Canister... To Take Or Not To Take

[peacefighter]

Are there any advantages of NOT accepting a Canister? I watched a YouTube video where a player is contemplating on whether or not to take it, and ultimately decided not to take it. Is there a limit on how many Canister a player can take? Something happens if he takes too many? I thought that taking it gives the player some kind of an advantage, some skill, or some other beneficial uses. And if he does like what he gets, or it doesn't fit the player's build, he just simply don't use it, right? I am puzzled by the YouTube video player decision. Thanks in advance for your input.

[frobisher]

I just started the game and have used 2 canisters. Both were very beneficial. I don't know of any disadvantages of using them yet,

[peacefighter]

Thank you for reply. I have been playing the game for about 100 hours (sadly, mostly, they are results of reloading save games, my tactician skills are lacking), and I have found about 20 of Canisters. I have not seen any adverse effects, but not sure why the YouTube video player decision to decline acceptance. I was just wondering why.

[frobisher]

I wonder why too.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Canisters drive your character insane.

Notice all the Shapers who are described as glowing slightly? The ones who stop caring about anything except getting more power, who see all people as nothing but toys for them to play with? The ones who grow enraged the moment you don't grovel enough and think killing someone is a perfectly logical response when people don't obey their every whim?

That's because of canisters.

Even the ones who start out quite sane and decent people, like the one who was helping the Awakened, eventually lose all of their humanity and become megalomaniac monsters.

Powerful monsters, though.

In practical terms, using canisters has two effects:
* Minor changes in the story happen if you use a lot. Characters comment on it. Your character will lose his/her temper more often. Occasionally you may get fewer dialog options/be forced in a fight because your character will just lose it.
* Some changes in the ending, depending on the path. Particularly if you want to stay loyal to the Shapers or join the Servants, you might get a worse ending. I haven't tried them, according to Jeff it won't suddenly turn a good ending into a bad ending, but there's an effect.

However, this doesn't happen immediately. You can use a few canisters fairly safely, and when you use more there will be a warning that you feel your character changing. (I don't recall exactly, after 5 or so?)

If you then do not stop using canisters... well, it's slowly off to crazy-ville for you.

[peacefighter]

Thank you, //Iguana-on-a-stick//, for your continual tutorial support on this forum. Again, I appreciate your responses. Your comments are very informative, in-depth, and provide much insight to the game, which I did not see prior to this time. My only thoughts were to make the character stronger because more difficult challenges are ahead, and that this is the typical course of most RPG type of game. I suspect that there are more Canisters ahead, and perhaps more important ones to have to meet the greater challenges or even to complete the game. Because I consumed so many at this time, do I want to stop, and risk not completing the game? How would I know which one are "must" take or which I can decline?

Because I am poor combat tactician, which resulted in many failed, uncompleted quests, my only recourse was to delay and return to these combats after making my character stronger (by consuming more Canisters and "grind" where possible). Sadly, the challenges of the newly, discovered areas are even tougher--I'm back to the same problem. Sure, I can reduce the game difficulty level, but my pride would not let me. And I have invested too many hours into the game that I do not really want to restart and replay the game.

Again, thanks for your feedback. You gave me a lot to think about.

[frobisher]

Me too. Much appreciated.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Glad to hear it!

This forum doesn't see much traffic so I set it to notify me if someone posts a thread, so there will be at least some answers.

Because I consumed so many at this time, do I want to stop, and risk not completing the game? How would I know which one are "must" take or which I can decline?

Just want to stress though: Canister use will NOT stop you from completing the game.

It will give you a somewhat worse ending IF you stay loyalist, but if you want to join a rebel faction this won't really be the case.

Because I consumed so many at this time, do I want to stop, and risk not completing the game? How would I know which one are "must" take or which I can decline?

I'd decide it based on the character you're playing.

People ask you all the time what you think. Whether you think power is more important, or if the shaper laws are needed. What did you answer?

If you said power was important and the shapers needed to be stopped, clearly you'd use the canisters. If you believe creations are dangerous and need to be controlled, you would not. (I personally tend to side more with the Shaper way of thinking about it being dangerous, so I wrote my reply based on that.)

As for whether it is too late already: Probably not if you're early in the game and didn't get the event yet where your character feels he/she is changing.

There is also an NPC who can tell if you are being corrupted later on.

Because I am poor combat tactician, which resulted in many failed, uncompleted quests, my only recourse was to delay and return to these combats after making my character stronger

This is pretty normal. Even experienced players experience this as some areas are MEANT to be done later at much higher level.

You can also change your creations if you want, that can make a big difference.

Finally, if you're really stuck and your character is not working, you can use the "retrain" cheat code to re-select all your skills. It doesn't really count as a cheat and won't disable achievements, it's more of a hidden respec option.

[MilesMk1]

Coming to this really late, but I started off trying to be a good boy with the canisters, but then I saw what was stacked up against me, got sick of feeling week, and - most importantly - won a blade in a nightmare of a duel that got more powerful the more canisters I used, and just said "to hell with it, I'm already a really bad Shaper (I've been leaning pro-Awakened), I'm not playing by their rules anymore."

Also, I just finished Geneforge Mutagen, so I know (well, it's metagame knowledge, but still), that it's apparently possible to essentially snort powdered canisters off the back of a lady of the night using a living tool and still be a "good" person, so...