Profile for Alberich

Field	Value
Displayed name	Alberich
Member number	7276
Title	Warrior
Postcount	63
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Registered	Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00

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Random Questions in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Saturday, November 4 2006 16:53 Profile #4 SNM, I think the answer is "no." In GF 1, you pretty well have to be a canister junkie to get through the game, and learn things the shapers Would Rather Not Have Known. I remember that there was some threshold point where I noticed the "extra" effect of the canisters on myself, and it was pretty deep in the game, but there had simply been no question of limiting my use to keep myself, you know, un-blue. (Lots of canisters have an effect similar to the Geneforge, but not as marked.) If the canisters are meth, the geneforge is crack, only more so. That's the fundamental conflict the game creates for you - the awesome power those things give you comes at a heavy price to your humanity. The Awakened want you to save them - by becoming something that scares them. In the later games, by contrast, you can keep your canister virginity and still win. My first time through, I always do that. If you're playing G2, you'll have occasion to meet people who've used lots of canisters or undergone similar processes, and you can see for yourself how they are affected. I won't spoil the surprises by telling you more. Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Ghandi? You must be joking! in General
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Thursday, November 2 2006 08:24 Profile #40 No, a story isn't allegorical if the thing in the story isn't enough like the thing it's said to represent, for you to be able to map the one onto the other. A game in which you genetically modify adult humans to give them skills, and doing this often turns them into glowy blue sociopaths, has no relationship to real issues in cloning or GE. Nor are the Drayks, Drakons, and Serviles anything like anything we are likely to make - and the issues that people now have with cloning have nothing whatever to do with the issues that the Awakened and the Takers have with the Shapers. It's not that the topics have no relationship at all, but they don't have the "mapping" relationship you'd need for a true allegory. The kind of allegory that I particularly object to - in a game like this, not in general - is the kind that tries to nudge you here or there on a current topic. On this point, I believe we agree. Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Ghandi? You must be joking! in General
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Thursday, November 2 2006 07:01 Profile #36 Robert, because it isn't enough like real cloning or GE. And because the game isn't "nudging" you towards one view or another on the real thing. I am very glad to see that it isn't. (I don't mean that thinking about the game world can't be thought-provoking on real-world topics, only that the designers aren't cheapening their game world with crude allegories.) Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Ghandi? You must be joking! in General
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Thursday, November 2 2006 06:29 Profile #33 Well, I'll keep my hopes up that the developers will see the broad range of answers among the die-hard players, and not start sneaking current-events commentary into the games. Now that I think of it, that's another thing I like about the "alien" feel of the Geneforge games and the ancient setting of Nethergate...because there is no temptation to see the game designer nudging you on modern politics. Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Should Geneforge have been a pure sci-fi game? in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Thursday, November 2 2006 06:13 Profile #11 Thinking about it, there's another reason why I like keeping it the way it is. In the game as it stands, genetically modifying a human has rather unpleasant side effects. He loses his moral restraint and self-control, or at least gets a looser grasp on them. It's an important part of the game, because it sets up some of the dilemmas that give the world its "cold" feel. In in a sci-fi game it might start looking like commentary on real-world genetic engineering, and as such would be distracting or repelling. I like it better as "part of the magic." Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Wishful thinking? in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Wednesday, November 1 2006 18:30 Profile #6 It took some getting used to, but part of the charm of the first 3 games - especially the third - is the way there isn't a faction you can get all the way behind, or an ending that is really emotionally satisfying. I mean, the guys who believe in liberty want to get there by converting you into a glowy-blue sociopath, or doing some of what they rebel against, or both...and in time they're resolved into a subset of "the" rebellion, or unwilling Shapers. It's a little like real politics; the major parties are coalitions, and the faction of people-who-really-think-like-you-on-all-the-major-issues isn't going to get control, so that whoever you support is something of a compromise. Of course, it would be kind of nice if the very, very, honest-to-Fate last Geneforge game would let you make a better world at the end, just for the novelty and for the sweet taste. But I won't bank on it. [ Thursday, November 02, 2006 06:16: Message edited by: Alberich ] Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Ghandi? You must be joking! in General
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Wednesday, November 1 2006 09:44 Profile #6 +6.25 economic, +1.03 authoritarian...not so terribly far from the last time I took it (when I was practically on the border for libertarian/authoritarian, maybe a little further right on economics). Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Should Geneforge have been a pure sci-fi game? in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Wednesday, November 1 2006 06:39 Profile #4 I'm glad it is the way it is. Genetics and allied trades are very active right now. To make convincing science fiction would have required a lot of effort in learning what the science looks like now, science that is subject to change between game sequels. Convincing science fiction, like convincing historical fiction, requires more author research than it used to. If it's going to be unconvincing, space-opera type science fiction, why not simply make it fantasy to begin with? The stuff about DNA tinkering (with no further details on gene expression) is simply part of the setting for the adventure, and doesn't detract from the fun. Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
GF2 ending irritation in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Tuesday, October 31 2006 08:36 Profile #7 Ah, good point. Critter Pete 2, like his successor, was a die-hard canister virgin. (This didn't make the third game easy, as this family tends to specialize in shaping fire creatures.) And thanks for the welcome! Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Future of Geneforge in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Tuesday, October 31 2006 07:28 Profile #37 Alternative: the ending of one game includes a simple code that you can enter at the beginning of the next game to effect the customization (and the loyal fanbase here promptly tells you all the codes and what they mean when the time comes...). Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
Future of Geneforge in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Tuesday, October 31 2006 07:22 Profile #36 FWIW, one thing I would've liked in the 2nd and 3rd games is a little "customization" based on previous endings. Nothing too fancy - but, e.g., you get an optional screen in which you can tell the game which shapers died in GF 2 or which ending you got in GF 3 and your character's name (with default settings for newcomers) - so that, for example, an old Khyrik wouldn't appear if you'd killed him (but you could still get the info he provides another way), and the characters who give you background later in the game would mention your previous character and his deeds. Maybe it wouldn't be worth the trouble. I'd enjoy it, though. Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
GF2 ending irritation in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Tuesday, October 31 2006 07:15 Profile #5 Not so - I didn't kill Zakary or join him either; but when I went back to the Shapers, they took the job off my hands. And they didn't execute me. (I never got the ending Micawber describes, "unfinished"). Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00
GF2 ending irritation in Geneforge Series
Alberich Warrior Member # 7276	written Tuesday, October 31 2006 03:22 Profile #3 Right. I got the non-aligned Shaper ending - but I never accepted a geneforge quest from Zakary, which may have made all the difference. Posts: 63 | Registered: Tuesday, July 4 2006 07:00

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