Three Canisters in a creation type?

[Genernumlover]

It makes them stronger, but without the new creation unlock, there is much less need to go for more canisters. I think that, going forward, there should be either preexisting special skills or new bonus skills that can only be unlocked by reaching level three. Preexisting special skills being slowly unlocked would likely do more to keep the power level between classes manageable.

Edited December 20, 2022 by Genernumlover

[alhoon]

I don't think so. +2 levels on your creations is nothing to sneeze at. 

[Genernumlover]

But it is something you can do without, whereas before it was harder. And that original difficulty made players sometimes have to choose between altering the ending with heavier canister use or having to adjust their gameplay. It was a point in Geneforge 5 that you could get to Cryoras, from reading a Shaper tome, so early on, as that made the start fairly easy. But in the more canister heavy games, why go searching for a level three Drayk canister when your one or two canister Cryodrayks are already enough to clear the game? And since you already unlock the special creations very easily, players have less cause to go hunting for canisters. There's by far less reason to be through or make plot-altering decisions about the number of canisters you are using now.

Edited December 22, 2022 by Genernumlover

[Slawbug]

The problem before was that most of the alternate creations just weren't very good.  Cryoas were the only real standout, and even then regular Vlish were mostly better.

[Genernumlover]

Later on that's true, especially later on when charged creations became the norm. In the earlier games the alternates were more viable.

Edited December 23, 2022 by Genernumlover

[Slawbug]

No, they really weren't.  In G1-3, most of the alternates were scaled up in cost far more than they were in power and effectiveness.  There could be situational arguments for a few, like Terror Vlish.  Some could have been redeemed with better balancing, like Plated Bugs.  But the vast majority of them were simply bad values.

[Mechalibur]

I don't mind how it's set up in Mutagen. +1 level for +1 level's sake is pretty good already, since level affects damage, hp, and accuracy.

 

Still, I do like your idea. Having a locked skill that's only available when you hit 3 points in that creation could be interesting.