ok this jeff vogel guy might know a thing or two. watching jeff's GDC talk feels more useful to tappin in here than the game's own manual--there's an air of craftsmanship and attention to labor in the talk that feels distinct from contemporaries; idk how much im buyin into everythang jeff is sayin but damn this joint kinda a compelling case. i worry that the "good artists ship!" proselytization might've resulted in a work that feels phoned in and/or sleepy, but instead what i find here is a game that is comfortable in its limitations yet legitimate in its aims to impress and awe. i knew i was in the presence of a real chef when the map system started clicking for me. its simple but each zone is literally one box map, maybe with a lower or upper floor map if you're lucky, and in each box are several points of interest, quests, and gear. and from each zone theres about 2 to 3 exit and entrance points from the world map, depending on how you've cleared any of the adjacent zones or managed to stealth through em. it's byte-sized gaming by pure scale but the timing and cardinality of which you can come and go anywhere scratches the "yay choices 🙂" part of my CRPGhead brain while requiring not nearly as much investment as say like, an underrail playthrough. this is felt really strongly in the back half of the game, where allying yourself with one particularly cantankerous faction lets you catapult past several difficulty spike combat zones straight into endgame regions, and thus lets you backdoor some late game zones to jugg some free loot & XP. but its a genuine tradeoff in that doing so bones you out from the 'natural' progression of clearing zones and puts you into the lil errand bitch boy fast track for either of the game's antagonists (& NOT in a sexy way...). also should mention that its vitally important that zones you pass through become cleared, as in true CRPG fashion being able to hit and run between combat and town for resupplying is critical to success, and fast travelling to town can only be done if there's a line of cleared zones to it. genuinely impressive in how simple point A to point B cartography & securing "supply lines" became my favorite part of the game, and experimenting with different routes throughout the island is the most exciting prospect of a replay. its kinda crazy that geneforge 1 has been out for literally 20 years and CRPG devs are still like "no no no this 3 floor dungeon with 20 lv 4 spiders and 15 min combat encounters is gon bang this time trust". hate 2 say it but some of ur favorite CRPG cult classics might be gettin bodied by a singin nigga.

also remarkable theres a narrative here worth thinkin about. the ethos of self-moderation, focus, and discipline jeff preaches lines up. i'll spare the plot summary but essentially there's two central issues of the game: the geneforge and its little remnant canisters, literal pools of magic goo that rewrite your DNA into 2011 LeBron James or some shit, and the serviles, basically elephant-people created by the PC's society to be slaves, but like, they're not slaves yo.....😠. very central CRPG concerns (literally divinity 2 is concerned with the implications of the former and there's an entire half-orcs subquest line in arcanum thats abt implications in the latter) but but but but i think its really cool how the two link together. you playthru the shit and its clear the consequences of turning into magic LeBron is that you also get wizard CTE and a biological urge to kill everyone. but there's also legitimate temptation to dabble in the gene fuckery, its the only way of learning skills or leveling them up, resulting in some really cool roleplaying where powering up to free the serviles from their many issues also makes your PC more hostile to them...every +1 fireball boost means like -20 years on the average life expectancy. dont wanna give the whole shtick away but after meeting with the game's antagonists its very clear that your PC is legitimately too indoctrinated into an imperalist mindset to be playin Moses. thought it was v cool how this subverts the whole "brobro trust its not a white mans burden thing the pc had to go ssj3 to free the slaves first" thing i was expecting to happen. literally the best thing to do for the serviles is to shut the fuck up, help whenever you can, work against your country, and otherwise stay in your motherfucking lane lmao. real shit jeff real shit indeed.