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Creationless Shaper in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #11
I think that when the bridge thahds retreat, they disappear entirely. I've never seen them again after I used leadership on them. In fact, since I usually off the leader first when I fight them, at least two run away before I can get them all, unless I've dazed them. And they're gone from the map. (I'm assuming that killing the leader is what triggers the bridge thahds to flee, but to be honest I have no idea why they run. I don't get to follow them because the rogue fyora and thahd nearby come up and I have to deal with them or risk dying, so the fleeing thahds get away.)

Question: If you complete one side of the testing grounds, can you later return and complete the other side? I've always done the leadership/trap/stealth test (because three turrets would kill my party, and I don't dare even look at the other fights). Could I return with a stronger party and get a little xp for going through the fighting part, or will the enemies not appear once you've completed the test?

By the way, one thing that I noticed about going the leadership route: You don't get the items that you would get if you killed the creations in combat. No thahd skin tunic, no fancy dagger, and no dexterity belt.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #65
I killed Aiglos by accident once by convincing him to join me in the artila hunt and not bothering to heal him when he got hit with acid (I say it was his fault, he kept rushing ahead), but I didn't think to see if he stayed dead (i.e. if I could then explore the Refuge with impunity). Is there anything good there (i.e. is it worth doing it on purpose, presuming I'm being ruthless anyway)?
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #61
You killed him? I am impressed. I didn't know that was even an option, but I don't often pay that much attention to dialogue choices that I violently disagree with. (I violently disagree with anything that would result in my violent death.)

Hit and run ... perhaps I'll try that. I wonder if I can pull off a hit and run shaper with one artila?
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #58
I tried out taking both Alwan and Greta. It worked so well that I began to think that my party was seriously overpowered. I had hardly any problems, and I think I could try to take that same team (both human NPCs, one fyora, one artila) on torment level and survive.

I suppose the game has been written with the idea that you'll take at least one of them with you. That having been said, does anyone have any suggestions for playing without them? I realize that tactically, it's a bad idea, and I wouldn't bother trying it on torment. But I'd really like to find a way to play neutrally, without the NPC allies and without using cannisters.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Fave creation in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #19
Well, I've never had a pyroroamer in my party. They're kind of this fruity magenta color, anyway. Though if I could randomly use 'em to blow things up ... that might be cool. If I didn't feel so bad about blowing them up, that is.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Fave creation in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #2
I like fyoras! They're just cute. And I'm a pyromaniac.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #12
Wow, I guess that explains why I keep dying so much. Lately, I've been playing without either one. Alwan's fanaticism gets on my nerves (and yeah, I've always had trouble with melee fighters in general), and while I sometimes sympathize with Greta, she also ends up annoying me. I mean, if you use leadership to absorb the rogue artila in the stables in Fort Kentia, she's disturbed. What, so she'd rather whack its head off? Does she think that's a cleaner death or something? It's still dead. And shouldn't she be mad at Hoge for leaving it there? And WHY does she hold *your character* responsible for the spawners in the mines?!

Oh, well. I suppose I should either suck it up and take them with me or go back to playing the earlier Geneforge games. They didn't quite get on my nerves so much. I like the *idea* of having human companions, even if the fact that they can't use any armor or weapons that you find annoys me greatly. (I always play a low strength character, and I wish I could stick that fancy armor I find on Alwan. He might actually survive a few hits if I did. And why can't I at least load him with a thorn baton? I've got enough of them ...) But these two ... yergh. I just don't like them.

Thanks for all the responses, by the way. I've certainly learned a few things.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Alwan and Greta questions in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #0
I was wondering what people thought of using Alwan, Greta, both, or neither. Since it looks like you're forced to choose a side and therefore can't keep both, is it worth it to recruit both anyway? I thought I saw something in a post about experience not dropping any further if you had more creations, and I assume Alwan and Greta count as creations. If that's the case, doesn't it make some sort of sense to recruit and keep both for as long as possible?

If you don't want either one along for whatever reason, how crippling is it to your battle prowess to not have one of them in your party? How much of a difference does the extra firepower make? Early on, it was like getting a free creation, which is nice if you're playing an agent. As I got higher in level, though, they started looking more like cheap cannon fodder.

Also, if I ask Alwan to accompany me, join the loyalist Shaper faction, but frequently espouse views sympathetic to the rebels, is it possible to anger him to the extent that he leaves? I assume that if I outright join the rebels with Alwan in tow, he'll leave the party at that point, but if I toe the line with actions if not words, will he stay? (Or the reverse with Greta.)

Finally, is there any way to improve Greta's spells without actually buying upgrades for her? With Alwan, increasing his strength should help. But since spell strength is dependent on stats that I can't raise as she increases in level, I don't see any way to improve her basic firebolt. I experimented with raising her intelligence, but that didn't seem to help. (In fact, aside from resisting terror, does intelligence help any creation so long as you have control over it?) Or wait - is she like a fyora, in that raising her strength will increase the power of her firebolt?
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
U CAN Touch This in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #8
Sorry for butting in, but doesn't your character more or less work? Eleven percent is pretty low. Even if you do get hit, shouldn't you have plenty of time to heal? So maybe you'd never get your character to the point where absolutely nothing would ever hit him/her, but ... it sounds to me like you're pretty close. It certainly sounds like you'd have a good chance of pulling through a fight.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Guardians need help in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #41
I don't mean to be snippy, though I'm aware that I sound like it. I just want things clarified, since it doesn't exactly say anywhere that "board discussions should be restricted to torment level playing strategies." The discussions are interesting to read about in an abstract sense, but they're also getting kind of boring because everyone's convinced that they've already discovered the only answers that really matter. I don't really mind, because I really don't have anything to say about torment. But it is nice to know, because I do want to at least ask about general things.

I don't buy the argument that any strategy will work on normal. Most of my ideas end up with me dead. I guess other people have a much easier time with it. I still haven't pinned down exactly what I'm doing that is so wrong, but I die an awful lot. I've gotten better, but I think the game's also gotten easier, so that's not really much of an improvement.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Guardians need help in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #29
So if we're not playing on torment, we're not supposed to contribute to discussions? Okay. Can I still ask questions?
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Why I did not like Geneforge 3 in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #49
But we shouldn't starve the fluffy turtles! They need food too.

*cough* Back to topic ... I think, sometimes, when we play the game, we forget that the character we play has been studying to be a shaper for most of his life. Basically, he's been indoctrinated. If he really believed that serviles possessed independent will and should be treated as humans, he probably would have been expelled, like Greta. It's possible that he does believe that, actually, but to remain in school, he would have learned to bury his true feelings. This is, of course, assuming that he manages to lie convincingly about his beliefs, which may or may not be possible. Many shapers seem to have high leadership abilities, which implies that they're good at detecting lies.

So, at the very least, at the beginning of the game, he's never seen an example of an insubordinate servile, and sees plenty of serviles who act just as he's been taught they should--they're happy to serve, and distressed when without shaper control. He's been taught that they are not really people. He might later change his mind, but in all likelihood, he doesn't think like we do in our world. He thinks like shapers do in the shapers' world.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Rebalancing between games in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #5
quote:
Note that the descriptions for many of the stats involved are inaccurate in both the manual and the game. Strength and Dexterity come to mind.
!!!!!!

All right. Now I'm mad. No wonder I'm so bad at this game.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Rebalancing between games in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #2
The list is very interesting, particularly since I thought that firebolt had increased in power. Perhaps what's happened is that it's easier to upgrade it to level 3, and the increased spell strength is what's giving me the boost. Do you know what determines your hit rate with a given spell? I was certain that I hit more often with spells in G2 and G3. I used to miss like crazy in G1, even with an agent with points put into her battle magic skill.

To me, it looks like G3 has made most attacks have similar damage, with a few key exceptions. That would mean that I can choose what I want to attack with based on what I pesonally favor, rather than what's most powerful in the game. (Well, at least until those things that are now comparatively overpowered become available to me, which is frequently "never", between my play style and general ineptitude.)

I've always felt that games become easier to play as the new versions come out. Rebalancing seems to make things much easier for me. Maybe it's because I have an odd playing style. I thought that melee and missile were overpowered in G1, and that melee was still too powerful in G2. I mean, if you read the tutorial, it'll advise using magic if you're a shaper or an agent, whereas the truth was, no matter what your character, you ought to be using javelins (or maybe a knife, but the fyoras have a ranged attack and you might not be able to get close enough). The G3 tutorial gives the same advice, but it is now no longer such a blatantly bad idea. That sort of thing makes me happy.

Maybe it's a newbie thing, because I totally admit that I play like a newbie, but I don't think that games should cater exclusively to power gamers.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Geneforge 3 in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #5
I like shapers because I always want to play a male mage, and the agent graphic is too obviously female. So I keep getting shapers and trying to play them as agents. Then I get slaughtered and rant to myself about how magic in games is so sexist.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Items to hold on to in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #10
Hee. Man, I wish I was anywhere near that neat. I keep forgetting where I've stashed my living tools *this* game. Or I stash the gemstones in a different place from the beautiful crystals, and both places are not the one that contains the anvil. Naturally, it was the *one* game where I actually started making such heavy use of icy crystals that I did want to forge a few.

Actually, I sell all javelins (well, I might use one on the hurt battle alpha). I'm always too weak to carry enough to be practical. So I use the money to upgrade firebolt, hehe. *That* doesn't weigh anything.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
Character builds in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #20
Hmm. Well, I didn't really get a vlish, and I don't play on torment (but I did work up to tricky this time!) but I did try out an agent with an artila. I loaded as many points as possible into leadership and mechanics so that I could pass the test ASAP. I didn't even fight my way through all of the Eastern Road, just made a mad dash for the door. Fyoras don't seem to work well with agents for me (fire shaping is expensive, magic shaping less so), but provided that I can keep the artila alive, it does level quite nicely. It hits more often and for more damage than a fyora, without me bothering to spend essence on its stats. It does kind of mean that I have to quicksave constantly, in case something even looks in the artila's direction (at least until it got enough hit points to wait for me to heal it), but I tend to do that anyway. I die a lot, hehe.

There *was* a bit of lag time while I had to level to get more essence and also to generally level the artila. But when I did level some more, I didn't make a second artila, so I still had plenty of essence for my purposes. Towards the end of the demo, I actually made one vlish, but then I realized that there was nothing left alive to test it on, so I'm not sure if I should have decided to trade in the artila or level again. (I'm still debating whether to get the full game. I got Geneforge 1 but kept getting stuck mid-game, don't want a repeat of that.)

My character probably *was* weaker than more typical agents. But the plan, in general, did work. I could cast daze, then use my agent, Greta, and the artila to take out enemies one by one. We totally trashed that spawner at the end of the first island. Acid and poison rock when you're the one using them.
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00
The Bullseye Shaper in Geneforge Series
Apprentice
Member # 7152
Profile #17
I'm a little surprised it took until G3 to exploit the missile weapons. When I first started playing G1, I noticed that my shaper, despite being the biggest wimp on the planet, hit more often and did more damage with a javelin than with firebolt. A thorn baton didn't do as much damage, but still had a higher chance of hitting. Also, my shaper consistently outperformed his little fyora, which kept me wondering why I was spending all my rounds trying to heal it instead of actually damaging the enemy. My agent, who was supposed to have stronger magic, still didn't do squat with battle magic, and was further crippled by not having a second party member (even as cannon fodder, fyoras are useful). I never played a guardian, but with all the missile based creations wandering around, I did realize very quickly that concentrating on melee weapons would just turn me into toast. I'd be out of range, too stunned to attack, or just plain dead. Even though swords do plenty of damage (even a shaper wielding a paltry knife was enough to one-hit a rogue fyora), it doesn't mean a thing if I can't actually get a chance to use them. And nothing can really make up for the fact that crystals only use three AP, giving even the most beleaguered wimp (me) two attacks per round.

I play on Normal or Easy (when I get soundly thrashed too many times in a row), so I don't know if game mechanics change wildly on the higher levels, or later in the game (I don't often even reach the end of the demo). But I did play the early sections of the games over and over again, trying to figure out strategies with different shapers and agents, and missiles (*especially* venom or acid batons) always won hands down. Even in the Avernum games, missiles were critical. (Your mage and priest might run out of magic, but if they can use bows, they can work together to take down a foe. From A2 onward, all you have to do is make your spellcasters into nephilim, and in A4, you don't even need to stockpile arrows.)
Posts: 18 | Registered: Monday, May 22 2006 07:00