|
Welcome to Sucia Island. Your stay won't be very long, apprentice. You've stumbled into Barred lands -- a place forbidden to all your people because of the uniquely awful dangers posed by whatever experiment went horrifically awry here. But let's pretend you survive more than one day, despite your weakness and ignorance. Perhaps you'll even survive your own curiosity to escape this place. Remember: knowledge confers power, and power confers responsibility. The Shapers have not yet granted you knowledge, and you have not yet developed wisdom. Tread lightly.  About Geneforge Geneforge is the first of a five-game series developed by Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software. The games are all turn-based tactical RPGs on isometric-ish maps. They can get quite challenging even on normal difficulty depending on your playstyle; it's very easy to be overwhelmed and you're almost always outmatched. You might know Vogel's games from the recently completed Avadon trilogy, or from the ongoing re-remake of the Exile games - he has an old school vision that punishes rushing into combat. TooMuchAbstraction recently completed a screenshot LP of Avernum: Escape from the Pit, which is a pretty strong example of the improvements Vogel has made over the years... But Geneforge hasn't received the remake treatment yet and probably won't for at least a few more years. The graphics and performance show the game's age. Geneforge was originally released on Mac in 2001, with a PC version in Q1 2002. Performance is grindingly slow, the engine is dated to the Jurassic era, and this indie title lacks a lot of the graphical and musical polish players have come to expect. Graphics and audio have never been Vogel's focus, so if you come into the games expecting them, you will be disappointed. His focus is gameplay and storytelling, and the latter is where this series really excels. Each of the Geneforge games focuses on pursuing alliances or rivalries with political factions, and as such, you have many, many decisions to make over the course of a playthrough. I can't promise that I will be able to show all of the possible outcomes, but I can show each of the basic endings. We will be playing as a Shaper; a mage whose training and abilities allow him or her to create and modify life from drought-tolerant wheat to mind-controlling vlish. Of course, we don't start out with that much power, but I'll let the game speak for itself.     What's your plan? This will be a screenshot LP with narrative elements, though most of the text will be straight from the game. Geneforge is my first LP, so it might be a little bumpy while I learn to use the tools of the trade. I plan on having at least one update a week, and hopefully more. The most time-consuming bit so far seems to be sorting out the screenshots and uploading them, even with batch processing. I'll also do my best to explain the game's mechanics. If there's interest, I'll open up voting for key in-game decisions. I'm POOL IS CLOSED, formerly RedTonic. You might know me from such luminous threads as, uh. Welp. Let's get playing! Demoware Spiderweb Software develops demoware, meaning they put out substantial free demos of all their games. You can check out the demo for Geneforge 1 here if you're interested in playing along. The games are available directly through Spiderweb Software's website and on the usual digital retail platforms for Windows and Mac. Some Sweet-rear end Thread Contributions The Best Shaper Poem idonotlikepeas posted:Whose genes these are I think I know, A Baller Solution Portrait JamieTheD posted:I made you a fanart. I hope it wasn't presumptuous to give Solution a face, as having mine burnt off by a Fyora often offends! Compatibility on Windows If you're running Geneforge or the early sequels on a 64 bit Windows OS, you may notice serious slowdown at certain points. This compatibility toolkit should help. Thanks to the Spiderweb games megathread for pointing the way! Ratty on Steam posted:Hello, Updates #1. Welcome to Sucia Island #2. What Is a Servile? A Miserable Pile of Secrets. #3. Everywhere I Go, I Must Kill! Part 1. #4. Everywhere I Go, I Must Kill! Part 2. #5. Obedience Is An Act of Faith #6. On the Road #7. An Obeyer Interlude: Your Faithful Servants #8. An Obeyer Interlude, 2: The Use of Power #9. A-Hunting We Will Go #10. The Control Mind and You #11. Shapeless Days #12. Which Bridge to Cross and Which to Burn #13. A Landmine Is an Eternal Sentry #14. Service, Sacrifice, and Saviours #15. The Less than Legendary Journeys #16. Kazg Wheels, Kazg Deals #17. Kazg Wheels, Kazg Deals Part 2 #18. It Only Gets Worse #19. Living on the Mercy of Strangers #20. Just Because It Sounds a Bit Like PIE-lon #21. There Is No Substitute for Competence #22. An Alliance with the Follies of Others #23. Our Share of Miseries #24. Let's Get Political #25. Too Many Circles #26. Everybody Run, It's the #27. A Certain Nonchalance #28. Souls Freed From Vice #29. The Little Things #30. It's No Nausicaa #31. All Things Merge Into One #32. Sixteen Tons #33. The Only Guarantee of Morality #34. Paying Tuition #35. The Secret #36. Where Death Awaits #37. Where Death Awaits Pt. 2 #38. Practice Freedom #39. Practice Freedom Pt. 2 #40. Barred #41. Interlude: Terrible Things #42. Promises #43. Fear and Love #44. Dead Ends #45. As Necessity Demands #46. Not Burning Bridges Pt. 1 #47. Not Burning Bridges Pt. 2 #48. The Road #49. Buy Stuff Now or Kick Yourself Later #50. Victory Conditions #51. Wander and Ponder #52. Superfun Superfund #53. The Haunting of the Holding Cells #54. You Asked For This #55. The Fate of the Geneforge #56. Early Escape #57. Uncharted Territory #58. Faction Quests #59. Trajkov's War & the Three Serviles POOL IS CLOSED fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Aug 20, 2017 |
#
?
Nov 11, 2016 22:59
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:25 |
|
|
 The Spiderweb Software games catalogue is discounted during the Steam Summer Sale! The Names of the Fallen Xander77 The Vosgian Beast berryjon Charmander PurpleXVI ManxomeBromide Big McLargeHug  Zeniel Like Clockwork idhrendur MagusofStars Random rear end in a top hat GreatEvilKing titty baby Maugrim pumpinglemma placid saviour Officially Permitted Creation Names idhrendur Xander77 The Vosgian Beast berryjon Charmander - for Fyora only placid saviour PurpleXVI ManxomeBromide RickVoid Zeniel TooMuchAbstraction Like Clockwork - for fire creations Geokinesis Big McLargeHuge - for Thahds MagusofStars - for Vlish Talow pumpinglemma Dmar wedgekree Galaga Galaxian Old Grey Guy raverrn Cronische Glazius vdate SIGSEGV wiegieman rastilin Rockopolis KirbyKhan Night10194 Glaive17 Nevileen titty_baby_ - for basic creations Ashsaber Aumanor Roobanguy Kacie Slaan JamietheD Satan's Onion Captain Oblivious Dirk the Average OutOfPrint King Doom ashnjack CrazySalamander RoboChrist 9000 StrixNebulosa idonotlikepeas A Frosty Beverage PoptartsNinja Geokinesis Cimbri TheBlandName dont be mean to me McGavin Mister Olympus McSharpie copy Telsa Cola Bliss Authority boatWhere Lime Tonics Rabid Weasel Deceitful Penguin General Antares Tsilkani inflatablefish KirbyKhan Delvio sheep-dodger Last Transmission Fat Samurai Agent Interrobang Ayndin TheDavies GangstaMagikz Sodacan Vadoc VolticSurge FredMSloniker Tarezax Whybird Meunkin If you're running Geneforge or the early sequels on a 64 bit Windows OS, you may notice serious slowdown at certain points. This compatibility toolkit should help. Thanks to the Spiderweb games megathread for pointing the way! "Ratty on Steam posted:Hello, The Best Shaper Poem idonotlikepeas posted:Whose genes these are I think I know, A Baller Solution Portrait JamieTheD posted:I made you a fanart. I hope it wasn't presumptuous to give Solution a face, as having mine burnt off by a Fyora often offends! POOL IS CLOSED fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Jul 4, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2016 23:01
|
|
|
Welcome to Sucia Island You won't enjoy your stay.  The first thing we actually do after selecting New Game is create our character. This game is a little different from most tactical turn-based RPGs; there's only one player character, and their characterization is based on how you choose to interact with the various in-game factions. You have 3 classes to choose from: the Shaper, the Guardian, and the Agent. This LP will follow the Shaper character. The narratives don't divide sharply between the 3 classes, but the story feels more intimate when it applies to someone who regularly meddles with the forces of creation itself. The Shaper focuses on Shaping magic - the ability to create complex life out of next to nothing. This class has weak fighting skills, moderate magical skills, and strong Shaping skills. The Guardian is, as the name suggests, a bodyguard class. Intended to protect Shapers and even act as military officers, the Guardians are martial artists and tanky as hell. Agents are fast-moving firepower. They focus on battle magic and, to a lesser extent, fighting skills. All three classes can actually learn Shaping skills and benefit from them, but only the Shaper can really bring out that school's full potential. You begin with 15 skill points to spend. I've named our Shaper Solution because, well, why not? We're going to solve the hell out of some problems on Sucia Island. I increased our starting Intelligence stat to 5, our Leadership stat to 5, and our Mechanics stat to 3, which leaves us with 0 remaining points until we gain our next level. You've got a high degree of customizability with each of the classes. The class choice primarily influences how much stats and skills cost, so you'll want to choose one that fits your playstyle.  Game Text posted:You stagger off of the dock, weakened to the point of collapse by your desperate swim here. After a few minutes, you manage to regain enough of your senses to look around. Your drayk craft deserved better than an ignominious, lonely death on the shore of a Barred Island. Its Shaper likely felt its death despite the long, bitter leagues between you and home. It will be days until anyone at the colony begins to worry about your lateness. When you never show up, they will wonder -- but the journey between home and the colony where you were meant to serve out your apprenticeship is long, the sea is rough, and anything can happen to a new novice along the way. You pick yourself up and gingerly leave the rotting dock. You've been singed, your supplies are lost, and your gear is tattered. The wind cuts through your soaked robes like a firebolt through butter. Hell, you can't even cast a firebolt.  Fortunately, the drayk's sacrifice means you're only battered, not broken. You follow a crumbling road east into the ruins.   Game Text posted:There is an office to the west. The shelves on the wall have nothing on them but dust- The box in the corner, however, might contain something useful. What's left is mostly garbage, but a dry, mostly clean tunic and a half-dozen light javelins go a little way towards restoring your composure. You pick up a sturdy-looking branch for extra measure; a cudgel is always a solid choice. You find an automatic door nearby that still works. Miraculously, it's not even locked. Game Text posted:Inside this small chamber, you find several cylindrical containers. They look like canisters, each a little over a foot high. The sides are made of thick, carefully blown glass.   With that, you return to the crumbling road. Game Text posted:You stumble a bit. You still feel a bit woozy. It's not caused by hunger, though, but by the effects of the strange substance in that canister. With that heady discovery out of the way, you head north through a narrow corridor formed by two sagging cliffs. Whatever happens now, at least you have a chance to defend yourself. Given where you are, that chance is very valuable indeed.  The brass key unlocks the chains. You pull the lever and go through the door. Game Text posted:This was probably the barracks for some Guardians or Agents. There isn't much left and the beds are ruined. It's starting to look like whoever was here left very quickly. A bunch of stuff was left behind. You add a dagger, a healing pod, a cloak, a shield, and even some thorns to your ratty arsenal. Without a way to fire them, the thorns are useless at best, but having them still makes you feel better. The winding road leads westward now. You're starting to understand why the Shapers chose this island, at least initially; all these ravines and canyons make forming checkpoints and bottlenecks a very simple matter. Nothing would be smuggled past alert guards and creations here.  So what happened, then? Nothing terrible has reared its head yet. Perhaps the danger has passed. In your bedraggled state, that's the absolute best you can hope for. Game Text posted:Looking to the north, you can see that you are not alone on this island. Though you were worried about horrible creatures and mutations, the first life you encounter is nowhere near so terrifying. It is a flock of ornks.  The road curves south toward another ruin with another locked door. Fortunately, you don't need a glowy canister to teach you how to jimmy a basic lock. Mechanics is a very useful skill for all classes. Since we raised Solution's Mechanics skill to 3 from the get-go, we are able to unlock and use this lever. Later, we'll have the opportunity to learn the Unlock spell. Unlock, Intelligence, and Mechanics all have a certain level of synergy. We'll also acquire living tools eventually -- more on that when it happens.  Someone left a cache of weapons in this secured chamber. Perhaps he or she planned to return here later. For now, however, you've picked up a few icy crystals, an extra dagger, and a few more clips of thorns. There's nothing left here to help you, though, so you head north.  All the walking is wearing on you. You're still damp and now you're hungry, but there's nothing fit to eat on this awful island. Hopefully there's an orchard intact somewhere. Ornk sirloin is tempting, but with the size of the tusks on those things... You're not sure you can force one to obey you, even if it is a creation and you a Shaper. You step into another, larger ruin to escape the awful wind.  Game Text posted:You immediately recognize where you are now. It was an inn, where visitors and travelers could stop for steaks, drinks, and sleep. The crumbling roasting pit still dominates the center of the room. But poking around here solves no mysteries. You can only continue north, feeling like the landscape is herding you as effectively as an ornk.  This is the overland map screen. The game is divided up into areas that are themselves divided up into faction-controlled regions. The area we just left, Crumbling Docks, is marked as green, but the area we're moving to, Abandoned Vale, is red. Green areas have been cleared and can be skipped over on the map screen. Red areas haven't been cleared. Almost all areas can be cleared by completing an objective. Sometimes that is discovering one or more exits, killing a particular foe, or fulfilling a special condition. The map system does tend to funnel you along a level-appropriate path at first, but you'll find options quickly open up and you can wind up in over your head very easily.  You look out over the sea. From here, there's no sign of the ship that attacked you and sank your drayk craft.  Game Text posted:You immediately recognize this large building for what it is. This was a shaping hall. You knew that there must be one of them on this island somewhere. You bask in the blue and green glows of the pools; finding this place has eased some of your tension. If the pools survived, then your situation might not be as dire as you fear. You spend some time exploring the shaping hall and peruse part of two books. Game Text posted:SECRETS 0F ESSENCE Game Text posted:CREATIONS FOR THE BEGINNING SHAPER  We gain a point of skill in creating fyoras and the spell Heal from the canisters here.  This is the Creature Creation screen. It's a simplified version of the Character Creation screen, with only four stats to choose from and no skills. Far from a "good idea," putting two points into a creation's intelligence is basically mandatory. Otherwise your creatures will never be under your control and will either flee combat or die uselessly. If you can't afford to put two points into intelligence, you can't afford the creation. You shape your first creation -- a fyora, one of the most common types after livestock and serviles. It's a heady sensation. This knowledge would ordinarily be forbidden to you for years yet, but the canisters have allowed you to instantly access the secrets of shaping. You know this might put you in grave danger from the Shaper Council, yet how could anyone begrudge you for doing what is necessary to survive? You didn't want to end up on a Barred island. With little more than a thought on your part, your new creation follows you into the woods.  Game Text posted:You find a sign that the evacuation of this island was not completely orderly. There is a body here. It's barely more than a skeleton. It's been here for a long time. Based on its garments, you think it was a Shaper. Game Text posted:There is a fyora standing on the path ahead. It's a very familiar sort of creation. Shapers have made them for centuries to serve as bodyguards, watchdogs, and even pets. You've been around hundreds of them.  Thus begins our first combat. There are multiple fyoras in this area and it's totally possible to die here, even though it's the tutorial. These initial rogues are quite weak. One fireball from our own fyora and one javelin fling and the rogue fyora is dead before it even gets a turn. I always keep a creation ahead of my Shaper to soak aggro. This won't always work, but most enemies' AI is simple and will target the nearest enemy. Because I'm building a Deadweight Shaper, I need to keep Solution out of harm's way at all times. Her creations are there to take the blows for her. As rare as rogues are, it's every Shaper's duty to put them down whenever they arise. These fyora must have survived whatever caused Sucia Island to be Barred. You steel yourself and order your fyora to attack, which it does gleefully. Your fyora isn't quite strong enough to take the rogue out alone. Your javelin flies true and the rogue collapses in a pool of its own blood, having accomplished nothing more than growling. There are more rogues among the ruins here. One by one, you flush them out and destroy them. It's grim yet exciting work, and certainly nothing you'd be doing for a very long time if you hadn't been shipwrecked here. Now if only you could find a boat and get the hell off Sucia Island... You find a book in the ruins and read the foreword. Game Text posted:NOTES ON COMBAT You find another mostly intact structure. Fortunately, no rogues greet you inside.  Game Text posted:This was a storage warehouse. Well, it still is. But now, instead of housing useful supplies, it holds moldering trash. The sacks of meal in the corner, for example, have not been treated well by their years here. You load a full clip of thorns into the baton and breathe a sigh of relief. None of these rogues will stand a chance against even a standard baton. The little creature settles happily into your grip. It's gone unused for a very long time, you sense, and though groggy from hibernation, the baton is glad to be used.  You test your baton out on a brace of rogues and they fall with gratifying swiftness, leaving you and your creation untouched. Weak rogues like this absolutely weren't the cause of whatever befell Sucia Island. They're only a consequence -- or perhaps a symptom. You pass between gigantic Shaper statues and into a large, tumbledown structure that controls access further east. At the north end of a huge room full of trash and rotted furniture is a log book. Game Text posted:People wishing to pass through quarantine originally signed in here before waiting for inspection. None of the names are legible anymore, and the pages crumble at your touch.  To the east is an automatic door. Unfortunately, it doesn't open for you, and you can't find a lever. Beyond, you hear the sounds of living creations -- ornks lowing contentedly. There certainly can't be rogues over there. If the quarantine didn't fail, then, what caused the Barring? Game Text posted:This was the quarantine waiting hall. People wishing to enter or leave Sucia Island through this port waited here to be questioned and inspected by the servant mind.  Game Text posted:You carefully approach the servant mind, unsure of how its time alone in these ruins has affected its faculties. Fortunately, its eyes are clear and bright, and its body appears whole. It has the massive skull characteristic of these strange creations. "Welcome, Shaper. I am mind Tavit," it says, reflexively reading from an internal script centuries old. "Do you wish to pass through quarantine?" "Yes," you say. "What do I have to do to pass through quarantine?" "Allow me to inspect you carefully. If I judge that you have no threatening infections or concealed rogue creations, I will unseal the door to the north so that you may pass." As far as you know, you're neither infected nor hiding any rogues, so you give your assent. The creature looks at you carefully. It makes a low, soft humming noise. You don't feel anything, but you suspect some sort of magical augmentation is allowing the creature to analyze you in minute detail. Eventually, the noise stops. Tavit says, "I find no reason to impede your progress further. The exit door will open at your approach." This seems like a good opportunity to learn more about Sucia Island. "What happened to this island? Why was it Barred?" "I am sorry. Shaper. I am limited in the scope of my knowledge. When I was left here, l was given no further information or instructions." That was frustrated but not entirely unexpected. As useful and trusted as servant minds are, they still aren't provided any more knowledge than is necessary for their assigned functions. That's how the Shapers are with everyone, creation or human. "Are you all right? You have been here for a long time." Usually a servant mind is tended by serviles and maintained by a Shaper. Tavit has been alone for... you can't even imagine how long. "How long ago were you abandoned?" "I do not know. I have spent all of that time in hibernation. The decay in my internal organs indicates that the time was well over a century. I am sorry that l cannot be more precise," Tavit says, genuinely regretful that it cannot fully answer your questions. "I am functioning properly. I can still do what I was made to do." You shudder. It's been over a hundred years since this servant mind was last in the presence of a Shaper. It's a testament to the durability and temperament of Tavit's design that the servant mind hasn't died or gone mad from loneliness. "You don't mind waiting here for so long?" you ask despite your better judgment. "I... I... am functioning properly. I can still do what I was made to do. I was not made to have other thoughts." At least the Shapers were merciful. Tavit probably didn't have the capacity to really miss conversation or the company of other beings. Its simplicity had likely kept it safe from the rogues outside, too. "How long has it been since someone came through here?" "You are the first since I was abandoned." Perhaps you ought not have chosen "abandoned." Tavit sounds a touch forlorn. "Why was Sucia Island abandoned?" "I do not know. I know a little of its purpose, but nothing of why I was left here for so long." "What was the purpose of this island?" "Research." Not the most useful answer you could have hoped for. And, given Tavit's limitations so far, the only one you can expect to receive. Further questioning yields no more answers; Tavit has nothing else useful to share with you, and the longer it's awake, the more of its limited resources it consumes. "That is all I need from you," you say, ready to be on your way. "I am eager to assist you further, Shaper. Do you wish to pass through quarantine?" That is what it asked before. This mind must have very limited programming. "That's all for now." "Thank you, Shaper. I will rest and conserve my energy now." Be that as it may, you wonder how much time Tavit has left. Without someone to top off its nutrient solution, its days are numbered. There's nothing you can do to help, either. If there had been servant mind nutrient in the quarantine hall, well, it was destroyed long ago. You pass through the automatic door, which slides open easily at your approach now.  Game Text posted:On this side of the quarantine hall, you can see another flock of ornks. This group, however, is not alone. It is watched over by a servile. "I don't think I'm mad. It's a Shaper! A Shaper has come at last! Oh, it has been years, years, since anyone has come through that door. A Shaper has come! This is so wonderful! "Oh, but where are my manners. I am Timo. I am a shepherd. I graze my ornks here because nobody comes here. Oh. I must go to Vakkiri. I must tell the people there that a Shaper has come at last!" You've never heard a servile speak like this in your life. A servant mind might have sophisticated speech, but serviles? Never. Overwhelmed, you find yourself talking to the creature like you might a human. "Tell me about Vakkiri." "It is our humble village." He points east. "It is that way, not far, not far; I should tell them a Shaper has come at last. It is humble and small, but, with no Shapers around, we did what we could." How could an island be Barred but still have serviles on it? Surely they would have been evacuated, you think. "I have been stranded on this island. How can I get off of it?" If all else fails, perhaps the serviles can build you a boat. It can't be that hard. He looks worried. He clearly has no idea. "Oh. I... l... I am a humble villager. I do not know how to leave. But in Vakkiri, there are old and wise people. They can help you." That is odd. Timo is referring to his fellow serviles as people. Creations are called creations, not people. You ignore this oddity for now - you don't know how to address it, and anyway, it's not your main concern at the moment. "There are no other Shapers here?" Timo looks even more nervous now. "I... I do not... No. You are the only one. You are the Shaper. You have returned, and we... we can serve." He seemed somewhat reticent about saying that last word. Though you may not be a Shaper but a Guardian or an Agent, all three sects are generally referred to by the outside world as Shapers. Here comes our first dialogue choice. We can say "That's right. You had better serve me, or you will be disciplined harshly," which will tip our reputation towards demanding obedience, or we can be lenient... "I do not require your total obedience," you say. "I only need to leave this island." You can report on the strange behavior of these serviles after you get off this Barred place and report to your new masters. Maybe this is why Sucia Island was Barred... Perhaps there's something wrong here that makes serviles go mad. Timo looks incredibly relieved. "Of course, we serviles will be glad to help you in any way we can. It is our way. And we thank you, mighty Shaper, for your kindness." Timo watches you nervously. He seems happy to be in the presence of a Shaper, and yet he is nervous, too. He well knows how much power his creators have. "Do you know why this island was abandoned?" If the servant mind doesn't, perhaps the serviles might have an idea. It's a long shot, but worth trying. "I have no idea," Timo replies. "You should go to Vakkiri. There are many there wiser than me. I should go there now. They should know there is a Shaper among us." Sensing you've learned all you can from Timo, you wave him away. The servile scampers off among its ornk herd. Despite its words, it doesn't immediately head towards Vakkiri. This isn't a surprise, really. Serviles may be sophisticated creations, but they're still simple-minded creatures who require strong governance. Without a Shaper around, it's amazing that they've even managed to keep an ornk herd or scrape together enough lean-tos to be called a village. The path ahead is clear enough for you to travel alone. The road here is still in bad repair, but it has at least been kept clear of overgrowth even if the paving has been poorly tended.  I'm going to show some of the loading screens now and then. Not only do they have play tips, but they also have some neat artwork. I'm a real sucker for pen and ink illustrations.  Next time... What Is a Servile? A Miserable Pile of Secrets. POOL IS CLOSED fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Aug 20, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2016 23:06
|
|
|
Looks like an interesting concept. Are we going to name all the little minion guys, or don't they last that long?
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 06:09
|
|
|
Oooh, how exciting! I've been loving the other Spiderweb Software LPs (and been blasting through them). What's more, they finally inspired me to load and play through Geneforge myself. So my being just a little ahead of the LP (for now) makes it all the more interesting to read.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 07:03
|
|
|
Good luck completing the LP without getting burned out / tired of the outdated mechanics. I really want (finally, after so many failed LPs) to see how the story unfolds, so feel free to skip minor details if you're getting bogged down.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 09:40
|
|
|
Alright, Geneforge! It always seemed like an interesting game, but I never felt like fighting past dated mechanics to explore it more, so I'm looking forward to this.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 15:32
|
|
|
TheGreatEvilKing posted:Looks like an interesting concept. We can totally name the goobers! Feel free to give suggestions. Or I can name them for thread posters. Our creations will likely die or be absorbed fairly regularly, so we can probably rack up quite the butcher's bill. idhrendur posted:Oooh, how exciting! I've been loving the other Spiderweb Software LPs (and been blasting through them). What's more, they finally inspired me to load and play through Geneforge myself. So my being just a little ahead of the LP (for now) makes it all the more interesting to read. Geneforge is such a cool series and I was glad to learn that Vogel plans to remake it, since previous discussion made remakes of this series sound vanishingly unlikely. Vogel's said he's slowing down (a combo of age, health, and tech learning curve factors), but I really hope he carries through on a remake. Last I saw, he's in the process of looking for a new engine that will meet his dev needs. Hopefully he finds what he's looking for. Actually, let me link his blog: http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/ It's a thought-provoking read for anyone interested in small businesses in the creative industry. If you have any questions you don't see answers for on the very excellent official forums, lemme know. Are you playing as the Shaper class? Xander77 posted:Good luck completing the LP without getting burned out / tired of the outdated mechanics. I really want (finally, after so many failed LPs) to see how the story unfolds, so feel free to skip minor details if you're getting bogged down. The Vosgian Beast posted:Alright, Geneforge! It always seemed like an interesting game, but I never felt like fighting past dated mechanics to explore it more, so I'm looking forward to this. Yeah, I noticed at least two abandoned Geneforge LPs in the LP master list. This game is pretty long and there's a lot of content, so that's not very surprising. Add the difficulty and very old school game design and it could become a test of stamina. One of the more frustrating design decisions for me is actually how inventory is handled. Unlike the Avernum/Exile series, there aren't very many "trap" decisions you can make in building your character, though focusing on only one or two areas is obviously favored far more than spreading out your skill points. The inventory system, though, really feels like the relic that it is -- it's almost as awful as the original Baldur's Gate system, and worse in some ways (like carry weight reducing your action points, jfc). The biggest thing I hope for in a remake is QoL improvements, and given Avernum's treatment, I think that's assured. New update probably in a few hours! Got a pile of screenshots to sort and process.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 18:19
|
|
|
Good Luck! You'll need it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 19:17
|
|
|
This looks interesting. I'll be following and rooting for you! Pace yourself if the game is content-heavy but mechanically archaic; we don't want you to burn out, now.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 20:05
|
|
|
Name at least one Fyora Charmander
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 20:48
|
|
|
I kept reading "Barred Island" as "Barrel Island." It lacked a bit of the dramatic oomph it was intended, that way.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 20:53
|
|
|
What Is a Servile? A Miserable Pile of Secrets. Here's what the loading screen looks like if you wait a few seconds before selecting an option. Creations start coming out of the shaping platform on the lower left and they march across your screen. It's pretty cute, actually.  A small sign by the roadside welcomes to you Vakkiri. The first things you see are fields. The crops are planted in a relatively orderly way, even though the servile guards insist on trampling through the rows. Armed servile guards. The sight makes you shudder. You hail one of the farming serviles instead. This servile is working hard to grow small, green vegetables. She seems to be doing very well considering her lack of supervision. She bows. "Welcome to my humble plot of land, Shaper." "What are you raising?" It's a stupid question, but you just can't help yourself. It's been a long day. "Just simple vegetables. They aren't a creation. Just ordinary food." You look closer and see that she is correct. "I am looking for information. Is there anyone here who can help me?" "You should talk to Learned Pinner." The farmer points to the northwest. "She lives in the building back there in the woods." "You can return to your work," you say, attention already turned to the rest of Vakkiri. Looking past the trees, you see a settlement more substantial than you expected -- and shockingly worthy of being called a village. "Thank you, Shaper. You are very kind." As you head into Vakkiri, you meet one of Vakkiri's guards- He is a servile, wielding an old, dented, but very sharp sword. The guard bows. He seems slightly nervous about your intentions. "Greetings, Shaper. How may I assist you?" With a little revulsion, you ask, "What are you guarding against?" "Rogue creatures are common in the woods north and east of here. We never know when some of them will stumble into Vakkiri and need to be dealt with." It makes sense, but you don't think you will ever be able to fully suppress your disgust at seeing serviles with swords and armor. "Where can I find aid and information?" The guards probably report to someone, even if that person is not a Shaper. "You should speak with Leader Khobar. He is in the feasting hall at the southwest corner of town." You nod to yourself now that your suspicion is confirmed. This Khobar might be useful. The guard bows once again and continues on his rounds, crushing some of the hapless farmer's odd cabbage underfoot.  Vakkiri is full of serviles at work. The sounds of their labor are reassuring, even if the realities aren't -- half of that work appears to be armed serviles patrolling the paths. The other half is ordinary chores and agriculture. It takes a lot of food to sustain a settlement of this size. Within the dining hall you find a couple of serviles and the smell of cooking food. Your empty stomach leads you to the servile working the spit. Roasted ornk... Inerny wears the traditional long robes of the serviles, modeled after Shaper robes. However, her robes are covered with food stains of varying ages. She is bustling around her kitchen, preparing all manner of foodstuffs to feed the serviles of this hall. As she moves, she says, "I am Inerny. Welcome to my kitchen. You look hungry." "I am hungry," you admit. "Could I get some food?" Surprisingly, Inerny doesn't just give you what she has. The serviles here evidently believe in fair trades for all goods, even with Shapers. She shows you her best cuts of meat and her prettiest loaves of bread, though. It's hard not to snatch up as much as your stomach demands, but you can't shake the feeling of serviles watching your every move. You're outnumbered and, though you hate to admit it, all those armed serviles could easily overpower you. You pay up. "What do you serviles eat?" you ask. Surely all this meat and bread wasn't for creations. "What does anyone eat?" Inerny asks. "Mostly vegetables, grown here and foraged, some bread, and some meat from the ornks we raise. And all of it raised or found by us, with no Shaper help. "Sorry. Didn't mean to give you an Awakened lecture there." She laughs. You chew over this and decide to offer your best neutral response. "It looks like you are hard at work." "Oh yes. I don't cook for all of the serviles. But I cook for all who haven't been mated. And that is enough to keep my days very busy." Inerny sighs and looks around. "It would be much easier if my best knife hadn't been stolen. It was true steel, hardened by magic, a true Shaper artifact. I would pay well to have it back. But, oh well. A brigand probably took it." You make note of this, but since you haven't seen it, there's not much you can do. Shaper steel would be nice to have in your hand, though. You sit at an empty table and eat. Nobody joins you. It's not very surprising. No Shaper would break bread with a creation. When you have finished, you approach a servile who has been unobtrusively watching you since you entered the hall. Unlike the others, this servile does not fear you. Or if he does, he does not show it. He is clearly sizing you up, trying to figure out whether you are a help or threat to the serviles under his care. He bows to you, a very short, sharp motion, all the time keeping his eyes on you. Finally, he says, "Welcome to our home. I am Leader Khobar, proud Awakened and the chosen leader of the tribe of Vakkiri." Disappointment is a dull stab. You'd hoped to find that Khobar was a human. Instead, he's just another servile. "It is a pleasure to have the Shapers among us again at last." You could not fail to notice the way Khobar emphasized the word Leader. Or the lack of enthusiasm he put into saying the last sentence. At least you're both on the same footing. "Tell me more of your village," you say. "After the Shapers abandoned us, we serviles struggled for survival. Most were unable to live without your guidance. Some of us were selected by cruel nature to be allowed to survive. We have formed three villages that I know of." "What are the other two villages?" "To the east there is Pentil. They are a feckless, servile lot. You will like them. Past Pentil is Kazg. You may wish to avoid them. They are very martial, and they have little love for Shapers. They hate you, and even more, they are terrified of you. A volatile combination." You suppress a laugh. A servile calling serviles servile. The absurdity of it all! You've never heard such a terrible joke in your life. Almost as absurd as serviles hating Shapers. Somehow, though, you know this strange servile isn't lying. "You don't know of all the settlements on this island?" "'To the north is harsh wasteland, full of rogue clawbugs and vlish. There, we do not go. To the northeast are mountains, well protected by Shaper creations and traps. Beyond, we cannot go. In those places, you might find anything." "Hmm..." If anything includes boats or the means to craft them, you're willing to gamble with clawbugs and even eerie vlish. The serviles would of course steer clear of such creations. Rogue or not, their presences always upset serviles. Leader Khobar continues to watch you carefully, attempting to divine from small motions and expressions your true intentions. "It would be a pleasure to speak with you further, Shaper." "You said that you are Awakened. Tell me more about that." "All of us serviles have developed our own ways and beliefs to deal with the Shapers abandoning us. There are three sects: the Awakened, the Obeyers, and the Takers," he says. "The Obeyers are the ones who wish to follow. They are the ones who worship your kind as gods. You will find them to the east, as obedient and pliable as you could possibly wish. We are not fond of them." Serviles who know their roles and respect the natural order of life may be of great use to you. You decide to reach Pentil as soon as you can. Perhaps from there you will be able to organize a craft to escape Sucia and reach the colony. "What about the others?" you ask. "The Takers, for instance." "'They are the mad ones, the Takers of Free. They have been warped by the cruelty of their time here. They were made by the Shapers, and now they wish to overthrow them. They wish to separate from the Shapers completely, and if the Shapers attempt to deal with them, they wish for combat. They are mad. We have no worship for the Shapers, but we do not hate them either. We wish to be equal, that is all." You keep your expression carefully neutral. Equality is as ludicrous as an overthrow. Either is rebellious. The serviles of Vakkiri are as rogue as the Takers of Kazg. The Shapers made the serviles -- as creations, serviles owe all their loyalty to your kind. But it won't do to say that now. You know Khobar is weighing your response to his words and that the other serviles are watching. It's best to be conciliatory for now. You're weak, and if not for the canisters, you wouldn't have been able to make it this far at all. You won't make the mistake of assuming that a little strange Shaper magic is enough to let you overcome this many rogues at once. Better to lull them into complacency and see if you can use them to accomplish your goals. After all, they're only serviles. They can't be that clever. "Tell me of yourselves, of the Awakened," you say. It's best to know your enemies well, especially how they see themselves. "All in this village are of the Awakened sect. We have been Awakened from the dark sleep of Shaper mastery. Our eyes are open. We wish to deal with the Shapers as equals, with friendship and gratitude. But we will not be slaves to you any longer." He looks you directly in the eyes without a hint of fear. "Be wary. If you anger the Awakened, this town will no longer be open to you." We could take the hardline approach and say, "I'm very amused by your aspirations, but I doubt we Shapers will be supportive." But for the moment, we are taking a conciliatory approach. "It sounds like a strange, new belief, but I hear some wisdom in it." Somehow you don't vomit while saying the words. At the same time, you almost believe what you're saying. These serviles have organized their own governance and defense. The last time a Shaper was here was at least a century ago, if Tavit the servant mind was to be believed. You have no reason to doubt its estimate. Somehow the serviles have overcome the limits of their making and are fending for themselves. Khobar looks, despite himself, relieved. "I am glad to hear it. We had expected instant opposition from your kind. But if we can convince you, there may be hope for peace." Your opinion doesn't matter in the slightest, but you won't tell him that. You haven't even truly begun your apprenticeship. The Shaper Council would descend on Sucia Island and wipe out every last one of these serviles if they thought the threat was severe enough. Instead, the place was merely Barred. These serviles' madness would remain quarantined as it should be. In a way, their madness presents the opportunity for a truly grand experiment. Alas, you don't have the time, and if you're truly honest, the skill to do much with this research opportunity. It would certainly make a Shaper's name in the literature, though. "I wish to learn more of this island. When and why was it abandoned?" you ask. "I deal with the now and the future. I leave it to others to worry about that past. You should talk to Learned Pinner. He points to the northwest. "She loves your kind more than is safe. She will gladly share all of her limited knowledge with you. "I would like to help you, Shaper. But we are a trading people, and we require your help as well. There are ways you can assist us. Sometime, you should speak with me of the dangers we face." "What dangers do you mean?" You saw the rogue fyora outside the quarantine, but everything you've seen since passing the gate has been peaceful. "Hunger. Cold. Rogue creations. All of the many perils you Shapers abandoned us to." He pauses for a moment, thinking. Then Khobar says, "But you know something? We serviles are not as foolish as you think. We can plan, and we can trade. I can't help but notice that you are lacking supplies. If you would use some of your awesome Shaper power to aid us instead of crush us, I could provide you with useful goods. A fair trade. Does that appeal to you?" The sarcasm doesn't -- when did serviles master sarcasm? -- but you do need supplies. Moreover, exterminating rogues is just, even if you're exterminating some at the behest of others. "I will trade with you. What do you want?" "The main road to the east passes south of Watchhill. It is the road to the fortress of Ellhrah, leader of the Awakened. And, recently, almost overnight the area has become infested with rogues. We suspect that something or someone is creating them. There are too many there to be accounted for by random migration. Go there and remove the source, and we will pay you." If something is creating them... It must be a Shaper. But why would a Shaper be hiding away instead of seizing control of these serviles? Baffling. Still, Khobar's information represents hope. "I'll take a look," you say, then add, "if I have time." It doesn't do to appear too eager. "I was stranded here because a large ship destroyed my craft. Who might do such a thing?" Besides the Takers, but you doubt a group of mad, rogue serviles has the ability to field such a huge ship. "I do not know. I can't believe that anyone would attack a Shaper in such an open and foolish way. Only a mad one would attract the wrath of the Shapers. In this, I wish I could help you. Such provocations cannot be good for anyone. Not even the wild serviles of Kazg would do such a thing, I suspect. I do not think you will find the answer to that question here." You leave Khobar with your head spinning with all sorts of new information and thoughts. You are exhausted, but the reality of independent serviles has you too buzzing with fear and curiosity to sleep right away. You wander the village instead. Not far from the hall, another extraordinarily odd servile approaches you. This servile woman looks up at you with interest. There is not so much of the usual awe and fear in her eyes. She looks at you as she does any other servile. It is very strange. She says, "I am Sencia. Sencia of the Awakened. I welcome you to our humble home, Shaper." "You serviles all live here?" you ask. "All of us of Vakkiri live in these old buildings. Many of us live in these barracks, and others, those of rank and stature, live in the private homes. I, however, choose to live here." She indicates the barracks you've left behind. "I like to be close to my fellow serviles." Of course. That was how serviles were shaped to be. "You serviles speak very well. Who taught you to speak like that?" Sencia looks slightly offended by the question. "Who taught us? We did. After the Shapers left our isle, we knew how they spoke, and we started to speak that way ourselves. We know that Shapers think very little of us. That is why I became one of the Awakened. Some of us, though, do not speak as well, and do not have such aspirations." "Who doesn't speak well?" You decide not to point out that Sencia is performing the same kind of pointless judgement humans do by being prejudiced against a fellow servile for its manner of speaking. "Do not give too much weight to what Clakkit says, or how he speaks. He is, well, he is one of us. But he is foolish, and he speaks foolishness. Do not judge me worse because of him." "You said that you were of the Awakened," you say, redirecting her. "Tell me more?" "We are a sect of serviles, led by the mighty Ellhrah, who believe that we serviles must stand up for ourselves, be proud, claim our intelligence and our birthright, and look to you Shapers as our equals. We know that many of you Shapers will not approve of this. We will take the consequences for this. If you would like to learn more, you should speak with Ellhrah." No matter what, no Shaper will ever look at a servile and see an equal. Even putting aside that your people created them, serviles have no power. They have no magic and no ability to Shape. Shapers don't even regard ordinary people as equals; serviles certainly won't receive that honor. "Tell me about Ellhrah." The ringleader of the Awakened is surely a rogue worth understanding. You know you'll have to meet him. Foreknowledge is power. "He is founder of the Awakened. He is our creator. He is old now, and he was the first one to stand up and tell us that we should look out for ourselves. He said that you Shapers have abandoned us, and that made us free. You should speak with him. He lives to the east, in the fortress past Watchhill." Sencia speaks of Ellhrah as though he shaped the Awakened. It's almost disturbing, but you're starting to be numb to these rogues' bizarre reasoning. "And what is your job in Vakkiri?" you ask. "Ellhrah asked me to stay here and look after the serviles here, to guide them. They are of the Awakened, but sometimes they return to their weak, old, Shaper.worshipping ways. Usually, it is simple, but sometimes there are difficulties." "Are you having difficulties now?" Sencia sighs. "I suspect that there is a Taker spy in this village. The Takers are a dangerous rogue sect to the east, determined to foment rebellion against the Shapers. An ugly, pointless war. Sometimes, they attempt to stir up trouble here. If you found the spy and brought him to my attention, the Awakened would thank you." More rumors about these Takers. It's amusing to hear these rogues describe other rogues as somehow more wrong. "I'll let you know if I see anything," you say, and you both know that won't happen.  This servile is as muscular as a thahd. She is a massive creature, all the more remarkable when you consider that serviles were not made for feats of strength. She notices how surprised you are by her physique. "I am Brodus. I am the Vakkiri Blade. I defend the serviles here from all threats." She puts extra emphasis on the 'all.’ "If you mean us peace, I welcome you on behalf of myself and the Awakened." "You are a Blade?" You notice that Brodus wears a massive steel sword at her side. It probably belonged to a Guardian once. It's in beautiful condition. "What does that mean?" "It means that I defend the serviles here from all threats. I am the leader of the guard, and the first to fight. And, with all the threats we have faced recently, I am kept very busy." "What sort of threats do you face?" "There are the rogue creations. They are all around. They appeared recently, mysteriously, and they plague us. Leader Khobar can tell you more about them, if you are interested. There are also the bandits. They are extra weight in a load too heavy to bear." Bandits? Now you're very interested. Come to think of it, the servile cook had mentioned brigands. "I can help you with your struggles." "We hoped that, when you Shapers returned, you could help us. But do not think your help will make us willingly return to servitude," Brodus says. "There is a tribe of rogue servile bandits to the north. They are strong fighters, and cunning. They raid us and take our food and weapons and wealth. They do not kill, but they take our food. This, we do not need. End their raids. If you have to kill them all to do it, so much the better. I can't spare the casualties, but you have the powers of a Shaper. You should be able to destroy them with no difficulties." You smile, not very reassuringly. Brodus seems to reevaluate whether she is actually pleased by the idea of unleashing a Shaper on fellow serviles, even thieves. "You defend against all threats? Even me?" "I do not believe that you wish to threaten us. I am not some Taker, to believe that the Shapers are always evil. But be warned, if you threaten us, your powers will not dissuade us from acting against you." "You said you're an Awakened. Tell me about it," you say. Clearly they believe themselves to be equal to the Shapers. Each answer has added some detail to the portrait of what these serviles believe themselves to be, the story that they've told themselves during your people's long absence. "I should not. I believe it with all my heart, but that doesn't mean that I am a good teacher of it." She thinks. "Talk to Sencia. She is the best among us at explaining the path," Brodus says. There's nothing else to say. The other serviles working just outside the hall are too awed or afraid to say anything useful to you. They're cautious and shy -- they still don't know what to expect from a Shaper. You haven't killed them all yet, nor could you, but they don't know that. You walk east and find quiet pastures. There is a small servile girl here, standing in the middle of what looks like a meeting place for the serviles. She has a stick in her hand, and she is watching a few fat ornks. She looks up at you curiously as you approach. She doesn't seem to have any idea who or what you are. She says, "Hello, stranger! I am Lietz." "Are you watching these ornks?" "Yes. They keep me back here so that I don't play too close to where monsters are. And they make me watch the ornks so I don't get bored," Lietz says. You look at the creations' tusks. "Aren't the ornks dangerous?" She whacks one with her stick. It makes an annoyed mooing noise and shuffles away. "Not to me." Lietz neglects her ornk—watching duties, concentrating instead on staring at you. You raise your eyebrows, not that she can really see your face beyond your hood. "Do you know what I am?" She frowns. "Hmm. I don't know. But I haven't had much learning yet. I'm sorry." "I am a Shaper," you say. You can't resist what comes out of your mouth next. "We Shapers see and know everything." She suddenly looks extremely nervous. "That's really... uhh... interesting." Something is clearly worrying her. As you watch her minute tics, you're struck by a bolt of inspiration. "I am looking for a stolen knife. But I don't think it was stolen. I think it was just lost, and I'll find it on the ground any minute now." You turn around and pretend to look at something. You turn back. Sure enough, there is a sharp steel knife on the ground. Lietz continues to tend to her ornks as if nothing has happened.  You pick it up. Sure enough, it's a high quality, Shaper-made steel blade. You walk north through the meeting area and find more old, Shaper buildings, as well as another nosy servile. This rough, dirty servile walks boldly right up to you. "I Clakkit. I glad see. Me know thing." This is the sort of speech you have come to expect from serviles. This is how they usually talk. "Why don't you talk like the other serviles?" you ask, curious. "I smart like them. I no dumb. I no talk Shaper. I no talk like you. I servile talk. Choice." "What sort of things do you know?" "I travel. Listen. Talk. Learn lots. I want help. I know what servile think of you. I know you crime if you crime. I know secrets." "What do the serviles think of me?" "Servile have little hope. Listen careful what you say and maybe think you maybe want let servile be little free." Bemused, you ask, "What sort of crimes have I committed?" You did pick up an apple earlier that didn't strictly belong to you. "I know that servile not know about you. They think you act like big clumsy Shaper but may not be all dangerous, so we wait and see." You aren't sure how to parse that, but it seems like you don't have to worry about the Vakkiri serviles too much for the time being. "What sort of secrets do you know?" "You ask. I talk." Of course it couldn't be that easy. Clakkit seems smug. "Where can I find a boat?" That's really the only important question. "Leader Khobar. He point right way," Clakkit says. This is useless. Khobar could only tell you to speak with Ellhrah and Pinner. If they don't have boats, there's no point. You sigh. "Why was this island Barred? And my craft was attacked. Who did it?" Somehow you don't believe Clakkit knows as much as he thinks he does. "Learned Pinner. He point where you go learn secret. There sinister outsiders on this isle. That what l know. Know no more than that. But secrets answered to east." Pinner, Khobar, and Ellhrah. Of them, you've already spoken to Khobar, and he wants you to slay rogues before he offers any help. Perhaps he was right; perhaps you will like the Obeyers of Pentil much more than these mercantile Awakened in Vakkiri. You wonder what Clakkit is getting in exchange for offering you information. "You know, Sencia said that I should ignore you." The little jab is small punishment for irritating you, but you don't doubt that it will get under Clakkit's skin. "Sencia think she all smart. But there many way be smart. I watch and listen. And this I know: Sencia need listen more. Her talk make her no listen," Clakkit says, as smug as ever. You've already given into heading east; now it's just a matter of time. Secrets and outsiders... What kind of outsiders would be on a Barred island? Perhaps it has to do with the ship that attacked you.  You find a servile-run shop in one of the restored ruins. You are accustomed to seeing expressions of greed and cunning in the eyes of humans. To see such entrepreneurial zeal in the eyes of a servile is highly unnerving. It is not what you expected at all. The servile walks up to you eagerly. Creator or no creator, this servile wants to make a trade. "Welcome, Shaper. I am Coale. Welcome to my trading post. I exchange goods with sentient beings all over Sucia Isle." "I have never met a servile shopkeeper before," you say, perusing the wares in their orderly piles on the floor. "Well, in the absence of the Shapers, we have had to fend for ourselves. And that means growing and making what we need to survive. And that means trade. I deal in both servile-made goods and Shaper artifacts. I know nothing about why the Shapers left us but, thankfully, they left much behind." "You trade with other servile settlements on Sucia?" That surprises you. The way the other serviles spoke, you thought that Vakkiri had little contact with the other sects. "Yes, I had contacts in Pentil and even Kazg. But there have been many rogue creations wandering about. So I have lost contact with them. If you ever meet serviles named Pixley and Arth, or find out what I happened to them, please let me know. I have plenty of supplies, and | gladly pay for useful information."  This is the shop screen. Prices are determined by your relationship with the shopkeeper's faction, how much coin the shop has left, and occasionally by completing certain quests. For example, if you find Inerny's knife and return it to her, part of your reward is that she'll permanently lower her prices for you - that's a 50% discount! ...From 2 coins per item to 1 coin. The fact of the matter is that I'll rarely buy anything from shops. Their main use is offloading vendor trash so you can rack up coins to spend at trainers. Otherwise, you might find yourself buying some rarer ammo or crystal types, or perhaps some living tools, but generally you won't buy equipment, food, or consumables. You're broke and you've always been parsimonious at best, so after offloading some of the Shaper-made goods you collected along the way, you bid Coale farewell and continue exploring Vakkiri. There are plenty of small dwellings tucked away among the trees. In one of these you find a lone servile. You wonder what made him important enough to have his own private dwelling. This short, pale servile is clean and quiet, but he doesn't look like he has been out of this building for some time. He says, "Welcome, Shaper. I am Nabb. I have been waiting for you to come see me." You're taken aback a little. No one has mentioned his name. "What are you doing back here?" "I have been waiting for you to come back here and see me," Nabb says. "I am giving much and risking much to speak with you and say what I have to say. I act without instructions from my sect because I believe it is worth the risk. I am of the Takers. I am a spy here, from the village of Kazg. I have come to see what the Awakeners are doing. I tell you this because we wish your alliance. Now, I only wait to see what you will do. I will risk my life to remain here and see if you can help the Takers. Do not listen to the lies of the Awakened and the Obeyers. Do not throw in your lot with them until you have been to Kazg and seen truth." A Shaper would never roll her eyes, so you don't, either. This is the Taker spy Sencia wants to find. He doesn't seem as rabid as the Awakened serviles described, but you find it funny that he's willing to out himself to you for no reason. He must be suicidal. He certainly isn't threatening, though, so you choose to humor him. "Tell me about the Takers." "The Awakened here are on the right track, but we feel that there is no hope of true freedom and happiness for the servile race until we totally shed the influence of your kind." Nabb glances past you, clearly anxious, but continues. "We will accept the support of your kind, though one day we must leave you behind. We hope you will help us. With you and our other allies, we may break free of the Shaper fist. We will do anything to bring this about." "Who are your other allies?" Perhaps Clakkit really did share a useful tidbit with you. Shapers wouldn't aid the Takers... Unless perhaps they had a similar idea for research as you. But they wouldn't be in a Barred place to begin with. "I am forbidden to say. I can't say anything about it. If I do, I will be punished harshly. Suffice it to say that there are powerful forces on this isle, and we are linked with them. Forces that may make even the Shapers tremble. Join us, help us, and you may share in those powers too." This is some of the most hilarious bullshit you've ever heard. "All right, Nabb. What sort of help do you want?" "East of here, you can find the leader of the Awakened. His name is Ellhrah. He is powerful and smart. With his leadership, the Awakened may control all of Sucia. He is also well protected, but you are a Shaper. If you kill him, you will have the true gratitude of the Takers. If you do, we will see to it that you can draw from the true power we have uncovered. Whatever happens to me, this offer will still be open." "What will happen when Ellhrah is slain?" you ask. You're not sure if you're interested in taking on an assassination. The Takers sound more reasonable than the Awakened painted them as, but they are still rogues, and you can't commit yourself to rogues. Unless you were to play both sides against the middle. You ponder this as Nabb speaks. "I would not return here. The wrath of the serviles here will be considerable. Instead, go east to Kazg. There, we will welcome you, and we will help you contact our allies, the ones with the incredible power." "I see... That's all for now. Thanks." You follow a looping path back south to the kitchen and barracks. Inside, Inerny glances up to welcome you, but doesn't stop her constant labor. "I found your lost dagger," you say, and hand it over. It's of Shaper make, and probably more rightfully yours than a creation's, but you don't have much use for a knife. Inerny takes the dagger eagerly. "I thank you, Shaper! I am surprised that you would be so kind! Many of us had our doubts. If you ever need food, come to me. I'll give it to you cheaper than anyone else." Your wanderings take you to the west side of Vakkiri village, where you detect the signature smell of alchemy. Curious, you walk into a building with a shabby shingle that reads "APOTHECARY."  This servile's robe has been heavily stained. And, in places, dissolved. He is surrounded by the tools he uses to make useful potions and powders. Even for this village, this is odd. These sort of magical workings are reserved for Shapers alone. The servile bows to you. He doesn't seem ashamed or worried. He says, "Welcome, Shaper. Welcome at last. I am Ham. Welcome to my home." "You know how to make potions? How?" You stare at his atelier and the wares laid out on a long, low table. "Well, I am glad you asked. When you Shapers left, you left behind many things. This was long ago. We have had many years to study your writings and artifacts. We had no choice. It was a matter of survival, after all," Ham says. Grudgingly, you say, "You should be proud to have achieved so much." Ham beams with pride. "I am so grateful that you think so! Though I am Awakened, I still have a great deal of respect and admiration for your kind. Thank you for that respect." "Where do you find our artifacts?" "Why, they're all over.” Ham points to the box in the corner. "I found that in some ruins recently, but I can't get the lock open." He thinks. "We Awakened believe in fair trades. If you can find a way to get that box open, l would gladly pay you for your time. I'm sure you could use more supplies."  You inspect Ham's mystery box, but the way to open it eludes you for the time being. With nothing else to do here, you head north to look for Learned Pinner.  You meet a very old servile, one of the oldest you've ever seen. They are made to live for a very long time, and this one is definitely trying to set a record. She is stooped and withered. She must be well over a hundred. When she sees you, she has to exert a great effort to keep from breaking down. She is clearly overwhelmed with emotion. She stares up at you with awe, as if her god has stepped down to earth to face her. Maybe it has. With a trembling voice, she says, "Welcome, Shaper. I am Learned Pinner. Welcome to my home. Welcome back, at last." You acknowledge her greeting with a nod. It's still more respectful than most of the creations' words here so far. This is more like the proper awe you expect from serviles. "Why do you have the word 'Learned' before your name?" you ask. "It is a mark of respect for my people. I have been alive for many, many years, and I know much history. I will share it with you if you want. Your kind has been away for very long." You decide to take Learned Pinner at her word. "Why is Sucia Island Barred? Why was it abandoned?" "'We do not know. Your kind left two centuries behind. They left behind us serviles. They did not tell us why they left. I have an idea though, of where you might get a clue of why the isle was abandoned." "Tell me more. Where should I look?" "To the north of here, there is a large ruin. I think it was once a school, where your kind learned their arts. Such a place would have had a servant mind, and that mind might have been told more of why Sucia was abandoned. Go there and see if you can learn anything from the servant mind. Be careful, though. There are rogue creations in there. If there weren't, I could have gone and looked myself," Pinner says. Part of you suspects that this is either a trap or a way for the Vakkiri serviles to get you to clear out rogues and competitors for you, but your choices are limited. You can simply head east to Pentil, or you can take the time to learn more about why Sucia is a forbidden land and perhaps find more of those canisters. Learned Pinner watches you carefully, eager to see what she can do to assist you. Sometimes, she looks around the ruins about her, self-conscious about their crumbling condition. "Why is everyone so in awe of me?" you ask. Even Learned Pinner has that look, despite ostensibly being one of these very independently minded Awakened. She seems confused. "You are one of our creators. You made us serviles, and you can make us disappear. All we have and are, we owe to you. Your disappearance has been difficult for us, and not all of us know how we should treat you." That's almost gratifying to hear. "Well, it looks like you are doing very well for yourselves here. I have no plans to interfere." Really, you just want a damned boat. Learned Pinner looks very pleased. "I am sure many here will be relieved to see it. For some, your arrival has been the cause of fear. In addition to love, of course. You are very kind." Everyone keeps saying that. "I have found some very strange artifacts on this island. Do you know anything about them?" "I think you mean the canisters? The large glass cylinders with the glowing matter inside? I have some of the fragments of them in a back room. They were created by the Shapers here before they left." "What are they for?" you ask. "I have never seen one before." Perhaps you shouldn't have omitted that, but Learned Pinner's almost worshipful manner doesn't change. "We know that the Shapers made them here on this island. We serviles do not use them. To do so kills us instantly. We tend to fear your Shaper creations. We don't do anything with them." "I have used one. It changed me. It made me more powerful. Are they dangerous?" "To Shapers?" Learned Pinner shakes her head. "I do not know. I see nothing unusual about you. If you use more of them, I can look at you and see if I see a change." Another dead end. And though you know it's hopeless, you ask her about boats anyway. As expected, Learned Pinner knows nothing about boats. She suggests that you speak to Leader Khobar, and that is the end of that. "Who lives on this island?" "We serviles occupy most of this island now. Our history is not an interesting one. We live. We grow our crops. It took many years and many great losses to learn how to live for ourselves. But we managed," she says. "Lately, though, we have been joined on this isle by many rogue creations. We don't know where they came from, but they make our lives very difficult and dangerous. Still, we are surviving." With Learned Pinner's blessing, you investigate the rest of the Shaper hall. Pinner has her own modest possessions stashed away in one corner, near a trio of hefty, ancient books chained to equally ancient pedestals. Game Text posted:This is an old Shaper book. The serviles have very reverently placed it here and taken care of it for many years. The mere fact that it belonged to the Shapers makes it incredibly valuable to them. There's little else here for you, so you leave Learned Pinner behind. Perhaps you will take a look at that abandoned Shaper school. They might have left behind some knowledge that will help you make your way off of Sucia Island. You are supposed to be heading to one such school now... If only. You stumble upon a sizeable dwelling near the old Shaper hall. You had not thought that the Shapers had made serviles with the capability to be this overweight. Maybe this breed of servile is different. Either way, this servile really fills out her robe. When she bows to you, you notice that she wears gold rings on her fingers and a necklace around her neck. Clearly, some serviles are wealthier than others. "Welcome, Shaper," she says. "I am called Dreet of Vakkiri, recently of Pentil." You wonder if she is an Obeyer. "You are wealthy?" you ask, looking at her gaudy jewelry. The styles are foreign to you. "What is wealth? None of us serviles are truly wealthy. All we have is what we can scavenge and what we grow. But, in the sense that l have more goods to trade for things I want, I suppose I am wealthy." "What sort of things do you own?" It's a rude, even presumptuous thing to ask another person, but regardless of her pretenses, Dreet is a servile. Anyway, she doesn't seem to mind. She points at the door in the east wall. "Well, there is an artifact back there that we serviles can't use. It would kill us. But I suspect that it would be useful to you. For three hundred pieces of gold, l would unlock the door for you." Three hundred? You have barely half that. You think about demanding that she unlock the door, but... Brodus's fine sword gleams in your mind's eye. "I'm not interested," you say, though you desperately are. "Fair enough. It's not going anywhere." She idly polishes her rings against the lapel of her robe. You're ready to change the subject. "You're from Pentil?" "Up until recently. Then I came here. I wished to join the Awakened. I was tired of the serviles of Pentil and their Obeyer gibberish. We were made to serve, but we will do so no longer," Dreet says. "Tell me about the Obeyers." "They believe that you Shapers are their true masters and that, to be happy, they must follow and obey you in all things. I came here to claim fealty to the Awakened. We believe that we must rise and face you Shapers as equals. We know that there is risk in this path, but we also know that it is what we must do." "You belong to the Awakened now?" You briefly wonder what changed Dreet's mind. "Yes. If you wish to learn more of the Awakened, find Sencia. She can teach you." Every one of these damned serviles tells you to go talk to another one, as though it's you and not they who should be trudging around the village. "You don't wish to serve. Why are you still called serviles?" You expected Dreet to be irritated, but she answers with thoughtful sincerity. "It was a difficult decision. It is our name. We did not know whether we should keep it. Finally, we did. It reminds us of who we are and where we came from. But we on this isle? We will not be servants again." "That's all for now. Thank you," you say. It's been a long day and your head is starting to throb. You leave Dreet's home. Sleeping in one of these patched ruins isn't very appealing, but neither is sleeping outside in the open. You return to the Shapers' hall. You will not lower yourself to sleeping in the barracks. Pinner can hardly refuse you the hospitality of a Shaper ruin, and though she's embarrassed at the place's condition, she is also overjoyed to host the first Shaper the island has seen in over a hundred years. The weight of everything you've seen and done today hangs over your head, vast and dark. You've parleyed with rogue serviles and battled rogue fyora, learned Shaping, battle magic, and healing from strange canisters, and begun to suss out some of the mystery of Sucia Island. In the morning, you have much more to do. You think you'll look around that old school for starters... 
POOL IS CLOSED fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Aug 20, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2016 23:37
|
|
|
Oh, this looks like fun. My history with RPGs tends towards the Might-and-Magic style dungeon crawler, so these more X-Com-looking RPGs are interesting to watch unfold.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 03:58
|
|
|
POOL IS CLOSED posted:Geneforge is such a cool series and I was glad to learn that Vogel plans to remake it, since previous discussion made remakes of this series sound vanishingly unlikely. Vogel's said he's slowing down (a combo of age, health, and tech learning curve factors), but I really hope he carries through on a remake. Last I saw, he's in the process of looking for a new engine that will meet his dev needs. Hopefully he finds what he's looking for. Even though I do boring commercial software instead of fun creative software, I still love his blog. It's nice to hear insight from someone who's been around the block a few times and is able to hold on to the niche he's carved out. And yes, I'm playing as a shaper. And I've found some basic strategic direction has made the game much easier than the last time I tried it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 04:18
|
|
|
IN WHICH I ABUSE THE QUOTE BUTTONberryjon posted:Good Luck!  Don't scare me like that. I've played through this whole series! I'm ready! Right?placid saviour posted:This looks interesting. I'll be following and rooting for you! Pace yourself if the game is content-heavy but mechanically archaic; we don't want you to burn out, now. This whole series is super content-heavy. Mid-game will probably become a slog as combat ramps up but Solution's power curve goes the wrong way. (At least that's been my experience thanks to decisions I made in previous runs. We'll see if I shake off my RPG conditioning.) The Vosgian Beast posted:Name at least one Fyora Charmander I've named the current group, but that didn't happen until after this batch of screenshots was taken. We should be able to manage a Charmander soon! PurpleXVI posted:I kept reading "Barred Island" as "Barrel Island." It lacked a bit of the dramatic oomph it was intended, that way. Not sure I'd want to be on a barrel island either, not unless it was delicious hooch. The situation does lose some of its dreadfulness with that read, though, you're right. ManxomeBromide posted:Oh, this looks like fun. My history with RPGs tends towards the Might-and-Magic style dungeon crawler, so these more X-Com-looking RPGs are interesting to watch unfold. If you didn't check it out, you might also like the Avernum: Escape from the Pit LP linked in the OP! That game is party-based, though much like Geneforge, Vogel doesn't give your party explicit personalities. TooMuchAbstraction did a great job. Actually, berryjon has done an LP for its predecessor, Exile: Escape from the Pit. It's up on the LP Archive and actually got me to check out Vogel's older games after I finished playing Avadon 1. idhrendur posted:Even though I do boring commercial software instead of fun creative software, I still love his blog. It's nice to hear insight from someone who's been around the block a few times and is able to hold on to the niche he's carved out. I think a walkthrough is indispensable for this game, even on repeat playthroughs. But yeah, Vogel's blog is fascinating and I super highly recommend it to the rest of you! Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to shine a spotlight on as we go. I'm trying to show off all the story content, but I do want to show off as much of everything else as I can.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 04:40
|
|
|
POOL IS CLOSED posted:
I just don't want to see you burn out. Geneforge isn't the most LP friendly game, and if you look at the previous attempts, they rarely get past the next area or two.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 04:53
|
|
|
Can I just say that I love the way you are approaching the setting? It would be easy to have your character be like "Oh man, you guys are slaves and we treat you like poo poo, that is super bad", but that's really not what any of the possible characters initial reactions should be. I really should get back to my playthrough, even if I need to cheat some better stats to finish it. I don't want to move on to the next game until I've finished this one.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 05:07
|
|
|
Glad to see someone else has taken up the torch to tackle an LP of this game. I burnt out pretty quickly but that was mainly because I was about to start another university degree and suddenly found myself with no time to complete it. That and uploading all them screenshots was starting to get to me.  Right now I'm just trying to finish Geneforge 2 for once, it's a lot harder than this one in my opinion. But I do love this game. Lot of upward momentum playing as a Shaper for sure. If you play the stats game well enough you'll find yourself pretty unstoppable. That being said, good luck with that one area. You know the one I mean. Never been able to pull it off myself.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 06:10
|
|
|
Will there be voting on which faction to be friends with? Because on the one hand, some options are more reasonable than others, on the other hand, when I played, I picked those reasonable options, so I'd be curious to see the fallout from the more outlandish ones.  I also couldn't ever commit to a PURE Shaper. I always picked up some support and combat magic along the side. Because some of the support spells are basically necessary to take your Creations up to the level of power needed to get through later parts of the game.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 07:17
|
|
|
POOL IS CLOSED posted:
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 09:31
|
|
|
Ah! Thanks! I'm using Capture2Text and sometimes I miss the weirdness. Editing in corrections. eta: It is a pretty sprawling game. I can't promise that I won't burn out, but I do have another update and a half ready to rock, so perhaps I'll move the average another step or two ahead at least. Incremental progress! Geneforge 2 really is harder, but I suppose I won't get into that for now. If I manage to LP it, then I can let everyone sample my tears about the difficulty spike. RickVoid posted:Can I just say that I love the way you are approaching the setting? It would be easy to have your character be like "Oh man, you guys are slaves and we treat you like poo poo, that is super bad", but that's really not what any of the possible characters initial reactions should be. Thanks! I want our proxy's decisions to feel natural, and any factional viewpoints we adopt to really feel weighty and correct. If you're struggling with a playthrough, my recommendation is to really think about what one or two elements of combat truly appeal to you, and then build based on those alone. The game is pretty parsimonious with points, and getting enough coin to train every trainable skill up is probably not realistically feasible without cheats. I cleared every zone in Geneforge 1 with a suboptimal Shaper on my first playthrough. It is doable, but maybe not sane, and certainly not necessary. PurpleXVI posted:Will there be voting on which faction to be friends with? Because on the one hand, some options are more reasonable than others, on the other hand, when I played, I picked those reasonable options, so I'd be curious to see the fallout from the more outlandish ones. I'll gladly open up voting on big decisions like this. I do want to show as much as I can, so faction endings are more a matter of time than anything. Still, if you want to maximize your chances of seeing a particular route...  If nobody votes, I do have a filthy, scheming plan. I'll take the temp of the thread at the end of the next update to see which way you all skew.Support magic seems absolutely necessary for a Shaper. Mass blessings like war blessing have too much synergy with a creation-heavy party. I usually also dip into mental magic (I love the Unlock spell and will probably pop every lock in the game) and healing (just enough to prevent party wipes in particularly tough battles). That said, I never level up combat skills and only drop one rank up into Endurance. I also generally focus on one main Shaping type. I'm a fan of Fire Shaping, but this time I think we're going to mostly focus on Magic Shaping.  POOL IS CLOSED fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Nov 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 09:35
|
|
|
Well, things look good so far. Second-person narration is an interesting approach, but considering the nature of the beast (a videogame that already uses second-person extensively) it works pretty well. I'd say you could stand to have a few more screenshots just to break up the text a little, but that's just me. Good luck with the LP!
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 17:26
|
|
|
The main problem with no Endurance is that you end up save-scumming a good bit later on, because if just one badguy goes: "HANG ON, THERE'S A SHAPER BACK THERE" and decides to whap a fireball or arrow your way, it'll almost certainly one-shot you. Fire Shaping also felt pretty vital, no matter what else I invested in, Fire Shaping creatures always felt like the backbone of my shaped legions... while some creatures just felt terminally useless. I could also never tell if it was better to just roll with RAW NUMBERS or to actually inject quality into my Creations.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 18:32
|
|
|
It's hard to say. Geneforge 1 is really rough in addition to being really difficult, more so than Geneforge 2 imo. You can see where things need the later games' refinement, and it makes it a bit frustrating. Fine games, just very... rough and old-fashioned. Also: I object to calling the sound in the Spiderweb Software games bad, even if they have very little music. They have some really great sound effects, and to dismiss those entirely is a shame. Augh, I think I need to go start up a new game myself, maybe take my "gently caress Shapers" stance further than normal.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 18:59
|
|
|
Everywhere I Go, I Must Kill! Part 1 Your fyora sleeps at your feet all night, ready to defend you from rogue dreams at a snore's notice. You awake from your fitful rest only reluctantly, afraid to discover some fresh new disaster. But all of your belongings appear to be as you left them, and Learned Pinner is just as happy to see you in the morning as she was when you went to sleep. It's time to head north.  I managed to miss an embarrassing number of combat screenshots while playing for this update. I blame my incredible bloodthirst and will do better in future updates. The woods sprawl before you, barely tamed. There are only a few animal paths here. Leader Khobar and Brodus Blade weren't joking -- the Vakkiri serviles have truly been avoiding the northern woods. You can hear the unmistakable trills of rogue fyoras in the undergrowth as well as the distant sounds of heavier creatures blundering around. You only hope that they're nothing you and your single creation can't handle. You head off to the northwest, keeping an eye out for any more rogue serviles. You find a sign designating these the bandit woods. The sign lists a 10 coin toll for all trespassers, payable to one Ghurk. A rogue fyora finds you soon enough. You and your fyora dispatch it without pausing, though the rogue manages to nail you with its fire breath. You prove less resilient than your Shaper-made tunic, which doesn't even have a scorch mark. More fyora emerge from the woods to the northwest. You plunge into a running battle, carefully managing the distance between yourself and the rogues so you don't eat more fireballs before you can fill them with thorns. When it's all said and done, you've accounted for nearly a dozen fyora and even a thahd.  Thahd are huge, humanoid creations made for heavy lifting and combat. They're simple-minded, but these seem to be patrolling. Someone must be directing them. Perhaps they're trying to keep the serviles away from something. You're determined to meet the rogues' master. Perhaps they didn't expect another Shaper on the island, and so didn't provide adequate instructions to avoid attacking one. You quickly create another fyora, using the pattern the canister burned into your being. It blinks up at you, eager to obey your every command. Just as a creation should regard a Shaper. Game Text posted:There is a massive ruin to the west. Fortunately, the entrance hasn't caved in. You could explore inside. However, as you watch, another rogue fyora wanders out of the tunnel. The ruins are probably infested with the creatures.  You clear out more patrolling fyoras and thahds, glad you made an extra fyora to defend you. Some of the thahds carried rings, daggers, and coins, but the thahds were by and large too stupid to use the daggers or wear the rings, and no thahd has ever been made intelligent enough to count, let alone understand currency. Instead of heading into the ruined school, you decide to take a look at the eastern part of the woods, where many of the thahds seem to come from. Soon you find a sign along a narrow path leading into a thicket. Game Text posted:The sign has an arrow pointing east and these words: Beware! You weigh your odds against armed serviles bent on banditry and decide not to chance it for now. North is another clearing with a sign. The serviles' evident love of signs strikes you as a little odd, but it is somewhat useful. Game Text posted:The sign says: You'll need more supplies before you chance a wasteland. The distant, brown hills look hazy from here. You don't spy out a single speck of blue or green. This island is more unpleasant with each new discovery. The eastern woods aren't all signs and thahds, though. Game Text posted:There is an old, ruined Shaper building here. The front door died years ago, so you will be able to enter easily.  Another rogue fyora has made its nest in the ruin. You clear it out and investigate the chests, but for now you can't open them. It's disappointing. Solution still has a ways to go with her Mechanical skill and hasn't yet learned how to magically unlock things. That means more backtracking for me later, but I'll take care of that kind of thing offscreen. You head south, driven by hunger. The tiny, sour pears you packed this morning have done nothing to soothe your stomach, and you need a break after exterminating so many rogues.  Three serviles guard a passage north into the woods. They must have emerged when one of the other rogues spotted you investigating. One of the serviles approaches. This aging servile has been left bent and scarred by his years fending for himself in these woods. However, he still holds his blade with a steady hand, and he can still look you straight in the eye. He is trying to hide his fear, but it is still clear to you. Even a long, harsh life could not erase in him the servile's inbred terror of the Shapers. However, he is able to conquer his fear enough to speak. "Welcome to our woods, Shaper. Though you are of your lofty race, you still must pay the toll to pass. Ten coins or you must return the way you came." We have several options here. We can pay, we can walk away, we can try reasoning with the servile, we can try intimidating him, or we can tell him he should move on. Some of these options rely on your leadership score. You put on your best expression of haughty indifference. You don't want to end up stabbed to death, and you don't want this rogue to get any bright ideas, either. "Why do you live out here in the woods?" you ask in your most bored tones. Your fyoras shift at your side, emitting cute squeaks of bloodlust. The other two serviles watch nervously from behind the old one. "'It is what we choose. We find that life is easier if we live out here and take food from Vakkiri. It is less work than toiling in the fields growing it." You decide this rogue servile must be Ghurk. He's oddly straight-forward about his vocation. "It is a lifestyle we developed ourselves, after much thought and reading of it in old Shaper tomes. We believe it is called 'banditry.' We may be the first servile bandits. We are proud." He might be, but you're disgusted. Servile bandits? They're both rogue and uncivilized. You will not pay, but you're not certain that you can simply walk away at this point, either. The notion to threaten Ghurk and his companions comes to mind. Something like, "If you make one move towards me, servile, I will dissolve your arms and legs with my Shaper powers. You will starve and die. Slowly." But you don't. Maybe you can find a way to deal with the servile bandits without exterminating them for now. "Vakkiri wants you to stop raiding them. Brodus Blade asked for my help. I don't want to kill you. Is there any way you would leave them be?" Ghurk thinks for a while. He looks down at his blade and his scarred arms. Finally, he speaks. "Nobody ask us that before. I think on it. I think this. Vakkiri give us one bag of food every week, and we no raid. We leave them be. You tell Brodus Blade that. We get food, they get peace." The strain of parleying with a Shaper inches his speech patterns back towards Clakkit's. You wonder what he would think about the comparison. The extortionate offer isn't very satisfying, anyway. Who does Ghurk think he is to bargain with a Shaper? You're not going to haggle. "Vakkiri has asked me to destroy you. You had best move on." "Where, Shaper? North? To certain death in rogue wastes? Or west into sea? Or south, into Vakkiri, or east, to death on Pentil blades? Here we stay. We have no choice." You can't think of any way to convince him. The consequences of his banditry are pretty clear -- and you can't blame other serviles for not welcoming him when Shapers wouldn't, either. You shake your head and go back the way you came.   East of Vakkiri is the road to Watchhill, where Ellhrah's fort is supposed to be. You're not sure what to expect from a servile fort. It must be another Shaper ruin; none of the buildings you saw in Vakkiri were of servile make. You're not even sure what a servile designed and built structure would actually look like. The Vakkiri serviles all claimed abandoned Shaper buildings and have done their best to keep them from falling entirely to ruin. In a way, it's a form of sincere dedication to the Shapers. You doubt the Awakened want to hear that, though. You quickly find rogue thahds patrolling the road. Fortunately, they're patrolling one by one. Careful, methodical movement allows you to pick them off one by one without being seen and without any thahds ambushing you from behind. No serviles patrol these roads. You find a sign that reads "Ellhrah's Fort - North," but you pass it by in favor of the main road.  Unfortunately, the widest, clearest road terminates in a dead end in a thick copse of trees. Moving quickly and quietly among them is beyond your skill. You backtrack and head north into paths tromped hard and flat by thick-headed thahd. There's still evidence of undergrowth on some of the paths, so much of this traffic has to be recent activity.  More thahds patrol up here. Your fyoras burn them up swiftly, more efficient than any mundane incinerators at burning up living tissue. Game Text posted:You are at the entrance to an old Shaper watchpost. It is a burrow under a large hill. From the top, Guardians and Agents kept watch over the surrounding lands, looking for rogues and other sources of trouble. For now, you decide it's better to locate Ellhrah's fort than to explore rogue-riddled warrens. The detour past the roadblock isn't entirely safe, though.  Two thahd ambush you in a clearing. Your new fyora takes a savage beating and barely survives long enough for you to heal it. The two creations manage to tear apart one of the thahd despite their injuries.  You carefully keep the fyora between you and the remaining rogue. Ducking a thahd's punches is more excitement than you really like. After you crush the last rogue, you head south. Here you find a few signs of sapient life, though by now you know better than to expect human company.   The entrance to this fort is watched by servile guards. This one is a young male, at the peak of his strength, and wielding an old and dented but still usable sword. He looks at you with the expected fear and uncertainty. "Welcome, Shaper. I wish you well," he says. As is becoming your custom, you greet him by asking questions. "Who lives in this fort?" "This is the home of Ellhrah, founder of the Awakened. He has told us that you are welcome here, and no harm is meant to you as long as no harm is meant to us." "Is there anything I should know about this region?" You've killed your way through miles of it now, but more information on the northern warrens would probably help your chances of clearing the rogues out. "There is a great deal of danger. The woods are full of rogues, and we don't know where they're coming from. If you travel, you should beware." You sigh. "If I wanted to help rid these woods of rogues, where should we start?" "There is a hermit living to the northeast. Her name is Seerula. She was a powerful fighter in Vakkiri before she left. She hates the rogues. She might help you," the guard suggests hopefully. That's a start, at least. "Anything else?" "We know that there are a lot of rogues in a tunneled out hill to the northwest. There are lots of rogues guarding the entrances, but they go out hunting a lot. If you waited outside, you could ambush the guards." He pauses. "They're pretty stupid." You've already killed most of those guards, you suspect, but there may be more. It's worthwhile to be cautious. "I know Vakkiri is to the west. What other settlements are nearby?" "The nearest settlement besides Vakkiri is Pentil. You could get there by going east or north." The other guard is starting to look more openly at you, and you suspect you've exhausted their useful information. You strike off to the east, where you soon find yet another sign. "Thorny Fens - East. Pentil - Farther East." How charming.  I'm not making up this poo poo about the signs. I've probably left out half the signs. This section of the game has signs EVERYWHERE. You decide to take the guard's advice and seek out Seerula. The right track leads you to a small, isolated Shaper ruin. It was probably a small guard shack or perhaps a more hermitic Shaper's refuge before Sucia Island was Barred.  You meet a servile hermit. She is old, her skin is papery, and her robes are tattered. However, she moves with the precision and strength of an old warrior. Her motions seem like they would be more fitting to a Guardian than an aging creation. She looks up at you. "Greetings, Shaper. I am Seerula. I am sure you have a reason for disrupting my privacy. I prefer to keep to myself." "Why do you live out here?" you ask. Serviles were made to crave the company of other serviles, not isolation. "Shaper, I am a private being. I wish for you to respect it. My disagreements with Vakkiri are my own business," Seerula says. Her desire for privacy is almost as alien in a servile as her coldness to one of her creators. "What do you think of all of the rogues around here?" Maybe you can find some common ground with her. Even Brodus Blade, while wary of you, wasn't this standoffish and arrogant. "They disturb my serenity. I would gladly be rid of them, but I am not eager for the danger and the effort." "Why don't you help me get rid of them?" Your suggestion triggers a dainty snort of disbelief. "I came here to avoid contact with others. Even you, Shaper. That would be even worse for me than the rogues," Seerula says. Again, we have another set of choices. They can all influence how other serviles see us. Regardless of what some of the Awakened say about avoiding the Obeyers and the Takers, it's pretty clear that the serviles on Sucia Island have a robust grapevine, because all factions instantly know our attitude towards servile independence and keep a tally on how we act. Here is the choice we don't take: 1. You are a servile. I am a Shaper. I command you to aid me. "If the rogues aren't stopped now, they'll only get stronger," you tell her. She's not impressed. "I will deal with that when that happens." "If you don't get rid of the rogues, Vakkiri will. That means dozens of warriors trudging through your woods, invading your privacy," you say, channeling your most infuriatingly reasonable logic. How could anyone argue with the simple facts? "All right." She sighs heavily and slings a pack of javelins over her shoulder. For an old servile, Seerula is alarmingly well armed. "I am surprised that you have convinced me, but you have. If you wish, I will aid you in your battle against the rogues." "Thank you. Please travel with me for a little while," you say. She wordlessly grabs her weapon and takes your side. You need a Leadership score of 5 to convince Seerula to help you. If she kills something, you won't get XP, but she's a useful damage sink for a character as fragile as Solution. Seerula isn't immortal, either. She can die. I don't recall if she actually drops anything useful -- I suspect not. You won't get XP from her death unless you finish her off. A rogue killing her doesn't count! You can't command Seerula in battle. She follows you at medium range, and her AI controls her in and out of combat much like a creation with less than 2 Intelligence points. She has both a melee attack and a ranged javelin attack. They're quite a lot stronger than what Solution and the fyorafriends have.  Seerula ended up under my combat cursor in this screenshot. Alas, the rest of the shots have her hidden by geometry. I think the AI was loving with me. Fighting with Seerula along proves both helpful and frustrating. She's completely deaf to your commands and suggestions, but utterly fierce in a fight. She takes her time covering your trail even though where you really want her is up front. She no doubt knows that, but isn't willing to take any blows meant for you. Still, Seerula is terrifyingly strong and kills a couple thahds outright with her thrown javelins. By the time you reach the warrens, the woods are completely clear of patrolling rogues. Nothing will strike at your backs while you investigate what's going on inside the old watch hill.  The inside is laid out simply enough. You follow the main corridor around, picking up a few old healing pods as you go. They're useful little things packed with magic powder that almost instantly revitalizes wounds. The pods are no good on creations, but perfect for you. What's more, they all seem intact. Game Text posted:You can see two things of great interest in the chamber ahead. First, there is a pool of essence. However, it doesn't look right. It is dark, and viscous, and it puts off an unpleasant vinegar smell. It’s not anything you could use. It's very strange stuff, and not made by Shapers. The text isn't really accurate in my experience. The monster generator here always produces thahds for me. If there's a chance to produce fyora, it might be very slight. I'd honestly rather fight the fyoras...  The next few minutes stretch into what feels like hours. The spawner creature squeezes out thahds every handful of seconds, putting you and your creations to the test. You're caught in a narrow corridor with your fyora in front and Seerula behind. As you direct the fyora in clearing out the spawner's creations, you hear Seerula engage more rogues behind you. She has to fend for herself, as you quickly lose track of her while trying not to be mashed into paste by thahds who've stumbled into a lucky pincer attack against you. The spawner proves alarmingly resilient. It continually regenerates tissue, always managing to avoid the brink of death. However, despite its best efforts, the spawner can't pump out enough thahds to crush you. One of your fyora finishes it off with a fireball. The spawner dies with a disgusting pop of gloppy, oozing flesh that melts into a custardy texture. Despite this victory, your work is unfinished. You hear the echoing stomps of more thahds wandering around the watch hill's halls. Moreover, there's no sign of Seerula. You call out to her, but receive no answer. You have a nagging feeling that somehow the thahds managed to kill her so thoroughly that there's not even a recognizable body. You search among the dead thahds, but there's no sign of her.  Guilt creeps in. Despite her attitude, Seerula obeyed you in the end and followed you to help destroy dangerous rogues. You failed to defend her from them. The best you can do is ensure that no more serviles are killed by rogues. Maybe you can find clues about how this spawner was created and who did it. As far as you know, no Shaper would make such a thing. The secrets of creation are meant for Shapers alone. A creation that can itself create is a dangerous abomination. The shaping of such a thing is so wildly irresponsible that it's insane. You can't imagine what kind of madness would cause anyone to create a creature like this. The thahds and fyoras it made were all utterly feral and almost mindlessly aggressive. There's no use for creations like that. But your investigations yield little more than some old equipment. Whoever put the spawner there didn't leave behind any convenient clues. You clear out the rest of the rogues and discover another canister. This one allows you to create a thahd yourself. As troublesome as they are when rogue, thahds make great bodyguards. You just have to make sure they don't drown during rainstorms. At least you got that much. Your search for Seerula's remains turn up nothing. Half hopeful and half nervous, you comb through the woods and circle back to her hut. Just as you step inside, Seerula surprises you from behind. She seems irritated to see you. "I was looking for you. I'm a Shaper, you know." It sounds almost petulant when you say that aloud. "Why do you have so little respect for me?" "A Shaper who is as stranded on this island as I am. I am Awakened, Shaper. I do not hold you in awe," Seerula replies. What else is there to say? She's correct.   Game Text posted:You enter the Keep of Ellhrah. This is yet another Shaper ruin, undoubtedly a massive barracks. However, the serviles here have done a good job of restoring it. She has nothing else to say to you. The guards here aren't as talkative as the pair outside. You rest for a while and feel rejuvenated enough to try your hand at making a thahd.  Thahds are what some Shapers call meatshields. They're huge, strong, and resilient, but almost impossibly stupid. The thahds would never accomplish in a thousand years what the serviles have done in a century. Of course, thahds are also sterile, so they would have gone extinct on Sucia Island decades ago if not for that spawner. Hopefully there aren't too many more thahds out there, but if there are, you're ready for them. You take your time before seeking out the master of the fort. Ellhrah can wait. You need a better idea of what capabilities the Awakened have before you speak with him. That conversation will be more like a negotiation than you want to admit.   This is the most well-armed and armored of all the serviles you have met so far. He wears a heavy, iron breastplate, and a large blade hangs from his belt. After sizing you up, he says, "I am Swan. I am an Awakened and the commander of the warriors here. I train serviles in the military arts." "What sort of training do you provide?" you ask. More armed serviles who style themselves as fighters... If they were actually any match for an apprentice Shaper, the forest beyond the fort wouldn't have been swarming with rogues. "I teach serviles of the ways of war on Sucia Island. I also know some tricks that might help you, Shaper. Though I am but a servile, I have learned much in my many years of fighting here." You doubt he has much to show you, but you're stretching your diplomatic muscles. They got you into a Shaper apprenticeship; they might help see you off this island, too. "How do serviles fight here?" "Desperately. And with a mix of our own weapons and Shaper artifacts. Some use mundane weapons. Swords and javelins. Some use the living weapons of the Shapers. The batons, which fire thorns. Some serviles have learned how to breed the batons together, and grow the plants which produce the thorns as fruit." That's a little startling. Such projects are the domain of Shapers. Of course, thorn batons aren't sterile like thahds, so Swan's boasting is within the realm of possibility. "And a few use the crystals and wands. They are Shaper artifacts, powerful stones and staves which unleash powerful magic. These are hoarded and only used in great danger, as we can't make more." Thank goodness for that. "Can you teach me?" you ask, bemused. "I'm afraid not. I will only share my deadliest knowledge with my fellow Awakened," Swan says. He watches you carefully, concerned about your response. All of them are. "I am impressed by your ingenuity in learning how to fight for yourselves," you say. You are, but you're also concerned and starting to be a little frightened. "I am glad that you feel that way. I am sure that not all of your brethren will be so tolerant." You don't respond to the implied question. You can't speak for the Shapers, let alone the Council. You're a nobody. Not that Swan or any of these creations need to know that. "Tell me about being Awakened," you say instead. "I can, but I will not. Ellhrah is nearby." Swan points to the south. "I teach about mere weaponry. He is the one who teaches of freedom." "What battles have you had to fight recently?" you ask. You didn't see many signs of fighting during your march through Watchhill, but thahds are stupid enough to blunder into the front doors of a fort. "Of late, our foes have been limitless. There have been the rogues coming out of Watchhill. The roamers on the thorny tens. And, worst of all, Warp the vlish." Swan's concern is palpable. The rogues from Watchhill had probably cut Ellhrah's fort off from Vakkiri, and the fields you saw are nowhere near enough to sustain a population of this size. "Thank you for settling the mystery of the rogues coming out of Watchhill. From now on, we know to watch for those horrible spawner creatures, and to destroy them as soon as possible." "Tell me about the Thorny Fens and Warp." "The fens are east of here, just north of the water. It is a region between here and Pentil, full of roamers. They are particularly cunning. They stalk their prey, waiting until enough additional roamers show up. Then they pounce. "Warp is a vlish." The vlish are particularly intelligent creations, used for communication and reconnaissance. "It lives in a ruin in Crag Valley. It hates us. It has roamer servants, which it sends to harass and ambush us. I have tried to kill it many times. And always it evades me. One day, l fear, I will make a mistake, and it will devour me," Swan says. "Could you help me destroy Warp?" A rogue vlish is a horrifying thought. Vlish can communicate with other creations with exceeding ease and have mental capacities nearly on par with true magic. If you could gain control of Warp... You banish the fleeting fancy from your thoughts. "Ellhrah and I disagree on this issue. He has an item which might help you destroy Warp. But you would have to be very convincing to ever get him to tell you about it," Swan says. Despite your cajoling, he refuses to say any more on the matter than that.  You check out the book on the northern side of the meeting room. Game Text posted:This book is full of speeches describing the beliefs and views of the Awakened. Serviles must meet here to hear sermons about their beliefs.  You head east. This section of the keep is dedicated to commerce. Several merchants have come here to buy and sell wares, both servile-made and Shaper artifacts. One of the merchants has homed in on you. "Greetings, Shaper. It is an honor to meet one of your powerful and wise order. May I interest you in some of my humble wares?" You take the opportunity to offload some of the Shaper-made goods you discovered while clearing out the thahds and the spawner. The jingle of coin is reassuring as you explore the fort further. The refinished flooring ends at a narrow passage in the eastern wall. The merchants have put their stalls well away from this little hallway. Game Text posted:This section of the keep has not yet been restored. The stone floors are still here and still crumbling. Along with the walls. The passages are icy cold. Very odd. The thick frost on the floor indicates that no serviles have been back here for a while.   The cold gets to you before long. Fortunately, the passage extends west, into a central gallery with a fresh, clear reservoir of water.  You meet a quiet, shy servile. She paces back and forth around the pool. When you get close, she says, "Hello. I am Ting." Then she smiles and looks down. "I've been wanting to say something to you." "What do you do here?" you ask. "I cook for the fort. Not for Ellhrah, though. He cooks his own food. He's very nervous about things." "You said that you wanted to say something to me? What?" you ask. "I know something interesting. Something useful that is hidden here," Ting replies. Her vagueness tips you off that this is still more servile intrigue. You gesture for her to go on. "There is a wand hidden at the south end of the fort. Down along corridor, then west, then pasta guard, then past a door. Even if you have no keys, you can get there through the ruined parts of the fort." "What sort of wand?" you ask, cautiously hopeful. "It's a powerful Shaper artifact. It can destroy just about any Shaper creation it's pointed at. Poof! Even Ellhrah and Swan and his guards! Poof!" You start to feel a little excited, but you tamp down on that before your expectations get out of control. "There's a guard?" "Yeah, but he's lazy. He walks into the crumbling corridor by his guardpost to take naps. If you watch him, you can walk by him," Ting says conspiratorially. Of course. All serviles are lazy by nature; that's part of why they require close supervision by Shapers or appointed overseers. "Why are you telling me all this?" "I know you talked to Nabb. I know what he told you to do. I'm to help you." Nabb or one of his Taker friends must have made the run between Vakkiri and the fort while you were investigating the bandit woods. You almost admire the courage it must have taken whatever servile evaded all the rogues in Watchhill. You give Ting a minute shake of your head and move on. You'll take that wand if you can, but you're not interested in involving yourself with servile drama right now, not if you can avoid it.  With that unsettling encounter out of the way, you head towards the center of the fort. It makes sense that that is where the leader of the Awakened would await you -- right there in the center of his power, a spider in the middle of its web. A spider is still just a bug. You meet Ellhrah, servile leader and wise one. He doesn't look exceptional. He is strong and armed, but no more imposing than many you have met here. He is neither old nor scarred. Yes, he is unusual. When he looks at you, he stares you straight in the eye. He is not afraid of you. He knows that the Shapers could destroy him in a minute if they wanted. And yet, he is unafraid. "Welcome, Shaper. Welcome to our home. I am Ellhrah, of the Awakened. Since I heard of your arrival on our isle, I have eagerly awaited your visit. I desire to speak with you." Ellhrah is polite, at least. "I want to know more of the Awakened." You decide not to tell him about Ting and Nabb for now. That kind of information might be useful to you later, if you need to bargain for a boat. "I am glad to hear it. The meaning of my entire life is to tell more of our sect and our beliefs. I am glad that you have come to speak with me before supporting a different sect. I am sure you find that our views are the wisest on Sucia Isle." "What do the Awakened believe?" You've heard from several other serviles, but now you can hear the rebellious words directly from the lips of their leader himself. "We believe that the Shapers created us. However, we also believe that, while we should be grateful, we should no longer be your slaves. We wish to deal with you as intelligent beings, and as equals. We believe in fair trade for goods and services. For anything we give you, we expect fair compensation, and for anything we take from you, we will pay. We believe that we and the Shapers can live together in peace and mutual support. And, most of all, we want peace and dignity," Ellhrah says, utterly composed as he speaks words going against centuries of Shaper conditioning. "I am surprised to hear myself saying it, but your views make sense. I never realized before I came here that you serviles could look after yourselves," you reply. If all serviles are capable of what you've seen so far, they could, perhaps, be nearly as independent as people. Still... Your kind created the serviles. Hearing yourself agree with even an iota of sincerity is shocking. If your new masters heard you now, you'd be sent straight home and probably watched closely for the rest of your natural life. And that's a best case scenario. Ellhrah smiles. "You are the first Shaper one of our kind has ever met. That we could convince you gives me real hope for the future." "I have another question," you admit. "So do we all. What interests you?" Ellhrah seems truly eager to talk to you -- to, in fact, have a dialogue with you. "Why did the Shapers abandon Sucia Isle?" This question nags at you. The land doesn't seem poisoned, and the rogues are weak enough to be defeated by an experienced apprentice. None of the non-servile creations you've encountered so far can reproduce. Even the spawner could only create sterile fyoras and thahds, and only until it ran out of those foul essence ponds. Whatever original creations were here would have died off long ago. Perhaps drayks might survive, but even one of those is unlikely to cause a whole outpost to be Barred. "We know that it was a cruel act, abandoning the serviles the way they did, but we do not know what caused it. Speak with Learned Pinner in Vakkiri. She may be able to help you learn more." On this point you must finally agree with the Awakened. It was cruel of the Shapers to leave the serviles behind, if the reason the island was barred has nothing to do with the serviles themselves. You haven't found anything to prove or disprove that hypothesis. Serviles are fragile -- clearly less fragile than everyone'd always thought, but still -- and sensitive. Leaving them to fend for themselves was a failure of the Shapers' duty to protect and provide for their creations. Even ornks are owed a duty of care. You feel a keen sense of regret and even shame for the actions of those long dead Shapers, the same sour feeling you had when talking to poor, simple Tavit back at the quarantine checkpoint. You hope that whatever has happened here justifies the Shapers' choice to abandon their serviles. Still, Ellhrah has told you nothing you haven't heard already. "I've found many strange canisters on this island. They seem to make me stronger. What are they?" "They are unusual Shaper technology. Serviles can't use them. They kill us instantly. The Shapers made many of them before they abandoned this isle. That is all I know," Ellhrah says. He's telling the truth, you think. At least his story is the same as Learned Pinner's. "I can easily spare time to speak with one of your kind. What else do you want to know, Shaper?" "There is much I would like to learn about this island. Have you been attacked by many rogues lately? What other villages are near here?" "It is impossible to travel around here and not know the answer to your first question. We have faced much turmoil and danger recently. However, since you cleared out Watchhill, we entered and found the remains of that strange creation-spawning creature. We have no idea who might have made such a cruel horror. We hope that you can find them. "As for the other... You have already been to Vakkiri. That is, I feel, the wisest and strongest of the servile outposts. Pentil is to the east. You can get there by traveling east or north from Watchhill. Both routes get you there eventually, though the path to the east is full of dangerous rogues. Pentil is occupied by the Obeyers. They worship your kind, to an extent that upsets me. Farther east is Kazg, home of the Takers. They hate Shapers. Be forewarned." You've already met some Takers. The only faction you haven't encountered yet is the Obeyer village. Or if Clakkit's words are to be taken at face value, there might be a fourth group here, the mysterious strangers. The serviles haven't mentioned any other Shapers, but someone must have put that spawner there if the rogue troubles in Watchhill only started recently. Only a very mad Shaper would make a creation like that spawner. "Can you tell me more about them?" "In Pentil, you will find the Obeyers. They not only want to obey the Shapers, they worship you. The name of our kind is the serviles. But for them, the title truly fits. Farther east are the Takers of Free. They hate your kind. They long for nothing more than to die in a futile war against you. If you visit them, tread very carefully. They are dangerous." All of the Awakened you've met seem to truly hold their Obeyer counterparts in contempt, which only intrigues you more. Loyal serviles should be able to aid you. Perhaps you can even help them leave Sucia Island and return to the fold. As for the Takers... The Awakened seem to want you to think they're all suicidally hostile, but Nabb and Ting have only proposed unwise schemes. They haven't tried to hurt you. What they wish for doesn't sound very different from what the Awakened propose -- independence -- and what's more, they're willing to actually give you something potentially quite valuable in exchange for your support. Unlike the Awakened, who keep sending you around on errands, mopping up rogues despite the way so many of them flaunt weapons and even alchemical goods... You find that you're pursing your lips, so you make a conscious effort to relax your face and present a more open, friendly look. "I wish to join the Awakened. I will support your fight for dignity." Maybe Ellhrah will have read your expression as serious consideration instead of consternation. You wish now more than ever you weren't alone. You have no desire to ally yourself as an equal with any of these serviles. At home, they'd be handling the laundry and spooking at ornk shadows. Here, they're trying to embroil you in political conflicts and occasionally rob you. Ellhrah brightens immediately. He'd clearly hoped for this, but hadn't completely expected it. "Your words and deeds make us feel that you might truly support us. Now, if you perform a bold deed to aid servile independence, we will let you join us and make you one of our own." "How can I help you?" Still more tests. You decide to just consider this preliminary practice for whatever the Shapers will throw at you during your apprenticeship. "What sort of deed do you want done?" "North of here, west of Crag Valley, is another Shaper ruin, this one in worse shape than most. It is full of rogue roamers and an intelligent and evil vlish named Warp. Its ambushes have slain many serviles." Ah, the same creation Swan hates so much. "Warp is controlled by an old but still living servant mind called Control Four. It hates intelligent serviles. It wants to destroy us." As it should. If you can make contact with a loyal servant mind, it might be able to help you plan your escape. "If you can destroy it, we will be much safer. Do this thing, and we will gladly make you one of us." You've finally gotten some valuable intelligence from an Awakened that didn't involve being told to speak to another servile. Still, fighting a strong vlish isn't a task to rush at head on. "It sounds like a very difficult quest. Surely you can give me some assistance?" This is another Leadership check. Ellhrah thinks for a while. "We have a weapon. A Shaper weapon, used only to destroy creations. It is an evil thing. But Warp is a great danger. We can let you use it," Ellhrah says. He hands you a bronze key. Ting told you the truth after all. "The rod you seek is in the old, crumbling chambers south of here. Show this key to the guard to pass. Good luck." "One more thing before I go. I'm looking for a boat," you say. "I want to escape this island." "I can understand your desire, but I can't aid you. I do not know where a boat might be found. You might try searching the villages to the east, but their beliefs are very backward. I can't recommend going there if you can avoid it," Ellhrah says. If the Awakened can't help you find a boat, their usefulness to you is very limited. Ellhrah clearly doesn't want you to head east, but he's not offered you any incentive to help him, either. You pass the barracks and make your way south to pick up Ellhrah's wand. Anything that can give you an extra edge will be a real boon, even if you don't use it do what Ellhrah's asking of you.  The icy corridor is tight and the Shaper statues poking out of the alcoves only make maneuvering a thahd and two fyoras even more difficult. The fyoras bite at the statues' toes and the thahd keeps getting spooked. Eventually you find an automatic door at the other end, which you open.  Living tools are extremely useful. You've improved your tinkering skills since washing up on Sucia Island, but living tools are truly amazing pieces of Shaper technology. You’ve only rarely had the chance to use them before. You slip into the next chamber. There's no guard here, but you do smell decay.  Game Text posted:You find a servant mind. There's no need to try to speak with it. It is clearly dead. Someone struck it with a large, bladed weapon, perhaps twenty or thirty times. Ellhrah didn't mention this. Control Number Four may only be defending itself. You start seriously considering Nabb's proposal to put Ellhrah down. It takes you some time to master yourself, because to your surprise, you're trembling.  You use the canister nearby. The agents therein work their magic on you, soothing your anger and rendering it distant enough to be useful. You won't snuff out Ellhrah and his puny, rogue cult yet. They might still have some use that you haven't yet discovered. The canister whispers the secrets of fyora creation to you. Suddenly you have insight into how you can make your next fyoras stronger, faster, better. You finish investigating the servant mind's chamber. Inside a locked case is a ceramic jar full of a thick, brown fluid. You recognize it. It is a nutrient solution, used to revive aging servant minds. This could be very useful. You keep it. Back in the hall, a servile guard stumbles into you. It takes a supreme effort of will to not have your fyoras roast him after the abomination you've just seen. This guard looks very sleepy, but he wasn't too lazy to not notice you. He looks like he was just napping. "Halt! You're not supposed to be back here! Prove you can be here or go back!" Again, multiple options. 1. All right. I'll head back right away. 3. Ellhrah gave me permission to come back here. (Lie) 4. Well done, servile. You do the Awakened proud with your vigilance. I will commend you to Ellhrah, instead of telling him how you were sleeping at your post. (Lie) "I'm allowed to be here. Look," you say, and flash Ellhrah's key. That plus your surly demeanor persuade the guard that he'd really rather have another nap than deal with you. You pass him by and use the key to unlock another automatic door.  Game Text posted:You recognize the item on the table. It looks a little different now, but you still have no trouble identifying the artifact. You find a third canister here; it grants you the secret of purging poisons and soothing chemical burns. You're finally glad you've come to Ellhrah's fort -- you've seen the true face of the Awakened and you've gotten to use three more canisters. You feel more powerful than ever.  You backtrack and finish exploring the rest of the abandoned, frigid section of Ellhrah's fort. Several passages have collapsed and haven't been repaired by the serviles. With the exception of the guard's patrol route, the only signs of servile activity back here are quite old. It seems that renovation has been delayed for a very long time. Now and then you detect a suspiciously familiar sound. Before long, you discover the source.  The eastern reaches of the fort are home to a pair of cryoas, deadly little creatures that give your creations a real workout. The cryoa is a modification of the fyora, with freezing spittle rather than a fireball. Cryoas are a little hardier than the base creation, but you're not sure how these two got back here or where they could've come from.  At the end of the cryoas' nesting hall, you find the half-frozen corpse of a servile. Who knows how long ago this one went missing. Nobody mentioned disappearances back at the fort. Perhaps it's a Taker infiltrator who's met a bad end. There are no clues on the corpse. You also find another canister. This one improves your ability to cast firebolt, which isn't soothing, but is terribly satisfying. You decide you've had enough of the fort for now. If you hang around much longer, you might just use the Discipline Wand to terminate Ellhrah and every other servile you see. What you really need is another canister. Here's what it looks like when you die! My helpful hint here is don't die. POOL IS CLOSED fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Aug 20, 2017 |
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 19:04
|
|
|
End of previous update has a vote request! Please have votes in by Wednesday, noon EST.Like Clockwork posted:It's hard to say. Geneforge 1 is really rough in addition to being really difficult, more so than Geneforge 2 imo. You can see where things need the later games' refinement, and it makes it a bit frustrating. Fine games, just very... rough and old-fashioned. Oh, I certainly don't think the sounds are bad. They're definitely not the focus, though, and the lack of a soundtrack hurts some players' experiences. Personally, I like the ambient sound effects just fine, and for the most part, I'm happy with the art style as well. They're a case of making the most of a limited budget. PurpleXVI posted:The main problem with no Endurance is that you end up save-scumming a good bit later on, because if just one badguy goes: "HANG ON, THERE'S A SHAPER BACK THERE" and decides to whap a fireball or arrow your way, it'll almost certainly one-shot you. Fire Shaping also felt pretty vital, no matter what else I invested in, Fire Shaping creatures always felt like the backbone of my shaped legions... while some creatures just felt terminally useless. I could also never tell if it was better to just roll with RAW NUMBERS or to actually inject quality into my Creations. Your party's gotta be a first round murder machine if you're a shaper. (I save scum a lot. You can see the dialogue in the screenshots where I've reloaded! ). Fire Shaping is fun because who doesn't want awesome autonomous flammenwurfers? But I have a lot of fun with Magic Shaping.RAW NUMBERS really are the way to go with Shaping. When you feel like you've got enough essence, then you want to top off your creations' stat points, but especially early on, you'll get better returns on improving your Shaping skills and holding back on essence so you can use it to heal, cure, and buff. That's my experience, at least. TooMuchAbstraction posted:Well, things look good so far. Second-person narration is an interesting approach, but considering the nature of the beast (a videogame that already uses second-person extensively) it works pretty well. I'd say you could stand to have a few more screenshots just to break up the text a little, but that's just me. Thanks, boss! I'm struggling a bit with balancing screenshots with text during the dialogue portions. The conversations tend to be long. I don't really want to put up a bunch of screenshots of the dialogue boxes, since they're not that visually interesting, but there's not much by way of individual sprites. I think that's a spot where Avadon really stepped up to the plate.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 19:14
|
|
|
I'm digging the writing so far and, well, hell with it, I'm voting: Takers, because when I played, they were the faction I managed to piss off well before I even met them. Clearly, working with a cult of maniacs that want to destroy us can only turn out for the best! (Also the loading screens for Geneforge 2 made me feel SO GUILTY whenever one of my Fyoras died)
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 19:27
|
|
|
Awakened
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 20:05
|
|
|
Neutral Seems a little too early to swear sincere allegiance to anyone, we've barely met these guys. Also we should name our Thayd Big McLargeHuge.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 20:20
|
|
|
Factions are a tough call for me. I say stay neutral for now, and we can do otherwise if it makes sense later.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 20:34
|
|
|
Stay Neutral, at least until we can really understand what the different factions are up to. So far we mostly only have the Awakened's word on things.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 21:05
|
|
|
Just saw this in the New LP thread and I'm glad someone's doing this. I actually strongly considered doing a run through a few years ago (getting as far as actually making a Sandcastle post) before getting slammed with stuff at work. GF1 is just so fantastic in the story line. As for the voting, I'll vote Awakened. That said, I would strongly recommend you don't actually formally join any of the sects until we at least meet them and get to chat since you can lock yourself out of hearing some of the story if you formally join with someone too soon.PurpleXVI posted:The main problem with no Endurance is that you end up save-scumming a good bit later on, because if just one badguy goes: "HANG ON, THERE'S A SHAPER BACK THERE" and decides to whap a fireball or arrow your way, it'll almost certainly one-shot you. Fire Shaping also felt pretty vital, no matter what else I invested in, Fire Shaping creatures always felt like the backbone of my shaped legions... while some creatures just felt terminally useless. I could also never tell if it was better to just roll with RAW NUMBERS or to actually inject quality into my Creations. POOL IS CLOSED posted:RAW NUMBERS really are the way to go with Shaping. When you feel like you've got enough essence, then you want to top off your creations' stat points, but especially early on, you'll get better returns on improving your Shaping skills and holding back on essence so you can use it to heal, cure, and buff. That's my experience, at least. >The cost for stat points is pretty prohibitive - a creation with max stat points is something like 3 times more expensive than a basic one (2 INT and no other stats) - but one max stat creation is notably less powerful than the combined power of 3 basic ones. >New tiers of creations usually (with a couple exceptions) tend to be enough of a jump in power that even a high stats Fyora is going to be inferior to a base-stats of the next tier - while being about the same (or less) essence cost. >Many support spells/items work on the entire group, meaning that they're more useful with the more people you use. Notably, the buffs in this series are crazy awesome, so you want to take full advantage. >The enemy AI in the early games is pretty dumb and will gladly spread their attacks out over targets (rather than having all 6 enemies focus-fire on one target), so having 3 dudes instead of 1 helps survivability. Also, with regards to the various shaping types, if you were to only pick one, you'd probably want to go Fire, but really, the correct answer is "all of them". Stats are on a bit of a diminishing returns curve (and even more so starting in GF2 where skill point requirements increase) and the various types tend to each have their niche, so the different branches actually synergize pretty well. Though there are certainly some creations which are way underpowered (or overpowered) compared to equal-tier creations elsewhere.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 21:17
|
|
|
Awakened gets my vote. But I do agree with MagusofStars on see the other sects first. Would be nice to see how this game plays out, since I tried to play it multiple times but just mostly got lost around the start.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 21:47
|
|
|
Neutral for now: we know the Awakened are either lying or mistaken about the Takers. We must assume both are lying or mistaken about the Obeyers. If we are voting on sincerity beyond that, I think our primary emotions are both something is very wrong here and the Shapers have failed dramatically in their duty of care, and possibly many others. The rogue-creation spawning creatures have absolutely terrifying implications - far beyond the implications of self-sufficient serviles. EDIT: Also, your update refers in several places to "Sercia Island" instead of "Sucia Island". Also I have to wonder if Spiderweb intended to name this place Dirty Island... ManxomeBromide fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Nov 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 22:08
|
|
|
Agreed on neutral for now.
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 22:56
|
|
|
Thanks for the catch! I wouldn't be surprised if the naming was intentional. That's the first thing my partner noticed about the game. "Dirty Island!"
|
|
#
?
Nov 13, 2016 22:58
|
|
|
POOL IS CLOSED posted:happy to see you in the morninig
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2016 00:31
|
|
|
Great to see this game being run. I always seem to hit a wall about 1/3rd of the way into a Geneforge game. I've always found them much more difficult than the other Spiderweb games. I'm really looking forward to a successful playthrough, for once.
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2016 00:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:25 |
|
|
Oh yeah, is "Satan" really meant to be mentioned in the last update? 
|
|
#
?
Nov 14, 2016 00:46
|
|