Game News Geneforge 4 released on Windows

[Fez]

Tags: Geneforge 4; Jeff Vogel; Spiderweb Software

Spiderweb Software have just released Geneforge 4, the latest RPG in the Geneforge series for Windows. You can get more information and download the demo <a href="http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/geneforge4/index.html">here</a>. Go on, try it out to find out what it is like for yourself then give Vogel lots of your money for the full game. It will be good for your soul.
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<blockquote>The Geneforge saga continues, as a vicious war engulfs the lands of Terrestia. Choose whether to aid the rebels or their former masters, choose from many possible paths to victory, and, as always, command an army of totally obedient mutant monsters. Come get the huge, free demo.</blockquote>
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The engine might feel tired by now, but I think it's well worth playing.
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Thanks Slylandro!
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[Jed]

Vogel may be resting too heavily on his laurels, but I am glad to finally have a new RPG to play that isn't real-time AKSHUN, or a dungeon crawler.

Here's hoping it's closer to GF2 than GF3 in terms of quality.

 

[wizard]

Played couple hours yesterday and must say I'm liking it much better than any of the other GF's. Can't say much of the story yet; gotta hope that it won't be another remake of GF1. Here's short list of what I liked about it and what not.

Like:
No more 800x600 resolution.
You don't start as an shaper apprentice which is a big bonus. Instead you start as a fresh rebel recruit.
Your actions have effects. I chose not to kill one guy which resulted in that I got the option to tell it to a shaper who thanked me for not killing him or something like that. This, I think, resulted that my reputation with the shapers went up though I don't know for sure, the game has no visible indicator telling who likes me and who does not.

Neutral:
What you carry on your bag no longer weights anything. Unrealistic but the good side is that you won't need to do many trips to get all the stuff from areas now.

Dislike:
The annoying quest pop up. It might be a good feature to tell when you have got a new quest but it should be optional; it just annoys me when I read the dialogue to see what I need to do and then the game tries to force me to read it again :evil:
No indication on what the different factions think of you.

That's all for now. Now I just have to force my roommate to install GF4 to his computer so I can play it before weekend to see if the story is different from GF1-3.

 

[Psilon]

I found it significantly better than GF3. There are multiple factions again, you're not playing the same conveniently-marooned Shaper initiate (now you're a hastily-trained "lifecrafter prospective"), and the leadership and mechanics skills are significantly more useful again.

The stealth system is also a lot easier now--you stand a chance of playing things sneaky in GF4. Under the time-honored Codex principle of "when I get around to it, if I get around to it" I may write a review this weekend.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Hmmm, someone buy the game and then inform me how it is. If it's good, I'll buy. I can't dl the demo right now tho, busy as all hell.

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

Well, I reckon I'll probably go out on a limb and make this my first properly-bought indie RPG. The Codex is indeed good for the soul. Should I play any of the others first?

 

[Jim Kata]

Does it still have the same problems with the way skills work ie you have to have a skill of x to have something work so you have to specialize a ton or else it's worthless?

I hear that he changed combat to use action points. Is combat better, now?

 

[Psilon]

Does it still have the same problems with the way skills work ie you have to have a skill of x to have something work so you have to specialize a ton or else it's worthless?

I hear that he changed combat to use action points. Is combat better, now?

Non-combat skills like shaping and mechanics still work off hard cutoffs. Specialization is still strongly encouraged, but I haven't had too many problems with gimped characters. That could be due to my experience with the combat system, or the actual skill requirements could be lower.

Combat's always used APs in the Avernum/Geneforge games. Could you restate your question?

 

[Ugrok]

I couldn't play any of the first 3 Geneforge ; but for one reason or another, this version hooked me instantly. The way it begins is just really nice and more involving than in the first versions.

The game is actually pretty, the ambient sounds are great ; and it feels like a world, the NPCs are interesting. I think ill get to finish that one. I only play the "Avernum" series, usually, starting with Exile 2 i think when i was younger ; this Geneforge 4 is the only one that matches the writing qualities of the first Exiles and Avernum, in my own subjective opinion, of course. Vogel is a good writer, and it shows.
Im still at the beginning of the game, ill get to the end of the demo, then decide if i buy or not ; but at this moment i'm really hooked and, besides roguelikes (Unreal World and Dungeon Crawl atm), hardly any game hooks me nowadays.

Back to playing !

 

[Jim Kata]

Does it still have the same problems with the way skills work ie you have to have a skill of x to have something work so you have to specialize a ton or else it's worthless?

I hear that he changed combat to use action points. Is combat better, now?

Non-combat skills like shaping and mechanics still work off hard cutoffs. Specialization is still strongly encouraged, but I haven't had too many problems with gimped characters. That could be due to my experience with the combat system, or the actual skill requirements could be lower.

Combat's always used APs in the Avernum/Geneforge games. Could you restate your question?

Hmm. I recall he said somethign about changing the way combat worked that related to AP. Does there seem to be an improved combat system?

 

[Psilon]

Ah. That. Yes, he has changed the combat system around a bit. Most notably, you can now attack/cast with only 1 AP remaining. While this makes the melee fighters more viable, as the oops-moved-one-space-too-far problem is vastly mitigated, it's actually a net loss for the player. There are a lot more hostile thahds/roamers/rotghroths than there are friendly tanks, especially if you're playing a non-melee class.

That said, you get used to it pretty quickly. You just have to remember to retreat farther.

 

[Fez]

I've played the demo for a short while (only a handful of areas). So far there seem to be many small improvements so far. Quests seem to work well as does the faction workings. The combat has been good too, I think there has been some differences made, at least to the costs involved as in the older games I'm sure it cost a minimum 5 AP to attack but I've been using my shaper to fire a baton at only 2AP. That should be useful if you are loaded down with low strength, though that seems less likely to happen with the new inventory system. So far so good.

 

[Dhruin]

His best work since...well, possibly ever. Some will say it's not original and others will (justifiably) complain over some of his long-standing mechanics but this is simply a brilliant game - the best the indie market has to offer and the most complex RPG released in a long time.

Stop bitching about the state of the market and buy this damn thing.

 

[Fez]

Well said. The more I get into the demo, the more I enjoy it. It's a small download for the demo so even the narrowband users have little reason not to give it a try for free.

 

[dagorkan]

I've liked the Avernum 4 Demo so far, for a cheap game. What are the differences between the Geneforge and Avernum series apart from the setting?

 

[Slylandro]

The Geneforge series is more focused on (the Codex definition of) roleplaying. The storyline is nonlinear, there are competing factions that you can really side with, there are more general skills, there are options for diplomacy and betrayal, etc. Choices and consequences and all that. The Avernum series is more like a well crafted, detailed dungeon romp. It's a great series in its own right too though.

 

[The Public Enemy]

I loved the first one but I couldn't bother with the second one. Apart from being more of the same, there's something that particularly pisses me off : the sequel(s) assume you acted a certain way and go with it. This is perfectly logical from a design standpoint, but it makes the whole thing feel meaningless, especially when you play one game after the other. Anyhow, I'm wondering if playing Geneforge 4 without having finished the 2nd and 3rd will make me miss something one way or the other.

Anyone noticed that when you buy a Spiderweb game, they make you pay shipping costs, and they basically only toss a promotional pamphlet your way, and you gotta pay for it? Unless I missed something.

 

[Dhruin]

Just buy 4 without the "pamphlet" and get on with it.

 

[MacBone]

I downloaded the demo and played through the first three areas. I'd never played a Geneforge game before, but the game's been enjoyable so far, especially the faction choices and the variety of available skills. I'll probably pay for the whole thing this summer when I have more time on my hands.

 

[FrancoTAU]

I'm still plowing through Avernum 4 slowly, so my desire for another Spider Engine game will be at least a year away. I'm glad to hear the good reviews though since the fanboys trashed Avernum 4

EDIT - Just noticed it was Fez that posted this in the News section. Is Fez a mod now or something?

 

[Hazelnut]

I bought G3 (my first spiderweb) and really enjoyed it for quite a while before getting to a point where I simply lost interest - it appeared that I had a lot of (hard) combat coming up and I was pretty sick of the combat by then. I only intended to take a break, but now it's been nearly a year and I've pretty much forgotten everything about the game.

I'm not sure whether to try and finish off 3, just start 4 straight away or forget the whole lot at the moment.

 

[obediah]

I played the first two geneforge games, and combat in both just seemed broken to me.

The biggest problem for me was that combat always seemed to be either excruciatingly difficult or present no challenge at all. Perhaps it was an illusion created by the way I played the game, but it seemed like I would be sent fleeing from an area to come back a level later and clean house.

I think most of the spiderweb games seem to have about 20% too much combat for me anyway. After a point, I've seen all the tricks and had my fun and it comes down to "#4@!#$, another foozle". This is based on my arbitrary cutoff though.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

PLaying the demo now. I do believe I will be getting this.

 

[Jasede]

The artwork shows a dragon. Do the Geneforge games have any romance options?

 

[Country_Gravy]

I have a question about buying a Spiderweb game. Does it unlock the areas outside the demo immediately, or do you have to wait for them to mail you something? Their order page seems to not explain this very well.