Arcanum Arcanum is, by far, one of the worst *games* I've ever played... emphasis on "game" and not "RPG"

[Fowyr]

You was a retard then, you are a retard now. I love that something in the world is a constant.

 

[Sigourn]

You was a retard then, you are a retard now. I love that something in the world is a constant.

Like Arcanum's shittyness.

 

[warcrimes666]

It's really unfortunate you chose to share this opinion. Some things are better left unsaid. Everything you've ever done or anything that you can possibly do in the future is now immediately suspect. Taken at face value, none of your points detract from the experience and the adventure in any way, serving only to illustrate your own personal shortcomings. This is a game for inquisitive and imaginative people and is more than the sum of its parts. Not sure what they're feeding you in argentina but likely you're going to need weekly injections to force the testicles to drop from the stomach. This is an exceedingly sick and unnatural display.

 

[Sigourn]

It's really unfortunate you chose to share this opinion. Some things are better left unsaid. Everything you've ever done or anything that you can possibly do in the future is now immediately suspect.

I could very well say the same about just any user that defends Arcanum. I mean, how can I take the opinion "fuck this consolized interface" when people say Arcanum's UI is good? I think the Codex wouldn't know what a good UI looks like even if it hit them in the face.

Taken at face value, none of your points detract from the experience and the adventure in any way

You are wrong: my points seriously detract from what could otherwise be a fantastic experience. You may not care about these points, but I would bet money I don't have everyone here would like Arcanum better if the things I mentioned were fixed (the possible exception would be the switch from a grid-based inventory, people seem to love Tetris).

This is a game for inquisitive and imaginative people and is more than the sum of its parts

Autists, the lot of you.

It's baffling how Codexers so willingly defend a shit game with no arguments but "git gud casul". Sad.

 

[pippin]

Well, it does show a lot about you when you started with finding Gothic controls too "complicated" and now you're basically repeating the same train of thought with Arcanum.
Sometimes it's not the game's fault.

 

[Sigourn]

Well, it does show a lot about you when you started with finding Gothic controls too "complicated" and now you're basically repeating the same train of thought with Arcanum.
Sometimes it's not the game's fault.

In both cases it was the game's fault, though. In the case of Arcanum, though, there's simply not getting used to the game being shit. Gothic's controls were very unusual, but they were necessary evil. There's no necessary evil in Arcanum, just plain retardation.

What, you gonna tell me the shitty UI and the shit combat were shit on purpose?

 

[pippin]

They had no way of knowing a thirdworldian brat who is used to streamlining and handholding would want to play them 15 years later, so cut them some slack, you're not the target audience.

 

[Papa Môlé]

I'm only 5 pages into this and already my trigger finger is sore from downvoting all the worthless heretics in this thread.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Like the thread says, this is not a criticism of Arcanum as an RPG. I've been exploring the Black Clan Mines and having my ass handed by tons of traps and blazing golems. And as much as I hate the huge amount of traps, even if I use the detect traps scroll, this is nowhere my biggest issue with this game.

That's funny, because that's where I called it quits. I just couldn't take the grind any more.

 

[Sigourn]

They had no way of knowing a thirdworldian brat who is used to streamlining and handholding would want to play them 15 years later, so cut them some slack, you're not the target audience.

I think it's more along the lines of "Troika couldn't make a good game to save their lives".

Considering they went the way of the dodo, I don't think I'm too far off from it.

 

[Owlish]

They had no way of knowing a thirdworldian brat who is used to streamlining and handholding would want to play them 15 years later, so cut them some slack, you're not the target audience.

I think it's more along the lines of "Troika couldn't make a good game to save their lives".

Considering they went the way of the dodo, I don't think I'm too far off from it.

Take it back.

 

[Sigourn]

Take it back.

It's the truth. Arcanum had the possibility of becoming the greatest ever RPG, that much I can tell from what I've played. But it has some serious drawbacks. Let's forget about all my "nitpicks" and just focus on the so-so content, the awful combat, and how apparently beginning-BMC is supposed to be the "best" part of Arcanum... that doesn't speak well for the game.

btw good kino.

 

[undecaf]

Hmm, reading all this and think I might just go play some Arcanum now.

 

[kintake]

It's the truth. Arcanum had the possibility of becoming the greatest ever RPG, that much I can tell from what I've played. But it has some serious drawbacks. Let's forget about all my "nitpicks" and just focus on the so-so content, the awful combat, and how apparently beginning-BMC is supposed to be the "best" part of Arcanum... that doesn't speak well for the game.

Forget all about your nitpicks and the game apparently still sucks, even though you say it could have been the 'greatest RPG ever' (Or 'greatest ever RPG')
If you really were to set aside your nitpicking, what redeeming features do you see in Arcanum? You also said "Underneath all the awful there's a GOAT cRPG"
Show me you're capable of constructive argumentation. Let me feel your true power. Become more like what my father was to my mother the night I was conceived and less of what he was when he left us.

 

[Sigourn]

Forget all about your nitpicks and the game apparently still sucks, even though you say it could have been the 'greatest RPG ever' (Or 'greatest ever RPG')

It still sucks because having shit combat and so-so content are not "minor complaints", they are the bulk of the game itself. Arcanum is interesting because it has a very unique setting, a large selection of races with multitudes of backgrounds, skills, IMO a good leveling system (I like having to think through my choices in skills), crafting with lots of schematics to buy and learn (and beautifully illustrated, this game has A LOT of charm), some small but noticeable presentation improvements over Fallout (like lots of actions taking place in real time, including dialogue which also doesn't take place on a screen but right next to NPCs), the magick-technology dichotomy that makes for very interesting playstyles.

Not all of these are flawless, but they are all VERY interesting ideas and features that, with proper implementation, would have made Arcanum the GOAT.

 

[Brancaleone]

Forget all about your nitpicks and the game apparently still sucks, even though you say it could have been the 'greatest RPG ever' (Or 'greatest ever RPG')

It still sucks because having shit combat and so-so content are not "minor complaints", they are the bulk of the game itself. Arcanum is interesting because it has a very unique setting, a large selection of races with multitudes of backgrounds, skills, IMO a good leveling system (I like having to think through my choices in skills), crafting with lots of schematics to buy and learn (and beautifully illustrated, this game has A LOT of charm), some small but noticeable presentation improvements over Fallout (like lots of actions taking place in real time, including dialogue which also doesn't take place on a screen but right next to NPCs), the magick-technology dichotomy that makes for very interesting playstyles.

Not all of these are flawless, but they are all VERY interesting ideas and features that, with proper implementation, would have made Arcanum the GOAT.

So why aren't you pestering and/or blackmailing Drog Black Tooth into making the Combat Rebalance mod?
I will testify in your favour in court in case something goes awry.

 

[Kahr]

Yeah. Everything about it is shit except the setting and the skill system.
If it was generic fantasy nobody would care about it.

 

[warcrimes666]

It actually has little to do with that at all. In my personal life I don't usually speak to people afflicted with Down's Syndrome but the major problem with your genetically limited contentions is that you seek to apply a subjective modern sensibility to an historical artifact. When you remove something entirely from its context, you also remove any semblance of objectivity and in turn any chance at earning respectability. Troika was a niche studio, making niche games, for a niche market and succeeded in that regard with several interesting, long lived and well beloved titles. Arcanum is rightly regarded as unsurpassed in world building within the medium. In the context of an expansive role playing environment that allows the player to fail spectacularly, there have been precious few games in the intervening years that could be considered superior across the board. I can't think of even one off hand at the moment. That says everything anyone needs to know about what Troika set out to do with Arcanum.

Pretty clearly, it's unlikely that you were an adult when it was released. In 2001, name one rpg that had a superior UI. The UI was completely in line with contemporary releases and the art style and information organization and presentation were concise and appropriate. The UI is still objectively superior to many modern rpgs and console ports of recent years. Blows skyrim out of the water for instance. Ive been on house arrest awaiting trial since february and I've done nothing but replay many many games going back to the late 80s on up. All the old blobbers, gold box, krondor etc. through JA2, silent storm, morrowind, planescape, the bgs, up to new vegas, grimoire, DOS2, elex and so on. The UI is absolutely not inferior nor lacking in usability in context of Arcanums place in the pantheon. It's right in your fuckin face man.

The combat is based on fallout, using the same engine and systems. The best one can say is that arcanum didn't do anything better, which would be fair. They are comparable and analogous and thus enjoyable for what it was as a retread of already established (good and decent) gameplay. More could have been done to increase the scope, in enemy types, status effects, and high level challenges but in no way can a distinction be drawn as they are functionally and aesthetically equivalent with both bordering on tedium towards the end. Expressing a false dichotomy in that regard does you no favours.

Lastly, the perverse notion of metagaming a 15 year old single player game is an horrifying level of deviance rarely encountered. The only question I have in that regard is the stage of your transition.

The one thing most can agree on keeping Arcanum from being the king of all kings is the lack of two full expansions of comparable or superior quality which would have cemented its place as the fist of the north star. As such it just remains as a really good game thats withstood the test of time and an easy top ten for men of taste and distinction, who also happen to lack 3 inch clitorises. Show yourself out.

 

[Sigourn]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. The writing is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of roleplaying mechanics most of the features will go over a typical player's head. There's also Virgil's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The Codex understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these characters, to realise that they're not just interesting- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Arcanum truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Virgil's combat bark "That's the way to show these bastards-I mean GOOD HIT, SIR" which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenevs Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Tim Cain's genius wit unfolds itself on their CRT monitors. What fools.. how I pity them.

And yes, by the way, i DO have an Arcanum tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

 

[d1nolore]

"It sucks" but you went back and played it again? Mmhmm

As for the inventory: Some people seem to like efficient inventories, almost like a spreadsheet or database. Other people like immersive inventories; backpack style with limited space, graphical representations of items(much more exciting to see a unique new graphic of a special item than seeing a new list item), as well as graphically equipping items on your character rather than something like skyrim where you just select the list item. Items like gem bags, keyrings, boxes and magically carrying bags all add to the immersion.

Obviously the spreadsheet style is more efficient, especially if its a game where you carry a shit ton of items. Skyrim obviously took the approach that its all rendered clearly in the game world so you can look at it there.

But for a game like Arcanum nothing compares to the immersive inventory where you see your character carrying that stupid camera around from the crash, herbs, mechanical components, guns, and bullets, brightly coloured magical items and potions. I even collected newspapers. You can't carry everything so you have to make concessions; how many trap components, trap springers, herbs, etc. Or just play a magic character and forsake all that technological junk.

Not all games should use the same systems otherwise every game starts to become bland and boring.

 

[fantadomat]

Replaying this at the moment.
What a piece of shit to be honest. Out of my complaints in the OP, I still stand by:

- The inventory system is awful and would have worked much better by having a simple "volume" value and a "weight" value. Having to tetris your shit whenever you want to pick up something isn't my idea of fun.
- Items are not arranged by similiarity, but randomly.
- No filter for knowing what a merchant is willing to buy.
- The journal is crap, and Morrowind's was much better.
- You are out of luck if you want to know what a lot of items do in this game, because there's no description as to what they do or what purpose do they serve.
- Manual is crap and poorly organized, no index, wastes too much time on ye olde speech.
- Combat is crap. Game is terribly unbalanced. A regression from Fallout in every single way I can think of.
- UI is shit.

I think that's about it. Underneath all the awful there's a GOAT cRPG, but there's a lot of awful. It's been almost 20 months since I've last played it, experienced many RPGs in the process, but this is without a doubt the worst videogame of them all.

 

[mushaden]

It’s like you’re trying to understand what makes a codexer a codexer... you either get it or you don’t. I’m sure you can find plenty of people to relate to about your love of new vegas or dark souls or even vagrant story, but you’re not going to change the opinion of the majority of this site because you can list all of the things wrong with this game. That charm that you talk about, that unfulfilled potential to be the “goat,” that is something that doesn’t come about often. Some really appreciate it, but you don’t seem to. So you go right ahead and shit on troika, but I doubt you’ll change anyone’s opinion

 

[Sjukob]

It’s like you’re trying to understand what makes a codexer a codexer... you either get it or you don’t. I’m sure you can find plenty of people to relate to about your love of new vegas or dark souls or even vagrant story, but you’re not going to change the opinion of the majority of this site because you can list all of the things wrong with this game. That charm that you talk about, that unfulfilled potential to be the “goat,” that is something that doesn’t come about often. Some really appreciate it, but you don’t seem to. So you go right ahead and shit on troika, but I doubt you’ll change anyone’s opinion

Yeah ? And how people feel about Daggerfall here ? Seems like majority would rather happily ride Morrowind's dick , because "it's not a broken game with extreme ambitions and is at least playable" . You know I didn't think about it much , but in game development it's always ambitions vs implementation and now I understand what type of people choose Morrowind and why I'm in strong disagreement with them .

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

It’s like you’re trying to understand what makes a codexer a codexer... you either get it or you don’t. I’m sure you can find plenty of people to relate to about your love of new vegas or dark souls or even vagrant story, but you’re not going to change the opinion of the majority of this site because you can list all of the things wrong with this game. That charm that you talk about, that unfulfilled potential to be the “goat,” that is something that doesn’t come about often. Some really appreciate it, but you don’t seem to. So you go right ahead and shit on troika, but I doubt you’ll change anyone’s opinion

Yeah ? And how people feel about Daggerfall here ? Seems like majority would rather happily ride Morrowind's dick , because "it's not a broken game with extreme ambitions and is at least playable" . You know I didn't think about it much , but in game development it's always ambitions vs implementation and now I understand what type of people choose Morrowind and why I'm in strong disagreement with them .

You know, if you stopped being all pretentious and theoretical about games and just stuck to games where you play a party of characters with whom you have full control over then all these ridiculous and pointless arguments could be taken elsewhere, like, I dunno, to General Gaming or something...

 

[Sjukob]

You know, if you stopped being all pretentious and theoretical about games and just stuck to games where you play a party of characters with whom you have full control over then all these ridiculous and pointless arguments could be taken elsewhere, like, I dunno, to General Gaming or something...

I'm not sure what you said or if you said anything at all .