Student of Trinity

A pretty good walkthrough exists. See links at top of forum.

Ah, I just killed all the pylons for the experience. Maybe I need to flip one switch.

I was 30th, playing as a singleton who had grubbed for experience pretty shamelessly.

Yeah, it's a bit disappointing that there aren't a few more late game dialog branches, especially since there are several reasons why you can end up going back to revisit old islands. Lankan was so miffed about the rogues, so he should have something to say if you announce that you've squelched them -- even if what he says is just that this episode has revealed to him the terrible irresponsibility of Shaper rule, and now he can never submit because there will always be a next time.

Maybe they can get added in an update.

Was it the cryodrayk's kept Shaper? He's pretty irritating so maybe I'll bop him to see what happens. I think it's the canisters that make me think this way.

Edit: Oh, no, he's to the west and around a few corners. Maybe I'll still bop him, though, for being irritating. Oh, and a treacherous disgrace to the name of a Shaper who must be blotted from the earth lest the slightest rumor of our fallibility spread. Yeah.

Green means goo!

I've had no trouble getting anywhere (except for that NW room in Crumbled Lab (thanks) and a spot in Khor's Deeps that I think might be a dock). But Display Warrens is red. Who was I supposed to off?

I assisted it from existence. I hate those creepy things. Don't tell me it would have given me a lollipop?

What's it take to turn Display Warrens green? I believe I have squelched everything that moves in the place, and in its bug-infested basement, except for our learned old friend. I have also cleared all the neighboring tiles. It's tedious to have to walk through that one area all the time.

Is there any way to get into the room you can just see in the far northwest of the Crumbled Lab? It seems to be blocked off with rubble, but I can see these doors, taunting me. Actually, if there is a way in there, I want to find it for myself; but if not, I want to be told so I don't waste time looking.

Why, the dirty so-and-so. Thanks very much for the tip.

Thanks, Dolphin, that's as much as I wanted to know. A bit more than I wanted to know, Stugie, but it won't really make any difference because I always rob everybody I possibly can.

Anyone know about that one viciously trapped box?

I've gotten through Dhonal Island having found recipes for the Infiltrator's Ring, the Emerald Chestguard, and the Creator's Belt. I've got the stuff for the Belt, and everything for the other two except Demon Claws and a Pure Crystal Shard. I'm pretty sure I haven't passed any Claws because I think I would have noticed the attached Demon. But I'm worried that I might have overlooked the Shard somewhere on Dhonal or even an earlier island. I just don't want to take the time to scour the whole place again. Could anyone tell me whether I've missed the Shard or not? If it lies ahead, don't tell me where it is -- I'll find it myself. If I have missed it, please tell me where.

A few other things -- again, if the answers lie ahead I don't want to know any more than that.

Is there any way to get into the spooky door that makes you want to run away from it? Is it possible to get into that 2000 point trapped chest (i.e. what level of Mechanics does it take)? Is it worth pumping Mechanics incredibly high to get into it?

I can offer in return the small observation that it's really quite easy to rob the Keep blind if you use Speed, and the Lord and Lady's bedroom has got to be one of the most lucrative rooms in the game.

One small bug report: I overlooked Jane outside the Keep until after I had cleaned out the Mighty Creator, but she was still all freaked out about the poor old General. Well, maybe it's not a bug, since she might just not have heard yet; but at that point General Greiner had been up and at 'em for many weeks.

There is a way later in the game to get rid of the canister, if you want. I did that, but haven't yet gone back to talk to Lankan to see what happens. I'm hoping he'll chill because I've killed all his rogues, but I can't confirm this yet.

Evidently Jeff can cheat, too.

Mmmm, ornk bacon. Genetically modified meat from a mutant monster, which was created out of the personal essence of a genetically modified farmer, and then lived only a few seconds of unnatural life, before being slaughtered with magical acid. Ought to just fly off the meat section shelves, where it is stocked right between the soylent green and the green eggs and ham. Oh Spam, where is thy sting?

But I believe we are confusing the Ornk Lord of G1, with the Create Ornk canister of G2, which may for all I know be found also somewhere in G3, which takes places thousands of miles from Barzahl's former fortress.

[Decides to interpret this thread as giving license to state the obvious.]

It doesn't have new spells or player creations. The new plot stream of normal humans resenting Shaper dominance is an excellent development, because it seems to tie everything else in the GF world down to reality (as it were). So far, though, it does not seem to me to be the eye-popper that the 'Taker way' of bootstrap godhood was in G2, for example.

Instead the big step in G3 is a lot of engine development, with a lot of ingenuity and variety in tactical challenges, and in lots of other game events as well.

This is fine by me. It's not at all what I was expecting of G3 -- I was expecting a fifth tier of creations, etc. -- so it's a surprise. I'm enjoying it very much so far (about halfway through Dhonal's Isle for the first time, with a singleton Agent, of the traditional speed-and-violence build, on Torment). At this point it looks like I could also enjoy replaying it a few more times, making different major decisions.

Ahh, maybe I'm just genetically predisposed to like these games, or something. I was hoping it wouldn't be anything _but_ a dragon; I had settled on that as the ideal solution. It felt so incomplete that drayks and then drakons were only wanna-be dragons. I mean, it's great that the GF world is full of unfamiliar fantasy creatures; but drayks and drakons were always just close enough to dragons that you couldn't help thinking of the comparison, and it always made them seem smaller. (It didn't help that drakons are kittens compared to the other two fourth tier creations.)

So I thought it would be great if those powermad Taker drakons were finally going to pull it off, and go all the way. That was my idea of how it should be, and although I'm far from meeting Ghaldring, it sounds like I won't be disappointed.

Yay.

In the top right corner of the 'statistics' screen there's a spot that says 'show abilities' or something like that. It doesn't obviously look clickable, but it is, and it toggles the 'abilities' vs 'statistics' screens.

Yes. I like the 'shapers versus power-hungry maniacs' theme. It's a big theme. It'll hold up for a few more games beyond this one even, as far as I'm concerned. The developments in G3 seem to be interesting but inevitable in retrospect. I

like the technical elaborations in the engine.

And I like how the various NPCs all seem closer, somehow. Maybe it's just that more of them have more in common with the PC, but folks like Master Hoge and Diwaniya seem more understandable and sympathetic than people like Barzahl or Ellrah. Maybe what it really is, now that I think about it, is that the mid-level NPCs are given a lot more personality than in the previous games, where practically only the sect leaders had anything much to say.

1) Yes, you can. Click the check mark to get out of the dialog about your hot canister. It will come right back up in a moment. But if you hit 'f' immediately after clicking the check, you enter combat mode before the dialog can come up again, and you can walk out of there without dealing with the issue one way or the other. Then just stay out of Lankan's face, and out of his house, and you can wander around everywhere else without either killing the rebels or supercharging them.

The idea is to have a thread to point out things in G3 you like, without the subject line giving anything away at all. Since I'm not going to finish the game for a while, I'm not actually going to read this thread for a while.

So, my contributions:

That Venemous Artila was an elusive bastard. Just as he got low, he'd take off, and by the time I fought my way through a few more normal Artilas, he was back to full health. Well done, I thought.

I made the mistake (as I now think it was) of picking up the small, nasty canister in the San Ru tunnels. Then when I went to the rebel camp, it kept revealing itself and getting me into trouble. I had to enter combat mode immediately after clicking out of the dialog to escape it. Only by doing that could I manage to leave without either fighting the rebels or turning their leader into a monster. This is the main thing that gave me the feeling that I was walking a razor's edge to stay neutral.

Best thing so far, I think: chasing Master Hoge. I don't know what happens if you just let him run; maybe it comes to the same thing. But I had the impression that I was getting more info out of him only because I dodged his Clawbugs and clung to his tail. Took a couple of save-loads to do this, though, because the first couple of times he baked me with Aura of Flames before spilling any beans. Maybe that was only because I (ineffectually) attacked him, though.

I also really liked that I could choose whether to give the dusty notes to the refugee or the creepy tavern alchemist. Turns out you can get the alchemist's full reward just for a handful of living tools, while the refugee's seems to be quite a bonus (speed items are my favorite). That was good, because I felt like the alchemist was an arrogant jerk like my insufferable shaper teachers, while the refugee was a self-reliant fighting magician trying to save civilians from the rogues, like me.

Yeah, G3 presumes that you are an exceptional student. Discriminating people go out of their way to chat up you in particular. It also explicitly keeps track of time, and now I see that it has taken me nearly two months to get to Dhonal's Isle. So I'm gaining about two levels per week. If we assume that my periodic bouts of intense combat and strange discovery are being complemented by days of study and reflection on my previous training, days which pass while I rest in town, trudge through green squares, or sail the ocean blue, I guess this isn't so unbelievable, within the logic of the game world.

So, I'm happy now.

Which shaper class did you opt for in your first run through G3?

Since this is a busy week for me, I will not be able to submerge myself 24/7 in G3 like some of the young whippersnappers on this forum. So to avoid spoilers I will be disappearing from here until I finish the game at my own slow pace.

I believe I have avoided spoilers in what follows.

I'm starting with a loner Agent on Torment, and I believe I'm approaching the end of the demo area (though those nice folks at Spiderweb got me registered almost immediately). I'll be at level 16 in a couple of ticks.

So far I'm very pleased. I'm trying not to burn my bridges with any faction, to keep my options open as long as possible. This is proving surprisingly difficult, which is quite cool. In G2 you could string everyone along pretty easily, but now I feel much more like I'm sitting on a powderkeg. Some of the 'no turning back' options that I have avoided so far are things I will definitely want to try out another time. Also the new engine seems to allow quite a few wrinkles we didn't see in G1 or G2, and this is nice. Finally the AI seems to be able to play smarter, but the fact that (minor) Daze now affects everyone in sight keeps saving me from certain doom.

Gracias.

Surprised, and how. Turns out, Barzahl gave up personal augmentation when he realized that his mastery of the 'canister' technology would allow him to totally dominate the personal fragrance industry. "Litalia" is his new line of longer-lasting all-over body spray.

Litalia.

For a man. Or a woman. Or a vlish.