Actually, it's very, very easy to make a bad build. Try creating a character with no points in melee. I did it. It's the worst rpg experience I've ever had until I hit level 11. Dropped weapon, miss, critically injure yourself, repeat. Even having 1 point in melee is horrible. Think I created an elf beauty with an 8 st and an 8 dex.
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Arcanum First time Arcanum player, need some general guidance
- Thread starter bati
- Start date
Piotrovitz
Savant
Yeah, but the levelling pace is so fast, that sooner or later you will put some points in crucial skills like melee or dodge.
Even if you fuck up your build at the beginning, you'll still get tons of xp from quests/random encounters to fix this up quickly - so in a way it is hard to make a bad build.
Even if you fuck up your build at the beginning, you'll still get tons of xp from quests/random encounters to fix this up quickly - so in a way it is hard to make a bad build.
Holy shit, I murdered a wise woman and she dropped over 70k gold. I should have known she’d be hoarding it all, the tax dodging gypsy.
You only get one blind, first time playthrough. Savor any mistakes you will make. Can always replay the game with a more ideal build and look up anything as you want, but recovering from mistakes is the most fun aspect of that first go.
Drog gave up and quit internet again, you can start playing now.
Piotrovitz
Savant
Doing first proper playthrough (dropped previous melee one during BMC), and so far charismatic gunslinger build seems to be a blast. With hand cannon and molotovs I've managed to clear most of the pre-BMC locations, including Ashbury castle and ancient temple without too much hassle.
While the fun of being underpowered and having to craft stuff is there, what bums me out is that it often feels like I'm still playing melee - shit is closing in so fast that you can only fire from a distance in the first round. Especially that mobs tend to ignore your melee companions and rush directly towards you.
Stuff like lord's slaves in the Ashbury castle have so many APs, they can walk to you through the whole goddamn room and even attack you once or twice.
So far, majority of fights happen in confined spaces - if it doesn't change much in the rest of the game, there's absolutely no point of having long range weapons, like looking glass rifle etc, instead of other high speed guns.
It aches me deeply when I think what this game could have been :' (
While the fun of being underpowered and having to craft stuff is there, what bums me out is that it often feels like I'm still playing melee - shit is closing in so fast that you can only fire from a distance in the first round. Especially that mobs tend to ignore your melee companions and rush directly towards you.
Stuff like lord's slaves in the Ashbury castle have so many APs, they can walk to you through the whole goddamn room and even attack you once or twice.
So far, majority of fights happen in confined spaces - if it doesn't change much in the rest of the game, there's absolutely no point of having long range weapons, like looking glass rifle etc, instead of other high speed guns.
It aches me deeply when I think what this game could have been :' (
Master
Arbiter
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2016
- Messages
- 1,160
You could try shooting them in the legs. Maybe mix guns with some entangle spells though its probably not a good idea. Maybe some traps can hold them in place (or do they just deal damage?) There's also a decoy device that I couldn't figure how to use.
Arcanum's manual is worth a read (187 pages) - they don't make these any more
Anyway, some of the most useful quick references:
Absinthe
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2012
- Messages
- 4,062
Just so you know, beauty is the most worthless stat in the game. It only matters for shopkeeper discounts and if your beauty is extremely low it can turn enemies hostile. But just wearing a nice suit and doing the first sidequest of the game will give you some reaction bonuses if you need them.
ilitarist
Learned
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2016
- Messages
- 857
I've recently tried half-orc with Deal with the Devil background. People of Shrouded Hills just attacked me on sight because I was ugly evil orc. I had to do that quest with cursed ghost of a bandit and get a blessing to be able to interact with people. Even after that most people hate me and I had to beg to be able to talk to them. Charm spell helped though.
So beauty is not useful but if it's low you can have problem. Ugly character is one scar away to be hated. There are also numerous characters who have bad predisposition and will attack unless you're beautiful, like bandits in Tarant. Not enough to justify stat, of course. Also disposition affects prices on everything, including training. I don't think haggle skill affects things like that.
Or learn to craft Molotovs. They disperse enemies in random directions and they take very little action points to throw.
Piotrovitz
Savant
I've put point in explosives crafting and in throwing early, and molotovs are indeed life savers for gunslingers, or any tech build.
Still, dispersed shit is closing in on you fast and attacks the same turn. What I'm bummed out about, is that this basically means every gun fight happens at point blank range and feels like you're playing melee. This probably could have been mitigated by reworking entire AP system and making it more Fallout-like.
I'm still trying to love this game, but my heart is constantly bleeding.
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When I first bought this game as a young teenager I just started over with new characters until I "got it" and understood what made a good char. Make a character, go to shrouded hills, go to Tarant. Does your character suck? Start over. I didn't need to ask questions on rpg forums.
e: I would like to add that I replayed Arcanum a few years ago and came to the conclusion that the game becomes horribly boring after the second half. It's just a snoozefest. So after you have spent some time in Tarant you can probably ditch the game.
e2: but the game is a cool concept and a early teen favourite.
e: I would like to add that I replayed Arcanum a few years ago and came to the conclusion that the game becomes horribly boring after the second half. It's just a snoozefest. So after you have spent some time in Tarant you can probably ditch the game.
e2: but the game is a cool concept and a early teen favourite.
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- Joined
- Sep 14, 2016
- Messages
- 6,188
Yeah, I know what you mean. The Pyro Axe broke my playtrough early as well. Simply nothing comes close to it's brutal power and its even not a late-level schematic. And people complain about mages being OP in Arcanum. Sheesh. I mean sure they are, but a magic-immune Technologist in heavy armor one-shotting everything is OP enough, I'd say. Like someone wrote... the game is balanced only by having everything unbalanced.
Comte
Guest
Sup Drog
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
sup, Avellone
if you make a character without melee, maybe fighting in melee combat is a bad idea...
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
Or just avoiding combat and letting companions fight for him?
If you are just as likely to hit yourself as the enemy, avoid fighting as much as you can.
Or just be like Chris Avellone and literally throw yourself to the wolves for hours on end.
If you are just as likely to hit yourself as the enemy, avoid fighting as much as you can.
Or just be like Chris Avellone and literally throw yourself to the wolves for hours on end.
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
From a min/max perspective, maybe. The difference is that it makes people love you right off the bat and anything you do or say that might normally make people attack you usually gets shrugged off. So it does at least have an effect.
Nas92
Augur
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2014
- Messages
- 458
The problem with that is you don't control companions and the AI seems to be lacking. For example I give my companions potions, but I have never seen them drink it, even when they absolutely should have (think attacking with one fatigue and knocking themselves over rather than drink the fatigue potion).
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