Archaeolagent

Also: 203 - "+1 to levels damage in combat" bonus 200 - I forget what this is, but it's on Tek's Spectral Dirk for you and Arcane and Projection Bands for creations.

Drakefyre- as mentioned previously (I think in this thread, possibly in another) the complaints about inventory management are mostly about the *complete* lack of keyboard management *except* for picking up items. Given that GF3 pretty much encourages you to carry around various infiltrator items, etc., to switch on and off, it becomes a huge hassle to click move click, click move click five times before and after every door I want to jimmy. That said, for picking up items, once you get up to I and J it's hard to remember which key is which box and I've mistaken the j label for an i an awful lot of times. Click move click is very slow. What I would envision might be a highlighted item box, which you move around with the arrow keys, and a small command set - d to drop, e to equip, and so on. It certainly wouldn't have to replace the clunky mouse movement, for those who appreciate it. Of course, this is all nitpicking.

I'll second everything Matt Thorn said. As for the first version of Exile being bad quality -- HARDLY! Sure, the graphics were primitive in comparison with Geneforge, but game was damn beautifully done. Back in 1994 pretty the only current, well-made Mac RPGs were Realmz and Exile (plus a few odd ports like Might & Magic III). Realmz had glossier graphics, but ran sloppier... Exile had an attention to detail in gameplay, and in general game construction, and balance (not to mention the backstory) which was downright AMAZING for its time.

As far as I can tell, the % in the ratings for armor, etc. is not particularly relevant. It may be that effects max out at 100%, but 100% armor certainly doesn't reduce damage, or chance to be hit, by 100%.

Heal also says "increase health," whereas augmentation says "increase maximum health." Does essence shield heal you? I can't remember.

That "tiger" business -- the power to summon demons and shape barred creations and yourself, et cetera -- is part and parcel of the shaping business. That's one of the main arguments used by the loyalists, especially in GF3 -- that such power has to be tightly controlled to avoid the chaos we have seen in the GF series. But isn't the real underlying point of GF that such chaos is inevitable, if you are going to play with that kind of power? That's why the ideals of the Awakened seem so spurious... humans exist without shaping; serviles don't. And that, too, is why Sucia island was barred... Among fantasy stories, video games included, one of the most common motifs is of some great evil power which should have been destroyed, but instead was sealed; and after many years it unleashes destruction on the world. In the case of shaping/augmenting, "destroying the evil power" doesn't really mean destroying the geneforge (or whatever) so much as putting safeguards in place, and improving capacity for judgment in society... because the power can always be recreated from scratch.

GF3 is definitely *not* the first Spiderweb game run that way. I can't remember how Nethergate handled things, but the earlier Exile games definitely did not keep track of items you sold. Almost no RPGs will keep track of that, frankly.

There -are- however a handful of items which will increase your Shaping stats. Off the top of my head, there's a necklace, a robe, and the bracelet from the testing grounds.

But isn't that too radical to come out of nowhere? The Awakened were only born after many years of isolation from Shapers, many unusual years during which the values of the serviles were free to evolve.

AFIAK there are no special buyers for iron bars or gemstones. And yeah, I kept stockpiles of them, too.

whoa. the debug codes can change stuff done flags?!?

An agent or guardian can deal with multiple golems (or any other powerful creature)... Protecting creations is hard, but protecting yourself is easier; you just need to be able to deal damage to the golems and heal yourself every turn. Good armor and stun resistance, good HP level, Haste, Heal (not Light Heal), and a few essence pods when necessary should be able to do it. Better defenses (Essence Armor and Steel Skin are fantastic) and AP boosting items will make it easier, as will a weapon with the Regenerate enhancement. Quick Action and anything else that boosts damage will help reduce the amount of time you have to endure a beating.

What about the ability to shape creations that aren't fighting characters? We know that shaping is involved in the creation of living tools, spores, pods, and so on. You could implement some really practically useful things here -- say, some kind of "pack" creation that you can toss your items into. Having to juggle reagents, charging stones, and heavy collectible items gets pretty annoying... as does being encumbered just because I'm carrying a bunch of living tools.

Well, if you use the "exitzone" cheat in a dungeon level (like Inner Keep, Clawbug Lair, etc) you'll go back to South End on the first island.

I'll second all of Mav's suggestions. Actually, these are all things that have really gotten to me. #1 is particularly annoying for those of us who are used to "powergaming the directional pad" in older style games. In Exile, when you had a long stretch of cave or whatever to go across, you could just rat-a-tat-tat on NW/N/NE or whatever the appropriate direction was, to maximize the input, and you'd be there in seconds. The smooth movement in GF is quite elegant and the speed is handled extremely well, IMHO, but it can still be annoying. However, #1 would be less of a problem if boats and "dungeon" zones were accessible from the map. Especially since the dungeons are used inconsistently. Why is the Inner Keep handled this way, while Khyryk's Tower is on the map? I'll add to #4 that the keyboard commands should also include equipping. It's pretty normal in GF to carry around light pieces of equipment that you don't normally wear, but which give a Mechanics bonus, and it's really annoying to repeatedly click-move-click all of them just to open a door.

The Khyryk/Sharon point is a good one. I'm especially fond of the opinion question you get from Khyryk, where you have 3 options to answer: the standard two, plus one that agrees but points out that his isolation hasn't accomplished anything, either. GF3 basically says there is no perfect way to handle things. Interestingly, I can't really think of a major NPC from any of Jeff's games that doesn't have some kind of flaw like this. At best you get competent administrators like Rahul or Micah, but in terms of people who have the clarity of vision to potentially change the world for the better, they are either recluses like Khyryk or Solberg, or they go way overboard, like Erika. The only exception I can think of is Bon-Ihrno, and look what happened to him!

Khyryk definitely did not offer my agent that deal. Weird.

Let me add that I'm thrilled to hear about the non-shaper in GF4. The shaper apprentice thing was really smart and fitting in GF1; in GF2, it was okay; in GF3... well... old hat, and not really very fitting. Boats: I understand that the hassle is somewhat realistic, but GIVEN that you don't have to actually walk through all the areas you are passing through, if you decide to, say, trek all across Dhonal's isle, it doesn't make any sense. The voyage from island to island can't possibly take as long as that does, and it's likely less eventful. But you are forced to walk through the docks. *shakes head*

I agree. I particularly miss the nonaligned option. That said... It's interesting to see how the sects (and, accordingly, the ethical axes) have shifted. In GF1 the Obeyers refused to think for themselves. This is hard to justify without having a Shaper upbringing, which of course, none of us players have. So the rebelling sects were the obvious moral winners -- the Takers, too, had a position it's easy to sympathize with, even if their methods were questionable. In GF2 we did see more problems with the Awakened, yet the other sects got even worse -- Zakary was not just hypocritical and manipulative, but also incompetent; and Barzahl and the Takers were not just violent, but also pretty much insane. Again, each viewpoint had justification, but the Awakened remained way way more reasonable than their peers. In GF3, axes have shifted. The early forced choice questions, instead of focusing on the difference between absolutist control, idealistic peace, and violent rebellion, instead simply contrast strict order and control vs. chaotic freedom. Answering them honestly, I actually had to think about many of them, which NEVER happened in the earlier games. It also seems to me that the ethical balance is different from earlier games. In these questions, the loyalists are presented in a very different light -- not as tyrants who torture intelligent beings, but as humans who made some mistakes but are just trying to keep everything from going to hell. Perhaps my view is colored by my own feelings, but that's really different from what we've seen before. Oh, and while I'm commenting on game differences... the boats. The boats! Does having to spend 10 minutes walking to get back to the earlier islands, should you happen to want to, annoy anyone else?

The item (and other) info files are consistently formatted. It might be less painful to extract the information using grep (in, say, BBEdit)

All right, I did some poking around... both in the game and in looking through the GF3 data files. Unfortunately, the script files that provide such clear information on items, creatures, and attack types are almost useless for the enhancements, which must be handled separately. On armor: - As far as I can tell all effects -are- cumulative. - 5 of the enhancements add +5% to one resist stat -- bless adds to armor, "resist magic" adds to electric, and the elemental ones add to fire/ice/acid. - "Resist effects" adds +5% to hostile effect resistance, i.e., all 7 resist stats. - Spiked armor takes effect every time you are hit, and damages the attacker. The damage varies. With one piece of spiked armor it's usually around 50% of attack damage. With two pieces, I *think* the range of damage increases, but I'm not sure, and I don't yet have 3 of the enhancement. - "Bonus to-hit" presumably gives you a +5% bonus, but I haven't tested it. - I can't tell if "avoid blows" does anything at all. - As far as I can tell, "Regeneration" does NOTHING on armor. Is this a bug or have I missed something? On weapons: - "Hits faster" does nothing that I can see. - I think blessing increases chance to hit by 5%. - "Stronger" (golden crystal) increases base weapon damage by some factor. I suspect it adds an extra die to the base damage. This usually increases damage by less than the effects below, but the advantage is that it takes effect on every single hit, plus it also affects Quick Action hits. - The other 7 enhancements all trigger on successful hits, NOT including Quick Action hits. They will not trigger every time - I'm not sure what affects this. - Fire and ice brands and the spike will do extra damage (usually around 5-15) of the appropriate type. Spike is physical damage, so it doesn't get resisted, and is probably better. - "Regeneration" ONLY when on your weapon, not armor, will heal you for a small amount of damage (around 5-20). I haven't tested to see if the life drain doesn't work on undead. - Acid brand, cursing and slowing add the appropriate status effect at a relatively mild level. - These effects are all handled DIFFERENTLY from native weapon (or creature) attack abilities. (Thus the Stunning Blade, if given the slowing enhancement, can actually slow the same enemy three times in one attack (native ability and enhancement off first swing plus native ability off Quick Action).)

Some of the effects of enhancements are pretty obvious, particularly the low-level ones. Some aren't. Has anyone investigated any of the following? 1. What, specifically, are the effects of the less obviously named ones? - Which effects does "resist effects" resist, and to what degree does it resist them? - What in the world is the difference between a weapon that you've enhanced to be "stronger" (golden crystal) vs. to "do more damage" (spine)? How much of a bonus do those give compared with the elemental brand enhancements? - What does the "strikes faster" weapon enhancement do? If it affects Quick Action, I haven't been able to tell. - I'm only halfway through the game, so there are probably some other unclear ones I've left off. 2. For armor enchancements, are the effects cumulative if you equip 2 items with the same enhancement? This is true for the basic elemental resists, but what about regeneration, spiked armor, dodging, resist effects, etc? ...if the effects can be cumulative, this could potentially be a reason to hold onto certain enhancements and not use them right away even though you know you'll get more copies later.