Geneforge 5 Reviewed Again.[G5]

[The Ratt]

I haven't read the whole thing yet, but here's the link.

Review

[Alorael at Large]

That's one of the better reviews. The reviewer caught on to the importance of the story and the world, but I agree that the towns don't quite feel lived-in. The game is more combat heavy than you might expect from the plot-oriented design. My only real disagreement, and it's not huge, is with the complaints about strategy. Character building and creation and equipment choices are strategy and pretty much always have been for roleplaying games. I think the reviewer's real complaint is about the lack of tactics, and it's simply not true. You can hack through enemies, but it's easier (and on Torment necessary) to fight cleverly rather than brutally.

 

Still, all in all a good review. I think reading it gives a fair sense of whether one would or would not like the game.

 

—Alorael, who still wouldn't call Geneforge a game of tactical depth, as Jeff himself has admitted. Once you find a winning tactic (Mental Magic) you can pretty much lean on it for almost every fight. Gimmick bosses are different, of course, but that's the point.

[A less presumptuous name.]

I like the review. It does seem to make a strong point for an in depth story compensating for poor graphics.

 

Although, the screenshots puzzle me. The last one shows only a few zones have been shown, despite the reviewers obvious knowledge of events later in the game. Also, the second to last image shows the characters inventory while still in the hut type thingy in the very beginning. Somehow, though, there is what seems to be an artrila or glaahk eye in the bottom-rightmost box...

[Toby-Linn]

Those screenshots are just taken from Spiderweb's official Geneforge 5 page.

 

http://www.spidweb.com/geneforge5/shots.html

 

And I also liked the review, very in depth!

[A less presumptuous name.]

That explains the items, thanks.

[Zummi]

Lazy reviewer.

 

Anyways, the review was good actually. It gave fair points to what SW was trying(and doing) to do with their games.

[Spddin Ignis]

The review was good, i agree the town aren't as homie as they were in G1

[Blurb]

I really thought this was extremely fair. The reviewer seems to have played the entire game and appreciated the game's strengths. He also knew how to read and was therefore able to understand the plot as it went along and appreciate the "[d]electable passages, poetic dialogue and vivid description."

 

Quote:

=Soylent Octarine]My only real disagreement, and it's not huge, is with the complaints about strategy. Character building and creation and equipment choices are strategy and pretty much always have been for roleplaying games. I think the reviewer's real complaint is about the lack of tactics, and it's simply not true. You can hack through enemies, but it's easier (and on Torment necessary) to fight cleverly rather than brutally.

 

I agree. I also don't fault the reviewer too much for this observation because even experienced Geneforge players had to rethink character build in G5. (Heck, it isn't "easy" in any of the Geneforge games.) The same is true of creation abilities/strengths. They all look good by description, but how do they perform? It may be counterintuitive to some players, new players in particular, to craft a build that emphasizes one or two skills and virtually ignores all others, but decisions like this can mean the difference between beating the game or not.

 

From the review:

 

Quote:

NPC turns are forgivingly quick, though enemies do have a slightly cumbersome tendency to surround the player characters and block the path for potential attacks.

 

Well, this scenario does point to a distinct deficit in player skill/strategy. Survival in G5 demands that the player break up swarms into manageable chunks. I would think an experience RPG player would recognize that if they kept getting swarmed, they would need to try something new, i.e., new "strategy," but I have not played enough RPGs to really know this.

 

The following I agree with:

 

Quote:

When the less derivative characters do crop up, they're fabulously portrayed - but it leaves you aching for more, and Geneforge 5 doesn't always deliver.

 

This strikes me as more of a testament to Jeff's "fine writing" and the depth of the characters he does creates than a real criticism. There is a fine line between just enough and leaving the player "aching for more." Jeff does a pretty decent job with the "tease." Too many interesting characters dilutes their individual importance and too few dissatisfies. For me, it was the lack of a "Kyrykk" (sp?), which is my admittedly juvenile side wanting a real "hero" in the scenario.

[A less presumptuous name.]

The thing I most agree with in the review is the statement that the towns seem un-lived in. It really feels like you're just in the downtown area, and even that is a stretch. A few places extend into a number of zones, but it is very small (almost like the "towns" in Diablo 2).

 

Although, considering the depth of the other aspects of the game, the small production team, the limited financial and time budget, and the massive turnover rate for new games, I juuust might be able to force myself to deal with this.

[Alorael at Large]

It's funny, though. The towns rang most true in E1/A1. G1 also had very small settlements but definitely settlements that felt right, at least in the demo. I think Jeff's games start with world-building and as the plot grows the little people get edged out.

 

—Alorael, who doesn't think there's anything wrong with that, necessarily. It just makes the criticism make sense.

[The Ratt]

One thing about all the swarms in GF5, is this is the hardest part of the game. And is/can be challenging on any difficulty level. For someone new to RPG's this would be a serious turn off. Struggling through the demo area will turn off most players, though, admittedly you must being doing something very wrong with character building if you do struggle through. It doesn't help that the swarms bet tougher as the game progresses.

[Drayk Armitage]

Hmm. You may be right about that. On the other hand, with the sole exception of Exile 3, every new game story Jeff made through 2001 or so was full of right-feeling settlements and atmospherogenic little people. By G3 and A4 they were cut out entirely, and even though more recent games have been better received than those, the little people haven't come back.

 

So I'll wait and see. I hope you are right and they will be back in the new series. I fear they are gone for good, disappeared into Sylak's portal.

[Synergy]

Perhaps it is social commentary by Jeff. By 2001, the mega-corporate conglomeration of the world had all but drowned out the viability and voice of the little people in the world. Perhaps, in an upcoming game, Jeff will depict a world filled once more with little people — little people who finally rose up and toppled the megalithic dinosaurs ruining their world.

 

-S-

[Drayk Armitage]

Actually, I think Synergy is onto something, or at least sort of. We know that Jeff's playing habits have changed and that in the past decade he's spent time playing WoW and Planescape: Torment and the like, whose atomsphere-mechanics do reflect changes in society, and little (if any) time playing classic RPGs. It makes sense that his own games would reflect that shift.