Been playing for a few days, so i'll give my impressions of the game.

It's open world (as much as it can be), so that's good.

Most puzzles have multiple solutions (assuming you have a high enough skill elsewhere)

Hardcore & hard as hell first starting off.

Character stats & abilities are much like D&D, simplified and grouped into skills. Might try that for D&D myself...

No music, although i've been listening to King's Bounty crossroads and it seems to work well with the game.

The GUI feels like it was drawn as a prototype (perhaps it's charm?). A second or third random tileset of the same things could have probably given it a lot more organic of a feel.

A number of minor GUI changes could probably make the game smoother. Like:

1) Allowing space bar to finish a conversation, a text of description where 1 is the only option, close a chest, ect.
2) tolltips for inventory items, compare against what you are wearing (if applicable).

Behavior of battles modified a little could make it less error prone.
1) don't change the view if the character/creation is just off screen but able to attack what's on the screen at present
2) right-click to preview the move/action so you know if it's a wasted move or how much it's going to move
3) a rotate option where a creature that's stuck can have a different order so you can get another one of them out of the way and they can move properly.
4) Highlighting for what is within range, or how far you have to move to get them to manage a ranged attack.
5) Make the conversation and item pickups the same (letters or numbers)

Bugs:
I found one that's a bit odd. You can carry an obscene amount of crap, although you can't act (but then again that's what your creations are for as a full shaper). So, If you carry enough, say over 200 pounds of crap, suddenly the action points will go from 2 to 32. At first thought it was a typo, but it worked. Course i couldn't hit worth crap, but being able to cast like 5 healing spells was awesome...

edit: Confirmed this, but your to hit chance goes through the floor, so need really high luck to hit anything....

Having just played (and finished) GF1 and GF2 back-to-back, I can say that there are some very minor upgrades in the GUI, which make it easier to play.

Haven't encountered that bug you found, though. You might consider bringing it to Jeff Vogel's attention.

It was definitely weird...

I've noticed sometimes i can carry a lot more, and sometimes i can't carry nearly as much as before. I think the reason is a limited unique types of items you can have in your inventory rather than strength based. An example being i noticed i couldn't pick up say a set of boots, but i could pick up more pods for healing. This was later added another hint due to that when i tried to take off my belt one time, it said it couldn't because the inventory was full (but i wouldn't be carrying any more than before). Another experiment is when i was full, i dropped one item (a fruit i think) so i could pick up a sword instead and that worked...

Based on the weird 32 AP i can only think that there's a counter that's a byte that loops through the weight and rolls over from negative to the max value which then is converted to 32AP (and 2AP is the minimum no matter what, so you can still move a little out of the way).

If i get it to happen again i'll make sure to save a full save slot and offer it to him to review. But i doubt it's something hardly anyone has been able to abuse though. Then again...

And I guess to finish, the game is getting utterly too annoying that I'm quitting it... As enjoyable as a system as it is, it's annoying that every other place I'm visiting I'm dying or being cluster f**ked. just getting tired of it...

I had a hard time with it on my first try, too. After a few months, I came back to it and took some time to read a few character creation guides, and that's when it clicked for me. I'd say don't give up on it completely, but if it's that frustrating to you right now, give it another try in a few months or so.

As far as I know, Ornks have no function other than being able to kill them for their meat. I did do a little reading up on them over at the Spiderweb forums, and it seems they're meant to be part cow and part pig (reminds me of ), and somewhat of a joke in that you can create them as a Shaper. But one guy actually tried going full Shaper and using nothing but Ornks. According to his [url=http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/20199-ornk-playthrough-geneforge-1/]thread he actually made it further than I'd have expected (although for reasons he never explained, he just plain stopped at some point). The little beasties ended up packing a lot of punch once he figured out how best to use them.

All in all, the story-telling in Geneforge really is tremendous, so I'm glad you're giving it another try. :-)

Funny, knowing which areas to avoid til later and whatnot, along with a few strategies, it's been considerably easier this second time around. Sure I died against the Ornks at the first stage, but beyond that once I got my second creation as a shaper, it's been considerably easier. Also following advice about using the thorn batons, and they are surprisingly effective. I figured they were a weak weapon and never used them...

And now i feel burned out.... Not good....

I was glad to hear you were making better progress, but now I'm bummed to hear you feel burned out.

What have you done so far? Character type, alignment, goals?

Class type is Shaper

Alignment, i'd say neutral, i try not to answer the questions confirming you being a divine being or shunning them for bad beliefs.

What have i done so far... Cleared the lower half of the continent pretty much. Killed the bandits since i didn't have a huge diplomacy. Everywhere else cleared out rouges.

Goals... Probably get a 30 luck via purchasing that i know will happen fairly soon, that and sell random useless crap and get my money maxed out from the merchants... Had that on the last game (at 12k thereabouts). Also hoping to make dragons so i'm hesitant to put shaping points in anything else (20 unspent points). Think i have 7 in fire and 3 in magic and battle...

edit: Some build recommendations say i should be trying to get my magic shaping up to level 20... might be a good idea... In my last game i had it pretty high, like level 13 but i was having my ass handed to me....

I assume you mean Drayks? They are indeed awesome, but you won't be able to use them until late in the game and you're gonig to need some mid-tier creations in the meantime. I wouldn't try to save up unspent points. Put them into useful creations or supporting skills.

It's been a while since I played so I forget which magic schools are most useful, but having some magic to support your creations is definitely a good idea. [EDIT: I was confusing Magic Shaping, which makes creations, and the actual magic skills like Battle Magic]

I found I did best when I didn't try to hang on to my creations too long. I regarded them as expendable and replaced them with better ones when I could, slowly working up the chain to the most powerful creations. This strategy worked well.

Yeah, dumped it into magic shaping. First it's a little cheaper, and second magic creatures are range based and deal acid damage at the beginning of each new turn. After getting the level bumped to 11 (vs 8 with fire) i'm walking over everything in the areas i'm at, but that won't last long... I'm resetting them every 2 levels i get which adds 2-4 levels to them.

One thing i also am doing is keeping all the special/rare items. This way hopefully the power station later i will have enough items with resistance that i won't take much damage every round just from being there.

Good, I'm glad that's working out. I also realize I was confusing Magic Shaping with the actual magic skills like Battle Magic. I now remember that Magic Shaping is actually one of the categories for creations. Which is good, because having useful creations is much more important than having magical skills.

Yeah, i really wish i could offload some of the weight to the creatures though.... Otherwise the character just turns into a packrat and after-battle healer... and you don't want to get too overloaded on the other classes since you won't have as many fighting creatures at your side...