Profile for PureDesiGhee

Field	Value
Displayed name	PureDesiGhee
Member number	6634
Title	Apprentice
Postcount	2
Homepage
Registered	Monday, January 2 2006 08:00

---

Recent posts

Author	Recent posts
Avernum series - Avernum 4 plot in Avernum 4
PureDesiGhee Apprentice Member # 6634	written Tuesday, January 3 2006 16:47 Profile #0 I have been playing Geneforge. I tried playing Avernum 3 for a short time but just couldn't get into it. My questions is - is Avernum 4 a hack n' slash style RPG or is there an interesting plot to move you along. I enjoyed the Geneforge plots, even though they seem to peter out towards the end of the game. Thanks Posts: 2 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Geneforge 3 Review in Geneforge Series
PureDesiGhee Apprentice Member # 6634	written Monday, January 2 2006 15:43 Profile #0 I just finished Geneforge 3. It is the first Spiderweb game that I have played, except for a short demo time with Geneforge 2. Short Review is that I loved the game. It took me two weeks to complete, spending an unhealthy amount of time playing. I started to get burned out near the end and was glad when I reached it. ------------ My Character ------------ I played as a Shaper and ended the game with two Vlish (kept them from near the beginning and they became quite powerful. also couldn't bring myself to absorb them. the only creations I named - Demon and Lucky), two Rotgrath and a Gazer. The final battles were all relatively easy. At the end of the game, I had 18 INT, 12 Mech and 11 Leadership. Everything else was fairly small. ---- Plot ---- I've seen the grumbling on this board that the story-line is too similar to the previous games, but since I didn't play them it wasn't a problem. I plan on looking at Genefore 1 next. I found the basic plot to be very simple. However, the interactions with the sub-plots of the game were engaging and kept me interested. I enjoyed the first part of the game deciding which side I would be on, and my character had a difficult time deciding which to choose. He started out as a bleeding heart for the rogues, but eventually realized that the Shapers aren't perfect but they are better than the alternative. I also RP'd the **minor spoler** cannisters which made me see the creations as mere collections of base material and not the fuzzy little creatures I thought they were at the beginning. ------ Combat ------ Combat was fun and very tactical. I was rarely bored with combat, and would just take a break when I was. Having 5-7 companions with me made all the difference, and I paid a lot of attention to formation and spacing during a battle. I think that playing solo would have been extremely boring for me. At the end of the game, my shaper essentially was a priest - healing and buffing the creations, who did the fighting. I also enjoyed how some creatures were very immune to certain attacks. That added a lot of strategy on who would attack when. For example, I would send my Rot's after other Rot's - they couldn't do much damage but they didn't take much damage either. Then my gazer and two vlish would decimate it in two rounds. In a game with so much combat, it is good that it never got fully bogged down. ------ Ending ------ I enjoyed the Fallout 2 type ending. Good for the imagination. ----- Con's ----- 1. Stores don't keep the items you sell them. I spent half the game trying to find a shaped belt so I could make my creator's belt, but to no avail. 2. You save the world and you still can't get training from Shaper's because you expressed some doubts about the teachings? Saving the entire island should count as equal to many many slightly subversive conversations. Heart the suspension of disbelief. 3. Graphics. I actually like the graphic style and even the basic animations. However, too much recycling of the same graphic for multiple things. I loved making the crystalline shroud and seeing a new graphic that was just for that. Made it's uniqueness really stand out for me. Simple graphics don't have to be boring graphics. Every major item should have a unique graphic. Every type of gem/wand should have it's own graphic. I find it a little disrespectful to not have that be the case. 4. There is no good reason to make me go to a boat every time I want to travel between islands. Once I find the boat the first time and clear the area, I should be able to travel from an area on one island to an area on another island seamlessly. It is the same as travelling any other cleared path and just wastes real-world time without any benefit to gameplay. Very bad decision. 5. This is a pro and con. It is too easy to do unbelievable things through going into combat mode, like stealing everything from Rahul's private chambers. Before I realized this trick I did it in real time, dodging and weaving away from the guards. It was exciting to get to a chamber without being caught. Once I learned to just go into combat mode, it became incredibly easy to break in anywhere, avoid traps anywhere, and therefore much less fun. The Risk/Reward ratio became imbalanced. ------------- Overall Score ------------- The first half of the game I would give a 10/10. I was engaged in a game more than I have been in maybe 6 years, since I played Fallout 2. I didn't think I could have this much fun with a game anymore, now that I am older. I am very greatful for that. The second half, some of the game just seemed like areas for the sake of areas, and the plot became less interesting. Some potentially interesting characters were underdeveloped, and whole sections were too straight-forward. I give it a 7.5/10. However, I weight the first half higher than the second, as it was so unbelievably entertaining and I may have just been suffering some burnout from playing too much (normally I do not play games for more than an hour straight, I routinely did 3-4 hours straight with Geneforge 3), so I give the overall game a score of 9/10. Thanks Jeff! Very impressive game. In my opinion, made with a lot of love. I would suggest that your next game take place in an entirely new world, with - most importantly - new graphic icons, even public domain ones. I am sure your fans would buy it and word of the forums is that your loyalists are reaching the end of the ropes with more of the same. Don't be a mini-EA. Find that thing that inspired you to take the choices for the game you would like to play, rather than the game you think will sell. Trust yourself and the sales will follow. That's all for me- PureDesiGhee [ Monday, January 02, 2006 15:43: Message edited by: PureDesiGhee ] Posts: 2 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00