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Arcanum Arcanum is a bit shit tbh

Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
979
Arcanum is probably the most ambitious RPG ever created and should be given credit for the extent to which it was able to live up to its promises. Most of its faults are due to rushed and insufficient implementation, only in a few aspects would I say it's crippled by design. The most important in my opinion:

1. Poor encounter design. Combat areas are filled with monsters that are littered around linear corridors. They mistakenly went for the Diablo experience, when the game system allowed much more creativity. I've tweaked the game considerably and know that the stealth mechanic is actually quite robust. Diplomacy is already available in all other areas of the game. Magic and tech would provide many alternative solutions to fighting. The truth is, a team of modders could completely redesign the dungeons with the tools already available and make the game a lot more interesting.

2. Poor AI. This is a nearly universal problem in RPGs, so it's kind of unfair to single out Arcanum.

As far as the combat goes, I find it extremely varied and generally satisfactory (in the right amount). Its problem is mainly balance, which is mostly a question of changing a few numeric values. This can't be expected of anyone but dedicated players (who are already fans), though.

Most of what can be leveled against Arcanum is related to its wasted potential. Many locations feel empty, there's a frustrating lack of detail in world building (no orc, ogre or halfling towns). They just needed another year.
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
Arcanum is probably the most ambitious RPG ever created and should be given credit for the extent to which it was able to live up to its promises. Most of its faults are due to rushed and insufficient implementation, only in a few aspects would I say it's crippled by design. The most important in my opinion:

1. Poor encounter design. Combat areas are filled with monsters that are littered around linear corridors. They mistakenly went for the Diablo experience, when the game system allowed much more creativity. I've tweaked the game considerably and know that the stealth mechanic is actually quite robust. Diplomacy is already available in all other areas of the game. Magic and tech would provide many alternative solutions to fighting. The truth is, a team of modders could completely redesign the dungeons with the tools already available and make the game a lot more interesting.

2. Poor AI. This is a nearly universal problem in RPGs, so it's kind of unfair to single out Arcanum.

As far as the combat goes, I find it extremely varied and generally satisfactory (in the right amount). Its problem is mainly balance, which is mostly a question of changing a few numeric values. This can't be expected of anyone but dedicated players (who are already fans), though.

Most of what can be leveled against Arcanum is related to its wasted potential. Many locations feel empty, there's a frustrating lack of detail in world building (no orc, ogre or halfling towns). They just needed another year.
It's interesting to contrast games that had a much larger scope but were unable to realize everything(e.g., Arcanum, VTMB, Fallout 2, ToEE, FNV, ... the list goes on and on) compared to games that purposely had a limited scope(obvious example to pick here due to the developers is Outer Worlds.) The latter of which has no -- for lack of a better description -- soul. It feels dead, as if it wasn't someone's vision that had been cut short but the result of a series of compromises.
 

Humbaba

Arcane
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Messages
2,939
Location
SADAT HQ
Ah yes, Spoonard, a bipolar headcase who famously can't even get past the tutorial section of Fallout 2 or UU2. Shows what you know.


Well in his video reviews he clearly beats all the games, again you just sound butthurt that you suck at arcanum =/

Just making shit up now are we?



When Arcanum sends its fanboys, its not sending their best.
 

Beans00

Augur
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
932
Ah yes, Spoonard, a bipolar headcase who famously can't even get past the tutorial section of Fallout 2 or UU2. Shows what you know.


Well in his video reviews he clearly beats all the games, again you just sound butthurt that you suck at arcanum =/

Just making shit up now are we?



When Arcanum sends its fanboys, its not sending their best.


I'm talking about ultima not fallout 2.

You clearly watch more of his videos then I do, then again you wrote a 1750 word essay about arcanum. You are so lonely =/
 

Rafidur

Learned
Joined
Sep 12, 2019
Messages
411
The magic vs science thing is a bit inconsistent. There's a book where they work together ('Treatise on the Causes of Disease': dude wants to cure plague, gets teleported to magic uni by mage friend, reads healing magic theoretical literature about "tiny invisible demons", convinces a techno friend to make a reverse telescope, and discovers cells) but that's never explored again.
 

Commissar Draco

Codexia Comrade Colonel Commissar
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2011
Messages
20,856
Location
Привислинский край
Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Took Arcanum from Steam and enticed by this threat started to play as technologist.

+ People constantly do acknowledge my char sex, race and being onto tech I got thrown from magicka shops, was not able to recruit Sog etc... Had ample options to express my Dorf natural and healthy racysm towards Elves.

+ Game looks beautiful with high res patch

+ Doing quests in different manners is fun.

+ You can craft amazing things there.

-/+ As technologist you RP a hobo literally... want to craft revolvers and bullets? Just dump onto nearest trash can.

- When mages effortlessly learn wery powerful spell you need sometimes VERY heavy and hard to find parts and also buy expensive schematics cause this game does not have option to experiment ATOM RPG or you know real XIX inventors like Adison style.

+ You can also RP as big burly Half Ogre and just employ the law of Physique to your advantage... Sure you will be treated as retard but you will have maximum utility from Virgil and won't have to spend half of your time looking for herbs.

- Speaking of scavenging this game realy NEED alt or tab key to high light containers and loot.
 
Last edited:

Humbaba

Arcane
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Messages
2,939
Location
SADAT HQ
I'm talking about ultima not fallout 2.

In which case you're still wrong, because afaik he flat out admits to never beating Serpent Isle because the idiot lost a plot critical item and softlocked himself. His UU2 review is also pure trash because he spends most of it complaining about how he can't kill the headless on the first level that you're clearly supposed to avoid and sneak past.

You clearly watch more of his videos then I do, then again you wrote a 1750 word essay about arcanum. You are so lonely =/

You know I joined this forum under the assumption that it would be free of reddit-tier fantards, who just throw out autistic ad hominems but here you are. On the ignore list you go.
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
5,687
Location
Perched on a tree
+ People constantly do acknowledge my char sex, race and being onto tech I got thrown from magicka shops, was not able to recruit Sog etc... Had ample options to express my Dorf natural and healthy racysm towards Elves.

Nothing to do with technology, any tech or mage build can recruit him, i think you just need 1 or 2 persuasion level and/or some level ups.
Possibly not a too bad reputation as well.
 

Beans00

Augur
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
932
I'm talking about ultima not fallout 2.

In which case you're still wrong, because afaik he flat out admits to never beating Serpent Isle because the idiot lost a plot critical item and softlocked himself. His UU2 review is also pure trash because he spends most of it complaining about how he can't kill the headless on the first level that you're clearly supposed to avoid and sneak past.

You clearly watch more of his videos then I do, then again you wrote a 1750 word essay about arcanum. You are so lonely =/

You know I joined this forum under the assumption that it would be free of reddit-tier fantards, who just throw out autistic ad hominems but here you are. On the ignore list you go.


Your posts are do devoid of any logic I don't think I care.
 

Commissar Draco

Codexia Comrade Colonel Commissar
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2011
Messages
20,856
Location
Привислинский край
Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
+ People constantly do acknowledge my char sex, race and being onto tech I got thrown from magicka shops, was not able to recruit Sog etc... Had ample options to express my Dorf natural and healthy racysm towards Elves.

Nothing to do with technology, any tech or mage build can recruit him, i think you just need 1 or 2 persuasion level and/or some level ups.
Possibly not a too bad reputation as well.

Yes its beauty/Reputation combo it OK though cause game is piss easy before you enter the dreadful BMC abyss. A few things I noticed:

-Lack of keyboard support in dialogues

-Fucking traps galore and the fact that even if you got manage to build trap detector (which eats batteries super fast) the traps springers are huge and... One use only

- Weight of things you need to craft, You earn yourself a en empty port warehouse to keep your junk though, shame you could not buy some matress there and build workshop/Lab transforming it onto real base. I doubt I will finish this run I am too lazy to spend hours in game just waiting for this steam engine to spawn or grinding for ammo, when the mage plays its self and Diplomat has a breeze thou the game... Aside from BMC mines of course.

+ Dialogues of major companions the scenes between Virgin and Magnus and then between Dorf King and Raven were hilarious also like how much more :obviously: the former was when compared to Magnus.*

*Magnus was city dwarf LARPING clan dwarf though, if you plays as dorf yourself you can call him as one and....

There is quest later on to find the vault of his lost clan and then he ends up as real Bro and Comrade later.

+ The language of the game no swear words, people calling themselves Ser and Madam, very little degeneracy and not much Political correctness, the (((Gnomes))) are called as greedy bastards who created Oligarchy after their revolution, Orcs lives not matter and you can aid the Kingdom of Cumbria to recover and kick their asses in next war.

Its shocking how RPG writing:decline: ed in those 20 years.
 

Kem0sabe

Arcane
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
13,076
Location
Azores Islands
Arcanum is very front loaded, lots of interesting content at the start of the game but then not even half way through the game it falls of a cliff in terms of quality, much like another codex darling, Bloodlines.

There's no amount of mods that can make this a fun game from start to finish.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2021
Messages
698
Arcanum had great potential and a fantastic instruction manual.
On release it didn't really work. So buggy. I abandoned my first playthrough after the map became hopelessly corrupted gibberish and I couldn't find where I needed to go.

After playing it with all the fixes and everything, it's like a mediocre lovechild of baldur's gate and fallout. The combat could not be any more shallow.

The crafting was a gimmick, and one that really drew me in. The magic vs tech thing is completely pointless.

The fact that choosing certain races or backgrounds means entire towns go hostile on you for no reason is retarded.
I literally fell asleep exploring Tarant.

I get the fanboys though. The setting and the instruction manual detail a very interesting world that is very open to theorycrafting. Some people fall so in love with their theorycrafting they ignore that the game doesn't have any of that shit in it (Cough Star Citizen Cough). The gambler's fallacy keeps a great many mediocre products alive.
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,185
Location
Bjørgvin
Just massacred the Dark Elf town.
What a contrast this town is to the magnificent, exciting Drow city in BG2!

BTW, how come nobody believes Dark Elves exist? There's at least one hanging out in Tarant (the bar or gentleman's club).
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
Ah yes, Spoonard, a bipolar headcase who famously can't even get past the tutorial section of Fallout 2 or UU2. Shows what you know.


Well in his video reviews he clearly beats all the games, again you just sound butthurt that you suck at arcanum =/

Just making shit up now are we?



When Arcanum sends its fanboys, its not sending their best.

That's some rage. Lol. I don't recall getting my ass handed to me that much in that game.
 
Self-Ejected

Rusty Eyes

aka Auraculum
Joined
Jun 17, 2021
Messages
137
1. Remove real-time combat.
2. Remove Harm.

Here, I just removed 90% of all problems with combat/balancing.
 
Self-Ejected

Rusty Eyes

aka Auraculum
Joined
Jun 17, 2021
Messages
137
Just massacred the Dark Elf town.
What a contrast this town is to the magnificent, exciting Drow city in BG2!

BTW, how come nobody believes Dark Elves exist? There's at least one hanging out in Tarant (the bar or gentleman's club).

Because Dark Elves are, in essence, backwards, retarded luddites, whose entire philosophy is based on an edgy teenager's rants (young Arranox). Imagine an entire village built by "My Chemical Romance" fans.
 

Kem0sabe

Arcane
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
13,076
Location
Azores Islands
Just massacred the Dark Elf town.
What a contrast this town is to the magnificent, exciting Drow city in BG2!

BTW, how come nobody believes Dark Elves exist? There's at least one hanging out in Tarant (the bar or gentleman's club).
BG2 is still the gold standard when it comes to rpg towns. For all the shit BioWare gets, they did manage to pull off stuff in their games that no other developer has managed to match since.
 

Bigg Boss

Arcane
Joined
Sep 23, 2012
Messages
7,528
Arcanum had great potential and a fantastic instruction manual.
On release it didn't really work. So buggy. I abandoned my first playthrough after the map became hopelessly corrupted gibberish and I couldn't find where I needed to go.

After playing it with all the fixes and everything, it's like a mediocre lovechild of baldur's gate and fallout. The combat could not be any more shallow.

The crafting was a gimmick, and one that really drew me in. The magic vs tech thing is completely pointless.

The fact that choosing certain races or backgrounds means entire towns go hostile on you for no reason is retarded.
I literally fell asleep exploring Tarant.

I get the fanboys though. The setting and the instruction manual detail a very interesting world that is very open to theorycrafting. Some people fall so in love with their theorycrafting they ignore that the game doesn't have any of that shit in it (Cough Star Citizen Cough). The gambler's fallacy keeps a great many mediocre products alive.

Obligatory 2021 poster bait. I just can't trust someone barely old enough to drive talking about what is boring or not. If you are old enough to drive why did it take so long to post here? Checkmate. I'll let myself out.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
+ People constantly do acknowledge my char sex, race and being onto tech I got thrown from magicka shops, was not able to recruit Sog etc... Had ample options to express my Dorf natural and healthy racysm towards Elves.

Nothing to do with technology, any tech or mage build can recruit him, i think you just need 1 or 2 persuasion level and/or some level ups.
Possibly not a too bad reputation as well.

Yes its beauty/Reputation combo it OK though cause game is piss easy before you enter the dreadful BMC abyss. A few things I noticed:

-Lack of keyboard support in dialogues

-Fucking traps galore and the fact that even if you got manage to build trap detector (which eats batteries super fast) the traps springers are huge and... One use only

- Weight of things you need to craft, You earn yourself a en empty port warehouse to keep your junk though, shame you could not buy some matress there and build workshop/Lab transforming it onto real base. I doubt I will finish this run I am too lazy to spend hours in game just waiting for this steam engine to spawn or grinding for ammo, when the mage plays its self and Diplomat has a breeze thou the game... Aside from BMC mines of course.

+ Dialogues of major companions the scenes between Virgin and Magnus and then between Dorf King and Raven were hilarious also like how much more :obviously: the former was when compared to Magnus.*

*Magnus was city dwarf LARPING clan dwarf though, if you plays as dorf yourself you can call him as one and....

There is quest later on to find the vault of his lost clan and then he ends up as real Bro and Comrade later.

+ The language of the game no swear words, people calling themselves Ser and Madam, very little degeneracy and not much Political correctness, the (((Gnomes))) are called as greedy bastards who created Oligarchy after their revolution, Orcs lives not matter and you can aid the Kingdom of Cumbria to recover and kick their asses in next war.

Its shocking how RPG writing:decline: ed in those 20 years.
Ah yeah, the clan. I totally forgot about that. Yeah, I can't remember if I finished that or not but I do remembering enjoying it. I wonder if I was playing my dwarf thief.
 

a good anon

Novice
Joined
Sep 1, 2021
Messages
6
Location
United States
The magic vs science thing is a bit inconsistent. There's a book where they work together ('Treatise on the Causes of Disease': dude wants to cure plague, gets teleported to magic uni by mage friend, reads healing magic theoretical literature about "tiny invisible demons", convinces a techno friend to make a reverse telescope, and discovers cells) but that's never explored again.
It's weird to me that there's an aura around the trains that reduces the effectiveness of magic around them, but then there's virtually nothing that would proc that, no battles around them or anything, and there aren't any magical areas that reduce the effectiveness of tech.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
I was pretty saddened that tech & magic couldn't gel. I wanted a magical machine gun or mega boomstick that rained out fireballs.
 

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