Review Arx reviewed at Stratos Group

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Arx Fatalis

<a href="http://www.stratosgroup.com/">Stratos Group</a> has posted <A href="http://www.stratosgroup.com/reviews/games.php?selected=0302arxf">their take</a> on <A href="http://www.arxfatalis-online.com">Arx Fatalis</a> as well. They give it an <i>above average</i> rating of <b>3.5/5</b>. Here's a bit on the magic system:
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<blockquote>One place that Arx Fatalis does do something innovative is in the magic system. As you travel, you will find rune stones. Once you find them, you can hold down a button and trace the rune on that stone in glimmering light in the air in front of you. Each rune represents a word, like ?fire? or ?negate?, and, by combining the right runes in the right order, you can make spells. For instance, trace the runes ?create?, ?fire?, and ?projectile? in the air, one after the other, and you will have cast a fireball. You are able to cast any spell, so long as you have found the correct runes and have enough magical energy available. You can also store up to three spells for quick use later on. The only drawback is that the icons for the stored spells are, for some reason, placed near the middle of the screen instead of out of the way at the edge. The magic system is both simple to learn and complex to master, and is a lot of fun to use. The closest comparison to the system might be the gestures used to create miracles in the game Black & White. </blockquote>
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Well, <A href="http://dmweb.free.fr/">Dungeon Master</a> sort of did this. Magic was rune based, but you had to find the combination of them rather than the runes themselves.
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Spotted this at <A href="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</a>

 

[Spazmo]

What's the problem with quotation marks? It always shows interrogation points whenever there should be quotation marks.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

What's the problem with quotation marks? It always shows interrogation points whenever there should be quotation marks.

It has to do with the differences in fonts when cutting and pasting, I think.

 

[Section8]

The magic system didn't seem to innovative to me. It was like Ultima Underworld with that fucking annoying Black and White "gesture" system.

 

[Markman]

Never really liked Black and White.I got it when it was released, played it for 2 days and got sick of it.
I remember one quest where there was 3 or 4 lazy buggers around the camp fire just chilling and they asked me to get them wood and food for their boat.Thats where it started to piss me off. I am God and they want me to get them stuff for their boat. So I pick one guy and put him to chop trees, he just goes back and waits for me to get him stuff.I pick up another one and put him with the sheeps,same thing happens.
WTF?Am I God or a bloody slave?

 

[Crazy Tuvok]

tho Black and White was a *huge* disappointment I rather liked the gesture system and it was one of things I thought neat about Arx.
what killed B and W for me was the damn micromangement.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

The annoying thing about the gesture system is that it doesn't work with all input devices. Try it with a trackball sometime, it's nearly impossible to pull those spells off.

 

[Spazmo]

Doing anything with a trackball is nearly impossible, though.

What bugged me about Black & White was throwing stuff. Surprisingly difficult.

 

[Section8]

I'm sure the interface for B&W is great with some kind of input glove, but even through a mouse it felt cumbersome.

As for the micromanagement, apparently the creature was supposed to take care of that. I don't know whether mine was just a dumbass, or if I didn't properly educate him or what.