visions said:
Monocause said:
And - as with almost all JV games - don't play on normal, choose hard or torment.
A bit off topic but do you think that Torment is a good difficulty for a first real playthrough of his other games in general? So far I've only messed around with the demos, and not too far since I wouldn't want to "spoil" them too much before a real playthrough, but I haven't felt like getting tied up with a real playthrough so far, since I've been tied up with other things.
In addition to what Azrael said about the Geneforge games, one thing to keep in mind is that Vogel rebalanced them with each new iteration. So in the first 1-2, a shaper who invests in intelligence, magic skills, magic shaping, and endurance and basically acts as a walking vlish factory is very powerful, and there's no reason to invest in missile weapons or dexterity (you'll spend most of your turns buffing or replacing fallen creations). In later games, vlish are toned down a bit, though they're always a decent investment. Starting with Geneforge 3 or 4, your skill with missile weapons influences the success of certain items like crystals and not just the thorn batons, making it a much more useful investment (since it basically means that as long as you're well-stocked - which isn't very difficult - you can cast spells for 3 AP instead of 5 AP and save essence for emergencies and more creations.)
Likewise, some of the melee skills were also overpowered in 1 and guardians got majorly nerfed for a game or two afterwards before making a comeback. And I never played an agent in Geneforge 1, but in 2-4 they are extremely powerful (keep yourself constantly buffed, stack damage-over-time spells on powerful enemies, and use your area spells/melee prowess to take out weaker ones), only to end up being one of the worst classes in 5. Serviles aren't that great in 4, but one of the most powerful builds in 5 is a servile. Battle creations are traditionally weak throughout the series but get a boost in the last one or two, whereas magic creations are traditionally strong and decline a bit in the end. And so on. I enjoy it, TBH; it encourages the player to try out different builds instead of sticking with what he knows.
Anyway, the point is that depending on the build you're playing, switching from hard to torment may be the difference between a cakewalk and some real challenges or between being challenging and being just plain frustrating, and even familiarity with the games won't necessarily help you make a good character due to the constant rebalancing. So I pretty much agree with Azrael: stick to the hard difficulties but play it by ear with regard to how hard.
Edit: The one thing that remains consistent throughout the series is that there's almost never any reason to invest any more essence into your creations than what's needed to give them 2 points of intelligence so that you can control them in combat. I have yet to find a case where my essence was better spent boosting my existing creations rather than making more. Even if you keep some creations around for the long haul (which is how I tended to play), they gain points at a higher rate through leveling than you can ever give them by investing more essence. Plus, more creations means that you're getting more out of your buffs.
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