Geneforge 2
Sunday, May 31st, 2009| Geneforge 2 | |
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  Geneforge 2’s title screen shows a Shaper creating a powerful Drakon |
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| Developer(s) | Spiderweb Software |
| Publisher(s) | Spiderweb Software |
| Designer(s) | Jeff Vogel |
| Series | Geneforge |
| Platform(s) | Windows 95, Mac OS |
| Release date(s) | Macintosh July 24, 2003 Windows October 15, 2003 |
| Genre(s) | Computer role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Download, CD-ROM |
| System requirements | DirectX 3 (Windows only), 30 MB RAM, 25 MB hard disk space, 800×600 screen resolution with 16 bit color. |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse |
Geneforge 2 is the second in a series of roleplaying games created by Spiderweb Software. It is released as shareware for the Macintosh and Windows platforms.
Contents
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Gameplay
See also: Geneforge gameplay
A Guardian explores one of the game’s towns with a pair of creations
Geneforge 2 offers a number of changes and additions over its predecessor. Three new creations are available to players: massive Drakons; telepathic Gazers; and acidic, decaying Rotghroths. Several new spells are available, such as Kill and Aura of Flames. The skill Anatomy, which allowed the player to cause extra damage in melee combat, is replaced with Parry, which has a chance of blocking incoming attacks. The game engine itself, however, is essentially unchanged from the original Geneforge.
Players create a character from one of three character classes and explore the area surrounding Drypeak, a failing Shaper colony, solving quests and gaining experience. Geneforge 2 is played in isometric perspective, movement through the game’s environs is real-time, combat is turn-based. The game world is divided into 84 areas accessible through a world map. Clearing areas by defeating guardians or successfully traversing the terrain allows players to bypass those areas via the world map, reducing travelling time. The game uses an auto-map, each area is completely darkened and is revealed as the player explores, similar to the fog of war used in real-time strategy games. As the player’s party performs tasks or defeats enemies they receive experience, leading to increased levels and additional skill points. The player character’s skill points can be used to increase their statistics or to improve their aptitude in one of the fifteen available skills. Canisters which increase skills or add new abilities are scattered throughout the game.
Each of the three character classes has a particular playing style and can approach tasks in different ways. Guardians are fighters who excel in standard combat skills, especially hand-to-hand fighting. They are capable of shaping creations, but have little affinity for magic. Agents excel in spell casting and are capable of hand-to-hand combat, but have poor shaping skills. The Shaper is a summoner, capable of creating living creatures by using their own life essence. Shapers rely on their creations for protection. Essence is used for both creating creatures and casting spells; the number, type and strength of creations is limited by the player’s essence capacity. Eighteen different creations are featured in the game, with larger and more powerful creatures costing more essence to create. The types and strengths of creations can be altered depending on the player’s combat style. Creations accompanying the player receive a percentage of the experience points received for completing quests or defeating foes, levelling up and receiving skill points in the same manner as the player character.
Combat is turn-based, with each character in the player’s party receiving action points at the beginning of the player’s turn. The number received is dependent on the items the player character has equipped and the skills the character or creations possess. Each action uses a specific number of points, for example, moving one square takes a single point and attacks or spells take five. Attacking or spellcasting with fewer than five action points immediately ends the character’s turn, otherwise a character can continue to act until they run out of points. Most enemies will attack the player on sight, retreating in terror if they reach a certain threshold of damage without being killed. Other specialized behaviors are also present, including creatures which call for help, or creatures which act as sentries and retreat to an ambush location when threatened. Creations made by the player character can also be controlled by a similar artificial intelligence, or the player can invest more essence in the creation’s intelligence and control them manually.
Geneforge’s dialogue is delivered through on-screen text. Encounters with intelligent creations or humans result in the player being given a series of pre-determined questions or responses. Conversation options and the outcome of those conversations change according to the player’s previous interactions. The game features four factions, the player’s choice of conversation responses affects how members of the factions respond in future conversations. It is possible to complete the game without ever joining a faction, and the player can also change factions through the course of gameplay. Each faction, as well as being unaligned, gives a different ending. The player can collect items from defeated enemies and the game environments to improve their own equipment. Non-player characters can trade with the player, buying most items regardless of type. The shopkeeper has a fixed amount of gold at the start of the game which does not replenish itself. As with Geneforge, this makes it impossible to sell items once the sellers have run out of gold.
Plot
As in the first Geneforge game, the player begins as an apprentice Shaper beginning their training. They are sent with a Shaper Agent to assess the situation of the failing Shaper colony Drypeak. Once they arrive, they begin to find that there is much more here than one would think. One of the town’s leaders, Barzahl, has turned against the Shapers and has founded a town with those loyal to him, the Barzites. He has begun crafting magical canisters which rewrite the body of the Shaper who uses it, making them artificially stronger. Past Drypeak there are towns of serviles, Shaper-made servants who are bred for mindless obedience. But these serviles have broken free from their bonds of servitude due to years of separation from Shapers. Some, calling themselves the Awakened wish to deal with Shapers as equals, with mutual respect and rights, but the more radical group, known as the Takers, desire to destroy the Shapers outright. They are trying to remake the Geneforge, with the help of Drakons and other creations which once were loyal to Shapers, but have now turned rogue and seek their masters’ downfall.
Other Games in the Geneforge Series
- Geneforge
- Geneforge 3
- Geneforge 4: Rebellion
- Geneforge 5: Overthrow - the final game in the Geneforge saga
References
- ^ “Product News: Geneforge 2″. InsideMacGames. http://imgmagazine.com/misc/product_info.php?List=news&ProductID=615. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
- ^ “Geneforge 2 Game Info”. RPGDot. http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10075&games=799&sid=ab4bb308530fffb9f2794ac37c1e4f1e. Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
- ^ Sucher, Val (2004-02-18). “Geneforge 2 Review”. RPGDot. http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=893&sid=c233a3b20c62f7725b2863afe3930ada. Retrieved on 2008-06-25.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (2003-12-31). “Geneforge 2 Review”. GameSpy. http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/geneforge-2/499135p1.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
- ^ Newquist, Ken (2003-12-24). “Review: Geneforge 2″. InsideMacGames. http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=414. Retrieved on 2008-06-25.
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