Evnissyen

Back to the subject of G5 ideas which should make easy last-minute implementations: I've been going through the original Geneforge, and one thing I like about the original is that when you gain level you get six skill points instead of five... which, besides being one more than five, seems to make it a little easier or at least less stressful in deciding how to distribute among both even and odd numbered increases. (I suppose the latter is because of the former.) Also, in the new Geneforge it might be nice if creations didn't reduce your XP gains? I mean, considering that a creation is in effect a part of me (since it takes up a lot of my essence): I should get all the XP, right? And the fact that it reduces my XP makes creations less desirable to make... . I should think that the essence loss and the XP cost of building up your abilities to create them would be enough punishment? And if one wants to be challenged more as somebody using creations: one can always raise the difficulty level. Oh, and also: I think that there should be an option for experienced players to shut off the demo-play popups. It's annoying, every time I start a new game, for the gameplay to be interrupted so frequently by all those dialog boxes telling me what I already know. Gosh darn it.

Okay, it's now a triple post. Stupid me: I had neglected to go south. It's there that I finally found what I was looking for. So, this entire thread has been for nothing. Sorry! I'm ready to be whipped, now.

Yeah, it's the mandrake roots that are the most rare and therefore the key to knowledge brew. Thorn: There are two craftspeople in Muck: One makes knowledge brews and the other wisdom crystals; take your choice but both require a mandrake root. I'm glad that in A5 Jeff brought in the knowledge brews earlier in the game: One of the things that annoyed me in A4 was that the guy who makes knowledge brews came too late in the game to really enjoy it for long.

Sorry for the double post, but I've found it necessary, considering that the previous post was not attributed to me, and people need to know who wrote it, that it is an explanation of my original post, and finally: to whom they're thus responding if they indeed wish to thus respond, which I hope is the case, since I find myself gnawing my own shirt over this issue. Curses to the new forums! Now I need to make sure I log in before I post.

Wait . . . you were aware that there's a world map included which X's your location, right? Otherwise... I agree that it would be interesting to be able to stick little post-it like indicators on the world map to remind yourself of places you need to return to, or need to recall such&such encounter/event for such&such reason. It is a little tiresome to have to compile Word files of screenshots to remind myself of the above.

But... don't the stats generally increase at 3% per? So that to reach 50% you'd need a 17 in Parry?

I forgot to mention this... maybe I thought it was too obvious to've not been noticed before? The fact that the game will not let you record in your journal more than one or two entries (it varies from place to place) from an "Avernite Miner" in any specific town. I don't know if this bug doesn't just apply to the PC version.

This is concerning Geneforge I. I don't know... Is "spell knowledge" tied only to the particular spell type concerned (Battle, Mental, Blessing, Healing)? Or do I require more points in Spellcraft? My character has a 11 Battle, 3 Mental, 1 Blessing and 1 Healing Craft, and is told she doesn't know enough about magic to benefit from the tomes... If I raise her levels to 4 Mental and 3 Blessing she still cannot benefit. If I raise her Healing Craft to 2 she still can't benefit from any of them. Is there a higher level I need to attain (other than in Battle Magic) in any or each in order to be able to read the tomes? Do I have to have a certain level in all of them? Or is this some sort of bug in the PC version? Or do I need more Spellcraft (currently 1)? Or Intelligence (currently 3)?

(EDIT to eliminate all substance from a useless post)

Let me know if it happens.

Mythrael: Well, with food shortage becoming an issue: it doesn't seem very sensible to waste so many mushrooms on alcohol. ...Then again... It does have a way of helping some people deal with their sorry situations, in those caves... .

I think I've said this before, but I've found wands to be all but pointless, as they're always less powerful than the spell itself, so I only ever use them when the spell isn't available, and then only rarely since the wand spells aren't very effective anyway. Plus, I find enough of them lying about, anyhow. Plus, the ingredients needed to make wands tend to sell for more than the wands. No need for the forge! The thrown gems in Geneforge are nice, though. I just wish they weren't so costly to make on the forge. I think if I'm making throwing stones on the forge, then I should be able to get several out of them, not just one.

Alright, now . . . do I really need to start up another vegetarianism discussion here? Thankfully there seems to be more fruit laying about in Geneforge & Avernum than there is meat, although... I never eat any of it. I prefer not to eat. In computer games even more so than in real life.

I do like the Quick Action idea. And that of adding more significance to creation intelligence. Synergy: Is that a trick question? Hot or cold, indeed.

Locmaar: Wheee! I can't wait for my perfect character.

Do mushrooms really possess enough sugar to be properly fermented? Or am I missing the basis of the fermentation process? Granted they're technically a fruit, but... they're also just a fungus. Mushroom liquor... ugh. I like mushrooms, too, but honestly... If I had to eat nothing but mushrooms for an entire day, I'd be pretty averse to them for a while, I think.

A slight variation on the topic, but I've always wanted to play a character who's strong in magic, moderate in shaping, and weak in melee. Even G4 didn't give me one.

Mr. & Mrs. Nesbit are eating the blancmange! I want to be the Walmart employee who greets that mobile spawner. "Sure, Mr. or Mrs. Spawner! You can find essence in aisle #7!" Anyhow... I remember thinking the same thing, when I first played G3, about wanting to be one of those shapers who has their own base or tower or so forth. I wanted to be Khyryk. But... while the idea of having players able to become super-powerful and then able to create their own bases or towers to be defended against adventurers (new players) or other very-powerful shapers intrigues me... it immediately conjures, for me, either an online scenario with 10 million players wandering around... or a SimCity or Civilization type thing... and the idea immediately sours on me.

Well, there aren't enough answers in the poll and one could argue that both answers are the same answer. The problem that the shapers have found themselves in by G4 . . . and I think it was made clear in the game . . . is that in order to combat the 'radical' tactics of the rebels and particularly the Drakons and their Unbound creation(s), they now need to resort to more drastic methods, they need to break some rules in order to win the war. Now, enter the canisters, stage right. Yes, they're arrogant and power-hungry. All people with power desire more power. That's the nature of the lifestyle. Same with the Drakons. They also wish to resume ruling the world, same as the Drakons wish to overthrow that rule so that they themselves may rule. These are just pieces of a larger, complicated picture.

Summoned creatures . . . ugh. I rarely ever use summoned creatures, since I haven't found them to be very useful. After spending 2 or 3 turns trying to figure out what to do: once they finally start attacking, unless they're attacking weak creatures, they get slain pretty quickly... and not infrequently in a single blow. Charming your enemies into attacking one another I have found more effective, not to mention far more fun and amusing.

Damnation, Delicious: There will be no Vlish uprising! (And as for eating them: they're a little too rubbery for my taste.) (Also, their intelligence tastes a little funny.)

Yes, I found the Rotghroth very useful in G3... never tried it in G4. As for War Tralls: Isn't that the creature with that distressingly huge... tumor? I found that a little disturbing. I agree with Slarty that the melee creations need some strengthening. I tend to prefer the magic and fire creations, whenever I use creations. I tried that Kyschaak (sp?) for a while... I didn't keep it long. It didn't prove extraordinarily helpful. But as I've said before: The Wingbolts were brilliant. I picked one up as soon as I could and they're excellent creatures... when you're not on the wrong side of them. And.. Jeff: More quick-key slots! More spells!

But why would a human or servile play in favor of the Drakons? After all: only the Drakons like the Drakons, who want the whole world and all the power for themselves and -- let's be honest -- would prefer to enslave all species to serve them. . . and the human and servile rebels in G4 admitted that the Drakons were a "problem" that they would need to deal with after their more pressing problem -- the Shapers -- was taken care of. I voted Shaper, Radical Shaper, Human Rebel, Awakened, and Trakovite. It seems inevitable that the Rebellion will break apart, and the Shapers as well . . . and the Trakovites seem to hold a good portion of the answer to ending all the strife. (EDIT : The first paragraph was for Dragonlord..) (EDIT : ...and Raji)

My mistake: I thought Nethergate was made after A3. Randomizer & Taliesin: Embrace the drift.

Slarty: just by cursory observation: a Magical Efficiency of 11 will reliably cut the pain of costly spells in more or less than half. Bolt of Fire will almost never cost you more than 1 point, and very often none, especially with my priest who has 15 ME. I'm using that as an example because it's an easy way to inflict significant damage and not waste your spell points. Without ME, my priest & mage would be drained pretty quickly by the more costly spells. Now I can use spells like Arcane Blow and Divine Retribution with near abandon.