Geneforge 3 review(years ago would've been better)

[devilkingx]

Introduction:

 

Chances are, none of you remember when I posted my avadon review on this very forum(in retrospect I should have posted it on gamefaqs too, oh! and maybe this one too!) like a year ago, well I’m doing another review but this time it’s for geneforge 3(Only while typing this did I realize the futility of a review of a several year old game, but I’m already too committed to stop), in case you’re wondering, I might post more reviews but don’t count on it(I may review avernum 6 and A:EFTP),the only way to guarantee a review would be if I didn’t like the game in question , positive reviews always seemed a little pointless to me, mostly because finding out the bad parts of the game is why you read reviews(because that’s the only way you’ll actually find them, the creators\site won’t mention them(because it’s like business 101 to not show the flaws of your product and the gameplay vids and demos won’t show you enough for you to see them so reviews are all you got).

 

Pros:

as with the last review, I’m going to start with the pros, of the game

 

New Engine – let’s start with the biggest one, G3 had a brand new engine with much better graphics and spires and brand new possibilities, and that in most other games would single handedly make this better than the previous entries, the new and much better graphics, plus several additions to gameplay (the ability to have a trapdoor or something lead to a mini level instead of a whole new area, for example) make this one worth playing.

 

Lack of Aimlessness\Sense of Urgency – In the first two geneforges a lot of the game felt like aimless wandering, less so in the second game, for me the story felt slow because of the distance between the developments which made so much if it seem like you were just wandering around until you stumble onto a clue, in G1 after you reach pentil, every other development takes FOREVER it takes like a dozen maps to get to kaz then a dozen more to get to trajkov, and when you want to reach goettsch? A dozen map trek into the desert. In the second one, after the awakened city it takes forever to reach either the taker or the barzite cities, however, one of the strong points of G3 is that there are no massive gaps in the story, for the most part the story was more concise with less gaps and such.

 

Crafting – technically it was there a little bit in G2 but its nice and fleshed out in this game, there are items to collect and artifacts to craft a huge improvement over collecting items for a ring in the 2nd or nothing in the first.

 

Unlimited Gold Merchants – it’s nice that traders have unlimited money this time around, this made selling the useless crap you collect while you’re out hunting much easier, although I guess it made sense in the first two(because they were remote areas) it still sucked.

 

Creation\Companion stealing – I guess technically this is probably a glitch but it was still pretty cool that the items that were put in towns and such weren’t just to taunt you anymore (I always wondered what the point of the completely unstealable yet awesome loot in every town was.)

 

Companions themselves – It was a nice addition to have some permanent companions to help you out in the game, even if they weren’t really necessary nor needed, they added interesting alternate opinions and such to every conversation, kind of like the angel and devil on your shoulder thing in cartoons and movies.

 

Cons:

Now it’s time for the dreaded cons list, where I’ll list the many huge flaws of this game.

 

Linearity – this complaint is pretty minor, but it did kind of such that you could only explore the island you were on without finishing the story for that island, but I guess that is pretty normal for games, but not for a geneforge game.

 

No good guys – the rebels were terrorists, the shapers were fascists, it was be like choosing between al-Qaida and the Nazi’s, except it was a video game, I really hated being unable to feel like a good guy in the game (the shapers were and always were bad guys, but the rebels basically sent hordes of monsters to slaughter and pillage innocent civilians. Although if you are ok with being the bad guy (I’m not), then this complaint doesn’t really apply to you)

 

Only two factions – another uncharacteristic trait of the series, gone is the open-ness of the first two games, having many factions which lead you down many roads to the end of the game, now you have to pick, do you want to be a despicable terrorist or a fascist? Fence sitting isn’t an option this time, because you’re forced to pick a faction.

 

Forced to pick a faction – this part really sucks, it would’ve worked in 1, 2,4 and 5 but it doesn’t work in this one unless you’re ok with playing the bad guy, (if you are then more power to you.) but if you’re not then you’re stuck between a rock and a terrorist place.

 

Lack of new creations – creations are so important to the series, I can’t believe they made a game where they didn’t add new ones (although G5 didn’t add new ones, G5 was great so we can give it a pass.)

 

Verdict: 7\10

you may be wondering why I scored it so high if I didn’t like it, this is a general score(as in compared to all games) but the comments were based on the spiderweb software standard, G3 is a failure as a spiderweb software game but a success as a general game, another factor that raised the score was the fact that I always imagined this game being so bad, and yet now that I list out the flaws it doesn’t seem so bad as a game, just as a spiderweb software gam.

 

TL;DR:

Pros: better engine, innovation and useful albeit miniscule additions

Cons: lack of choices and freedom in general

Verdict: 7\10 a decent game but a bad spiderweb software game.

[adc.]

Years ago would have been better? We appreciate it in here.

My replies:

No good guys? Rebels fight for good. But I agree that they send creations to slaughter people.

7/10. Well, if that's your opinion, but I choose 9/10. It is sooooo long and you have to travel to more islands unlike the other saga.

------------

-Nightwatcher

[ToddMcF2002]

Is it really that long? I just landed on Gull Island and based on my level (28) there can't be that much left. Geneforge 2 felt much longer IMO.

 

Good review but your emphasis on cons seem somewhat overstated to me. This is better than GF1 or 2 by a longshot in my opinion.

[Triumph]

If you just reached Gull Island...well, you're over half way, but you've got quite a hefty chunk of the game left.

[ToddMcF2002]

Bring it on!

[The Reincarnated Baron von Steuben]

No good guys? The Shapers keep their secrets to themselves because if the secrets leaked there would utter chaos. The rebels fight for good too just with a somewhat corrupted way.

[devilkingx]

Originally Posted By: Babster30

No good guys? The Shapers keep their secrets to themselves because if the secrets leaked there would utter chaos. The rebels fight for good too just with a somewhat corrupted way.

I meant in the sense that, the shapers were bad guys any way you put it, but the rebels were terrorists, they loosed their weapons of war on innocent people to win it, like several IRL terrorist organizations, and the shapers are so authoritarian and selfish with their power that they remind me of several IRL dictatorships as well as the movie 1984

[BMA]

Shaper RUULLLZZZZ.

 

Post 400

[Trenton.]

Shapers WERE the ultimate good guys. They use their powers to protect villages, forts, towns. They use the power of the shapers for creating new creations. LIKE ORNKS. Or crops. Or stuff to defend. Guardians? Defense. Always good. Agents? They go off to solve problems for people. The rebels wanted the power for themselves. I don't really buy the whole servile thing. Who cares about serviles? People knew that if you made serviles, then they must be tamed. If you wanted a new race of intelligent beings, not for labor, then create that race. Don't make a servile Intelligent. Did the rebels perhaps think that the war was going to kill thousands of good people? What about the innocent store owners in shaper towns? Rebels were, no matter what, the ultimate bad guy.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Trenton

Agents? They go off to solve problems for people.

No, they go off to assassinate people that break Shaper laws. Big difference.

Dikiyoba.

[Goettsch]

No,agents go off to solve problems(Dikiyoba must play G5 another time)

[Trenton.]

I could have sworn that I played the geneforge 3 intro yesterday, it it said that Agents were the problem solvers...

[Dikiyoba]

Yes. The Agent description in the first three games says, "Agents travel around on the command of the Shapers and solve problems, usually violently."

 

(Wow, the "usually violently" is just an awful-sounding phrase. Dikiyoba had to check it several times to make sure Dikiyoba had it right. Does it sound awkward to anyone else?)

[BMA]

Quote:

agents go off to solve problems

Surely it's only the shapers' own problems (and not the 'problems of the people') where the only solution is to solve them 'violently'.

[Catoblepas]

Agents are also used to hunt down rogues, which is something that non-shapers would appreciate. Guardians seem to be the go-to guys for when Shapers want to execute a Shaper that has broken their laws. There is a bit of an overlap. Regardless, thefact that two of the three positions in the Shaper order go around doing a lot of police work makes me think that Shapers generally get an unfairly bad rep for being irresponsible with their powers.

[Trenton.]

Irresponsible? Seriously? The shapers protect their knowlage because of the unbound. THE UNBOUND! The rebels do not care for lives. The unbound wipe out whole towns and kill thousands of people. No matter if they have done anything or not. The Rebels are barbaric, making new creations to cause harm. This is why the shapers lock their powers away. People die, crops are destroyed, and their powers are used for harm.

[Catoblepas]

Hey! calm down I agree with you! I just said that their bad rep was unfair! Shapers made life much easier for most people (if admittedly at the expense of serviles) I was just pointing out that two thirds of the shaper orders are committed to making sure that shaping is not used badly (hunting down rogue creations and fallen shapers like Agatha and Zakary)

[Trenton.]

Not to mention the Trakovites.

[Catoblepas]

As to the original point of the topic, Geneforge 3 was the first geneforge game I played (still working on beating one and two), and I don't think it's nearly as bad as some folks make it out to be. Personally, I think I enjoyed (most of it) more than Geneforge 5 and 2. Possible spoilers below.

 

While the linearity can be quite obvious at times due to the way the stages of the game are island-based, I think it provides some much-needed structure to the plot that I think was missing in geneforge I + II, and to a lesser extent, V. The personal nature of the attack on the school at the beginning made me (and by extension, my character) feel personally invested in the events that were occuring to an extent I did not in the other games. I haven't gotten very far in Geneforge I yet, but I definately felt that any sense of plot momentum and motivation in G2 dissolved the moment Shanti was out of the picture, and in Geneforge 5, while there were subplots to get the player character invested in the plot (the Amnesia subplot, the control tool subplot) They are essentially dead end plots. After a certain amount of time invested in G5, after finding out that the amnesia plot went exactly nowhere, I found myself with the realization that there was nothing left for me to do except join a faction and complete the endgame. I felt Geneforge 5 ended on a terribly unfulfilling note.

 

Another thing I really liked about geneforge 3 is the companions. As far as I know, G3 is the only geneforge game that offers the player permanent non-creation companions. I liked the companions from G4 and G5, esp Mekhen, but they were only temporary. Personally I think one of the most useful tools that Geneforge 3 had for makign the other player think about the other side was the devil's advocate sort of system G3 had with Alwan and Greta arguing with each other (and you) over the ethics of whatever situation you were in. I think that was sorely missing from the other games. One of the things I like most about Avadon is how fleshed out all of the companions are (even if many of them have unlikeable flaws). If Jeff ever gets around to remaking the Geneforge series like I have heard he plans to do with the Avernum series, I would really like to see him take another look at fleshing out/adding more companions to the Geneforge games. I can't help thinking about how as much as I liked having Greta and Alwan in G3, I would have really liked it if interactiosn with them were as in-depth as they were in Avadon. Plus, the addition of a similar loyalty system would enable players to get around that annoying tendancy for Greta/Alwan to leave after Dhonal Isle, and seeing how a rebel Alwan/shaper Greta would turn out in the epilogue would be worth at least two additional playthroughs from me, IMO.

 

Saying that, There were some elements of G3 that keep me from enjoying it as much as G4. The quarantined island system really does feel artificially restraining, even though it might technically be no more so than other techniques used in the other games. At times it seems like almost all of the restrictions keeping the player from advancing to new areas are some variation of 'there is a boat on the other side of a locked door, go find a way to unlock it or get someone to unlock it'. In other geneforge games we had minefields, checkpoints, secret passages etc, which made kept the restrictions seem less obvious through variation. Another thing problem I had was the factions. There are only two factions in G3, so it would seem natural to at least broaden the factions out and give players more than one 'path' for playing Shapers or Rebels. There is little opportunity to be a 'moderate' shaper or rebel, and even when there is, it is only through dialogue, not through actions or quests. This was even mroe noticable for me with the 'rebel' quests. The player spends a lot more time working for/with Shapers over the course of the game than rebels, with most rebel interaction being boiled down to a visit from Horge or Litalia once or so per island in which they ask you to do them some favor. Considering these favors consist more often than not of some form of terrorist activity, and the way in which the rebels are introduced to the player (burning down the school and killing everyone you know, sparing noone that they came across except you) I think the game could have used a more sympathetic introduction to the rebels at some point. As they are, the rebels (or at least ones you can interact with without a battle) are always distant and hostile. I never got to see a sympathetic side to the rebel cause until the second to last island, which was immediately countered by that island's rebel mission.

 

I also felt that the endings for G3 (I got all five) felt a bit too samey. Particularly the difference between cannsiter addict and cannister-free runs. G4 handled it best out of the three Geneforge games I played.

 

After Dhonal's isle I started to get awfully sick of the combat. Perhaps this is because of the fact that the second half of the island is almost all combat, but I felt that there was not enough non-combat situations or areas later in the game.

 

All in all, I definately think G3 is one of my favorite games in the Geneforge series so far. I didn't like it as much as G4, but I think it had a massively better plot than G5, and I think it kept up a good sense of momentum and player investment in the plot, which I feel (so far) that geneforge 2 has not lived up to. The linearity, and inflexibility of the available factionstakes some enjoyment away, but as far as my favorite Geneforge games, I would rank it (from favorite to least favorite) G4, G3, G2, G5 (haven't played enough of G1 to say where it fits)

 

Just my 2 cents