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Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Saturday, July 9 2005 16:18 Profile #12
quote:
Originally written by Drakefyre:

The beginning of every Spidweb game is ridiculously easy.
Correction. The beginning of most Spiderweb games are easy. The beginning of Geneforge is so trivially easy you really have to mess up very badly to get hurt at all. And I include creations in "you."

[ Saturday, July 09, 2005 16:18: Message edited by: Beamup ]
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Saturday, July 9 2005 16:18 Profile #12
quote:
Originally written by Drakefyre:

The beginning of every Spidweb game is ridiculously easy.
Correction. The beginning of most Spiderweb games are easy. The beginning of Geneforge is so trivially easy you really have to mess up very badly to get hurt at all. And I include creations in "you."

[ Saturday, July 09, 2005 16:18: Message edited by: Beamup ]
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Saturday, July 9 2005 12:31 Profile #9
quote:
Originally written by Archmagus Micael:

quote:
Originally written by Beamup:

Hokay, thanks for the advice. Torment, here I come...
People say that Agent is hardest to play, but on Torment, it just beats Shaper and Guardian! With around 15 BM, my Agent can cast VERY powerful spells. I've just entered Kazg, with no Creations whatsoever.[/i]
Well, I'm back up to Pentil on Torment. It's not the least bit harder, as a matter of fact. AFAICT everything still has the same HP, which means that how powerful/accurate their attacks might be means absolutely nothing, since they never get to use them. Almost everything dies the turn it appears on-screen, before it can get an attack off.

In all honesty, the only way this could get any easier is if I were using the cheat codes or an editor script. So I find it very hard to believe that the Agent can possibly be any easier.

I'm really disappointed in Jeff this time. The Exiles were beautifully balanced, but it seems Geneforge just isn't.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Saturday, July 9 2005 12:31 Profile #9
quote:
Originally written by Archmagus Micael:

quote:
Originally written by Beamup:

Hokay, thanks for the advice. Torment, here I come...
People say that Agent is hardest to play, but on Torment, it just beats Shaper and Guardian! With around 15 BM, my Agent can cast VERY powerful spells. I've just entered Kazg, with no Creations whatsoever.[/i]
Well, I'm back up to Pentil on Torment. It's not the least bit harder, as a matter of fact. AFAICT everything still has the same HP, which means that how powerful/accurate their attacks might be means absolutely nothing, since they never get to use them. Almost everything dies the turn it appears on-screen, before it can get an attack off.

In all honesty, the only way this could get any easier is if I were using the cheat codes or an editor script. So I find it very hard to believe that the Agent can possibly be any easier.

I'm really disappointed in Jeff this time. The Exiles were beautifully balanced, but it seems Geneforge just isn't.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Friday, July 8 2005 02:19 Profile #7
Hokay, thanks for the advice. Torment, here I come...
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Friday, July 8 2005 02:19 Profile #7
Hokay, thanks for the advice. Torment, here I come...
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Thursday, July 7 2005 14:54 Profile #2
Well, this is about what I'd expect from "very easy" or some such. It goes WAY beyond reasonableness to call it "normal" unless it gets a lot harder later on.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Thursday, July 7 2005 14:54 Profile #2
Well, this is about what I'd expect from "very easy" or some such. It goes WAY beyond reasonableness to call it "normal" unless it gets a lot harder later on.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Thursday, July 7 2005 13:12 Profile #0
I've been playing through, for the first time, as a Shaper - normal difficulty. I'm not doing anything exotic in terms of character stats, just putting most of them into Intelligence and the three Shaping skills, with the odd point in Spellcraft and some points in Leadership and Mechanics (~6-8 each).

For creations, I started with a couple Fyoras, traded them in for some Artilas with Thahd backup, and I've upgraded to new creations as I got them. Currently I've got a Battle Alpha, two Cryoas, and a Terror Vlish.

I've fairly recently reached Kazg, my most recently completed quest was cleaning out the Refugee Cave. And it's frankly getting boring. Nothing since the Ruined School was the slightest challenge (and that wasn't bad), my creations just blow through everything in my path with no difficulty. They almost never even get hit because virtually everything dies before it gets a turn.

So is this ever going to get even slightly challenging, or should I just crank it up to Torment and have done with it?
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Difficulty - does it ever get harder? in Geneforge
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Thursday, July 7 2005 13:12 Profile #0
I've been playing through, for the first time, as a Shaper - normal difficulty. I'm not doing anything exotic in terms of character stats, just putting most of them into Intelligence and the three Shaping skills, with the odd point in Spellcraft and some points in Leadership and Mechanics (~6-8 each).

For creations, I started with a couple Fyoras, traded them in for some Artilas with Thahd backup, and I've upgraded to new creations as I got them. Currently I've got a Battle Alpha, two Cryoas, and a Terror Vlish.

I've fairly recently reached Kazg, my most recently completed quest was cleaning out the Refugee Cave. And it's frankly getting boring. Nothing since the Ruined School was the slightest challenge (and that wasn't bad), my creations just blow through everything in my path with no difficulty. They almost never even get hit because virtually everything dies before it gets a turn.

So is this ever going to get even slightly challenging, or should I just crank it up to Torment and have done with it?
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
FAQ/walkthrough is up in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Sunday, July 3 2005 16:52 Profile #35
quote:
Originally written by Walter:

No, I had played through the early game 3 separate times.
Well, scratch one bright idea.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
FAQ/walkthrough is up in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Sunday, July 3 2005 12:33 Profile #29
quote:
Originally written by Walter:

quote:
Originally written by Contra:

quote:
Originally written by Walter:

As for that artilla skin tunic, not really as you get one on the first island in kentia south gate.
I never found that the Artilla there auto-dropped one. Thought i was luck-based.
It is? I killed it 3 times and got it every time.
IMX, it seems that items drops are determined when you enter a zone. So, if you entered a zone, got lucky on the RNG, then saved, you could reload that save ad infinitum and get the same lucky drop every time. Could that account for your observation?
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Exile 2 value in The Exile Trilogy
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Friday, July 1 2005 17:16 Profile #12
quote:
Originally written by sith1990:

The legal stuff in this is old and for all of the other shareware games it says that you can sell them as long as they get full credit no game modifications and none of them are registered yet.
Sounds a little confused. Generally they say that you can give them away for free as long as there are no modifications. And it should go without saying that that's totally different from selling it. Check the licenses carefully, I'm pretty sure that's what you'll find.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Exile 2 value in The Exile Trilogy
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Friday, July 1 2005 13:21 Profile #8
In general, that's true. But shareware distributions tend to be a special case, as I understand it. Essentially, with a shareware distribution, you don't own any software. The publisher (or whoever holds the rights) is simply permitting you to use it. And since you don't actually own any rights to it, you can't sell it without permission from the publisher.

Or to put it another way, the files and the registration code are totally seperate. If you had some way to irrevocably transfer the code, presumably you could do that. But the files themselves are another matter - if the publisher distributes them for free, you can't generally sell them.

I'm probably not explaining it very well, and I'm not a lawyer so I could be wrong. But that's how I understand it.

Edit: Anyway, I just checked my E2 software license. It expressly prohibits distributing the software for profit in any form. Which definitely answers that question.

[ Friday, July 01, 2005 13:26: Message edited by: Beamup ]
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Exile 2 value in The Exile Trilogy
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Friday, July 1 2005 01:32 Profile #6
Not to mention the fact that, even if it were valuable, you couldn't legally sell it.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Geneforge in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Tuesday, June 28 2005 11:46 Profile #10
And then there are those who think it's better than Avernum but not as good as Exile.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Geneforge in Geneforge
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Tuesday, June 28 2005 11:46 Profile #10
And then there are those who think it's better than Avernum but not as good as Exile.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Tools, anyone? in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Monday, June 27 2005 16:46 Profile #14
Reminds me of E3's book with the 'returning missile' ability. Useless since you can't equip it as a weapon, but apparently meant for "throwing the book" at people!
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
What do you believe.... in General
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Monday, June 27 2005 16:43 Profile #8
Douglas Adams had it right...

"Anybody capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
The International Baccalaureate Program in General
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Monday, June 27 2005 12:15 Profile #12
Well, my IB program went a great deal beyond AP, including a good bit of not-your-standard-classroom-stuff. That was, however, almost 10 years ago. Things may have changed since then, I suppose.

It certainly wasn't "teaching to the test" in any significant way. Nor was it simply learning rote facts... it was primarily about learning to analyze and think. Very little memorization going on.

[ Monday, June 27, 2005 12:17: Message edited by: Beamup ]
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Super Smash Brothers Characters in General
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Tuesday, May 31 2005 12:35 Profile #36
Captain Falcon. I LOVE Falcon Punching somebody trying to get back on the stage. :P And when you get the timing down to pull an FP on somebody in midair... VERY powerful. I also like his speed.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
What do YOU want to see in G4? in Geneforge Series
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Tuesday, May 31 2005 12:28 Profile #104
My #1 wish would be for Jeff to expand the utility of creations beyond combat. Some ideas/examples (some have been mentioned by others already):

- A 'packbeast' creation to carry your gear
- A mount to allow you to move faster
- A creation that heals you/other creations
- A mechanic creation, that would have its own Mechanics skill
- A scout: fast, cheap, can see farther than normal
- Shaping of equipment: make your own baton or Living Tools, for example.

Oh, and Shell, I'd bet that there's a mechanical reason for it. Most likely related to how the game data is organized in memory. It's not like Jeff woke up one day and said, "hey, I'll limit them to three creation types!" He wouldn't do it without a reason.

[ Tuesday, May 31, 2005 12:30: Message edited by: Beamup ]
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Door in Tower of Magi... openable? in The Exile Trilogy
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Friday, May 27 2005 13:10 Profile #6
OK, thought I remembered that from last time I played. But I also had a vauge recollection of getting in, so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks all.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Door in Tower of Magi... openable? in The Exile Trilogy
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Friday, May 27 2005 04:45 Profile #3
Before.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00
Door in Tower of Magi... openable? in The Exile Trilogy
Beamup
Apprentice
Member # 5847
 written Thursday, May 26 2005 15:22 Profile #0
Hi all, I just picked up E3 again, and there's something driving me nuts.

In the Tower of Magi, just south of the portal, there's a door opening into a room that's like 5x1 or 6x1. True Sight shows that the room contains a counter at the far end.

Is it possible to get that door open, or not?
Posts: 20 | Registered: Thursday, May 26 2005 07:00