Information Project Eternity Kickstarter Update #42: Chris Avellone's Arcanum Let's Play Begins

[Mrowak]

chris avellone hates elves too!

I also liked his hate of half-elves. To paraphrase him: "Half-elves are something that D&D must one day answer for. Dragonlance really through things off."

Not that I disagree with him on the elf hate or anything, but half-elves are tolkiens doing.

Yep, Elrond (Agent Smith) was one. Elrond Half-Elven. Then again, the elves and half-elves from Dragonlance show what happens when you take a decent idea and dumb it down it its limits.

 

[Roguey]

Actually seeing him play and the reactions to it are why I wanted this to be a video LP instead of text updates.

My impressions for potential Obsidian employee reading

 

[MF]

Judging from his writing, it's clear that MCA is not a retard. This video made me doubt that. I am kind of shocked by his complete lack of competence in handling the interface. Arcanum is a little unwieldy, but the interface is not that unintuitive. It's almost as if he's trying to make a point.

Almost. I can tell that he really is clueless and that is somewhat disappointing. His humor is of the low brow variety in a way that makes me realize why he never uses it in his writing: He's not a very sophisticated person at all. His jokes aren't funny and he comes across as uneducated.

For example, that's not a blimp. It's a zeppelin as it clearly has a rigid structure. Maybe that's a cultural thing. Almost every sporting event in the U.S. features a blimp with advertising on it while we Europeans hardly ever see one. We get taught about the Hindenburg accident in history class. In the higher tiers of pre-college education, which is what I had assumed MCA got, that includes how airships work and how flammable hydrogen is.

Apparently, he also has no idea what electrolytes are. Zero. Electrolyte solutions would never be something you'd have to smuggle, considering your body is full of them. They're acids, bases and salts and while they make great source materials for batteries, a bomb is another matter entirely.

The joke about doing herbs in college falls flat, but that may be because I'm Dutch. Nobody cares around here.

I think Planescape was a fluke. This is definitely the guy who wrote the cheesy garbage in Fallout 2's New Reno.

 

[EG]

We call zeppelins blimps around these here parts.

Gatorade is a sports drink high in electrolytes, hence why he called them such. I had assumed idea of them being smuggled was simply due to the high number of them within the persons' inventory.

 

[Lancehead]

MCA's fumbling around the game and the interface is to be expected, really. When you know you're broadcasting it on the Internet, and have to provide running commentary, it takes away some concentration.

That said, not using Drog's patch, and not doing RTFM, is just .

 

[EG]

That said, not using Drog's patch, and not doing RTFM, is just .

The right way to play.

 

[Lancehead]

Not when the manual itself is very .

 

[EG]

Not when the manual itself is very .

Manuals are only read after you've failed hard.

 

[J_C]

Judging from his writing, it's clear that MCA is not a retard. This video made me doubt that. I am kind of shocked by his complete lack of competence in handling the interface. Arcanum is a little unwieldy, but the interface is not that unintuitive. It's almost as if he's trying to make a point.

Almost. I can tell that he really is clueless and that is somewhat disappointing. His humor is of the low brow variety in a way that makes me realize why he never uses it in his writing: He's not a very sophisticated person at all. His jokes aren't funny and he comes across as uneducated.

For example, that's not a blimp. It's a zeppelin as it clearly has a rigid structure. Maybe that's a cultural thing. Almost every sporting event in the U.S. features a blimp with advertising on it while we Europeans hardly ever see one. We get taught about the Hindenburg accident in history class. In the higher tiers of pre-college education, which is what I had assumed MCA got, that includes how airships work and how flammable hydrogen is.

Apparently, he also has no idea what electrolytes are. Zero. Electrolyte solutions would never be something you'd have to smuggle, considering your body is full of them. They're acids, bases and salts and while they make great source materials for batteries, a bomb is another matter entirely.

The joke about doing herbs in college falls flat, but that may be because I'm Dutch. Nobody cares around here.

I think Planescape was a fluke. This is definitely the guy who wrote the cheesy garbage in Fallout 2's New Reno.

Well not everybody can be so intelligent and well educated as you.

 

[MurkyShadow]

Manuals. I don't know for how many years I played Pirates! on the C-64, before recognising, or by someone mentioning,
that the question about the Silver Train/Treasure Fleet in the beginning was a copy protection question and if failed,
the game's difficulty was set on punishing. I never questioned that I began my games in prison. Conquered the
damn spanish main starting with a pinace and eight men. I don't think I would hold the original Bard's Tale in
such high regards too, if I had the slightest idea what I was meant to do. Or that there was this Roscoe
fellow, that would refill my magic points, or what they were called.

There are no bugs, there's only rightful punishment. For your sins. Well, as I learned about Drog's patch,
I eventually played Arcanum with it too.

 

[Black_Willow]

For example, that's not a blimp. It's a zeppelin as it clearly has a rigid structure. Maybe that's a cultural thing. Almost every sporting event in the U.S. features a blimp with advertising on it while we Europeans hardly ever see one. We get taught about the Hindenburg accident in history class. In the higher tiers of pre-college education, which is what I had assumed MCA got, that includes how airships work and how flammable hydrogen is.

If you so much want to indulge into being a pedantic twat: You're wrong. Zephyr isn't a zeppelin, since a zeppelin is a rigid airship made by the Zeppelin Airship Construction Company from Germany. Technicaly, there are no zeppelins in Arcanum.

 

[Mystary!]

snip

ppositebrofist:

 

[kaizoku]

Judging from his writing, it's clear that MCA is not a retard. This video made me doubt that. I am kind of shocked by his complete lack of competence in handling the interface. Arcanum is a little unwieldy, but the interface is not that unintuitive. It's almost as if he's trying to make a point.

Almost. I can tell that he really is clueless and that is somewhat disappointing. His humor is of the low brow variety in a way that makes me realize why he never uses it in his writing: He's not a very sophisticated person at all. His jokes aren't funny and he comes across as uneducated.

For example, that's not a blimp. It's a zeppelin as it clearly has a rigid structure. Maybe that's a cultural thing. Almost every sporting event in the U.S. features a blimp with advertising on it while we Europeans hardly ever see one. We get taught about the Hindenburg accident in history class. In the higher tiers of pre-college education, which is what I had assumed MCA got, that includes how airships work and how flammable hydrogen is.

Apparently, he also has no idea what electrolytes are. Zero. Electrolyte solutions would never be something you'd have to smuggle, considering your body is full of them. They're acids, bases and salts and while they make great source materials for batteries, a bomb is another matter entirely.

The joke about doing herbs in college falls flat, but that may be because I'm Dutch. Nobody cares around here.

I think Planescape was a fluke. This is definitely the guy who wrote the cheesy garbage in Fallout 2's New Reno.

wow, that's a butthurt post if I ever read one

 

[Surf Solar]

This made me want to give Arcanum a new try. Which character choice would be the best to finish the game with as few annoyances due to combat as possible? I Once played a gunslinger, that was kind of fun, but I want to try out the magic too. Harm spamming/charismatic leader guy hybrid?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

People were expecting James Bondallone to master the game in the first five minutes, making witty quips between sips of a glass of chianti. Your god bleeds, etc

 

[MF]

I wasn't calling myself intelligent or well educated. I am both, but that's not the point. The point is that MCA isn't, or doesn't seem to want to come across as such. I never expected that. He purposely goes out of his way to say and do stupid shit.

I'll give him the blimp and the Gatorade, but his jokes suck.

He seems like the kind of guy that would yell out 'He said bang! Har har!' during a lecture by Stephen Hawking.

 

[Mrowak]

This made me want to give Arcanum a new try. Which character choice would be the best to finish the game with as few annoyances due to combat as possible? I Once played a gunslinger, that was kind of fun, but I want to try out the magic too. Harm spamming/charismatic leader guy hybrid?

Yeah, go with that. Put some points into intelligence as well - it will allow you to skip a few boring fights.

 

[EG]

I wasn't calling myself intelligent or well educated. I am both, but that's not the point. The point is that MCA isn't, or doesn't seem to want to come across as such. I never expected that. He purposely goes out of his way to say and do stupid shit.

I'll give him the blimp and the Gatorade, but his jokes suck.

He seems like the kind of guy that would yell out 'He said bang! Har har!' during a lecture by Stephen Hawking.

MCA should keep his mouth shut and just play the game?

If that's what the man considers fun, I don't care, personally. It hasn't broken my heart none, for certain.

 

[J_C]

He seems like the kind of guy that would yell out 'He said bang! Har har!' during a lecture by Stephen Hawking.

And we would laugh at that because he is the God Emperor himself.

 

[Chateaubryan]

Codex, as usual, taking a stance on RPG game design. The trigger ? A notorious storyfag writer desperately trying to have fun with a game he was coerced to LP. The crime ? Crowd-funded prostitution. The stakes ? BLIMP OR ZEPPELIN ? DISCUSS !!!

Truly, a post-modern greek tragedy.

 

[Black]

People giving MCA shit about playing it dumb etc have to factor in the fact that he's role-playing a woman.

 

[Rake]

The funny thing is that for all the bashing he takes lately here, Sawyer is the one person at Obsidian who would play the game closer to Codex standards.
I can totally imagine him to spent 10 minutes to master the UI and all his options, and then proceed coldly and with mathematical efficiency to beat the game making only completelly logical decisions.
His commentary on Arcanum design would be...interesting.(and it would cause much butthurt)

 

[Jedi Exile]

This made me want to give Arcanum a new try. Which character choice would be the best to finish the game with as few annoyances due to combat as possible? I Once played a gunslinger, that was kind of fun, but I want to try out the magic too. Harm spamming/charismatic leader guy hybrid?

I always play a tech archer with maxed dexterity and intelligence.

 

[MF]

MCA should keep his mouth shut and just play the game?

Well, yeah. Wouldn't make a very compelling video though

Let's just pretend he is role-playing a valley girl and providing the commentary to match. Wake me up when he says anything intelligent, like the thing about dialogue pacing.

 

[Rivmusique]

This made me want to give Arcanum a new try. Which character choice would be the best to finish the game with as few annoyances due to combat as possible? I Once played a gunslinger, that was kind of fun, but I want to try out the magic too. Harm spamming/charismatic leader guy hybrid?

Charismatic mage was my first playthrough. Though I went for summoning first then went for black necromancy for the undead summoning stuff and only then discovered the of harm. With that I had no moments of stress or frustration with the combat (except a few bits where I would end a dialogue with a fight, try to get my squishy PC behind a companion or summoned monster and find them blocking the doorway. PC can't get out, they can't get in, RIP screen in seconds).