Ghaldring

By the way, I've noticed that a couple of people here complained about the dialogue system from Exile/Nethergate. Apparently analysing a piece of text and extracting the pertinent information is too taxing for today's generation of gamers. You guys might want to stay away from 'Zork', you might have a seizure if you tried to play it. I actually think that this might make a good test for any of my prospective boyfriends. I'll get them to play through Exile/Nethergate, and if they moan about how difficult the dialogue system is, I'll know that they are too dimwitted to ever hold a decent job, let alone an interesting conversation. So out the door they would go.

Originally Posted By: Evnissyen Vrek & Rent: As Nalyd already explained, returning to the optional fight-mode system would necessitate returning to the clomp-clomp-clomp system which I've found utterly tedious, not to mention slow. In A3 you need to clomp-clomp-clomp across the entire town map of Fort Emergence, through several doors, down several hallways and through yet another door to meet the merchant or the trainer. Then you have to type T and then A (in the case of the merchant). Much easier if you just point to that spot on the map and watch your characters zoom there, right? And then when you get there just click on the merchant. Also... to expand on what Madrigan said, if A6 returned to the old system then I think the only people who would buy it would be those who feel nostalgic for Nethergate-A3. Not a good marketing strategy, as somebody pointed out not too long ago... I don't remember who. You demonstrate why Spiderweb Software is going down the tubes. The newer generation of gamers are half-wits who have no appreciation for complexity which is implemented with a child-like simplicity. Jeff tailors to these people by dumbing down his games and 'upgrading' to ugly 3D graphics. No doubt they also prefer 'Revenge of the Sith' to 'The Empire Strikes Back'.

Control foe has to be one of the best spells in A4/A5.

Ahhh, good ole' magic map. None of this 'Farsight' nonsense. Too bad Jeff didn't institute a magic map spell that worked outdoors. That would have been epic.

Evnissyen: Quote: Ghaldring: Having to plod through 10-12 areas where you get 0 XP because you didn't realize you'd been "meant" to go through there many levels earlier... is not fun... and, to be honest, it's not good game design. That rarely (if ever) happened to me. And failing to receive XP is not an indication that you were 'meant' to go through those levels earlier. Personally, I find GF1 and GF2's non-linearity a benefit, not a flaw. Being able to choose your own path while exploring at your leisure is fantastic.

Boltblade is just a mediocre short sword that has about 12 bolt of flame charges. Ergo: It's Scroith's baby sister.

Quote: Exactly my point: You said nothing about narrative depth or game-play depth. Huh? You originally claimed that GF3 "...has many more options," Nik pointed out that GF2 does offer more options in the form of sects. You then responded with the irrelevant comment that "I didn't realize that factions were the very definition of narrative and game-play depth." I'm with Nik on this one. You praise GF3 for it's linearity, and then turn around and claim it 'has more options' than GF2, which is utter hogwash IMHO.

Originally Posted By: Evnissyen Oh, I'm sorry Niki... I didn't realize that factions were the very definition of narrative and game-play depth. Thanks for correcting me. Zev: Linearity is also known as a narrative thread. Ghaldring: We all know that you're no average idiot, so... point taken, I suppose. I have no problem with a linear game, as long as the path I am forced down is engaging and enjoyable (Knights of the Old Republic, Vampire: Masquerade). Unfortunately, the linear pathway in GF3 is generic.

You use Wound on her.

Originally Posted By: Toby-Linn But apart from that, one weird thing I do is pants related....I only like wearing the straight pants (the ones that look like pants in the item list) and not the ones that look like they're all folded and wrinkly. Oh and cloaks too...I only like the nice green ones not the ugly purple ones. The only reason I'd wear a purple one is because it's magic. OK, now I'm scared. I share your peculiar fetish for the green (including vahnatai) cloaks, and would never equip a purple one unless it's the archer's/pilgrim cloak. As for the pants, I hate the straight ones. I always equip the brown ones. Apart from this, I tend to horde magical items, especially scrolls, potions and wands. Magic (used) to be so rare in Exile, that it seemed like a waste to go trading it for petty coin.

All Geneforge 3 is capable of doing is pacifying the average idiot.

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba Originally Posted By: Fermata It drives me nuts when a rock comes up amongst my stored items. Really. That just means you haven't looted properly. When Dikiyoba loots a place, Dikiyoba takes everything. Even the rocks and trash. The stuff that is utterly worthless gets dumped outside, but everything else is either sold or horded. You have way too much time on your hands.

Yes, but canister lotto makes Thuryl's approach ("okay, I can just plan out what canisters I'm going to use, only use the 5 that I want, and suffer no ill effects.") unfeasible if you haven't played the game previously.

Thuryl: Quote: At the moment, it's easy to say "okay, I can just plan out what canisters I'm going to use, only use the 5 that I want, and suffer no ill effects." You can only do that if you've already played through the game, or are using a walkthrough. Otherwise canister usage is a lot like playing the lotto. I wonder if canisters could be a bit more along the lines of the soul crystals from Avernum, where you have some idea of what they will teach you before using them. Usually I'd resent even the slightest of cross-overs between games, but the 'canister lotto' dilemma is inconvenient for first time players.

Holy Moses! I vote that we get Nova to make Geneforge 6.

There's nothing that valuable behind it, so I wouldn't trouble yourself over it.

"Has anyone got a saved game at the beginning of chapter 4 so I can finally finish it" Hahah? Chapter 4 is longer and more extensive than the previous three chapters combined, due to its non-linear nature.

Wasn't Boltblade located at a outdoor encounter north of the Giant village?

Why aren't you shaping Glaahks, Kel? You can buy Glaahk shaping very cheap from the Shaper at Dhonal's Keep (not inside the keep itself, but the town around the keep), and they will solve your problem of magic resistant foes. And Island 3 is probably the only interesting island.

Nioca: Quote: "Extinguish all creation life on the mainland"? That's such a blatantly false claim that, I neglected to type the word 'independent'. My mistake. Quote: As for increasing the severity of their rules, can you honestly say that from a Shaper standpoint that you wouldn't? Which is beside the point. As Dikiyoba has repeatedly pointed out, you can't claim that the Shapers are making progress when they deal with one reformed obedient servile in order to not only snuff out all independent creation life, but also to re-instate their rule, which is more totalitarian than it was prior to the Rebellion. Your claims of progress become even more ridiculous in light of the fact that the Shapers were dealing with serviles directly after the events of GF1. Quote: Unfortunately, the Nazi = Shaper comparison ended already. With the Nazis, the oppressed were a race of people of the same species, and it had only been taking place for a few decades and believed by a single nation. With the Shapers, the oppressed are an entirely different species, generally considered no more intelligent than the typical animal, and the dogma that backs that up has been in place for five centuries, and is generally believed by the entire world, who had no reason to believe different. I don't see the relevance of the above observations. They are arbitrary differences, and even then they are arguably incorrect. If you can put forward a distinction which concisely explains why Nazis consorting with Jews was not progress, whereas Shapers consorting with Servile was progress, then let's hear it. Remember, the ultimate aim of the Shapers was to eliminate all independent creation life and restore the status quo (except this time, the Shapers would enforce even more control), much like the ultimate aim of the Nazis was the extermination of the Jewish people. The fact that both consorted with a member of the group they were targeting for extermination is hardly evidence of progress, imho.

Sleeping Dragon: Quote: I like artilas, Artilas remind me of segmented tapeworms. *brrr*

Vlish, simply because they are the most innovative creation in the game. Eyebeasts and Drakons are so generic and stock.

Nioca: Quote: Out of curiosity, where are you getting "two big steps back" from? 'Cause I'm not seeing it. The Shapers essentially tolerate a reformed obedient servile so that they can extinguish all creation life on the mainland and then further increase the severity of their rule. That's hardly progress, Nioca. You might as well argue that the Nazis were making progress when they enlisted Jewish policemen to round up the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto and ship them off to concentration camps. I mean, hey, the Nazis were cooperating with Jews. Who cares if they were doing so in order to create a racially pure Germany?

Dikiyoba: Quote: Downhill, and fast. Lord Brocktree and the middle section of The Legend of Luke are worth a read. Possibly Rakkety Tam too, but all the others since Marlfox are terrible. Dikiyoba. I don't think Jacques has ever heard of pushing the envelope. His books are so mind numbingly repetitive. Every book consists of hordes of big bad irredeemable slaver vermin attacking the poor innocent non-vermin. Usually it's an attack on Redwall or Salamandastron. And just when you think Redwall/Salamandastron is going to fall, oh look, here comes the relief army of otters/long patrol hares to save the day. Hooray! What a load of cack.

Brock: Quote: Option 1- use the two cheats iloveserviles and ihateserviles a lot and it become easy. No it doesn't. It's hard to complete a sect's quests when you've killed the sect leader to complete a quest for another sect. And why cheat when you can exploit oversights in the script? Anyway, here's the first version of my guide to the sects of GF2. Enjoy. http://www.box.net/shared/e099rcyq0c