Arcanum Chris Avellone Arcanum LP

[Carrion]

All work and no play makes Chris a dull boy. He really should do the playing in his free time and comment on it afterwards, even if he sticks with the YouTube format.

Right now, it's getting increasingly harder to justify to myself why I would listen to a bored guy grunting to a microphone for an hour in the hopes that he'll say one or two at least remotely interesting things during that time.

 

[buzz]

Welcome to the world of YouTube LPs

 

[poetic codex]

He makes a fucking diplomatic character, that sucks in every fight, only to finally reach the bridge bandits, get bored of all the text and just decide to attack them... FFS Chris, you already failed the Trial by Arcanum, stop embarassing yourself even further.

What!? I didn't watch the video but this is insane if true. On multiple occasions, I have cited that bridge scene in Arcanum as having some of the best use of dialogue in an RPG game. Yet the grandmaster of RPG writing gets bored and fights his way through it?! I'm confused.

 

[felipepepe]

Just check the video, at 13:00.

First attempt he almost gets it, but then gets tired and just attacks. Second one he fails quickly and attack. Third one he doesn't even try anymore...

 

[Jedi Exile]

Isn't it the same damn thing Avellone or Sawyer were talking about, that a player should always carefully choose his/her responses in dialogue and not just picking up a press-to-win response [Speech] "Gimme all ur moneys now"?

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

MCA is writer but sadly an impatient player with a short attention span. The bridge bandits left no room for doubt.

As long he doesn't pollute his writing with his playing style (hurr durr text wall...lets smash bandits!!) It is cool with me.

Did he start his career in Interplay as QA? Cause I don't even want to imagine that...

 

[Roguey]

As I mentioned earlier, Chris doesn't ever want to lie in a dialogue. He's stated this a couple of times throughout the video whenever he comes across a lie-option. The win-button in that dialogue requires lying.

 

[felipepepe]

And I suck at FPS because I think it's rude to shoot people in the face and ruin their funeral.

 

[Roguey]

It is possible to totally avoid lying in RPGs.

 

[buzz]

Yeah, when you play as a guy who is either menacing and capable of fighting or a rich guy who can pay the toll. Honest and frail sounds like a losing state to me.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

He's playing a (naïve) debutante, isn't he? Being honest seems to fit the role.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Don't make excuses. MCA is a shitty cRPG player. No excuse of LARPing will cover his shame and the disappointment of codexia.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

He's playing a (naïve) debutante, isn't he? Being honest seems to fit the role.

Wouldn't debutantes be rather manipulative?

 

[tuluse]

It is possible to totally avoid lying in RPGs.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO TOTALLY AVOID COMBAT AND LYING IN ARCANUM

 

[ERYFKRAD]

He's playing a (naïve) debutante, isn't he? Being honest seems to fit the role.

Wouldn't debutantes be rather manipulative?

Dunno, I thought they'd be too ditzy to be capable of active manipulation. Or have I mistaken the background?

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Dunno, I thought they'd be too ditzy to be capable of active manipulation. Or have I mistaken the background?

Met some of such shits when going to private school. Manipulative and entitled shits.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So, he just blows.

 

[Roguey]

Dunno, I thought they'd be too ditzy to be capable of active manipulation. Or have I mistaken the background?

That would be the Sent to Charm School background doing the manipulating. Avellone's character background just says she was born to influential parents.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

As I mentioned earlier, Chris doesn't ever want to lie in a dialogue. He's stated this a couple of times throughout the video whenever he comes across a lie-option. The win-button in that dialogue requires lying.

B-but he's playing a diplomatic character. Lying is the entire point!

 

[Roguey]

As I mentioned earlier, Chris doesn't ever want to lie in a dialogue. He's stated this a couple of times throughout the video whenever he comes across a lie-option. The win-button in that dialogue requires lying.

B-but he's playing a diplomatic character. Lying is the entire point!

Diplomacy can also mean convincing your enemies to see things your way through coercion and/or compromise.

In Chris's case, coercion involves a stun and explosive grenade.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

In Chris' case, he's a fucking douche and fails to realize that nonviolence is the only route true negotiators ever take.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Chris is an adept of the :kwanzania:brand of diplomacy.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Chris is an adept of the :kwanzania:brand of diplomacy.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

More like rat-diplomacy.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Diplomacy can also mean convincing your enemies to see things your way through coercion and/or compromise.

There actually is an option for this. You just have to destroy the new bridge materials. The bandits get what they want, you get to cross the bridge, and no one gets hurt - physically, at least. In the long run, the town will suffer, but that's not your fault... It's that damn lazy Doc who could kill the bandits in a heartbeat, but doesn't!

Seriously though, the bandits are dimwitted, selfish thugs who haven't the barest scrap of human decency beneath their polite veneer. They'll gladly murder you and your companions at the slightest provocation. Beyond helping them in some way or lying, what argument could possibly convince them to let you through, let alone leave town themselves? Or do you think that having a high enough level of persuasion should magically make you able to talk anyone out of anything, even if it doesn't make sense? (Even if you believe that, keep in mind that it's impossible for the player to have mastered persuasion at this stage.)