Dange-it![G5]

[Uberdhizon]

My rotdhizon just died in the Secret Laboratory. Luckily, I released the Shredbugs. Should I keep going, upgrade intelligence or battle shaping, and make a new one? Or should I go back and try to keep it alive?

[Lilith]

Do you have some illness that prevents you from making a decision without asking the Internet about it first? If you haven't had it for very long, just make a new one.

[Uberdhizon]

Quote:

Do you have some illness that prevents you from making a decision without asking the Internet about it first?

No, I just value your opinions. Is that so bad?

Edit: And also, I went back to Litalia, and I didn't get the conversation option to say I released the Shredbugs.

[Dahak]

Just try and see what happens. If things go wrong such as "I'm getting whooped by Rawal's charged ornk. Halp!" then post. Otherwise, play the game.

[Taliesin]

I would personally just make a new one, but then I've always been more of a disposable-creations Shaper. Looks like that might be changing soon, though.

 

But hey, it's your game. As has been previously stated in various ways (and multiple topics), you should try solving your own problems before reflexively blogging about them. Besides, it's more fun that way, IMHO. Just a thought.

[Uberdhizon]

Oh, and I resolved the not finishing the quest thing. It seems I forgot to try to persuade Astoria.

[*i]

In the end, will not make a significant difference on the actual difficulty of the game. If you are a power gamer, then it matters, otherwise just replace him.

 

I think the sentiment is echoed here. These boards are meant as a resource to everyone. Completely stuck? Ask a question. However, please do not crowd out other topics by posting every little question. If you feel the urge to ask, try to solve your own problem first. I find that I can solve 95% of things by just experimenting.

 

Honestly, Jeff tries to make these games fairly straight-forward -- he learned from his experience with Exile 2 and the Tomb of Dahris-Bok. Before you ask, it was a really hard, mandatory dungeon in the demo that scared off many prospective customers. I think Jeff is quoted as saying he doesn't even know how many customers that dungeon cost him.

[Dahak]

What? The Tomb of Dahris-Bok wasn't that hard. Of course I over-leveled before going down...

[*i]

For the experienced gamer who has played all of Jeff's games, it is not too bad. If you are the casual gaming type, I could see how it could scare a lot of people off.

[Randomizer]

It's why Jeff started removing puzzles from his games. Too many players didn't want to think for themselves.

[Uberdhizon]

Dange. I like puzzles in games. As long as they're easy enough.

[*i]

In some respects, I can see why puzzles can be difficult to do and should be left out. You have to strike the balance between being challenging but not frustrating. Also, puzzles should, ideally, be language or culturally independent. Often times, this is a difficult balancing act to strike consistently. It is far too easy to make a puzzle either trivial or mind-numbingly counterintuitive.

 

At the same time, I would not oppose optional puzzle dungeons. As part of the main plot, they are probably best left to their own genre.

[Acky]

I find a good puzzle here and there dosen't hurt. Keeps things fun and interesting.

[*i]

The key word is "good". I argue that it is notoriously difficult to create a puzzle that is universally agreed upon as "good". People who struggle with it, may feel the exact opposite and call it a "bad" puzzle. Because of this, most of Jeff's recent puzzles tend to be fairly trivial and barely merit the title. To be fair, A5 had one in the Soultaker's Pit, but it is optional. I don't think GF5 has anything.

 

It's unfortunate, but a "bad" mandatory puzzle in the demo can cost sales. It is probably best he avoids them and errs on the side of being too easy.

[Acky]

Then, yeah, I would agree that it's better to not put any puzzles in demo's. Any sane game-maker(for the lack of a better title) who let's out demo's for their games would want to make it as fun as possible. In the end, if someone has fun with a game(or any other activity for that matter) they are much more likely to open up their check book to buy some more fun.

 

(Completely off topic, but I've noticed that this is were most games fail. They start great in the beginning and then it's like they designers just give up and let it become pathetic. They some how manage to summon themselves up enough to give the game a decent ending and then make a trilogy out of it, taking the same path. But do they care? Probably not because by this time you've already bought the game, lost the receipt, and have nothing else to do. Kinda why I'm stuck on Jeff's games. Most of his games keep a very cemented path that can keep you going and do not lose ground easily.)

 

Back on topic: Like I said, it's best not to put much challenge in the demo and instead focus on the fun. But the problem is fun can vary between customers. My fun is a good, difficult challenge and getting an equal reward for the effort I put into it. For instance, the expert area in G4; for killing the titan and his gones, you get an omnicharm(1+ to your main stats) a canister for both endurance and intelligence plus the canisters for strength and derexity, a puresteel soulblade, a very potent shaper's boon, and maybe enough exp to advance a level. For the intensity of the fight, I found this a perfectly fitting reward for the quest. This is just a single example of a plethora of things like this(sorry if I got a bit two much off topic).

 

So yeah, don't put difficulty in your demo's kids. And don't smoke either.

[Luca]

Since there is/was no topic doesn't mind getting off it.

There is nothing wrong with puzzles, not even the kind of puzzles that make you think for days, cursing the game and wondering what the rewards are for solving it only to find that they weren't that good. There's nothing wrong with those as long as they are not apart of your "primary" quests that you need to solve to win the game. No, those make people cheat or loose interest in the game altogether. But don't tell game creators not to put puzzles into games because people are too ignorant to handle them. We need some level of thinking in games, rather than mindless killing of mutant creatures that are, of course, evil. *Shudders with his Doom reference.*

That is all.

[Uberdhizon]

I think that we do enough thinking in some aspects of Geneforge.

[Taliesin]

It's good to think sometimes. Stretch the old gray matter, ya know?