I enjoy it more than old Fallouts or any of their clones. People hate combat in it, but it doesn't bother me that much. It's just ok. Crafting which i generally dont need in my rpgs is actually bearable here and makes you feel like you're steampunk techie. Story, characters, quests and setting are one of the best and most memorable i've seen in rpgs. I think playing different races should've had a bigger effect on npc reaction and dialogue and i generally would've loved for this game to be even bigger in scale but that's just not realistic.
Also how do you play Arcanum nowadays. Do you use drog's patch + highres mod or just use Multiverse edition?
Arcanum is basically a bethesda-style RPG, just with isometric perspective. Really nice world, interesting exploration, ambitious gameplay systems, good side quests. But also kinda garbage combat, zero balancing, general lack of polish, and a rather disjointed main plot that doesn't properly utilize game's world. You're a chosen one... but not really... also there's some kind of cult... some ancient evil elf from the other world... yawn. Bill Gates vs Appleby sidequest was better than entirety of Arcanum's main plot.
I use Drog's patch mostly. I've tried multiverse, but it usually ends up bugging out on me.
Of course, in typical Drog fashion, a few days after he was able to extort the money he required for the Hard Patch, he gets buthurt at someone and refuses to work on it for almost 3 years now.
Also how do you play Arcanum nowadays. Do you use drog's patch + highres mod or just use Multiverse edition?
Care to share some links + descriptions for these?
I'm aware of Drog's Patch & High Res... dunno Multiverse edition.. (Maybe edit your original post and link off to these / post a blurp)
For me, Arcanum is extremely atmospheric and enjoyable to play as an 'experience' but as a game it's wholly broken.
I think this is one of the only games I've ever seen that lets you hot swap between RTWP & Turn Base.. ?
Lot's of great golden year troika dev humor as well.
The game starts really strong but man does the last half feel half-assed.
TL;DR - Guilty pleasure of mine and can be extremely fun.. but it's a total mess,
Last edited by Shillitron on February 22nd, 2023, 03:34, edited 1 time in total.
I think this is one of the only games I've ever seen that lets you hot swap between RTWP & Turn Base.. ?
Wrathfinder also has this.
And it's just as bad as Arcanum, as most of the game is designed for RTwP and therefore turn-based just takes longer.
I'm pretty sure Arcanum was designed with it's AP system in mind.
Being able to spam a level 1 spell to kill everything in the game was much more doable in RTWP.
I think this is one of the only games I've ever seen that lets you hot swap between RTWP & Turn Base.. ?
Wrathfinder also has this.
And it's just as bad as Arcanum, as most of the game is designed for RTwP and therefore turn-based just takes longer.
I'm pretty sure Arcanum was designed with it's AP system in mind.
Being able to spam a level 1 spell to kill everything in the game was much more doable in RTWP.
Meant 'just as bad' as in it's obvious the game was designed for one system. Arcanum — turn-based, Wrathfinder — RTwP. Arcanum's "quick" turn-based mode even removes much of the benefits RTwP has, and iirc, Arcanum does not give you any sort of RTwP auto-pause events.
Wrathfinder also has this.
And it's just as bad as Arcanum, as most of the game is designed for RTwP and therefore turn-based just takes longer.
I'm pretty sure Arcanum was designed with it's AP system in mind.
Being able to spam a level 1 spell to kill everything in the game was much more doable in RTWP.
Meant 'just as bad' as in it's obvious the game was designed for one system. Arcanum — turn-based, Wrathfinder — RTwP. Arcanum's "quick" turn-based mode even removes much of the benefits RTwP has, and iirc, Arcanum does not give you any sort of RTwP auto-pause events.
Maybe it pauses on Enemy seen? I don't remember.. but nothing beyond that.
So you are forced to slam your spacebar repeatedly while trying to click the Harm spell over ogres racing at the speed of sound across your screen...
I think this is one of the only games I've ever seen that lets you hot swap between RTWP & Turn Base.. ?
Wrathfinder also has this.
And it's just as bad as Arcanum, as most of the game is designed for RTwP and therefore turn-based just takes longer.
Ok, i've included the links in opening post.
Yeah, you can switch between realtime and turn based. Real time is hectic clusterfuck though almost as bad as Fallout Tactics in real time, but Tactics is worse because you have a squad to control. I don't think either had a smart pause option to make realtime playable. Really miserable experience.
Actually, Fallout Tactics does! The Pause/Break key. The only way you'd know is to go look at "Quick Keys" in the menu. Not that you should be playing FT in real-time mode, anyway.
Probably one of the only RPGs where I read every book and newspaper in the game. Also I played it without Drog's patch and it was more stable for me that way.
Wrathfinder also has this.
And it's just as bad as Arcanum, as most of the game is designed for RTwP and therefore turn-based just takes longer.
I started Wrath in rtwp mode and in chapter 3 switched to turn-based and have never looked back. There's a lot of combat, but it's no longer convenient to just select all and auto-attack, so it's far more manageable this way.
Actually, Fallout Tactics does! The Pause/Break key. The only way you'd know is to go look at "Quick Keys" in the menu. Not that you should be playing FT in real-time mode, anyway.
That's interesting. And to think i finished this game in real time without knowing that... Could have made my life easier.
Had fun when I played it, but I never finished it for some reason. Last thing I remember doing was farming those jellyfish demon thingies at that portal by cheesing them with the dog.
The soundtrack is wonderful. I'm not sure how I feel about the rest of the game, but that music... so good.
In fact, it occurs to me that the combination of setting, art, story and music maybe captures this sense of a "fantasy world where the magic is dying" in an exquisite lament. It's a fairly open game, as well, allowing you to be immersed in that feel. The main plot then seems like this kind of archaeological "excavation" into the world's present and past, where it last had the same magic vs. technology conflict (Vendigroth and the elves), conveying a sense of cyclical history.
Half-baked thoughts here, just trying to break it down from a storynerd perspective. It's been a long time since I played it.
Oh! Thematically, it matters that the final battle is you, the Living One, against basically the avatar of death, in the Void, but you can also choose to join him. The question posited is: this universe has such melancholic beauty (conveyed best in the music) but is also kind of a crapsack place where gnome banksters rape-breed a male-only half-ogre slave race and you can't even bring the perpetrators to justice. Utopia is unachievable, as seen by the waste that was the past; so should the cycle continue, or should it all go to oblivion?
The game uses standard CRPG chosen one tropes to lure you into experiencing a rich and realistic fantasy world that for once doesn't revolve around the player character (unlike most Bioware games), and then asks you to decide, in the end, how you feel about that world.
I guess... after breaking it down, I now really like this (as a storygame) and it's my favorite of Troika's works.
(It's also funny that Troika's three games were so diverse, with a combat-focused RPG, an isometric "world-immersion" RPG, and a 1P character-based RPG. Really talented studio.)
Last edited by aeternalis on February 23rd, 2023, 15:00, edited 1 time in total.
I've wrote about Arcanum extensively in the past. I consider it one of the best games ever made. Sure, the systems are far from perfect. Combat is abusable, simplistic and unbalanced and when it came out it had more bugs happening at the same time than total skill points gained in a full playthrough. It's still one of the best.
One must consider Arcanum as a product of a bygone age. A title to be consumed blind. It's one of those games that can capture the wonders of discovery and exploration like no other imo, due to being on the edge when depth was still baked into RPGs but production values are already high enough to let you apreciate art, music and (gasp!) immersion.
Anyone playing it nowadays (or in the last 15 years or so), even if not strictly following a guide, cannot truly grasp the same feel.
The memes alone are enough to ruin it for you. Cast harm. Get the dog. Gnome question.
I din't cast harm until my 3rd playthrough because I didn't care about necromancy. The first time I got to Ashbury, I was strolling around and, by the time I found it, Worthlesss Mutt was dead already. I frickin' stumbled on the Ogres quest by myself and followed it until the end asking myself all the questions people laugh about nowadays.
I still have a notebook with a dozen or so pages of misc notes I was taking when trying to solve the Ancient Gods altars quest. I have fond memories of my first character that managed to go through the full Stone and Shape philosophical debate with the self-exiled Dwarf King.
Never has another cRPG given me that same feel of wonder and amazement when unraveling the world mysteries. There are other cRPGs around. This is mine.
It doesn't; I hope you can spam attacks as fast as a computer! Really, though, does anyone play RT? It's always just seemed a mess.
Of course, TB breaks easily as well if you focus on speed. The 25 speed cap was one thing Drog's updated (unreleased) patch was going to do.
I played it recently and used 3 companions plus dog in RT. It’s manageable that way, since when Sogg gets locked on by the enemies, you can easily aim your guns .
I started in TB but I really don’t have that much time in my life anymore for slow boring combat, so I rather chose chaos.
I've wrote about Arcanum extensively in the past. I consider it one of the best games ever made. Sure, the systems are far from perfect. Combat is abusable, simplistic and unbalanced and when it came out it had more bugs happening at the same time than total skill points gained in a full playthrough. It's still one of the best.
One must consider Arcanum as a product of a bygone age. A title to be consumed blind. It's one of those games that can capture the wonders of discovery and exploration like no other imo, due to being on the edge when depth was still baked into RPGs but production values are already high enough to let you apreciate art, music and (gasp!) immersion.
Anyone playing it nowadays (or in the last 15 years or so), even if not strictly following a guide, cannot truly grasp the same feel.
The memes alone are enough to ruin it for you. Cast harm. Get the dog. Gnome question.
I din't cast harm until my 3rd playthrough because I didn't care about necromancy. The first time I got to Ashbury, I was strolling around and, by the time I found it, Worthlesss Mutt was dead already. I frickin' stumbled on the Ogres quest by myself and followed it until the end asking myself all the questions people laugh about nowadays.
I still have a notebook with a dozen or so pages of misc notes I was taking when trying to solve the Ancient Gods altars quest. I have fond memories of my first character that managed to go through the full Stone and Shape philosophical debate with the self-exiled Dwarf King.
Never has another cRPG given me that same feel of wonder and amazement when unraveling the world mysteries. There are other cRPGs around. This is mine.
It took me at least a couple playthroughs to realize how amazing the world is. When you help magnus to find his clan, or discover an ancient laboratory that used to belong to Kerghan, or convince the dwarf king to end his exile and so on. Magic weren't gone by then. It was gone only after i overplayed it and knew pretty much everything about it. But by then i finished the game like 5 times already. And it's still a fun game to replay every few years.
Ratcatcher said everything I would have said about Arcanum. It is an excellent labor of love that could have used more time in the oven, but the content, oh the content...
Just in case anyone missed it, you can make called shots using the number keypad.
And does anyone else still have their original copy Arcanum T-shirt? I still have mine, unworn.
Ratcatcher said everything I would have said about Arcanum. It is an excellent labor of love that could have used more time in the oven, but the content, oh the content...
Just in case anyone missed it, you can make called shots using the number keypad.
And does anyone else still have their original copy Arcanum T-shirt? I still have mine, unworn.
Tim Cain wrote:
Perhaps I can help.
The called shot penalties for head, arms and legs are -50, -30 and -30, respectively.
All called shots provide +10% better chance than non-called shots for generic effects, like doing bonus damage. Otherwise, the effects are as follows:
head with no helmet: +25% stun, +25% knocked out, +15% blinded (in addition to all other effects, like crushing or electrical damage has increases for stunning or knockout)
head with helmet: No bonus chance to stun or knock out, but +10% to blind. Plus, if doing crushing damage, 15% chance to knock off the helmet.
leg: +10% crippled leg, +25% knocked down (bipeds only)
arm: +10% crippled arm
Ratcatcher said everything I would have said about Arcanum. It is an excellent labor of love that could have used more time in the oven, but the content, oh the content...
Just in case anyone missed it, you can make called shots using the number keypad.
And does anyone else still have their original copy Arcanum T-shirt? I still have mine, unworn.
Tim Cain wrote:
Perhaps I can help.
The called shot penalties for head, arms and legs are -50, -30 and -30, respectively.
All called shots provide +10% better chance than non-called shots for generic effects, like doing bonus damage. Otherwise, the effects are as follows:
head with no helmet: +25% stun, +25% knocked out, +15% blinded (in addition to all other effects, like crushing or electrical damage has increases for stunning or knockout)
head with helmet: No bonus chance to stun or knock out, but +10% to blind. Plus, if doing crushing damage, 15% chance to knock off the helmet.
leg: +10% crippled leg, +25% knocked down (bipeds only)
arm: +10% crippled arm
Now THAT was not included in the quick start guide. Thanks very much.
Over the years, on many forums, I have seen that very few people seem to be aware of the Arcanum called shot system, as it was only included in the quick start/errata foldout, but not in the manual (pretty sure this is the case, unless I am remembering it wrong). But I never knew the exact way they worked, just that they provided some extra effects when using them, though with a higher miss rate. Now I know.
Fantastic game. I haven't replayed it since getting the full jew redpill, but looking back now I can totally see the gnome conspiracy thing as a parallel for jews, and the racism in the game is more of a selling point for me now than it was then. Really reinforces the fact that nearly every significant piece of media has some kind of symbolic/allegorical commentary on the jews, whether pro- or anti-jewish. Also kinda makes sense now why Troika was chosen to make the VtM game, as they know how to put symbolic allegories into their narratives.
The narrative of their religious mythos being a half truth is interesting as well - the characters were real, but the records passed down were biased and altered. You end up meeting the prophets, heroes, and villains of old and learn that half the story you were told about them was a lie. Much like historical figures from the confederacy to WWI-II and likely many other eras in history. Even so, there is a religious mystery that's central to the events of the game, a central history that shapes much of the world.
The first time through I tried to make a character with both tech and magic but ended up leaning far more tech before abandoning that playthrough. I think I've beaten it 3-4 times since then, mostly with tech builds, but once with a magic build. Would be cool to see a sequel/inspired game where the magic side gets some crafting/enchanting like the tech side. Being able to share your creations with your party members to deck everyone out in mechanical armor and lightning guns, flaming axes, etc. was cool. Running out of stamina and collapsing because you didn't take a mana potion between fights made made it more expensive to be a magic user, and having to buy instead of build all your gear even more so. But it did make for a harder difficulty.
I like that it introduced sex differences in addition to race differences, and that characters sometimes treated you differently based on your race and sex. Would prefer to see more of that, it added to the replayability and immersion.
I agree that it had a well written world. It explored an era of history we don't get much media about these days, a colonial era of advancing technology clashing with the mysticism and tribalism of ancient cultures. It was a window into a worldview that was being suppressed, and it explored narratives from different sides of questions of race, culture, religion, ideology, technological progress and scientism vs natural living and mysticism, and more. I kind of want to do a playthrough as a dark elf anti-tech wizard named Teddy K and kill every gnome I can. In Arcanum.
Acranum 2: Gnomes are satanic degenerates that been practicing blood sacrifices and subverting the nations of Arcanum for hundreds of years. Five gnomish corporations control 95% of all the media in Unified Kingdom which is pretty much Gnomified Kingdom at this point. They are masters of social engineering and are behind the tarant feminist and orc lives matter movements and the rise of LGBT in Arcanum.
.