considers the act, rightly, a gross betrayal. But he just attacked and wiped the floor with me and my creations. Alwan and Greta were killed in the first blast, two guards killed one of my vlish and... one of the three alphas in the room killed me. There were more guards, alphas and Ghaalks. He could do more than just whine, even if it was to go up and kill the rebels. Or send those Alphas and Ghaalks he hoards to keep the roads clean.

G3 is not going very well. My latest attempt to play it was cut short by a rage-quit once Dubi-? Fyoras killed me. Owen respectfully, I disagree. Lankan was forced to exile because of one grave mistake. He was charismatic so the "sub-shaper", misused and mistreated herb gatherers went with him once the situation turned bad. Why? Because the Shapers were proven to be vulnerable and they were despised by many people. And there's also the other thing that I heard in a tavern: Whatever Shapers think, the "bargain" is that Shapers keep people safe and prosperous and the people in return serve the Shapers. Monsters running around and Shapers saying "oh, that's beyond my power!" = "and why the heck should we tolerate your pompous attitude and bow down to you?" The Shaper answer to that seems to be (GF4-5) "because if you don't, we will kill you horribly". Not exactly the reply to inspire loyalty. Again, we come to this: If Shapers weren't Tyrannical, there would be no rebellion. Lankan's friends wouldn't jump to the first opportunity, the first sign of vulnerability to abandon the evil magocracy. They would not prefer to sit in a swamp getting eaten by monsters than go back to the Shapers. And I accuse the Shapers for fermenting such disloyalty.

Really? Diya is the least bad Shaper I've met then. Well, perhaps with the exception of the nice Shaper in GF5 that makes turrets. However, when I did.. something, I forget what, to diffuse the situation, Diyawania starts shouting and gets very angry. Are you sure if Lankan is killed that Diya is angered because you did the bad thing and not because you lit a cigar over a gas tank? And in any case, I'm right now angry with Diya cause some of his Fyoras killed me yesterday. Out of the blue. I open a door in his basement and get pawned by some weird Fyoras. I really wish there was a path that I could choose to FORCE these two to work together. Is Diya a kind of "faction" where you can go and take quests after the island is dealt with etc? Or he's there for that island and you can't inform him of what happens further down? I'm pretty sure the big Shaper in the big island will be more Alwan-ish and less Astoria-ish. I vote for Diyawania for the Council. He could work with Astoria to restore peace.

Shaper Hoge is (by 2nd island that I am) the default traitor. Nothing special. Lankan is on the right side although he has a slight anger issue problem and I'll be glad to help him. I already found his canister and I plan to give it to him. To get back on topic: I plan to give Lankan the canister made by Litalia so that Lankan could defeat the monsters Litalia keeps making. Lankan is the best choice for the island; Dubi-whatever is ... not really bad but he's clearly on the losing side. Tell me that's not crazy: "Hi buddy. I am the one making the monsters that kill your friends. I will keep making the monsters but I'll make you powerful enough to survive their attacks. No, it may be easier to STOP sending monsters to kill you, but I prefer to keep at it and just spend tons of purified essence to make you able to survive my attacks."

True enough... but let's go back to Litalia. I think it's beyond doubt that she's insane and dangerous. Whether she's a good leader or not... or whether her mass murdering sprees were justified, is cause for debate. PS. I'm not 100% with the rebels. In GF3, the way the game is shaping up, I may side with the Shapers. Similar to GF4, the "enemy" killed my friends and tries to bully me to join. I sympathize with the rebellion, but I also sympathize with the tons of people in the Ashen islands that are targeted by the rebels.

insanity was always subjective...

When I took my first canister (or used the GForge, not sure) I got a text saying that now I see the world more or less like Shapers do; that people are background noise to their greatness. That's insanity. Sure you can say that Alwan is driven and stubborn. I say he's insane. You can say that general Crowly or whatever-he's-called is part bully and part too naïve to trust a geneforged guy after they killed all his friends. I say he's insane. You can say that weirdo Shaper that actually SHAPES the player in Crowly's fort in the Aziraph is just weird. I call her insane. How about that Shaper working for Alwan in GF5, that when told to desing AGAIN a Control Core, after the previous one fell prey to rogue minds, didn't tell Alwan "With all respect councilor, you're mad." How about that idiot working for Alwan, again in CCB that made a mind that could actually SHAPE instead of just four minds that could just control creations? Madman. etc The Shapers miss the point that if they were not such obnoxious, pompous, tyrannical, genocidal, enslaving buttholes there would be no rebellion, hence no Unbound. The "Great Rebellion" was not the first and if it failed, it would not be the last. Unbound were not nice. They were mad engines of destruction that would kill everything. Well, that's compared to the Shapers and their armies that were not-mad engines of destruction, leveling rebel cities with corpses piling up. Sure, Shapers love to claim the horrors of the Unbound ... when Taygen was working on a doomsday device that obliterated civilization as everyone knew it. Even living tools die, so I would assume the living doors also died. In GF3, one of my first quests were to heal someone that was suffering from a Shaper-made disease, made centuries before the Rebellion. So, Taygen was not the only madman working on diseases. Shaper law exists for a reason, but that reason is to make sure power remains in the hands of Shapers. To ensure that they would collectively abuse common people and creations, without someone taking over them, they put the rule about self shaping so that no Rawals could take over the council by shaping themselves to Godhood like Ghaldring did (and came to dominate the rebellion). And without spoiling the endings of GF5, about the irresponsible dash to power of the rebels during the war: I would like to draw your attention to what happens if the Rebels win, when their survival is no longer at stake.

I don't know WHAT the black pit is, and I want to at least finish HALF of GF3, before I return to my pre-ending save in GF4 to go find what was behind those locked doors in Monarch's place. Greta is not a life-crafter. I don't think she used more than a couple cannisters. In the GF4 ending it says (IIRC) something about people that didn't use many canisters, like Greta... etc. I have barely met any Shaper that counts as sane. I've met ... 2 human Lifecrafters I think. One was Cani-junky Jarred. The other was a totally sane idiot in GF5 in some cabin. All drakon lifecrafters seemed sane for Drakons.

Why're talking Geneforge. Absence of black & White is the hailmark of the series. There are people that can be counted on one hand that are truly indefensible or truly noble. That is given. THAT SAID: I am a decent die-hard rebel! How dare you sir! OK, we had a few bad eggs in the mix (Litalia + Ghaldring) but it's not that the Shapers were better (they had Litalia too + Monarch + Taygen + Moseh + Rawal + a great number of pompous insufferable ########). As you said, tons of Shapers are as ruthless as Litalia (although less mad, less evil and less effective). And while Litalia is the #3 worse person in the late-half of the series (Monarch goes first, Taygen second) IMO, the rebellion is on the right side. Despite Litalia's atrocities and Ghaldring's Shaperish authoritarianism, the rebellion itself fights for liberation from Shaper Tyranny and for Drayks\Drakons for the right to exist. Aside of that, yes, I consider Litalia a mad b- (and Ghaldring a Shaper-wannabe with fangs). And I accuse SHAPERS for allowing such a person to become Shaper. Taygen, Rawal, Litalia, Monarch, Moseh have aaaaaaall slipped through the cracks of the oh-so-responsible-and-effective Shaper evaluations. I completely and absolutely back Greta's faction in the Rebellion and she had validated my support a dozen times over; from calling me buddy more or less in GF4 when she was a general and I was fresh out of Illya province, to saying to Ghaldring's face in GF5 that the rebellion doesn't fight to replace Shaper Tyranny with Drakon Tyranny and warning him to his face again that Drakons would find another rebellion striking them if they push too far. And a few other things I won't spoil from GF5 endings. Greta was not sad to see Litalia's back when she left the Rebellion. PS. Litalia despite what she claims to you, escaped when she figured Monarch would try to kill her, not when she figured "Monarch wanted violence". The Monarch had no reason to lie in his journals. PS2. I let Monarch go, to go obliterate a couple of Shaper cities. I can't claim innocence here. Greta IIRC guessed and didn't approve.

Well, she wasn't getting the laughs out of killing everything, sure. She did it because it was (according to her) necessary. But evil is at its worst when it's convenient. That she KNEW she was doing wrong in GF4, just makes her a clear villain IMO. She chose to do evil, knowingly. I went back and read her replies in GF4. She often mentions "it was cruel, but necessary." or about the Trakovites "they are mad and even if they were right, those ahead of their time end up dead" In each of Litalia's paths, she goes "it's cruel, evil, violent but necessary." She describes (GF4) how she was burning as a test serviles alive, while they were on their knees begging for their lives. She didn't like it, but did it anyway. "Necessary evil". Fast Forward to Rebellion. Attacking a school. She didn't like it, but did it anyway. "Necessary evil." Killing trakovites in GF4. Didn't like it but it wasn't the time to discuss philosophy, so they should die. Didn't like it, but did it. Unbound. The same. I won't spoil GF5 except to say "look at my sig and remember what Litalia asked the player to do, before he\she implied Litalia's crazy". She mentions that, but unlike Greta, she doesn't show any great reluctance. And another thing: For Drakons, failed rebellion = extermination. For rogue serviles = "very possible extermination unless I manage to hide that I rebelled". For the human, failed rebellion = "servitude and possible extermination if my ties to the rebellion are made known". Simply put, he stakes for humans were not as high to unleash WMDs with legs. Drakons faced total oblivion. Back in GF4, Shapers and Rebels didn't know that the Unbound would just be manageable by a seasoned Shaper and that it would take 2-3 to take down a town or that they would waste away because of their power within a year from creation. They were considered the "apocalypse now" version.

Yes, but she totally enjoys her action. She says so in every game. In GF5, describing her history, she says the mass murders in the Ashen Islands were the best years of her life. In GF4, she's very proud about the extremist plan to wipe out every Shaper life and defends that the countless that would die in the fires are necessary. Despite what she claims in GF5, in GF4 she was 120% pro-Unbound, unlike Greta that was reluctant and last-line-of-defense mentality. Greta backed the Unbound because the Rebellion was faltering. Litalia backed (and helped make) the Unbound because she wanted to see every Shaper burn and their empire in ashes. And she says so often.

True but you leave aside the fact that she has changed the set of principle's she was fanatical of three times. It is "my current way or the high way and that includes people I worked with and trained in my previous ways"

Madwoman, psychopath, mass murderer that was more interested in killing than holding a set of principles. Her personality doesn't really evolve, the side in the name of which she commits every atrocity imaginable changes. Killed kids with her own hands? She did it. Used terror as a weapon? She did it. Genocide? She did it (three times, two of which on her previous allies). Bioterrorism? She did it. Betray allies? She did it. I'm pretty sure she had a thing for Ghaldring from what I saw in the finale of GF5. I totally consider her the best character of the series, but she's a psychotic madwoman. Blxz, I consider the Trakovite path of GF5 the most interesting.

Interesting approach.

Episode 78: You put a remarkable fight to save the loyal brains. You even mention that in the episode. If I may ask, why? You've from day one went in the game with the declaration: "My character thinks that Creations are expendable" and have played that ever since, losing creations that could be saved etc. I know that's a futile question 4 months after the episode was uploaded, but I can't help to wonder what made you think these particular three creations, brains that are beyond Shaper-Law and should be destroyed according to it, required such efforts to save. I was playing a life-crafter, sympathetic to Creations plight etc... and I went directly for the Synthesis mind IIRC leaving a couple of creations to delay the waves. I don't remember whether any of the brains were lost or not. On another note: Alwan is one of the Shapers most usually breaking Shaper law. The very existance of Control Core B, after Control Core A failed spectacularly for the same reasons that CC B failed, and his insistence to ally with geneforged individuals (as he did in GF4) shows a remarkable stubborness and refusal to see the flaws in his plans. All in all, he makes a good high-rank officer because of his tenacity but bad top-rank officer. He made the Line. We broke it. I would bet 2 cannisters and a wand of inferno he would try to re-establish it again, finding and neutralizing the Secret Access hidden path. Oh, and he trusts the wrong people! Shaper Mazdan, the guy that designed the Flawed Core A, designed the second. He trusted a guardian to make the brains and lo-and-behold, the guardian had a cannister in the lab. Shaper Alexie "studies" drayks and teaches people how to make them if they ask nicely. Not to mention: He trusted me and I put poison in his wine. I didn't even fight him decently. I felt dirty after killing him so cowardly, but it was the fast route. PS. When fighting Shaping foes, it's customary to go after the Shaper sooner than later. I don't recall whether Synthesis mind sends endless forces, but a pool of essence could well mean that. PS2. A pity that the boss "fight" wasn't saved. I had to fight it properly, not have the others cook it nicely to become a nice roast. I didn't even know it was possible. A pity. In any case, inspired by this, I think I'll put the "Shaper-friendly" mini-lab here in my mod once I go back to implementing the changes Alberich suggested.

The cannisters are tricky things. Alberich manages to finish the games without them, so I guess they're not needed. No, it's not needed to have some AWESOME creations or ultra-powerful spells above and beyond what normal people would do. I admire Alberich's purity, but I really don't think I can go canister-free. Don't forget to watch that in your re-watching. Don't skip it. After watching the discussion with Khresia, the three words you added to Ghaldring's response were probably the funnier of the series. One has to watch the segments with Khresia to appreciate the joke though.

Episode 76: I think I spotted some crudeness in Ghaldring's way of thought that shouldn't have been there. You told him when he said he would test you further that you would remember this insult. And he was happy with your reply. Frankly, I was pro-rebel and did remember this insult. You apparently didn't forget this insult either, despite Ghaldring not testing you further. I would bet that the vast majority of people would remember this insult and not forgive it just because Ghaldring decided to not push it further. As of the "some of the rebels here have been good to me" comment... they belong to a different rebel faction. I won't spoil in case you align with Astoria and the sane rebels. But there are surprises. If you recall, Greta is none too pleased with Ghaldring and he admits to you that the rebel factions have tense relations. And another thing: You can't say that you're a cannister junky and a Shaper. Shapers avoid cannisters like the plague. At the point where you ask: "What made Khresia such a pest" at 8'29" and the reply you add to Ghaldring's answer. OMG. I had to stop the video because I couldn't follow cause I was laughing hard and loudly. And here it is! At around minute 11 you first relay your thoughts that would doom every creation in Terrestia, down to living tools and doors... I heard some of your thoughts about how wiping out creations would correct things, but I still don't understand what led you down to choosing such drastic measure. I would change the series name from "Let's Play GF5" to "GF5: Descent into madness" (no offense I hope, it's a game. You say yourself that "you had your share of madmen in this game so far" when Alwan calls him madman Taygen). Another thing: You said the Drakons wanted to buy 5 years of peace to finish their superweapons. I disagree. I believe they never planned to buy the peace, they wanted to confuse the Shapers and sap their spirit, create tensions and create the illusion that there is a way out. While Shapers were arguing among themselves telling loyalists to stop, and leaving Alwan alone to dry... the Drakons would swoop in and take more land. They wanted the SUGGESTION of peace out, not peace itself. I am very honored that you chose Alhoon to be your first gazer! Much appreciated. And OMG... 45 level gazer?! Even without the good artifacts Alhoon 4 could probably take an Unbound by himself. Quality: About middle of the video there are issues with the colors. Episode 77: A wasted opportunity here... you could have called it "A beautiful mind" easily. Ahhh... control core B. Another example that the Shapers are not the proper care-takers of Shaping nor as responsible with it as they pretend to be. Bunch of powerhoarding mages really. Hmm... the quest seems quite different than I remember it. I haven't figured even half of what you did I think. It occurs to me that... I may have killed the wrong mind! Not sure if it's possible, but I decided that the first mind I met was the rogue and killed it, or... I killed everything. I don't recall. Alwan seemed fine by the decision. As a note, I couldn't help but notice that there is no food for the Control minds. If you recall in other games or perhaps even in GF5, there was food you could give to the control minds when they started becoming weak from famine. That is again, inexplicable negligence that makes creations suffer. Howdy... the Synthesis mind is right here. Born to servitude, forced to suffer and smart enough to realize it. It's fate is worse than a serville that spends long hours mining in dangerous caves. I didn't recall having much trouble with the Alwan quest-chain, but I would be hard-pressed to attack this creature. Probably made a deal with it, and destroyed the others. Not sure. Oh... I remember now! I made full party of creations, kept 3-4 with me I think and sent the rest to protect the brains. Not even sure if I managed to save them all.

Meh... I won't watch GF1 or GF2. I haven't touched them since I wait them to be brought up to GF5 era by Jeff. He said he will do the GF series remakes eventually.

After a MONTH of doing other stuff, I found the energy to return to this nice video series. Episode 75: You are right that this is the only time one sleeps during the game! Haven't thought of that. Since you didn't have the honor to meet Salassar in the incident described by Khressia the Scot drakon, you should return to GF4 in my humble opinion. I don't know at which point you dropped it, but it was a very nice game. Can't decide if I like GF5 more than GF4. Although I guess that if you go pro-Shaper in GF4, you are locked out of a lot of content. Having played GF4, and with everyone warning me about treachery and the "Do you want to rest? It could be dangerous!" thing I pretty much expected a fight. The fight with Salassar in GF4 was more difficult. I was disappointed that Khresia was so weak. I don't think I've met any drakon or shaper as weak. In any case, I just noticed one thing watching the episode. In about minute 13 you go to a room after the fight with Khresia, in the guest quarters. There's magic scorches on the floor. Probably someone else have found the niceties of Drakon hospitality. You figured pretty quickly how to find him. It took me a lot of time to figure it out, I thought at a point it must be a glitch or bug in the game until I thought to try that passage. However, 5 living tools for Purifying rain (battle magic 9) seemed a bit of waste. As a note, I ratted out the Rebels to Alwan about the Unbound mk2.

I would heavily suggest against +5 strength, cause if you forget you have the mod in place, you can quickly get to +25 strength accidentally. Go for +2 and after you're satisfied, remove the code. PS. Welcome to modding, both of you. Now that you know the basics, start making content mods. Remember that dialogue is done in text1, text2,... text8, each text line ends with a ; and each text entry has a maximum size of like 4 lines. Go over this and the script is broken. begintalknode ??? Tells the game which talk node (dialogue) you are at. "state" tells the game which "dialogue category" so to speak you are at and "next state" tells the game which talk nodes are available at your state. I.e. if you're at talknode 20 with state 7, "next state" is 8 and talk nodes 22, 30, 31 and 32 have state 8, then while in the game you are at talknode 20, the talk nodes 22, 30, 31 and 32 are available... if you meet the conditions. Conditions are... conditions for the talknode to be available. gf(22,3)==1 tells the game to look if flag 22,3 (usually zone 22, flag 3) equals 1. gf(15,2)>4 tells the game to look if flag (15,2) which usually is the 2nd flag in zone 15 is greater than 4. etc within the code, sf(22,3,2) sets the flag (22,3) to 2. Which means it would not satisfy the condition gf(22,3)==1 anymore. There are also some other bizzare limits and limitations like too large text and the script breaks, too much code and the script breaks etc. I haven't found them all. Seriously, it's not too hard. Time consuming to catch bugs and playtest yes. But not hard. Start making mods. You could semi-safely steal the first flag of each zone since it usually corresponds to whether you would get the introductory text. Of course if you miscalculate and hijack a flag the game will need in the future... you've broken that quest line.

Well, you could try editing the script. Open the script of a zone you've already been to, the one ending with "dlg" (i.e. "z13????dlg" with ???? representing the name of z13). Find the dialogue of an NPC that doesn't end in code. Add the following there: code = alter_stat(0,2); break; Now go talk to this NPC and chose that dialogue option you altered. You will get 2 strength each time you choose it.