Arcanum - worth a punt?

[pippin]

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

Last time I played it, I did a vanilla gog run. Had to stop playing because there was one important quest that wouldn't advance because the game won't recognize I did a certain task. Can't remember specifics now, but if I'd play it again I'd do it with the patches.

 

[Snufkin]

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?

First get Drog patch. It fixes all bugs.

Other then that just use build i posted above. You will have points left for persuasion/charisma and thief skills, and you will be powerhouse in meele.

 

[Prime Junta]

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

no

However, if you explore the system looking for a fun way to play it, rather than the easiest way to break it or trivialise it, you can find it.

Spoiler

Play as a technomancer+gunslinger and rely on gadgets a lot. It's fun and the difficulty feels about right through most of the game.

 

[vean]

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.

You can just hug the wall and walk right past him

 

[vean]

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.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/arcanum-for-beginners.87252/page-2#post-2932138

 

[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.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/arcanum-for-beginners.87252/page-2#post-2932138

That similar build to mine but pyroaxe have higher dps and that guide claims that ashbury mech plate is good which is not.

 

[Erebus]

Summon ogre - with even a middling int you can summon 2 of these, and they can rip anything apart with ease.

So very true. Summoned ogres are completely overpowered. The demons you get with the Level 4 Summoning spell are nowhere as good.

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!

Also : Invisibility. You don't have to stop every 20 feet in dungeons to fight against super-repetitive enemies.

 

[btbgfel]

Can the game really be completed with 0 kills? Afaik, you need a certain elf in party to have the diaglog option to persuade the final boss, and the elf won't be freed without killing his guardian first.

 

[Snufkin]

Can the game really be completed with 0 kills? Afaik, you need a certain elf in party to have the diaglog option to persuade the final boss, and the elf won't be freed without killing his guardian first.

No, you need 20 charisma, 5 persuasion and 12 intelligence to talk out final boss. There is also a problem with 2 guardians in front of Kerghan castle. You must kill them to enter but there is trick - use gem that halfling gave you in Blackroot. It will summon a 50 lvl halfling that will kill those guardians without giving a kill in your notebook.

Early on dungeoning will look like this - cast agility of fire and run pass by monsters. When you do what you had to do to move game plot in that dungeon, use scroll of exit to leave dungeon. This way you can dodge monsters until you get invisibility spell. Invis is better then prowling imho. You should pick elf/halfelf/halfling with charlatan proteage background or miracle operation ( this one is harder if you dont know what you are doing but better if you know ) . Use charm animal to get to Tarant. Later on you will need some mage staves to keep your invis alive. I finished game at lvl 27. There is still room for some thief skills to do thieves guild quests. Later on you will also need to unlock strenght of earth to bump your carry weight for quest that Stingy Pete gives you. Oh yeah, and 3 persuasion / 12 Charisma will be enough for most of game, up untill Caladon where you need 4/15 i think and 5/20 with final boss. There is ring that gives +3 charisma and amulet that gives you +1 so dont forget about those! Also dont forget to steal +2 con ring.

 

[btbgfel]

Can the game really be completed with 0 kills? Afaik, you need a certain elf in party to have the diaglog option to persuade the final boss, and the elf won't be freed without killing his guardian first.

No, you need 20 charisma, 5 persuasion and 12 intelligence to talk out final boss. There is also a problem with 2 guardians in front of Kerghan castle. You must kill them to enter but there is trick - use gem that halfling gave you in Blackroot. It will summon a 50 lvl halfling that will kill those guardians without giving a kill in your notebook.

and solid good advices for 0 kill run

I remembered talking boss to death require certain diaglog path like "Boss:blahblah. PC: sounds reasonable. Axxxxxx:what are you talking about? PC: I'm trying to perusade him. Boss:make your statement then"
If this path is not necessary, then I must remember it wrong. I should reinstall arcanum these days and try a nonviolent solo run.

 

[Snufkin]

I think there are several options how to beat him. Like 3-4 ways, but i dont remember exact details. I think with 20 charisma and 12 intelligence you can convince him to comit suicide.

 

[vortex]

In the beggining town I've met a guy who says to blow up the steam engine. I'm mage character and I didn't know how. Now, it says the quest is failed.
Are there more quests like this that you can fail?
Is there a way to finish them all?

 

[Sranchammer]

You got 'em finish 'em all!

 

[vortex]

You got 'em finish 'em all!

I would like to. I'm asking is there a way to finish 'em all without breaking a quest in some way. It's my first time in Arcanum.

 

[Harry Easter]

Well, you can't finish all quests, since some of them are bound to specific masters of the craft. There is a quest for the master of persuasion, a master of melee combat and so on and so on. But there are plenty of other quests you can do and the game is worth replaying more than once.

Hmm, reminds me, that I still have to replay my playthrough as a half-orc :D.

 

[Sjukob]

Anyway, picked this up on GOG, what's a good att set up for a Dialogue/Lore playthrough?

I've finished the game as a neutral ( nor tech nor magic ) warrior-diplomat , I've made all the choices I wanted . You should pump your combat abilities first , early game contains a lot of fighting and there aren't that many characters you can use your persuasion skill on , most of the choices that come with skills checks appear in second half of the game , there is enough exp to maximize your combat abilities and persuasion skills .

Also , by staying neutral you avoid making enemies , technician will get pissed with magical characters and vice versa . Although warrior benefits more from magical items , you won't be able to raise your magical aptitude , that requires you to learn spells , but maxing combat abilities + diplomacy will eat all of your skillpoints . Don't get discouraged though , although warrior is not as overpowered as mage he still breaks enemies in a few hits , once you max your strength you can kill most enemies with bare hands .

 

[Junmarko]

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.

That east-coast hood accent is so off-putting

 

[Piotrovitz]

Don't want to spoil Multiverse thread, so here we go in this one.

I tried the vanilla version like ten years ago, gave up after first town, and want to give it another shot with Multiverse.

It will be almost a blind run, as I don't remember shit, beside having basic gist about what does each skill do. I don't think I even got to the other NPC beside the one at the crash site.
I don't give a fuck about perfect build that will have easy times - I just want to have fun with tech character.

Couple of things on my mind:

1. Is jack-of-all trades tech doable? I.e is there enough xp/levels to raise melee/smithy/throwing/firearms with support skills like electricity/chemistry? Would I have to narrow him down and go for melee/throwing/smithy, dumping firearms etc? If so, which build is the most fun one? melee/throwing? firearms/smithy? Don't want to dilute him too much and get frustrated later on. I'm leaning towards firearms, but would like to have melee and grenades too.

2. Is investing in smithy worth it? I remember crafting some nice revolver in the first town, but my concern is that in almost every rpg you are overflowing with gold mid/late game and can afford anything anyway, so is there any valid reason to take it, beside of fun of finding shit and putting it together?

3. Wanna roll with dwarf which fits the best with tech build LARPing imo - is the armor size restriction thing very limiting? Or you just find/craft same armors, but just later on?

4. If you go with full tech - are there enough skill points to invest in non-combat areas? I'd like to experience the game to the fullest, and am worried that going with combat-heavy build may close the doors to lots of side quests.

5. Do I have to know about some obscure meta-gaming shit, like having to invest in some skills in order to complete main plot quests?

Would appreciate any words of wisdom that won't include spoilers - I don't want to hear about rushing to town X for some uber weapon or NPC. Just want to have a fun and casual first playthrough, without ending frustrated with broken characted, after putting xx hours in it.

 

[T. Reich]

1) IIRC, you only have enough skill points to fully learn a couple of tech disciplines, if you want to also reasonably invest in combat/social stats and skills. However, the game is fairly flexible with regard what disciplines you can choose, but you definitely want to master at least one fully.
2) As a techie, unless you invest skills into expert haggle, you will be quite strapped for cash in late game, due to the fairly high cost of techie crafting ingridients and consumables. Expert haggle will make you (and any other character type) rich, but it will cut into your free skills that could go towards tech instead.
3) The best tech armour is all self-crafted, and you can fairly easily craft the one for your size, provided you bought the correct ingridients.
4) You won't have enough skill points to become the great tech AND a great fighter AND a great socialiser. Pick 2, and the third will suffer somewhat. Besides, you can always go as techie crafter with a full charisma and get a large follower party to do the killing for you.
5) No. The game is flexible. However, you have to remember that you will have to fight a lot (by yourself or by your companions' hands), and having the means to detect and disarm the traps will save you a lot of nerves in several places.

 

[Citizen]

Don't want to spoil Multiverse thread, so here we go in this one.

I tried the vanilla version like ten years ago, gave up after first town, and want to give it another shot with Multiverse.

It will be almost a blind run, as I don't remember shit, beside having basic gist about what does each skill do. I don't think I even got to the other NPC beside the one at the crash site.
I don't give a fuck about perfect build that will have easy times - I just want to have fun with tech character.

Couple of things on my mind:

1. Is jack-of-all trades tech doable? I.e is there enough xp/levels to raise melee/smithy/throwing/firearms with support skills like electricity/chemistry? Would I have to narrow him down and go for melee/throwing/smithy, dumping firearms etc? If so, which build is the most fun one? melee/throwing? firearms/smithy? Don't want to dilute him too much and get frustrated later on. I'm leaning towards firearms, but would like to have melee and grenades too.

2. Is investing in smithy worth it? I remember crafting some nice revolver in the first town, but my concern is that in almost every rpg you are overflowing with gold mid/late game and can afford anything anyway, so is there any valid reason to take it, beside of fun of finding shit and putting it together?

3. Wanna roll with dwarf which fits the best with tech build LARPing imo - is the armor size restriction thing very limiting? Or you just find/craft same armors, but just later on?

4. If you go with full tech - are there enough skill points to invest in non-combat areas? I'd like to experience the game to the fullest, and am worried that going with combat-heavy build may close the doors to lots of side quests.

5. Do I have to know about some obscure meta-gaming shit, like having to invest in some skills in order to complete main plot quests?

Would appreciate any words of wisdom that won't include spoilers - I don't want to hear about rushing to town X for some uber weapon or NPC. Just want to have a fun and casual first playthrough, without ending frustrated with broken characted, after putting xx hours in it.

1. Any build is doable, some of them are just so overpowered that other ones may seem useless.

Firearms are meh. You can get some okayish guns without tech skills at all (some can be just stolen, others you can craft from basic parts with tech manuals), but the most interesting ones require a LOT of points in tech skilltree. (you need specific items to build them, which can be only aquired by crafting) And you need to raise your perception to use firearms effectively, which will consume even more charpoints.

I wouldn't even go tech to play a gunslisher. Charismatic sharpshooter would be a nicer build, you don't even need to invest in pickpocket to get the best guns, just use the fate points. Sharpshooter's revolver and looking-glass rifle are good enough to finish the game, and in the final stages of the main quest you will get even more powerful gun.

Throwing is broken. Throwing grenades does not cost AP in turn-based mode. (Maybe it's fixed now) And with the fact that you can make ultra-cheap grenades with components from rubbish bins, you will just kill anything in one turn. Boomerangs are weak, and the only good throwing weapon for a techie is a hard to find easter-egg. Magick thrower is nice, though.

Melee techie is really powerful, balanced swords and pyroaxes are strong, and as a techie you will get some nice armor, too.

4. No, even if you only invest in DEX, PE, INT, 1-2 combat skill and dodge you will only have enough charpoints for 2-3 tech schools. Default level cap is 50 - you will hit it halfway through the game.

5. No

 

[Master]

Throwing was fixed long time ago.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Now that's some quality responses, thank you sirs.

Think I will settle for techie focused on combat/smithy/explosives/throwing with dabbling in social skills and electric/chemistry.
Will dump firearms and gunsmithy completely, maybe try them on second run.

Couple of more questions:

1. What starting stat allocation and background for this build would be reasonable? No min-maxing if possible, but I don't want to screw myself over neither.
2. Can detect/disarm traps be dumped and handled by equipment and NPCs?
3. Is mechanical discipline and setting traps in general worth it? How does trap mechanics work, i.e do you have to have high stealth in order to set them up efficiently before the combat starts?
4. Can you raise the level cap by few levels, or only disable it completely? Is this even worth it, or will just leave you OPd long before the game is finished?

 

[T. Reich]

1) Min-maxing is possible, but also entirely unnecessary.
Ideally you want to invest a bit into each of your core skills so that you can become apprentice in them - especially the combat skills.
The game provides you with many opportunities to use both of your combat and non-combat skills from the very start.
2) A bit of spoiler - mages can use (expensive) trap detection scrolls, techies can make (or find? not sure) a special trap-detecting device.
Trap disarming is a different thing, though. Not sure if anyone can do it but your own character. May be wrong.
3) Never tried traps, they always seemed to clunky to handle enemies reliably.
4) You will reach lvl50 in mid-game, and generally it's more than enough to make you powerful, unless you somehow manage to fuck up the character progression horribly.
Removing the level cap will remove any trace of challenge from the game.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Awesome

Will set level cap to 60, just in case I'll fuck something up.

 

[Shadenuat]

Couple of more questions:

1. What starting stat allocation and background for this build would be reasonable? No min-maxing if possible, but I don't want to screw myself over neither.
2. Can detect/disarm traps be dumped and handled by equipment and NPCs?
3. Is mechanical discipline and setting traps in general worth it? How does trap mechanics work, i.e do you have to have high stealth in order to set them up efficiently before the combat starts?
4. Can you raise the level cap by few levels, or only disable it completely? Is this even worth it, or will just leave you OPd long before the game is finished?

1. One of the best perks is Charlatan's Protege, since it allows to splice into gun diplomacy build, due to fact that good talker requires both CHA & INT to unlock best replies, you don't need that much STR for good guns (and some melee weapons can also be used withough high str), companions will carry stuff for you, and you can raise DEX with item from electrical discipline.
You want Expert in combat skill (3 dots). Else is relative.
I don't think Throwing affects grenades. They're sorta ease of use.
2. Traps are not a problem since you can just heal through them or use scrolls.
3. Yes you need to set up traps, but you can just lure enemies into them by say shooting them.