Randomizer

There is no ideal party. What I use is a party with a nephil archer elite warrior divine touch, a slith pole weapon elite warrior divine touch, a human mage/priest/thief natural mage divine touch, and a human priest/mage pure spirit divine touch. You could use nephil or slith instead of humans since experience penalty is not a real problem. Both spell casters start at spell level 5 in mage and priest to get all free spells. The mage/theif gets all mage spell levels but doesn't get all priest spells, The priest/mage gets all priest spell levels and at least lightning spray. Tool use of at least 5 to start for mage/thief to be increased to 8 before reaching Fort Draco, It gets raised to 12 before reaching the Eastern Gallery. Tinker's gloves and bauble make it an effective 15. You need 16 for the end. Nature lore of 12 will work for most of the game. Explorer's ring will give 2 more. At the end you need 16 for the total in the party to get everything but Heartseeker Bow. The combine party arcane lore maximum is 15. But you don't need more than 12 for most of the game. There are several threads that address party creation. I know others have different views.

There is no ideal party. What I use is a party with a nephil archer elite warrior divine touch, a slith pole weapon elite warrior divine touch, a human mage/priest/thief natural mage divine touch, and a human priest/mage pure spirit divine touch. You could use nephil or slith instead of humans since experience penalty is not a real problem. Both spell casters start at spell level 5 in mage and priest to get all free spells. The mage/theif gets all mage spell levels but doesn't get all priest spells, The priest/mage gets all priest spell levels and at least lightning spray. Tool use of at least 5 to start for mage/thief to be increased to 8 before reaching Fort Draco, It gets raised to 12 before reaching the Eastern Gallery. Tinker's gloves and bauble make it an effective 15. You need 16 for the end. Nature lore of 12 will work for most of the game. Explorer's ring will give 2 more. At the end you need 16 for the total in the party to get everything but Heartseeker Bow. The combine party arcane lore maximum is 15. But you don't need more than 12 for most of the game. There are several threads that address party creation. I know others have different views.

Rentar-Inhro's tomb in the Basalt Fortress has a fine waveblade. I had enough luck so the Vahanatai Myrmidons that killed Houghton dropped some.

Go west from Cotra and West Cotra along the coast to the nexr map section and then start searching north for a body in the trees. There are 2 different ones, but the other is near Swamplouse. The body of a wizard will only have the letter to Giscard.

Playing a servile versus a human would mean a whole new set of dialog options. Some serviles are able to resist shaper commands. Whether this would be given for PC serviles or you would have to raise abilities to be able to resist is up to Jeff. As a servile you are at the bottom, just ahead of the ornk (?).

It's never too much until carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists makes using the mouse impossible. Although taking a break might be helpful. When you see the game in your sleep you are nearing the end.

It depends upon you party's luck on how soon you can find the items. They will all be available in the Basalt Fortress if you need to wait.

Random monster encounters were almost entirely dropped from A4 except for rats and bats. Maybe A5 will bring them back so when you are damaged you can't stroll back to town to heal. The weight system makes sense now. At least there is some balance since you haul almost everything back to town to sell. The pylons should have had more monsters mixed in with them. A smarter AI would have had the few that were there retreat behind the pylon/turret range to heal and pop out and attack.

I'm still playing GF1 as an agent and still can see how it can trash almost anything. It's only weakness is that it can rarely survive an attack from more powerful monsters that a guardian will still be able to heal from and then attack. Swarms of monsters can be dazed or destroyed with searing orbs, spray crystals, swarm crystals and other area attacks. Running in haste helps keep out of monster's attack range until you can fight.

The cap is a holder over from the earlier games. Jeff doesn't change anything that he can avoid doing. That's why some sections of the instruction manual still have old text that no longer applies. Slith's don't get the Exile intelligence bonus, etc.

If you try a peaceful offer at the Basalt Fortress, then there are more dialog options available at the end. There are 3 main endings unless you count your losing as a fourth. All the options require fighting at some point.

When you confront the drake there are two main options. Killing her is what Fort Emerald wants and usually happens if you've killed her brood of young dragons. The other is to let her leave in return for her hoard. I don't think that fulfills the job board quest.

"The secret bandit passage" refers to the Darkside Loyalist camp reached from Fort Saffron by going up the stairs in the southeast to the cells. There is a passage to the camp passed the turrets. Somewhere in there is the evidence needed to show Hermes is a traitor. The fort commander will ask you to talk to Hermes about the evidence. Also see the Empire liason in the guest quarters.

You get less expeience for doing quest rewards later. It's not as bad as for monsters, but postponing it isn't worth it. Jeff mentioned it in a post.

The only one I opened was under Almaria in the northwest corner to below the vintner west of Camp Samuels. It's only helpful as a shortcut going east to visit the Vahnatai in the Sulphorous Flats to fulfill Houghton's first mission.

He moves around, so check out the entire north field area.

I miss from the earlier Avernum games where monster NPCs would pick up and use items. Doors are just something else that has been removed to simplify the engine.

Sounds good so far. Since hack-and-slash in Geneforge seems to mean kill it first before you die, it might be better. Talking can be fun if it involves some thought instead of trying to push towards a side for benefits.

Protection from weapons is usually only for melee attacks.

I want a cannister of Raid to get rid of the Giant Intelligent Talking Roaches. Especially the ones that think I'm cute. A servile as a starting character would normally be a warrior (guardian), but there were some implications that serviles could use cannisters under certain circumstances. So it might be possible for them to acquire spells (agent) and maybe some shaper powers by maybe using existing equipment. After all the Takers in Geneforge 1 were using the vats to get creations.

There must be some people who take the time to e-mail Jeff. I assume most of the people that don't like the game don't write to him or have already expressed their opinions on these forums. A4 still beats Geneforge 1. I expect the combat engine will get better in the later games, but it's too easy to die in Geneforge compared to Avernum or Exile. Geneforge does have a more open ended plot. A4 forces you along the way with very few options.

You have to approach combat differently. There is no more running up to engage monsters unless they are close enough to hit in the same round. Let the monsters waste actions coming after you. Missle weapons work better than in Exile. Spellcasters are more powerful initially even wihout area effects. In Avernum 1 it's possible to start with lightning spray by customizing a natural mage with a high enough mage spell level. Just keep checking the spells known list. It takes awhile to get use to the differences between Avernum system and Exile. After a few hours and different encounters you will develope your own style. Since monsters in dungeons aren't replaced, just go in kill a few and leave. The treasure sits on the floor waiting to be picked up later. All you have to watch for are random encounters in the wilderness and you can avoid them or race to town to recharge.

There is the remote possibility that Geneforge is the far distant future of Avernum. The Vahnatai have started in Avernum 3 with creating life to form the monsters they inflicted on the Empire. They are shaping life in addition to minerals (crystals). Although this is a stretch.

post 300 Click on the plants to open the path and the statue to move them. Garzhad is usually the last battle of the game not because he is so hard, but you have to fight his minions. The Exile version was harder than Avernum in my opinion.

If you want a decent weapon from early in the game, the ghostly blade from the Mertis Spiral when you slay the keeper at the bottom. Decent damage and the jinx to curse monsters, although less than the oozing blade in the Honeycomb, and it has defensive bonuses. Demonslayer in the Scree Caves is the next step up in power from the ghostly blade.