Squiggus

What I really liked about GF3: - The NPC companions, Greta and Alwan. This concept could get old if it was overdone. But I liked the way that the main character could interact and develop with these NPCs. The way they could chime into conversations sometimes and provide an commentary. And of course, when you have both of them along, the way that they squabble with each other. Oh, and that they never really get killed! - The crafting system, at least once I figured out how it worked and got a few recipes from here. Suggestion for GF4: Make it a lot easier for people to find and store the recipes in-game. - The introduction of the Outsider humans as another group with possible problems with the rule of the Shapers. What I have mixed feelings about: - The archipelago setting. Yes, the boats were annoying and made it very time-consuming (in both game time and real time) to go even between Harmony Island & Greenwood (the shortest jaunt, but one I did many times because of NPC companions getting hurt). On the other hand, I liked the different settings and atmospheres which each island offered. The quarantine was useful concept, but also quite a tired one - to someone who's played E3, A3 and VoDT. What I didn't like: - As mentioned in another thread, the lack of a middle of the road option, and that the two factions are both very nasty.

I think that this is GF3's biggest flaw. It may be a deliberate flaw and something which makes sense from the world's internal logic (the sides are now more polarized and extreme, the moderating influence of the Awakened has vanished, etc), but it leads to some very unsatisfying outcomes - especially when the Drakons are seen to be just as tyrannical rulers as the Shapers. I particularly wish that there was a moderate Shaper faction - along the lines of Khyryk's views. With characters like Khyryk and Diwaniya, Jeff has done a good job of making the Shaper NPCs more attractive and multi-dimensional than the caricatures (a la Zachary) which we saw in GF2, but this subtlety hasn't been extended to the factions and the dialogue options. I play each of the factions because they each offer a quite distinct game (which is a good thing). But that's a choice based purely on exploring the game - not about "this time I'm going to play the good/bad guys." They're both the bad guys.

I'm not really into using the cheat codes - who is? I wish there could be a cheat code to give more money. Yes, if one is diligent about collecting and selling all the loot that's around, money isn't much of an issue. But that's just so much work, and I'd like to be lazy, after all games are meant to be fun. I don't need to be a millionare - just have enough to buy extra training and spells without going broke ... In Avernum, even the unregistered character editors could adjust gold. In GF1-3, it's possible to add experience, but not gold. Why is there a distinction here? Cheating is cheating after all - it's not as if adding gold is any worse than adding experience.

Greta was quite useless at the beginning, but after gaining several levels and receiving additional training on Dhonal's Island, she now packs more of a punch than my wimpy non-combatant agent.

It was difficult enough to find him - hint, find a gap in the vegetation in the Northshore Bridge area. I've now been given the mission of working out what's wrong with him, but haven't got anywhere. At this point I'd be willing to forget about the mission but it seems impossible to finish Dhonal's Island without completing it. Once I tried killing him, but that didn't help me any either. So could somebody give me a hint - what do I need to do or who do I need to talk with to make some progress here?

I wonder what's the number of canisters that's the tipping point? In the current game I'm playing, siding with the rebels but not wanting to go completely insane, I'd like to use them a little when they help. Maybe this is cheating, but because most of the canisters I've seen help out with shaping, which don't help my agent very much, I tend to do a save before trying them - and if it doesn't give me something really cool, I'll undo that and go back to my saved game.

I think that this 24 number would include a number of areas not marked on the map, such as the Sea Cave and all the other underground areas. By the way, these underground areas are one of the new things about GF3 which I really like.

Well I eventually made it by going through Spharon's Lands. I think if I had higher leadership I could have convinced the serviles to let me pass by, but as it was, they weren't too difficult to beat. I thought about trying the Purification Plant, but I absolutely loathe those areas with poison in the air, it's so easy to die and just not very fun at all.

Maybe I'm missing something really obvious, but I've had the hardest time reaching Dhonal's Keep. I'm playing one of the wimpiest sorts of characters - an agent specializing in mechanics and leadership. You see, I think combat is totally boring and I like to avoid or minimize it whenever I can. But unlike in GF1 and especially GF2, I'm finding the limited combat route to be much more difficult in GF3. I'm kind of having difficulties reaching Dhonal's Keep from Fort Wilton. Even playing on Easy mode - and it kills me to admit to playing on Easy on a board - I keep getting my arse kicked on the way there. Maybe the answer to this is in the hint book, which I've ordered but haven't received yet. Can anyone give me advice?