Arcanum

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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
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.

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.