Zeviz

Thanks. About getting back into BoE, would you recommend BoE or BoA for scenario design? (I am professional programmer, which means that on one hand I am not afraid of complicated scripts, but on the other hand I don't want to do in the evenings the same stuff I do at work whole day.)

Thanks for your recommendations. I guess I'll start with Emulations and will try other suggestions later. I've downloaded Emulations and have a small question about it: The instructions say to use a certain character, however they don't say anything about his traits. Can I give him "Magically Apt", or would that cause me too much disadvantage from getting less experience? (I've never played scenarios indended for specific 1-PC parties before, unless you count Elections.)

Could somebody recommend me a few good scenarios that I will like. I generally play RPGs for their plot, but I am a bit bored right now, so some fast-paced action would be good too. I don't like puzzles, although somewhat difficult combat is ok. Finally, I don't have either time or patience for an epic scenario. So do you have any suggestions? PS More examples of my tastes: I liked Election and Alcritas' scenarios, abandoned At the Gallows several times because it was too long and puzzles were too frustrating. Currently I've abandoned Geneforge 3 from boredom.

Quote: Originally written by Contra: Back in the days of G2, I wished for Jeff to get a new main plot aswell. Cut the canisters, no Geneforge, things like that. I was disappointed when my wishes did not come to life for G3, and I broguht this up on the forum. They gave me the same answer that I will give you: Jeff probably can't afford to go off the walsl with new ideas, and blow a working plot that might either ge grand and new or (more likely) fail horribly and be denounced by his fan-base. He has bills to pay, afterall. I don't doubt that Jeff sacrifises his artistic vision to go for something more "safe" when it comes to buyers. And this will be Jeff's doom. The main point of Spidweb games was that they were fun experiments and not just carbon copies of the same successful template. In one of very old interviews posted on SW webpage Jeff had said that he doesn't do any marketing research, but instead makes games he wants to make. This is the attitude that made his games so successful and it looks like he is losing it. E2 was my first intro to the series with its new races, a unique underground world, etc. E3 had a huge world to explore while it was crambling around you and you were rushing against the clock to solve the big mystery. Nethergate gave unique opportunity to see actions of your party from both sides. (I especially liked the part where your Celt party was chasing the people who were your Roman party, but barely missed them. ) Avernum had same story as Exile, but had a new engine. Geneforge had a novel idea of making your own travelling companions. It also had an engrossing atmosphere of exploring a new world with its moral dilemmas. Avernum 3 was just a dumbed-down version of E3. Geneforge 2 was a sequel to Gf 1, with enough differnces to make it worthwhile to play through a couple of times. However, there was nothing principally new in Geneforge 2. And Gf3 is just a copy of Gf2. Is this happening because Jeff is too worried about feeding his family to take risks he used to take with his games? Or is he simply running out of good ideas?

Quote: Originally written by Drakefyre: I think the reason for that is that Jeff wants more "realistic" choices, where nobody can really win like they want to. If I want realism, I turn on TV. While it might be fun to play a bad guy sometimes, a game that gives you a choice between two unpleasant sides isn't nearly as appealing to most people as the classic "goodie saves the world". However, what was the worst part for me was the disconnect between character's and player's experience of the game. The character was supposed to be surprized by many things that were expected by the player. (yes, canisters, saw that, yes, rebelling serviles, saw that, yes drakons, saw that, ...) This highlighted even further the fact that the game had the same story as the previous one, simply putting in new characters and place names. For Gf 4, I hope Jeff is going to come up with a completely new story, whose main character already knows about canisters, geneforge and rebelling serviles. And by completely new, I mean something that doesn't fit the standard pattern of: Apprentice is attacked; he encounters unfamiliar magic and servile ideas; he joins/fights the rebels and goes on missions until he destroys/uses/helps rebels use the Geneforge.

I guess I am not the only one who got bored after the end of Dhonal's Island. Geneforge 3 is about to become the first game I've bought that I was too bored to finish. (There is only so much you can milk the same story until it becomes pointless.) I don't feel like fighting through the rest of the game, since I already know how it will end (either join loyalists and kill evil drakons, destroying Geneforge yet again, or join rebels and kill head shaper yet again); I can't find a faction to join because my opinions are too pro-rebel to get any help from shapers, but joining canister-crazed maniacs that depopulate entire islands doesn't look very appealing. (I guess I am spoiled by previous games with their 4 sects.)

Are you sure you are in the right area? You should be in Storage Road (North West of Fort Wilton). The central section of the map contains several buildings. When you enter the northern one, you'll get a message that there are some canisters and pieces of broken crate with a name on it. (The building is full of boards and broken canisters and has 1 working canister.) Once you've seen this message, go back to customs agent and report your discovery.

1. These are the serviles for the Fort Wilton servile master's quest. If you have this quest, mention his name. If you don't these serviles are useless to you. (I think you can get this quest only if you express pro-rebel opinions.) 2. You don't get any extra conversation options from clearing the bridge. Even if you tell them to join rebels, the serviles exit to the east. 3. These are not the serviles for Celeste's quest. Killing these serviles will give you no benefit.

And to give an actual answer to your question, here are the locations of Mind Nutriens that should be accessible to you by now: (*Minor Spoiler*) 1. Twin Mind Tunnels (under Madness Mines). 2. Blasted Lab (under Spharon's Lands). If I remember correctly, you don't even have to kill Spharon to get the nutrients from Blasted Lab, because they are in a cabinet outside Spharon's hall. However, you should kill Spharon anyway for lots of treasures he is guarding.

If I am thinking about the right body, it's completely inaccessible and when somebody hacked their location to get to it, they found that it had nothing.

It's impossible to be neutral in this game. Any action you take to get to the next island will alienate one of the two factions. However, now that you are helping Shapers again, you might be able to get Alwan back.

Try various conversation options until a shade attacks you. If I remember correctly, you have to distract him by some question, examine the essense, then disrupt it (or maybe wait, try both options). I hope you have a backup save from before you started experimenting with conversation options. If not, make one now. EDIT: I think you have to distract him by mentioning Lord Rahul. Then examine him and disrupt the essence while he is lost in thought.

Quote: Originally written by Walter: ... Now how can a creature have vestigal wings if its ancestor had no wings at all? By crossing a fyora with a butterfly? About the boats, they'd have to be similar to Golems (part machines part living creatures) to avoid the need for constant shaper control. (Since you start Gf1 as a simple apprentice, presumably you wouldn't be able to "control" a large and powerful creature the size of a boat, unless it was mostly mechanical.) So while they might be able to quickly shape living components of a boat, they'd have to spend a lot of time working on mechanical parts.

I liked Nethergate a lot more. Primarily because it was very fun to see references to your Roman party when playing as Celts and to your Celt party when playing as Romans. (Maybe I should try going through the game again, playing both parties simultaneously and switching between chapters. )

I would also recommend Nethergate, Exile/Avernum 2 or any of the Geneforges. (Start with Geneforge 1 if you want to do the whole series, otherwise start with 2.) A warning about Blades of Exile: when everybody says how great it is, they are talking about custom made scenarios, which you can't play until you register the game. If you try the free scenario that comes with the demo, you might be disappointed. As for finding good custom scenarios, look at the ratings here: http://pub26.ezboard.com/fthelyceumfrm27

Good imagination. More seriously, most of the people who enjoy these games do so because of their stories and gameplay, the ability to affect the world by your actions and the feeling of accomplishment when you complete the game. If you think that games have to have top graphics, thing of Geneforge as a book, rather than a game. It's a book where you get a chance to choose what is going to happen and all of your choices have consequences. I haven't seen any other game in which your actions and even words have such a strong effect on everything that happens later and on the eventual global events. So in summary, if you think of games as books, rather than movies, you can just ignore the graphics provided by the game and replace them with your imagination.

Max Parry, achieved at around level 17 (I don't remember exactly), gives you: 50% chance to reflect enemy's attack back onto him (makes tough enemies kill themselves, but doesn't work on ranged attacks) 50% chance to completely avoid attack 50% chance to strongly decrease damage (resulting in almost no damage if you are wearing heavy armor) So with maxed out Parry, you have only 12.5% chance of taking damage from a successful melee hit and 25% of taking damage from a successful long range hit.

I'd agree with Walter. The Shaper with all points sunk into Intelligence is as strong in Geneforge 1 as Guarding with max Parry is in Geneforge 2. If you want more challenge, try playing an Agent in early game or a Guardian in late game.

Here are some extra tips. (If you want to add them to the tips section of your FAQ.) General Tips 1. Explore hostile areas in combat mode. This has several advantages: i) Lets you see enemies before they see you. (Especially if you never spend all movement points and let your scouts retreat whenever they see an enemy.) ii) Lets your blessing spells last through several fights. iii) Lets you explore the area more quickly, with different creations exploring different parts of the map. General Combat Tips (What to do if you keep getting killed.) 1. Blessing and Protection spells make a huge difference. Use them for most battles to save yourself a lot of pain (and healing spores). 2. Speed is essential for difficult battles. However, Shapers with many creations will find Mass Energize to be more cost-effective for speeding up their entire party. 3. Many missile creatures (pylons, serviles with acid batons, etc.) are a lot less dangerous at close range. So when you are dealing with a group of them, send a creature to stand next to each one, while you kill them one at a time. Thahd Shades are ideal for this because of their high defense and poison resistance.

If you combine the links into a single webpage, they might add it to the forum header when they update it to include the editors.

Are you sure you were talking to Greta and not the cowardly student in the school? Greta meets you in the middle of village when you exit the school. EDIT: About original topic of the thread, I prefer shapers, because they are the class unique to this game and fit best with the environment. All other RPGs have fighters and mages, but the whole idea of Geneforge is to make and manage your own army.

Which recipe are you trying to make? I just checked the FAQ linked at the top of forum, and I don't see anything that requires both Wiry Moss and Artilla's Eye. PS Some books you'll find in the game contain pieces of different recipes. Perhaps this is the case with the book you found?

The same proverb exists even in Russian. ("Don't argue about tastes.") As for Geneforge 1 vs. Geneforge 3, the problem in Geneforge 3 is that you've already seen all of this before. In Geneforge 1, there is a whole new world with a big mystery. By the time it gets to Geneforge 3, you already know everything that is going on and keep waiting for your old friends Awakened, Barzites/Shloai, and Takers to show up and for Geneforge to make an appearance.

When you are making creations, it tells you how much essence you are about to use up for this creation. Alwan and Greta are the only two "creations" that don't use any essense even when you spend their skillpoints.

If you really want to open every single door, you should leave some of them until your Mechanics is higher and then come back to open them. This is especially true for very hard doors, because they will give you 50 experience whether you are level 15 or 25.