2 attempts to kickstart this LP have crashed and burned due to my incompetence. Inshallah, 3rd time's the charm. Either that, or I will harvest more broken link reactions and rage quit, blaming Arcanum's bugs for transcending the game itself.
ARCANUM: OF STEAMWORKS AND MAGICK OBSCURA
PART I: EXPLOSIVE BEGINNINGS
PART I: EXPLOSIVE BEGINNINGS
We're greeted with wistful music and steampunk aesthetics. Welcome to Arcanum, the most among the crpgs of yesterday. We'll be playing as Lord Byron, a human male with a charlatan protege background and impeccable physiognomy. The background gives us a yuge boost to charisma at the expense of strength and constitution.
Although Arcanum is unsurpassed ( as far as I know ) in the sheer number of skills, crafting schools and spells which can be upgraded, you get a paltry 5 points to start you off, and you are barred from reducing your base stats below the given numbers. I put a point in Dexterity, Throwing, Persuasion, Firearms and Explosive Crafting, giving us access to Molotov cocktails
Pre-cutscene trading screen lets us spend our wealth to gain an edge from the get go. I restrict myself to a pair of boots and a primitive wooden boomerang. And we're off!
Quite literally. We're aboard ISF Zephyr, a giant blimp en route to the continent of Arcanum. Taking the screenshot skipped the cutscene so I'll give you a verbal rundown. The blimp is attacked by ogres piloting fighter planes. Machine gun fire tears the blimp to shreds and we go down in flames. People are dying, utter chaos ensues. I like to pretend we're busy hurling the boomerang around atop the deck during the attack.
We survive the crash and find a dying gnome. He gives us a ring and tells us to 'find the boy', before succumbing to his wounds.
A hooded figure runs to help us from the wreckage.
What are you talking about?
I'm a tad confused
Your babbling is incomprehensible!
Virgil..
his name?
Did they say anything about a gnome and a ring?
That's ludicrous!
Panarii?
You don't seem well versed in the scripture
Alright then, let's go find Joachim. But a formidable challenge stands in our way:
We slaughter them with our boomerang. Scouring the surroundings, we find a lot of trinkets: wine, springs, tubes, coal, iron ore etc. Few things stand out: the dead gnome had a passport belong to Preston Radcliffe and a Roseborough Inn matchbook; there's a camera nearby; a dead woman has a note
Vermillion station? Updated my journal
To the south is a kite shaman guarding a treasure box. He casts hold in a desperate attempt to safeguard his hoardings. We slaughter the rapacious bastard and confiscate what's rightfully ours.
To the north is a super-duper secret cave
Inside is a pack of rats that hobble around like kangaroos. We level up as we kill them and put a point in strength to increase our carrying capacity. At the end of the cave is a dead body and a barrel. The latter is a goldmine: flintlock pistol, ammunition, dynamite, stun grenades, explosive grenades, revolver chamber etc. A spirit rises from the dead body as we're looting
We get our first quest: kill Arbalah and free the ghost of Brehgo. Before we do that, we explore and discover one of the downed airplanes and it's dead ogre pilot.
Based
The ogre has a strange amulet bearing a pentagram of sorts:
Vrgil thinks there's conspiracy afoot and urges us to visit Shrouded Hills, before dropping some sagely advice:
We follow the only exit out of the clearing, a narrow valley to the south. Soon, we findChris Avellone's tombstone an altar
And who's the evil one?
So according to Panarii lore, we're Nasrudin reborn, on our way to slay some unnamed evil. We venture forth but oh oh
Black robes. Shieet. He means business. The stranger accosts us about the blimp crash, why we're here etc. Virgil intervenes and we let him speak on our behalf. He expertly reframes the questions and starts grilling the stranger:
Take note of Byron's ingenuity in this conversation. Turning his back, he catches the stranger by surprise, sowing seeds of anxiety and doubt. What's Byron doing with his hands out of view? Who knows.
Yeah, you better run
Virgil is shook by this verbal exchange
We press onwards and the world map is unlocked. It's a good looking map:
It functions the same as fallout 1/2, but Arcanum is pretty huge. What's funny is that the world map is not strictly necessary. The whole continent 'exists' in isometric mode: if you wish to spend 30 minutes running from one town to another, you can. I'm a filthy casual though, so I just use the world map. Arbalah's shack is bordering two fresh graves. Hmm.
With the niceties out of the way, Arbalah calls bullshit on Brehgo's story. Arbalah was attacked by two thieves, Brehgo and Farkus, who slaughtered his family and stole some religious trinket. Arbalah cursed the souls of the two to walk this planes of existence after death. Brehgo's death was simply a squabble between the thieves over the spoils and had nothing to do with the curse. Arbalah wants us to recover the stolen loot, but he does not know where Farkus is currently located. We pay Brehgo another visit, promising that Arbalah will release him (lie) if he spills the beans on Farku's whereabouts
Farkus doesn't take much to convince
But since we're evil, we return to Arbalah to kill him, stealing his trinket and his robes
Panarii niggaz in the hood,
killing papists in cold blood
Ahem. Moving on. Brehgo is ecstatic at our (mis)deeds
But we already know the full story, you inbred tart
Anyways, we level up and put another point in throwing. Having wrapped up the opening sequence, we leave the crash site and go to find Joachim.
In the next episode, we'll tackle Shrouded Hills, the Shady Sands of Arcanum.
Although Arcanum is unsurpassed ( as far as I know ) in the sheer number of skills, crafting schools and spells which can be upgraded, you get a paltry 5 points to start you off, and you are barred from reducing your base stats below the given numbers. I put a point in Dexterity, Throwing, Persuasion, Firearms and Explosive Crafting, giving us access to Molotov cocktails
Pre-cutscene trading screen lets us spend our wealth to gain an edge from the get go. I restrict myself to a pair of boots and a primitive wooden boomerang. And we're off!
Quite literally. We're aboard ISF Zephyr, a giant blimp en route to the continent of Arcanum. Taking the screenshot skipped the cutscene so I'll give you a verbal rundown. The blimp is attacked by ogres piloting fighter planes. Machine gun fire tears the blimp to shreds and we go down in flames. People are dying, utter chaos ensues. I like to pretend we're busy hurling the boomerang around atop the deck during the attack.
We survive the crash and find a dying gnome. He gives us a ring and tells us to 'find the boy', before succumbing to his wounds.
A hooded figure runs to help us from the wreckage.
What are you talking about?
I'm a tad confused
Your babbling is incomprehensible!
Virgil..
his name?
Did they say anything about a gnome and a ring?
That's ludicrous!
Panarii?
You don't seem well versed in the scripture
Alright then, let's go find Joachim. But a formidable challenge stands in our way:
We slaughter them with our boomerang. Scouring the surroundings, we find a lot of trinkets: wine, springs, tubes, coal, iron ore etc. Few things stand out: the dead gnome had a passport belong to Preston Radcliffe and a Roseborough Inn matchbook; there's a camera nearby; a dead woman has a note
Vermillion station? Updated my journal
To the south is a kite shaman guarding a treasure box. He casts hold in a desperate attempt to safeguard his hoardings. We slaughter the rapacious bastard and confiscate what's rightfully ours.
To the north is a super-duper secret cave
Inside is a pack of rats that hobble around like kangaroos. We level up as we kill them and put a point in strength to increase our carrying capacity. At the end of the cave is a dead body and a barrel. The latter is a goldmine: flintlock pistol, ammunition, dynamite, stun grenades, explosive grenades, revolver chamber etc. A spirit rises from the dead body as we're looting
We get our first quest: kill Arbalah and free the ghost of Brehgo. Before we do that, we explore and discover one of the downed airplanes and it's dead ogre pilot.
Based
The ogre has a strange amulet bearing a pentagram of sorts:
Vrgil thinks there's conspiracy afoot and urges us to visit Shrouded Hills, before dropping some sagely advice:
We follow the only exit out of the clearing, a narrow valley to the south. Soon, we find
And who's the evil one?
So according to Panarii lore, we're Nasrudin reborn, on our way to slay some unnamed evil. We venture forth but oh oh
Black robes. Shieet. He means business. The stranger accosts us about the blimp crash, why we're here etc. Virgil intervenes and we let him speak on our behalf. He expertly reframes the questions and starts grilling the stranger:
Take note of Byron's ingenuity in this conversation. Turning his back, he catches the stranger by surprise, sowing seeds of anxiety and doubt. What's Byron doing with his hands out of view? Who knows.
Yeah, you better run
Virgil is shook by this verbal exchange
We press onwards and the world map is unlocked. It's a good looking map:
It functions the same as fallout 1/2, but Arcanum is pretty huge. What's funny is that the world map is not strictly necessary. The whole continent 'exists' in isometric mode: if you wish to spend 30 minutes running from one town to another, you can. I'm a filthy casual though, so I just use the world map. Arbalah's shack is bordering two fresh graves. Hmm.
With the niceties out of the way, Arbalah calls bullshit on Brehgo's story. Arbalah was attacked by two thieves, Brehgo and Farkus, who slaughtered his family and stole some religious trinket. Arbalah cursed the souls of the two to walk this planes of existence after death. Brehgo's death was simply a squabble between the thieves over the spoils and had nothing to do with the curse. Arbalah wants us to recover the stolen loot, but he does not know where Farkus is currently located. We pay Brehgo another visit, promising that Arbalah will release him (lie) if he spills the beans on Farku's whereabouts
Farkus doesn't take much to convince
But since we're evil, we return to Arbalah to kill him, stealing his trinket and his robes
Panarii niggaz in the hood,
killing papists in cold blood
Ahem. Moving on. Brehgo is ecstatic at our (mis)deeds
But we already know the full story, you inbred tart
Anyways, we level up and put another point in throwing. Having wrapped up the opening sequence, we leave the crash site and go to find Joachim.
In the next episode, we'll tackle Shrouded Hills, the Shady Sands of Arcanum.
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