RaustBlackDragon

Hey, just thought I'd list my three main issues with Avadon 1 that I hope can be fixed in Avadon 2, they would really improve the game: 1: Please, please PLEASE cut back on the absurdly high number of prerequisites for skills. There are only three branches to begin with, no need to limit build variety even further by forcing people to select almost all of them. 2: Make abilities cost more energy, and make energy gradually replenish itself. Energy as it stands is almost entirely negligible, and the few times when it isn't are resolved by a single application of a vitality potion 3: Fix the cleave mechanics. Currently they are un-dodgeable and un-blockable, and they have a reach of two spaces. They basically force melee fighters to go solo, which is annoying. That's pretty much it, but I really wanted to put that out there

...Shoot. I've created a monster. All I was trying to do was poke fun at what I feel was an amusing goof-up in the dialogue

Actually I think it was his assistant, the one who teaches you shaping.

I didn't mean for this to be a dirty thread or anything I just thought it was an amusing oversight in one of Jeff's lines

I'm playing as a sorceress, and Rawal just did that "burning pain in the chest" thing, and the description says that my character, Alice, "pulled [her] clothes away from [her] chest and looked down." Seeing as my character is female, and seeing how the costume doesn't seem to allow for a simple "look down the shirt", does this mean I just flashed Rawal? Heh, bit of an oversight

I'm guessing that when it's done by hand, you can be more precise and less general, which could possibly prevent the negative side-effects of canisters, which have to be made so they would work on ANYBODY.

I suppose the biggest annoyance for me with G3 was that a significant portion, at least half, of the shaper/rebel alignment questions you get asked pertain to servile rights, even though it quickly becomes apparent that this is only the tip of the iceberg. I wish they'd ask questions on some other topics rather than assuming that I support the rebels by expressing compassionate views about creations. That's really the worst part, the fact that in G3 the shapers come across as incredibly creepy, intolerant, paranoid and obsessive. I said absolutely nothing critical of the way Shapers run things, only that I would not personally mistreat any serviles under my care. And yet word of these responses spread like wildfire, and these kinds of sentiments seem to deeply disturb almost any shaper I talk to. It's just incredibly weird, and felt almost like a glitch in the code or something.

I liked the old stat system too actually, particularly the increasing costs, which meant that pure specialization wasn't abused like crazy, and made multi-builds more viable. Granted, as I've demonstrated in my sig, they're STILL viable, but...

Nice work man! Yeah, Cave lore was OBSCENELY valuable in my non-minmaxed party, the claims that you were better off ignoring it just felt frankly absurd, the potion supplies were that useful.

Wow, never thought of it like that.

I notice that the minimum skill levels required for the ultimate spells have increased from 7 to 9, while the level requirements for creations seems to have been reduced. Is this correct? Is there less of a need for levels in shaping skills in G4 and G5? What's the least you can have in fire shaping to create, say, an Ur-Drakon?

Hey, I've been trying to mod A:EftP, and I'm running into trouble with the spell modding, because it's rather confusing. I'm trying to find out what does what, and I'm making some slight progress, but if anybody who already knows could explain what the various terms used in the skill definitions mean, I'd really appreciate it.

Okay, that makes sense. What's the limit in G5? I tend to give my character an obscene amount of intelligence, so at the beginning of the game, before creations start getting expensive, I tend to hit the "different creation types" cap rather quickly. Oh, and did they reduce the essence cost of the Süpers (My personal term for the upgraded versions of the übers) since Geneforge 2? I hope so, because they also seem to have nerfed the Essence formula, and I could barely afford to add an Ur-Drakon to my ranks (along with my Drakon, Gazer and Rotghroth) at the very very end of the game.

Yep, my initial impressions of G4 are holding up, it's a massive improvement over G3. I also love the expansion of mechanics and leadership to the point where you can actually devote your builds to it, and the removal of that arbitrary limit on the number of different types of creations you can have at once. That last part is really awesome because I like having an army without duplicate creations.

You remember correctly, it seems that the canon ending is decidedly different from any of the endings available in the game.

I totally agree with the principle of not having easy choices, and having no objectively good path, but the trick is to have multiple PLAUSIBLY good paths, rather than a handful of paths that are completely unsympathetic. Also, I started playing G4, and it's awesome. I love it so much more than G3, and a large part of that is the fact that they don't immediately pressure you to be a genocidal monster or anything, and they do a much better job of portraying the shaper cause in a positive light. Still not sure who I will ultimately side with, but I've known since G2 that the Drakons are even worse than the shapers, and if the rebels win, there's a good chance there'll be an even WORSE dictatorship.

Thanks, I'll be sure to give G4 a chance.

I was hit by Sandy this week, but fortunately all I lost was internet. As I had happened to buy Geneforge 3 in advance before I had quite completed geneforge 2 (just in case the power stayed on but the internet went out, which, amazingly, was what happened), I sat down to play it, but I soon found myself taking some serious issues with the third game, and they've been stewing in my head all week, and now that I've got internet briefly, I've decided against my better judgment to vent my issues with the game here: I'm sorry to say that I've decided not to finish Geneforge 3, after having beaten both of the previous ones. The gameplay is fun and all, it's just I really really hate how there are only two factions, neither of which is sympathetic at all. It's really really depressing and demotivating to play a game that pounds the moral into your head that "No matter what you do, no matter what you believe in, you are a massive jerk and should die." That's seriously what I feel like. The rebels are insane, murderous upstarts who don't seem to notice that the Drakons are even worse than humans are when given the power to shape, and I would LOVE to fight against them, for stability and the security of the world. But apparently I can't be a loyalist for those reasons, I have to be a loyalist because I believe civil rights movements are silly hippie fads that people eventually grow out of. You have to be a racist or a terrorist. You have to be either a horrible person who indirectly winds up saving the world, or you have to be a good person who actually recognizes what's wrong with the world, but who is willing to go way, way, WAY too far in a failed attempt to fix it. And I honestly don't enjoy either choice. Make no mistake though: I absolutely adore this series, as well as the other games Spiderweb Software has made, so I've decided to just move on to the 4th game, since that goes back to the multiple faction model.

Damn, I'm playing Geneforge 3 and I'm really wishing that an actually sane faction will show up, one that advocates the total integration of serviles into shaper society, so serviles get treated like non-shaper humans, serviles are actually allowed to learn magic and shape, but the vitally important safeguards and concerns for social order are not thrown to the winds. Seriously, why do I have to be a racist to advocate social order? Why on earth are those treated as mutually exclusive?

Darn, it looks like the threshold is 5. I took 5, 3 Create Drakon, 1 Create Rotghroth, and 1 Create Gazer, and the moment I took the 5th one, people started looking at me a bit odd. It hasn't affected any conversations yet, but when I walked into the awakened camp I got a message that they were nervous around me.

I was watching happy tree friends recently, and I think I heard something at the end of the video, a sound effect that's also been used repeatedly in Spiderweb Software games. I never noticed it before! Warning: Very Very bloody, if you don't know what happy tree friends is.

Hm... If the threshold is 6 or 7 before you start to notice ill effects, that means I could get level 3 in Drakon and Gazer with no ill effects. I could care less for the Rotghroths, they're kinda lame in my opinion

Hm... that's 9 canisters. What would the effects of that be? So far I've gotten by without using any canisters at all.

I'm allied with the awakened. Is there any way I can buy levels in create Drakon and the like from an awakened trainer? If I steal the research from other labs, will that expand what they can teach me? Because it looks like, plotwise, the only groups with real access to those tier 4 creations are the Bharzites and the Takers. I REALLY want to be able to get access to those awesome creations, is that not possible without joining the takers or Barzhites?

That depends on how you define evil. If evil is just fighting against what you believe in, then yes, but I think when people talk about evil, what they have in mind is an image of cruelty, the act of enjoying the suffering of others, the desire to fill the world with as much misery as possible, and deprive it of bliss whenever you can. And in that case, no, evil is not relative, suffering is suffering. But we should probably stay on topic.