Terrestia is Stalingrad--not a quick fight, with lots of deaths

[Tracer Bullet]

Up until now, I've always played Geneforge blitzkreig: get in, get on with it, get it over with, and get out. Parts III to V, where they kept a calendar, I was always careful to keep my track under one hundred twenty days. As a consequence, I never entered the Inner Crypt, Gazak-Uss, The Monastery of Tears, The Pit of the Fiend, The Dera Vault, Bennhold's Keep, What's-his-face's Isle, and many others. Given what I've heard about the value of the backstage canvassing for these epic plays, it seems I must retry, this time with an eye to thoroughness.

 

Okay, computer--from the top!

 

I'm foundering off Sucia Island, tum te tum...

 

If anyone has opinions on which sects will get me into the most areas in each game, please share. Keep in mind I never cheat. Or break my word, or leave a sect.

 

I'm on the docks...catch you all later, I've got some homework to do!

[Triumph]

I don't know G1 and G2 as well, but I'm pretty sure that in G3, there is one area that you can only see if you end up becoming a rebel, so keep that in mind if/when you get there.

 

Somehow I've never before made the connection between Stalingrad and Geneforge, LOL. Probably because Geneforge game tend to range over larger areas than a single city. G1 is probably the closest, since I would think it takes place in the smallest area of any of the games.

[Tracer Bullet]

As aforementioned, you must be lost to find what can't be found. And if you are a rebel, you are very lost indeed. Is the area you speak of the prison?

[Triumph]

Yeah. I don't think there were any Shaper-only zones that one couldn't sneak or fight one's way through as a rebel, but the prison is a place you'll only see as a rebel.

[The Mystic]

Originally Posted By: Sage of Numenor

Up until now, I've always played Geneforge blitzkreig: get in, get on with it, get it over with, and get out. Parts III to V, where they kept a calendar, I was always careful to keep my track under one hundred twenty days.

I hope you realize that time is basically meaningless in the Geneforge games.

[Tracer Bullet]

Well, in Zork III, there was an earthquake at move three hundred, and I've always been minimalist about game time since.

[The Mystic]

If there's a time limit, then yeah, do everything you can and get out. However, in the Geneforge games, you can explore at your leisure without fear of penalty.

[Tracer Bullet]

Are you sure of that? I mean, have you ever really pushed your time limit?

[Tirien]

Yes, we are. The only game that has any kind of penalty based on the date is Avernum 3, which, last time I checked, had nothing to do with Geneforge.

So dont worry. If you rush through the game you'll miss much of it.

 

P.S. : Maybe I should have told you that the fyora's will build a nuke and destroy the world if you take to long. Ah well.

[Tracer Bullet]

Thank you. I'll be sure never to play Avernum III without first drinking a cup or so of coffee, from which I usually abstain.

[Dikiyoba]

Avernum is entirely turn-based, so there's no rush. In-game time only passes when you move.

 

Dikiyoba.

[The Mystic]

Days in Avernum are pretty long, too (though I forget how many moves), and you have about six months in-game to win in Avernum 3. In short, you have more than enough time to play the game. Also, people have been known to win Avernum 3 in less than 90 in-game days.

[Tirien]

I managed to beat it in 60 (roughly) days once, but I had skipped every single side quest (and every area that was not relevant to beating it.) Ended up being near impossible for me by the end though, since I was nowhere near the level that I should have been. Cant remember exactly what level I was though.

[The Mystic]

60?! Wow. I think the lowest I've heard of was around 75-80. My personal record is something like 82, and I did just about everything I could think of except for the artifact quests and a handful of the harder minor quests.

[Tirien]

Well, I did use a (slightly) edited party, and skipped everything that wasnt needed. And as I said before, endgame area was just plain obnoxiously hard. That and I used that one wizards portals to get around quicker, and got horses whenever I could. Im definetly not doing a speed run like that EVER again. (Also, this was on normal.)

[Tracer Bullet]

Speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedy.

[The Mystic]

Originally Posted By: Tirien

Well, I did use a (slightly) edited party, and skipped everything that wasnt needed. And as I said before, endgame area was just plain obnoxiously hard. That and I used that one wizards portals to get around quicker, and got horses whenever I could. Im definetly not doing a speed run like that EVER again. (Also, this was on normal.)

Yeah, the horses and Ernest's portals are very helpful when doing speed runs. Another thing I find useful (and absolutely essential) is the Jewel of Return.

I play on normal too (but with an unedited party), and usually walk over everything until the Golem Factory and the Alien Beasts.

[Tracer Bullet]

Unfortunately, my experience is limited to Geneforge. Budget constraints, you see.

[The Mystic]

*nods in understanding* I'm in a similar situation. I've had to save up for every Spiderweb game I've bought, and am currently setting money aside for one of the collection CDs.

[Tracer Bullet]

Yay, sympathy!

[Randomizer]

Originally Posted By: The Mystic

*nods in understanding* I'm in a similar situation. I've had to save up for every Spiderweb game I've bought, and am currently setting money aside for one of the collection CDs.

Jeff's running a sale on CD collections right now.

[The Mystic]

So I noticed. However, due to the current demands on my hard-earned cash, I may not be able to get in on the sale until it's over.

[Tracer Bullet]

Ah, the irony of life.

 

Okay, every one, one three.

One,

two,

three--

[sHIFT]-D

[Alorael at Large]

Even in A3, the timer isn't a killer. Some towns crumble, but you don't lose critical characters, and some quests become impossible, but not any major ones. There's one major event that can be difficult if your party is woefully unprepared, but it's so late that it's quite easy to finish the game without seeing it. (And it's canon in A4-6 to boot!)

 

—Alorael, who enjoys the lack of time limits in Jeff's games. Of course, he also feels immense time pressure just from the presence of a calendar in games even when there's no effect.

[Ceiling Durkheim]

Heh. That reminds me of a good friend of mine, who refuses to use the 'rest' option in any game with an in-game clock/calendar. This wasn't so bad in Fallout, but it played havoc with him in Planescape: Torment.

 

As for me, I find the G5 timer frustrating for the opposite reason. In a standard play, doing most of the sidequests, it seems to take somewhere around 150 days. Even on my do-everything run on torment, in which I meandered around a lot in order to get artifacts as quickly as possible, I killed Ghaldring around day 270. This just doesn't seem long enough, given the apparent distances traveled (apparently all on foot), and the scope of the events that take place. If this were a novel, I could see the story taking somewhere between one and three years (though that does run up against the problem of the yearly council meeting).

 

This isn't as much an issue in G3, where the distances covered are dramatically smaller. G4 is somewhere in between. The distances involved aren't that much smaller than in G5, but G4 also felt more like a mad rush to Northforge, which made the small amount of time involved seem more plausible.

[Alorael at Large]

Oddly, I just finished Planescape: Torment with a similar unwillingness to rest. And unwillingness to walk from area to area, for that matter. You can get surprisingly far by getting around via Modron Cube and portal lense, and Mebbeth is a convenient source of free, instant healing.

 

—Alorael, who doesn't recommend this method of playing. It's more trouble than it's worth. But it's possible to win very quickly!

[Ceiling Durkheim]

She doesn't restore your spells though, does she? I mean you technically get full HP restoration from dying, as well (Oh, Torment death mechanics), but I recall having to actually rest in order to regain spell memorizations.

[Tracer Bullet]

Oh, the crumbling towns of Doom!

 

I got a jar of dirt

I got a jar of dirt

And guess what's inside it?

 

*****YOU HAVE DIED*****

(been eaten by a grue, that is)