Need some help...

[Solodric]

I tried playing Geneforge as an Agent, found it extremely hard to do for some reason. Theres just something in the game thats not clicking for me. I tried it with the other two classes after that, and while they're pretty easy to get by with, something in the game isn't clicking for me like the Avernum series did....anyone got any ideas on that?

[Kelandon]

What isn't clicking?

 

An easy trap to fall into is to think that Geneforge will play like all of Spiderweb's previous games. At least to me, the four Exile games, Nethergate, and the four Avernum games all feel fairly similar in terms of style: you're wandering around and killing things using magic and weapons in order to defeat bad things until you can finally kill the ultimate big bad guy. There is very little suspense or mystery, and the combat systems, as much as they differ from each other, all sort of involve the same kind of things. It's entirely possible to play GF without ever blessing or hasting anything, which would be difficult and probably foolish in any of the other series.

 

It's a different game. Don't expect it to be Avernum.

[Fort]

If you progressed far through the game with little trouble with a guardian or a shaper, then you should at least have the advantage of knowing what to expect later in the game while being an agent.

 

Remember that an agent needs to have some toughness and combat skills. A major difference, in my opinion, between Geneforge and the other games is the occasional necessity of carefully and stealthily moving around battles and certain pathways. When possible, it can be easier to take on small groups of enemies very close to town boundaries and exits; though the big battles are always fun.

 

For all classes, simply remember not to take on more than you can handle at once. There is actually a small, calculable experience advantage if you move through the areas of the game in an order of ascending difficulty. Try not to skip too many easy battles before trying the hard ones. Leaping forward in plot and difficulty worked much better in the Avernum, but not so much in Geneforge.

[Solodric]

I dont know, theres just something about Geneforge that seemed odd. I did find Agents to be harder to play, but it isnt the difficulty....I dunno, maybe I just need to try it again ^.^

[Lilith]

Part of it is strategy. Agents aren't supposed to be able to charge in and hold their own against a room full of enemies. (Really, no class can do that for long, except maybe a Shaper's army of creations - and in that case the Shaper himself should be well out of the way of the fighting.)

 

It's a little like the shock I felt when adjusting from Exile's combat system to Avernum's. In Exile, you could just bless your party repeatedly and nothing could hit you any more. In Avernum, blessing alone won't win battles; you actually have to focus on defence when building stats. In Geneforge, you should focus on minimising the number of enemies that are attacking you in the first place -- either by drawing them out one by one, or by protecting yourself with a wall of creations. Agents are no good at doing the latter, so they have to find good ways to do the former; attacking from around corners, from the very edge of spell/missile range, etc.

[Solodric]

Yes, I tried that, except that sometimes you'll walk somewhere and immediatly an enemy will charge up to you - it's not like Avernums roguelike turn-based system. Someone can run right into melee range of your good old Agent before you can turn on Combat mode.

[Learned Noremac]

If it runs into melee range, you should have some skill with melee weapons. Just run back and smite that rogue. Smite him good!

Here's some general tips:

Agents do not need to invest points in shaping skills. I get around quite well as a solo agent. You can equip sharon's bracelet and use the bonus to shaping skills to make an army of meatshields(thahds work well). If you're unfamiliar with what a meatshield is, it's essentially a creation with no extra essence invested in stats(including intelligence) whose purpose is to take damage and act as an extra target for your enemies. You can make meatshields with agents for large battles. As well, there are several creatures who will join your team. Let them join. Some you won't be able to keep cause they may be too weak. However, Xander(if you're awakened), Heust Blade(if you're awakened or taker) and the huge romer(any alignment) are certainly worth keeping alive.

[Lilith]

Uh, Noremac? This is the Geneforge forum, not the Geneforge 2 forum.

[Solodric]

Thanks Thuryl, he was starting to confuse me by the way, if I didn't know what a MEATSHIELD was, I shouldn't be playing RPG's or Action Adventures like these AT ALL, I should be off reading DnD 3rd edition and learning what they're all about and then going online to learn the slang.

 

I mean, cmon. Everyone knows what Cannon Fodder and Meatshield means

[Learned Noremac]

Quote:

Originally written by Thuryl:
Uh, Noremac? This is the Geneforge forum, not the Geneforge 2 forum.

Woops. lol
Well, in that case, you can make a few creations I guess(in GF2 you can do fine with no creations cause there are more spells) but keep in mind that they aren't your strong point. You shouldn't depend on them completely. And that's LEARNED Noremac to you, thuryl. Show some respect

[TakenName]

teh difficulty in Agents is they relly so heavily on their magic and essence for combat, and have only mediocre ranged combat skills with little to no melee combat skills (the way most people build them)that they end up trying to fight from the distacne a Shaper would, without the creations between them and the monsters.

 

How I believe an agent SHOULD be played is as follows-

 

split your skills you will use for combat almost evenly between physical and magic, put NOTIING into ranged weapons, your magic suffices for that. Go toe-to-toe with your opponents, blessing/hasting yourself(and maybe the one Ornk you made for fun). If fighting a number of monsters, still do this, but use magic to charm/scare some away, kill the weaker/ranged combatants, and whittle away at the strongest ones while using their minions as meatshields(as long as the weaker ones are still alive)

Also, try to lure out enemies in the smallest groups you can by casting a few spells on them from a distance. Spells are not your main weapon, they are your backup, your armor, and your last resort. Combat spells should be used fairly sparingly, and then only against ranged enemies and/or large groups.

Agents with low Hp are fine, they have Heal, Agents with no essence are dead. When you run out of essence, it normaly means you have gone into an area too strong for you to fight in melee, and now have no way to keep that cryodryak from biting your head off.

[Student of Trinity]

Agents just need speed, speed, speed. Get all the quicksilver gear; pump up Quick Action like crazy; keep speed spells on at all times; and explore all the dangerous areas in combat mode the whole time. (Constant combat mode is horribly tedious unless you're solo, so never make creations or enlist help.) You also have to be cunning: once you have enough speed to get two first attacks, don't settle for two -- take infinity.

 

And although by the end of the game I do find my Agents can kill enemies with swords, I always use magic as first option, not as backup. Just keep on pumping up Battle Magic and Spellcraft; if your spells aren't reliably putting goo on the floor with each shot, you need more points. And do use Searer: sometimes its slightly greater damage than Firebolt makes a big difference.

 

I'm sure there are other effective ways to play Agents, but the advantage of this way is that you really can't do it with Shapers or Guardians, so it makes the game experience different.

[TakenName]

My only problem with puming all my points into magic is teh rare occasion I actually DO run out of essence. Considering the 99 max, that occurs mroe than you think it would, and essence pods are expensive. ALthough, you are right about never lettign enemy attack, I just see guardians as mroe of a tank, shapers as micromanagers/generals, and agents as teh speedemons with swords.

[Student of Trinity]

What 99 max? My Agent has 385 Essence. You may want to pump up Intelligence a bit.

[Sir David]

Yes, if you're below 100 you should definitely sink some points into Intelligence. My Agent has several Drayks and still has enough essence for spells and such.

 

Student of Trinity, are you by any chance a student of the school in Dublin by that name?

[Student of Trinity]

Alas, my displayed name doesn't bear any much closer relation to my real identity than most people's. I would like to visit Trinity College, Dublin, some day, for the sake of Stephen Maturin if nothing else.

[TakenName]

hmm, my game must be bugged ro something, i have a 99 hp/magic/essence cap. And I have 25 points in intelligence.

Without that cap, my agents could be simple spell slingers.

 

*goes to reinstal GF. YAY!*