Anyone else played through this game?

I'm just now starting to really mess around with it. I gave it about 10 minutes quite a few months ago, but just didn't have time to develop any kind of appreciation for it.

All that's changed. I can't seem to get anywhere in the game, 'cause I'm frikkin always *building* stuff. My characters are just loaded with hand made stuff that you can't buy, and totally rocks.

Anyone else like this game, or been thinking about playing it? Or, for that matter, would like to see parts of it extended into BIS titles? (think "Hey! I can MAKE something with this gem/arrow/bullet" without having to visit cromwell/tiernon/that-other-guy)

i played arcanum and i loved it too:P
almost as good as bg2

I played it through once. Really disliked it, and got rid of it. The best part in the game was that forceshield thingie that absorbed damage. It just looked neat, a yellow shimmering sphere around your character, flaring when you take hits.

Played it, finished it, loved it!

The game graphics is rotten, however I play RPGs because of stories, not because of awsome particle beams that belong to FPS genre.

Great game! The only thing I didn't like is that your armor and weapons can be damaged by certain monsters, but it wasn't much of a problem.

[ September 01, 2002, 05:50: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

Very good game with excellent character creation possibilities and a plot that twists quite abruptly at times. I didn't quite like the biggest hack n' slash areas (like a certain mine), and I felt that, unfortunately, it got a bit boring in the end, but that's it.

The opening video is quite cool too. :)

Yeah, that opening video really throws you for a loop.

I really haven't gotten into the storyline just yet. It doesn't seem all that great, but it's sure as heck better than Nox.

I think I'm just going to hex edit my gold so I can move on in the game. Jeeeze, all I think about is how can I find/combine things to make really cool equipment. My party has about 100 moltov cocktails, but I end up never using them 'cause I take-them-out-at-the-pass with the elephant gun instead.

Fantastic game! Finished it once and then started again with a totally different character. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes roleplaying and creativity over hack 'n' slash.

Yes!

I took care of the gold issue. =)

And found a whole *slew* of mods for the game. I guess the firearms all got knocked down in strength, 'cause people were going through the beta test like it was Fallout or something. Putting a little tapp-tapp-tapperoo on with the auto-shotgun, or something. Anyways, a couple of people hacked the strengh of the weapons back up. It's totally awesome.

And there's some kind "shop inventory" hack that loads all the shops up with the random items at once. So, if you're looking for something specific, you don't have to sit there and sleep/check; which is what I was having to do.

So, I've made all this really cool stuff, but haven't gotten the chance to check it out yet.

Bottom line: This game is addictive.

Sweet, I didn't know about those mods :D

I've played it through as both a Good Guy and a Bad Guy, and lemme say, it's f'awesome. I remember having a few nitpicks, but the only one that really comes to mind is having to start at the damned blimp crash *every time*. I got so sick of having to go through that every time I made a new character :grr:

Still, it's awesome. I beat it with a paladin, followed by an evil technician, and have explored good sections of the map with diplomats, wizards of every sort, and a tinker with a guardian android. And, of course, thieves who could break into stores, steal a shop's inventory, and then sell back everything he couldn't use :happy:

All in all, a great game. Starts to lose its charm on the tenth time through, but it's still damned good :D

Considering all the posts above it comes to my mind that i should really buy this game :D :D :D

Yeah, I finally got all my people loaded out and started playing through the game.

It is incredible. There's a terrific number of fedex quests, but they're optional. You end up "tracking" people a whole lot, picking up little clues here and there. Sometimes you have to go back to the "hall of records" to get information about where the guy is, or what the connection is to this new quest.

Overall, it is most assuredly worth playing through at least once. I got hooked on making weapons/armour/explosives, that I couldn't get anywhere for a week or so. I ended up having to cheat like a mad-dog-killer (moreso than what is normal for me) just to be able to start in on the plot. I'm still not exactly sure what all hacks I installed.

Just a little FYI here; all the firearms in the game, if you're playing default, are woefully underpowered. Do not play through with firearms, as they are even less powerful than a bow and you will get wiped out left and right. Magic does well, and so do moltov cocktails and other explosives. The 'exploding' bow/arrow is the best ranged weapon by an incredible lead.

That said, anyone who want to use firearms might just think about using the firearm hack. It bumps up the power of all the firearms considerably, where they actually do some damage. It also bumps up your ammo usage per shot, but that's the tradeoff. The most powerful one is still not "one shot, one kill" on a bunch of creatures, but they are nearly as powerful as the best sword in the game, which is about what it should be.

The interface will throw you off at first, but not terribly so. I [-peep-] want to be able to just hit the space bar to pause the action like the BIS games, but it doesn't work like that. You have to hit 'r', and half the time it goes to fast-turn-based, which just ends up pissing you off if you're using to the infinity engine. And if you set the slider to turn based, the space bar toggles between turn based and real time so you end up toe-to-toe with someone before you realize you have to hit 'escape', and turn the option back to turn based.

Damn you people, damn you I say........ ;)

Arcanum is installing as we speak just because of your praise and refreshing of memories.

Really I should thank you

finished it couple of times and it ROCKS!!!!! and I agree that the firearms are weak, but then, I always get close for a sweet melee fight.

Huh. My first time through I used a gnome 'gun technologist' - one of the auto-leveling schemes. I did turn off the auto-leveling a few times so that I could pick up some other tech schemes for the learned gun smithy schematics. But I actually found that the firearms I could make - and with good firearms skill - he was *very* good in combat. One fairly impressive weapon I was able to make relatively early was Bronwick's Gun - most things took one, maybe two hits, except for the really big dudes. And the Blade Launcher he made later in the game took *everything* out with one shot! No mods either.

And yeah, the no pause bit took a while to get used too - especially after just finishing BG2 :)

Are there any partys in Arcanum???
Is it similiar to BG?? (tech=swords magic=magic)

Any other things you think it is worth mentioning??

Yes, you can have a party in Arcanum. There are 20 NPCs in the game that could possibly join you. But, unlike the BG games, there are restrictions: the number of followers is limited by your charisma score; some NPCs won't join you if you have certain other NPCs already; your apptitude for magic or technology will sometimes affect who will and will not join you; your actions in the game have a direct effect on you party; and a million other things ;) It truly is a role-playing game.

It's kind of similar to BG, but much more flexible. Take a fantasy world and throw in technology up to early 19th c. (steam engines, electricity, etc). To make things more interesting, the technology functions more like something out of a Jules Vern or an H. G. Wells story. Instead of having classes, you build your character as you go, picking skills, abilities, spells, combat abilities, etc. But you do have to pay attention to the requirements of certain things. For example, tech skills all require intelligence: the higher the skill level, the higher the intelligence. So, as your character advances, to get better tech skills, you also have to increase your intelligence. And at each level after the first you only get 1 pt to spend (except at multiples of 5 when you get 2 pts). And so on.

Any other things worth mentioning? Yes: play the game!! As much as I enjoyed the BG games, and enjoy Pnp 3E D&D, as far as CRPGs go, I feel Arcanum beats them all - except in the graphics department. The story, once you get into it, is quite good, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of side quests, and it is completely non-linear.

One thing about NPCs in Arcanum is that you have less control over them than you have in the BG games, but at least you can give them equipment (though you can't force them to use what you give them) unlike NWN.

Actually you may force them what to use! Just remove that weapon blasted AI is automatically equipping and keep it in your or another party member's inventory.

And unlike NWN they won't automatically jump to disarm traps/lockpick or whatever. Only if they are more skilled in it then your main hero is.

a problem with the NPCs is basically the AI, which is quite dumb, espeically the spell casters.

?????????????

Dumb AI? You get resurrected by party member if you die and that's dumb AI? You couldn't see this even in BG2, mister!

Let me see some arguments about "dumb" AI.
What spellcasters?

"Let me see some arguments about "dumb" AI.
What spellcasters? "

they resurect you, sure, but that's a thing that's easily planned, now, usefulness in COMBAT, spell casters praticaly just throw whatever they have in, once I fought some weak apes and jormound just casted summon fire elemental, wasting damn lots of fatigue, and so on, not to mention that many times they just FREEZE.

Right now, I've got everyone loaded up with blade launchers. Except Raven; she's using a bow/arrow 'cause she's good with them, I can't seem to turn up her firearms skillz, and I have a ton of arrows to get rid of.

It's hilarious. Every time combat starts, you see this HUGE number of arrows fly across the screen. She flips like 10 arrows in the time it takes everyone else to flip one shot.

But my god, no one is ever hurt. Either Raven or Virgil are popping off heal spells left and right; all I see is party memebers getting nail with spells after combat.

Arcanum is a very sweet game. It's not icewind dale; it's not baldur's gate. But it is definately a most excellent game. It takes a bit of getting into the swing of things, like when you move from using Windows98 to Linux.

As for things to say about this game: It ends up being a "clue" kinda game. You'll crisscross across the enitre map 30 or 40 times by the end of the game. Learning "Transportation" is like, majorly up there on the list of things to do. You want transportation, even if it means you have to spend time at an inn afterwards. In fact, that's about the only way I travel now.

Oh, and you'll be needing a place to store all the STUFF you get in the game. My god, there is a load of stuff. Rent a room at one of the inns, and keep everything there in the dresser. I haven't had anything stolen yet, so it's a fairly decent place to use. The first time I was playing the game, I played it BG2 style, where you could store anything, anywhere. It was gone the next morning. :(

Other than that, if you're not using a walkthrough, plan right now on keeping notes. The Journal is helpful, but you're going to need to draw a map at a couple of places where you can't pull up the area map; only the world map.

A bought manual is almost a must with Arcanum. Explaining what to do when certain NPCs get mad at you, what the clues for some of the quests are (like the puzzle of the mage city Tula - virtually impossible without some assistance), what the prerequisites of skills are, etc. Very, very helpful, not to mention the maps that come with a manual.

It sounds even better than BG2:ToB (best game 'till now). I like roleplaying :)
One thing bothers me though: My prefered class is a druid :cool: and seeing there are two things to specialize (magic and technology) and none of them seems suitable for a nature-guy.
Any suggestions???

There's a few "nature" spellz for the magick users. I can't remembe what they are. I think there's a shapeshift spell.

The first time through, playing with magick is a good idea. But be weary; when your 'alignment' gets too far into the magick area, you won't be able to buy technological stuff for your party members anymore. So if you just so happen to snag a tech dwarf, he'll be relying on the stuff you find in the dungeons or pickpocket/lockpick.

And I'll just throw this in there one more time; explosives are your friend. Put one skill point by the time you hit level 3 into "explosives". When you're knee deep in the dead, you will appreciate those explosives.

/me fetches the manual

College of Nature:

Charm beast, Entangle, Control beast, Succour beast and Regenerate.

And then lots of druid-ish spells are in the various Elemental colleges...

I found that puzzle in Tulla to be one of the coolest parts of the game. Difficult, yes, but I was able to slove it quite quickly without help.

Hmm, I should really replay this game sometime...

S to get a druid type of char i'm supposed to go into elemental magic department :) What else is in there??
I like to be Summoner so are there any good elemental summons?

I think so, yes. Haven't tried 'em though.

To be even more like a druid you can buy some degrees in Herbology as well. Only problem is that that counts as technology, and thus reduces your magickal aptitude...

Great RPG. the graphics and interface a bit on the mediocre side, but the system rocks, the setting really interesting, the freedom you can take, and the tech part, really nice.

Like I was saying :)

It's a different game.

It ain't BIS, so you have to adapt to it.

You only get a few "skill" points per level. And you have quite a few extra stats other than the 5 or 6 that BIS hands out.

There's about 20 different "tech" skills that you can put up to 5 points in, each. There's about 14 magic colleges, that each have 5 spells (1 spell per point).

Obviously, unless you are cheating as much as I am, you will have to specialize. You will have to specialize a lot! Like I was saying earlier, the transportation magick college is a good one to put 5 points into. You will want at least one point in explosives. Probably a couple of points into melee and dodge, each.

Other than that, it's open reign. Try not to be a "jack-of-all-trades" in this game, because you will have a very tough time (save/reload/save/reload/save/reload) getting past quite a few areas. If you are an expert/master in just a couple, there is always a path through using those skills. Be they magick, thievery, or technological.

trasportation magick college? well, depends, the only one that really worths it IMO is teleportation, but it takes 5 points, which isn't really worth it, mind as well get force.

"I like to be Summoner so are there any good elemental summons? "

elemental summons? there are fire, water, air and earth elementals that you can summon, but you need to spend 5 points on each to get them.

if anyone in the UK is planning to buy this WAIT, on the 27th it will drop from £25 to £7.99 on amazon (i pre-ordered mine today after all the hype here)

I think i'll buy this game right after I get IWD2. Or maybe i'll just ask for it at x-mas. :)

I really liked this game, except I never get very far. for some reason my computer places all these little black triangles on the screen. Imagine the screen with a grid over it. Each square in the grid has a triangle in the upper left corner. I can usually stand it for awhile, but then it gets annoying and I stop playing. It sucks, cuz I really like the game (from what I have seen so far).

"I really liked this game, except I never get very far. for some reason my computer places all these little black triangles on the screen. Imagine the screen with a grid over it. Each square in the grid has a triangle in the upper left corner. I can usually stand it for awhile, but then it gets annoying and I stop playing. It sucks, cuz I really like the game (from what I have seen so far). "

well, to fix this, jsut use the safe mode, if the game becomes too slow, go to the dixdiag, usually in the setup folder in the program files, if you'v installed direct x, and go to controls I think, and turn off directdraw, and then the game would be square free, but you won't be able to paly 3D games, when you want to, reactivate direct draw, if it says unavailable after you reactivated, restart and it will be ok.

Are you talking about safe mode of the game itself?

"Are you talking about safe mode of the game itself? "

yes.

Great game. I finished it couple of months ago, and loved every part of it. Except various bugs, mostly related to graphic.

For those who are currently playing it, I advise you to try and accomplish the quest of the gods (the shrines with offerings, spread across the whole map). Now that's cool.

I first played as a gun-spec dwarf. After about 70% of the game, everyone and everything was falling in front of me after 2 or 3 shots. How would you like, BG fans out there, to knock down a Greater Fire Elemental from 30 yards with the flick of your finger, at the cost of one bullet?

Second time, I chose an evil-mage character, and I found him even stronger than the gunner.

Anyway, if you enjoy a good fantasy tale, play this one. You won't regret it. The story makes for half of the beauty of the game.

I have to admit. The story isn't bad at all. At the very beginning, it's a little questionable. But once you meet the guy that you're actualy SUPPOSED to be, it irons out a bit.

I thought the graphics are very good. Actually, what I like best is not running in serpentine fashion like Fallout. They could have tweaked the "waypoint" job on the area maps a little better, but at least it's scrollable.

And yeah; magic totally rules in this game. There's been several battles where I was doing like 5% damage with each shot, so I just disintegrated him. I didn't want to play with the pirate guy, and after like 20 shots, there was no way I was doing the same with his 4 buddies.

And the NPC AI is very well done. Except with firearms. The whole point of a firearm is to shoot from range, and most of the time they run up to point blank range before unloading.

the problem with firearms was that they just took too much action points to use, there are faster ones, but they either are extremely weak, or just spend bullets like crazy(one spent 6 bullets per shot).

Yeah, there's no good minigun in the game.

Where you just call in the C-130, and tell them "I'd like that entire site hosed down, please. No; I don't care if it's moving, just shoot it anyways for good measure. Yes; I understand the place will be unwalkable from all the trees that get shot down, and houses that are now gazebo, but we'll just drop in a load of napalm and clear up that problem when it occurs. Thanks."

The disintegrate spell in Arcanum is the most messed up part of the game IMHO, I just pretend it doesn't exist when I play the game. :o

I just bought Arcanum for a fiver!!! :spin: :lol: :rolling: :square: :) :D
:shake: :p

Isn't 5 pounds like 7 dollars?

That's good to go!

Now, all you have to do is start playing the game.
The only advice I can give you:

DON'T GET HOOKED ON MAKING STUFF!

I picked Arcanum up for a fiver too. The only problem is that on my just-above-min-spec. PC it only runs smoothly when my character is the only one on the screen. Meaning I can't get into Tarant. Meaning I might as well be playing the demo. *sigh* Still, I've not seen it in the shops for a long time, and might be gone by the time I finally get my PC upgraded - so I'm hanging onto it.

@ Ironbeard:

I experienced about the same problems as you. My solution (since I enjoyed very much the beginning and wanted to play some more) was to play in turn-based mode when I entered large areas (i.e. Tarant - the largest, if I remember right). It is your choice - the game might lose some of its charm... :(

Ugh...Tarant on a near-min-spec computer, bad. Until I upgraded this thing, I had to set Arcanum aside. I could tell the game was going to be great, and it was once I got a better PC, but only being able to venture through Tarant at night got old quick.

Yeah, min specs are *NOT* min specs for this game.

It's hardest on the cpu, so a 1ghz processor will do you a whole lot of good in most places. Especially the dwarf caves, and Tarant.<Plus, all the background noises really chew on the cycles too.

It's a good game, but you've got to double that "min spec" processor before you can even begin to enjoy it. Choppy is one thing, unplayable is another.

Hah hah, just started it and have been playing for about an hour and a half. I can tell you this games just about beats Torment and BG2... I'm playing on the Magick side and it is deffinatley beefy as I havn't encountered a single enemy that has posed even the slightest threat. Magick is deffinatley alot better than techno as you can just cast a ton of spells at once! My character is at level 5 already and I havn't even been to shrouded hills yet! :shake:
I love this game! :D

I just did everything possible before going to shrouded hills. Beat every enemy and done that quest for the holy artifact. Going to watch The Simpsons and then it's straight back into the wonderful land of Arcanum! :rolling:

I SERIOUSLY reccommend this game to just about any RPG gamer who dosn't mind a very posh RPG. :)
Your CRPG collection isn't complete without this game... go buy it you fools!!! :lol: ;)

[ October 16, 2002, 18:51: Message edited by: Z-Layrex ]

Just a little FYI, Z.

The end of the game has a "movie" like the Fallout series. Where you are shown what happens to everyone that you interacted with.

So, the most quests you solve, the "better" (i.e. longer) the ending will be.

Think upon that...

Don't worry, I try to explore everywhere in RPGs.

The end of the game has a "movie" like the Fallout series. Where you are shown what happens to everyone that you interacted with.

So, the most quests you solve, the "better" (i.e. longer) the ending will be.
Huh? How come I never got one then? I thought I finished almost everything... Bah, I'll just have to replay it. ;)

Arcanum is good and the only thing I dislike from this game is my party members always rush into the battle field and get themselves killed.
And have you meet that old elven mage?...errrh what is his name...I forgot.
He is the father of Arronax...oh yeah I remember..Nasrudin.
When he telling why he banished Arronax...the MV was very cool.I think it is the best part of the game.

Kel Auryn, that was a spoiler. People who haven't played the game yet generally don't like being told what's going to happen, especially when it's something as vital as this. So, in order to avoid ruining some people's fun, I suggest you edit that post immediately.

Too late. :flaming:

Z-Layre:

You still have to find him. Trust me; it's not like he just shorted your gameplay time by 5 hours or anything. For Arcanum, you need a clipboard, about 100 sheets of blank typing paper, and a mechanical pencil that has like 5 sticks of lead in it. There a couple of times where you just might need a calculator. =)

Take notes. The storyline of Arcanum is a little twisty.

"You still have to find him. Trust me; it's not like he just shorted your gameplay time by 5 hours or anything."

I'd wish he had..... that part that you had to go through to get to nasrudin is the one of the most annoying part in the game.... those apes were weak and didn't give any experience, the place itself was a super maze, and the treasures worthed squat....

Yeah, but actually getting Nasrudin on the *map* is the tough part. Those Mickey Mouse instructions to the Tomb, and then you have to pickup on the clue that was etched into the "other" guy's tomb, would have locked me up at the stage.

For the record, I would like to note that I was unable to finish Zork 1 and Zork 2 without using a walkthrough. I've blanked Zork3 out of my memory, and Zork Zero was nearly another genere.

Ookay...enough already with the spoilers...poor Z-, he might wish to enjoy this game...

"Yeah, but actually getting Nasrudin on the *map* is the tough part. Those Mickey Mouse instructions to the Tomb, and then you have to pickup on the clue that was etched into the "other" guy's tomb, would have locked me up at the stage."

oh yeah.... it took me like 5 hours to figure out I was supposed to also click on the lid too..... then it took me anout 5 days to figure out what the heck I was supposed to in in rosenberg, and what the heck did that bucket mean....

Well, there goes that.

I was trying to keep it vague and cryptographic. But you just lauched the tripflare that let the whole base know.

Oh well. That was *the* only part of Arcanum that, in itself, was a gimmic to lengthen the gameplay. I don't subsidize *mazes* in games...

hey, those clues won't mean anything to the people who didn't play the game for extent, and I didn't tell them waht the bucket meant anyways.

Talk about mazes, I hate em! I hate the dark which make it so you cant see squat and have to click in every direction in hope of your character starts to move. :mad:
Any tips on making dungeons easier? I am in the Vendigoth ruins now and I cant navigate at all, it seems like my followers go to places I cant go to, I click there but nothing happens! :mad: Thats the most annyoing part yet of this otherwise superb game.

"Talk about mazes, I hate em! I hate the dark which make it so you cant see squat and have to click in every direction in hope of your character starts to move.
Any tips on making dungeons easier? I am in the Vendigoth ruins now and I cant navigate at all, it seems like my followers go to places I cant go to, I click there but nothing happens! Thats the most annyoing part yet of this otherwise superb game. "

.... that never happend to me before, except when I want some to go to a SPECIFIC place, like in front of the door..... but that doesn't ususally happen.

Hmmmm.

I always loaded all my people up with Miner's helmets.

I never really thought any areas were all that dark. I think the main function of the helmets were to make your people see traps easier, but I thought they helped out the gamma as well.

Crank up your gamma, or your brightness.

I did, didnt help much and miners helmets light is to tiny so it doesnt really matter. But I did manage to finish the ruins, I think there were some kind of pathfinding bug but I still think it is hell to find my way in dark dungeons in Arcanum.