Arcanum Arcanum - No wonder Troika went under

[Deleted Member 16721]

The soundtrack is also excellent and adds a bunch of atmosphere to the game. Love the baroque (?) style of classical music.

 

[Black Angel]

Suble dialogue options. There's no big (PERSUASION) or (INTIMIDATE) crap to inform you of what you're doing, you actually have to read the dialogue and hope you're making a correct choice. If you make a choice that backfires, IT'S ON YOU. Read carefully and pay attention to subtle details in the dialogue and you will know what to say to NPCs.

Take another brofist from me, because one on your post is not enough you glorious bastard

 

[Sigourn]

Note the use of the word "after." I had no problem with BMC even if it was kinda boring between the interesting plot points. It's the everything afterwards that absolutely pales in comparison to Tarant. I was perhaps a bit harsh with calling it all shit, but Tarant is a ridiculous water mark that nothing after it can hope to even match. It's all too patchwork and rushed to get there.

I agree. The most interesting part after BMC was exploring that old ruined city of sorts. It's a shame the main quest was so disappointing, and the ending felt completely tacked on but I won't go into details as Fluent has yet to finish the game. The ending is IMO the most important part of a story; the story may have been great until that point, but if the ending is shit it ruins everything that came before (which is why I don't really like The Dark Knight Rises).

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

The soundtrack is also excellent and adds a bunch of atmosphere to the game. Love the baroque (?) style of classical music.

Intended to evoke music from before the Baroque era:
"The first thing I was told about Arcanum was the central conflict of the game: magic versus technology. This idea was so interesting and unique that I considered carefully how to best reflect it in the music. I presented a couple of ideas to the guys at Troika, and we finally settled on a sort of musical anachronism: a score centered around the styles and textures of Renaissance, medieval, and early music, but performed by a characteristic ensemble of the Victorian era, the string quartet. This dichotomy is most evident in the main Arcanum theme, but it shows up more obliquely in the chant-like melodies and motives that recur throughout the score, as well as in the texture and motion of the individual parts. (For example, notice the main theme of "The Caladon Catacombs" and the "Towns" music.) In my writing, I've avoided the virtuosic ornamentation and extremes of tessitura that characterize much Romantic-era string quartet literature, turning instead to the counterpoint and phrasing of early polyphony. Obviously, some of the pieces stray from this original conception, usually for dramatic reasons, but it served as a fruitful point of departure.

The Arcanum score is indebted to the Kronos Quartet's Early Music album, which includes early music transcribed for string quartet alongside contemporary compositions that share an esthetic kinship with early music. I also remember being inspired by some of Philip Glass' comments regarding his new score to the classic 1931 film Dracula, in which he stated that he chose a string quartet to evoke the film's close, Gothic environments. A small ensemble can be appropriately moody, intimate, unobtrusive, and ambiguous; and strings are capable of a wide range of delicate instrumental colors. It might even be argued that a small ensemble works better for the personal, one-on-one experience of a computer game, contrasting with an orchestral score in the large, public space of a movie theater. It didn't hurt that hiring a string quartet is significantly cheaper than hiring a full orchestra, while the warmth resulting from an acoustic recording is vastly preferable, in my opinion, to another MIDI orchestra soundtrack."

 

[anvi]

TOEE was shit.

ToEE is worth playing once, but there's no reason to replay it at all.

There is if you played it 10 years ago and forgot everything. That game was decent, but became a slog. I think Arcanum is garbage though.

 

[Ladonna]

Fluent is really getting this game. No whining about UI, no whining about bullshit, no shitposting.

Just enjoying an awesome game.

How refreshing.

As for the commentary about late game being bereft of content after Tarant...well, there isn't really an 'after Tarant' because you have to come back at various times to deal with new (and old) situations, and often there is new content ready and waiting. I didn't mind some of the later areas either and some were very good, but Tarant is more of a hub than a one visit quest shop.

And Fluent, if you ever finish the game, come back and try it as a dumb ogre smasher. While you miss out on a lot, the hilarious dialogue and journal entries, as well as the commentary from various NPCs makes it a new gaming experience.

 

[Viata]

I think Arcanum is garbage though

I think it's time to remove the possibly word here.

 

[anvi]

Original. It is garbage though, as is any game that has combat yet the combat is bad.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

It's hard to debate that the combat isn't garbage, and the combat is a large part of the game.

 

[anvi]

Yeah. So what is left? And is it really so special that people should be playing it 80 years later?

 

[grom]

Yeah. So what is left?

The quests, writing, roleplaying options, wonderful music and excellent atmosphere.
Also, how can you be such a big EQ fan and yet call a great game shit because the combat sucks?

 

[anvi]

All those things are very storyfagish though. EQ is the best combat in any game ever. Vanguard had better classes but it was too easy.

 

[grom]

All those things are very storyfagish though. EQ is the best combat in any game ever. Vanguard had better classes but it was too easy.

When does EQ combat start getting good? I got bored of it after the first five hours of autoattacking beetles outside Qeynos.

 

[anvi]

So you got to like level 3 in a game with 110 levels? You need to be at least level 30+ and you need to be one of the good classes.

 

[grom]

You have to play for dozens of hours for the combat to become interesting? And even then only if you picked the right class? Sounds like shit gameplay to me.

 

[Bigg Boss]

All those things are very storyfagish though. EQ is the best combat in any game ever. Vanguard had better classes but it was too easy.

Someone else that remembers Vanguard? Becoming a Lich was a pivotal gaming moment for me.

 

[anvi]

You have to play for dozens of hours for the combat to become interesting? And even then only if you picked the right class? Sounds like shit gameplay to me.

Hundreds or even thousands of hours, if you are a newbie anyway. I could get to level 30 in about 2 minutes. Either way it is fun if you like building up from humble beginnings and exploring one of the biggest game worlds ever made, etc. It can be grindy, but it is the combat I said was unbeatable. It is not for you though, stick to Call of Duty.

All those things are very storyfagish though. EQ is the best combat in any game ever. Vanguard had better classes but it was too easy.

Someone else that remembers Vanguard? Becoming a Lich was a pivotal gaming moment for me.

I loved that game. Looking forward to playing the emulator but it is going to take years to get back to how it was :/

 

[Master]

Yeah. So what is left? And is it really so special that people should be playing it 80 years later?

It has a lot of "simulationist" elements like being able to pick up and throw any item, or npcs picking up stuff; you can lockpick but also lock doors, windows. barrels and chests can be destroyed, npcs killed by throwing heavy things at them, damage depending on your strenght and item weight.
Npc schedules, going to sleep which affects their awareness; light increasing detection, destroying/creating light sources etc.
Fatigue system, npc disposition system, magic/tech system.
Throw in a bunch of quests and you can have some fun.
Its all very broken and the combat is shit but today there isnt anything better, and its a question wheter in 80 years people will make anything better the way things are going.

 

[Noddy]

Personally I found late game content fantastic, especially all the hints I didn't pick up on until later revelations. Also Tarants late game content was great, pleasure to return and find all the new stuff opening up.

I think the last game content is fine. Problem is by that point the character system has completely broken and you can 1v50 every combat in the game.

Would like to give a special shoutout to Arcanum for being the only rpg to do racism correctly. That honkey-ass innkeeper charging me extra filled me an irrational hatred I can't explain. It could only be sated by breaking in at night and murdering him. An act that surely, in his final moments, confirmed all the innkeepers worst prejeduces about filthy unwashed orcs. All over like 20 gold which I easily could have paid.

More of this in games and less human elf handholding toward a brighter tommorow lovefest shit.

 

[RRRrrr]

Playing Arcanum is only making me wish I reinstalled Planescape Torment or Fallout.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Playing Arcanum is only making me wish I reinstalled Planescape Torment ir Fallout.

Gun run is properly gimped, especially if you aren't familiar with the mechanics. Techies should probably stick with melee.

 

[laclongquan]

You have to play for dozens of hours for the combat to become interesting? And even then only if you picked the right class? Sounds like shit gameplay to me.

Icewind Dale 2 share the same feature. At low level you are very much lacking in available options. At medium to high level that you have all your options offered, which is when combat become interesting.
Example
At level lower than 5: you can melee, range attack, stall enemies with the web and grease, sleep/command.
At level 5-7: you now can nuke the hostiles with Fireball which is very fun. Your cleric can summon undead with duration of 5+ hours, which is way more fun than (re)summon cheap fodders for a few rounds (too micromanage-y)
At level 13: all your buffs are now long enough you only have to cast it twice a map (No more chores). Your wizard can cast stoneskin on your warriors which will lessen the amount of healing. Your cleric can heal in one spell or resurrect.

 

[grom]

Icewind Dale 2 share the same feature.

This is a bit of a stretch I think.

At low level you are very much lacking in available options. At medium to high level that you have all your options offered, which is when combat become interesting.

Yep, isn't that basically every RPG?

Example
At level lower than 5: you can melee, range attack, stall enemies with the web and grease, sleep/command.

Now imagine this part of the game stretching on for hours and hours and hours, all the while you're staying within a 50m radius, killing the same 2 or 3 enemy types over and over. The first five or so hours your only abilities are autoattack (target the enemy then sit back and watch till it dies - and it can take a minute or two to kill each foe) and maybe a buff or two.

 

[anvi]

Almost every RPG you start weak and low level and it gets interesting later on. The guy is a retard trying to make a point with no point.

 

[Trashos]

Gun run is properly gimped, especially if you aren't familiar with the mechanics. Techies should probably stick with melee.

Guns is not the easiest route, but it is the most satisfying and fun one, afaic. By now, I always play gunslingers in Arcanum.