Mea Tulpa

Exile 3 didn't have Xian anything. Avernum 3 did.

This is something that there seems to be near unanimous agreement on, but I think the map is decided. Not because it couldn't be changed, but I strongly suspect that Jeff prefers it this way, because at a glance it looks more polished and professional. On the other hand, broken record suggesting did eventually lead to G4 fixing the old encumbrance system.

Maybe we should just skip to the ending and give Bain a custom title

It's the command key. The oddity didn't even register with me, because I run Windows via Boot Camp, so on my keyboard, in order to alt-tab away, I actually DO have at option-tab away.

The screenshots are on the spiderweb website and are a few weeks old

Right. Aodare himself isn't important, he's just the only direct representative of that ending, so he's a handy label for that path.

Hmm. I seem to have misremembered a few things about G3. Pity; it was more interesting in my memory than when I went back and looked at the scripts for Gull Island. I do have to say: Originally Posted By: Dantius So the point is moot, seeing as his views have no representative endgame and are thus irrelevant to the progression of the story. This confuses me. If we're talking about representing different perspectives on the various ethical continua that recur throughout the Geneforge games, why is a specific endgame required? I agree it's a nice thing to have, but the view (and those players who sympathize with it) exists regardless of whether or not it's an endgame option.

TL, DR. JK... but sheesh I'll try to reply to your main points without arguing over minutiae. Originally Posted By: Dantius Keep in mind that in G3, Khyryk was pretty minor NPC. All he does is give you a quest to liberate the Shapers and chill in his tower. This is simply not true. Let's look at this from a few angles: (1) Actual importance to area in game world. Khyryk was the head honcho on his island, much like Diwaniya and similar to Rahul, although Rahul was a step up. So he's the most important figure for 1/6 of the game (I'll count Rahul's island as two parts). On this count, he is clearly equal to most faction leaders (any game). (2) Importance to story flow. You are required to talk to Khyryk on multiple occasions, and for fully 50% of the game's routes, you are required to kill him. He doesn't just give a random quest. On this count he's less relevant than a faction leader but more important than anyone else. (3) Position re philosophical views represented in the game. Khyryk is the sole, serious representative of any non-Rebel, non-Shaper view in all of G3. Since the Awakened were probably the most popular faction in the earlier games and the Trakovites were acclaimed (if less popular) in later games, this is pretty relevant. On this count he is on par with Litalia, Greta, and Alwan in terms of his significance to G3. In G4 he is certainly less important to the area and the story. Nonetheless he remains the major representative of the non-Shaper, non-Rebel viewpoint. As far as screen time goes, that's a bit more objective. Whether or not you find Goettsch more interesting or more important than Khyryk, Khyryk does get more screen time.

I have to say I disagree with most of those. On the one hand, you threw in characters who happened to be in two or three games but had nothing interesting to say in any of them. I mean, Issss-ta, seriously? Yes, she's in three games, but she has bit parts in each of them. Totally non-essential. Same thing for Learned Darian. On the other hand, you have characters who were in only one game, and had pretty comparable screen time to Khyryk's, but were in no other games. Miranda, Mehken, and General Greiner are probably the worst offenders here, but Astoria, Rawal, Taygen, and Easss all fit as well. Zakary, Barzahl, Trajkov, Akhari Blaze, and maybe Syros and Pinner I suppose I'll accept.

reacting differently != abstract realization. if I have 3 apples on a paper plate, and I take them off, it might blow away in the wind. it won't do that if I leave the apples on it. that isn't because the paper plate realizes the difference between 3 and 0. now the horse has a nervous system and brain involved in its reactions so obviously it falls somewhere between the extremes of 'paper plate' and 'human'... and for all I know, maybe it does process concepts of number abstractly. however, the fact that it reacts to changes in quantity does nothing whatsoever to support that theory.

Khyryk can hardly be considered a side-character. He is central to a small part of the plot in two games, which is more than almost anyone else can say. Seriously, who gets more screen time? Alwan, Greta, Litalia, Ghaldring... anyone else?

— Zorry to haf kept you vaiting. — We've made the most AMAZING cake! You won't believe it!! — Heir ist cake... But...vhere are bride und groom? — Where...is...EVERYONE? — This is BIG trouble! — Za bride ist LEAFING? — You're taking the bride...AWAY?! — But...Zhere von't be anyone to eat zees cake! — What?! This can't be! We worked ALL DAY on it! — YOU FOOLS!

Actually, I thought of those too. I hate them. Scheme was not fun for me, and that lack of fun is burned into my mind. But I couldn't settle on a philosophy to pair them with. What do you think?

The point of the analogy is that a Platonic ideal form is the idea of a generic object that we hold in our heads. It is the "blueprint" that we compare substantiations of that form to. I think the similarity to objects derived from classes is straightforward. I suppose a procedural programming language would work for Aristotlian philosophy, what with the First Cause and Unmoved Mover and such. Declarative programming languages sounds like a good bet for existentialism ("Whence Come We? What Are We? Whither Go We?"). Concatenative languages: analytic philosophy. Expression-oriented languages: logical positivism. Non-structured languages: most everything else the Greeks did.

I also thought Corata was the one who wanted the new body.

The dragon gender-changing was not a big deal, considering that nobody even noticed it until I put together the Dragons article for EE. And G5's timeline was not quite that bad -- the 200 year comment was regarding Shaper rule in the Mera-Tev. While I did find that to be a confusing and unlikely number, it does not in any way contradict the "over a millenia" of Shaper rule from Heustess in G1 (I think that's the only other place it's mentioned, right?) given that the Mera-Tev was supposedly conquered more recently than any other province on Terrestia.

You didn't miss anything. That was, I have to assume, just a (series of) pretty atrocious memory errors on SW's part.

Are the files ON the CDs? I mean, when you put in the CDs, do they show up as normal and all the files are there? What happens when you try to copy?

Are Arthurian legends overdone, or is a stereotypical medieval European setting overdone? I have a hard time thinking of any CRPGs with actual Arthurian legend elements, beyond Excalibur -- only one of many legendary swords that's been appropriated by Final Fantasy et al.

Amen. I strongly doubt he has, as it goes against his design aesthetic, but I really, really hope so too.

Yeah. The thing to do is to approach it the same way Jeff approached Nethergate: not "I'm going to mostly duplicate lots of existing stories and characters, but change elements to make it fit, sometimes changing essential things and ruining immersion for the people who should be most excited about the setting" but rather "I'm going to draw heavily on the atmosphere of the tales to create an immersive world, making frequent reference to big-name figures but only including them where absolutely appropriate and it fits with existing legends." Any game that asks me to "chase after the Green Knight," for example, would be instantly discredited to me.

Maybe you should finish RiB.

I assume you mean "copy" or "install" and not "download," right? I also assume that when you say "didn't download" you actually mean the files got copied, but won't run. Or do you mean you can't even copy/install the files off the CD?

I know that most of us probably hear "Arthurian" and assume "trite, cliche fantasy" -- but what Melmoth suggests above actually sounds very original, just as original as Nethergate was. I for one think it's a terrific idea, and I actually think it might sell well, too.

I suspect so as well. However, I never tested this (or saw it tested) on G2 or G3.