GF1: The madman's challenge?

[Mechalibur]

Update 15

 

Icewalls

 

Pretty simple zone overall. The regular enemies are extremely easy to deal with, the only issue is the spawner cluster in the center. Nothing Airshock and Drayk Flame bombing won't solve.

 

West Workshop

 

Cryodrayks hit pretty hard but are fairly squishy and vulnerable to mental effects. The nice thing is their level is pretty high, so I still get decent XP for taking them out. Mass Restore helps with keeping everyone topped off long enough for me to disable the spirals in the center of the map. This zone has an excellent Mass Energize canister, giving me access to the final spell I'm missing. I pretty much have the answer to all my problems now. I'm forced to ignore the entry baton since I already have one, which avoids another trap, adding the ambush sholai to the small group of characters that will survive my rampage. The Servant Mind here required 3 leadership and the game insults me by saying how crappy I am for not even being able to convince a weak shivering servant mind

 

This zone also have the Vampiric Lance which is nice I guess. It doesn't require any missile skill, surprisingly, so I figure I might as well equip it.

 

Kantre's Realm

 

I'm not really sure why I put this zone off. Fwee warns me about Kantre's creations and gets killed for her trouble. I slowly eliminated all the battle alphas and glaahks that plague this zone. Apparently pissing Kantre off causes a spawner in the center to summon a few waves of battle alpha constructs. Never triggered that before, but they're pretty easy, so no big deal. The Charmed Plate is here, but I think I'll stick with my robes.

 

Diarazad

 

I. Hate. Stealth Sholai. They get 2 actions per round and have 2 different AoE stuns for some reason?! Ugh, at least their hp isn't too high so if I initiate combat with good timing, I can typically take them out before they get to go. I do the silly pyro-roamer bomb for the ghosts on the west exit, since they're otherwise pretty annoying with their daze-leap + stun bolt combo.

 

Western Wastes

 

This is another zone that's really annoying if you try to take it on early, but by this point in the game it's not too big of a deal for me. I have to take 2 trips since I forgot support pylons explode when they die, wiping out nearly my entire team. I happen across the special Thahd and take his Spiky Orb for the Inner Crypt.

 

Drayk's Vale

 

More cryodrayks! Rhakkus tries to extort me for safe passage, but instead of gold, I give it a fistfull of acid. The Cryodrayks are still good sources of XP and after clearing the zone I manage to hit level 16. One of the pillars has a Fiery Ruby which is an extra 5% magic damage for my creations. Not a game-changer but it's a nice free bonus. The zone also has the second Spiky Orb and the corpse of Learned Halm who somehow thought she could teach me Leadership.

[alhoon]

35 minutes ago, Mechalibur said:

Rhakkus...

 

Don't worry my friend. I will avenge you in GF2. 
Once a Taker, ALWAYS a Taker. Well, not always as I will probably go Awakened again in GF2. But I will kill the Shapers. Let's see if this time around we can actually spare Drakkus. I think I could not avoid killing him in GF2 once I joined the Awakened.
I really wish there's a way to unite some of the factions. An ending where both the Radiant College, Tuldaric's machine etc. along with (the sane parts) of the Takers and the geneforge survive. Get rid of the half-Unbound the Awakened were making. Go for Awakened that are not just prepared to defend themselves, but go on the offensive... but with enough temperance to moderate the Takers to hold them back, and make them realize that you don't have to kill every last Shaper. Just half of them. 
More or less go for something like Astoria - they have half their land, the Shapers have the other half. Wars and all, but not the madness we see in GF4 with the continent in flames and not the worse madness in GF5 (with the Unbound and the shredbugs) and the GF3-ending (with the diseases and the Spawner-spamming bio-terrorism). 

Edited November 6, 2023 by alhoon

[Vinlie]

On 10/13/2023 at 7:45 PM, alhoon said:

The rebels do not "Capture you" at the beginning of the game. You are a farmer that willingly joins the rebellion along with your friends. Then you see the Shapers killing your friends as you madly run to escape the horrors they unleashed on you. 

Sorry I was a bit cryptic with my wording, if you've ever attacked anyone in the Southforge citadel, instead of the place turning hostile against you, the game immediately ends and you can get a bad ending with you getting left behind in the cells, waiting to be found by the Shapers. Although, I'm fairly certain it just gives you the default death message afterwards, being "mortally wounded." 

 

I meant what would happen if instead of getting subdued by the rebels for attacking, they banish you into the next zone of the game, unable to be let back in because you're now hunted prey. What if you resisted against the Rebels for "forcing" you to use the Geneforge, you don't get a choice in 4 (and 5) and that's easily my biggest issue with those two games, you're forced to attain power through ill means. Perhaps one of the rebels that was supposed to take care of your execution commanded by Greta or someone else allowed you to escape freely into the wasteland as he or she understood that it's no easy decision to let one's self be altered by the Geneforge. 

 

This would only change the first couple of chapters of the game drastically I'd imagine, as there would a guard that would sound an alarm if he saw you (You were supposed to be executed) trying to make your way back into Southforge Citadel. Your only choice realistically would be to escape into the Forsaken Lands with seemingly no direction or reason. I think to make this balanced, the player would have some camp setup somewhere just so they can heal and regain essence until they found the Shaper Camp. Eventually, you'd find General Crowley in the Shaper camp (Or much sooner if he was placed earlier in zones as to have the player have some form of direction) and he'd teach you how to create basic creations and magic in exchange for hunting down rebels he spotted in an area. If successful, the Player might be granted access to a previously inaccessible area. Obviously he couldn't do it himself as he couldn't risk getting spotted by anyone, but why not send a newly "trained" lifecrafter to prove himself useful to the Shapers, as he has no connections so he'd have nothing to lose. Besides, this recently banished Rebel might prove to be a very valuable asset if he can prove himself successful here. This is also important because initially being a Rebel, you'd still be treated with disdain by the Shapers, but you haven't been touched by the Geneforge, so maybe once you do missions for Crowley, (and Alwan), your reputation might be looked more favorably. 

 

It could also be a pretty cool reveal for the Rebels to realize the person they banished in Southforge managed to become one of the Shaper's deadliest scourges by the end of the game, although I don't know what chapter would be a good reveal for them to realize you're still alive. The game would change once Chapter 2 starts as well, as you aren't allowed access to the Safehouses either anymore. Cool to think about, feel free to add onto this.

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Vinlie

[Mechalibur]

Update 16

 

Near the finish line...

 

Crossroads

 

Gavrila would steal my Taker amulet if I had one, but I don't. I kill him anyway. The Sholai here aren't anything I haven't seen before. There are also some agent/guardian/shaper specters in the southest, they aren't any different than the ones in the Sealed Labs and South Workshop. An Airshock canister here is pretty nice at least. I hit level 16 here.

 

Valley of the Wind

 

This zone is probably easier than its predecessor, the Western Wastes. Wind Walkers do standard ghost stuff, but they fight one at a time which makes them very easy to pick off. The north exit has a higher concentration of ghosts, but it's nothing Airshock and Ur-Glaahk shockwaves can't keep in check. There are 2 very nice items here, the Arcane Band which I put on, and the Protection Icon which just gives free passive resistances to my creations while it's in my pack. Neat.

 

The Sentinels

 

First up is the ornks. They have a headbutt charge similar to Battle Alphas, but they do way more damage. They don't have much in the way of defenses at least: 0% in everything, except stun which is 100%, which lets my Drayks cook them nice and crispy. The Ornk Lord is a bit more of a challenge, but goes down without too much trouble with enough acid. The gloves it drops are pretty bad for shapers.

 

Next is the guardians themselves and I honestly don't think I've ever faced them before. They all are high-hp shades that can take double actions. They hit for pretty hard and have different AoEs that daze or stun. They also occasionally cast Wrack - it's lucky when that happens because it doesn't deal any damage and the debuff isn't that bad. The second guardian also resists fire, ice, and magic at nearly 100%, so I make my Dryaks go into melee range to deal physical damage. Thankfully acid still works.

 

Heustess is the final guardian and an absolute beast with over 1000hp and the same fire/ice/magic immunity that the second guardian has. His least threatening attack is hitting a single target with his baton, but it still typically does over 100 raw damage. Huestess can also do a spray shot that does similar damage except in a cone. He also has an absolutely brutal AoE charm attack that I don't think I've ever seen before. It's incredibly nasty. I beat him by running Psycopath behind him so that his spray attack only hits one target, then spam heals. I keep an artila coating him in acid which eventually pushes through his massive hp reserve. It still ends up being tight with all my creations other than an Ur-Glaahk dying in the end.

 

Spirit City

 

The Wastes Ghosts are massive pain. They take double actions, are reasonably tanky, and love inflicting stun and daze. I decide to have psycopath tank their leaps with Essence Shield since his magic resist is so high, then stun them all with Airshock when they bunch up. Goetsch's creations on the northeast end are easy peasy by comparison. Just dominate the alphas and blast them while they fight each other.

 

I also go back to Drayk's Vale and start touching the pylons in order so that Psycopath can get past the Spirit City barrier. He learns the horrible secret about the Shapers... or at least he would if he didn't immediately attack the Shade Priest. Fun fact, the priest seems to be in a separate aggro group as his guardian shades who just watch as I kill their leader. The "sacred bedchamber" has Crystalline Plate which is nice if I ever need the 60% stun resist.

 

Okay, almost done with the game! All that's left are the Geneforge zones, Goetsch's Temple, and the post-game dungeons (Ascended Bunker and the Crypts).

[Mechalibur]

Update 17

 

West Gate

 

This is the easiest way into the Geneforge facility if you don't have Trajkov's amulet. The Speed Sentinels aren't a pushover, though. They take multiple actions per round and can summon a bunch of turrets and creations when they get to low hp. As a result, it's important to have enough AoE when fighting them. 2 Drayks with fire breath and an Airshock is enough to put them in their place. At the end of the zone is the side entrance which can be opened up with an Entry Baton. This lets me sneak into the Geneforge without having to go through the Front Gate.

 

The Front Gate

 

But who wants that? The Front Gate is what Psychopath has been preparing for his whole rage-fueled life. The path to the Geneforge is short and bloody, with reaper turrets and patrolling Sholai across the road. When I get to the gates themselves, I'm facing 5 reaper turrets, some sholai warriors (included one who is augmented), and a wizard, with several more enemies in the back that charge forward when they hear the sounds of combat. I start by working with my Ur-Glaahk to dominate the front line warriors who get almost immediately ripped apart by their own reaper turrets. The Augmented Sholai are the biggest obstacle here, and only myself and my Ur-Glaahk can even survive a round of attacks from one, so it's important to keep enough dominated fodder in front of them, or keep essence shield on at all times. Airshock and the stun wave help keep the reinforcements under control while my drayks and artila blast them with waves of fire and acid. It still ends up being pretty close, with only Psychopath and my Ur-Glaahk left alive after the final reinforcements.

 

There's also an inn at the northwest end that's filled with Inn Ghosts. I never really understood that. Oh well, there's a nice canister of Mass Energize here. I hit level 17.

 

Central Labs

 

It doesn't take long for an alarm to be sounded, sending waves of Sholai warriors and researchers (and Battle Betas) after me. Compared to the Front Gate, however, this isn't much of a challenge. Two of the mages, Serabryakov and Vershinin put up a bit more of a fight with their stronger spells and bigger hp pools, but it's nothing I haven't handled before.

 

There's an upstairs room with an augmentation pool that triggers an ambush after you inspect it. The ambush patrol includes all kinds of various sholai I've fought before, including augmented sholai. However, their crippling lack of mental resistance makes it a simple matter of forcing them to kill each other.

 

There is also a cluster of pylons in the Northwest section of the map. I can't be bothered to kill them all, so I just break a few that are required to get the Shaper Boon ring which gives a nice bonus to all my creations' stats.

 

The Vats

 

It's much nicer going through this room from the east instead of the west. It means I can immediately head south and demand the servant mind turn off the toxic air. I don't have enough leadership to convince it to shut itself off, however (and there's no option to just stab the servant mind for some reason). Most of the zone is just easy Glaahk fights, but there's also a corpse with a Mica Band... not that it's particularly useful for shapers. An Airshock canister is always appreciated at least.

 

There's also a library sub-zone here. The ghosts attack you if you don't wear the special gloves before reading the records. Unfortunately, Psychopath respects books about as much as he respects the sanctity of life, so I end up killing all the ghosts.

 

Holding Cells

 

There's a fun variety of enemy creations here, including cockatrices, but none of them are too challenging. The important thing is making my way to the controls console to open all the side doors. One of the unlocked rooms has an Experimental Glaahk which is a beefed up Ur-Glaahk. I have more than enough firepower to take him down, however, and I pick up the amazing shield Agent's Shelter which is a welcome boost to my spellcasting.

 

Research Quarters

 

This zone is pretty similar to the Central Labs with waves of Sholai and Drayks attacking me. They don't come in large enough numbers to really pose a threat. Logu Kau is another suped-up mage with a nasty fire cone, but is fought alone, which makes taking them down pretty simple. There's also Akkat, a drayk that is friendly despite me killing all the other drayks on this map. Looting his nest pisses him off, and he makes a futile attempt to stop me. Trajkov's room is only defended by a few reaper turrets which go down fairly quick at this point. The Guardian Claymore would be better for a Guardian but Psychopath is still able to read Trajkov's journal and take his red spore baton.

 

This zone has some cockatrice research which lets me return the research to the servant mind in the Barrens Research zone and get another point in Create Cockatrice. I don't think they're especially useful, so I stick with my existing squad.

 

Next update will be the Great Temple and the Geneforge itself! Then I'll clear the Barrens Bunker and Inner Crypt and be done with this slaughter.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Mechalibur

[alhoon]

The Central labs is not much of a challenge? Man, you are good. 

[Mechalibur]

Compared to the Front Gates it's a breeze! The Sholai's pitiful mental resist makes things not so bad 

[Mechalibur]

Update 18

 

Great Temple

 

A Battle Gamma Greeter asks me to go see Goettsch. I instead greet him with a Searer to the face. What makes this zone manageable is that triggering the alarm from fighting (or stealing the gloves without mechanics), causes all of Goettsch's bodyguards to run after you, even Tomato the drayk. Goettsch, on the other hand, remains in his chambers with his level 1 servile servants. The zone is filled with Cryodryaks and Battle Betas/Gammas, but they mostly run around in patrols which means they're easy enough to pick off one by one. The guards to the Shaper Gloves are level 20 gammas, which make them a bit trickier, but my Ur-Glaahk can tank them with an essence shield while the rest of the squad covers them in acid and fire. There's also a Quicksilver Plate up for grabs behind some red mines, which I disarm using the spore baton I picked up in Trajkov's quarters.

 

Goettsch himself is... kind of a nightmare to fight. He gets a whopping three actions per turn and can cast all manner of spells including Terror, Dominate, Fire Blast, and Acid Spray. He's also over level 20 which makes accuracy a crapshoot against him, even when blessed. He summons a high level Vlish and Clawbug during the fight as well, but they aren't nearly as big of a threat as he his.

 

The key to beating Goettsch is to turn his greatest strength into a weakness. Those 3 actions he takes every turn? Every single one of them can trigger acid damage, which, being based on his max hp, ends up dealing around 115 damage per tick, or 345 per turn. I essence shield and mass energize my creations before charging in, put on the Quicksilver Plate and Boots for maximum haste chance, then run in. With innate haste and a haste buff, my artilas have a pretty good chance of inflicting acid on Goettsch on their turn. Meanwhile, Psychopath is on full healer mode, spamming Mass Restore each turn, with a good chance of following up with Essence Shield if he got haste off. Goettsch takes two of his turns in between my creations and Psychopath, which also means mass restore can cleanse any debuffs he inflicts during those turns, which is especially helpful for removing dominate and terror.

 

Eventually the acid takes its toll, and Goettsch drops dead. He has a Shaper Belt which is decent enough for some extra resist on my creations. Only one obstacle left.

 

The Geneforge

 

Trajkov is a fool. He thinks he can still negotiate with me. Despite slaughtering every Sholai (and Servile, and Shaper, and creation) that has come across my path, he is somehow under the misguided assumption that Psychopath can be reasoned with. Trajkov is guarded by Battle Gammas and Cryodrayks and can release some fast-moving Clawbugs when his hp is low enough. Despite his guards, this fight is easier than Goettsch - Trajkov is basically just an augmented sholai with a higher level. He doesn't even take multiple actions per turn until his hp gets low enough.

 

The battle is a slaughter. Psychopath and the Ur-Glaahk start the fight by dominating the two nearest Battle Gammas who do an admirable job tanking damage for me. Trajkov himself is then coated in acid and bathed in fire from my dryaks, while Psycopath rains down Airshocks on the cryodryaks in the rear. Trajkov and his guards die before the clawbugs can even enter the fight. They too are dispatched without much difficulty. Trajkov kept a book near him explaining how to use the Geneforge. Psychopath reads it with glee.

 

Psychopath uses the Geneforge. He is no longer a threat to just Sucia Island, soon the whole world will suffer his murderous rampages. Then, for good measure, he destroys the Geneforge on his way out. This gets him to level 19, and provides a massive bonus to all his stats.

 

Next update will be the final one, clearing out the Barrens Bunker, Inner Crypt, and Guarded Docks. Maybe I should have done those before using the Geneforge, but what good is power if I'm not going to abuse it?

Edited November 19, 2023 by Mechalibur

[alhoon]

So... that is a version the Monarch is based on. 

[Mechalibur]

So... after putting this to the side after a pretty bad bout of Covid, I decided to end the updates with the Geneforge zone. Using the Geneforge pretty much trivialized the rest of the content. 8 extra points in all stats and most skills gives 104% extra effect on all damage/buffs/healing, there wasn't anything that could realistically stand in my way. The 8 extra essence mastery is also a whopping 176 extra essence at level 20 which let me have 4 drayks with 2 ur-glaahks and a searing artila for support. With a beefed-up essence shield defending everyone before a fight, and incredibly powerful airshock blasts, Ouroboros went down no problem as did the cockatrice waves in the bottom of the bunker. The Inner Crypt isn't particularly tough - I was able to kill the paired shades even though they recover to full hp each turn if they're not near each other - I just had that much damage available to me. I don't even particularly recall anything memorable about Danette's shade. Pylons were annoying because it turns out you need leadership to disable them, not just nutrients, but I had enough damage to deal with that. The docks were also pretty simple, especially considering the sholai there aren't resistant to mental effects at all.

 

So yeah, there's the challenge done on Normal mode. So is it possible on torment? Probably! The biggest issue is the beginning, you have to make it to an essence pool as soon as possible so that you can replenish your resources. The biggest challenge on higher difficulties would be thahds having their leap attack, making it difficult to mitigate damage by kiting. Once you've got that sorted out, you still have some difficulty with limited pathing available and not getting an early daze due to bandit woods being cut off, but eventually things get a lot smoother. By the end game, it started feeling like a regular playthrough, just with a bit less XP (since I couldn't get quest XP or leadership XP) fewer canisters (a few require leadership), and missing some items (can't purchase items or buff up the Helix bracer unless you talk to someone).

 

I guess to wrap this up... can you beat Mutagen without initiating dialogue and being forced to turn all friendly NPCs hostile? You sure can.

[Mechalibur]

For fun, here's a list of everyone who survived my onslaught of Sucia Island:

 

Astrov, Anya, Treplev, and all of the sholai in their camp: Couldn't enter their cave since I killed Masha

Yu-La: Weird interaction, but she vanishes if you kill Ascended Alonzo

Wounded Battle Beta: You need to accept a quest from Flig in order to access this area. Since Flig was murdered, I never got to access this zone.

West Workshop Sholai: These sholai spend all their time in small chambers waiting to ambush you. But that ambush only happens if you pick up the entry baton and the game doesn't let you if you already have one.

Ilya: You need to accept a quest from Goettsch to fight this guy. Not a chance.

Every Servile Mind except Control 4 and Kantre: Psychopath has a soft spot for these little guys

[alhoon]

Thank you!