Aoslare

If you like this sort of thing, you might check out console emulation. The NES and SNES in particular were loaded with RPGs, including a few real gems.

I'm almost sure the barriers didn't come down in my copy of Exile 2 v1.0 back in the day. I wonder if this is a Mac vs PC thing.

I can forgive the lack of Rentar, but there's no Erika and no Aimee. That's ridiculous. Enla and Ostoth deserve spots too. Silverio, Mairwen, Aydin, and Kyanan all made repeat appearances and deserve to be on the list more than some who are. And Seles and Vidrain are certainly no less notable than "Formello's Wizard." Are you talking about Miles? Alice? Townsend? ...please.

Geneforge 3 isn't a bad game at all, but it was a bad sequel. The major complaint was that the plot was one-dimensional and highly repetitive, especially if you'd played the first two games. There was also the lack of innovation. Although G3 had a few new ideas (such as item enhancements, and Alwan and Greta) the game was almost identical to G2 technically. Which is to say, it's mostly great -- but when you've played the previous games and are on your 200th zone of the same plot and the same mechanics and the same enemies, it starts to get old. If you can get past those, it's a solid game with enough character-building depth to offer a lot of good play time. But if you're new to Geneforge, I wouldn't start with G3. Maybe either G1 or G4, depending on your tastes. EDIT: Double-sniped. Sheesh. ET's right about the boats, though; they were possibly the worst thing about any Geneforge game ever.

Geneforge 3 isn't a bad game at all, but it was a bad sequel. The major complaint was that the plot was one-dimensional and highly repetitive, especially if you'd played the first two games. There was also the lack of innovation. Although G3 had a few new ideas (such as item enhancements, and Alwan and Greta) the game was almost identical to G2 technically. Which is to say, it's mostly great -- but when you've played the previous games and are on your 200th zone of the same plot and the same mechanics and the same enemies, it starts to get old. If you can get past those, it's a solid game with enough character-building depth to offer a lot of good play time. But if you're new to Geneforge, I wouldn't start with G3. Maybe either G1 or G4, depending on your tastes. EDIT: Double-sniped. Sheesh. ET's right about the boats, though; they were possibly the worst thing about any Geneforge game ever.

Actually, that class would suck. If you aren't going to shape much, the Infiltrator and Servile are clearly better. If you are, the Lifecrafter would likely be better anyway. That class would need more than "genarally" balanced HP and Essence in order to be remotely useful. Luck also does not increase resistances. It increases displayed resistance but won't decrease your damage one whit.

Yeah, the barriers will only come down if you've registered.

Horses make a huge difference in how much time it takes to do anything.

Avernum 2 and 3 might be worth a shot, but there's very little in them that wasn't in Exile 2 and 3. Registration is worthwhile.

Quote: Originally written by Infernal Flamming Muffin: Oh, and the graphics for muffins would look like normal ones, but when they attack yellow eyes show and they open up huge mouths. It kinda disturbs me that I like this idea.

...ironically, I think all the anti-muffin scenario comments have had the opposite effect. We're going to end up with three or four muffin scenarios now. Let's get organized right now so they make sense when you put them together: somebody can do Blueberry Muffin, somebody can do Bran Muffin, Corn Muffin, and so on.

I'm not sure anyone has tested it specifically in G4, but yeah, that's what that ability has done in the past, so presumably it still does that. More specifically, it should affect melee, missile, and magic attacks.

Yes, Retlaw May's quote was undoubtedly the best quote from G4.

That giant feather makes you look rather like a teletubbies reject.

Really? Wow. Now that I think about it, my testing, which was years ago, mostly just used the displayed hit bonuses as its data point. Maybe those cap off before the defensive bonuses do. But I'm almost sure they never went above 40% and +8, even with multiple spells involved. Sheesh.

Additional blessing spells only multiply the effect if you cast it at relatively low Intelligence. At high Int a single bless spell can get you up to a high level of blessing. (Not sure if this is true of Bless Party and Major Blessing but I think it is.) (Also not sure if further blesses will increase the duration or not. I think not, but not sure.) Blessing can go up to 8 levels in Exile. Each level confers a +5% bonus to hit, a +1 damage bonus, and I think (but don't quite recall) a +5% bonus to dodge and +1 bonus to armor. That armor bonus is extremely powerful.

I had no idea that was you, Waylander. That said: Salmon, don't make me change my PDN to Nutritious Vlish.

Quote: Originally written by Morior: Apropos of nothing, (always wanted to use that phrase): Where does it say that shaping was created on Sucia Island? I've played through all of G1, and I didn't notice anything about shaping starting on Sucia. It just reached the height of its art on Sucia. Thanks. Then you didn't play through quite all of G1. Or if you did, you forgot what you learned in the Spirit City.

"Not hard" might still not be easy enough to justify putting effort into it ahead of working on a new game that will generate many orders of magnitude more profit.

You can never be in more than one sect at the same time, in G1 or G2, regardless of conditions needed to join.

There are doomguards in Exile 2, too. The keys to defeating them are: 1) Damage per turn doesn't matter nearly so much as damage per strike, since each attack will make it split. That makes this one of the few situations in Exile where halberds and greatswords are better than dual-wielded wave blades. 2) Because it is going to take a long time no matter what you do, and because making lots of attacks every turn just guarantees you'll have lots of guys attacking you back, having a strong defense is more important than having a strong offense. If your fighters (or ideally, your whole party) are wearing lots of armor, and you keep everyone heavily blessed, all you really need is patience. Doomguards don't have any special attacks to worry about. Another strategy is to summon overpowered creatures with Simulacrum. This didn't work well in 3 as I recall, but in Exile 2, you could make Simulacrums of the dragons. Their really high HP and high damage breath attack makes them useful in this scenario.

Quote: Originally written by Spokesman of the Dead: Why is it so horribly impossible that Shaping spread peacefully? Because, in the Spirit City in G1, you learn quite specifically how shaping spread, and it wasn't peaceful at all. The first shapers used shaping "as a weapon" and tried to build up an empire with it.

I haven't been able to find a single line from any of the games suggesting that Terrestia is the less settled Shaper land. G4 makes it clear that Eastern Terrestia is the less settled part of Terrestia, but there's nothing to suggest it's the Shaper equivalent of Valorim.

I don't suppose you can just use the dog graphic for me, as Dikiyoba did in her screenshot? This is an ambitious, but potentially spectacular project. I wish you good luck in completing it.

I think we can safely say that there is one, and only one, Shaper Council. There are hundreds of references to it throughout the games and not one of them is plural.