Arcanum - worth a punt?

[Neanderthal]

Found out so much shit in Roseborough, this is where Stennar emerged from the Ring of Brodgar, it's where Arronax was banished to the void, obviously the wall between worlds is thin here. Feels so satisfying tracking down all of these mysteries, even got a lead on the passport Stennar bought. Folk keep mentioning the Black Spire though, but I can't find this place anywhere, is that the Inns old name or something?

Misk's grave held his copy of the Horror of T'sen Ang, and I now know where the Dark Elf city is, fucking great story sounds dead creepy. Got loads of rumours from here and Caladon to follow up on first though, apparently there's a pass in the mountains between here and Cumbria, a cold place and some others. I've got a few quests to complete as well, including a Wyvern that steals memories near a bridge that leads to the Qintarra forests.

The Dodge master and his lass were here as well, nice bit of reactivity.

 

[Old One]

When I soloed the game I used a halfling thief with the Troll Offspring background. He was so hideous the Tarant guards would attack him on sight. Unfortunately there were no gangs of monster hunters chasing him as the text of Troll Offspring implies.

I mention this only because I made that character to be the antithesis of the female elf diplomat characters people use so often.

BTW, if you play a halfling or a gnome, try using the Shrink spell on yourself before talking to NPCs.

 

[Snufkin]

Out of all builds i tried in arcanum the worst so far was "the poison guy" who basicly used only poison skills/spells. Not only poison is slow but also it does not give you any exp.
The best build was backstabber with dagger of speed and tempus fugit tree. He would never get hit thanks to high sneak and like 70+ action points. He was one shoting himself with failed crits before i got meele master training, very amusing.

 

[SwiftCrack]

I couldn't get far due to the clunky combat, but what I played was good.

 

[Neanderthal]

After much fart arsing around I finally found Min Gorad in T'sen Ang, a mirror image of Qintarra, a dark and cruel place swathed in eternal night and dimly lit by scarlet torches. Not as creepy as Terwilliger's book described, but still fairly good. I infiltrated the city as a member of the Molochean Hand, thanks to Tigranes for that tip about the amulet, and found a kindred soul among the Dark Elves. A sorceress and seeress named Zan Alurin could see through my lies, but bore me no ill will, she distrusted Arronax and thought that her people had been cruelly used by him. This was the last thing I expected to find among the enemy, and we joined together to stop Arronax.

Min Gorad answered so many questions, I took advantage and told her that I (the IFS Zephyr survivor) was dead, but the Hand needed to learn of why their quarry had been so difficult to bring down. I was right the Dwarves of the Black Mountain had been banished to weaken the seals holding the Void closed at the Ring of Brodgar, and Stennar had escaped. The Dark Elves had begun hearing Arronax' voice echoing from the Void long ago, and had been acting to bring him back. Bates discovery of technology had been the perfect excuse they needed to frame a Dwarf clan. I ended the conversation as quickly as possible, didn't want to overstay my welcome and left.

On the way out I met a man named Gideon Laier, a real assassin of the Molochean Hand and the man who signed all of those letters Virgil was carrying, and he saw through my guise. We talked of why he hunted me, and why he was serving the Dark Elves and he revealed it was a simple contract, and I told him that the Hand hadn't always taken any contract. It was then that we talked of the Hand and the Derian Ka, how they had once been one but the acts of Kerghan the Terrible drove the Hand to turn against the Derian Ka, that they warred and were almost destroyed. I don't know whether it was the book about the Hand that Elder Joachim left me, the story of Torian Kel or Geoffrey the Necromancers presence that allowed me to remind him of his past though it was the book I referenced, I shamed him into relenting and revealed that the Dark Elves had been using him to aid another great evil like Kerghan. We parted as friends and I pitied the Dark Elves then, it would be nice to see them being hunted and terrorised for once.

This was one of the best sequences of the game so far, so many paths and lore coming together, a masterpiece of narrative played out brilliantly. So much fits together now. Then Virgil buggered off as we left T'sen Ang, weird.

 

[Tigranes]

Gideon Laier meetup is a nice moment. It's also when everything is supposed to start clicking for the player (if it hasn't already). It is indeed nice how Arcanum lets many threads rest awhile, and combined with how the long historical ancedents actually fit in sensibly, there's a natural weight to the revelations without making the in-game sequences 'epic'.

You shall find Virgil again in... well, the city where you started having suspicions about him, obviously...

 

[Snufkin]

As far followers if you want get most of the game i recommend getting Virgil, Magnus, Raven, Loghaire and Torian Kel. Those followers have some extras compared to others. Bad thing about followers is that they eat up lot of exp during fights. But probably you will be still OP and hit 50. Proper 20 lvl chars are already OP in this game. For example go halfling, get throwing mastery and develop tempus fugis tree. Buy rings that gives you extra crit Chance. Now go rape everything shoting to the head with your Azram star. Almost every throw is crit and you have 70+ action in turn based to spend.

 

[yes plz]

From what I remember Loghaire doesn't ever really have much to say and Magnus pretty much becomes a mute after the Black Mountain Mines. I'd instead suggest Z'an and Geoffrey.

 

[Snufkin]

I think Loghaire and Raven have some interaction. And yeah you can add Z'an or Goeffrey. I think npc limit is 6 or was that 7 with max charisma and persuasion mastery?

 

[Old One]

I'd instead suggest Z'an and Geoffrey.

After trying them all, I agree with this. You sort of have to keep Virgil and Magnus for your first time, but ultimately these two are the most fun.

Make sure you ask your companions if they know anything about your current location every time you go somewhere new. Z'an has a lot to say, but only if you ask her. Geoffrey pipes up on his own.

The sad thing is that the companions are one of the parts of the game that wasn't completely finished when the game was released. The developers aimed high and simply ran out of time with them all. Jayna and Sogg hardly say anything worthwhile. Vollinger and Sebastian could be really good if they were filled out and voiced.

None of them are not-to-be-missed parts of Arcanum, though, so pick up who you want and ignore the rest. You won't be missing all that much.

 

[Tigranes]

None of those followers have a lot of content, it's usually a few comments and interactions here and there. To me the gameplay benefits of playing solo or near-solo are much greater, since with party members it just because a Ctrl+A roflstomp.

 

[Neanderthal]

I feel that my current party is just about right, Dog's the ultimate arsekicker, Torian Kel is a loot mule and fair fighter as well as being thematically tightly bound to the story, Geoffrey as an actual member of the Derian Ka and Mage presents an interesting take on everything, and Zan Alurin is wound up with the Dark Elves and Arronax who i've got to face. I got rid of Gar as I felt he deserved his freedom before things got too serious. Got to say that it's nice not to have to play counsellor to my party, even Virgils problems he keeps to and deals with himself, nice to see.

I'm interested in others though, Loghaire's voice actor is good and an old hand we've all heard before, and Raven seems tightly bound up in the story as the Silver Queens daughter, however I knocked both of them back because I don't think they'll fit in this playthrough as an arrogant, egotistical Elf bastard.

When I visited Qintarra they wouldn't let me enter initially because of Zan being in my party, nice bit of reactivity there. I was advised to speak once again with the Silver Lady by Raven after telling her everything, yet all I got was an instruction to seek Nasrudin, and that I was on a strange path or something. Guess i'm off to Caladon, I can see why the Panarri temple was closed initially now though, so that I couldn't find Nasrudin's tomb too early and I guess i'll pick up Virgil along the way.

Travelled back to Loghaire to tell him how he'd been tricked first though, old lad were a bit miffed, wanted to have a go at the Dark Elves with me. Think i'm going to finish some extra content before I head to Caladon though, the Tarant sewers, the Gods quest as I think i've found most of their altars, and a few others. For life of me I still can't find the bloody amulet of N'Tala that the healer in Shrouded Hills wanted, thought it'd be among Elves.

I get feeling Bates might off himself if I keep on delivering news like I am, poor bastard was played like a bloody harp.

 

[Old One]

None of those followers have a lot of content, it's usually a few comments and interactions here and there. To me the gameplay benefits of playing solo or near-solo are much greater, since with party members it just because a Ctrl+A roflstomp.

I agree. Plus, my solo thief's first act in the game was to murder Virgil, which was quite satisfying in and of itself. It's fun how you can still pick up the messages Elder Joachim leaves for Virgil even though you've killed him. Murdering Magnus was even more enjoyable. That character was pretty psychopathic and murdered a lot of people, which is a valid play-style in Arcanum.

 

[Tigranes]

Regarding N'Tala amulet: who is the Elf you found before you found the Elves?

 

[Neanderthal]

The sarky bastard? Cheers i'll go and fate pickpocket him when I do the Geshtianna quest.

Like Old One said this game keeps surprising me with what it lets you do, what it reacts to and all the content that is hidden away for other skills, stats and races. Pretty fucking great.

 

[Old One]

...this game keeps surprising me with what it lets you do, what it reacts to and all the content that is hidden away for other skills, stats and races. Pretty fucking great.

It has many flaws, but there are also a few things it does better than any other game before or since.

 

[Neanderthal]

^ Damn right.

For the life of me I can't find the Altar of Halcyon, ah well i'll come back to it, assume it's somewhere on quest path.

After much fannying around I finally got back to Caladon, took me awhile to find the entrance to the Thieves Guild but I finally did and witnessed Virgil's death, god knows what possessed him to try taking on anyone in combat, should know he's just my healbot and packmule. Ressurected him thanks to a handily placed scroll, bit fucking obvious, turns out he'd gotten his brother Laurence Brummond killed thanks to welshing on gambling debts and had decided to take revenge. Seemed different after ressurection and we were finally tracked down by Elder Joachim who promptly fucked off again. Virgil said he's armed to face Arronax weirdly enough.

Entered the Panarri temple and found Alexander who was expecting me, guess that bragging to the Tarantian payed off, and he obviously really believed that I was the Living One reborn. We talked for a fair bit, he told me of the temple and the dogma, and we shared ideas on Dwarven and Elven philosophies. Virgil seems to be in awe of the bloke and I think he's fairly alright, make a good follower I think, quick to believe and good hearted. He warned me about the other prominent members of the temple, Hadrian an old archaeoligist who had a few treasures in his room that I am eager to nick, and Gunther a scholar who's a leading light on church history and records. The High Priest apparently believes i'm an imposter as I was warned, can see why.

Alexander told me that the remains of Nasrudin lie under the temple however, so i'm going in to the temple proper next time, meet my dead previous self and gain a few new followers. Put the old persuade to use, as I try and steal this religion, i've got to send the Molochean Hand a thank you note for shooting down the IFS Zephyr.

 

[gestalt11]

I like the way the old trope of being a reborn elvish hero turns out in Arcanum more than in Morrowind.

 

[JarlFrank]

You're using way to many buzzwords. You are unable to say something nice about the game in your own words. You're just recycling words that you have read somewhere. Please reconsider your post and say something substantial.

Let's try this:

I LIKE ARCANUM THIS MUCH

Better?

 

[JarlFrank]

And to all the haters: just fucking read the posts Neanderthal makes about this game. He's having so much fun with it. He knows it's not perfect, but the quests and mysteries just suck him in, the exploration is fun, when was the last time you guys felt like that about a game?

Arcanum is a fucking masterpiece.

Even though he's a newfag, his opinion carries much more weight than yours by virtue of being a 'thal, you sapiens plebs.

 

[JarlFrank]

From what I remember Loghaire doesn't ever really have much to say and Magnus pretty much becomes a mute after the Black Mountain Mines. I'd instead suggest Z'an and Geoffrey.

Take Magnus and Loghaire, have both of them in your party when you discover the Iron Clan. One of the best moments in the game.

 

[Leitz]

Let's try this:

I LIKE ARCANUM THIS MUCH

Better?

Thruth is, this is much more creative.

And to all the haters: just fucking read the posts Neanderthal makes about this game. He's having so much fun with it. He knows it's not perfect, but the quests and mysteries just suck him in, the exploration is fun, when was the last time you guys felt like that about a game?

Arcanum is a fucking masterpiece.

Even though he's a newfag, his opinion carries much more weight than yours by virtue of being a 'thal, you sapiens plebs.

Neanderthals posts are pretty interesting, because they show how to enjoy the game. You have to focus on the stories and dialogue and try to get the best of them. I focused on the main quest because I always care about the game as a whole. I stopped caring about the sidequests after I spend some time doing them for sleeping with hookers. Which was stupid.

Once I was in the main quest routine of finding the next clue (find random person in random house) and grinding through blue and green zombie-ghoul-skeletons (yawn) to find _nothing_, the game forgot to drag me in again. Exploring means not only going from house to house to speak to everyone and listen to their life story. Exploring interesting hostile enviromnents for example doesn't exist in this game.

It's the game's flaw that you have to be a diehard storyfag (look how Neanderthal neatly writes little stories about his experience) who wants to dig into the stories of this game. I don't care so much about this aspect. That's why it's NOT a masterpiece.

Before I forget it, the stories are all sentimental, which is wrong.

 

[JarlFrank]

It's a great game if you like setting and character exploration, as well as mysteries, and huge amounts of choice and consequence. To be honest, yes, the dungeon crawling parts are severely underwhelming, but that never really bugged me that much because the rest of the game was just so great.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Would be 10/10 Goty if only Raven and Zan were romanceable... Or Thorin bromanceable cause his dialogues about Dwarven philosophy are one of the best in the all RPGs. Its shame that the tech tree is such tedium to complete though with rare components like steam engines forcing you to save scum cause nothing beats the Power Armored clad Dwarf inventor with pyro-axe and Maxim invented Machine-gun leading the cohort of battle automatas. Sad thing it was not the beginning of but swan song though and cause Oblivion came and tainted the genre.

 

[Shadenuat]

But Raven is romanceable, sort of