Am I missing something?[G5]

[Contra]

I always play Geneforge on Torment, no matter what class or what game. And it has always been easy enough, in fact it has been a breeze. From Geneforge 2 up to 4 I could pretty much clean house with my solo agent, only ever making meatshields when a 'boss-battle' was nearby. As a Shaper, I only used one (1!) creation, buffed it to the max, and backed it up with mental magic. It worked fine throughout all the games up till the end-game, when I created an army and just slaughtered everything.

Sure, it required some tacticts and hit-and-run methods, but it wasn't HARD. I always tried to play as close to solo as possible, because I dislike having pesky creations steal my XP.

Geneforge 5, however, now that's a whole diffrent matter.

Somehow, Torment is now actually what it is supposed to be - Torment. A bloddy pain in the a**. I play a shaper, Battle Shaping specialty (a favorit of mine, and I recently read that it has apprently been buffed in G5). I learned as soon as I left Whitespire that my solo-creation gameplay won't work in G5. "Fine", I thought. "So maybe I'll actually use more than one creationclass for once".

I expanded my army from one Thrall to one thrall and two plated Clawbugs. Made with 10 in BS and 3 in skill, and buffed almost to the max with extra essence, I figured I was in the clear. The thrall was allready max buffed, and could still take care of itself pretty decent.

Did this help? Nooooo. The average roamer/artilla can't touch me, but pretty much everything except from the average Rogue-creation can. Crenshaw, for instance, had an insane ammount of health and not to mention Quick Action strikes. The first time I encountered Battle Alphas next to Mera, I got my rear spanked. I tried entering the West Enterance Shadowroad when I detected it, and Stinging Clawbugs from Hell just steamrolled me. My mental magic just gets resisted (MM 8, SC 1 atm, aiming to raise it), and I spend all my time healing my poor creations.

I have NEVER in a Geneforge game been forced to wait and "come back later", even on Torment. Not even that horrible Shadepit in G3, which you encountered fairly early.

 

So, am I playing it wrong? Am I forced to run around with seven creations and let them die instead of keeping them alive?

I'v read some things on the forum that seems to imply that a Shaper on Torment with Battleshaping should be a cakewalk, but even with a horde of creations..I just don't see that happening.

All and all, Torment just seems to be just that..Torment.

[Randomizer]

This game is harder on Torment than earlier games. Mental magic to daze is more important because there are plenty of swarms. Also you are running into areas that are meant to be hit later in the game. The West Shadow Road is filled with podlings that slow the party.

 

DV skipped giving 2 points of intelligence to early creations so he had more essence available for buffing his full set of 7 creations. I don't remember what else he did, but part was go into the easier zones first to build up in power.

[Contra]

Seems to me that having seven creations would seriously impair your leveling-abillity. Poison and Acid has been severly boosted aswell (though this works for your own party also, since Clawbug venom now do real damage)

[Locmaar]

Originally Posted By: Contra

... I got my rear spanked. ...
All and all, Torment just seems to be just that..Torment.

That's the kind of torment you get when you have Randomizer beta-testing game-balance

[Alorael at Large]

Seven creations don't actually divide your experience into a seventh of what you would otherwise get, and since you're extending the amount of time that you can kill enemies of a certain level and still get substantial experience you don't actually put yourself substantially behind the curve.

 

—Alorael, who would argue the reverse: by sacrificing a couple of levels over the course of the game you can both have a horde of minions and keep them around long enough for their own level buildup to start making them more impressive.

[Drakefyre]

I definitely played around and found easier areas than others, cleared them out, leveled a few times, trained a few times, then came back.

 

For my Agent, I skipped all areas with Vlish or Podlings until I was a higher level, pretty much seeking out any areas with battle creations because I could handle them much easier. Then once I cleared out some tough roamer/clawbug/bandit areas I would go back to artila/vlish sections at a much higher level than one would think necessary.

 

It was pretty circuitous, but there are definitely some places where you just need to leave and come back later (either with better items or better skills).

[Randomizer]

Originally Posted By: Locmaar

That's the kind of torment you get when you have Randomizer beta-testing game-balance

Jeff doesn't use me for game-balance after Nethergate: Resurrection where I kept asking for more Formarian Crushers in Goagh-Nar.

The only time Jeff listens to me is after others complain about it too when it gets too hard on torment. Jeff thought I was too efficeint a killing machine in GF5 beta testing. I guess looking at all those defender turrents and shout, "More ammo," was too much.