Deathy
Liturgist
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2002
- Messages
- 793
Yup, time for a new Geneforge thread! If this keeps up, I could almost justify a Geneforge forum.
This time, I'll compare Geneforge and Fallout 2 with their use of intelligent monsters, or, more specifically, Deathclaws and Battle Alpha's.
In Fallout 2, intelligent deathclaws were part of a genetic experiment (FEV, d00d!). They had intelligence comparable to a human child, and formed a (suprisingly) stable society in which killing seemed to be taboo (unlike your average deathclaws) and abducting skilled humans to help them seemed to be the norm. It came off feeling pretty fake, I thought.
In Geneforge, you came across a rough society of battle alpha's (Freeplace). These Battle Alpha's, having gone rouge, had formed their own society, which was partly based on their violent nature and partly based on emerging intelligence. It came off feeling very confused.
The main difference between the deathclaw and the battle alpha's is that the battle alpha's, although essentially animals, had some degree of human intelligence (being heavily modified humans), while the deathclaw were pure animals before they were "modified by the Enclave".
However, they're pretty much the same concept, intelligent animals forming a society.
The problem with the Fallout 2 implementation is that it lacks the confusion that made the Geneforge implementation feel so real.
It's natural that such a society would be incredibly confused, on an instinct vs intellect level, with neither holding sway over the other.
I wonder why the developers of Fallout 2 neglected this kind of depth, and I wonder if Vogel was attempting to emulate the intelligent deathclaw with Freeplace...
This time, I'll compare Geneforge and Fallout 2 with their use of intelligent monsters, or, more specifically, Deathclaws and Battle Alpha's.
In Fallout 2, intelligent deathclaws were part of a genetic experiment (FEV, d00d!). They had intelligence comparable to a human child, and formed a (suprisingly) stable society in which killing seemed to be taboo (unlike your average deathclaws) and abducting skilled humans to help them seemed to be the norm. It came off feeling pretty fake, I thought.
In Geneforge, you came across a rough society of battle alpha's (Freeplace). These Battle Alpha's, having gone rouge, had formed their own society, which was partly based on their violent nature and partly based on emerging intelligence. It came off feeling very confused.
The main difference between the deathclaw and the battle alpha's is that the battle alpha's, although essentially animals, had some degree of human intelligence (being heavily modified humans), while the deathclaw were pure animals before they were "modified by the Enclave".
However, they're pretty much the same concept, intelligent animals forming a society.
The problem with the Fallout 2 implementation is that it lacks the confusion that made the Geneforge implementation feel so real.
It's natural that such a society would be incredibly confused, on an instinct vs intellect level, with neither holding sway over the other.
I wonder why the developers of Fallout 2 neglected this kind of depth, and I wonder if Vogel was attempting to emulate the intelligent deathclaw with Freeplace...