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Gotta say, I'm loving the narrative you've been building with the story here. For whatever reason, reading it as an occasionally illustrated narrative rather than pictures interspersed with dialogue feels very natural. Thanks for attempting this, by the way - I was very excited by the last few Geneforge LP attempts and I'm glad this one's gotten further than they ever did. I can't wait to see where this goes. Also, I love our Shaper being all  over their little army of murderbeasts.Whoops - almost forgot to vote. Thoughts on that - The Awakened have upheld their ends of the bargains they've made, and should thus at least be treated neutrally. We might eventually be able to prevail should we make them hostile, but the opportunities we might lose by so doing don't seem worth the gain for temporarily venting our spleen over the death of the servant mind. Furthermore, we've already gotten evidence of one mad servant mind on the island. If the serviles aren't tutored in the art of servant mind maintenance, they might have needed to kill it rather than have it kill them. (Also, as our Shaper's dialogue suggests, the mind might have considered them rogues and tried to kill them itself.) Remember, one of the servant minds changed us, and that was the least part of its knowledge; all that it was able to safeguard against the command to forget. If the slain mind was left more than that least part, it might have been considerably more dangerous. Solution's anger is reasonable but questionably justified, at least as of yet. Uh, double-furthermore, there's evidence the serviles aren't alone on the island. There's something here capable of Shaping, as evidenced by the essence-bathed failed experiments, and possibly the spawners. Incomplete and untutored though the Shaping may be, it seems unlikely that the serviles were responsible. If that is true, it may also be the case that our mystery Shaper was able to penetrate the compound and slay the servant mind. Unlikely, of course - but possible. As for the other two factions, we know little enough of them. The Takers and the Awakened we've met so far seem to be of like kind, save that the Takers we've met exhort us to open hostility against the Awakened while the Awakened merely warn us against the Takers. Both offer bargains, though we've no direct evidence that the Takers will keep theirs. We will likely find the Obedient more pliable, but such an attitude is unlikely to have stirred them to heights of independent action - more likely they've done something akin to enshrining their last orders, and may be performing some warped interpretation of them yet. If they have a boat, all to the good. We can ask them for it, hop aboard, and be gone from this mad place. If they don't, they seem less likely than either other faction to help us acquire one. In short, the situation demands that a prudent Solution be a neutral one, with an eye to reciprocity. We treat the serviles as they treat us and ours, and require hard evidence of hostile intent before we offer it. We have enemies enough in the rogues without adding to them ourselves. vdate fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Nov 16, 2016 |
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Nov 15, 2016 18:09
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You've been an updating machine thus far, Pool is Closed; do take care not to burn out. (You did prompt me to buy the Geneforge collection, albeit at full price since I just missed the sale, but I'd prefer to play alongside the LP rather than in lieu of it.) Still, loving the work thus far, especially the weaving of Solution's inner voice with the game text. As Solution's collective subconscious, it would behoove us to take stock soon. Perhaps not yet - as both the Awakened and the Obeyers have surprised us, so too will the Takers, in the balance of probability. Given their presently tenuous position (as the Obeyers, to whom they are more diametrically opposed, are the most powerful and entrenched faction) and the willingness of the sole Taker representative we've met to parley, it is possible we may build a relationship with them just as we have with the other two servile factions. Given our general preference to play the factions as our advantage dictates, however, it strikes me as unlikely that we will build a relationship with them in good faith. Solution's indignation on the part of 'her people' seems a mite strong to ally ourselves wholly with a faction dedicated to the violent overthrow of the same. And yet... Now that we've come to that thought, it seems only fair to play the little voice in the back of Solution's head that asks, 'why, though?' Why the fierce indignation on the behalf of an order to whom we only nominally belong and under whose auspices we've received next to no training? We've spent no time being tutored, no time in the company of our putative peers - we have built no relationship with these people that I know of. Yes, we were chosen, and a great honour it was, but Solution/the game's narrative was very clear - we mean very little to them. If our drayk fails to arrive, as of course it will, nobody will come looking for us, and even if they did, they would not breach Sucia to find us. Every assumption we've made based on whatever association with the Shapers we had prior to our arrival has been proved wrong. The serviles are vastly more than we expected, even the faction that one might have expected to hobble themselves by their slavish devotion to their makers. Fully two-thirds of them intend to break their compact of servitude, and our control over them appears to have been inculcated at a cultural level rather than a genetic one - we cannot compel their servitude, save by force or threat of force. (And come to that, our servitude could be compelled the same way.) The servant minds we've found here have capacities beyond what we expected; the secrets of Shaping appear to have been leaked to those not even worthy of being called 'apprentice' - true outsiders. Put bluntly, how right do we think we are, here? On a more practical level, consider that we ourselves have breached Sucia's seal - what is our endgame plan here? Should we find a viable means of escape, are we to simply turn ourselves over to the Shapers with a 'so sorry, bit sidetracked there, somebody attacked my drayk and it was a devil of a time to get back here, lucky for me somebody left these lovely canisters lying about'? What are we to suppose their reaction will be? DA RULES posted:However, none of those secrets have been shared with you yet. First, you must complete your apprenticeship. You must spend five years out in a Shaper colony on a remote island, watching their work and aiding their research. quote:The Shapers guard the secrets of their power very closely. To learn their techniques without permission is to court a speedy death, whether at the hands of a Guardian by day, or an Agent by night. ...when - or if - we escape from Sucia, will anywhere be safe for us while the Shapers still hold sway in that land? And if death for our overreach and our intrusion are not unreasonable expectations, why are we so wholly devoted to the Shapers?
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Nov 24, 2016 03:03
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wiegieman posted:Without going too far into it, Shapers tend to play things obsessively safe and their security measures bring a new meaning to "redundancy." Just being on a Barred island like this has a good chance of getting you put to death, because it was probably Barred for a really good reason. My point precisely. With that in mind, 'gently caress the Shapers' becomes a more attractive option, is all I'm saying.
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Nov 24, 2016 15:12
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Night10194 posted:I'm fairly sure caution is actually a good trait in people who shape life and death and who could easily make a crazy pandemic if they wished. I'm sure that will be a very great comfort to us when they gank us for washing up on Sucia!
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Nov 25, 2016 04:29
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On a puppy-related note, since I bought the series and people have recommended Geneforge 2 over the original, I gave it a shot. The Fyora are definitely the puppiest creations; a lot of the loading art shows them doing things like chasing butterflies or being trained by the Shaper-PC with treats or what-have-you. Also, it is shockingly easy to get access to Cryoa within like an hour of starting the game - I managed it more-or-less by accident. While they're expensive, they also don't feel nerfed where Fyora do, so my Shaper and his new best friend LicenseToChill have been having a grand old time. Out of curiosity, are XP rewards calculated based on average party level in Geneforge 2? A lot of things that gave 10-50 XP beforehand ended up giving 1 after making my new Cryoa pal.
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Nov 25, 2016 17:48
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On the other hand, so is, say, synthetic insulin, which really does sound like a Shaper invention - get this bacterial slime to make the bits, extract the bits, assemble the bits, insulin achieved.
vdate fucked around with this message at 14:25 on Nov 27, 2016 |
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Nov 27, 2016 14:15
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Presumably the peaceful parts of the world would not make for good settings for grand pokemon-sculpting adventures.
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Nov 27, 2016 20:31
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mauman posted:So I'm utterly failing to see why Agent is supposed to be "harder" than the other classes. These gals own. Presumably due to the relative lack of/ relatively low quality of meatshields to spread the fire so you don't get focused down by turrets or whatever? (I suppose Guardians would have the same problem except they at least get Normal and not Weak costs on Shaping skills).
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Nov 28, 2016 05:23
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mauman posted:Omnicidal neutral is definitely an option in this game. Not so much in the later games to my annoyance. Of course this hurts you massively due to lack of money from merchants (which is actually very useful in this game, unlike most rpgs) and quests which can get you good gear. Honestly, I found money to be less relevant in this game than the handful of hours I've put into the sequel; barring the canister in Vakkiri, I haven't seen too many places where you can straight buy skill ranks, whereas there's a lot of skill points for sale in the first town in Geneforge 2. Although in fairness I'm not finished either game (though I feel like I might be getting close in Geneforge 1), so maybe I'm just wrong there.
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Nov 28, 2016 18:38
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idonotlikepeas posted:Maintain. Said all I wished to say, and more neatly to boot. (Though OOC I wish the game let you have as many types as you wanted in your team rather than locking you to three; it means a lot more creations would see play for me, I think.) Edit: having leapfrogged the LP, the Clois conversation was one I was very much looking forward to. I remember wondering what Solution might think of it when my Shaper had the same conversation; I'm certain that when she set foot on the island she might have killed (or tried to kill) Clois for her theories. Given the whole red eye-flash thing I'm none too certain she would have succeeded; there's more to that one than meets the eye. In the same vein, I'm a little concerned about the whole 'canister-induced crazy' business. Seems like it's eroding empathy and giving us a touch of the old megalomania. Those are probably traits that would raise some concern when we get off of Sucia! vdate fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Nov 30, 2016 |
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Nov 30, 2016 04:48
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wiegieman posted:The Shapers are really into consequences and the price of power. Something that gives power without any effort (like the canisters) would be considered heresy to them. One wonders what the Shapers of Sucia were doing when they made them, then! No, but seriously, if that were the reason the Shapers were all 'PULL THE PLUG NOW NOW NOW' you'd think they would have ordered all the canisters destroyed. edit: Or it could have been the Geneforge I guess. I may have already forgotten what we learned last episode apart from Solution's brief foray into Evil Overlord territory. vdate fucked around with this message at 15:22 on Nov 30, 2016 |
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Nov 30, 2016 15:20
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mauman posted:I'm just going to say that Shapers (even the reasonable ones) are a proud people. Fair enough. Since you do seem to have played these games, though (mauman or POOL IS CLOSED), is playing the games out of order going to provide huge stonkin' spoilers for prior games in the series, or are things geographically separate enough that I'm probably OK?
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Nov 30, 2016 17:05
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Good enough for me! Thank you.
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Nov 30, 2016 18:50
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SIGSEGV posted:I don't know what to vote for because on the one hand I want a Solution that remains as caring of her creations as she was stepping on the island and on the other hand I want a Solution that is deeply dismayed by the unconscionable behaviour of her new creations further down the name list: Evilweasel, MIGF and Slashie and wonders what it means about her that these literal pieces of her behave so. Even if Maintain gets voted, this game is lethal enough that there are probably going to be more creation casualties before Solution's job is done.
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Dec 1, 2016 01:42
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That said, POOL IS CLOSED also did say that the choice would be reflected in Solution's attitude and choice of associates, so it's not meaningless, it's more like we're voting for what happens in the LP. Er, that is to say, what happens to the narrative.
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Dec 1, 2016 01:53
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Multiple stacks of poison/acid are no joke when the load-bearing character has like 25 HP! edit: on that note, it's kind of odd that when you need time to do something calmly, the answer is to go into combat mode, because everything happens sequentially there and DoTs only tick at round rollover.
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Dec 2, 2016 15:38
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It would appear that there's much more going on here on Sucia Island than we imagined. People have spoken of the foolishness of the Takers in their lust to make war on the Shapers, and on the face of it they are correct, no matter how justified their rage may be. As they are, it is true that their fight is a doomed one. But consider what we have learned - specifically, of the Geneforge. Clois told us of the scrolls of life, of the instructions that make all things that which they are, the 'genes' discovered by the Shapers of Sucia two centuries past. They discovered the genes, and they created the canisters, and the built the (a?) Geneforge. A forge is a place where metal is beaten, pounded, and shaped anew. A Geneforge, then, might shape anew that which defines the nature of a living being. Like, for example, a Servile. The capacity for magic - especially, for Shaper magic - was long ago removed from the serviles. Had they access to the Geneforge, could they take it back? Might they make Shapers of themselves? If we sincerely ally with the Takers, make no mistake, they will go from mud farmers to Furies, intent on punishing the Shapers' neglect. If we sincerely ally with the Obeyers, as like as not it will mean death for all whom we've met (and possibly for us, given our canister use) - Solution has no illusions about how the Shapers will remedy this situation. The one will lead to wholesale butchery of our erstwhile people. The other will lead to wholesale butchery of the serviles of Sucia. Solution's internal monologue has made it clear that she is not yet disaffected enough to turn on the Shapers wholly; it has also made it abundantly clear that she is not above sympathy for - or empathy with - those affected by the Shapers' neglect. Thus, neither option is suitable - the Awakened seem the only faction likely to let us extricate ourselves from Sucia without some kind of bloodbath on our hands. Moreover, if our alliance is sincere, then it is no longer naive to believe they might deal with the Shapers as equals - we can make them so. By the same token, killing Control Four would seem to fly in the face of Solution's thoughts thus far - she does not seem the sort to repay loyal service with death. Thus, I vote for option 1B. vdate fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Dec 6, 2016 |
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Dec 6, 2016 21:40
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Oh, Battle Alphas. I'm glad I got terribly lost and wandered into places where I just barely survived each encounter (and thereby gained a bunch of levels just by exploring) because those Attack On Titan looking motherfuckers do not look fun when you're on 'par' with them.
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Dec 9, 2016 02:08
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kommy5 posted:1B Well, perhaps, but do remember that Solution's contracted a pretty severe case of the Protagonists, so we can probably assume she's the female Shaper equivalent of Toshiro Mifune or Clint Eastwood or the Continental Op or what-have-you, so her odds of success at playing all sides against the middle are probably better than most! In less metafictional reasoning, everybody has a reason to want her on-side, even the people who would normally want her dead. As long as she's not too blatant about her shenanigans they have incentive to keep her around. POOL IS CLOSED posted:I hate them so much. On a scale of 'wandered into Watchhill and got one-shotted by a Thahd due to inattention' to 'wandered north of Vakkiri and got one-shotted by a clawbug before I could parse what was even happening', where do they fall? (I understand that the wastes are intended to check whether a player is paying attention to the folks telling them 'no but seriously that area is bad news', but god drat, that area is bad news.) vdate fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Dec 9, 2016 |
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Dec 9, 2016 15:57
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POOL IS CLOSED posted:You usually also won't be running around with starter tier creations either, which makes pylon-bashing marginally less irritating... Hey now, my artila did yeoman work clearing out this passage on my venture through this area. Admittedly, the pylons were a rude surprise; especially because I actually came here via the other entrance, but when I left to unload some loot and then came back, thanks to the vagaries of the map system (and possibly because I unlocked the other entrance but didn't use it?) I walked into Pylon Central.
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Dec 10, 2016 04:24
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On the plus side, pylons are usually filled with gemeralds. I have no idea why. Maybe the shapers thought they looked pretty? Now I'm imagining pylons as evil lava lamps or something.
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Dec 10, 2016 06:42
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quote:Frustrated, you kick at some potsherds. The sudden movement drives your fyoras wild -- they give chase and then yawp excitedly as they return to you with their "kills" for your inspection. Well, fyoras confirmed for puppies at this point.
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Dec 12, 2016 17:00
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Glazius posted:The docks... kinda seem like endgame material? Given they were guarded by probably the toughest thing you've got so far. But the island isn't even half explored yet. Yeah, they seem more like the halfway point, where the game goes 'OK now playtime's over.' After all, 'the toughest thing we've seen thus far' does not automatically equal 'the toughest thing there is' by a long shot.
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Dec 12, 2016 18:17
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Aah, Northwestern Sucia Island... That's the place I blew the majority of my Discipline Wands just trying to survive the initial rush. I'm glad there's enough of them in the game that I can't succumb to 'too valuable to be used' syndrome.
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Dec 14, 2016 20:15
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POOL IS CLOSED posted:I'm a big fan of his LPs, Glory included; my favorite is the Academagia one. It helped me not die of boredom during my most mind-numbing job. My partner in crime is hooked on his video lecture LPs, too. hell yeah best bobbin lp Admittedly, it's also the fanfiction-iest, since 'closing the gaps' in that context meant generating narrative for all the stuff that gets relegated to crunch in the end-of-the-day readouts. Zeniel posted:Gene Forge. He's a cop. One's a Shaper. One's a fyora. They fight crime. ...this just doesn't work as well without the voice, I think.
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Dec 16, 2016 21:24
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I suppose, not having any knowledge of what Shapers look like, they Sholtai might have concluded that anything that can, well, Shape, is a Shaper. So hell, you might be right. Then again, they knew enough to fetch you, so maybe not?
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Dec 17, 2016 19:18
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There's something that confuses me about all this. If what we've heard and/or inferred is true, the Geneforge is a thing of unimaginable power, and probably the reason why Sucia was Barred. It's just... why? If it's too dangerous to use, the Shapers would have destroyed it, and if it was OK to use, it'd still be in use, and if the side effects were a problem, they'd be doing research on how to mitigate it (which I kind of assume would involve the thing itself). But they've done none of the above - why?
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Dec 17, 2016 21:11
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That Robert Frost parody was a thing of beauty, and it's interesting to see how Solution's viewpoint does (and does not) change over time. It's interesting in particular that she often seems to feel more empathy for dead serviles than live ones, whom she seems to treat as little more than nuisance obstacles or incidental assistance. (I guess the servile sages have been the exception thus far.)
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Jan 6, 2017 18:34
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Oh no. THIS place. I only survived here thanks to the AI derping out in a highly specific way that left me able to engage only one of the residents at a time. and ensured I always got the first attack in.
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Jan 10, 2017 05:07
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a)POOL IS CLOSED posted:
b) Giving the creations names from the thread made sense at first, but 'titty baby' has begun to suggest that Solution has a very strange sense of humour. c) I'm very sad Solution wasn't
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Jan 13, 2017 17:34
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Yeah. In this game more than most, items are for using, not hoarding. Speed, shielding, and essence pods are plentiful enough in shops and loot stashes to use regularly, and are honestly a noodly nerd's (read: Shaper's) best friend.
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Jan 13, 2017 20:03
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MagusofStars posted:It does. Shaping skill affects the starting level of your newly made creations which directly affects health and damage. Also energy, which is only used by ranged creations and usually only relevant for Artilas, since most other creations rarely have issues with running out of juice mid-battle. In my experience, Vlish also experience some problems in prolonged fights; they seem to consume a similar amount of energy per shot as artila. Thinking about it, do we now have access to all the creations (barring the level-3 'upgrade' versions)?
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Jan 16, 2017 16:53
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Chronische posted:Rollin around with a squad of the tier 3 fire creations is the COOLNESS, especially their upgraded form. Even just 2-3 of those babies can wipe the floor with basically everything. Absolutely agreed. But why bring three when you can have four? (Admittedly I have to chain-chug essence pods if I want to haste frequently but whatever.)
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Jan 17, 2017 04:41
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Holy crap - was GreatEvilKing our very first creation? Did a base-level (or level 3, or whatever it was at creation) fyora somehow manage to survive for 33 updates?! Good heavens. They're almost as fragile as artila beyond a certain point in my experience, so that's gotta be some kind of longevity-in-danger achievement. If I weren't so lazy I'd go through the thread and track creation survival times, because I'm genuinely pretty interested in what that chart might look like at the end of the game. Also, while Solution's internal monologue was pretty dismal in the Arena, I can't imagine it's getting any better after the death of her oldest creation.
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Jan 17, 2017 16:56
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Cryoas, A, and... F. edit: changed my mind. Let's see if Solution can fix the fuckups of prior Shapers. The Tomb of Horrors can come later.
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Jan 18, 2017 21:47
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:Just caught up and discovered I died. roses are red violets are blue omae wa mo shindeiru
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Jan 22, 2017 01:33
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Glazius posted:I don't know if dude was just mad and desperate, or if he thinks the power of the Geneforge is going to make getting a body back just, like, snap-snap simple. Consider: wiegieman posted:This is the missing ingredient to overcoming all limits on Shaping, so of course, they used it to make the world's biggest canister. This canister Shapes you into a living god of Shaping and Sorcery. Shapers are already capable of making bodies de novo - it happens every time Solution makes a creation. Making one around the core that a Shade provides would be tricky. Integrating the shade into the body would be much trickier. As we've established, doing so without the laborious trial-and-error approach of the Shapers would be near impossible without the ability to make directed changes - but the Geneforge apparently lets you do just that, so in that light the plan actually sounds maybe-kinda-sorta plausible. Granted, the description of it as The Biggest Canister Ever implies The Biggest Dose Of Canister Side-Effects Ever, so it's likely that anybody who juiced themselves up with the Geneforge might be too busy doing their best Emperor Palpatine impression to follow through on the bargain. (Also, can be their own nightlight.) edit: On this point - wiegieman posted:Do you think the people who decided to use the greatest of all possible medical breakthroughs to make a bigger gun are sane? I don't know that I agree. The impression I got (especially from the name) is that the most important thing the Geneforge did was endow you with the trick that the Shapers learned - how to manipulate DNA directly. In essence (and in a possibly-very-clever nod to the definition of 'gene'), I was under the assumption that the Geneforge propagates itself. And once you have that power, yeah, sure, you can be a gun! Or you could be a scalpel, or a bandage, or any number of other things. The Geneforge grants power, but power is only as moral or immoral as the ends to which it's turned. (there is the whole canister-megalomania thing, of course, but I think maybe the Shapers of Sucia were too heavily influenced by their canister-megalomania to notice their growing canister-megalomania) vdate fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 25, 2017 |
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Jan 25, 2017 17:18
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Yeah, I've tried this place like three times now and every single time my Shaper has been the only member of my team to make it out. I never even make it past the first few chambers before AoE fear incapacitates my team long enough for drayks to torch them and battle alpha/betas to grind them into paste.
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Jan 30, 2017 23:31
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Well, I just finished the game today. I will say that I did not quite expect the ending I got! (I was going to say that it was interesting how strongly the setup of the ending reminded me of Fallout, before I remembered that Fallout predated this game by a good 4 years. (The graphics keep making me think otherwise.))
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Feb 3, 2017 04:39
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POOL IS CLOSED posted:Congratulations, first of all! Thank you! Now to see how Solution handles all this business.
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Feb 3, 2017 05:33
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