Arcanum - worth a punt?

[Kontra]

I've only played several hours of Arcanum, but here are a few things I immediately noticed.

Wow man youre amazing! How did you notice all those things...i bet you watch 60 minutes and shit:D

You know im pretty sure people here already know what Arcanum is, but still the things you said are true and it is worth mentioning it one more time... So we dont forget it. :deionarras theme playing:

 

[Dwarvophile]

Has any mod succeeded into making arcanum's combat worth ? Just one would be enough.

 

[Kalin]

mod ur mum m8

 

[Dwarvophile]

mod ur mum m8

A swedish guy trying to be rude, how cute !

 

[Dwarvophile]

There's a mistranslation here, so let's be clear : a swedish guy trying to be rude is sweet, not cute. Sweet like in "oh look at this poodle growling at us".

Could help to add an edit button on this forum, maybe.

 

[bloodlover]

Combat is manageable if you play anything but mage and non-existent if you play a mage since you just point and click harm all game. You can easily play it the way it is.

And there is an edit button.

 

[Goral]

and non-existent if you play a mage since you just point and click harm all game

Or you just don't use harm to not exploit the game.

 

[bloodlover]

You'd just make it harder on yourself for no reason.

 

[FeelTheRads]

That's just stupid. There are other mage builds that work without harm. It's playing a different build, not "making it harder". It's not like a new player can know beforehand that harm is OP and pick it.

Regardless, playing mage is still boring in Arcanum and DEFINITELY not the way to play it.

 

[Dwarvophile]

Playing a mage doesn't mean you won't have to use fighting companions I suppose.

 

[ortucis]

What kind of a tool plays as a Mage in Arcanum?

Go play fucking Warcraft or something if you want to be a generic Mage.

 

[HoboForEternity]

You can visit and join a village-wide orgy party

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Why do people always mention harm as THE example of magic OP abuse in Arcanum? Do you guys forget that there this other little spell called Disintegrate that literally one shot kills every creature in the game except for the final boss? I know it destroys the inventory of the victim, but as a mage, what do you really need from most of these golems/wolves/undead?

 

[Kalin]

They never got that far. Probably died to wolves at the crash site just like MCA.

 

[Kontra]

So, nobody knows where Volinger goes?? I cant belive theres nothing about this stuff on the net. Youd think a Game like Arcanum would be studied down to the last detail but no. Its all hearesay. Some say they disappear,some say they go to where you found them, some say they can get killed on the way there?? WTF is this true, they can get killed? How... why... i dont know.

In a way thats cool cause it makes Arcanum like some terra incognita, theres stuff about it that people still dont know. Unlike Fallout where basically everything is known and is on some wikipedia page somewhere. With Arcanum you can at least fantasize about it, you can speculate about lore and stuff, the sequels that never were, wouldnt this be cool and wouldnt that be cool etc. So in a way because its forgoten Arcanum is actually still alive. Whereas Fallout is all known and basically, dead. Think about it...

Has any mod succeeded into making arcanum's combat worth ? Just one would be enough.

Combat, the act of it isnt anything special, sure. But the preparation is the fun part... The whole crafting system, the search for skill masters through rumors and asking around, then doing their quests. Reading about the old gods and hunting the shrines to pray for a bonus... Good stuff.

When it comes to combat you can use that saying: its the journey that matters not the destination, with the destination being the actual combat.

Still, its just one of many ways you can deal with the game... you can basically finish EVERY quest without killing anyone! How cool is that? not even holy Fallout allows you that...

Spoiler

Fallout sucks

But, if you really want to fight remember to treat combat in the above matter( as a destination) and make sure that you WIN it... Otherwise dont engage in it, sneak or talk or let others fight. Thats the way its meant to be played. Yeah sometimes you will get instakilled by wildlife on the worldmap but so what? Thats just how life is!
Use trains and boats and save often and in different slots

 

[T. Reich]

There is a sumber of opie-op or just plain useful spells in Arcanum that make a mage's life extremely easy compared to a techie:
Harm - because, duh, it's a low tier spell that does obscene damage for its level.
Stone throw - and now you don't have any problems with locked and/or trapped doors and chests, because this low tier earth magic spell breaks them easily, and breaking a trapped object also breaks the trap.
Fireflash - techies have the op grenades, and the mages have this.
Summon ogre - with even a middling int you can summon 2 of these, and they can rip anything apart with ease.
Lightning - a good endgame alternative to harm, and it aso can harm what harm can't .
Disintegrate - one shot everything, who cares about the loot?
THE reason to play a mage - a fucking teleportation spell! Now you don't have to travel on foot or try to book a passage on a boat/train to get anywhere, huzzah!

 

[bloodlover]

The game is easy regardless if the player does not play it for the first time. Yeah yeah Harm is OP but then again so is the pyro axe and I don't see ppl talking about that.

Nobody plays Arcanum for the combat so if you want to be a mage, why bother with useless spells? For diversity? Oh yeah lightning and fireflash are sure going to make the game more engaging. Also, disintegrate comes later in the game, while harm comes very soon. Summons are okish as meatshields but I agree with T. Reich that teleportation is the best spell in the game.

And yes, playing a mage is boring as fuck with or without harm.

 

[Tigranes]

Arcanum combat is actually fun in its own (broken) way, but it does require you to already have jumped some ropes so you know how to avoid some of its crushing annoyances. E.g. be a technologist and know how to bypass 18 hours of flintlock pistol. And there's great fun to be had crafting the weird schematics and watching followers go to town with your creations. Mage is the most boring, but fuck me it is hell playing without teleport.

Kontra Memory is fuzzy after so long but he might be gone for good if you can't find him in Caladon either. You're supposed to keep him with you at Tsen-Ang to activate his character ditty.

 

[Kontra]

Well i already started a new game so it doesnt matter. He had all my stuff with him so it was hard to continue. I sure wonder where he went though.

Now im playing a mage and its pretty damn FUN... Sorry to say but all this talk about Harm and how mage is boring is just bullshit! Its not like necro is the only mage build... FFS try something else! Theres loads of crazy stuff you can do with some of these colleges. As for crafting Magnus can do it for you, so you get the best of both worlds. You know i didnt think id ever say this but, mage is the way to go in Arcanum. Go elves go!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Go elves go

To hell, damnation, and extinction, ideally.

 

[Kontra]

Yes i used to think that way, but Arcanum showed me the error of my ways... Now i cant get enough of some elf goodiness! Im gonna download those Hobbit movies and watch them while i play Arcanum

Spoiler

not really

 

[Kontra]

Heres an Arcanum explot i discovered recently. If you dont want to be hunted by the Molochean Hand assassins throughout the game, then just DONT kill the robbed guy at the crash site. Knock him out or entangle him or something and voila, no more ambushes... Pretty neat.

 

[Rahdulan]

Kinda comes of as disconnected, but a decent look at the game overall.



Is the game really still THAT buggy? I don't remember anymore myself.

 

[Snufkin]

I think best bet for starter char with Escaped Lunatic background and picking agility of fire spell, and sustaining it twice. Craft balanced sword and it will carry you to Tarant. When you arive to Tarant craft two electric rings which will make your dex maxed already. This is very good. Then get pyrotechnic axe schematic (It is in one of Tarant's home basement), craft that beast by buying manuals and you are pretty much almost set for the rest of game. Once you collect enough money craft Electro-armor and steal Chapeau of Magnetic Inversion in Blackroot ( women in house to the south has it, use fate point to steal it ). With metal boots you will be at 95% DR. And you are barely did 5% of the game and aquired best equipment already!! All this leaves many points for thief skills, persuasion and maxed charisma which is essential for real roleplaying. It would be good idea to invest a bit into herbal too.

Another important clue i can give is to buy many scrolls of exit, it will make dungeon crawling much less frustrating that most people will make you believe.

EDIT: One more important thing i need to say in defense of Arcanum is that you can finish it with 0 kills. Not many rpg's have this option which is impressive.

 

[Ivan]

hey guys, I started playing this YEARS ago when I had a physical copy but it got bugged up the ass (I stopped playing when I had to buy a boat from a skeleton, was I close to the end?). Anyway, picked this up on GOG, what's a good att set up for a Dialogue/Lore playthrough?