Owenmoz

After observing carefully the official screenshots. The most reccouring shaman looks like a woman with a rad haircut. There is one screenshot with a male and a female shamans. But the male is the main player. So yes folks, for all intents and purposes dedrik might end up not making a dreaded return to our monitors. If im seeing it right it seems some charecters from one return, some from two and if the shaddowwalker isnt yoshiria, some are comepletelly new. And with my birthday being in fall. Guess who wont have to save up till then *inserts the famed tyranicus nana party*

Ok in all seriousness i'd rather it was during summer

Aww Yiss. Nathalie comes back!I see her! The one most in for the kill maelstorm of badassery is back! It really by far overshaddows the big disapointment that is dedrick's return. Wooo. Also please tell me no one "knows" alcander is not coming back? He was honestly one breath of fresh air in the game.

With the new information in hand. I must say i can see jeff doing those. Seriously half the things that nicodemus created in avadon 1 were...

Also Kudos for ADoS. Thats some bomb-ass trolling.

 

—Alorael, who sees only one solution: get Big Brother to start surveying all gameplay.

But the whole resistance is futile thing is lost when it comes to avernum players. Im sure the whole first trilogy was to prove the contrary.

 

 

6. The name of the legendary joke item which summons cows to aid you in battle, Cowstone, is spelled wrong; it's called "Cowston", which is the name of the hidden town the summoned cows come from.

IS THIS A REAL THING? HOW DID I MISS IT!?

No really this is the reason why im gonna replay the whole game series. That and my huge ammount of time. But seriously. What other wonderous things did i miss....

 

 

Ok, Is it possible to see your current reputation in-game?

There is the mage lady mercedia in therile colony. She'll say if you're pro rebel or pro shaper but not how much. To see how much in the first half agent mouhad(how do you spell it) in riversgate keep will give you rewards according to how loyal to the shapers you are and Dranor in the safehouse will give rewards according to how loyal to the rebels you are. The same is applied in the second half but with different characters.

EDIT:The reward system can be used to see how loyal you are.

 

 

Sterilised cotton swabs which were then smeared over the agar. The most simple method really. I required many different samples and used the most readily available method given that I was working at home in a non-controlled environment.

 

Making the agar and trying to keep that sterile was actually the hardest part. Although I'm helped by the low temperatures where I live.

 

I think my biggest mistake was the homemade sterile saline mixture I used to moisten the swabs was slightly too salty and killed off large portions of the bacteria I tried to transfer. (Either that or my house is surprisingly clean of bacteria.)

Ok next time if you think you made that mistake look for some bad ham and try to culture from it. If the culture grows well while others don't it means you put too much salt. If not. Congrats. Your house is clean.

The cotton swab method seems cheap and effective. I'll keep in mind when im doing my project.

 

 

There is at least a way around the heterosexuality thing. Pity it's hidden behind a cheat code that's only mentioned in the back of the manual and nowhere in-game.

 

And honestly, considering that Bioware exists, I don't think we can even call that state of affairs "good by industry standards" any more.

I thought you could mess with the scripts. The cheat could give an easy way out.

To be honest, bioware exists for relativelly sometime making some of better rated/aclaimed rpgs around with a huge fan base. And even so, i remember some writers recieving death threats over Anders( honestly i would too just because he was given an awfull/terrible personality, the one in awakening was much better although granted not very original). So I *could* understand where he's coming from if he's actually worried about backlash and such. But from what i've seen so far its all good and dandy with his fanbase so it brings me back to; lazy writing.

Also on a sidenote bioware is way ahead of all developers in that aspect but i think spiderweb still offers more diversity than a lot of developers. Although that is becoming less true each passing year.

You know I'm printing those, planning to sell them as "Shaper Research" to quest givers, don't you?

And now i am forced to encrypt what i say here.

*goes on on a 3 hour sermon on the risks of outsiders having this power and uncontrolled shapping*

Agreed on all counts.

 

 

Interestingly, this was not usually the case -- their genders have been different almost every game:

 

https://encyclopedia.ermarian.net/wiki/Talk:Dragons#Gender_table

I knew i remembered pyrog being male! But i guess... Cheers for genderfluid(or is it trans?) dragons. Actually would be one interesting twist

EDIT:Dragons don't need labels they much prefer going by pronouns like "your majesty" or "your ferocity"

Yeah, on the whole SW games do pretty well with women.

 

Early SW games went out of their way to include & acknowledge minorities in general; the Exile Trilogy stated that human skin "comes in a variety of hues" and its recurring characters included people from a variety of cultures, a woman who exiled herself to avoid an arranged marriage, and several gay characters who were navigating how to identify themselves to others, including a lesbian couple. Erika, arguably the central character of the trilogy (and maybe the best-loved SW character, period) was a woman, and it ended with an Empress, too. And of course, you were never asked to even pick a gender for your characters. The PC icons did include a woman in a bikini -- but they also included a man wearing less.

 

The more recent games are still pretty good by industry standards, but the enthusiasm of the early games has disappeared. A4 in particular included vanilla versions of many of the above mentioned characters, with their above circumstances consistently omitted. And in A5 and A6, all of the power players in those games are men (Dorikas, Redmark, Starrus, Gladwell, Melanchion). G5 offers two female sect leaders who compromise and three male sect leaders more interested in war and destruction -- and there is Manola; we're told at the end of the series, for some reason, that only men can be Guardians and only women can be Agents. Avadon 1, unfortunately, repeated this theme. It had some technical restrictions that resulted in each class only having one gender. That might have been more understandable if it weren't for the resulting fact that all the women were magic-users and all the men were fighters. Avadon 2, meanwhile, improved that situation only to demand for the first time that the PC pick a gender, and to offer a romantic option whose gender changed based on the PC, to ensure only heterosexual matches.

 

Again, all that is still pretty good by the industry's standards, it's just funny to see this sort of seeming regression compared to the earlier games.

I couldn't agree more. Whats even better is how even the vahnathai(with the most powerfull living magician until end of a4 being a woman) and sliths were all for gender equality. (Nephils at least tribal nephils werent very featured and were mostly men)

I liked exile games better than geneforge games in that aspect. The world seemed full and vibrant and the smallest details were just amazing.

But i would go to say that geneforge series seem to have while not a sexist culture in terrestria gender roles seem to exist. I guess exile and avernum had less of that because its an everything goes survival of the fittest hard survival mode going on in the cave. But then it seems the empire also didn't have much of a diference from avernum society. So justifying is pointless. I was particularly disapointed with dorikas being a guy. Even more so with the lack of the 5 dragons most of whom were women completelly disapearing and being replaced with one reather obnoxious teen dragon. To be honest i think he just got lazy with the writing. You can see it even by the lack of jokes in the later games(although avernum series still has some).

Avadon 2 was good in terms of diversity I think, gender distribution from good folks to bad folks seems even. Even if the head figures of the two main factions are male. I really wish to see the next games with the old quirky glow. As a mixed raced bi guy that was raised by two women. Diversity makes me happier. Seems to add more life to things. But i honestly have great expectations for avadon 3 in those terms.

Poor lighting unfortunately but the cat swab has the biggest colonies of any swab. Only a few of the though which I assume means the cat is relatively clean. (at least clean of things that grow on agar)

 

Also, may I ask what you mean by "pour or spread plating"? I'm not familiar with the phrase exactly.

Microbial isolation techniques. Pour plate, spread plate and streak plate. The first two looked like pour/spread. I was actually surpised since they looked very well done.

I'm obviously the best shaper researcher here owing to my near perfection of a fungal bath/spawner.

Ha! Figured! Its folks like you the shaper laws exist to stop xD

If I remember correctly. Which I didn't; it's the G5 guardian that's the worst, with her infelicitously phrased implications. Manola.

Yep. She did make shapers seem mysoginistic a bit. But and this might just be more of my flawed memory i thought she said there is no rule against it. But i guess that is really about as friendly as don't ask don't tell. It is weird though since people in terrestria overall seem to respect women a great deal.

The series doesn't have a great track record with this. There are some unfortunate attempts at addressing Guardian gender, the worst in G2, IIRC.

They managed relativelly successfully to adress it in g5 i think. The guardian under rawal tries to explain it. I also have no idea what iirc means.

Anyone ever noticed. Guardians have men and women. Shapers have men and women and agents just have women. Hilariously though i would be a much better agent than anything else in real life. What about you folks. Which classes?

Does the shaper rawal ending include here? Well it tech inst an ending.

I actually liked this set less than the g3 set. It's all rather shallow and in the end your actions make no difference in the long run. But i guess i can realistically justify why.

No time to record mid week as it is coming into election time in Australia and this means my work is going into overdrive. My expected midweek chance has been eaten up.

 

In the meantime I have a little midweek special: photo's of parts of my 'geneforge' as alhoon likes to say. Enjoy the rather bland photos of sexy bacteria. Bonus points if you can identify them.

 

Table swab

 

Cat Swab

 

Environment Swab

Does the cat swab have fungi? Looks like it does. Also pour or spread plating? Or neither?

Eyyy Alhoon. I think i get you now. But while alwan is the enemy for you cause of your first origin he's pretty much my bro/disciple. So is greta. Which is why fighting either is a bit bothersome.

I can answer the litalia question in 24 hours(got an exam and really shouldnt be here) as i have killed her. Killing her doesn't argo northforge but idk about the ending. I went for trajkovite

I remember if you did help the rebels in the beggining. I.e. help lankan. Or fix the creator. But are pro shaper enough by the end, they don't kill you but you are sent by the council to "fix" the mistakes you made in the islands. You still stay an influential general if im not mistaken. Idk about khyrick. Never got balls/nerve enough to kill him.

 

 

But rewatching has made think about Alwan more. I think that is the faction I am currently drifting towards. Trakovites look good but they have someone I deeply disrespect as their leader which turns me off. Rebels frustrate me and Astoria strikes me as too close to the awakened from earlier games (ie. idealistic and naive). Despite that, you've mentioned there are other factions. Not sure what I will meet just yet so I am holding out for something to sway my jaded, war-weary heart.

Their leader i think in this game for once isn't fake as hell. And for once she also doesnt try to paint herself as this enlightened self righteous hero. On that game she is true to herself and down to earth. Worth seeing her faction once.

Astoria is indeed strikingly close to the awakened. But she isn't at all that naïve. She's just tired of the war and realises she isn't the only one.

And alwan sure is charismatic. My thoughts on him are already expressed.

But to be honest just follow you jaded war weary heart.

Im sure you can't be pragmatic and a fanatic at the same time. Again he really doesnt worship them. He says so in g3 either in end of harmony or begining of dhonal's. I wont say exactly what he said because you're playing the game.

Second. He doesnt burn down any geneforged people with abandon. He kills any staunch rebels because he knows full well that one shaping person alone can cause all kinds of pain. That is more military strategy than anything i think. Even if it weren't so most life crafters are not interesting in hearing the other side of the story. I don't think he bears any particular hatred for serviles. He thinks geneforged humans are foolish and he pitties them to some degree(as they really aren't told about the consequences or risks among others). Drakons on the other hand are the one thing he would burn into extinction since basically all evils of the rebelion are caused by them and they are proof of the dangers on uncontroled shapping yada yada.

And again that isn't true. Last i checked he didnt burn down half therestria or release the full might of resourcefull uncontroled shapping etc etc in an attempt to win the war. Thats what the drakons did. Alwan is not astoria sure. But he has valid reasons not to be and that sure as hell does not put him as the direct oposite alternative to drakons.

You did meet khyrik. He appears in geneforge 4. He's the trajkovite shaper that you "rescue" from groshc(how do you spell it).

Thanks for the info!

Ok. So straight to business. Do which is better to wipeout; poryphra or dereton freehold? please attatch the rewards and such.

I'm going for the traskovite ending. Im slightly pro shaper. No one is angry at me yet. Do they get angry later on?

Finally. Is it possible to forge an essence charm?