Geneforge 5 – Old-School indie RPG for the PC/Mac

Clevinger

Platforms: PC/Mac

So, I just got this game recently and I’m a bit into it now and I’ve noticed there’s no topic for it and no topic for Geneforge games in general. This is unfortunate because this game is actually really good.

Spiderweb Software games have been known for a couple things: they’re indie games made by a husband and wife, they usually have good writing, are long, have really huge demos of their games, and are really ugly. Geneforge was always the better looking series of theirs, and with each game the look has improved and finally with 5 I’d say it looks good. Graphically, it kind of reminds me of the Infinity Engine games.



Story
In the Geneforge world there are powerful mages called “Shapers” who are the most powerful faction, and for a good reason. They can create/shape organic matter out of nothing to follow their command. They can create anything from a subservient and stupid humanoid creature that tends to crops and does general manual labor, plants and animals, giant bugs or creatures to fight for them, a computer-like creature to store data, or even a small creature that wraps around the Shaper’s arm and spits out thorns against their enemy.

Their power is limitless. And with that power has come their faults; Shapers are generally cruel, uncaring for the creatures they create. The Shapers themselves are usually arrogant, egotistical, and greedy, and use their power to conquer and expand influence. These faults have given rise to the various factions against them.

Factions
There are five factions in the game, including the Shapers, that you can join and aid. These include the rebels who at the start of the game have been at war with the Shapers for their cruelty to creations and general dick-ishness for many years in a drawn-out and costly conflict, for both sides. There are the Tra… Tra… Tra-something. It’s some long and weird name that I can’t remember that starts with a “T”. They believe all Shaping is evil and they want to destroy the Shapers altogether, including their knowledge of magic from the world. There are more, apparently (the game says 5 factions), but I’ve only met those three so far.

As far as whether or not you have to play the previous games to not be lost on the story? I don’t think you do. It’s the last game in the series, but the game explains all you need to know, and I’ve only really played a bit of the first one and I’m fine.

You start the game as more or less a slave to one of the high-ranking Shapers. Being the giant douchebag that he is, this Shaper has used his magic mumbo jumbo to put a device inside you near your heart, and any time you refuse to do his bidding, he shows you that he could kill you with ease at any moment by putting pressure on your chest. So at the start of the game he sends you to find some creature or being that has been turning shaping creations rogue (in Geneforge, that means the Shapers lose control over them and they usually just want to kill and eat anything they see), and so starts your quest. You’re human. Or, at least you look human.



Gameplay
Combat is turn-based and Action-Point based, and the game is a point-and-click presented in an isometric perspective. From what I remember, there are three or so classes you can start as; A Shaper, a melee fighter, and a mage/melee combo. Maybe there’s more. For beginners, I’d say go for Shaper. In this world I think it’d be pretty boring not to be one. Shapers are physically weak, but they make up for it in the fact that they can create a creature that can punch through walls. I’d also recommending playing on the easiest difficulty, because it gets fucking hard later on. Also be sure to put some points into leadership (gives you more dialogue options to influence people) and mechanic (disable traps and similar annoying stuff) skills. Another tip: be wary of acid. It's the poison of the game. Learn a spell to cure it as fast as you can. Also, its really useful to use against strong enemies at the beginning of the battle as it will take a nice chunk out of its HP every turn. Some enemies are immune, though.



There are lots of quests and usually at least a few ways to solve them and some morality involved in what you do. Do you help the Shapers or rebels, or do you just try to survive on your own?

Conclusion
Should you try this game? Well, if you like computer RPGs, there’s no reason not to. The game has a huge, HUGE, demo that you can try out. It has like 1/3 of the game before you have to register/buy to unlock the rest (or, at least that’s what all the previous Spiderweb Software games have boasted). I’ve played a lot of the Spiderweb Software games but I usually quickly get bored of them for one reason or another. Most Avernum games were, to me, boring dungeon crawls with horrible art and clunky interfaces. Geneforge was better, was more quest/story based, but still had problems. This game, though, seems the most accessible. It’s the best looking game of theirs, by far, the interface seems the best, and I really like the story and quests so far. A very underappreciated game that I hope some of you might try.





http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/geneforge5/index.html


System Requirements:

• PC Running Windows 2000 or later or Macintosh running System 10.3.9 or later.
• 800 MhZ processor. Minimum 1.6 GhZ processor recommended.
• Video card or processor with OpenGL support and 32 MB video RAM (64 MB recommended). If you have slow performance, you can find tips on the Support page.
• 512 MB RAM.
• 200 MB hard disk space.
• 1024x768 screen resolution with 32 bit color.
• Geneforge 5 will run natively on Intel Macintoshes.

Jutranjo

The 1st picture with the inventory foreshadows some horrible interface decisions.

Clevinger

The interface still isn't that great, yeah, though its better than their previous attempts.

Demiurge

Man five games already? I remember getting a whole bunch of Spiderweb games back when I did reviews for Home of the Underdogs, still have the discs around... The Avernum remake of Exile was bloody brilliant. I'll have to check this out.

Clevinger

One more tip: If you choose to be a Shaper, you're going to need a shit load of money to learn new and better magic. You will not be able to get by just on the money you earn from quests. You need to look for and pick up anything (not useful) of value and sell it as soon as its convenient to make more inventory space for more things to sell.

Landeyda

Spiderweb is one of my favorite indie devs. I remember playing the games on my Mac back in the early/mid 90s. The graphics are, in my view, charming and do add to the settings in an odd sort of way. Though, I wish they would change the graphics somewhat from one game to the next.

Clevinger

Landeyda wrote: »

Spiderweb is one of my favorite indie devs. I remember playing the games on my Mac back in the early/mid 90s. The graphics are, in my view, charming and do add to the settings in an odd sort of way. Though, I wish they would change the graphics somewhat from one game to the next.

Geneforge has been getting better looking with each game.

Geneforge 1: http://i26.tinypic.com/vgltv4.jpg
Geneforge 2: http://i28.tinypic.com/k3orx4.jpg
Geneforge 3: http://i26.tinypic.com/20st7yq.jpg
Geneforge 4: http://i29.tinypic.com/vmyumq.jpg
Geneforge 5: http://i25.tinypic.com/1zxuo3r.jpg

It may not be all that easy to tell in screenshots, but the lighting, sprites, animation, spell effects etc. have all improved.



Avernum, on the other hand, has visually mostly stayed the same. On the fourth or fifth game he switched it over to the Geneforge engine, but it still has that god awful art for portraits and such.

Steel Angel

Jutranjo wrote: »

The 1st picture with the inventory foreshadows some horrible interface decisions.

None of those pictures actually show the inventory. You only see the quick buttons, basically the equivalent to Diablo's potion belt except stuff stacks.

The inventory basically works like it does in BG, NWN, or other renowned PC RPGs with one important change since the 4th game or so: If you're not actually equipping something, it doesn't count towards your weight limit. So no juggling weight for anything besides your weapon and armor. Makes looting everything in sight much easier.

The series has definitely matured in mechanics as it's gone on. No more poisonous atmospheres in the 5th for example. But it is not afraid to be hard and kill you repeatedly. Major areas tend to have multiple routes to get to them since unless you're min maxing, one of them is likely to brutalize you repeatedly without the proper skills or key items.

Skulkraken

The portrait art for most of the more recent Spiderweb games is utterly abysmal, all the way back to that one game with the Celts fighting against the Romans.

Spiderweb released Blades of Exile as open-source a while back, and there's currently an effort underway by the old Exile community to smooth out some of the long-standing bugs still present in the game's engine.

Clevinger

Finally beat the game.

I really liked the writing and story and all the different paths you could take. All the characters and factions were well thought-out and believable in their world. I didn't really like the actual gameplay, though. It became really hard quickly, even on easy. Juggling between the non-combat and combat skills was a pain, because a lot of the time areas devolved into having to go through a swarm of enemies, especially later in the game. The shortage of money and having to hunt for every little thing of value to advance your magic was also a pain in the ass.

Really eager to see the next new series he makes.

Steel Angel

Clevinger wrote: »

Finally beat the game.

I really liked the writing and story and all the different paths you could take. All the characters and factions were well thought-out and believable in their world. I didn't really like the actual gameplay, though. It became really hard quickly, even on easy. Juggling between the non-combat and combat skills was a pain, because a lot of the time areas devolved into having to go through a swarm of enemies, especially later in the game. The shortage of money and having to hunt for every little thing of value to advance your magic was also a pain in the ass.

I'm curious what your character looked like skill wise. I usually have had more money than I know what to do with by the end of the games and a massive pile of usable items that I hold onto because "I might need it later!" I go through periods of poverty when a new trainer is taking my money, but usually recover fairly quickly.