Jaid

as i recall, you pretty much go around the outside of the plant all the way if you start at the south end. the key is at the eastern part i think. where the locked door that separates north and south is. not 100% sure on that, though... have you tried checking a walkthrough? [edit] changed western to eastern... blasted directions =P [/edit]

iirc, only the door the farthest to the north on the west side opens. that is, all the way to the top end of the corridor, and on the left, in case i got north and west screwed up. have you tried that specific door yet? just go through that one and follow the other doors that open.

i thought it was fairly obvious you were being sarcastic too. however, it looked like some people were actually taking it seriously =P although, it would be kinda funny if there was a quest to bring someone 2,000 rocks or something silly like that =P the reward could be a bunch of stone blocks (which, as i recall, are also completely worthless... but i can't really think of any other reason to gather rocks. but then again, neither am i a game designer)

no one. they have a value of 0. doesn't matter how many you have, they never add up to being possible to sell (unless it's like the trowels, and some rocks *do* have value). of course, you are welcome to prove me wrong onm that (i've hardly checked every single rock i've come across, but as far as i can tell, they have no value whatsoever. i presume they were put in the game just because Jeff thought it made sense that there would be rocks all over the place. of course, for some odd reason you can't throw the rocks it seems... go figure).

depends. you will have the essence available for it, but you will have to buy the skills to be able to create anything, which will be rather expensive probably, at the beginning at least, i would say stick to just you. (by beginning, i mean until you find alwan/greta, and take one or both of them. ie, the very, very early part of the game) eventually, you will see your shaping abilities improve, and as that happens you might consider having a couple of creations, but probably not that many (although, i suppose you certainly could have a lot of creations if you want). probably your best bet overall, i would guess, is to almost exclusively use alwan and greta (they will get to be rather impressive). you will find out about them shortly. you can also get a couple of temporary helpers while you are early in the game, so you don't need to worry too much about it. but, like i said... it all depends on your playing style. personally, i like shapers anyways, so i always have a ton of creations. but that's just how i personally do it. agents play a lot different.

yes, but the more creations you have, the smaller the difference your personal attack capabilities make anyways. so who cares if all you have is firebolt... you've got better stuff to do then cast attack spells. of course, on the other hand... i for one would really miss those blessing spells...

everything i've heard about parry in GF2 is that it was way too good. once it was high enough, you had a 50% chance of getting them with their own attack (if melee). failing that, you have a 50% chance of simply blocking the attack. failing that, you have a 50% chance of reducing the damage. which means, a 25% chance of taking damage if in melee, and only a 12.5% chance of that being full damage, or double those against ranged attacks. and, as i understand it, that assumes they are able to hit you in the first place. how exactly does that make the game more difficult if you have high parry?

oh, i know about the armor improvements and everything. i'm just talking about finding items. and to date, i have found maybe 3 or 4 body parts from killing rogues (other than drayk scales, which i think some drayks just automatically drop anyways, but i'm not sure). and i'm on gull island now (at whatshisfaces tower).

if you decided to give the papers to the shapers, you can still just break into the place and swipe everything you can get your hands on. there is a trapped chest in komoa's room, but i think about a 10 mechanics got me past it... not sure though. but the game will let you know anyways... [edit] oh... and i just found out... you're on target to find out where the steel breastplate is =P you'll get it soon enough. [/edit]

yes, i know. but if you wanted to be absolutely certain you were getting everything out of someone that you can, then with 30 leadership you would be able to know, 100%, that you are not missing anything (since they obviously aren't going to put in anything that can't ever be used... i don't think Jeff has time to waste on stuff that will literally never get used by anyone)

you must not have been a guardian with high parry skill then.

i have 17 points of luck with my current character (no, i'm not quite that crazy... 11 of those points are from items) and i haven't noticed any large differences in my ability to get stuff to happen. rogues still don't drop very many body parts (which is frustrating, because when i start meeting more rotgroth i want to get their fangs, and if it goes at the current rate i'll have to kill a lot of them to get even one, and i want lots). but anyways, like i was saying... i'm not having much luck with luck. haven't noticed any difference (although that isn't to say there isn't one... i might just not be noticing). however, i do admit i seem to hit more often than i used to... not sure if that's due to other things though, as i haven't kept track of my attack skills or anything (i'm a shaper... if something is still alive after two rounds of me powering up my creations, chances are someone needs healing by then, so i seldom bother attacking.)

have you gotten into all the rooms at the inn? you might find it there...

not to mention being an infinite XP loop. and, if you create the right critters, infinite money too (battle alphas and betas have this delightful habit of dropping armor when they die).

the walkthrough i have seen says to send them back to fort wilton i think. chances are the servile is loyal. the only way you will ever know is to either get an extremely high leadership score (ie, if you have 30 leadership and he still seems loyal when you talk to him, then he's either loyal or there isn't a way to detect it). but anyways, the higher your leadership, the better your ability to detect irregularities when you talk to people and such. i don't know of anywhere that says he is a rebel, but that hardly means he isn't.

also, there are probably some things you haven't done that should shift things quite a bit... for example, if you go back to harmony isle and kill the rebels, i would imagine that would do some serious pro-shaper shifting of opinions (and if not, it definitely should...) there should be other things as well. but, yeah... there are a lot of opportunities to change people's opinions.

hmmm.... 3 levels of servile creation = ur-servile? i wonder...

i like the sword (although i sadly have gotten rid of it in favor of the living dagger or knife or whatever it is), not so much the belt (although that may just be because i have now seen the wonders of the creator's belt). as far as the robe goes... i might have done it, but i do try to make my character at least tough, so that he can at least take a couple of hits instead of dying just because an enemy (of the non-gazer variety) happens to look at him. so the robe i think i sold. besides, i have other things draining my endurance, i really feel like i need the +2 from the symbiotic cloak (plus the cloak is much cooler looking). but yeah, for a while i was using the belt and the sword... still would be using the sword, if it wasn't for my foolishness in selling it...

if you add a couple of terror vlish into your group, they are able to take down most magical creations pretty easily, since they do poison damage instead of magical damage. and of course, if you use artilas then you just have to wait for the acid to catch up to them, and they will die. i haven't yet had a chance to use gazers/eyebeasts yet, but i expect they will be pretty good too =D

the wand is in a room in the first area of the mines as i recall. as i recall, it was more or less in the middle of the map, except a little bit down and right (ie, SE) of the exact center. i can't remember where the ivory skull may have been... it's actually just a type of item, so you should be able to find several of them. i personally didn't bother keeping track, because i so seldom actually attack that neither of the skull's enchantments are worthwhile for me.

it explicitly says drayk. if you don't own GF1, download the demo. start a new game, and on the second page of text, it tells you the boat you are on is a specially modified drayk. anyways, i think it might be neat to be able to make mechanically-enhanced creations, as someone else suggested. obviously requiring something to make them, and the ability to make them based on mechanical skill. as a possible suggestion, it could require a whole lot of the junk/trash item you find all over the place (representing you finding pieces that are actually useful). it would most likely require a forge or some other device to upgrade your creations, and might just be a way to upgrade your creations instead of using karma. the materials needed should be used up permanently, whatever they are, and i think that would reward those who choose to keep a small number of creations instead of lots (because they would have the resources), as well as those who keep their creations for a long time. as i see it, that would make it a bit more of a benefit for agents and guardians, which would be necessary if you are going to introduce all the new kinds of creations i would like to see (variety rather than increased power).

how about that boat drayk from the intro to GF1? it would be pretty nifty to have one of those. in fact, it would be kinda neat to also have clawbugs able to tunnel, but the more you add in to the game, the more insanity it brings to those who have to design it... and i can't say i'm sure the ability to tunnel randomly and/or travel over water/in the air is worth the programming involved. (i'm sure someone else has mentioned this, but... does anyone else find it weird that the shapers begin the lengthy training process in responsible use of shaper powers etc by transporting you to your school by a creation which is, in and of itself, against said shaping rules?)

i am pretty sure they do. teh text at the bottom of the screen still shows you gaining the same amount, it's the amount that your character's XP changes by that is affected. so, for example, it might say you gained 13 XP, but you only actually get 6 (in my case. but that's with 7 creations). presumably greta and alwan work the same way.

the first quest is for the papers you can find just outside the fort, in a building to the north i think (same map, just outside the walls). i think Komoa is a rebel, so it's a pro-rebel act to help her. those papers can also be given to a mage in a refugee camp, in a map to the west i think. probably it gives the same XP for both. i don't know anything about later quests though... i'm pro-shaper, so i gave the papers to the other guy, so i don't think i'm going to find out about the other quests you can get.

i would agree with those who want to see more variety in creations. for example; worms, crawlers, turrets, pylons, and golems are all types we can never get. it would also be nice to be able to make the modified creations (ex charged fyoras, the unstable thahd in the infested pathway, domination and submission vlish, battle gamma, warped fyora, etc are all types of creatures we currently can't make, but which already exist) mines, batons/thorns, spore boxes, living tools, servant minds, etc would also be kinda neat. presumably, they would not be easy to create, of course. serviles and ornks would also be handy. (for carrying stuff and whatnot). serviles mainly for pro-rebel players of course (since pro-shaper would mean you don't give them weapons, or training in combat). the pack beast that has been suggested would also be extremely nice (or perhaps, just allowing us to have creations carry stuff for us... i see no reason why a thahd couldn't have a larger backpack too). however, i would have to say... much of the above would be most useful if they were to make a strategy game based on geneforge, rather than a standard geneforge game. i for one would also like to see the experience for creations reworked (specifically, based off of the creation's level rather than the character's), and the ability to make fading creations (the ones that are temporary), presumably costing a little less essence, and hopefully also not taking up the player's XP. maybe even possible to create in battle because they don't take as much effort to shape.