Arcanum(PC)-Magick-Steampunk-AWESOME

let's talk about Arcanum!! if you need to put a spoiler down just use the spoiler tag XD


To reply to a question about whether or not i play real time :

I do play in real time. i only pause to play if i die a few times like at the bridge at the start LOL. then i do it again and again until they all get killed or i talk my way out of it.
once i had to re roll because Virgel(i know it might be wrong please pardon me) would die at the rats at the start.. goodness that was SO LAME.

the only thing i do not like is that my guys will chase down mobs forever. i swear i just about ran back to the starting town from the yeti place because of it -_-

The combat is definitely the weakest point in this otherwise fantastic game. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is truly awesome but by insisting on playing in real time you are really punishing yourself and making that flaw even worse. Seriously, I mean it.

i have played it real time forever-- before it even went out of print.(then back into print lol) i play it on easy/normal and having it turn based it just too slow for me. i am sure i could have saved a few deaths pausing it tho. XD

I played this when it first came out, and really enjoyed it. Terrific game.

But I wonder how it stacks up today? I mean, the graphics, if I remember, weren't exactly stellar even for back then, so does the game look half decent now? Are there mods to bring it to somewhere near 2011 standard.

And is it even possible to buy it nowadays? (My copy has long disappeared...)

It's ok graphic wise if you don't care too much about eye candy. I really like the design and the art direction though.

Check this out: Arcanum High Resolution Patch. It makes the game look better with modern screens. Since the problem with old games is often related to low resolution and bigger/wider screens then this really helps.

As for getting it you may want to check online or try and find a used copy of the game. It should be incredibly cheap by now.

you can get it for 19.99$ US about a year ago they re-released it. before it was 40$ for a copy because it was so rare.

i need to check that patch out!!

i know i grabbed steampunk and hellboy avatars for it XD that was cool.

what made me happy is when the game was no longer being made the person who made the music for it put it all up for free!! OMG! my fave soundtrack ever! ( for pc games)

i felt the voice acting was awesome as well. keeping everyone happy was another thing.

The music is very original and I agree it's incredibly good, so good that in fact I've listened to it outside the game on occasions.

As for the tag price, I did a quick search on Amazon UK and I've found it under ten pounds (that's roughly 16 dollars or 11 euros according to the current rates).

I've edited a few pictures to use as portraits in the game (including my current avatar). I'm a chronic restarter so I have a hard time sticking to a character but I've found making new characters for this game to be incredibly fun. It's a pity the combat system is not like it was in Fallout. It seems to me that the developers wanted to make Fallout work in real time and in the case of Arcanum it's a failure (the sheer awesomeness of the rest of the game compensates for that flaw). In comparison Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader works much better as far as combat is concerned (and it's real time too) but the rest of the game feels rushed (the opening sequence is a real treat however). I love Arcanum and Lionheart. Arcanum is definitely the better game (although the first part of Lionheart lives up to expectations). It's a pity there aren't any other games based on the Fallout/SPECIAL system.

I think a long time ago they whispered of a second Arcanum but they never did it . i would love to play another Arcanum. even one that was like fallout 3 or NV would interest me. battle system aside(STOP RUNNING!!) i do not think they could ever top the awesomeness of the original Arcanum.

for people who have never played it : the controls are odd. because it is a old game you can not do things like you can now(i think its also just the way they made it.). the camera does now move around you and to move its point and click with a screen edge camera move system. sometimes i find myself trying to see behind a house or walking with the W key -_-. when i play it after playing another game i need to remember that. sometimes i forget^^ i open the world map and not move LOL!

They will never make a game like Arcanum nowadays. What we get now is not about depth and immersion but eye candy and flashy effects. I for one don't really care to play something that would pick up the Arcanum franchise and turn it into a shallow game experience. I may value Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas for entertainment value but they can't compare with the original game.

Arcanum allows you to play a dumb character like the original Fallout did (and something that you get only glimpses of in Fallout New Vegas).

Besides nowadays we either get non linearity or a story but we almost never get both. Arcanum is non linear and the story has very deep ramifications. It's also very funny and you can grasp some of the irony the more you delve into the game and its story.

I don't think controls are that bad. Anyone who has played some of the good old games would feel at ease playing Arcanum. It's certainly not worse than playing Diablo.

i too would never compare them. Fall out 1-2 are nothing like 3 and NV. I have the other fallouts but i was not able to get into them.

You are also correct. we never get both.

Fallout New Vegas is really fun and cool but it doesn't have any randomness so we don't get so much replay value out of it. Agreed we don't get the silly level scaling either but things tend to get rather predictable after a while. It has a fairly decent story (something that Fallout 3 lacked).

I had mixed feelings about Fallout 2. I liked the attention to detail and the improvements to the gameplay while retaining what made the game great (and expanding on it) but I deeply resented the absurdity of the numerous quotes (the Monty Pythons quotes were ubiquitous) as they totally ruined immersion.

Arcanum is very much like the first Fallout, one of a kind. If it wasn't for the messy combat system then it would be a perfect game.

As it is the only way to get around the combat system is to play turn based combat because real time is so whacky and random that it's a real nuisance. Also it's important to bear in mind that the more you hit the more experience your character gets in combat. Hence it's a good idea to have a rather high Dexterity (20 points) and to use melee or even better throwing weapons (very fast, ranged and deadly). That's what I would call the easy way. Magic is an option of course. Firearms are cool but require more micromanagement (crafting guns and bullets).

i think when i play again i will try to go ranged. most of the time i just jack up lock picking .. HAHA i just go form house to house at night taking items or even stealing the items back from the guy i sold them to just to sell them again in a few days XD.

i add healing and rez to myself to get people back and so i can heal.

a funny thing-- if you click to go in a house or around sometimes they will use the window and exit the door to get around the house or use the window to get into the house HAHAHA!
oh that is so funny!

well its funny until you hit a locked house and people start to attack you because you used their bedroom window at night to get around a house.

now that i think of it there is only one shop i cant steal form.(that i can think of) one of the magic shops. the beast they have guarding it at night is CRAZY strong.

I like breaking things instead of picking locks. It takes some time but it is rather effective.

I was surprised to see how effective thrown weapons are in this game. If you haven't you should give them a try. Boomerangs are handy at first and then you can switch to chakrams and after that special weapons like the Decapitator or Azram's Star.

Another thing that I like about this game is the need to look for NPCs to train your character, especially when you want to reach the Master level. Little things like that make great games.

Say Jez, what is your favourite race to play? I really like gnomes, they are so badass in Arcanum.

i like half elf myself female if i go male i like full elf or half. i picked that elf because she had a avatar that looked like me HAHA.

i do not break things because i end up losing the items in the chest or i cant open the door -_- i have bad luck.

Avatars are important!

I like the necromancy spell that allows to communicate with a corpse... Creepy. There are some very interesting things that can be done with magic in this game but technology always feels more attractive to me.

My main problem is usually inventory management as I like to keep everything and especially newspapers and books (some great stuff in there) so my companions are always lugging entire libraries with them. It's rather silly.

forever and always i put all my crap in the church in the first town. then i go back to get things because i keep EVERYTHING. i too have my other member have my things.