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Arcanum Arcanum - No wonder Troika went under

  • Thread starter Deleted Member 16721
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Deleted Member 16721

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Don't buy a keyring if you plan on using the throwing skill later. There is a bug that breaks the mastery quest.

I don't plan on using throwing, but I did accidentally fling a lantern at Sogg Mead Mugg's head and it shattered on his face. Didn't mean to, was just trying to turn the darn thing on. :)
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
Why are airships better than teleport users?

Because an airship can bring tons of materials and passengers over long distance while teleport mages can not. Teleport mages can be a glorified post office delivery at most.
Depends.. do bag of holdings and magical holes exist in Arcanum world? Both can fit a fair bit of material and even people (if they will be inside for a shorter time).
 

redsky

Novice
Joined
Jan 7, 2019
Messages
16
Tarant is amazing, I want to live there. Can't believe such a cool city exists in a game I never discovered before. Houses with street addresses, brilliant!

Also, if my memory is good, they made newspapers in the game, where you can read whats happenin in the world, depending on your choices. Ahh, i think ill have to play it again, after long long time. Any new mods for the game?
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
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Searching for my kidnapped sister
Why are airships better than teleport users?

Because an airship can bring tons of materials and passengers over long distance while teleport mages can not. Teleport mages can be a glorified post office delivery at most.
Depends.. do bag of holdings and magical holes exist in Arcanum world? Both can fit a fair bit of material and even people (if they will be inside for a shorter time).
No. Arcanum dont have anything similar to bag of holdings. Manipulating the inventory space is a big part of its minigames.
I dont know what you mean by Magical holes? There' s a quest Liam's Workshop where we have to close a vortex/portal which release creatures into the surroundings. It's unsure where did they come from.
Also, if my memory is good, they made newspapers in the game, where you can read whats happenin in the world, depending on your choices.
Yes it is. For example, if you solve the Ogre strike at factory quest differently there's different articles corresponding to which end.
 

ArchAngel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 16, 2015
Messages
19,886
Why are airships better than teleport users?

Because an airship can bring tons of materials and passengers over long distance while teleport mages can not. Teleport mages can be a glorified post office delivery at most.
Depends.. do bag of holdings and magical holes exist in Arcanum world? Both can fit a fair bit of material and even people (if they will be inside for a shorter time).
No. Arcanum dont have anything similar to bag of holdings. Manipulating the inventory space is a big part of its minigames.
I dont know what you mean by Magical holes? There' s a quest Liam's Workshop where we have to close a vortex/portal which release creatures into the surroundings. It's unsure where did they come from.
In DnD there is something similar to Bag of Holding but it is a item you throw on the ground and it creates a black hole that you can put stuff into. It is much bigger than a bag of holding but not as easy to use. It is perfect for transporting stuff that you don't need to take out in a hurry. It can be used easily for transporting materials and lots of people through teleport and it makes any conventional means of travel pointless (but lacks comfort of such travel).
 

RK47

collides like two planets pulled by gravity
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Dead State Divinity: Original Sin
O4yBsez.jpg

hwsKa12.jpg
 
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Messages
40
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.
 

Black Angel

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Wonderland
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 understand where you're coming from. Hell,
Thanatos
is shamefully disappointing even though it was rather refreshing experience having to explore the island in real-time to reach
Nasrudin
, but at least the whole
Vendigroth Waste AND the Void itself
are solid endgame content for me.
 
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Messages
40
Vendigroth

Is actually the reason I wanted to dull my original statement a bit. There's a lot of trash getting there and inside but

the atmosphere and Fallout tones in environmental storytelling save it for me

I'm happy fluent gets to see the game with fresh eyes. That's a magical experience I wish I could have back. It's still not in my Top 5 or even my favorite Troika game, though. The crushed dreams immediately following Tarrant can't be fixed, unfortunately.
 

Doktor Best

Arcane
Joined
Feb 2, 2015
Messages
2,849
So the real-time combat is balanced at least. Very cool.



Some word of advice: Dont get hung up on combat or seeking challenge or something. Its easily the worst part of the game and should be regarded as rudimentary content block you have to overcome to enjoy more of its adventuring parts. Its horribly balanced, janky and RNG reigns supreme on the hardcore difficulty if you dont happen to play some OP specc (which you could only stumble upon if youre truly playing blind)

Other than that, the game is plain fucking greatness distilled.
 

Egosphere

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
Messages
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Hibernia
IMO, the main path gets pretty shit after a certain mountain delve.

This is false. Arcanum main path is fantastic. The delve you mention was a great and challenging level (unless you mean a different mountain delve? the later one you can skip? That one was less good...).
He's talking about the glimmering forest, qintarra, tseng ang etc. I think the game peaks quite early, when you reach Tarant. Caladon isn't nearly as engrossing and the elf cities are quite small. Tulla and Vendigroth are a nice change near the end, though.
 

Trashos

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2015
Messages
3,413
Hippie elf city is p shit, honestly. A goddamn oracle telling you you're the chosen one? Such a letdown after Tarant.

That's how the world of magic traditionally works though, right? I think it makes sense how it is. I would have been disappointed if I had been declared "the chosen one" by a bunch of engineers.
 

Neanderthal

Arcane
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Granbretan
Hippie elf city is p shit, honestly. A goddamn oracle telling you you're the chosen one? Such a letdown after Tarant.

This is brilliant, everybodies been telling you that you're the chosen one, and it all pays off later. Her whole speech is also foreshadowed by the Schuylers patriarch.

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.
 

ultra loser

Scholar
Joined
Nov 24, 2018
Messages
128
Bought it on gog like 10 years ago and finally decided to play it. So far I've only cleaned the first area out of wolves so some questions before I go further and fuck something up.
Should I go everywhere by foot or fast travel?
Should I sell or hoard all that shit I find like coal or springs if I hate crafting? How important is it in this game?
Is there one key that closes UI windows (like esc in every sane game) or do I have to close map with W, inventory with I, character details with C and so on?
Can you increase mouse sensitivity? I have the high res patch but I don't see anything like that in its config.
 

Sukhāvatī

a.k.a. Mañjuśṛī
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Jan 19, 2019
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འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔
Should I go everywhere by foot or fast travel?
Fast travel, the world is absolutely massive when on foot, and fast travel still puts areas of interest you travel over onto your map (outside of one or two very specific instances).

Should I sell or hoard all that shit I find like coal or springs if I hate crafting? How important is it in this game?
If you're not crafting then there's no need to hold onto them.
 

Egosphere

Arcane
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
Messages
1,909
Location
Hibernia
Bought it on gog like 10 years ago and finally decided to play it. So far I've only cleaned the first area out of wolves so some questions before I go further and fuck something up.
Should I go everywhere by foot or fast travel?
Should I sell or hoard all that shit I find like coal or springs if I hate crafting? How important is it in this game?
Is there one key that closes UI windows (like esc in every sane game) or do I have to close map with W, inventory with I, character details with C and so on?
Can you increase mouse sensitivity? I have the high res patch but I don't see anything like that in its config.
Going on foot will take you hours. You can sell all of the junk if you're not into crafting, they randomly respawn inside bins anyway if you ever need them later on ( shops restock their inventories every couple of days too ). Keep the kathorn crystals you find, you might need 2 of them for the main quest half way through the game. Also some of the more exotic items you find like black crystals, mnura coins etc. can be sold for a decent price, but they can also be used in the ancient gods quest ( if you decide to pursue it )
 
Last edited:

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
You know what else makes this game awesome? Newspapers. Rumors. Subtle dialogue persuasion skills. Newspapers - there are rumors you can find naturally and organically in them, go investigate yourself which leads to content. Brilliant. Rumors - your journal tracks them and they can also lead to content and discoveries without GLOWING MAP MARKER #7 on your map. Brilliant. 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.

Modern RPG devs need to take this game and play it a few times, then they might be qualified to make a CRPG. I'm astounded we don't get these cool little details in modern games without BIG GLOWING BREAD CRUMB TRAILS or YOUR JOURNAL HAS BEEN UPDATED, NO THOUGHT NEEDED! type of design. This is my get off my lawn moment, but seriously, these are cool details.
 

Trashos

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2015
Messages
3,413
You know what else makes this game awesome? Newspapers.

Right! Very good to see this return in The Outer Worlds, even though it is in the form of loading screens.

I remember an interview by Tim Cain, where he said that the newspapers module was an insane time investment for such a small thing within the game, and in retrospect they shouldn't have done it. But it is indeed one of the things that make Arcanum awesome.

you actually have to read the dialogue and hope you're making a correct choice.

I don't want to spoil too much, but there is an awesome negotiation side quest at some point. It is based on what you are mentioning, and it blew my mind.
 

Deleted Member 16721

Guest
Madame Toussade's quest blew my mind. They really were clever on that one, and I wasn't paying attention the first time through. Had to reload and try again (after guards killed me) and then I realized what I did wrong. I was like whoa, this game is clever and the dialogue is subtle and you have to pay attention a bit. Really cool sidequest.

Also, dispatching the bandits at the bridge and getting into P. Schuyler & Sons were both really cool conversations. Especially the bandit bridge, where when I picked up on the guy's personality I realized how I should handle him.
 

hivemind

Cipher
Patron
Pretty Princess
Joined
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Messages
2,386
Modern RPG devs need to take this game and play it a few times, then they might be qualified to make a CRPG.
the troika devs needed to have played through several games themselves and maybe then they might have been qualified to design a fucking user friendly UI
 

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