Dantius

Have you read Atlas Shrugged? I use it as a doorstop.

All designers that incorporate infinite monster spawn points with no means of disabling them, just included for the hell of it, are terrible, terrible, people. Jeff gets this one free pass, and that's it. Beyond that...

Don't you mean Ayn Rand?

I know that there is a site with all the Geneforge 1 maps up, but beyond that I'm not sure. But you should start with the first game, so no, hint books are not necessary.

And I can't play the game. So, here I will pose a question: Are there any emulators that would be good for me to play the game on Windows? I can't wait 'til March or whenever it comes out for Windows. Also, bets on when the first walkthroughs get posted will be taken.

Vlish are delicious. Also suspicious and fictitious.

Not much to add that hasn't been said, but while Avernum does have choices that you make, and that may affect the ending, they are either relatively minor, or very late in the game, meaning that the game is identical for the first 80% (disclaimer: I have only played A5 and a bit of A1 and 3). Geneforge, on the other hand, is far more open ended. The game is vastly different if you make even the slightest different choice. It is, IMO, much more engaging. The morality in pretty much grey vs. dark grey vs. darker grey vs. black- there are no "good guys" in Geneforge. The characters are much deeper, and the potential for complex moral and philosophical issues is greater. Just look at all the canisters or shaper v. rebel or creation rights threads in Geneforge, compared to the much more gameplay oriented threads in the Avernum forum. Also, the creation system add a whole new dimension to the game (again, the amount of time spent discussing Drayk vs Eyebeast vs War Trall is fascinating, and the calculations each side makes to back it up are impressive), and nicely compliments the dark setting by adding a not-so-simple question of what is human and what is not. Geneforge torment character building is an art unlike any other, compared to Avernum, where the difference between picking the premade party and a custom party is helpful, but not game breaking, where in Geneforge, you mus push the engine to its breaking point. To summarize: PROS: Geneforge has plot, depth, choices, and a more interesting, although more complex, system of combat and magic. It also has nicer-looking graphics (than A1-3, at least) Avernum has a streamlined simplicity to it that many RPG's like. It also has a much more stark contrast between the two sides. Cookie-cutter morality is also popular amongst many gamers. CONS: Geneforge's real-time movement can be annoying at times, since in Avernum you can exit combat mode, save, and reenter, while in Geneforge, you have to exitsaveenter to avoid taking tons of damage from the level which gives you 100 points electricity damage per second. It is also, IMO, more difficult at higher levels. Plot can get repetitive, though (OMG. Shapers v Rebels. And someone thinks the war is stupid. Great.) Avernum 1-3 has bad graphics. Most people won't like them. Some do, but most are so used to 3d photorealistic graphics, this may be a turn-off. I found Avernum also rather tiresome, plot-wise, and I dislike the whole Empire vs Avernum. Click to reveal.. The Vanhanti I loathed. They were a poor plot device initiated because Jeff was too lazy to think up a way for Avernum to not get their asses kicked by the Imperial army without turning to alien saviors. What is this, Star Wars? Oh, and they are overused in BoA, too. Really, do you prefer a standard RPG, with a little twist (Avernum), or something much, much different (Geneforge). The choice is yours.

Send Ackrovan a PM and yell at him. It may or may not work.

Will the game run on Mac emulators? I can't wait that long.

I just stop after the Kill Platano quest, as it gives the last int-boosting item that you can't get through combat.

Gee, and I wonder who is this person who uses gimmicks constantly.

Originally Posted By: Duck When I read the title I thought this would be a spam topic... people do not disappoint. What about another demographic survey? We need another one of those. Spam = ENDLESS. Member 1:I'm from Canada Member 2:Oh, really? Tell us about Canada. (flamewar about canada) Member 3:Actually, I'm from Britan (repeat)

Dikiyoba used "I" in a post!!!!

thuryl's gimmick is that he never, ever capitalizes words in a post. personally, i have to forcibly restrain myself to type this.

Aaaaaannnnddd... quit while you're ahead. Oops, too late.

Doublethink. You are thinking of newspeak. Trust me, I know.

Slightly off topic, I remember hitting the Geneforge gold cap once only in G3. It's pretty much impossible to cap in G5 without trying, as the two incredibly expensive trainers are in the first 25% of the game.

Originally Posted By: Commie From what Nalyd can tell, the big infrastructure problem is the power grid. In what way? Do you only have electricity part of the day? Is the current irregular? Do you experience surges? Or did you mean to say power generation? The grid is fine in most cases.

Originally Posted By: Randomizer ...here he said in a truly offensive way to just get porn. Word salad much?

Space radiator

This might just be me, but I can't see anyone with a shiny xbox 360 wanting to play BOE- it's just too old-school on any console but the computer. Anyways, your entire market would probably already have the game on their computer, so why would they get it again on Xbox? I remember Jeff posting something to this effect on his blog, and I would have linked it with a witty comment, but I'm too lazy to find it. Ah well.

Japanese games are creepy. Even their "normal" games are weird. I just can't get used to dubbing.

So, I want to design a scenario. Being spoon fed Geneforge for just about my entire Spiderweb career means that, well, the scenario I design will be skewed towards a more open-ended one, with more dialog than fancy scripting tricks. Anyways, here's my problem. I want to be able to have complete control over the PC's access to spells, weapons, items, and gold- forcing them to follow the path I want them to. I don't want them to be able to bring in the Divine Slith Spear and a lv. 10 Arcane Blow and Cloud of Blades and blast my scenario to pieces with little to no effort. However, I also want to include some tricky custom monsters and valuable rare items, as well. Should I a.)Start it as a low-level scenario, which I kind of don't want to do, or b.)Remove all the PC's weapons, armor, gold, and spell levels, which, I'm sure, will make me incredibly popular with the Blades community. Of course, ther is also option c.) Compromise and leave everyone unhappy. Any thoughts?

Pitch black at 5, here. Dark earlier than that.

Originally Posted By: Celtic Minstrel Now that's just trying to provoke such a flamewar. I can tell by you typographical criticism and neglect to worship the Ornk Lord that you are a heretical Avernite. BURN THE WITCH!