Geneforge Saga

For those unfamiliar with Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb Software, he's responsible for the excellent Exile (and updated version, Avernum) series. It needs to be said - if you're at all a fan of these types of RPGs (party creation, story driven, open-ended, turn based, slightly tactical), check out their homepage and give the demos of those games a try. On to Geneforge. The first Geneforge game was, in my opinion, a much needed breath of life into Spiderweb Software. As much as I loved the Avernum series, Vogel has a tendency to beat a setting into the ground (more on that later). Geneforge puts you in a world controlled by the Shapers, a sect of magic users that "Shape" life with magic, altering or creating new life forms to serve them. Of course, anyone else delving into their knowledge is strictly forbidden. You begin the game by choosing your class (between 3 classes for the first few games, later games have additional classes). Depending on your class, you will focus on either Melee, Magic, or Shaping. (Every class is capable of all 3, but skill point cost is adjusted by your choice). Shaping is where the game really shines. This is what lets you create additional party members. As you progress through the game, your character will learn to 'shape' more and stronger creatures to serve him. These creatures can be summoned any time outside of combat, and will stay with you until destroyed or you choose to re-absorb them. They can even level up with you! The setting is fantastic, and especially in the first game, unraveling the mystery of the Geneforge and what the shapers of Selucia island were studying will likely keep you intrigued right to the end game. As to the factions in the game - unlike Avernum, there are no clear 'good guys'. It's not completely morally ambiguous - some of them are clearly better than others - but they all have skeletons in their closets. It's been a while since I've played through all of them, but I believe every game gives you the option of either joining a faction or remaining neutral. The first one does, at least. By now, you're probably wondering why I only gave this set 4 stars. "What does it take to make you happy, Kenril?" you ask. "Do you hate puppies, too? I bet you hate puppies." The answer is that while the first Geneforge game easily gets 5 stars from me, the others I'd have to give 4, so it rounds out to 4.2 or so. The reason? As I mentioned earlier, Vogel has a tendency to beat his settings into the ground. While each game has a unique, compelling story - and is well worth the play, don't mistake me - you will see repeated themes and scenarios that constantly give you a feeling of deja vu, if not a "been there, done that". As these repeated themes pop up, you are told, through narration, how surprised your character is - the problem is that you, the player, have seen this over and over (and over, and over). It loses its impact quickly. Worse, many of these same themes were staples of the Exile/Avernum series. I think this is probably the fault of a single person being the writer, designer, and programmer for so many games - after a while you are bound to run out of unique and interesting hooks. That small caveat aside, these games are definitely worth the price of admission to anyone who appreciates the genre. If you aren't certain whether it's your cup of tea, pop on over to Spiderweb Software's homepage and pick up the demos for the games - their demos tend to give you hours of playing time before you reach the stopping point.

Most of the features of modern games, without all the non-sense. Only recently bought this series on another on-line platform, and it's got more play time than many modern RPG. Turn-based, so you can think about what you're doing. Group-based, but more than choosing your group, you actually create them on the fly. Good-solid story though text and mood, rather than flashy graphics and short voice overs. I've clocked over 40 hours playing just the first game, 5 games for $15 on gog as steal when comparing modern games play time against their prices. Hope to see more spiderweb on GoG soon.

My best buy on GOG by far. It's been a big surprise, because I didn't know the series nor the developer. I went through Geneforge 1 and going through 2, right now. The gameplay is similar to Baldur's Gate, graphics and interface are a bit rough but I don't care (they get better in the 4th and 5th title, though). The stories are very good, and it's set in an original world, not some D&D setting (you won't feel like playing the same thing over and over, that is). The game flows in real time but combat is turn-based. The best thing is that you are totally free to be good or bad as you like, there are factions you can join (you can join more than one, but it is a bit more tricky) that correspond to different moral principles and choices, and that lead to different endings. Or you can ignore them (not recommended since many of them bring advantages) or double-cross them for more profit (something I do in my games). You can even decide to butcher every living being in the games and still be able to complete it (Geneforge 1 & 2 since I played/I'm playing those, I don't know the other titles). You play as a Shaper, member of a people who has mastered the art of shaping creatures (magic is considered something different, but is also present). Some creatures are meant for battle, some others (the serviles) for work. But once the Shapers decided to leave in all haste a settled island, leaving there some serviles to their destiny. They developed their intelligence to survive, and different point of views. Some of them were 'awakened', strove for independence and wanted to be treated as equals. Some remained loyal. And some were mad for revenge, and would look for the destruction of your kind (but they will not kill you if they think you can be useful to them). As you can see, since the beginning you don't start as the 'good guy', being a member of a people of enslavers. Not that you start as a bad guy, either. You'll choose your side, if you want, or none, or more than one. The only minor complaint is that I had to tweak the programs (with MS Compatibility Toolkit and BES for CPU limiting) to have them run smoothly on my system, but once done there's nothing more to complain about it.. just great games. Just consider that these are old school RPGs, not Bethesda or Gothic-like. Also, I feel like recommned them because I'm sure that in this case (differently from many other titles on GOG, as far as I can understand) I can be rather sure that a good part of the money will go to the actual developer (since Spiderweb Software is an indipendent developer, mainly consisting of Jeff Vogel alone!). Thanks for bringing these games and making me knowing them.

I originally played the first two games through RealArcade. I've just started the third game, so I can't speak too much about it or the rest of the series. But I can confidently assert that the series is worth getting, if only for the first and second game. One thing I've always disliked about the fantasy "genre" is that many of the works based on it are derivative of Tolkien's lore but don't build on it in any creative way. Geneforge eschews all that, focusing not on the binary struggle between light and dark (and light and dark races), but rather on the grey struggle between privileged creators, their creations, and the unprivileged non-creators. The games cover the rebellion against the Shapers from its beginning to its end. There are many factions to join and spurn, and with the exception of the fifth game, you can complete the game as a mass-murderer killing everyone indiscriminately if you wish. In the first three games, you start as a Shaper apprentice and have the choice of three classes. Shapers are strong in shaping but weak in melee combat. Guardians are strong in melee combat but weak in spell-casting. Agents are strong in spell-casting but weak in shaping. The fourth game gives you the option of starting off as a rebel, with identical classes and two new ones exclusive to the rebels: Shock Troopers, strong in shaping but weak in spell-casting, and Serviles, creations strong in melee combat but weak in shaping. Geneforge 5 adds a sixth rebel class, the Sorceress, strong in spell-casting but weak in melee combat. Combat is turn-based. If you invest in a little intelligence in your creations, you can manually control them. You can also control your human party members in Geneforge 3. Combat isn't all there is, though--there's lots of lock-picking (mechanics skill) and persuading (leadership skill). It's unwise to not invest in those two skills, unless you plan on just killing everything in sight. The only gripe I have about the game mechanics is the lack of user configuration. You can move the camera only with the arrow keys, and you can't really play in a window. This only applies to the first three games, I'm not familiar with the preference settings of the fourth and fifth games. The biggest shortcoming of the series is its look. The still images of the start menu and cutscenes are all right, but the rest of the game just isn't very pretty. It doesn't have a unified art style, characters don't have unique designs aside from different colour palettes, there are very few animations, and the animations are often very awkward and laughable. For the most part, everything is static. It just doesn't do justice to how fleshed-out the world really is.