Profile for Slarty
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Slarty |
| Member number | 261 |
| Title | Raven v. Writing Desk |
| Postcount | 3560 |
| Homepage | http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/slartyvsdesk/ |
| Registered | Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
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| Author | Recent posts |
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| What do YOU want to see in G4? in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Thursday, April 14 2005 08:53
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I'll second all of Mav's suggestions. Actually, these are all things that have really gotten to me. #1 is particularly annoying for those of us who are used to "powergaming the directional pad" in older style games. In Exile, when you had a long stretch of cave or whatever to go across, you could just rat-a-tat-tat on NW/N/NE or whatever the appropriate direction was, to maximize the input, and you'd be there in seconds. The smooth movement in GF is quite elegant and the speed is handled extremely well, IMHO, but it can still be annoying. However, #1 would be less of a problem if boats and "dungeon" zones were accessible from the map. Especially since the dungeons are used inconsistently. Why is the Inner Keep handled this way, while Khyryk's Tower is on the map? I'll add to #4 that the keyboard commands should also include equipping. It's pretty normal in GF to carry around light pieces of equipment that you don't normally wear, but which give a Mechanics bonus, and it's really annoying to repeatedly click-move-click all of them just to open a door. -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
| Middle of the road viewpoint in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Thursday, April 14 2005 08:32
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The Khyryk/Sharon point is a good one. I'm especially fond of the opinion question you get from Khyryk, where you have 3 options to answer: the standard two, plus one that agrees but points out that his isolation hasn't accomplished anything, either. GF3 basically says there is no perfect way to handle things. Interestingly, I can't really think of a major NPC from any of Jeff's games that doesn't have some kind of flaw like this. At best you get competent administrators like Rahul or Micah, but in terms of people who have the clarity of vision to potentially change the world for the better, they are either recluses like Khyryk or Solberg, or they go way overboard, like Erika. The only exception I can think of is Bon-Ihrno, and look what happened to him! -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
| Khyryk oddity in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Wednesday, April 13 2005 17:27
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Khyryk definitely did not offer my agent that deal. Weird. -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
| Middle of the road viewpoint in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Wednesday, April 13 2005 17:24
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Let me add that I'm thrilled to hear about the non-shaper in GF4. The shaper apprentice thing was really smart and fitting in GF1; in GF2, it was okay; in GF3... well... old hat, and not really very fitting. Boats: I understand that the hassle is somewhat realistic, but GIVEN that you don't have to actually walk through all the areas you are passing through, if you decide to, say, trek all across Dhonal's isle, it doesn't make any sense. The voyage from island to island can't possibly take as long as that does, and it's likely less eventful. But you are forced to walk through the docks. *shakes head* -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
| Middle of the road viewpoint in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Tuesday, April 12 2005 13:18
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I agree. I particularly miss the nonaligned option. That said... It's interesting to see how the sects (and, accordingly, the ethical axes) have shifted. In GF1 the Obeyers refused to think for themselves. This is hard to justify without having a Shaper upbringing, which of course, none of us players have. So the rebelling sects were the obvious moral winners -- the Takers, too, had a position it's easy to sympathize with, even if their methods were questionable. In GF2 we did see more problems with the Awakened, yet the other sects got even worse -- Zakary was not just hypocritical and manipulative, but also incompetent; and Barzahl and the Takers were not just violent, but also pretty much insane. Again, each viewpoint had justification, but the Awakened remained way way more reasonable than their peers. In GF3, axes have shifted. The early forced choice questions, instead of focusing on the difference between absolutist control, idealistic peace, and violent rebellion, instead simply contrast strict order and control vs. chaotic freedom. Answering them honestly, I actually had to think about many of them, which NEVER happened in the earlier games. It also seems to me that the ethical balance is different from earlier games. In these questions, the loyalists are presented in a very different light -- not as tyrants who torture intelligent beings, but as humans who made some mistakes but are just trying to keep everything from going to hell. Perhaps my view is colored by my own feelings, but that's really different from what we've seen before. Oh, and while I'm commenting on game differences... the boats. The boats! Does having to spend 10 minutes walking to get back to the earlier islands, should you happen to want to, annoy anyone else? -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
| item list in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Monday, April 11 2005 15:23
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The item (and other) info files are consistently formatted. It might be less painful to extract the information using grep (in, say, BBEdit) -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
| Enhancements -- probing questions in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Saturday, April 9 2005 15:35
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All right, I did some poking around... both in the game and in looking through the GF3 data files. Unfortunately, the script files that provide such clear information on items, creatures, and attack types are almost useless for the enhancements, which must be handled separately. On armor: - As far as I can tell all effects -are- cumulative. - 5 of the enhancements add +5% to one resist stat -- bless adds to armor, "resist magic" adds to electric, and the elemental ones add to fire/ice/acid. - "Resist effects" adds +5% to hostile effect resistance, i.e., all 7 resist stats. - Spiked armor takes effect every time you are hit, and damages the attacker. The damage varies. With one piece of spiked armor it's usually around 50% of attack damage. With two pieces, I *think* the range of damage increases, but I'm not sure, and I don't yet have 3 of the enhancement. - "Bonus to-hit" presumably gives you a +5% bonus, but I haven't tested it. - I can't tell if "avoid blows" does anything at all. - As far as I can tell, "Regeneration" does NOTHING on armor. Is this a bug or have I missed something? On weapons: - "Hits faster" does nothing that I can see. - I think blessing increases chance to hit by 5%. - "Stronger" (golden crystal) increases base weapon damage by some factor. I suspect it adds an extra die to the base damage. This usually increases damage by less than the effects below, but the advantage is that it takes effect on every single hit, plus it also affects Quick Action hits. - The other 7 enhancements all trigger on successful hits, NOT including Quick Action hits. They will not trigger every time - I'm not sure what affects this. - Fire and ice brands and the spike will do extra damage (usually around 5-15) of the appropriate type. Spike is physical damage, so it doesn't get resisted, and is probably better. - "Regeneration" ONLY when on your weapon, not armor, will heal you for a small amount of damage (around 5-20). I haven't tested to see if the life drain doesn't work on undead. - Acid brand, cursing and slowing add the appropriate status effect at a relatively mild level. - These effects are all handled DIFFERENTLY from native weapon (or creature) attack abilities. (Thus the Stunning Blade, if given the slowing enhancement, can actually slow the same enemy three times in one attack (native ability and enhancement off first swing plus native ability off Quick Action).) -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |
| Enhancements -- probing questions in Geneforge Series | |
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Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
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written Friday, April 8 2005 22:34
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Some of the effects of enhancements are pretty obvious, particularly the low-level ones. Some aren't. Has anyone investigated any of the following? 1. What, specifically, are the effects of the less obviously named ones? - Which effects does "resist effects" resist, and to what degree does it resist them? - What in the world is the difference between a weapon that you've enhanced to be "stronger" (golden crystal) vs. to "do more damage" (spine)? How much of a bonus do those give compared with the elemental brand enhancements? - What does the "strikes faster" weapon enhancement do? If it affects Quick Action, I haven't been able to tell. - I'm only halfway through the game, so there are probably some other unclear ones I've left off. 2. For armor enchancements, are the effects cumulative if you equip 2 items with the same enhancement? This is true for the basic elemental resists, but what about regeneration, spiked armor, dodging, resist effects, etc? ...if the effects can be cumulative, this could potentially be a reason to hold onto certain enhancements and not use them right away even though you know you'll get more copies later. [ Friday, April 08, 2005 22:35: Message edited by: Slartucker ] -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00 |