Geneforge - Reflections @ Scorpia's Lair

Dhruin

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With the Geneforge series now wrapped up, Scorpia reflects on Jeff's comments that Geneforge hasn't been as poular as his other games:
The basis of Geneforge is a hybrid of science and fantasy. The Shapers do with magic what we do with technology: manipulate genetic material.
This mix is nothing new. SF and fantasy have been combined before in the Might & Magic series from the beginning, and in the later Wizardry games, to give two examples. It didn’t really work too well in those, and it doesn’t work well here, either.
For all the talk about research, Shaper labs and equipment, experiment notes, machinery, and so on, what really happens? You just wave your hand, and poof! a creation appears.
The only difference between making a creation in Geneforge and summoning a creature in a typical RPG is that the creations hang around until dead or re-absorbed. It’s almost like having a band of familiars traveling with you.
More information.
 
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Hmmm. Strange... I much prefer the Geneforge series to the Avernum series. I think its because of the fact that its based on 1 character rather then the 4 person party... It's harder to feel attached to a 4 people party that the NPCs just deal with as a group as opposed to an actual person.
 
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And going further, Geneforge is mostly just magic with an unique twist, hardly a "mix of science and magic".
 
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Yeah, but Arcanum was hardly a runaway success. She's not talking about quality. she's talking about popularity.

Personally, I prefer Geneforge for the factions and deeper roleplaying but straight-up fantasy always sells better.
 
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Funny question: does Final Fantasy VII/VIII/X/XII qualify for a hybrid science/fantasy game of massive success? :p

Anyway, I tend to like Geneforge better than Avernum, because of three things:
- Build yer party on the fly (adapt for the situation)
- Node-based world map (quick travel, yeehaa!),
- Factions/consequences.

FYI, the setting is a bit more original than vanilla fantasy (Avernum), but I liked Nethergate's lore better.
 
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Geneforge offers one of the better mixes of fantasy and science, even though the latter is almost non-existant in the gameplay itself. What I would say missed in later games (G3 on wards) is the openness of the first two, and the more intimate setting. I mean the first one was almost Fallout-like in a way - almost the same feeling. Latter games largely missed on that and the freedom to explore everything at any time with the introduction of chapters and so on.
 
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