Evnissyen

Jeff should also keep working on the graphics. Based on the screenshots for Geneforge 5, they're better... but still not as good as they could be. I also hope he employs more animation in the game. At the very least have the water move! EDIT: But I still say that the most important aspects are story, character, and interaction (including 'reputation', and more irrevocable choices). EDIT: I still want that family in Mertis, in A4, to have sent a bounty hunter after me for having spoken with the daughter. I really was disappointed about that. EDIT #3: What's the point of having a crazy family, after all, if you're not going to utilize their craziness to the greatest extent reasonable?

Oh, yes, I remember now, that being the case. Probably the geneforge was the first step in the education process. Still, even though I suppose you could rationalize that the player was meant to be fully trained at Southforge, while protected by a significant claim of rebel-controlled territory... I feel the player should've been better equipped... especially since, really, I didn't see any eager trainers assigned to take care of my education... the latter could be explained by the crisis situation, I suppose, but still... you should want your new inductees to get the best training possible before they go out into what is quickly turning into a war zone once again. As for G2, and G3... Yes, at least there you start out with fireball and heal. In G1 & G4 you start out with nothing.

I think I'd like to start the game as a peace-corp volunteer. Then work my way up to freak rebel with glowing flesh. Anyhow... Evelyn is clearly floating. While it's true that in her inventory image she has feet: the circle is simply too far below the hem of her cloak, so that if she's not floating then she clearly has freakishly long, transparent legs that are apparently retractable whenever she gets her picture taken for inventory purposes. Of course, anyone who's watched the whole Monty Python series knows that Chopin's legs could be jettisoned at will... so I suppose that neither floating nor retractable or elongatable legs are out of the question.

It would be nice if G5 introduces us as a character who is not a lowly apprentice who knows not a single spell or shaping procedure. It would be a nice change to begin the game with a character who is a full graduate although not yet a powerful shaper (or rebel). The opening sequence in G4 never made much sense to me. Why bring know-nothing inductees into a war zone, without armor or even a weapon, so you might alter them with the geneforge and just hope they'll 1. survive the process and 2. learn, somehow, how to fight?

Plus, all those magic animations are just fun, as well as being able to take down large numbers of enemies in just two or three strikes. But anyhow, mostly I agree with Brock: In Geneforge I tend to prefer being a lone agent (no connection intended, though I do tend to play the agent/lifecrafter more frequently). Creations are amusing but caring for them, or losing XP because of them, is not.

What? So Leadership and Mechanics won't be as vital, in beginning of the game, as it has been in the past? Now I'm confused . . . it seems I won't know how to play the new game.

Well, there's a full map of Sucia Island here... not sure about the other games in the series. In my opinion, it spoils the game a little, particularly if you haven't played the game previously, though I admit I have used the map above at my lazier moments when going though G1. EDIT: Ah, rereading your message, now I see with greater clarity that to which you're referring, most specifically the reasoning for the maps . . . yes . . . and still: no; don't know of anything on the G4 maps, although I've assumed that if you play the thing all the way through and pay full attention then you won't be missing any areas without being aware of it... maybe that's just me.

Brock: If you're using a PC platform then you can get a free C/C++ editor (C-Free) (and compilers as well) here (although I haven't really played around with it... I intended to learn C but I just can't get back into programming any longer. I seem to have gotten over that obsession back in Jr.High & High School.

The only problem, of course, is keeping those creations alive in the Power Core. Too bad you can't coop them up and tell them to stay home for a little while... tie them up at a post, perhaps, like other people in the game seem to be capable of doing. Also, how'd your creations avoid getting hit right off if you didn't increase their dexterity (even given that you're absorbing and making more powerful creations throughout the game)? Perhaps I don't remember fully, but I don't think your creations can strike first with every foe, in G1, if they don't have high reaction skills? I myself have found it a little wasteful increasing endurance, but dexterity seems more vital. Otherwise... interesting.

Of course, imagine lugging around a huge bag filled with 30,000 gold coins? ...nevermind 349,000... where does 349,000 come from? (And I can buy only so many levels of Aura of Flames skill, anyhow.)

EDIT: I'm taking my post back. Right of ownership.

Matt: How'd you even find Redmark at Blackchasm at the end? For me, he disappeared from Blackchasm sometime toward the end of the game.

When it comes to Gladwell and death... it's always just a matter of When. Losing the stat boosts after de-geasing myself was not a happy ending... but that's how it goes. You can't keep what you destroy.

I didn't even bother taking notes on those wretched portals... I just kept taking one after another hoping it would lead me someplace I needed to be. It worked out well enough for me, and I never needed to go back... though I suppose that that map that somebody on these forums came up with not too long ago (who and where I don't remember) might come in handy should I make another run of the game.

Only partially: Although there is indeed a +15 pommel stone for a Hackmaster +12 . . . there is no +12 Hackmaster. Another one of Jeff's teasers.

I read Dune way back in Junior High, and I liked it, but it was so long ago that I can't really remember much of it. It was a long book, if I remember, but I didn't have much of a reading list in those days so I had plenty of time (especially since I preferred not to do school work). I read it after David Lynch's adaptation (which I felt was a better film than the critics would have me believe... and definitely better than that ridiculous remake which, if I remember correctly, ended up stealing some of Lynch's ideas, anyhow). One has only to check out my literary website to get an idea what manner of weird writer I might or might not have been reading (right-click on name... as if anyone cares). Right now I'm reading Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by Vítezslav Nezval (yes, the book that was adapted for the movie of the same title), Deb Olin Unferth's Minor Robberies, and Henri Michaux's Light through Darkness. And I make no apologies for obscure references! Do some research if you don't recognize the names! (...right-click on name...)

Only by understanding one's self (as defined by others) might one understand (and judge) everyone else. True enlightenment is complicated.

Oh. I thought the true path to expertise lay within?

Thorn: Strange... I've found the Geneforge series to be notably stronger and more original in plot and story... Avernum seems just a little heavier on the hack-and-loot aspect. But I agree that the whole finale of A4 was a little tiresome and drawn out. I didn't much like the Honeycomb, either. I'm not a big fan of labyrinths. Dikiyoba: In regard to the new inventory system: It's nice to be able to sell what you're wearing... as well as being able to view your entire inventory instead of having to scroll a narrow window up and down to make sure you didn't miss anything.

I've played the games (well, all but G2, post-demo), but just playing them doesn't make me expert on all the details.

That is, once Nabb is taken care of, right? Can't have him stepping all over my hoard. Plus, he takes up space. ...Which is to say: I prefer my hoard in Nabb's hut, not nearby it.

Yeah... as I've said before she looks like some sort of assassin. Being able to float, I feel free to assume, is a benefit if you want to be able to sneak around unheard. If this is the character with strong magic, moderate shaping and weak battle skills, then I suppose this is the character I'll be playing at first go. I still love the floating. I also still love the new, refined graphics... although I still say that all that black is just a little too much black.

Alorael: "Popularity" (in quotes for a reason) is not equatable with correctness. I'm still unclear why so many of the people who post frequently on these forums so dislike A4... especially now that they've gotten used to the new interface and graphics and claim to like A5 so much. (Ditto with G3.) A4 is a great game. It's also clearly superior to A3 graphically, its interface is cleaner and prettier and easier to use, the unified gameplay (no switching maps between forts, broad regions and battle sequences) is friendlier, and the battle sequences are more refined as well. It's nice to be able to just point to where you want to go and then watch your party go there... rather than having to use the keyboard buttons and clomp... clomp... clomp.... (After all... if you use the mouse in A3 you inevitably keep bumping into things.)

Wherever you decide. I prefer someplace that's easy to access. Unfortunately, in G1 you can't stuff your things into boxes, you have to dump them on the floor.

Come again?