leyheyhey

Writer's Block: Doctor Who?

2009-01-07T08:16:51Z

26-year-old actor Matt Smith was anointed as the eleventh Doctor Who this week. If you were in charge of casting, who would you cast as your ideal Doctor and why?

Submitted By norikoandshuya

View 502 Answers

Jason Gunn. With Thingee as his companion.

It would be awesome.

WOBOT

2008-10-24T00:24:14Z

I had a dream last night where, at one point, I had the most brilliant idea ever!!! and I realised that I was still dreaming, or I thought I was just half-asleep or something, but I know I thought "I must write this down, or I'll forget it in the morning!" So I got up and wrote down everything in great detail so that it would actually make sense later... only problem is that I didn't check that I wasn't still dreaming first.

So when I woke up, all that I could remember of it was the line "Return of the killer WOBOT!!!"

and I know that the WOBOT part was very important and I had to make sure I remembered that bit.

honestly I have no idea, but WOBOT. WOBOT. Greatest word ever?

blah.

2008-10-22T05:25:50Z

Photoshop pencil tool + reduced opacity etc. Fiddling around with something different... I quite like getting jagged edges like that actually.

this in no way reflects the rest of my day

2008-10-16T09:29:55Z

Add to the list of things I never thought I'd say:

"Spiders are friends, not food."

more photos

2008-10-13T09:09:31Z

The sea looked really gorgeous today. Unfortunately, I don't make a habit of carrying my camera around, because my bag is heavy enough as it is. However, since the weather recently has been repeatedly really nice, I did manage to remember to get out a few days ago, when it was also looking good, and take some photos. :)

My camera can't quite handle the light here, but eh. I got the important parts.

desk meme

2008-09-28T09:25:27Z

1) STOP.

2) Grab a camera.

3) Take a picture of your desk, don't fiddle around with it/tidy it/etc.

4) Post on your journal.

Actually I took that this morning, but I'm lazy when it comes to getting the pictures off the camera.

I have a few pictures of random stuff from around my room too because I was snapping some random shots to see which of the rechargeable batteries have had it and bugger out after being in the camera for ten seconds :/. I found a couple that actually lasted though.

Closer view of the cat, took this one just now.

A bit more of the wall. I have a lot of random shit I pinned to the wall because otherwise I'd have had to find something to store it in.

My bag and shoes. Both are a little the worse for wear, but serve me just fine.

I have the beginnings of a nice perfume collection now. :3

Also speaking of laziness, I took a picture when the 'take a picture of yourself' meme was going around and then... I forgot to get it off the camera. :B

Blurrr grainy. I have the same top on tonight, anyway.

another use for camera

2008-09-27T02:08:31Z

This was meant to be just a quick photoshop sketch to work out composition for the painting, but I got a bit carried away. What can I say? I can't resist a duck in uniform :)

Now to see if I can replicate this well enough in paint I guess...

Geneforge 3 part 8

2008-09-26T11:36:10Z

I got out of the habit of working on this stuff while I was getting used to the new computer setup and all that, and then I kind of... forgot about it. D: Time to get back into the groove!

Previous episodes
Last time, we were at the rebel encampment, having our (collective) ear talked off.

One thing I didn't mention last time (but I think one or two of the NPCs did) is that a good half of this place is walled off, there's just the one way in.

And they don't want us here. There are guards wandering around, and if they see you back here more than once they go hostile. This is not a good thing, especially when you're trying to be friendly to them. Also I am really, really bad at not getting caught. D: There are a couple of quests which require an item from this part, but one of those is to find evidence to catch the spy, which I am not doing, so that saves me the embarassment of having to take shots of how badly I screw that up. :B

Kinda neat new item in this... rubbish bin?

how did they throw that out, really.

Anyway before I go anywhere, see if I can figure out what made this area not go green for me >|

Including this just because I think vlish look hilarious getting hit from this angle.

So it was just... I hadn't got close enough to the other exits or something. grump. >|

Back to... oh yeah, I was delivering a message, now I can tell this guy about it.

>I told Lankan about your message.

pfff yeah right.

But let's try anyway, so tell him that...

(I think the stress might be getting to him. just a little)

We also have a message for this lady.

>I met your husband, etc.

I keep getting levels up at the strangest times.

I can't believe I missed this before:

:D

Another thing I haven't done here yet: break into this house...

>Do you know anything of the monsters? Or the rebellion?

>...Maybe I can make things better.

>Are you a gatherer?

If you've accepted the mission to find the spy, you can ask her about that, and she gets very angry... :O

One more thing to do here.

>I found you some wiry moss :D

grmf. I thought I had enough. >| Well, when I do have enough she says

and one of the rewards is one of these:

Which is kind of overkill for my purposes, but very convenient for the game where I'm playing as a Guardian, have loads of HP, so little magic my healing is nearly completely useless, and normal healing pods aren't quite cutting it any more.

Off to somewhere new now, finally.

Oh, lovely. D:

agggh I ~~love to~~ hate these roamers. I forget if I've encountered and explained them before, but

THEY EXPLODE

Kill one, and everything within a few spaces takes damage.

The upside of this is that usually what is within a few spaces is other exploding roamers, and one exploding does enough damage to take another one out, so you can get some awesome chain reactions which is cool.

The downside is that they SWARM YOU.

If I attacked any of the 4 near my group here it would be an instant game over.

So it's important to keep out of their way, and to never ever let them corner anyone by the trees or the water.

Now that I moved everyone out of range...

Oh, that is very satisfying.

I never get sick of this. :D I can imagine some mad sadistic ~~player~~ Shaper lining up a whole bunch of these and setting them off like a line of dominoes.

... That's the first lot dealt with.

This one surprised me, and managed to get all the way into the middle of the group before triggering combat D:

The thing to do is get out of the way. This means that the last character to act is the one to attack -- it's a good thing that Alwan isn't the slowest because he has no ranged attack at all, and I don't particularly want to have to keep healing him. :/

These guys are actually tougher than the ordinary exploding roamers, they can take more than one hit.

Well, mostly, but no chain of explosions here.

They're still not that hard to deal with.

I've cleared out the exploding roamers now, but there's another bunch of enemies here.

This clawbug warren has entrances near the side of this area where I came in, and also near the side which leads to the route to the source of the rogues. If you wanted to get through this area without fighting any of the roamers, it would actually be possible to sneak through here. I couldn't pass an area by without showing it off, but I like that there's the option. :D

Of course, since I don't want to sneak through... maybe this isn't the best way to do it.

agh. For some reason I expected them to miss more :B

This is my best heal not getting him back to full health. :/

AGAIN.

And again. Clawbugs: going toe-to-toe with a whole pack of them is not a very smart idea.

In this nest is this:

That's, um... great. I don't think I want to know.

There's a similar bunch over the other side of these tunnels, this time they are easier because I prepared better.

Mostly. :B

That's the last of this area, though.

This is where I'm going to go when I can get off this island, but there's much more to do here than that!

>How's it going out here?

>Have you seen many rogues?

>Tell me about this area.

Shapers only means it's not off-limit to me. :B I bet there's some neat items there! (I'm not actually going here until later)

>Why don't I help you hunt them? :D

>You go, I follow. :D

For all that she doesn't want to do this without me it's a bit hard to keep up.

These guys are easy.

The next lot, though, are a bit more of a hassle.

great. I just love taking out multiple vlish at once. :|

Probably should have gone for one of the others first rather than the least threatening one, but this one I could at least tell was in range.

Not again.

And she just takes off. HEY WAIT FOR ME

Fortunately these enemies don't actually spawn until you get there.

DOMINATOR VLISH. It can charm your party members D: That is even more annoying than having them run away.

So it goes down first :D

And the others aren't anything you haven't seen before.

This last lot of rogues dropped some nice items for our troubles.

The tentacle is used in a couple of minor item recipes, I think, the spores are more effective than ordinary or even major healing spores, so they'll be useful later when my party has much more HP, and:

Free increase to my most important stat? THIS is pretty sweet.

More vlish. Just what I always wanted.

I don't know how I keep forgetting about this. They're floating tentacle mind control monsters. How creepy is that D:

Going down the main path here will lead to getting mobbed, so I'm sneaking around the edges of the map trying to get each vlish alone.

Resistance to magical attacks, oh joy. Poor Holly isn't much of a help in this area :(

At least the acid helps :)

Picking off all the vlish in this area one by one is quite fun to do, but it's not particularly exciting in screenshot form. :)

what. I couldn't figure out what was making combat trigger every time I ended it until I looked at the map...

it was hiding behind a tree. >|

That's better. >|

Neat thing here, if not very useful. Some of these little bushes around will drop some thorns when you click on them. One go only, though.

Having dealt with all the regular vlish around here, there is now only one area I haven't checked out.

Well, I could go for a bit of a change right now.

As the text here suggests, your main character is less susceptible to hostile mental effects than your creations and companions are.

Can't hurt to prepare :)

that's different.

Apparently being see-through makes it stronger.

>( repeat, several times... I didn't get a shot of finally taking it out. It dropped... these.

I'm not going to think about it.

Nothing particularly special in here, though.

The next area sounds a bit more peaceful.

Joy. >(

grblf. Good thing I have a lot of long-range attackers.

It would be so much more convenient if I could oneshot these.

argf

take that

and that

and that >|

At least these ones are weaker.

:D! It doesn't take much to make me happy. A nice hot cup of tea, a clear day, oneshotting a turret...

All the turrets are gone. FINALLY. And here are some people!

HI THERE :D

Tell me about this encampment?

>Were you born here?

Not friendly? I think I could figure that out myself. At least there's no need for someone else to deal with them now.

>What has been happening on the island?

This is one of the quests which requires sneaking into the part of the rebel camp they don't want you in, but fortunately this one is a lot nearer the exit than the thingy for the 'find the spy' quest.

>I'm looking for this Shaper...

>|

>Can you tell me something about the woods around here?

Cave?

>Do you gather herbs too?

Eh. Let's check out this cave.

Good thing they're disabled now!

Thing is, disarming them still gives experience. ... :D

And there are lots of mines here! wait what is that

(actually it took a few more hits than this, and there were a couple of others but they decided to hide behind a tree, so I couldn't get any good shots. :D)

THIS cave.

Ambush Pit? That sounds... ominous.

Although actually I really enjoy going through this place.

it what
Man, people are so mean to their creations. "Didn't work? Eh, let's just leave them in a hole somewhere. No one will notice" >|

Managed to avoid getting hit here, but they can do a good whack of damage.

There's not a huge amount of stuff lying around down here, but that sword is pretty flash.

Further in this place goes from big open spaces (for underground) to little twisty passages.

The enemies here have also changed.

This is a good thing, because I get to do this again.

This is a different intersection from the last one.

The layout is the same; one direction is the way through, the others are dead ends with roamers.

never gets old :D

This time there's some loot in the dead ends - this body has some ordinary equipment.

and more pods are always nice.

Moving further on...

:/

This is why getting cornered by exploding roamers is a Very Bad Idea. The key is to the Shaping halls under San Ru, if you needed another way to get in.

Somewhere here is one of these:

Not too bad :)

That's done with the pit, and with it the rest of this little trip around the island, so before I tackle the northwest tip and deal with the source of the rogues, I have just the one little thing left to do.

Hi there :D
Before when I asked Diwaniya for some... reinforcements I got blown off. Now that I have more leadership, I have another option.

This game makes spending valuable skill points on extra conversation options so fun.

Next time: Ticking another island off my to-do list. :)

really should use this for something once in a while

2008-09-25T21:49:09Z

No art posts here, because... I dunno, I'm lazy. :/ haven't even got around to using the scanner with this computer.

Need to get myself to do more painting. I have a little canvas sitting out in the other room which I've given a nice coat of greeen, and I have a pretty good idea for what I want to do with it, but... eh.

Been feeling kinda down, no energy, that sort of thing. I guess the cold of doom didn't really help there.

.

2008-08-26T09:54:05Z

Once again I've been neglecting my journal :/. I find it so much easier to write things by hand on tegaki than to type it out, for some reason. (I should make an icon with the cartoon-self I've been using there...) Maybe I should try cross-posting in some way when I do a diary-type entry. :)

My cat, Misty, died a couple of weeks ago. I didn't take it as badly as I thought I would, considering how close to her I was, but she'd been sick for a long time, so I guess I had time to get used to the idea. The part that's been the hardest to get used to is not having to medicate her twice a day, I keep thinking "oh no! it's past 12 and I haven't given Misty her -- oh yeah. :("

I'm so glad I got that digital camera a couple of years ago, without it I'd have had hardly any pictures of her.

organisation is good

2008-08-03T03:56:35Z

Geneforge 3:
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6a
part 6b
part 7
part 8

leyheyhey @ 2008-07-30T17:48:00

2008-07-30T05:48:44Z

I just got a new computer today. :O WELL, new to me. Nice shiny second-hand G5. First thing I installed on here was Painter :D Second was firefox, but that's as far as I've got. Should be working on any number of things for uni right now though rather than messing with the new shiny.

It's always a bit awkward getting used to something new like this... right now I'm in "oh shit why did I get this D:" mode. Much zippier, though!

I don't know what, but I feel like I should be giving it a nickname now.

hm

2008-07-27T05:42:32Z

Having a strange amount of fun with Painter's digital watercolour tools. It's been years since I've used painter watercolour for anything, I swear

dumb-p

2008-07-24T11:08:18Z

My monitor has developed this little white line and it won't go away. :/ Add that to the previously present dark lines, both vertical and horizontal, the weird blotches and how I can't use a resolution higher than 1024x768 because the refresh rate gives me a migraine, and... why do I even try to draw on here? Working at such a squished up little image size for all these years can't have been good.

And yet, I do. Nothing I'm happy with -- I've been feeling pretty down on my art, more so than usual -- but eh. Photoshop again, going for bw + colour layer stuff but it's started to turn into a mass of barely distinct greys, which kind of defeats the point of doing it that way since the high contrast was what I liked in the first place. :/

Geneforge 3 part 7

2008-07-19T09:02:13Z

Last time, I got a key to the mysterious locked door behind the Shaping hall!

In another change of plans, I am heading down here immediately... but only to pick up one item. I'll save the rest of the place for later :)

As if I'd ever be exploring somewhere with creations I didn't have to fight.

I have an irrational level of hate for this sort of mines.

They're easy enough to get past, as long as there's a switch to turn them off, like this, and it's possible to get to it without getting blown up.

I just don't like them. >|

urg doing this is going to use them all up :/

See?

It's worth it though because in the box is what I came here for :D

In the box in the first room is a couple of living tools to top me up :D, and in the other is THIS:

which is part of a couple of item recipes I probably won't make.

That's enough for now, so back up.

hi there

:(

There is an icy roamer here. :O One more thing I can accomplish in this area!

There it is!

Well that's not going to do them much good now.

Not actually that much tougher than the regular sort. :)

I just like seeing that.

This is why I made that side trip to get the new gloves. I need that mechanics boost to be able to disarm these mines.

Not entirely necessary to be able to do so to get past this area, but... helpful.

Vlish are considerably less of a threat when you start out close enough to them to do this. :)

Oh great, more of them. I'm getting pretty sick of taking shots of fights with roamers really :/

that, on the other hand

There was a living tool in the nest, which is a much nicer find right now than it usually is. :D I'm still really short on them because I'm too cheap to ever buy any.

Actually, these mines are a bit different from the ones we've encountered before. When triggered, they don't explode, but rather spawn a bunch of rogues to attack you.

They're actually worth more experience than disarming the mines is, but I don't have the patience to fight a whole pile of extra enemies. :/

Especially not more roamers.

OK, that warrants breaking out the bigger heal. :O

Man these roamers turn a lurid green when they're acided.

That's better.

Nothing in here but a whole bunch of dried herbs. Useful enough I guess.

So many roamers! At least they're still giving me some experience.

THIS MINE

The first time I went through here, I ran smack into this mine, didn't have the mechanics to disarm it, and got game-overed in two hits. >|

These guys ...spit hard, and they targeted my Shaper, and I didn't even have time to get out of the way.

This is revenge. >|

Good thing these ones didn't sneak up behind me while I was dealing with the others.

Unsurprisingly, they resist acid.

They dropped a couple of gemstones for my trouble, too. :)

There is someone here! hi!

>Calm down. What is your name?

>Why are you out here alone?

>Hopefully, this can be settled without violence.

>Where's the camp?

>I need to speak with your leader.

>How long will you be out here?

ok bye

She's off, and so are we. :D

Aw man why is it still red, is it because I triggered a couple of mines instead of disarming them? >| stink.

oh dear. I will have to deal with this strange thing later

But first I'm going underground!

The main thing here is MINES. Same sort as I dealt with at the beginning of this part, with the switch to turn them off. But where is the switch?

There are some ordinary bits of scenery which light up when you mouse over them. Usually only containers do this.

Operate the controls, and

That's the first lot dealt with.

But, of course, there are more! Many more.

Here this the switch.

On the other side of the room, though, there's another one.

I'm not going to turn them on again because I would probably forget I had and try to go through them. :/

This is a dead end. There are a few of them here. :/

Still more mines to switch off. This one's a bit mean, the switch is (behind) an ordinary barrel, they're all clickable but the other ones have nothing in them but a bit of rubbish.

Healing and curing spores in here.

Further up is the one fight in this area. It's a bit hard to see, but it's those plant things again.

They still don't attack directly, but the poison can get fairly nasty as it stacks. It's more noticeable when I'm in range of a bunch of them at once.

That seems like the most appropriate way to finish off the last one of these. :)

The real treasure of this area is past here.

yessss.

This doesn't exactly make up for not being able to get training the normal way, but it's another addition to my arsenal :)
Not that I particularly want another roamer following me around...

Eww, gooey. :X

In the cabinet:

Not all the clickable objects are useful.

And not all the useless objects are clickable. I don't know.

Here's the exit.

It's nice to be above ground again. This area is not infested with roamers, either.

It's infested with clawbugs. D:

I can't remember if they've turned up before. I like them better than the other battle creations because the giant scorpiony shape is less creepy-looking than the humanoid ones. :B

The ones here have a particular gimmick I didn't see much of because I took them out too fast, but...

What? HEY COME BACK HERE

Oh yeah, acid. ha!

ooh what is this

Secret stash, kind of hard to see. Just a couple of crystals, some javelins, etc.

Argh vlish. This really makes me want one on my side :/

hey wait not again! This one isn't even acided, I have to catch it!

HA.

Sometimes the clawbugs don't trigger combat until they've run right up to you and gone in circles around a party member or two. I don't know why, but at least they're in range after that.

Sometimes they trigger combat before I've even seen them. This can be quite a bit more confusing and frustrating. No shots of that, though, for obvious reasons. :)

I'm not sure what my side even is.

Oh dear. Fortunately, my mechanics is indeed sufficient, and there is no problem.

And because I went in through the back door, the guards have... kind of missed their opportunity here.

They go down pretty much like ordinary clawbugs, only this one manages to get a hit in.

That dealt with, I'm done here.

Great.

>I need to speak with Lankan. I have a message from Norrell of San Ru.

:(

>Can I buy or sell some supplies?

>Is there nothing you can sell me?
(I wouldn't have thought this is the best time to go shopping, but hey.)

>Where did they come from?

I'll buy both. It's useful! :D

>Where are you from?

>Why did you come out here?

Here is the main building, this is where I am supposed to go.

The ordinary people don't have much to say, but here also is...

>Tell me your story.

The more I hear this story from everyone the sillier the whole thing sounds.

anyway, whatever, flatter him.
>I believe your cause is just. etc.

I see that other people have been putting points in leadership as well. :/

>I wish to speak with you.

>I have a message for you.

>Where is Litalia now?

>How can you trust her?

>Do you know of a way off this island?

>What would you do if someone brought your canister?

..."someone".

>What if I got it?

I did that already. :D

>I will bring the stolen canister to you.

ehehe. So not only do I know where it is, but I already have everything I need to get it.

upgrades~

:D

Well, maybe I will use these too.

hi there

>Why are you so afraid?

>What are you looking for out here?

>I met Lizette. She has a message for you.

I suppose that's pretty much right, the way we're going. That's something, I guess.

That's it for today, but as I mentioned before it is time for an important decision. See, there are three ways to get off this island. The first way, destroying the rogues, is kind of the 'neutral' way, and also the most complicated and time-consuming. I'm definitely doing this way, no matter what.

The other ways are to do something with or to the rebels, and these ways will piss off one or the other of your party members to the point that they will leave you once you get to the boat to the next island. :(

Somehow I can't see anyone who's been commenting on this so far going for this one, and it would be a bit counterproductive to the sympathies I've shown so far, but you can kill all the rebels if you want. This pisses off Greta, of course, along with pretty much everyone else on the island.

OR you can fetch Lankan his canister, which is obviously a rebellious act, and this of course pisses off Alwan.

Personally I'd be inclined to stick with the first option, out of force of habit more than anything else. :B On the one hand doing this would mean skipping a bit of plot stuff you might be interested in seeing. On the other hand, I doubt I have the patience to look through the script files for any interesting interjections I'd be missing out on by losing a party member early. I guess this is less of a consideration if you don't find him as funny as I do. :P Since I'm the only one who would have to deal with the combat setback this would lead to (and I am perfectly capable of doing so) that shouldn't be an issue.

So I don't know, you tell me!

Geneforge 3 part 6b

2008-07-15T11:12:16Z

Blar I'm slow. :(

Oh, not him again. >|

>Maybe we should talk somewhere else.There are rogues everywhere.
There are rogues everywhere else too though

And that. I'm going to do them all in just to spite you now, though.
>Why aren't you still at the school?

>Who is Litalia? Where did she come from?

>So you are Litalia's servant now? :3

hee hee hee
>You are creating rogues? Why?

I will meet the rebels and see what they have to say.

Dick. >|

The roamers here kind of leave you alone until... you get too close to them or something? I'm not sure. Leaving them alone tends to get me ganged up on by a whole bunch of them, so I'm picking them off as soon as I get near.

Not shown: many repetitions of the same!

Time to explore the rest a bit. There is something interesting in each corner of the map for this area!

In the southwest corner:

There's better equipment on this body than most of the dead humans I've encountered :O

The northwest corner:

It's just one vlish. What a not a threat. It drops:

what. Why was it carrying those? Vlish don't even have LEGS!

In the box in here:

Northeast corner:

This sort spit acid if you're not up close with them. The ordinary roamers you make also have a ranged acid attack.

puny shaper.

The nest there has some curing spores, appropriately enough.

Southeast corner.

THESE THINGS.

They take a lot of damage to get rid of.

And they don't attack for any damage but they POISON YOU. Poison is hardly damaging at all actually, or at least the sort these inflict is, but it is annoying!

Repeat too many times. >| They all drop a bunch of thorns, though, and the body n the corner has some money and a couple of crystals.

It's nice to see some turrets and stuff that aren't immediately hostile. Nice change from rogues rogues rogues rogues rogues.

We're going straight to the shaping hall this time. Waffling around and talking to everyone can wait.

Aww. Feels like home :) I like that.

It's sure nice to meet a Shaper who's too wrapped up in his own problems to be a dick to me.

>Tell me what's happening.

>Why did you refuse?

>I see. Then what happened?

>I would be glad to help.

>What do you want me to do about the rogues?

>Where should I look for it?

>Can you give me any supplies?

>I could use some reinforcements when I attack.

>Please?

:/ I think my leadership isn't high enough, or I'd have had another option there.
>I could use some training.

CURSES. I could really have done with some Shaping training, since I could get all the creations I have already over 3 points, unlocking the upgraded versions, and also he teaches create roamer and create vlish which I have no points in yet. Not that I have the essence to make use of any of that without getting rid of one of my current creations (D:) but it would give me more options! :( As it is I can still get a few new spells, but that's a kind of a poor replacement.

Oh well. Heal is the nicest one to have, minor heal isn't always sufficient now and having more points in the higher-level version is helpful. :)

After that, I told him about Litalia.

>Let's talk about the rebels.

>Perhaps I could meet them, see what they want?

hehehe.

>What do you do here?

>There aren't many guards here now?

>Tell me about the rebellion.

I'm not going to ask about this job because it's to root out a rebel spy and doing that would be counter to the way we're going now. :B Just so you know. I don't like to have too many quests I will never finish clogging up my journal.

Changing the subject now...

>Tell me about Diwaniya.

>What do you think of the rebels?

>How are things going with the rogues?

Oh joy. The stuff in the supply cabinet is completely useless for me.

This looks mighty familiar :)
Everything here is free for the taking for me. On the tables, besides the shaper equipment and research notes (good only for selling... much later) there's an essence pod and a discipline wand, and in the box there's a blessing crystal and possibly something else, I forget. The essence-restoring pool would be useful if I ever had to do any fighting here...

Now it's time to talk to the other people around here.

>What are you doing while you're in town?

>Can you train me?

Curses! This guy trains combat skills, as long as you haven't put too many points in them already. Since I haven't put any points in combat skills, I'd be able to get the extra two points in missiles, quick action and parry... all things I'd have at least a slight use for. Sure, it'd cost a lot, but it's worth it. Doesn't matter though since I can't, now, although I'm tempted to cheat a bit to do so. :B oh well

So this place is protected by a bunch of mutant monsters just this far from going nuts and eating everyone. Great.
Battle alphas always look to me like they've got no skin D:

>How long have you lived here?

You're going to have a bit of trouble finding somewhere to live after this then.
>What do you think of the rebellion?

Let's see what you're selling.

I see one potion in that list.

>How have the attacks affected business?

>Perhaps I could get it for you.

Oh. That alchemist. Um...

I could have saved time by bringing the stuff with me but I forgot. :( I'll just make a note for next time I'm back there or something.

There's another shop just across from here, and this guy is in it.

>How have things been going lately?

Something about the wording of that question cracks me up. I have a mental image of this guy just lugging around some random Shaper over his shoulder, and that joke I can't remember which ends with "I was thinking of making a guitar."

>Enchanted forge!?

oh THAT enchanted forge :B

Not too far away, fortunately!
unlike the forges on SOME islands I can think of grmbfgh

I don't have a use for any of this anyway, but just... look at the price note. :D

What?

>Are you all right?

>I will be merciful if I can.

>I see you are looking after the serviles.

Be nice to them! Besides if you make them go out they'll a) freak out, b) get eaten, c) freak out and get eaten, and that doesn't get the work done either! also I will get rid of the rogues very soon :D

>Have the rogues caused you problems?

uh oh.

I'm the one who ordered him to go through rogue-infested areas on his own D:
>How was your journey south?

>Are you still afraid of the rogues?

>If something happened, you must tell me.

... Well.

Hmm. This looks interesting!

Yeah, can't go anywhere from here, either.

>I spoke with Tik. He's ... fine, nothing to worry about. >_> really.

Back, to ask about that suspicious locked door round the back.

My favourite sort of research and items! :D

I bet you'll tell me about the locked door!

>Can I borrow the key?

This really must be important, there are a bunch of ways to get in! I can get the key from the cave he's talking about, I can use up a whole heap of living tools forcing the door, OR with high enough leadership...

>You must give me the key. I command it.

... :D

Not going there immediately, though, because there's some other stuff I want to get through first.

SO, NEXT TIME: Meeting the rebels, and then you'll have enough information for the next important decision :D

Geneforge 3 part 6a

2008-07-12T01:47:55Z

Splitting this part into two because it's long, I saved a bunch of images at a higher quality than I intended, making this one doubly way too big, and I still have to finish the second half. :B

ALSO I'd like to note that opening 300 JPEG files in TextEdit is a dumb idea and you shouldn't do it. Especially not twice. D:

Also also, anyone interested in having me draw something? :B

Last time...

There are some pretty nice items here!

The first is useful and I will be using it until I get something that boosts stats more (as I have everyone else to do actual combat with :B), the second is far less useful than the +strength one I have now.

Some of these things are containers, some aren't. Just have to mouse over them and see if they light up. This one has an essence pod, and there's another one on the other side of the room with another armour potion. Not bad :)

That's it for this area, so it's off!

To see this guy again. I have something for him, after all.

I found you a wand :D

OK what's this all protector thing then

What kind of ingredients are that? that doesn't make sense >|

Actually I already know how to do this plus I don't actually need the shield so this was kind of pointless... but I did get a bit of experience for it too! :)

Let's go talk to the commander and then I can get the hell out of here already.

HI THERE

>I have seen the beast that is the cause of your problems. AND I KILLED IT

wait what kind of a reward is that? what.
>Anything else need doing while I'm here?

k I wanna take a boat now

yay.

These things are the reward. They're good armour, but... heavy.

I decided to give the artila a name, but since it was up to me I fell back on my old standby of theme naming. :/ At least I'm not naming them after berries or football teams this time I guess

It's off to the next island now, hurray.

Are you attacked often?

It's roamers!

I'm going to be doing this a lot on this island.

>How do I get to San Ru?

And they will! In the very next area.
>Tell me about this settlement.

Can I go back?

>Have the rogues been giving you trouble?

>Do you know where they're all coming from?

hehe. No, do go on...

>Tell me more about this rebellion.

>You can tell me more.

>I am glad to know, I'll have to speak to them

pfff hahaha
I want to keep him around as long as possible for interjections like that :D

OK! Let's explore now.

OK that's JUST A LITTLE CREEPY. D:
>How's it going here?

>Why are you still here? Aren't you scared of the rogues?

Well seeing as no boats are going anywhere I'm not sure that does any GOOD...

>Do you know Lankan?
(I like seeing all the perceptions people have of the important characters here :D)

Aw no little character sketch that'd have been a neat little contrast there :)
>What sort of business goes on here normally?

>What are the herbs and mushrooms used for?

This is useful information! which I completely failed to keep in mind :(
>Where are the drying sheds?

This is of value to remember! Doing this repetitive fetch quest isn't exactly the most important thing to do here, but keeping doing it will help me out later. I think.

It's closed, let's break in

In the box with all the papers around:

I already used this recipe :)

This place has clearly seen better days.

There's a bunch of these guys in red around, and they're all the same if you talk to them:

I already did but thanks

Of course there are more roamers here!

I remembered that I have a sword now. :) Not that my puny Shaper does much good with it...

Compare.

Having dealt with the roamers I am now free to nick all the bundles of herbs left in here for my own profit. It's to subsidise my efforts! :D

I wound up with quite a stack just from around here;

so it's back to the nice lady who will pay me for them for some reason.

I have some herbs to sell you~

Yeah uh I'm not sure if you noticed but you can't actually get them to the mainland right now, and I don't know how long it'll be until you can... but thanks for giving me money!

>What's your job here?

>What's been happening?

>Who told you to stay here?

That is a very sensible approach!
>You wish instruction, you said?

Well you know considering there's no dock work to DO here now...
>You can go to safety.

That's it for this area. Time to trudge through some rogue-infested swamp, I can hardly wait

And, immediately!

It's a trap, of course, but one I can afford to spring.

Now if I can just finish this one off before it runs further into the swamp...

Nope. Residual acid damage did it in but it got away. Oh well.

These guys spawned after I was nearly past them. >|

It is more of the usual though

hee hee hee

And so on. There was bugger all in the nest :(

This is the proper ambush the roamer would have led us to. I come prepared, though!

Is this the first vlish we've fought? I forget! but I don't remember talking about them before. They're the requisite floating tentacle monsters :D also they inflict status effects, like that terror vlish I just got rid of here can make your creations run away >| They're the second type of magic shaping creatures, like roamers are the second
fire shaping ones (how does that work, anyway? if they have a ranged attack they spit acid). In your own hands they don't get to inflict fear or whatever but they do stun and/or slow enemies which is pretty useful in some situations.
I like them, but my reaction to seeing them is usually 'oh shit' no matter how high level I am. Dunno why really.

They're kinda magic resistant :/ but they'll take ordinary damage from acid so this will pay off in a turn or two.

D: yikes. OK now I really want one on my side.

gah

And now some more roamers have come out of nowhere! Just what I needed! so yeah this ambush can be kind of nasty if you're not expecting it and aren't prepared or whatever.

Healing spores let me get off another buff in the same turn too :)

Submission vlishes(? what's the plural of that anyway) stun you, reducing AP. very annoying. Acid is the answer here, saves me from having to be able to attack in the next turn :)

It saddens me that I missed another shot of Alwan getting hurt. :(

That is all of them, yay. Not too bad going! There's some new kinds of stuff on the ground. I think it's new.

Next kind up of thorns/batons. The added status effects are getting better :)

These could potentially come in very handy since I think the speed spell is only single target.

Since I've somehow managed to have enough free space to not get weighed down by a shield... this is good to have!

There are other roamers just kind of hanging around here too, not planning any fancy tricks like the other one.

This looks worthy of investigation!

D:

Not another ambush!

Surrounded by a whole bunch of them? Looks like time to bust out a crowd-control spell :D

It stuns (some of) them and stops them from moving. Handy! I've circled the ones that were affected, because it's kind of hard to tell without the animations. Actually it's kind of hard to tell even with them, but.

This nest is where an icy roamer would be hiding if it had showed up here.

These were in the house.

Back to the road now, and

Hi there!
>Yes, I'm going there.

>How has your hunt been going?

>Are there any outposts around here?
(typed 'outhouses' first, what.)

uh... :(
>There is a mess in San Ru?

OK bye.

I forget what was in here, but it wasn't that special.

Again?

yeah yeah.

Apparently I can't cast around corners :( Greta was behind a tree and it didn't affect her.

Unfortunately this fight took place behind a bunch of trees so I couldn't really see what was going on. :(

But I dealt with them, etc.

yeah what

>You may be right.

yeah what now

>I haven't had much time to think about philosophy, what with all the people trying to kill me.
("What are you talking about? That's the best time!")

Yeah, so at a few points one of your companions will stop for a little chat like that. Some of the conversations and options are funnier than that one :D

Oh hurray more marshes. That is for next time, though!

NEXT TIME: Lots and lots of talking to people, I am not kidding.

IDUNO

2008-07-05T10:47:02Z

I dunno why I've been doodling in Photoshop, it drives me nuts most of the time. ._. But I have!

for fluffyduck :D are they even recognisable in b&w? ha ha argh

Anyone else wanna request something? :D

Geneforge 3 part 5

2008-07-02T12:26:15Z

This took me longer than I intended because I decided for the sake of flow to append the boss fight to this update after I was done with all the images. Not the most efficient way to do it...

LAST TIME, we were about to head off to the Testing Grounds, to be... tested. I changed my mind though! There are items to be made.

first back to the fort (not shown) to buy an artila eye from the merchant there, since none of the ones I've dealt with yet have dropped any. Then to the anvil!

Two ways to get nice items from the forge. First is, like this, an ordinary item and an enhancy stone.

Combine them and the item gets some sort of extra enhancement. In this case, slightly improved armour%. If I used this same stone on a weapon it'd get a slightly increased to-hit%. Other enhancy items are a bit more exciting :D

The other way is to combine a specific combination of items, generally ordinary unmagical stuff plus random creation body parts, and get something sweet in return. You can find recipes for these things all over the place; the one for this shows up just after you get to the next island, but since I have the parts already...

Sweet. This will remain useful for a while. :)

Since I'm right there, it's off to the mines now, instead. I just don't like backtracking too much, see.

Maybe someone was cooking! (actually the real reason is ickier)

Those green glowy crystals on the ground light up when you get near with this VWOOSH sound. It's made me jump quite a few times when I forgot about them.

The enemies in here are the usual sort.

And as usual there are quite a few of them.

Now this is weird. Alwan apparently got his feet stuck in that puddle of blood, because he just wouldn't move even though there wasn't anything in his way. >|

Just another reason why ranged attacks are VERY USEFUL.

I thought there was an important item here but there isn't. Just a bunch of crystals, which are valuable but also heavy.

One of several here. It's nice to be able to take these guys out quickly.

Traps! I am so glad these aren't blowing up in my face

I'm sure nothing bad can come from this.

This room contains two pairs of boots, a bucket and a spoon. I wonder what they used it for?

This is why facing up a turret at point blank range is not the smartest idea in the world ~~and why I do it anyway~~

He stares at the turret and it just sort of explodes

THIS is the place I was looking for before.

The reward for returning this is nice :D

Bulging? That can only mean one thing...

D: HOW DID THOSE FIT IN THERE

The other one was like that too but they're all just one-hit stuff so eh

I think I'm leaving in more shots of Alwan being hit in the face than are STRICTLY NECESSARY

Useful stuff here! The book has some item creation recipes...

but I don't really need to make wands I will never use :B

There's a body in the corner with some nice stuff, including this, which I will make brief use of because it is a definite improvement over the armour from the very beginning of the game which I hadn't found a replacement for up until now.

And in the box:

This one gives armour some extra fire resistance and weapons a few points of fire damage. :)

Turrets must be guarding something important! This room has heaps of crystals in it, and also chews through several living tools to open the door.

After a few more random rogues like this I've explored this whole area and it's time to loot everything and return that prism for a reward. :D

If part of the scenery is clickable like this there is probably some item in it for me~

:|

AHA

And again! Every group of these things in this area has one of them which will drop a crystal. Combined with the other ones lying around and in boxes and stuff around here, and picking up everything in this area works out to be ve~ry profitable. :3

HI THERE

>I ~~looted~~found you a prism! :D

>What's this something else you're looking for?

Hey, that's not even yours in the first place OK I'LL GET IT :D

New item! Slightly more powerful than the other crystals.

NOW it's time to go to the Testing Grounds.

Clearly Greta got the initiative for both of them.

Kill stealer. :(

That was uneventful. HI THERE

>Where should I go now?

>I am ready to begin testing.

:(

Well really, a test of your Shaper-ness without your creations would be pretty counter-productive. :P

>Mind, focus.

Try to feed it.

We have to FEED THE MIND now. This is not the right direction to do that, BUT there are recharging pools there and that is awesome. Also the book:

I'm sure I can do better than all these properly-prepared proper Shapers, right? :O

Since there is an essence rechargy pool right here, I have absolutely no reason not to cast this on every single party member.

And this! Actually I'd be fine without these but it's an opportunity I just can't turn down :D

Stuff here, I didn't have one of these yet so I took the one that was in one of these blue boxes:

Garden-variety useful items, plus in the cabinet:

I must be tired or something I read that as "rage buckets". That would be awesome.

FEED THE MIND

>Who created you?

>How many Shapers?

Yeah yeah. So do you know what's been going on while you've been totally out of it?

Don't know why I even bothered asking.
>I am ready to be tested.

YES I'M SURE

>I want to know more about the tests.

TELL ME

This is totally part of the test, abusing leadership is the Shaper way!

Not that I actually need the information, but, you know. :V

OK whatever deathtrap course time now

Guess? The mind just TOLD ME

Anyway! Here I will show you what each choice is like, just because I can! :D This side is a leadership test.

>I am a Shaper, and you shall obey me. >|

That was easy! and didn't give any experience :(

The other side is a pretty ordinary fight, apart from how they don't actually spawn until you enter the room.

This is not a good sign, I should really put some more points in mechanics :(

New enemies! Cryoas are the upgraded form of the fyora. They become available for us to create when we get three points in create fyora. If the name and the palette-swap didn't give it away already, they breathe ICE :D Also they're significantly tougher than your regular garden-variety fyora.

Wow. I think he just beheaded that fyora :O

Healing pods are pretty handy. Also magical acid glob attacks, those are handy too.

Last choice and... wait, there's a sign!

uh

This is the... stealth section. Sneak past the guard while it's standing around in the corner. HOWEVER since my timing sucks while I'm trying to take screenshots, and it's not even that interesting looking, I'm just going to go for the fight on the other side. :B

The fight on the other side is a single, strong enemy, and it's just a matter of whittling down its health and keeping it too stunned to attack.

Worked pretty well, really! I thought I'd do an animated gif of this part to show how many hits a tough enemy like this actually takes. Also because I like watching it go down repeatedly. :D

Success! Back to the mind.

I'd ask about the other tests now, but the mind is right; it's going to be a while until we're strong enough for them. Definitely coming back, though, so I'll save the explanation until then. :)

I like how most of my levels-up seem to come from talking to people and opening doors.

Books yay :D

These are all very useful! I approve of this reward entirely.

Back into the mines we go!

Every time I look at this map now I get the feeling that Harmony Isle is giving me the fingers. Foreshadowing?

In we go! Since we've already been to a mines area we don't get the intro wall o' text this time, but if we did it'd just be most of the same -- we can tell there are rogues here, it still smells of vinegar -- but the last bit is a bit more informative, so I will reproduce it here:

"You immediately notice that there is the strong, constant smell of vinegar in the air. That is very odd. Vinegar isn't the product of any Shaper spell or process you know of."

(I gather they haven't tried to put their magical genetic-engineering skills into viticulture, then. :B)

Oh look there is a body here.

There was some stuff in the other room in there, some crystals and living tools or something, nothing spectacular.

There's some javelins in this room I think, plus a bunch of crystals (the heavy, non-magical throwing item sort), but that's all heavy stuff that doesn't help me so I'm leaving it.

:O

also hahaha; "Can we kill it now? Please?" that sums up his entire character I swear

Not shown: actually it took a lot longer than this to kill and everyone kept missing :(

This fight was pretty frustrating. Acid really helped, though... this is when I get an idea. :D

Oh yeah, skill points! :D I put two points into Magic Shaping here.

Looking back at it now two points of endurance might be a bit of a pointless essence drain, this thing shouldn't be getting hit anyway... but eh.

New critter hurray!

Onward, and there are -- no surprises here -- more spawners.

The new kid shows promise! :D

I never really noticed before but the worm's attack animation is kind of disturbing-looking D: WHAT IS THAT THING

The best thing about acid is the extra damage at the beginning of each round.

There is another one! It goes down just the same as the other.

Here I include a full-size screenshot to show the difference between fire attacks and acid for the creations that use them. See that green bar below the artila? That's spell energy. It's just run out. That doesn't happen to the fyora. Fortunately, it takes just a few seconds out of combat to restore spell energy, so it's no big deal... most of the time.

More spawners this way, I'm sure of it.

Just the one, but those icy crawlers are a little bit of a threat too, anyway.

What was the point of this shot? Oh, yeah, acid. :D Look at it work!

Explorey explorey explore.

Yeah, not much in here, just a loop which looks like it should be a way to sneak past the spawners but really isn't. :/

Onwards! And this time it is two at once.

The first order of action is to acid them.

Acid them both.

I like it when residual acid damage takes out my enemies for me :)

Yay, that's all of them. Time to explore the rest of the area, I bet there is good stuff.

Using living tools = carrying slightly less weight + gain experience for unlocking. I see no downside here

There's a body there, on it are these:

Now that is pretty sweet. Stat boosts + lighter trumps a couple of points of armour, these are so replacing what I've got. also I typed "stat boots" the first time, ha

:/ OK that's a bit TOO many no thanks

I'm getting so close to being able to oneshot these

hahahaha subsidise, that's great :D
also I like how the descriptions for things are so clearly coloured by the shaper worldview, like here, or whenever you talk to creations or whatever. However you play them your character still has a pretty big dose of Shaper arrogance and entitlement :B

What are these other people doing taking stuff that's MY JOB
But there's more here, the box in the other corner has some cool stuff:

The item we're meant to fetch. It's pretty strong but I don't mind giving it up since with only two charges I'd just save it for later forever
although come to think of it I could probably have handed it over with fewer than two charges left as well, but whatever.

This is a new type of pod I think, it's actually pretty useless for me as it just casts protection and not even on the other party members.

THIS on the other hand is pretty sweet. Not only does it give the upgraded version of a spell that's already awfully essence-intensive to cast, it doesn't say 'Self' -- I can use it on anyone! :D

And behind the door there are more sweet items!

This will come in handy if I happen to face a powerful creation soon. You know, if that happens.

This is not just a nice bit of armour with a fire resist bonus over what I already have, I'm pretty sure it's the best bit for a while. :)

That's it for this area, so -- onwards!

That sounds... ominous.

This bit cracks me up a bit because I don't even have a weapon here :B I think they got the names wrong!

>Who are you?

>What is creating the monsters?

>What is your message?

What is this great work you speak of?

Without further information I'm not making any promises. >|
>(say nothing)

Making use of one of those armour potions now. I anticipate a need for tanking.

Also I ran completely out of essence in the last area.

With the drain on essence from maintaining two creations, though, there's not much left to restore. So much for my intention to use up a couple of essence pods getting shieldier... I'm sure it'll be fine.

heh it looks like a little heart

I don't get sick of beating up spawners. It's strangely satisfying :D

This one is a step up from the previous; it spawns artilas!

That's one of the rogue fyoras, not mine. Tanking away, I'm glad I used that armour potion.

That's another two enemies taken out with acid damage. Oh yes.

Ooh, is that--

:D :D :D

Looking at the blue box first:

This is a quest item for the mage in the woods -- I didn't trigger him asking for it because it's a 'rebellious act' to give him it and I want to leave that open for a little longer just in case you guys change your minds. ;) The reward kind of sucks, but there are some funny lines in the conversations so if you want I can go back there and do that.

There is stuff in the other boxes

This would be useful, but I'm kind of dependent on the strength bonus from the current belt to actually be able to carry everything, so.

This is nice enough but the only enemies with fire I'm facing now are fyoras and they're not exactly threatening.

This may come in handy, who knows.

Stab it good!

Another thing I like about fighting spawners is that for some reason they drop gems when you kill them. Don't know why, but I'm not complaining!

Heh, that would be unfortunate. "Hey look a cav--"CHOMP

New item on the bench there.

The description sounds to me like a holdover from the earlier games. Contrary to what it says they're Shaper notes, and there are a couple of quests later on where people will pay nicely for them. You can either keep them out of rebel hands or deliver them there yourself :B

These spawner groups are getting a bit tougher.

That's with the fancy armour spell :/

Actually this time the spawner's not the main threat, so I'm going to leave it to acid to do the job while I concentrate on the muscle.

Plus I gotta heal.

Acid damage strikes again! and of course when I get a level up in combat it's not from actually attacking anything :B

Anyway after a good deal more whacking I'm going back to the front door to face the boss.

There was also a back door which wouldn't have taken so many living tools to get through but I want the unlocking experience. :B

Gotta be prepared!

hahaha whoops I cropped its head off :B Never mind, you'll see it properly in a moment.
>Who created you?

eeeeargh.
>All right. I will command you.

>Stop making creations to attack the island.

>I command you to end. Cease your struggles, and return to essence.
Maybe we can talk it to death! :B

OK, here it is! This thing really creeped me out when I first encountered it. Partly because of the dialogue, partly because it was late and the lights weren't all on, but mostly because, while most of the animated graphics in this game don't actually MOVE much, this one looks like THIS:

(only... jerkier? this was a quick effort, not perfect)

That discipline wand is going to come in handy about RIGHT NOW.

:O

That could have gone a whole lot worse.

We're done here! Hurray! Well, still have to talk to a few people, but that can wait until next time.

NEXT TIME: why naming your island "Harmony Isle" is just tempting fate.

ALSO: I haven't thought of a name for the artila. Any suggestions?

oldish now, but

2008-06-30T11:50:33Z

I just the other day got around to hooking my scanner back up after moving it onto my new desk. Somehow having a whole bunch of things to scan makes me not want to deal with any of them, but the other day I did scan some of the creatures I doodled while waiting around for stuff at uni. For some reason when other people are watching me draw my stuff just gets weirder.
Maybe that's the creative spark I need now...

ACTUALLY. Anyone reading this, comment with a request and I'll draw for you? :D

Geneforge 3 part 4

2008-06-26T06:00:31Z

Last time:

Time to go back to the commander to report on my findings.

>I found and inspected the Shaper device.

>I used the device. It was quite interesting :)

>I'm ready to help you deal with the rogues.

>I will do what I can.

:D Before checking out the mines, though, I've got a few things to do.

A couple of quests I've now dealt with and have to go back and talk to the people to finish, for example.

And I haven't even been here yet.

>How goes your watch?

Why are only you on watch?

>Of course I'll help you! :D

hahaha. I do it just to piss you off, Alwan. >|

>Have you seen anything unusual?

>Tell me about this area.

>What sort of creatures are out there?

OK I can deal with that :)

This area doesn't have much...

Except for a bunch of rogues, which are now weak enough to give a single point of experience for killing them. D:

The important thing about this nest is that it has one of these:

which are worth a decent whack of money and also can be combined with some things I don't have yet on the magical forge.
and these:

which just amuse me.

I didn't want to take too many shots of combat here...

since it's just this over and over.

That nest had some healing spores, which I'm sure will come in handy later... I haven't actually used any yet I think.

Yikes. This place looks like it's been abandoned for a lot longer than a couple of days. :O

Some of the creatures around here are acting as scouts; what happens is that one sees you, runs off to where the rest of the pack is hiding, and gets them to come and mob you.

Or that's what would happen if I left them long enough.

This pinkish fyora is a sight stronger than the cannon fodder ones we've been chewing through here. This is about the third or fourth hit it's taken in this shot.

I kept missing for several turns, so it was long enough at low HP that it freaked out and tried to run away. I like it when this isn't happening to my own party members :)

To go with the tougher enemy, there's some sweeter loot in this nest.

Here's where the artila is for the quest from just before.

One hit. I think I might be overlevelled for this area... just a hunch. :)
It dropped this:

This is the reason I waited a bit longer to come here.

Funny place to live, this.

>This is your Refuge?

>So you hide here in this pit?

>You are right about that.
(Looking back I kind of wish I'd picked the dickier option. :( This one isn't so much the nicer option as just playing into his paranoia.)

>Are you criminals?
(So let's make up for that by pissing him off this way. :D)

>But you have no problem with breaking any of our laws?

hahaha what

I think this guy's strayed in from a different Spiderweb game.

Anyway, enough of this, I am here for a reason. He's still willing to talk, so

>You said some of our creations are attacking you?

>You say that they are breeding?
D: that's BAD.

>How many are there?

>Perhaps I should kill them.

>Then I'll be off.
(I would have picked the second option, which would leadership him into coming along to help, but he's useless and just gets in the way or, worse, steals kills.)

Master of understatement.

This is the first lot of rogues. The venomous artila is the only real threat now, and it needs getting rid of quickly.

That's why. D: Don't want to take another hit like that, that's for sure.

This is satisfying.

This is the perfect time to use a crystal...

because then I can do this in the same turn. :)

yessss this is going to be VERY USEFUL.

Just got to clean up a little now. This is the thing it dropped:

Doesn't look like much, but it will come in very handy later. Much later.

I'm not done here yet though, there's a bunch more cave, with a bunch more regular artilas, they're still worth a decent amount of experience and there are more items to be had.

That nest had one of these:

which is nice because otherwise I would have had to buy one. You'll see :)

I'm just happy to be getting more than 1 exp for these.

Wow, she vaporised it. Don't see that too often :O

That's the end of the cave. There is a very good reason to come here:

oh yes.

Back to the entrance now.

>I killed the nasty venomous artila! :D

pff gratitude who needs it.

I forgot to get any shots, but there's a bit more cave off to the west, with supplies and a dock with no boat. Nothing particularly interesting.

here's the other people here. I'd poke around a bit more but they get hostile if you do.

Back to the surface now!

and to go tell the soldier that I killed that artila for her.

She should just be glad she didn't see the one in the caves.

Now OH YES there is another quest I can do

Back to this guy!

>Do you know anything about Burrowing Mold?

Actually I already have some saltweed. Can you make the salve?
(Remember how I nicked it from the guy in the minefield woods? This is why. :D)

Now straight back to the sick guy!

I won't bother with small talk. USE THE SALVE

HURRAY! :D
>How are you feeling?

yay. Let's go tell his wife he's better now.

>Why are you still upset?

I've been putting points into intelligence, as this ups essence.

And having more essence lets me spend my creations' skill points. I have enough now to maintain another creation and still have enough left over for spells, but I don't want another fyora, so I'm going to wait on that until I can make something else. This won't be too much longer though.

At or around this point I realise that I'm getting dangerously close to carrying around WAY TOO MUCH STUFF for my wimpy little Shaper. Solution; ditch the baton & thorns, I'm not using it now. The main culprit is actually those living tools, they're HEAVY but they're USEFUL so I'll just try to use up a few more somewhere. :O This is a problem with putting points into mechanics, you can easily end up with more living tools than you know what to do with. And then you're careless with them, sell them, or leave them somewhere, and then suddenly you run out right when you really need them. So I hang on to them even when they get really stupidly heavy. :/

oh also the food adds up. They only heal a piddling 7HP a go, so while they're still sliiiiightly useful to take the edge off a whack or two from combat, I can get rid of them pretty soon, but I'll probably do that by using them up.

ANYWAY I realised that I'd forgotten to check back with the guy way back just outside the school after I cleared off the bridge like he wanted me to. But I'm going that way anyway, SO

HI THERE. I cleared that bridge for you!

Would have been useful earlier, but eh.

Back to the school now.

The humans here won't talk to me :(, but the serviles are in a better state than they were last I was here.

>Tell me what's been happening in the school.

>Do you know what's been happening on the island?

No useful information or anything, but it's nice to see they're OK now.

>I met someone outside the school.

>I have been to the commander of Fort Kentia.

Now I have another quest. hurray?

Looking at the map now I notice I didn't break into Master Hoge's room when I was last here.

There. :)
That done with (there were some nice pods in the chest) it's time to go on to some new ground.

I think the introduction here assumes you haven't been around much of the island yet.

hahaha. I just love that this triggered in the middle of combat.
Yeah, I could avoid them, but there's no point! They're easy as now, and even at the beginning of the game they're not a great threat (and at that point they're actually valuable experience!)

See? In the middle of combat.

HINT HINT

I like how they're all lined up like that. :D

I dunno about a Shaper, but she certainly proves to be AWESOME

argh D:

Acid can be pretty rough :/

There is something very nice here!

The unkind bit about the game trying to get you to sneak around by the water...

is that turrets are actually tougher than the enemies you'd be trying to avoid.

Not for me though! :D

The turrets were guarding the back of this place, so I unlocked the door basically just for the experience.

And then even if you did sneak around and avoided the turrets as well, still have to fight these guys to get past. This isn't exactly endearing the stealth option to me!

I like doing this. :)

ONWARD!

Next time: mines, tests, and a new companion!

Geneforge 3 part 3

2008-06-22T08:32:59Z

Man it has taken me way too long to do this part. Reason? I thought it'd be neat to stick in some of my drawings inline with the update. And it would be, only... well, I had the screenshots for this all done a couple of days after the last part.
And I still don't have any art to stick in here. :B

We were heading in a different direction at the end of last time, but I changed my mind. :D This way is better!

ha, I just noticed the tip at the bottom there. It's funny that that one showed up HERE, because

Trying to get screenshots at the same time made me screw up the timing on the mines half-a-dozen times. D:
(and yet I didn't get a shot of the game-over screen >_>)

And there are a lot of mines here.

I like this sort best, though, because I can actually consistently make them not blow up in my face. There are a number of other sorts of mines in these games and I manage to screw up royally with every other sort. D: Even the ones which just turn off with a switch.

There is an exit here. I'm not going this way, it's the same direction as I would have gone if I went the way I was going to go last time.
Does that make sense?

Mines and locked doors and stuff like that can easily give you more experience than killing random monsters. :D

A bit up from here there's another bridge across the water, and something other than mines!

This place is well-fortified -- there are a bunch of turrets here, too.

Here I missed repeatedly, and they... didn't.

They're not too tough, though.

There's a little yellow blotch there which is actually the thorn it's shooting at Greta. I missed the shot, but it did a fair bit of damage.

That's better.
My favourite thing about turrets is that they use (and therefore drop) the same sort of thorns as batons, and since they tend to come in groups they can be an occasionally nice source of ammo.
My other favourite thing is that they remind me of triffids. kind of.

I think there were more thorns in here, some javelins, maybe a healing pod.

The answer to all these questions is YES

except the first one.

I had to put another point into mechanics...

but I dealt with them all.

To replace the ones I just carefully disarmed no doubt

There is someone here!

>Do you know anything about the minefields outside?

>You were asked to place the mines? By who?

>What do you know about the attacks on this island?

>Attacks are happening everywhere?

>You are not speaking to me with respect.

>You will respect me. And you will aid me.

Well I've had enough of talking to you anyway.

One thing here is important, and it is in that cabinet.

This will come in handy soon.

I shut the door so he wouldn't see me nicking his stuff.

And that's it for here for me for now. :D

We're getting closer to our first goal.

>How is the hunt going?

>Have you killed many rogues?

>You told me that you need help?

>All right. Lead the way.

And so we just kind of run across the entire area trying to keep up with the soldier. NPCs can all run faster than I can :(

I didn't quite get there fast enough, so the first turn is me trying to get everyone in range for next round, and missing out on a few points of experience.

The next turn, I keep missing with everyone... still haven't landed a single hit. :( I dunno why she needed me to tag along, really

The icy crawler is actually quite a bit tougher than the other ones.

Good thing I stopped missing at this point. I was going to heal Alwan this turn because I didn't want him running away, but then I realised ~~he deserves to suffer~~ if I didn't finish the crawler off the soldier would kill steal again. :(

For a mini encounter with rubbish enemies that was surprisingly frustrating. No reward, but the purple blob dropped this:

which will be handy for an update or two.

There's nothing interesting in here.

This area is a bit more populated than the previous ones, so we start to meet people we can't have long and involved conversations with.

There is a mine here. We will have to go in later, of course.

This guy is hanging around to provide us with a bit of exposition we might have missed.

>Why are you still here?

>How do you stay safe from the rogues?

>Why didn't you leave Fort Kentia?

>Accidents happen, but...
(I chose the dick choice because it's funnier.)

>Tell me about the mines.

>What are they like inside?

>How deep do they go?

Keep the crystals from being looted? ehehe, whoops. >_>

There's nothing special in here, but I now find myself wondering if the giant rats are the Shapers' fault too. I wouldn't put it past them

The most important part of this area!

HI THERE

>Are you worried about the rogues around?

>What do you know about the mines?

>Would you pay if someone recovered the prism for you?

Hey, I'll end up going that way anyway, might as well.
>What rumours have you heard?

>What sort of research are you doing?

yaaaaaaay
>What is an item enhancement?

>How do I use it?

>You can use an anvil to make wands?
(Seriously, what?)

>Can I use yours?

>Where do I get these things, anyway?

Free stuff :D
>On a different note, what kind of services do you offer?

>Can you teach me to make any new creations?
(Might as well ask :D)

>Never mind. Let me see your wares.

I might get some spores at some point but otherwise it's not really worth paying his prices. :/
>I'd like to learn some magic now.

Now this is useful stuff. :D

Now that I've blown pretty much all my cash, I can go and check out that anvil he was talking about.

And by 'very rare' they mean 'there is one on every island'. The rest are much more hassle to get to though. I don't have anything special to make with it yet, and I don't want to use the enhancy stone on any of my current equipment... but I'll be back here pretty soon!

Now what's in h--
oh great.

This might take a while.

STOP DOING THAT

I should stop taking shots of every time I miss >|

COME BACK HERE YOU

THERE

After that there's pretty much nothing else in this area other than this building and a bunch of cabbages on the ground.

Yeah, that's how I feel today too.

Well, I can solve the problem involving the creepy mutant monsters being sent to eat them, but I can't promise that it will stick or anything.

>What is the problem?

>I might be able to help you.

And this problem I can also solve. In fact, I will go there now.

HI :D

>May I inspect you?

OH HEY do we know a skilled alchemist!?
>Describe it honestly.

I'll be back very soon. :D

>Do you have any services I can buy?

>You do repairs?

>Tell me about the quarantine.

>You look like you do a lot of tinkering.

>All right.
("oh hey I made something that'll blow up in your face wanna try it? :D" I get the feeling this guy doesn't like Shapers much. >_>)

Oh well :B let's try it anyway

:(

>I examined your trap. It worked.
("oh, is that why you're on fire now? I was wondering")

("and you can test those ones for me too! :D :D :D")

>Where are you from?

>Harmony Isle?

>Dhonal?

>Gull Island?

Did you know they don't teach geography in the Shaper schools? :D
>So what do you know about this quarantine?

>Let me see your goods.

Ooh. She's got a couple of things which will be very nice once I can afford them, if I don't find any elsewhere soon. :D

Oh, that's where the boat is.

This is still Day 1. Everyone must be getting a bit tired by now.
>Do you have any free rooms?

>Tell me about the quarantine.

>How does someone leave the island?

If she doesn't let this wrong person off, this Shaper will get mad! I mean uh

>Any problems with all the monsters everywhere?
You know, there are weird mutant creatures eating people and you're all stuck inside the fort with nowhere to go, but does this bother you?

>Not all the monsters are outside?

>Hoge left it?
That's pretty careless. Didn't even stop to ask himself, "I've got everything, right? Not forgetting anything I might need later... like a giant acid-spitting worm?"

Anyway before dealing with that let's talk to that guy she mentioned being all worked up about worms in his basement or something.

>What sort of business do you do?

>This island produces crystals?

hint hint there is something you're supposed to be doing here
>Tell me about Harmony Isle.
again.

(and then I missed a shot)

>How have things been going lately?

"Oh, not well, not well. But you are here now. And, as I have been telling people, the arrival of a Shaper would help everything. Which is good, because business has been terrible lately."
"Why, lately, the local guards can't even keep the monsters out of my stores!"

>You believe that I am here to solve your problems?

>How do you keep them down there?

>The commander wouldn't help?

>Maybe I could help you?
I'm not here to solve all your problems... just some. :D

Yeah but uh first can I trade with you?

Never mind, this stuff is useless. I'm going to go poke those worms now.

Yeah thanks for giving me permission to break into your basement. I guess a key would be too much to ask?

There are a few worms here. They're not exactly a challenge. This is boring.

Oh.

I take advantage of their lack of stealth to protect everyone. This is probably the most productive thing to do when you have even a split second before combat actually starts. I keep being too slow while I'm distracted by taking screencaps, though. :(

These are only a few of the crawlers I now have to fight.

Oh well, one at a time.

The main problem here is that they're now weak enough that killing them doesn't actually do me much good at all. 1 measly experience >|

Anyway that is the first wave dealt with.

Here are the ones which can actually hurt us.

Greta isn't measuring up too well in the damage stakes right now.

Here I used an item to attack so that I'd have enough AP left to heal Alwan.
Unfortunately I misjudged the range the healing spell required and apparently taking a single step forward made it impossible to cast in the same turn. >|

Targeting an enemy in this position can be fiddly because clicking on the active character makes them end their turn.

THERE I am done fighting these little rotters now.

They got someone :(
There is some nice stuff on the body though:

Before we go back to collect our reward there is some more exploring to do.

Sealed up and they don't know I'm down here. HMM. Unfortunately the cabinets are almost entirely filled with worthless crap. There is nice stuff behind the other door but I didn't get a shot.
Back upstairs now.

>I cleaned your basement.
Well, in one sense, anyway. You might want to do something about all the bloodstains now.

contained. past tense. Thanks anyway, I guess. >_>

Remember this? Time to deal with it.

HI THERE

:(
>Artila, you should come and serve me.

So I can't take it with me, but I can't just leave it here.
That means...
>Artila, your time of service is done.

D:

Well, that was a... success, after a rather depressing fashion.

hi again.
>I took care of the rogue creation for you.

yeah.

I've been putting it off but I'd better go talk to this commander.

>I have bad news. The Shaper school has been destroyed.

>Tell me what has happened.

>All right, I'll help you.

>Just so you know, there were a bunch of rogues under the fort. Were.

>I'd like to help you deal with the rogues.

>I'd like a boat, too.

OK, never mind then. How about some extra supplies?

>As a Shaper, I demand that you give me all the assistance you can.

>You told me that a Shaper passed through here recently?

How often do you level up from a single conversation?

That key gets us into a couple of storerooms, but the stuff inside is a) still marked as Not Yours, b) largely useless. I could have got some decent experience from picking the locks, too. :/ Being a dick has done me no good. :/

This is where that Shaper device the commander mentioned is.

Well! I should probably see what this thing does--

--what the.

Yikes.

NEXT TIME:

--wait. Did that happen? That last bit?

It's an important decision, actually. There are a whole lot of these cans of skill goo through the game, and you get all sorts of useful abilities from them, but they change you. (I'm trying to be vague here :B)
Basically there's two options; use them all, or don't use them.

Personally I'm inclined to go for 'don't', as using too many auto-triggers some fights later in the game where you could otherwise leadership your way out of it, and I like talking to people. On the other hand, getting skills the normal way is more of a hassle if the Shapers don't think much of you, which is the way we're heading at the moment, and I'd like to be able to show off a decent range of spells and creations to keep my combat shots from getting too repetitive.

That kind of ties into another decision to be made, that is, who do we side with, but that one can wait a while. I should note that you're either with the Shapers or against them, and we're definitely leaning in the latter direction right now.

for once I am playing games other people already know of

2008-06-17T11:25:52Z

I just recently got a DS and FF3 and I like it a great deal. :D

paraphrased from an actual scene in the game, what

Geneforge 3 part 2

2008-06-09T03:29:56Z

OK, that was a kind of awkward place to stop last time, but now that I have an idea of what a suitable response is for you guys (who commented before, at least :) I've been able to keep that in mind for the half-a-dozen other people in this part who want your opinion. I sure hope that's OK! :D
This one's about half as long again as the previous one, but there is LOTS OF TALKING so I have taken the time to crop further all the talking shots to save space and hopefully make it a bit easier to follow too. :)

Also I realised that for some reason I had the difficulty level set to easy. No wonder I wasn't getting hurt! I changed that, so now hopefully combat will be more interesting than endless one-hit kills. :O

Last time...

>Stop mining until the Shapers help me repair the mines.

And... that's it? That's a bit of a let-down. :/

heh

Off in a more productive direction now...

Hurray, new party member!

Alwan is a dick and he has no ranged attack. >| Also he is a dick. I would hate him, but winding him up is too funny.
>Tell me what happened.

>Exactly what was attacking us?

>What happened to our teachers?

>Can you tell me where someone in charge is?

>What do you want to do now?

>What sort of revenge did you have in mind?
(This is kind of a dumb question to ask... :B)

This is Alwan's answer to everything.
>Shouldn't we find out why they attacked us first?

haha
>Perhaps you should travel with me.

Oh, what!? Show some initiative, dammit!
...yeah. Can't get him to DO ANYTHING until the bloody SERVANT MIND gives him orders. WHAT KIND OF PISS-POOR EXCUSE FOR A SHAPER ARE YOU

I can't think of any reason they'd have this written down other than for the benefit of the player. OH WELL

There are half-a-dozen rooms here with useful items in them. Thorns, living tools, crystals, that sort of thing. :D

This one is also occupied!

This is what was in the chest. Was.

I do actually remember to assign skill points... eventually.

The answer is yes (I usually put enough into Mechanics that I have way too many living tools at all times. Those things are heavy D:)

The school is run by... a pig on a pedestal?

>What can you tell me about the attack?

>Who attacked?

>What are you doing to repair the school?

>What do you think I should do now?

>Can I have some supplies for the journey?

...ahaha. Well, um, thanks for your permission!
>Is there anyone here that can go on the journey with me?

NOW he will join me. YES.

You can ask so many totally inappropriate people to teach you Shaping. :B

This will happen soon enough.

I have a quest! There was a different one before but I forgot to check.

Yeah, NOW you will. >|

I imagine him sounding a bit like the Knights from Warcraft II. "I ... neeeed ... ORDERS! Give me a QUEST!"
>What do you want to do now?
(again)

THERE. Also it's not kidding when it says "like a creation". Fortunately UNLIKE a creation he does not cost me any essence.

I wonder if it's possible to rename him, too? I've never tried.

OH NO

Oh, yeah, Therese does turn up again.

>Have you found any extra supplies?

:(

>Isn't there anything better you can do than hide here?

>Why don't you come with me to explore the school?

...briefly.
At least she can decide what to do on her own, unlike Mr. I-can't-poke-things-with-my-sword-unless-the-pig-on-a-pole-tells-me-to here. >|

Aww. D: Whenever serviles tell me they're scared, I want to give them a hug. I'LL HELP YOU
only I can't here. :(

Wait, what is this

:O
>You seem strange, servile. Are you feeling all right?
the conversation options here are so... condescending. :(

>And then you will wait for orders?

>Others like you?

>Where will you go?

>Why have you not left yet?

>That is interesting. I will think on it.

Whoops I missed a question. Oh well.

Now that I've talked to everyone there's not much left to do except check all the rooms for items and kill all the crawlers. This is not interesting, so I've cut the rest out.
These statues are pretty awesome though.

Presumably the rats are not actually part of the attacking force.

Another fyora! :O We will be seeing many more of these soon enough. I don't know if it shows in this shot, but enemy creations tend to have a slightly different colour cast to them than your own ones do. Also there is an interesting item on the floor right there:

>What are you doing back here?

>Tell me about the attackers.

>Who survived the attack?

With great effort I actually resist calling him a coward. Mostly because it amuses me to keep having that option at the top of the list. :B
>There is something else I want to know.

>I want you to come with me. You will help me kill the rogues.
(actually he is useless)

...but I just can't resist doing this. :B

Way ahead of you there. :D

:O

Emberflower is actually capable of taking it out in one hit...

...but doesn't.

UH OH

or not. Not shown: Alwan being totally useless because dumb pathing made him use up all his AP just getting through the doorway. >|

Getting whatshisface to follow me wasn't completely useless; he gets to run away faster!
Emberflower is freaking out because it is low on HP. Healing it will calm it down quickly enough, but it's really annoying when it happens while combat is still going on.

That item on the ground is good!

Best thing about it is that it is multi-target.

We still have rather a way to go. :O

Cutscene time!

>Run back into the school.

>Fires are spreading everywhere? What do you mean?

>I will think on what you have said, but I believe you are an enemy.

(It didn't seem quite in keeping with the rest of my answers, or I'd have gone with #3; her response is funnier. :B)

Off to one side of the school entrance...

>What are you doing out here?

>What did you do when the school was attacked?

>You should go into the school, where it is safe.

>Carry on, then.

Now we head away from the school, and...

>Calm down. I will take you to safety.

>Thahd! I command you! You will obey me now!

If you try being nice to it it just gets confused and attacks you. :(

More importantly, there's our other party member! :D

>What are you doing here in South End?

>What work have you been doing here?

>Though we've been taught that we have total control over our creations, I am not sure.

>What happened during the attack?

>What goal do you think they had?

>Where are you going now?

>Perhaps you could travel with me. I could use another blade.

>Come and travel with me.

HURRAY :D

Now to see those other people who are here. They are useful!

>What can you tell me about the attack?

>Have you ever heard of anyone named Litalia?

>Do you know anything about conditions on the rest of the island?

>Monsters? Do you mean rogue creations?

>I need to buy some gear.

This is what the shop screen looks like! I don't really need any of this at the moment, and probably never will, but I grab the crystals. Having a bunch of those around is good.

Also that was a quest he gave me. No problem, I'm going that way anyway :D

>How are you holding up here?

>There are rogues around here?

>It is unfortunate that you left.

>I need to buy some supplies.

Now this is useful! Especially the spores; pods I tend to have enough of, but spores are rarer.

I'm not actually getting anything yet, though, because I'm going to spend everything I have on magic.

>Can I get some magical training?

>Can you teach me to make any new creations?

>Never mind.

Well this is useless. I don't need a dumb sack of meat with no ranged attack... which costs me essence.

>I would like to learn spells.

This is more like it! Before...

...and after.

This is a quest I can complete without leaving the area. :D

Go on, guess what's in it.

This had better be worth it.

WHY IS IT PURPLE
~~insanity? birth defect? who knows~~

There is some vaguely decent loot in here. Also one of these:

More of the same...

...and more...

...and more.

They're still not hard to deal with.

This one was tougher. It's actually the second or third attack which took it down.
It dropped some neat stuff!

These nests also contain items sometimes. Nothing much in this one.

>I killed those rogues behind your shop.

What kind of reward is letting me into his bedroom? Dude, creepy. D: I'm getting out of here!

The items aren't too bad though.

Oh yeah and I went back to the other guy to sell off some of the stuff I picked up. This is what the selling screen looks like.

Now to go on to the bridge that guy told me about!

oh no not again

uh

...well, that was easy enough.

And before leaving the area I finally remember that I have some skill points to spend.

Well, at least they're not more bloody worms and crawlers.

There are rather a lot of them, though.

D: oh dear

Oh, that's what slimy worms do. They poison you when they attack. Poison isn't much of a threat in combat, because it only does a small amount of damage every round, and unless things are going very wrong you have plenty of time to heal. Out of combat, if your main character gets poisoned and you aren't paying attention, you're seconds away from a game over. D:

I already have reason to use one of those new spells I bought!

People! :O

>Where did you come from?

>Where are the humans who were watching you?

>Have you seen anything interesting? Like a strange female Shaper?
I don't think they care actually

>What do you want from me?

>I'll escort you across the bridge.

Dick. >| I'M COMING BACK FOR YOU GUYS

These are the ones we have to get rid of.

>Where are you from, Rogue? Who made you?

>Can I convince you to let me by?

>I am a Shaper! I command you to let me by.

Well that was anticlimactic.

Those guys can hit pretty hard, so I decide it's a good time to try out my new protection spell.

THEY decide it's a good time to run away. >|

This is the icy crystal in action. I didn't get a shot, but it did 40-something damage. :D
Also the leader there dropped... this.

what.

They're getting away! This is a good time to use my other crystal.

Sweet.

Just a little bit more to explore.

Nice item in here:

Now back to the important bit!

>All right. Start walking. I'll escort you across the bridge.

Escorting people can be annoying, because they tend to just go off on their own and you have to keep up with them.

Because even if you've cleared out the area, more enemies will spawn.

Fortunately, they're not much of a threat.

They just disappear when they get to the edge of the area, which is kind of hard to get a shot of.

We're getting somewhere! That's it for this time, though. :D

Next time, we help more people, find out more about what is going on, and encounter a MYSTERIOUS OBJECT. :O

I think I said last time that there'd be art this time, and there is! Just a couple of things I've drawn on tegaki, but STILL.
Shaping
Just shut up, both of you

Screencap Adventure: Geneforge 3, part 1

2008-06-05T00:48:18Z

So I don't really talk about it much or anything but I really love Spiderweb games and Geneforge 3 is pretty near top of my list of favourites.
I keep wanting to draw stuff from it but it puts me off that most likely no-one who sees it will get the context. So if that's what it takes, I will play through the whole thing taking pictures just so some people will know where the hell I'm coming from when I draw this stuff. (see also: screencappery)

It does seem a bit weird to be starting with something in the middle of a series, but the games stand alone fine story-wise and I'm not really familiar enough with the first two to give them this treatment, as on my old monitor for some reason they'd set the refresh rate painfully low every time I started the game and I couldn't figure out how to fix it... so I've only played a bit of them. D:

Also this one has a couple of NPC party members who stick with you for pretty much the entire game, and I like them.

The game plays at 800x600, but for the sake of image size, I've done a lot of cropping. I've left a few shots at full size, though, so if they page stretch I'll go back and do some resizing and/or thumbnailifying. I'm still getting the hang of doing this, so any suggestions would be super.

:D

I never took a good look at this image before. :O I didn't even notice that's a woman!

If you wait around on the menu screen, creatures start appearing in the middle of that circle and wander around for a bit. More important to us, though...

The game starts with a tutorial section, so these helpful explanatory windows pop up when you do something new. No matter how many times you've done it already. ...they can get a bit annoying. I've left them in, I don't know why. Maybe they will explain the game mechanics better than I do :D

Blank slate main character yay. You don't actually have to assign all your skill points immediately, so I won't. :D I'll do that later. The Appearance arrows change your character's colour.

Like so. This is more important than it seems, because some NPCs use the same graphics as your characters, and if I pick a colour that NPCs also use I will get confused and keep trying to control the wrong person. I mean, not that I have done this ~~all the time~~ before or anything.
Shaper NPCs are pretty much all blue, except for one exception I can think of who is brown.

Most of the skills cost different amounts of skill points for each character class. Also I think they gain different amounts of HP/spell energy/essence on level up. I think that's all the difference there is.

Agent and Guardian NPCs are all the default colours. I WONDER WHY

This is why the Shaper has so much skin covered.

Anyway I forgot to keep the shot of it but I'm going to be playing this with a lime green Shaper named Oswald. :D

D: it's too early for this

There are a bunch of these images that show up on the loading screen. They're kind of interesting, so I'll try to get shots of all of them. :)

This is what the game screen looks like. Take a good look, because I only kept the whole thing in a few shots. All the rest I cropped for the sake of size. I don't think you're missing anything, except maybe the minimap, and that's more useful for me anyway.

OK that was easy :D

I've left out the inventory screen stuff because it is boring and all looks the same. However, items all have a description, and some of them are quite funny, so I will show those.
Anyway, I got a dagger:

I will never actually use this dagger, but it's there.

Got the armour, too.

I have no idea how you'd wear something that looks like that, but it doesn't seem all that comfortable.
Nothing interesting this way...

Lots of piles of rocks around here now.

Can't go this way, either. Back the other way, then...

There is food in the barrels:

yeah, thanks.

And healing pods in the chest. :O They're like potions, only... more organic.

More dead ends and a dead body. I sure hope I can get out of here :(

D:

This is useful for showing you the names of people and creatures you encounter.

I don't think any of the characters start with a low enough mechanics skill to not be able to open the door on their own.
But hey, free living tool!

Interesting take on the interchangeable disappearing key item, I guess :O

You can get some pretty good experience from mechanics skill stuff. :D (I didn't get the shot in time and had to bring up the text log to show that :B)

D:

There was another living tool in the box.

Oh dear.

OK, this would be a good time to spend those skill points I started with.

Didn't get a shot, but the plus buttons next to a skill disappear when you don't have enough skill points for it.

There. Now it's time to make a new friend! ...Literally. :D

Can't do much to the stats right now. The two points in intelligence make it so that you can control the creature. Less than that and it gets an annoying and dumb AI. No problem for me, but some of the other characters get less essence to start with, and if you don't put in the two points at creation the creature will never listen to you.

Saving a couple of points of essence in case I need to heal.

:D

Success! I should give it a name, though.

That's better.

Those green and blue pools up there are useful!

Green is healing...

...blue is recharging.

This way has nothing but a way to read the tutorial bit again...

...and a rat. Name in blue means it's not hostile.

Oh, and another dead end.

Nothing to do but go this way. Will there be fighting now?

yes

Here's the whole screen again. In combat mode the active character (in this case Emberflower) has their current AP with their picture. Moving costs AP, and you need 5 to attack (and 3 to use an item). Go too far and you'll be unable to do anything that turn.

As you can imagine, this makes ranged attacks very useful.

That was pretty quick.

Oh, that's right. I've been picking stuff up; here's my inventory now. Weight is important: I can stick as much stuff in my pack as will fit in the slots, but if I go over the weight limit Oswald here will be ~~even more~~ completely useless in combat.
Notable items:

Going up further (notice the minimap), more worms; this time Emberflower misses, so I get to have a go.

And miss as well, but eh.

There are quite a few worms here but it's not actually that interesting. I think there was another healing pod in that box.

The fire breath does actually look better in motion. That barrel had some trash in it:

and, er...

A bit more of the same is enough for my first level up. Hurray!
I forget to spend the skill points for a while. :B
There's not much of interest in those cabinets, except:

I nearly forgot it, but this is a door. First time I played I totally didn't notice until much, much later.

See? Told you.

There's the book. Also in this room I get another healing pod and:

Sweet.

Finally! Another living person! :D

>What is going on? Who attacked us?

>How can we get out of here?

>You are hiding from mere creations? Isn't that cowardice?
(Seriously, they're worms. Nothing is more pathetic than they are.)

>All right. Let's go.

Oh, look. More worms. Lovely.

Therese is actually pretty awesome. She chucks acid at things. :D

and then Oswald gets stuck in the doorway and can't do anything. whoops.

They forgot "who are AWESOME".

That's what the worm's attack looks like.

oh, there are more of them.

NO PROBLEM

Yay! Unfortunately spending skill points on creations makes them cost more essence. :(

hehehe

That green glob is Therese's attack.

A new enemy! It spits globs of fire. Maybe it is fire resistant!

no.

Oh, yeah, you can talk to her again.

So close to getting out of here...

...just gotta kill a few more worms. I think the Slimy Worm can spit goo at you or something. Got rid of it too fast to find out, anyway. :B

Having dealt to those...

...I remember that we haven't checked out a couple of places.

Down here is another slimy worm...

a bit of money, a pair of gloves:

and some javelins:

which I will never use.

I finally got around to spending those skill points I got.

I got some items here, but can't remember what. Also back in one of the earlier rooms there was a shield and I picked it up now.

Now it's time to get out of here.

:D Clawbugs are pretty neat, but we won't be seeing any for a while.

Before going anywhere I'm going to drop off all this useless stuff I've been carrying around -- here it's just a little bit quicker to pick up once I have somewhere to sell it all.

Better follow them. I'm sure nothing bad could happen! But first...

Hooray I have a baton! Now I can shoot things.

The next room is even better!

Crystals are great because they count as using an item rather than as attacking, which means they cost 3 AP, which means that I can use them to attack twice in one round. Also they do good damage this early in the game.

This wand, though, is useless. I already have a spell that does the exact same thing, and it's not even worth much. >|

Anyway going this way there is a new enemy.

It is slightly stronger than the worms.

Slightly. Trying out the baton here...

...it is more effective than my firebolt spell, which manages to be the first thing to not kill a creature instantly.

Another level up! This time I am not spending the skill points immediately for a reason.

Spiny crawlers can shoot spines at you. Can't remember if the regular sort do too.

I was going the wrong way before, I think, so THIS WAY, and

Someone else is here! :D

>Can you teach me any spells? Or how to make any creations?

But it's dangerous out there :(
>Why are you packing? Are you leaving?

This is why I like putting points into Leadership. :D

That didn't go too well. Let's try again!

>What happened to the school?

>What attacked?

>Did you help to fight them off?

>Is this really the best time to ask moral questions?

OKAY GUYS, you tell me what to say! :O This, or at least questions like this, will affect which way we go in the story. I'm not going to try to show you every possible ending, so at least I ought to not choose for you, right? :B