TriRodent

Welcome, a solid/quality first post... Also thank you for putting the TL:DR at the top of the post. You wouldn't believe the number of people who think that it's perfectly fine to make you read a huge block of text & then at the end of it all ... put the TL:DR ... grrr (one of those thing that will be fixed once I become Earth Czar. That & people who camp out in the left lane are pretty high on the "Fix this now" ilst) Anyway, enough digressing. Asking such a question 'here', you're going to get a lot of conformation bias. But even taking that into account I do think that yes, Geneforge is solid enough to stand up with most any other cRPG of it's era. It won't compete graphically with those with budgets in the tens of millions, but apart from that (& it is generally well known that if you play a Spiderweb game, graphics aren't going to be cutting edge) the game/s are very well done/enjoyable to play. One of the things that's been a big positive to me over the years is the lack of voice actors. I can read far faster than they can speak & don't get bored listening to a long monologue. Yes it was done for budgetary reasons, but that actually works out better for me and my immersion in the game. By being forced to read everything rather than listening, I generate my own 'voices' for the various characters that you run into. That & the lack of high quality graphics force my imagination to fill in all the blanks ... which, in my opinion really draws you deeper into the game as you've personalized it for 'you' rather than what some big game company's view of what things should be. I'm sure that I played many/most of the assorted RPGs back in the day, but the ones that hooked me so deeply that I'm still (re)playing them 20+ years later 'and' hanging out on a tiny board in a tiny corner of the internet are the ones that allowed such personal interaction (both in the freedom to develop your character however you wanted, & the mental immersion of being forced to use your imagination to fill in all the details after reading about 'x'). So a clearly biased opinion, but yes, they can hold their own with their contemporaries.

The Avadon series probably has the fewest choices/you are pushed along a more or less linear path (there's lots of different things to do wherever you wind up, but once you've done what you are supposed to, your next destination is already decided for you (fwiw, that series is probably my least favorite of the SW games)), Queen's Wish has you make a lot of decisions ... but ... that's the purpose of the game. You are a royal offspring being sent to the far reaches of your mother's lands to bring things back to where they should be (according to her). So you are making a lot of decision but they are more on a strategic level rather than the day to day tactical. I'd suggest trying that (you can get expansive demos of all the games, so if you want to flitter around and see how each one feels...), both because I think you might like it based on your suggested requirements but also because QW2, the next in the trilogy is coming out later this year if you want to keep the story going. The two BIG series' Avernum, & Geneforge (six & five chapters/games respectively) are my favorites, but they will take a lot of time (each game more or less 60 hours). They also have big, well designed, intriguing, & unique worlds to explore. You will have to make some decisions (what quests to do & when, where to explore, how to build your party, things like that). They are incredible games but I don't know how well you would take to them if you're only playing around 1-2 lunch hours/week. But again, all the games are available as demos where you generally can play the first third of the game without buying it (& if you do buy it, it just unlocks the game you're playing so you can continue on from where you are & not have to start over). All of his games are very story driven so be prepared for lots of reading. There are no voice actors giving soliloquies, just blocks of text imparting the same information. If you're expecting a modern game designed by committee & actions driven by what the marketing dept thinks will sell best, well you won't find that at Spiderweb. What you will find are well developed, unique universes for you to explore & go play in, thoroughly explained to you by a good writer with a very dry sense of humor. It's a fun journey, enjoy it wherever it takes you.

I'm getting this mental image of, on a slow winter's evening, Jeff (with several adult beverages under his belt) reading through this & both giggling like mad and also saying 'Damn, these guys are good...'. Probably in equal parts. Kudos to all who can see below the surface.

Other boards??!!! Burn the heretic... (which one/s? Steam? I'm always interested in any & all Spiderweb talk) Visualizing Avernum has always been difficult for me. Over the years I've done some spelunking here & there & living in KY I've been to Mammoth Caves a few times & have seen some incredible sights. Even so, while I know that it's set deep below the surface, I just can't wrap my head around the scale of Jeff's world. Caverns & caverns dozens of miles across, underground seas (essentially), etc. It's just 'so' big. I love it & it's one of my favorite game settings I've ever come across ... but ... I often forget that I'm supposed to be miles below the surface of the world it exists in. Anyway, yes I've often incorporated Pueblo architecture into my mental imaging of some of the cities. With the building materials they & the Avernites had to work with, some crossover is easily imagined.

The best I can suggest is to browse around the GF1M Strategy Central. A quick look in there showed a couple topics that might touch on what you're looking for but nothing quite that specific. A good question though. Most all of my playthroughs were as an Agent or occasionally a Guardian so creations (if any were made at all) tended to just be temporary meat shields/distractions, so what they actually could 'do' on a deeper level never really came into it.

In GF4 you can/should recruit a variety of mages/front line cannon fodder/engineers to get through the marshes in the first part of the upper half of the map. Also there are some zone specific characters that will lend a hand if requested/ordered, but once you leave the area they stay behind. Things like that. But there's nobody like Greta/Alwan that follow you around iirc (I almost always play as a solo agent so collecting NPCs to hang out with has never been anywhere near the top of the priority list...). Same with GF5, some zone specific interactions, but nothing long term that I can think of.

{Obi-Wan}Now there's a name I haven't heard in a very long time... {/Obi-Wan} Sorry to hear that the history didn't work out. I can remember a few conversations years ago around the time that you were wrapping up your degree (at least I think it was you ... still waiting on the coffee to finish brewing so my mind isn't fully functional yet). Maybe for the best as if you did get on somewhere then you would probably have been one of the first to go when the economy went south. Then you would have been both unemployed 'and' (maybe) far from home/your support system. And being an editor is something that should be in high demand if you go by some of the recent books my book club has read. My god, the plot holes and magical hand waving...incredible - protagonist is an absolute expert in roughly 20 different fields (including wilderness survival) & yet goes off into the snowy mountains (to rescue an autistic child of course) without a coat, boots, or even a flashlight .... uh huh. The ladies in the book are all gushing over it & saying how it makes you feeeeellll gooood ... well not if you're tearing your hair out because it's so absurd. Sorry, point being, an editor is a very useful thing even if the author throws a snit fit because you just demolished their entire story. Welcome back, don't be a stranger, etc. Hopefully life keeps moving more or less forward for you.

Well ... during the assorted recent kickstarters, there was the opportunity to fund things to the level where there 'is' an Android version ... however it usually was about another $50k than the highest level reached. Remaking Geneforge 2 will be the next game after Queens Wish 2 which is coming out later this year. If you want to throw buckets of money at Spiderweb/Jeff you'll have a chance probably in the fall/winter (you can also probably design a monster or three for that kind of cash...). Other than that though, Jeff's made the pragmatic business decision that it's just not worth the effort to learn how to port to Android & more importantly to support it off into the future for the relatively few copies he'd sell. I'd like it too, but as I'm also lacking the bucketfulls of money ... it is what it is. Sorry

'Everyone' should get at least a few levels in Mechanics, it will make the game much easier/less expensive. Don't neglect your character's main needs (melee for Guardians, magic for Agents, etc), but points invested in Mechanics (or Leadership) are rarely wasted.

{gasp} Type, type, type ... delete, delete, delete ... type, type .... delete, delete .... type, delete... Nah, I think I'd rather join E-E somewhere down on the (lower levels anyway) of the high road... (those sliths have much better lung capacity & can get 'way' higher on that road than I'll ever hope to get...)

Conversely I've always found it odd, across all of Jeff's universes/playgrounds that the assorted townspeople don't know that it was you that cleaned out every single resellable item within the city limits. After all your gang of innocent looking reprobates were the only ones inside the blacksmith's shop when he/she stepped out for a moment. ALL the swords, spears, helmets & armor are now in your junk bag along with all the raw iron & gold bars that were off in the box in the corner. Many of them will even buy all that stuff back from you. You can get away with it as long as nobody notices you & you don't even get an evil side eye the next time you roll back into town.

It's been a while since I've prowled around down there (over there?), but wasn't there a room off to the right with Jeff's more or less typical 'library' layout (alcoves with what looks like shelving)? Maybe the books are there but are under enchantment to be invisible to anyone but the ten. Probably filled with really high level spells that you can't access (or some really weird porn that they're ashamed of but can't/don't want to get rid of) Not mind you, that I'm against sitting around drinking wine (or bourbon) all day. However if doing so I do prefer to have a book in hand too.

Correct. Iirc it was a stretch goal for the Go Fund Me to also have an Android port but that level wasn't reached. Also iirc, Jeff does all his primary programming on Apple products so adding in iphones or similar shouldn't be 'that' difficult for him to make & more importantly support. Likewise, creating a Windows version of the assorted games is just a good business decision. As a percent of total sales though, both Linux & Android probably would be in the low single digits, it's just not worth his time/effort (Android is obviously a major platform, but I doubt there are that many people who would exclusively play on their small phone's screen rather than just asking for a copy after paying for a PC version). So, unless you or someone else who really wants it wins the lottery & throws bucketfulls of money at Jeff, it probably won't happen. Sorry.

It was my fault, sorry. Apparently there were complaints to the program sponsors/advertisers about me wearing my kilt & squatting down near the campfire one too many times. Ooops

Not offhand as when I need an old school fix I tend to just replay some Spiderweb games. However the topic has been kicked around a bit in the past. Lots of off topic meandering of course, but there should be some suggestions too. Good luck (& let us know if you 'do' find something really similar please...) Thread 1 Thread 2 Thread 3 (& probably more threads too, I just searched for 'similar games' & grabbed these, you might be able to find more if you change the terms around/go past the first couple pages of results)

Sure, compare it to real world life expectancy. As knowledge of medicine, nutrition, other fields related to health grow/become more common knowledge, life expectancy has gone up. There's no reason to believe that as the Shapers/Rebels grew more knowledgeable/experienced with manipulating DNA that every creation (unless designed otherwise) wouldn't have a longer lifespan. ('rounding down' is a good theory too)

Iirc (been a while) they're on the southern coast of the northern half of Ahriel lands, just to the west of the map section where the council is (I think there was a wall of forest to the west so you had to go way up & around - smaller path leading down rather than the obvious road leading to the council area). You may have had to talk to someone to actually do something with them, but if you've gotten the quest then you probably did.

It's late & I'm heading off to bed so no time to do a deep response now. However, on that one point I know for an absolute fact that beta testing is done on all levels. Perhaps my first run through was on 'normal', but subsequent ones were generally on 'hard/veteran' & at least one on 'torment'.

Did you just start with a new party or did you uninstall & then reinstall the game and 'then' start a new party? (which now that I read things a little closer, it's a registered copy if you got it on Steam) Because if you just started a new party on the same install, it isn't too surprising that the bug may have recreated itself. If E-E's suggestions don't work, I'd try uninstalling the current program, downloading a new/clean copy from Steam, reinstall, & try it again (thankfully you are relatively near the start of the game so you won't lose too much time if you can't restore a saved game or doing so corrupts things again).

I hate to ask the dumb question, but you 'are' running the registered version & not the demo version of the game aren't you? (there should be a message somewhere on the main title screen saying what version you're playing)

Ok, how about keep things bland so as not to accidentally offend people. The cynic in me thinks that there is most likely some games/designers who do purpose driven/intentionally offensive things. A calculated "We'll offend 'x' # of people, but 'y' # will be glad to see it & buy the game. Then too, by being offensive there will be outraged publicity/blogs/reviews/etc posted, exposing even more of the 'y' people to the game...

I think the word you're looking for there is self inflicted 'sardonic'... Re your other observation: Yeah, Jeff is of an age (as am I so I understand) where his first/early exposure to the genre was through those pen & paper D&D games where the only 'video' you had were the mental images created by the written word. Something was definitely lost when computers came along & created/took away some of the scene setting duties. I may complain about the aches & pains my body has these days, but one trade off is being old enough to have lived through that time, something my kids just don't understand when they're blasting their way through an incredibly detailed graphic game of today. By having to invent/fill in all the details with your imagination, such games became much more 'yours' & memorable than the latest offering from the 'designed by committee, maximize sales, offend as few people as possible' corporate game designers of today.

Certainly your choice but try to approach it from the angle of being a member of the royal family. You should be concerned with more strategic thinking rather than the more tactical xp chasing. It won't change the way the game is played/what you have to do, but you might convince yourself not to worry about not getting anything (perhaps a little gold) when some spiders drop down on you while you're strolling along a road. QW is like pretty much every other SW game, story driven when you step back & look at it. QW has plenty of rpg aspects (although your point about an adventure game does certainly have some validity), but you 'are' supposed to approach it differently than either Avernum or Avadon (keeping strategic goals in the back of your mind throughout). You also may want to try again/stick with it as the next game that SW is bringing out is QW2 & it will be another year or two beyond that before Jeff's back to a more traditional rpg (Geneforge 2 remake if he stays on what he says he wants to do). That would be a long time to go without a 'new Spiderweb game' fix... Anyway, welcome & hopefully you'll try again. It's not like other SW games (or traditional 'go clear this dungeon' rpgs), but I found it an enjoyable/worthwhile investment of my goofing off/gameplaying time.

All those unspent skill points give you some intriguing possibilities. Maverick has 6 levels of Priest spells? If you bump that up another four (?) that will give him fire rain (or whatever the AOE priest fire spell is called) which would be nice to toss out a couple of times before everyone closes in on him for his melee duties. I like to give my first player enough magic spell levels to be able to immediately upon entering combat cast haste on everyone. However with all the priest investment in Maverick, that could easily shift over to Billy. Having extra turns to dump AOE spells onto the baddies is rarely a dumb move. I'm assuming that the lack of available skill points for Isiah is because his Magic & Priest spell levels are high. That's fine, but the next few available skill points should probably go towards endurance. I don't think I'd try to make Leah a secondary tank. With only 36 hp she'll use most of the skill points just in endurance without putting them elsewhere to make her useful in that capacity. Perhaps get her Magic spells up to the point where she can cast acid which is good for chewing up the opposition over time. Right now I'd work on giving the party the initiative in fights/rounds/getting them faster & with more action points (find equipment for that too - most of the mercuric armor reduces strength so an occasional point there for those who wear it is a good idea (mercuric leather on Isiah & Leah would be good as being in the back, they shouldn't be getting hit all that much to begin with)). The faster you can hit with strong AOE spells, the less you'll have to fight up close & personal. A point or two for everyone in quick action shouldn't be 'that' expensive for the initial points & that will help with initiative. Also, by focusing on AOE spells, you can stand far back & hit a wyrmskin from the edge of that rather than the closer bow range. You might/probably can draw them in one or two at a time that way & they should be easier to tackle/focus on them to hit them hard. Plus if you're nibbling them down from a distance, you should rarely get ambushed by a mob any longer. Good luck

A little late, but a long ago iirc. After you clear the outer perimeter, on the outer edge of the inner circle there are four power generators (?). With a little care you can move around & stand at the far edge of spell range & nibble away at them/eventually take them out. Doing so will greatly reduce the difficulty/duration of the final, final battle.