Starting with Geneforge

[Dear Potato]

I've bought the Geneforge saga (from 1 to 5) recently and I'm about to start the "journey" from the first title.

 

I've only played Avernum (the last remake) and Avadon from Spiderweb -and I really enjoyed both-, completing them without too much problems in normal difficulty.

 

Yesterday, I started the character creation in Geneforge 1. After half an hour of inner struggle (insert epic music here) I was unable to decide for one of the three classes. I know that geneforge's charm resides in creature summoning, but I'm not very fond of that kind of magic -I'd rather play as a pure-damage spell mage, something like the Soreceress in Avadon. The problem is, it seems that the only class resembling this archetype is the Agent, and the warning about the game being harder makes me hesitate.

 

How much difficult the game could get with the Agent, playing her as a pure caster spell mage? And what about the Shaper? Can I play it without relying in summonings? Or should I forget my bias and play a Shaper with powerful summoning anyway?

 

So? any recommendations?

 

Thanks!

[Death Knight]

Agents arent as powerful in the 1st game (that was the class I used when beating the game). It was very frustrating. However, now that I know how they play, I would say agents arent the hardest class. Guardians are the hardest class to use in all games except 2nd so yes the agent is more than doable it just depends on you specializing in magic type. Late in game, agents are powerful even alone, something the shapers dont have as they rely more on creations.

 

I would say if you want to make a character that is a tactical commander that leads an army or even a small army of creations, take the shaper. If you want to use a character that is a lone wanderer that uses magic and an ocassional creation as an ally or assistant, then an agent.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

How much difficult the game could get with the Agent, playing her as a pure caster spell mage? And what about the Shaper? Can I play it without relying in summonings? Or should I forget my bias and play a Shaper with powerful summoning anyway?

No, it's extremely hard if not impossible to play a shaper without creations, however in my personal view it's pretty enjoyable and easy playing a shaper with creations,

Agent is a very powerful class as well but it can lead to problems if not handled in an optimum manner and I wouldn't really recommend it for a first time player.

[Dear Potato]

Agents arent as powerful in the 1st game (that was the class I used when beating the game). It was very frustrating. However, now that I know how they play, I would say agents arent the hardest class. Guardians are the hardest class to use in all games except 2nd so yes the agent is more than doable it just depends on you specializing in magic type. Late in game, agents are powerful even alone, something the shapers dont have as they rely more on creations.

 

I would say if you want to make a character that is a tactical commander that leads an army or even a small army of creations, take the shaper. If you want to use a character that is a lone wanderer that uses magic and an ocassional creation as an ally or assistant, then an agent.

 

Thanks!

 

When you say late in game Agents become strong, do you mean late in the first geneforge or late in the sequels? Keep in mind that I'm starting with the first game!

 

No, it's extremely hard if not impossible to play a shaper without creations, however in my personal view it's pretty enjoyable and easy playing a shaper with creations,

Agent is a very powerful class as well but it can lead to problems if not handled in an optimum manner and I wouldn't really recommend it for a first time player.

 

Thanks! I fear that my inexperience leads to an unplayable Agent, but also I don't really like the idea behind the Shaper class. I guess that Shapers are meant for the first playthroughs and newcomers as me, but Summoners never were my cup of tea.

 

----

 

I'm still unsure. Sometimes I say: "Go ahead and play the better you can with the Agent; after all, you have plenty of experience with RPGs". But the next minute I think that's a bad idea. Maybe I can make a Shaper with strong magic spells? Or that's not possible at all? The game says Shapers are strong with magic, but not as much as Agents...

[Death Knight]

Dear Potato,

 

You can make your character any way you want to. The only key here is specialize. If you want to make a shaper with a few creations and focus more on offensive magic, you can..if you specialize in magic. Remember the key ingredient to spells is spellcraft. Each point in spellcraft gives 1 level of bonuses to every spell in the game, even healing magic (which you dont specialize in). Dont forget intelligence either, that is your bread and butter.

 

Its best to place points in intelligence and spell levels (blessing, mental, battle) early on if you go with an agent. If you are going with a shaper that is magic user, you'd best spread a few points into blessing magic for creations and put the rest into spellcraft and battle magic. I havent used mental magic in that game so I cant recommend that. Though mental magic got better in g3.

 

Edit-Oh and late in game means agents are generally good at taking down enemies by a small scale early on. Late in almost all geneforge games, agents are powerful and not to be trifled with if specialized.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Shapers are certainly decent with magic, there magic however is much more useful to buff and heal their creations rather than doing damage to the enemies, also a shaper has a very poor defence and thus it relies on its creations for both it's defence as well as offence, hence it is generally not a good idea to make a shaper which relies on magic without creations.

When you say late in game Agents become strong, do you mean late in the first geneforge or late in the sequels? Keep in mind that I'm starting with the first game!

He basically means that they get strong as the game progresses(and this point is probably valid for all Geneforges)

[Dear Potato]

All right then. Thank you very much for your observations

 

I've decided to try my luck with an Agent, an do my best to specialize in magic. I will post problems here about my build -if I encounter any!

[Randomizer]

The best tactic for an agent is to use speed to get extra action points, then you can advance a little to attack and then retreat around a corner to avoid getting hit. Never advance into a group of enemies until you can kill them all in a single round.

[The Reverend]

My first time playing Geneforge 1, I started out as a shaper and fount it wasn't fun. I just wasn't getting into the whole managing a large group of creations thing. So, I went back and restarted as an agent and had a great time. I say go for it!

[Dear Potato]

All right, I've been playing for some time now (right now I have just followed the Awakened sect quests until the point you can join them).

 

So far, I'm not having problems at all. Some parts are a bit tricky, but I only died once. I've decided to build a Battle mage specialist (giving priority to spellcraft and battle magic, of course) and a minor emphasis into developing a melee servant (to make him some kind of cannon fodder for some turns) and leadership -I REALLY like leadership; a way to solve things with diplomacy and conversations is greatly welcomed-.

 

So, in summary, I'm advancing without problems and enjoying the game a lot. At least, for the moment!

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Be careful not to over-invest in leadership, you don't need more than 12 and you can get quite a few points from items+canisters and it can be bought as well.

[Dear Potato]

Be careful not to over-invest in leadership, you don't need more than 12 and you can get quite a few points from items+canisters and it can be bought as well.

 

Thanks! And I'm glad you mention it, because I tend to get very excited with this kind of skills and I was already planning how maximizing it

[Alex]

Leadership and Mechanics are especially helpful for a solo character, and Agents are supposed to be a bit sneaky.

 

In the later games, Speed gets nerfed but you gain daze spells to help you with crowd control.

[Juan Carlo]

I played through the entire series in order recently, and I played a different class every game.

 

G1-Agent

G2-Guardian

G3-Shaper

G4-Servile

G5-Infiltrator

 

Honestly, by far the least fun class to play was Shaper, so I'd say you don't need to play a shaper even though the games are built around them. I got bored playing a shaper not only just because I think they are the easiest classes to play as, but mostly just because I hated having to wait for all of the attack animations on my creations to run one at a time every battle. I don't think people realize this, but playing as a shaper has to add hours onto the total playtime, just because of the bloody attack animations. Things can get really long, especially when you have 7-8 separate creations who are attacking each round.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Actually other classes should use up just about similar times with their "daze 5 enemies and concentrate on one" or "hit and run" tactics, besides if you do 8 attacks in a single round you are almost certainly doing much more damage then any single PC can ever hope to, in fact I think the shaper might actually take lesser time, the only real areas where shapers suck are the periodic damage dealing ones which can get very annoying with a multitude of creations.

[Cmiller]

Leadership and Mechanics are especially helpful for a solo character, and Agents are supposed to be a bit sneaky.

 

In the later games, Speed gets nerfed but you gain daze spells to help you with crowd control.

 

Potato, save your money, because later on, there are trainers in the game which will sell you the skills in the "General Skills" section for luck, leadership, and mechanics. Its like spending skill points, but with coins. However its worth it, 'cause you can use those skill points in other useful areas such as spellcraft. By the way, there is also an item late in the game that gives you 2 free skill points in leadership. I would raise you leadership to level 8, then buy two more points from the trainer, then use the item to get your last 2 which will get you 12 leadership which is all that is needed for the game.

 

For Mechanics, there is also an item that gets you two free points in this skill.

 

Luck is pretty cool actually, because its raises your chance to hit with everything (including spells, melee, missles), by 1% for every level of it. It also effects how often monsters drop gold and other valuable accessories like rings. And provides extra armor. The cap for all skills is 30. Very huge actually, becuase you'll never reach them by end game. (Trust me, its impossible) But it is indeed possible with Luck because you can buy this skill from a trainer for 500 coins each. If you can invest the money, and get the skill all the way up to 30. You will almost always hit in the game, and this is not to mention the resistances %, the extra gold drops from monsters, and even extra armor. Luck effects the game in many cool ways in G1.

 

And to get the money, you'll have to grab every item in the game that is completey worthless to you (armor, daggers, and sorts of junk), and sell them to the merchants. Drain them dry of their money. There are quite a few merchants who have 1000s of gold, so after a while of collecting junk you'll have the money to spend for extra skills with the trainers. It might sound tedious, but its worth it in the end.

 

I don't want to give locations, 'cause I'm afraid i might spoil things. But you could find them somewhere on these forums (or just ask me).

 

I hope this helps in terms of focusing you're General skills section.

 

Cmiller

 

EDIT: Do not cofuse these concepts with there later Geneforges in the series. Geneforge 1 is very different from G2-G5. However, the later Geneforge games are superior in their gameplay experience imo.

 

EDIT: There is also two canisters in the game that give you free points in Leadership. So really you should only need to invest in 6 (or 8 if you're not buying two points of leadership from the trainer. I just always do that because it save me 4 points which i use for an extra point in spell craft

[Triumph]

Umm...where did you get the notion that Luck affects item drops? I was pretty sure we'd killed that myth.

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Luck also helps in some special encounters, Triumph is right about the item drop rate, only your real life luck affects that, whether an item will drop or not is decided when the area is being loaded and most items have a pretty low chance.

(So if you want you can reload the area until you get what you want, that's called making your own luck )

[Dear Potato]

Great Thanks for your info on general skills and leadership; I've already reached the max (12) needed for the game. I guessed that most skills would have trainers and such later on, so yes, I focused the level ups in spellcraft and battle magic. Also, I spent one point in "melee" summonigns just in case, and thanks to the canisters and tombs it's even better. I thought that the melee combatant could help me in tight situations, but so far, I've had only one combat difficult enough to make me summon the thing I will see more info on luck and how to improve it, also.

 

I had doubts when I started the character creation... but now I'm very happy with her. I can play as a baddass mage with a golden tongue Not sure how I will handle the later stages of the game, but it seems it won't be a real problem.

 

I'm afraid that my only real problem with Geneforge 1 is the name of the island: Sucia ("sucia" means "dirty" in spanish; it's a bit weird reading that name again and again )

[Cmiller]

Umm...where did you get the notion that Luck affects item drops? I was pretty sure we'd killed that myth.

 

Thanks for telling me. I actually never knew that. I've seen it somewhere that Luck does effects monster drops. Apparently that was wrong. Thanks for informing me.

 

Mosquito--Slayer said,

 

"Luck also helps in some special encounters.

 

That is indeed true. I believe you only need a couple of points in luck to get most encounters. Usually they involve item finds. Some are better than others. So it doesn't hurt just to have a few points even if you don't want all 30.

[Triumph]

No worries. The idea that luck affects enemy item drops is kind of a longstanding myth that pops up for most of the games that have a Luck stat. Numerous tests and direct inquires with Jeff himself have revealed that it does not.

[Dear Potato]

All right. Things are starting to get a bit more complicated -my fault, on the other hand, since I tried to explore places with rogues a lot thougher and leveled than me (basically, two maps on the wastes, deserted and full of those scorpion creations). But it was fun nontheless. So far, I find the difficulty more or less attuned with Avadon and Avernum. Also, things got much easier the moment I got searing orbs and speed, so, despite the difficulty growing, I'm still moving forward!

 

One thing that really annoys me is the essence; I understand that higher spells need that energy pool for balancing issues, but I was expecting that spells only drained the spell energy pool... anyway, that brings me to the matter of spending skill points in the general attributes (strenght, intelligence and so on); it is wise to do so? Many times I'm tempted on spending some in Intelligence to grow the essence/spell pools. And strength, too, since the carrying cap. gives me headaches!

 

Thanks!

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Obviously you need good amount of intelligence with an Agent, maybe not as much as the shaper but 9-10 is reasonable and more won't hurt.

Strength is really subjective, sort of depends on how much headache you can tolerate .

Don't bother much with dexterity, endurance also isn't very useful if you are going for hit and run, but a few points in end. just so as to be able to take a good blow or two won't hurt.

[Randomizer]

Endurance is a little useful to avoid getting killed by a lucky hit. But Augmentation and the Essence Shield/Armor spells in the early games will help with that.

 

Intelligence is really needed to cast spells since otherwise you need more strength for carrying essence pods.

[Cmiller]

As an Agent, I would reccomend putting points into Intelligence so that you can increase the amount of spell energy and essence you have. By the way, at later stages of the game (end game preferably), you might want a Glahk or two to hang around as tanks. That way monsters will hit them instead of you. And you can just blast the foe at your leisure . There is a canister that will give you Magic Shaping, and some cyrpts and even items. So it would be worth the patience.

 

Another good General skill is what Randomizer said, Endurance. Put maybe 1 or 2 points there. At higher levels End will really start to make a difference due to multiples. And there is a special cloak that will get you two free points in Endurance too Strenghth? Maybe a point or 2, But no more than that. There are items that can raise this for you. (and some canisters)

 

Randomizer, Potato is playing Geneforge 1. Augmentation and Essence Shield do not exist until Geneforge 2.

 

P.S. I hope i am not giving to much away. I'm just pointing things out as so to help you strategize when spending your skill points.

[Spddin Ignis]

I've always played with about equal intelligence with my Shaper and Agent characters

[Dear Potato]

Hello again!

 

I keep moving forward. Right now I'm at level 18, and I'm completely used to play the solo-agent with ease I can kill almost every enemy with two bolts of fireball or searer, and I obliterate groups with orbs; if things get complicated, speed and war blessings turn my Shaper into a kickass-unstoppable-baddass I'm enjoying the game, a lot. I'm happy to have kept to my idea of a Mage-agent, despite some difficult moments at the beginning.

 

Anyway, I have some doubts:

 

In order to survive ambushes or unavoidable-unexpected melee fighters, I chose to wear heavy armor. The problem is that "-3 attack skills" modifier. What is exatly refering this to? Melee chance of hitting? Melee damage? Both? And what I fear most, it affects battle magic spells? I've tried to fight with and without armor to see the effects, but I fail to notice anything. Just for the sake of knowing, I would gladly appreciate any explanation about this (or a link to a place wich explains it, of course )

 

Also, I've noticed that I keep finding "Green crystals" here and there (not the gemstones or the emeralds). The item description says something about Shapers using those crystals to make magic objects, but it does not have any use in battle. It does not sell at high prices, neither. But, I keep gathering them in case someone opens a quest for retrieving them, like the shaper records or the shaper tools. I'm guessing right? If not, I would gladly throw them far, far away (every **** crystal weights a ton).

 

By the way, I've spent some points on Intelligence and Endurance, (both are at 5 right now), but I always have the feeling that I'm missing chances to be even deadlier with spells. That's the reason I was a bit unsure about that before. But I guess I desperately need to grow endurance if I want to survive the last battles... or so I guess!

 

Anyway, thanks everyone for the support!

[Cmiller]

Are those the green crystal you find in the mines? Those crystals are used to make wands, icy and spray gems, and swords.

 

The most benificial thing you can get with them is a Shaped Blade. A shaped blade is the second strongest sword in the game (base damage is around 40-70 damage i believe?). You have to collect 50 flawed crystals and insert them into the machine somewhere on the west side of the northern mines.

 

There is one more in the game, but I can't say without spoiling.

[Triumph]

I'm not 100% sure which "green crystals" you're talking about...but IIRC there is a machine in the mines (over on the northeastern part of the island) that you can feed a certain type of crystal to, and in exchange you get items.

 

I don't recall any item that said "-3 attack skills," so I can't be sure what you're talking about, but most heavy armor imposes a penalty on your chances to hit. As long as you are hitting regularly, you should be fine. If you are worried...just wear different armor.

 

I hope that covers your questions!

Edited January 6, 2013 by Triumph
Sniped by cmiller!

[Cmiller]

Triumph said,

 

I don't recall any item that said "-3 attack skills,"

 

There is armor like that, but i haven't notice any significant difference

 

Dear Potato said,

 

By the way, I've spent some points on Intelligence and Endurance, (both are at 5 right now),

 

I usually have at least 10 Int by end game. Try raising Int more if you can (but its hard to level up at 18). Of course if everything is going well, I think you should be alright.

 

Also, if you do raise Int, you can have more Essence to get yourself a Glakk. Like I said earlier somewhere, a Glakk can act as a Tank which will keep enemies away from you.

[Randomizer]

For an agent the green crystals are useful for creating spray gems to use as an attack when you want to save action points or are low on spell energy.

 

By the middle of the game you rarely miss even with items lowering your attack skills.

[Dear Potato]

Thanks Triumph, Cmiller and Randomizer!

 

I had the feeling that I was too confident with my endurance stat... I hope the endgame does not kick my agent's ass!

 

Anyway, the "green crystal" I was talking about is this:

 

 

Oh, and about the "-3 attack skills", as Cmiller said, some heavy armors have this penalty. I always guessed that refers to melee chance to hit...but, who knows? xD It seems that does not affect anything important, since I never melee, but I'm just curious to know. There is nothing as "attack skills" in the atributes/abilities window, so...

[Cmiller]

For an agent the green crystals are useful for creating spray gems to use as an attack when you want to save action points or are low on spell energy.

 

By the middle of the game you rarely miss even with items lowering your attack skills.

 

You're probably right, but I've always though the Agent's Essence Orbs were a potent Spray gem. Besides I've always liked using the Shaped Blade until i could get my hands on the Guardian Claymore.

 

Another thing to note Dear Potato, if you do not want to use the Green Crystals, do not just throw them away, but actually sell them. You could get a fair amount of coins from them.

 

Edit: Sorry Randomizer, i didn't read your sentence all the way through :-P. Yes Spray gems are good because they save you from having run back to town back and forth all the time. Also they can get you out of the tight situations sometimes. Also note, battle magic isn't the only way to avoid situations. Mental magic is perhaps the key to not getting beat up all the time. Using dominate and terror can mean the difference between life and death at the endgame. This is especially true on Torment and Tricky difficulties. Just wanted to add that.

 

 

Anyway, the "green crystal" I was talking about is this:

 

 

 

Oh its a "Rough" Crystal . I thought it was a Flawed Crystal. Because in later Spider Web games that is the usual name given to those green Crystals. Silly me.

[Dear Potato]

All right! Finally, I've completed Geneforge 1

 

The first thing I want to say is that I liked it almost as much as Avadon, and definitely much more than Avernum. The setting is superb, very well developed, despite the multiple options avaliable. I must admit, though, that I thought being an Awakened would have a deeper impact in the ending. I liked, by the way, that unsettling feeling of having been deceived by Ellrath -since it was him who convinced me to use the Geneforge at the end-. I'll see how other endings develop without using the Geneforge!

 

Anyway, even without the Geneforge, Agent class was very powerful since level 14 or so. I don't know how the other classes play, but definitely I see Agent as a perfectly viable class if you have some experience with RPGs. What I don't know is what I'm going to do in the next game... probably sticking to a spell caster class, if there is any!

 

Oh, by the way, the final confrontation with Trejkov was amazing I loved how the plan I had in mind (playing with his trust, convince him of releasing his bodyguards, and finally deceive him with the false gloves) worked perfectly and the option to simply fool him was perfectly present, without a battle involved.

[nikki.]

The Agent class is present in all the games (though in Geneforge 4 it's a rebel version with a different name), though if you wanted to branch out a little Shapers are perfectly capable of being spell-slingers, and you have the added advantage of being able to summon up an army of monsters too.

[Cmiller]

I'm glad you enjoyed the game. If you want to try a new ending I'd reccomend the one where you help Trajkov. It has a bit more of a twist to it, and is actually one of the stronger endings.

 

Also, if you decide to move on to Geneforge 2, you will like it a lot better than Geneforge 1, believe me . There are over 20 more spells to play with, better artifacts, and even a crafting system (yes, Geneforge has that ) And more surprises .

 

Well whatever you do, I hope you have fun with it.

 

Cmiller

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Also, if you decide to move on to Geneforge 2, you will like it a lot better than Geneforge 1

Except for the main menu, WTH was Jeff thinking when he made it?

[Dear Potato]

I'm glad you enjoyed the game. If you want to try a new ending I'd reccomend the one where you help Trajkov. It has a bit more of a twist to it, and is actually one of the stronger endings.

 

Also, if you decide to move on to Geneforge 2, you will like it a lot better than Geneforge 1, believe me . There are over 20 more spells to play with, better artifacts, and even a crafting system (yes, Geneforge has that ) And more surprises .

 

Well whatever you do, I hope you have fun with it.

 

Cmiller

 

So far, I tried two endings: using the geneforge with and without destroying it later -fool of me, never thought of the consequences of leaving the geneforge as it is!

 

I'm curious to see how things develop if you destroy the geneforge without using it... but yes, I'll try the alliance with Tejkov sooner or later!

 

About moving forward to Geneforge 2... yes, I will play it, eventually, but not right now. I don't want to saturate myself! I love Jeff games, but every one of them is a intense experience; I'll play something else for a bit before going to it. Also -and I know I'm the exception here with this - I have a serious problem with the lack of music. I try to play with my own MP3 selections, but I always end opressed with the reigning silence. So yes, I need some time. But hell, I'm eager to see the new spell list I'm predictable, yes, I always get excited looking thorugh the spell list at the beginning

[Dear Potato]

Here I am again

 

I've decided to start Geneforge 2 (in fact, I've been playing it for some days, now). Again, I've picked the Agent class, and I must say I really appreaciate the new spell set! Maybe it is because G2 is easier at the beginning than G1, or that I'm now pretty experienced, but I'm not having any trouble at all killing enemies. At any rate, I'm enjoying it -a little detail, maybe unimportant, but that I really appreciated is the inclusion of Shanti as mentor; I like her dialogues and how she reacts sometimes (from being perfectly cold to surprised when I do something useful).

 

Also, I welcomed the idea of potential companions, people/rogues that join you within certain circumstances. I tend to dismiss them sooner or later, but I like the feature If I'm not mistaken... would those companions grow stronger to the point of being able to act as I command? (I mean, enough Intelligence to allow disabling auto AI). I'm not sure if I'm going to keep any of them, though.

 

Ah, and a second request: do you guys play some music while playing Geneforge? As I have stated, the absence of music is my major concern with Jeff games, so I put my MP3 collections on shuffle to palliate it. But, is there any particular set of MP3 or OST you use for Geneforge? Any recommendation would be welcomed

 

Thanks!

[Triumph]

You will never be able to control the recruitable follower creatures in G2, no matter how much you use them.

[Dear Potato]

You will never be able to control the recruitable follower creatures in G2, no matter how much you use them.

 

Thanks! I suspected that could happen.

 

Right now, I have just crossed the "Freegates" to non-shaper lands. Something bad happened to Shanti... my coool agent mate -I fear the worst I've found my first canister, used it and... well, after reading the somewhat menacing text describing the effect, I just reloaded and ignored it. Maybe this is a bad decision, but if I can avoid it, I'm planning on not using canisters. I suppose I could read a walkthrough and see if this is advisable, but I rather play it and discover it by myself. Wish me luck

[Kelandon]

A no-canister playthrough is definitely viable. Good luck! You're still quite early in the game, so enjoy it.

 

I tend to have whatever music I like in the background, and my preferences (prog/power metal) are not widely shared, or else I'd have something more meaningful to add on that topic. Still, I've found that anything vaguely fantasy-tinged (Led Zeppelin, for example) works well to set the mood for Spidweb games. Anything that doesn't have a lot of words works well, too.

[Questionably Legal]

I don't mind the lack of music myself, there is ambient sound in most of the games (I can't remember if the first Geneforge has it), but if i would definitely say go for music without vocals. I recommend the Fairy Tail OST (vol. 1), especially the tracks "Tower of Heaven" and "Main Theme".

 

Have fun with the series!

[Lauren CW]

When playing as an Agent, I find that getting INT up to about 10 before item bonuses is usually enough, about 6 in endurance.

 

-3 to attack skills means about 15% less chance to hit and 3 die less.

Say you have a dagger doing 2-12 damage. That's 2d6. You have 4 strength, and 3 melee weapons. That's another 7d6, for a total of 9d6. Now subtract 3 for the armor penalty, and 15% chance to hit.

 

It is entirely viable to play any of the games canister free. Some may be a little tougher, but if you're playing on normal it shouldn't be a big deal.

 

I would advise getting your mech and leadership to about 8 before bonuses in each game. You rarely need more than 13, and you can use infiltrator gear to get there. I am thinking about doing a geneforge playthrough sometime soon, and I have a ton of notes for character building and min-maxing. Maybe I'll compile them together and post them. I usually spend about an hour going through all my notes and strategy central before even starting a playthrough, mapping out how much of what I will need.

 

 

Also, I never listen to music while playing Spiderweb games. I prefer the ambient noise, especially in the Geneforge series, to immerse me.

Edited March 30, 2013 by -Bard

[Dear Potato]

I don't mind the lack of music myself, there is ambient sound in most of the games (I can't remember if the first Geneforge has it), but if i would definitely say go for music without vocals. I recommend the Fairy Tail OST (vol. 1), especially the tracks "Tower of Heaven" and "Main Theme".

 

Have fun with the series!

 

Thanks! I will try your recomendation (and yes, Geneforge have those ambient sounds)

 

When playing as an Agent, I find that getting INT up to about 10 before item bonuses is usually enough, about 6 in endurance.

 

-3 to attack skills means about 15% less chance to hit and 3 die less.

Say you have a dagger doing 2-12 damage. That's 2d6. You have 4 strength, and 3 melee weapons. That's another 7d6, for a total of 9d6. Now subtract 3 for the armor penalty, and 15% chance to hit.

 

It is entirely viable to play any of the games canister free. Some may be a little tougher, but if you're playing on normal it shouldn't be a big deal.

 

I would advise getting your mech and leadership to about 8 before bonuses in each game. You rarely need more than 13, and you can use infiltrator gear to get there. I am thinking about doing a geneforge playthrough sometime soon, and I have a ton of notes for character building and min-maxing. Maybe I'll compile them together and post them. I usually spend about an hour going through all my notes and strategy central before even starting a playthrough, mapping out how much of what I will need.

 

 

Also, I never listen to music while playing Spiderweb games. I prefer the ambient noise, especially in the Geneforge series, to immerse me.

 

My doubts when wearing those armors with the -15% penalty were more aimed to the accuracy with magic; I asumed that the penalty was for melee only, but, after a second thought, I wondered: would the penalty apply to magic misiles accuracy too? I ended using those armors, though, since I didn't notice any difference, but the doubt remained.

 

Thanks for your advice! I feared that upgrading abilties would be diifficult if not impossible without canisters, but now I see that's not the case.

 

 

EDIT:::: Oh, and also, on a side note: I hate Onks Those bastards keep charging towards enemies like if there is no tomorrow in that secondary quest from the awakened town!

 

EDIT2:::: Ok, I'm sorry -I dind't even know there was an autocensor.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Dear Potato
Please don't try to cheat the autocensor. If you know it will be censored, please don't say it.

[Triumph]

Please don't try to cheat the autocensor. If you know it will be censored, please don't say it.

[Randomizer]

Penalties and bonuses apply to magic spells, but you won't notice them except for a few high level spells used early in the game.

[Dear Potato]

Penalties and bonuses apply to magic spells, but you won't notice them except for a few high level spells used early in the game.

 

Ok, thanks. Also, I have done some epxeriments that corroborate it.

 

When fighting a though ghost in a haunted marsh, that was giving me some trouble, I tried to fight it with/without the armor. All the misile spells I tried (Firebolt, Acid and Ice) had an accuracy penalty when wearing the armor, and so was noticed by game's action roster, showing different percentages if the spell missed.

[Dear Potato]

Hello again, I have a doubt, and, as always, I feel reticent to look the matter into a walkthrough.

 

I've adavanced up to level 29 in Geneforge 2, and visited all major enclaves to see what every sect has to offer. It was a difficult trip, but the moment it was clear that I had the chance to choose, I didn't want to rush, like I did in Geneforge 1. Since I'm playing without using canisters, I've gone through almost every part of the game without more spells than Firebolt, Burning Spray, Searer and Ice Spray. Major spells affecting more than one enemy were not present in any of the training options I found -until I reached Rising school, which was my last stop.

 

My doubt is: is there any way to learn the major spells -Kill and Aura of Flames- without relying on canisters? And I ask this not to know where exactly are the means to learn them, but to know if I'm just doing a maningless search and If it would better if I just go on with the main quests.

 

Thanks!

[Mosquito---Slayer]

Yes, there are.