Arcanum Arcanum isn't especially flawed in any way

[Decado]

Guys, I never got all the way through Arcanum because of the combat.

Is there a good build to use that is fun but not face-rollingly easy? I always enjoyed playing the gunslinger type, but for some reason I never got the hang of it.

 

[SCO]

Sigil 3 years earlier has 10 times the atmosphere of Tarant


(the newspaper is a good idea though)

 

[Delterius]

Is there a good build to use that is fun but not face-rollingly easy?

All the fun of Arcanum's combat lies in making it as quick as possible.

 

[V_K]

Sigil is a very atmospheric place, it's just not a city. It doesn't work like one.
(Not to mention that you presumably get to experience only a part of it)

 

[t]

Stop the lies start the truths r00fles

big image link:
http://www.fallout.ru/arcanum/libr/guide/map_tarant.jpg

come on. This is a fucking death camp. It even has a moat. They could change to plot for this to be Trablantka and they could reuse the map 1-to-1. It would even make more sense than a capital in the middle of a swamp.

Man, Tarant is so pretty. I think I'll load the game once again just to marvel at it some more.

 

[Kz3r0]

People complaining about Tarant don't realize that evvn if the graphics is not ASCII is still an abstraction.

 

[Delterius]

People complaining about Tarant don't realize that evvn if the graphics is not ASCII is still an abstraction.

Of course not. Most isometric cities look more inspired than Tarant.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

"Don't complain about the game until you make a better one"

"It's not the game's fault, you just don't have enough imagination"

fanboys gonna fan

 

[Tigranes]

Not sure why arcanum combat after drogpatch is a dealbreaker if you got through fallout (less broken but an example of broken-but-strangely-fun), kotor2 (super-easy) or ultima 7 (more pointless combat than progress quest). There's a lot ofnbroken fun to be had with explosives, schematics, etc., and beyond the combat there is a fantastic game with some of the best quests in crpg history.

 

[Monkeyfinger]

What about a gunslinger trying to get past BMM?

dog + heal support

 

[Daemongar]

Arcanum did a lot of things wrong, however, there were customary flashes of Troika brilliance that leave me with a favorable impression of the game, warts and all.

The problem for me is throwing Arcanum out in total, neglecting the great parts. The character design system, and the staggering level of customization which doesn't just consist of what your character will wear. The karma system, the interactions based on race, the open ended quests, the magic v. tech, the skill advancement quests and quest lines, the ability to build a useless character alongside a totally OP'd player: these are all parts that were done well or brought something new to the table.

The warts have all been beaten to death. However, some other 'problems' with the game should be called out: the graphics/layout of Terrant? Seriously? I'd place Terrant as above average for the genre, not average or below. And I'll say it: Shrouded Hills was a well done starter city.

 

[Lhynn]

Arcanum is one of the greatest RPG game ever made because of two things: 1) you can simply be anyone you want. There's basically no prearranged role for the player (unlike BG series and Torment) 2) one of the greatest world and quest design ever made. There's no one to tell you how things really are, how they work, what is right.
You, the player, explore the world and its characters and it's up to you how you feel about everything. More importantly, it's up to you what your role is in the world and how you gonna explore it (without making the game blank and lifeless like TES series). That is partially possible because of how ambiguous and minimalistic certain aspects of the game are and partially because designers didn't want to create a world around the main protagonist (unlike BG series and Torment), but rather create a world for main protagonist to explore. That game is simply not "playercentric". And it's the only one of its kind known to me in its genre (Fallout1 comes close).

And yet its fucking boring. It has some of the best quests, a really interesting setting, some of the most creative and interesting spells, solid dialogue. In theory its heavanz, but in practice 90% of your time spent in it will be either fighting or running, and the combat in that game is just not very good.
There are a lot of great moments in the game, but in truth you will have tons more fun playing BGII, will be more engaged and will give more of a shit about its world, even if forgotten realms is retarded and immature.

 

[Gozma]

Yeah, BG2 only has like 8x more combat than the design can make interesting, vast improvement

 

[Lhynn]

Yeah, BG2 only has like 8x more combat than the design can make interesting, vast improvement

You again? dude, BGII encounter design is briliant. Even a lot of trash encounters are engaging.

 

[Tigranes]

You don't spend 90% of the game fighting.

 

[Decado]

Guys, I never got all the way through Arcanum because of the combat.

Is there a good build to use that is fun but not face-rollingly easy? I always enjoyed playing the gunslinger type, but for some reason I never got the hang of it.

Guys this was a serious post. I only trust Codex opinions on this shit.

Also, I am posting this because fuck yeah.

 

[T. Reich]

Guys, I never got all the way through Arcanum because of the combat.

Is there a good build to use that is fun but not face-rollingly easy? I always enjoyed playing the gunslinger type, but for some reason I never got the hang of it.

Guys this was a serious post. I only trust Codex opinions on this shit.

There's no way to make Arcanum's combat fun without making it face-rollingly easy. Because it's thoroughly unbalanced.

You either kill stuff dead before it has the chance to get at you (via powerful guns and grenades as tech, via OP spells as mage, or via both plus strength in numbers as "diplomat"; and then there's also OP throwing skill for those of low-tech/low-magic inclination), or you fail, and then you get curb-stomped (anything you ouldn't kill fast enough), or just have your shit ruined (golems, elementals, etc).

And for the love of whatever god(s), do acquire appropriate means of detecting and possibly disarming traps. Before BMC.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

The colour pallet, the music, the interface. Combined, Arcanum puts me to sleep in 5 minutes flat most of the time. I am not kidding I want a nap after 5 minutes. I have tried to push through that but it is like a warm fire and hot toddy for me.

Zzzzzz

 

[Clockwork Knight]

And for the love of whatever god(s), do acquire appropriate means of detecting and possibly disarming traps. Before BMC.

Do "other people" count as appropriate means?

 

[T. Reich]

And for the love of whatever god(s), do acquire appropriate means of detecting and possibly disarming traps. Before BMC.

Do "other people" count as appropriate means?

If you don't value your companions' life and gear and usefulness as mules and your own stockplies of healing stuffs, I suppose yes.

I've never been a fan of "human wave" tactics, unless my wave was of an "invincible wall of doom" variety.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

At least it's a proper PC crpg and not a filthy console action turd so I'm glad it retained the title of the most overrated codex game over stuff like FNV or DS. Though my bet is this might change in a voting or two.

 

[Blaine]

Oh cool, this again.

My yardstick is simple: If the combat sucks a bag of donkey dicks, then half the shitting game had better not be combat. Similarly, if there's an involved story and lots of it, it had better not fucking suck.

Arcanum's combat is completely shitty, and there's a whole lot of it, which translates to a big turd floating in the metaphorical punchbowl. What's more, the vast majority of the gear, stats, and skills are combat-related (this is true of most RPGs), and character creation and progression lose their shine when they're constantly rubbing up against a turd.

If you think of Arcanum as a great game, you're retarded. It's merely good. I have a mental list of "people who defend Arcanum because 'combat doesn't matter'" because it's a convenient filter for retards incapable of thinking anything through.

 

[Invictus]

I liked (not loved) Fallout and for some reason I have never had the slightest interest in Arcanum, I even got it on a Gog sale but I have a backlog of new games or games I just get an itch to replay (like the Stalker series or Souls recently) so I rather stick to games I know I enjoy or that I will probably like based on what I played before in a series rather than game for which I don't care much about the setting and mechanics

 

[Decado]

Guys, I never got all the way through Arcanum because of the combat.

Is there a good build to use that is fun but not face-rollingly easy? I always enjoyed playing the gunslinger type, but for some reason I never got the hang of it.

Guys this was a serious post. I only trust Codex opinions on this shit.

There's no way to make Arcanum's combat fun without making it face-rollingly easy. Because it's thoroughly unbalanced.

You either kill stuff dead before it has the chance to get at you (via powerful guns and grenades as tech, via OP spells as mage, or via both plus strength in numbers as "diplomat"; and then there's also OP throwing skill for those of low-tech/low-magic inclination), or you fail, and then you get curb-stomped (anything you ouldn't kill fast enough), or just have your shit ruined (golems, elementals, etc).

And for the love of whatever god(s), do acquire appropriate means of detecting and possibly disarming traps. Before BMC.

Okay.

 

[Decado]

I am totally gay for Arcanum-like settings so I would lose my mind if they ever did a sequel. Even a FPS/RPG hybrid would have me poopin in mah pants.