My Geneforge 5 Suggestions

[callsignAPOLLO]

These are just ideas but I feel that these two things would greatly enhance the Geneforge playing experience!

 

1 Character Rollover! - Geneforge is a game that encourages you to play it again! so allow the rollover of items and perhaps experience etc.. when you beat the game. You could also ramp up the difficulty for those who choose to rollover their character each time..

 

2 Cooporative and competitive play! - Even if it was just over lan/tcp-ip allowing people to play with a friend or duel would make this game a real contender! In cooperative play the host's character could determine which areas were open and whether you are allied with so and so etc... and the other player just tags along although they still have access to their own items etc.. and can retain their items/experience!

 

3 Combining Items - Allow the character to craft their own items etc.. using something in their own inventory or something present in every town rather than just one forge. This would expand the playing experience for all those people that perhaps miss the forge or don't feel like backtracking.

 

These are just suggestions. Geneforge is a great game regardless! However, I feel strongly that these enhancements are possible and would encourage ALOT more people to play the game!

 

 

-CallsignAPOLLO

[callsignAPOLLO]

I was just thinking, I can't think of a single game that doesn't have some sort of limit on how many summons you can have. Even in Diablo there are limits to the number of summons you can have especially for the Druid. Why not have no summon limit in Geneforge 5; especially if you're getting rid of the onscreen character boxes etc...

 

-CallsignAPOLLO

[Lilith]

The creation limit exists mostly due to engine limitations. Areas have to be designed so that their entry points can accommodate the maximum number of creations you can have; if you enter an area with 20 creations, how is the game supposed to find sensible places to put them all without accidentally shoving one onto the other side of a wall or something?

 

I never had much difficulty with the limit anyway. By the time you have enough essence to afford 7 creations of one tier, the next tier is usually available.

[callsignAPOLLO]

true, what do think about my other suggestions?

[Zummi]

Numbah one is a can-do. Kinda like those console RPG's New Game+.

 

Numbah two is a no-no. It's been discussed, re-discussed, and un-discussed that online play on Jeff's games will, can, could, would not happen. LAN play is a possibility, but not likely. But if there was an independent individual who would...*nudge, nudge, wink, wink*

[callsignAPOLLO]

yeah lan would be awesome!!!!!!!! and i think #1 is definitely do-able! and is must! ty for the comment

[Randomizer]

Crafting at a forge is done to make it special so you have to accomplish some task before you can do it. Besides you usually don't have the items or recipes before you reach that point.

 

Character rollover doesn't occur because of the way Jeff balances the game to make the difficulty increase if you play the game in a certain order. That's why you have areas where the experience drops to zero for going into an easy area later than you are supposed to do it.

[callsignAPOLLO]

I don't see why you can't gain the ability to combine items in your inventory by completing a task and then use it whenever you want thereafter... There are so many items in Geneforge for combining; many of them are worth zero gold. The game really encourages combing but makes it a hassle to do so. Anyway, it can't be a bad idea if Diablo does it; ever use a Horadric Cube??

 

Character rollover could still work with Jeff's current setup... you just boost all the numbers the next time you play except for your character's.

-CallsignAPOLLO

[Xaiya]

I was thinking that in the game, there would be a two player option (NOT Online).

 

In it, there would be two shapers/lifecrafters who would be evenly matched. The mouse could be used for both of them, but it would take turns (since it is combat mode and they are fighting). Also, at the beginning of this you can choose which creations to shape.

[Alorael at Large]

A portable forge would be doable, but not really essential. Mostly I think it violates the flavor of needing to go to a prepared workspace to do your combining. The Geneforge world is heavy on workshops and laboratories, and it would be odd not to need one yourself.

 

—Alorael, who can't see why one would need a way to reuse the same character. If you want, you can cheat to recreate a favorite, but it's clear that it would be cheating, because a game-winning character will have no trouble at all through most of the game. Increased difficulty could be implemented, but it's such a small draw that Jeff could use the time for it better elsewhere. Or he could make super-torment difficulty and watch players cry.

[Evnissyen]

Yes, I clearly remember discussing #2 (though not the LAN approach)... and I think I vaguely remember discussing #1.

 

On #1: Yes, I've always wanted to play a super-powerful character in Geneforge, to whom everyone would respond by becoming stronger themselves. Or... and I think I remember bringing up this idea... having an option at end-game to go back into the game with your super-powerful character and clean the whole land of sentient beings. That wouldn't be as fun, though, as Callsign's idea would be.

 

On #2: No! I prefer the solitariness of the game. Reading a book is a solitary experience, and so are the SW games. Besides: Even the LAN approach, I suspect, would demand too much extra programming... and this approach would of course not be applicable in most circumstances... too much work for too little gain.

 

On #3: I think that the essential problem is: Magic forges are not portable. They're far too heavy, and also Jeff's made a point, in the series, of expressing that they're extremely rare. Even wizards have to sometimes send you out to locate one for you, or clear an infested area that contains a magic forge. I don't see why the stationary forge is such a hassle... except when it's held in a place which is a hassle to get to... like in G4 especially, where the thing was stuck in a closed room in the middle of the map. At least that's something Jeff could do: place the magic forge a little bit closer to the entryway.

 

The specialness of the magic forge is important, I think, and I think Alorael makes a good point in that the workshops are there for a reason... and having a portable device to enhance your items, therefore, removes something from the world that we've become immersed in.

 

[Randomizer]

Originally Posted By: Do not pass start.

?Alorael, Increased difficulty could be implemented, but it's such a small draw that Jeff could use the time for it better elsewhere. Or he could make super-torment difficulty and watch players cry.

Jeff's way to increase difficulty is to multiply stats so the fight takes longer. It's boring and not as much fun as being able to fight more monsters or make the AI more intelligent.

[Corker]

Configuring for LAN play isn't really any simpler than over the internet. Codewise the work would be identical, its still TCP/IP.

 

Things I would like to see:

1. More variants of a given creation. Instead of just one variant of the base , why not have two or three? It can work easily in terms of plot, since the Shapers are always tweaking their creations.

2. Combat shaping. I still think it would be great if you could shape temporary unstable creations in mid battle, like hostile shapers do.

[Delicious Vlish]

Threads like this make me glad that Jeff is making the game.

[Rowen]

In reagards to idea number one, the game Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age did this by making a new party for the first half of the second game. The only draw back is that I had leveled my party from the frist game up so hight that I didn't find the second game a challenge once I could use them. I could see this being the same problem with almost any game that has a sequel, let alone 4 sequels.

 

Thats my two bits.

[Goldengirl]

Originally Posted By: Delicious Vlish

Threads like this make me glad that Jeff is making the game.

Amen to that, brother.

[callsignAPOLLO]

You could rollover characters for a second playthrough etc.. without making the battles longer.... Here's how... when you start the game over after beating it all the character's in the game get boosted stats but you don't; you keep your stats from the end of the game. Battles won't be longer because you will also have increased stats from beating the game! Battles would be almost exactly the same as in your first playthrough; just as challenging! Plus! you could choose to go for a different ending etc... and get items you may have missed the first time.

[Sudanna]

But why would you want to?

[callsignAPOLLO]

Replayability and so you don't have to get all the same items again. TheLimper, why do people replay Diablo over and over and over 3 times in Diablo and Diablo 2. There's no question that alot of gamers desire replayability, and replayability with the same character/items so that one can continue to build their dream character.

[Dikiyoba]

It would probably be more fun to replay as a different character class, and if you did, you'd probably want a different stat distributation anyway.

 

Dikiyoba.

[callsignAPOLLO]

Yeah that's why a zillion Diablo players everyday use the same character in normal, nitemare and hell difficulties.......

 

Diablo has different character classes just like Geneforge... But people still want more depth and replayability regardless.

 

Looking at super successful and innovative games for ideas is not a crime, in fact you can tell what most gamers want by doing so.

 

-CallsignAPOLLO

[Alorael at Large]

But Diablo and Geneforge have entirely different focuses. Diablo is fun with ramped up difficulty because the entire game is in killing monsters with new and exciting abilities and equipment, and harder monsters are fun. Geneforge doesn't provide random monsters or equipment (or terrain), and consequently doesn't scale right. It could be made to do so, but that's still not the point of the game and wouldn't increase value much.

 

—Alorael, who is sure Jeff could put in New Game + in just a few minutes. It just wouldn't be fun or meaningful.

[callsignAPOLLO]

Geneforge is a much slower game with strategic rather than action based battles, that in my opinion does not mean Geneforge is incompatible with increased replayability. Far from it; one would think that the slower game would have more replayability and be a deeper and more complex character building experience.

[Evnissyen]

Argh! I'm so sick of the argument "it's what the audience wants". There are many, many different audiences for each artistic medium, and each audience is capable of responding only to what's made available (or, more often, known) to them. What you end up with is corporate-dictated taste for "most people".

 

That said, I must refer back to my previous post agreeing with some of what Callsign has proposed, most specifically the recyclable characters.

 

If you're just talking about replayability, though: I'm not certain that this increases replayability in a Geneforge or Avernum scenario. Geneforge & Avernum are quite replayable because they're not simple hack & loot games, or games with only a single narrative pathway. Diablo does not have that sort of flexibility in narrative (in fact there's really very little narrative to the games)... so perhaps recyclable characters help with that particular game.

[callsignAPOLLO]

I see your point

[Khoth]

The randomness is Diablo means that you can keep playing it with the same character constantly and still sometimes get better items than you had, thereby providing the positive reinforcement that feeds your addiction. With Geneforge, it's not like that, so nothing you find in the second playthrough will be better than the things you got near the end of the first, and changing that would be a lot of effort better spent on making the game good the first time round.

[A less presumptuous name.]

PleasePleasePlease stop comparing geneforge to diablo. As a huge fan of both, I must say that making geneforge more like diablo would be a big mistake. I dont know how to quote but the thing about threads like this making people glad jeff makes the games is sooo true!

[Corker]

Originally Posted By: Delicious Vlish

Threads like this make me glad that Jeff is making the game.

What? Are you saying that my own personal wish list is so outlandish and crazy you are glad it is likely to be totally ignored? Or is this directed at other comments?

[A less presumptuous name.]

i trust jeff to make games, there is a reason he makes the games, and we dont. He has made many great games, and i dont think we should get obsessive about what we want, when I for one will play it no matter what

[Alorael at Large]

Obsessive, no, but Jeff can and has listened to fans for both the things they dislike and the things they want. He won't take everything, of course, but if someone suggests something that's a good, simple idea and Jeff just hadn't thought of it, it has a good chance of making it into the games.

 

—Alorael, who isn't sure which is worse, the fans who insist that they could do everything better than the games they play or the fans who insist that nothing could possibly be improved.

[RetlawMay]

Originally Posted By: Delicious Vlish

Threads like this make me glad that Jeff is making the game.

Responses like this make me glad that I am justified in thinking of people as dicks who boost their feeling of self worth by putting others down without anything constructive to say, if only to increase their post-count. I'm all for putting people down and crushing their opinions as long as it is done in a constructive/destructive way and has a bit of wit to it.

[Rowen]

Originally Posted By: Delicious Vlish

Threads like this make me glad that Jeff is making the game.

I understood this to be a positive sentence, not a negative one. It might just be in how we interpret things in life. What I get out of the statement is that Vlish is glad that Jeff is making the game at the same time this thread is here. It doesn't say that Jeff should not see this thread nor does it state that he should, it's open to personal traslation. I just remeber back to A5 and that Jeff did watch the boards and take in advice from the players and use it when was something he deemed of worth in the game.

[RetlawMay]

Originally Posted By: Rowen

Originally Posted By: Delicious Vlish

Threads like this make me glad that Jeff is making the game.

I understood this to be a positive sentence, not a negative one. It might just be in how we interpret things in life. What I get out of the statement is that Vlish is glad that Jeff is making the game at the same time this thread is here. It doesn't say that Jeff should not see this thread nor does it state that he should, it's open to personal traslation. I just remeber back to A5 and that Jeff did watch the boards and take in advice from the players and use it when was something he deemed of worth in the game.

Your interpretation of life must not recognize sarcasm; I don't see how that was "a positive sentence," it had nothing to do with "Jeff ... making the game at the same time this thread is here." This was a sarcastic attack upon the previous people's ideas, without offering something constructive. IMHO of course...

[A less presumptuous name.]

And in my opinion, this has turned to personal attacks, which never get anything done. I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I personally think that Jeff will take all the suggestions into consideration and make the best/ most cost effective game he can, as he has in the past.

[Acky]

Out of the three, the first one seems the most probable. Replating the game with the same character, killing anything that gives you an ugly look, would be very fun(at least for me)

Since there hasnt been any kind of multiplayer in any of jeffs games, its unlikely he will start now. Though the LAN was a good idea

Portibale forges would ruin the specailness of forgeing. The G3 forges where better since they where more convienante. I personaly think there should be more than two forges in the game. Since there will be 5 Factions, im certin Jeff will give each a forge. I also think there should be one forge thats neutral, and early on in the game

 

By the way Retlaw, your being pretty hipocritical. Yelling at Delicious Vilsh isn't constructive or destructive. I dout (s)he enen read your comment

[callsignAPOLLO]

Portable forges would ruin the hassle of using the forge! and would taint its obscurity.... More people might use it! and it might become a more prominent part of the game!

 

And that would be bad?

[Evnissyen]

But it might get lost, that way.

 

I imagine it'd probably end up in somebody's closet somewhere in New Jersey.