Not sure if I am halfway through G1 or not, but does the series stay consistent in quality, get better, or dip in the meh territory?

I beat g1 by sheer luck. The mods pulled me through the game as I messed up making my character. However, I would say that of the stories of the games, Geneforge 1, 2 are the best. Geneforge 3 ,4 and 5 are probably good as well as I've only played the beginning. Mostly all the games have great stories, even if Ive only beaten the 1st and come close to the 2nd.

I would actually say that when the time comes and avadon is on here, that would easily give gene forge a run for its money with excellent storytelling. While Geneforge allows more possibilities with your characters, avadon in my opinion has the best story of all of his games.

The characters are so real, the problems that exist in the world are really political and make perfect sense. If you want to try something different from gene forge before going onto gene forge 2, try Avadon. You can probably get it for cheap on steam.

There are mods?

I'll keep chugging along. I always wondered if they were all made by the same developer.
Avadon, Avernum, Genefore. Nice.

When I first started, I was worried how the game would be, but now I'm hooked.

I have not beaten 1 yet, but for the other ones I played, I would say I liked them from favorite to least favorite in this order: 4, 3, 5, 2. I liked 2 at first, but I thought it went downhill fast around the time the map opens up.

I guess I'll find out how it is soon enough?
As far as 1 goes, when would you recommend joining a faction?

I've explored most of the east/south parts of the island, but don't know whether to throw my lot with someone yet.

I have heard Awakened is a bit difficult to play in 1 as after a while they inexplicably stop giving you any quests/guidance, forcing the player to kinda stumble their way aimlessly towards the ending. If the unaligned option in 2 is comparable to that in 1, then I would expect zero guidance and a lot less content and a higher difficulty. So I would recommend joining a faction, I believe there are five in Geneforge 1, not counting the unaligned option. (G1 and G2 are the only games that let players do this) Most of the factions are anti-shaper, so if you want to be pro shaper, you have to go obeyers or unaligned. anti shapers get a much larger selection to choose from.

I was referring to the moderators of spiderweb software. They helped guide me towards the end.

But yeah, I allied with the awakened and it was actually kind of cool. Obeyers are probably the easiest though as they don't really have anything against anyone. Takers are probably the hardest ones to ally for a first time player as takers hate everything and everyone. They will most likely ask you to slaughter everything.

Five factions in 1?
I've helped the rebel humans, but I figure if I want to join the "bad guys" I can still kill them anyway.

Awakened feels like the "Canonical" (unless savegames carry over?) faction.
Obeyers seem... obnoxious.
Takers seem like the most entertaining group to join.

I think I'll go ahead and join Awakened for the first time.

I was just kind of wondering around WHEN to join a faction?

*spoilers for canon geneforge 1 ending below*

I wouldn't worry too much about getting the 'canon' ending to the geneforge series. Regardless if you are ro-rebel or pro-shaper, you will get endings that don't mesh with how your philosophy. two of the games have canon shaper endings, and two have canon rebel endings (with geneforge 5 having no canon ending, since it is the last game). It's a shame, because it means that you will inevitably reach a point in the series where you will be thinking "my character from geneforge x did *what?* I would never have done that". IMHO, it is best to just go with whatever faction feels most natural to you, because the sequels only follow one path, ignoring the dozens of alternate endings players may get.

Unaligned (loyalist shaper) is the canon ending for geneforge 1

As for joining a faction, I suggest just doing as many quests for them as possible, eventually they should let you join, if they don't offer membership outright. Joining factions has always been somewhat straightforward as far as I can remember in all of the Geneforge games except 3 (where there are only two factions anyways)

I guess multiple outcomes in future games is too much to ask for in a small indie game?

What does each viewpoint actually entail?
What exactly does a loyalist shaper want?

I went ahead and joined the Awakened just because they seem the most reasonable of the bunch.

Yes, it is somewhat unfortunate. I would love to have soem sort of data import system, but I guess it is understandable that there would not be one, considering how big of an effect the players actions have on subsequent games have (even if the player is ultimately not able to choose what those actions were, thansk to the lack of import data system). To say I was disappointed with the canon ending for 3 was disappointing would be an understatement, (although 4 was my favorite game in the series) Geneforge 3 protagonist has some bad things happen to him/her, and I personally think the victorious faction for geneforge 3 is exceptionally unlikeable compared to in the other games.

Loyalist Shapers generally want to keep outsiders from learning the shaping arts on the grounds that they think that anyone who does not undergo shaper training cannot be expected to be responsible with their powers. they hunt down individuals who break these laws and put them to death. Self shaping is another big no-no for them, (even moreso) because they see it as a route to aquire powers (be it regual magic or shaping magic) without obtaining the wisdom to use it correctly that comes from spending years to 'earn' it. They also hate it because they view self shaping as turning oneself into a creation, something they view as fundamentally repulsive. Creations are viewed as inferior beigns by shapers, who they beleive owe them a debt for being created in the first place. The relationship between shaper and creation is generally patronizing at best, and at worst creations are treated as slaves or tools. In addition to keeping outsiders from learning shaping magic, they also restrict them in other ways. Shaper demands carry a lot of weight, and outsiders cannot train in any magic whatsoever without shaper permission (many of the mages you can meet in the games were prospective shapers who flunked out or couldn't pass the entrence evaluations) Some forms of magic, such as necromancy are banned altogether. Shapers control the governemnt entirely and stifle opposition. That's the gist of it.

The factions vary from game to game. In 1 I believe there are three servile factions, the awakened, who want to be dealt with by the shapers as equals, takers, who want to strike back against the shapers, and the obeyers, who liked serving under the shapers and want to go back to doing so. There are two other factions I believe, as well as the unaligned option. The unaligned option and obeyer option would be considered pro-shaper, while the awakened option would be anti-shaper, but essentially middle-of the road, and the takers and the other two options would be strongly anti-shaper.

*Spoilers*


Too bad the canonical endings seem crappy.
Totally get that a one man team shouldn't reasonably be expected to make branching storylines for tons of games.

I don't see Awakened as anti-shaper, but from a shaper perspective it probably is considered anti-shaper.
I guess to find out what happens I have to keep playing?

I just got the baton from the mines. Not sure if I should be going west or north now.

Well, I supose the upside would be that the plot continues. If the player could end the conflict in a decisive and/or satisfying manner, there wouldn't be much call for a sequel, I suppose. Still, the fact that of the matter is, if the player is anti-shaper, two of the games have pro-shaper endings, and visa versa, which left me a bit aghast later in the series learning what my G3 protagonist had done.

I agree, the Awakened are one of the more reasonable factions in the series (G1+G2), along with the Trakovites (at least the ones in G4) and Astoria (in G5) it's a shame that all of the reasonable factions are on the rebel side of the coin, because I think it wouldn't be too unreasonable for the palyer to at least *attempt* to bring reform from within the shaper order, as opposed to violent rebellion.

It isn't entirely true in the sense that Awakened and Astoria are exactly that, the middle way for a non violent solution, while Takers/Rebels are the violent side of the rebellion. Moreover Astoria is a shaper.

I'm "near" the end of 1 and deciding whether or not I should try it out with the different factions or not (this time I'm Awakened).
Seems pretty grim.

My progress will unfortunately slow down by A LOT in the very near (hours near) future, but hopefully I'll be able to squeeze some time in.