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RPG Vault has an overview interview on Geneforge 4 with Jeff Vogel. Here's a snip:
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Look for our review in the next few days.Jonric: What leads you to believe the game will succeed in a marketplace where other titles are certain to have much greater visibility?
Jeff Vogel: The player plays a rebel who has been given the life creation powers of the Shapers. You can create your own little army of powerful, totally obedient, custom-made mutant monsters. If you want, you can fight to attain your goals, blasting all that oppose you.
However, the most important quality of the Geneforge games is that they are very open-ended and allow for a lot of ways to progress. You can attain practically any major goal through battle, stealth, diplomacy or a mix of all three. Also, there is no pre-ordained villain. There are lots of sides, and you can pick any one of them, work for them, and still reach a reasonable end to the game. Since you can make actual choices about your path, the Geneforge series has actual role-playing in it.
I really aim to create a lot of replay opportunities. When you reach the end, you can start over, pick a different side and different tactics, and have a very different game experience.
Thus, though it's a low-budget title, it still has a place in the marketplace (and early sales are very strong). Most people don't make single-player RPGs like this anymore, so there isn't a lot of competition. It may seem that MMORPGs have sort of taken over the world, but there are still lots of people who long for this sort of game.
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