How do you gain entry into the Barzite Chambers? Where's the key?

[Gregorovitch]

Barzite Chambers is the area behind Barzhal's main room in Rising. There's a door to it at the back of this room. There also appears to be door to it from the arena area. Both say the locks are too complicated to pick and I don't have the key. There's also a door in the power source section I don't have a key for.

The only key I could find in the area is a copper one obtained from a chest in the barracks, this is not the one I'm after.

I've ctrl-F4'd the single text walkthrough for the game and the two Spiderweb forum mega-threads but I can find no entries for "Barzite Chambers" to help with this - no doubt 'cos they don't use that precise phrase for this information but I've no idea what phrase they do use. Google doesn't yield any further info about it.

I've pretty much finished the game now, destroyed the geneforge etc and killed all the main leaders, I just want to make sure I've destroyed everything necessary to permanently finish off the Taker and the Barzite infrastructure before returning to the council. I don't know what lies behind these doors and this is an annoying loose end. I need the key.

[jbrint86]

You may have to actually join the Barzites to gain access, but that means making enemies with every single other faction IIRC.
Also, I should note, Jeff Vogel likes having locked doors in his games that you cannot get through sometimes. There's one in Geneforge 1, too. Drives me batty every time.

[Gregorovitch]

My issue with this is I'm just wanting to tie up loose ends for everything I need to do/can do that affects the ending, there's nothing that moves on the map now that I can't obliterate before it gets anywhere near me (except unkillable golems).

So I've got like:

* these unkillable golems in Benerii-Uss Power
* the heat pads in Benerii-Uss Shaping
* A mysterious door with no lock NW corner of Benberii-Uss Holding
* The whole are of the geneforge after killing the third Takers gene scientist
* this Barsite Chambers area in Rising

The thing that's so infuriating is there is no information online dealing with/explaining these issues and the game itself tells you nothing, no journal entries, no progress reports, no nothing. There seems to some weird culture with this game around not explaining how each area works and what you need to do, what matters, on the forums. I can't think of any other game in existence that has less information across the net than this one.

Which is really annoying because it's really time wasting and I, like many folks these days, are time poor. I mean I've probably already spent a couple of hours on this Barsite Chambers question already and I still don't have a clear answer to what's in there or if I need to care about it.

Maybe when Jeff wrote this game most folks who played cRPGs and D&D style games were young with a lot more time than money and there weren't that many cRPGs made anyway. But they've all grown up now and have jobs and families. Time is precious and this stuff is time wasting.

Don't get me wrong, I've had a fantastic adventure with this game but I am not impressed with the ending, it feels more like an annoying damp squib at the moment. I just want simple answers to simple questions and move on to my next game (full hard core Rogue Trader run).

[tritonicallyorbital]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

There seems to some weird culture with this game around not explaining how each area works and what you need to do, what matters, on the forums. I can't think of any other game in existence that has less information across the net than this one.

One thing to keep in mind is that this game is a remake, and it only came out a year or two ago. The original likely has more info floating around, cryptic as it may be, but this one is mechanically completely different. It's also incredibly niche, so dataminers are few.

As you mention, time is scarce these days; I'm sure if the forum folks had the spare time, there'd be six different walkthroughs with HD screenshots attached, but as it stands we either make the guides ourselves or we have to use what others make. The info is all there, just might be spread out and might not answer your question exactly, but this is where I gotta hope you knew about the quicksave button already lol. There is a lot of trial-and-error with these games, which is probably another reason why there's not much info. The player just goes on ahead and gets through the problem, then doesn't come back to comment their experience.

Also there is a journal/quest list, but idk if there's a hotkey for it; TAB or whichever button highlights all the others should indicate it on the main screen. There's also a feature where you can save dialog for later, I think it's the quill by the text when a dialog box is up. Absolutely, both of those things should have been stated outright, but alas: Jeff.

Briefly, for your remaining issues:
*The unkillable golems I'm 99% sure are meant to be stealthed around, not killed.
*If the heat pads are impassable, just find another way around them. If they're in a corner somewhere and you have exits on the sides unlocked, they're probably not important, prob just loot or an alchemy item or something.
*I think that door is story-related and you can't open it at all.
*Have you tried clicking on the Geneforge? I'm not sure if this game lets you get the gloves you need to use it without it killing you, but I'm 99% that it doesn't significantly affect the ending either way. I think if you've killed the gene scientists, you can leave the map the way you came in, out of Drypeak. Dialog might have said something like "Your journey is finally over".
*It's probably faction-locked, like Pinner's stash. There's one for the Obeyers too, that Zakary gives you a key for. Probably high-tier loot and cash/canisters.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by twelveticks:

The original likely has more info floating around, cryptic as it may be, but this one is mechanically completely different. It's also incredibly niche, so dataminers are few.

Technically it's niche but that's only because, like all Jeff's games, it has very low budget graphics so that Jeff could put all his solo effort into creating a very long and rich adventure. He could have made a much simpler and shorter game with much better visuals, still by himself. But he didn't and I guess we can thank him for that.

But I do not agree this game is "niche" per se. The lore, the setting, the story, the creation mechanics particularly as well as the rest of the class rule set, the faction game play and associated ethical dilemmas and questions and the location designs are not only of exceptional quality but are also exceptionally original. On a par at least with pretty much any classic cRPG you could mention.

IMHO if Larian, for example, remade this game and gave it the full BG3 treatment it would be a global sensation, a commercial success to rival BG3's itself. Because the source material, i.e. GF2 itself, is so exceptionally good and more importantly so exceptionally original.

Consider that CDPR's success, being primarily based on the Witcher games, is based on the fact that the original Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski likewise have exceptional narrative, characters, locations, lore and, unusually for novels, actual unique witcher mechanics.

Above all the Witcher novels are uniquely original and captivating and the Witcher games follow them closely. That's why W3 was such a smash hit, not just the pretty graphics and high octane combat. Pretty graphics and high octane action can be done by the numbers on a production line. Uniquely appealing stories, characters, mechanics and lore not so much.

That's why IMHO Larian could put up $100m to remake GF2 to BG3 standards and walk away with another cabinet full of awards and another half a billion in the bank.

It's also why I'm whining about some of the rough edges around this game........

Originally posted by twelveticks:

[
*The unkillable golems I'm 99% sure are meant to be stealthed around, not killed.
*If the heat pads are impassable, just find another way around them. If they're in a corner somewhere and you have exits on the sides unlocked, they're probably not important, prob just loot or an alchemy item or something.

Sure, but the question is whether I need to bother with them. It's a question of what these golems and pads are protecting. It could be for example that you can infiltrate the power centre past these golems and disable/destroy the geneforge from there remotely, i.e. this area is designed for players on stealth/pacifist runs.

But I'm not, I got a murder hobo team of unstoppable drakons and rotghasts (not that I'm murder hobo, you understand, only when push comes to shove) and I've already destroyed the geneforge and killed the three Taker scientists. I do not want to spend frustrating hours tip-toeing around these buggers to no purpose. If I could just kill 'em (or disable the pads), no probs, but I can't it seems.

Originally posted by twelveticks:

*I think that door is story-related and you can't open it at all.

But if it's story related, what part of story and how can it play any part at all if you can't open it? And if you can't open it and it doesn't actually have a meaningful story related function then why was it put there? This doesn't make sense.

Originally posted by twelveticks:

*It's probably faction-locked, like Pinner's stash. There's one for the Obeyers too, that Zakary gives you a key for. Probably high-tier loot and cash/canisters.

That sounds plausible. However I'd dearly love to know for sure. I mean after spending 100+ hours in this game so I can bestride the world like a colossus I feel I've earned an answer.

[tritonicallyorbital]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

Sure, but the question is whether I need to bother with them.

When I say 99% sure on something, what I'm really saying is "It could be the case, but I don't remember having to mess with it to complete the game, so don't worry about it".
I'm not going to open the game up and scrub a zone just to test a theory, so here's the rarer loot for those zones pulled from the item location atlas on the forums.
In Benerii-Uss Power, there's a load of mined crystals, a Stability Boots (just energy resistance iirc or smth like that), Wand of the Rainbow (idr but it's likely some random/chaos magic, esp. considering cockatrice canister in same zone), 2 canisters (Create Drakon / Agility), the Infiltrator's Cloak and Vest on a corpse (should be +1 to Leader/Mech/Stealth for both, maybe Quick Action too), and in the room a servant mind opens for you, a canister (Cockatrice). Good loot spread throughout, living tools and major healing pods, etc.
In Benerii-Uss Holding, there's the Ornkskin Gauntlets (+2 Strength, +2 Endurance, -2 Intellect, +20% Curse res.), a canister (Clawbug), Crystal Woven Shield (just says "+20% creation dmg"), and a canister (Stalkthorn, kind of a secret), and a bunch of good minor loot scattered around, as before.
Idk where all those are located within the zones bc I don't remember the map layouts, but nothing that would impact your ending there. If you simply desire every piece of loot the game has to offer, that's different I guess lol.

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

But if it's story related, what part of story and how can it play any part at all if you can't open it? And if you can't open it and it doesn't actually have a meaningful story related function then why was it put there? This doesn't make sense.

I think it's stated a couple times in the game itself, but the door's main focus is in the actual ending cutscene. I believe it contains the first experimental Unbound. That's why you can't open it.

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

That sounds plausible. However I'd dearly love to know for sure. I mean after spending 100+ hours in this game so I can bestride the world like a colossus I feel I've earned an answer.

Looks to be the case from the item atlas, but you could always make a save, cheat-pump yourself full of levels and besiege Rising as revenge. (Or just pump Mech and quietly pick the lock if you can, idk.)

I agree it would be wonderful if Geneforge got the Witcher treatment. However, barring the headline-jumpscare of a lifetime, I feel fine not getting my hopes up that it's ever going to happen. When I say "niche" I mean the game doesn't have quite as many fans, certainly not as many as Witcher, and it has even fewer with the money, skills, dedication, and time required to undertake such a project and, most importantly, retain the integrity of the story. They all adore the game though, gameplay jank be damned.

The game lacks clarity to the point of being frustrating, I also agree. But it also rewards experimentation, i.e. save and smash your face against it to see what happens. From your threads, I can only surmise that that is not your most favored method of play. If you ever do get the urge to play through another Geneforge far in the future, that might be something to keep in mind.

Essentially these games are passion projects, and if Jeff wanted to pursue triple-A stardom, I think he would have gone ahead and tried it in the 31 years he's been making them. As it stands, these remasters are way better to play than the originals, so imo I don't mind the jank so much.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by twelveticks:

[
I agree it would be wonderful if Geneforge got the Witcher treatment. However, barring the headline-jumpscare of a lifetime, I feel fine not getting my hopes up that it's ever going to happen.

I won't be holding my breath either, I was just sayn' But you know, I think there's a mountain of money in this game 'cos it's so good and original. And even Jeff can't be totally immune to millions of dollars can he?

Thanks for the heads up btw. I think I can safely leave those areas be, I got all the gear I need.

[tritonicallyorbital]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

I won't be holding my breath either, I was just sayn' But you know, I think there's a mountain of money in this game 'cos it's so good and original. And even Jeff can't be totally immune to millions of dollars can he?

Thanks for the heads up btw. I think I can safely leave those areas be, I got all the gear I need.

Fair enough lol, it would be epic if it did get picked up someday. It could really benefit from the dark fantasy treatment.

All good, go get that ending, you def have earned it lol. FWIW the Infiltrator's stuff is goated for pacifist runs, but I'm pretty sure you can get them way earlier and easier than that. ^^

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by twelveticks:

It could really benefit from the dark fantasy treatment.

Yeah, and being able to pat your Fyora's on the head and have 'em chirp and nuzzle you too. Although I'm not sure the Rotghasts would be quite so popular.