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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraGonna do it now(8 posts)solved(8 posts)solved
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Posted April 07, 2012
I have had Arcanum for a little while and have tried to play it a couple of times...

However I have quit after every time the game got way too difficult (silly me).

So I was just wondering what is the absolute Easiest Character to play as?
This question / problem has been solved by ewmarchimage
Posted April 07, 2012
As far as I know necromancer is considered easiest class to play with due to Harm spell being a bit imbalanced. Also half-orc warrior with high resistances and regeneration shouldn't have any problems with fighting enemies.
Posted April 07, 2012
There's no need to specialise in necromancy, since its best - and arguably the best in the whole game - spell, Harm, is just first tier. One's magical aptitude which determines the strength of a spell depends on total quantity of spells learned anyway.

So, take Harm from Necromancy, Conveyance for Teleport (Unlocking Cantrip's useful too), Force for Disintegrate (anti-golems) and Temporal for Tempus Fugit (anti-mobs). Concentrate on INT and WP, put the spare points that you will have aplenty towards the end of the game wherever you feel like to and Harm-spam your way to your easy victory. :-)
Posted April 07, 2012
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notredatall: So I was just wondering what is the absolute Easiest Character to play as?
Pure melee characters are fairly easy too, but they might still run into trouble early on. Also they're kind of boring, unless you branch out into tech and magic too, but that comes at the cost advancing your melee abilities more slowly. A magic-user with Harm sounds more fun.
Posted April 07, 2012
Any character will be easier to play if you (quick) save often and use turn based combat. Also, how far into it did you get before finding it more difficult? Was it before or after the Black Mountain Clan mines? After completing 3-4 full playthroughs and many more partial ones my opinion is that melee characters are definitely the easiest character to play as. A close second is definitely a mage using harm; however, they are fragile so you may get more random deaths (but you're saving often right?).

I agree a straight melee character is slightly boring, though if you add dexterity and back-stab combat is more interesting. Even in the beginning back stab can give your starting weapons extra damage and dexterity will give you more action points. Additionally if you keep you magical aptitude down you can use great mechanical weapons, such as the mechanical dagger and explosive axe, that you can find or steal in the world.

Good luck getting back into this amazing game!
Posted April 07, 2012
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mwalk10: how far into it did you get before finding it more difficult? Was it before or after the Black Mountain Clan mines?
I am not sure but I think it was either just before or just after the black mountain clan mines (going to some random island springs to mind).

Thanks to everyone for their help.
Posted April 08, 2012
I wrote a FAQ at gamefaqs to help beginners and to show how to easily make good heroes so that you can get through the game. Look for the FAQ by Leonidusx that is not a complete walkthrough just a FAQ, it has everything you need.

A brief summary: Make a half ogre male ran away with circus, start items are rapier and quarterstaff.

First priority is get 3 points invested in Melee skill, which requires 12 DEX. After that just push STR to 20 and then put more into DEX and Melee. Then get Dodge up.

Buy metal armors - pigfaced basset helmet, steel boots, quality iron shield, war gauntlets, platemail.

After doing what you need in tarant and the nearby cities, go to Ashbury (east of Tarant on the east coast of Arcanum, coordinates are 505 977 on the world map).

Walk straight until you hit the docks, then go left (west) and find the guy kicking the dog. Save the dog, take him into your party. The dog is ridiculously good but just doesn't have good defense.

So just take your party with the dog wherever you need to get through, quicksave F7 often, and the dog will literally mangle any and every enemy in your way. F8 quickload if he dies.

In particular, the Golems and such are the hardest part of the early game (Black Mountain Clan mines and Wheel Clan mines) so a good tactic is don't use a weapon (which will break on them) and instead have War Gauntlets equipped and no weapon on yourself. Use melee combat with the war gauntlets and you will do extremely good damage if your STR is high (esp at 20 STR).

Extremely good sword available early on - Sword of Baltar on Lelliana in one of the top left houses in Durnholm. Pick her pocket using a fate point or kill her (better to keep her alive). It says its a magic sword but it works fine on anyone.

Extremely good sword available on the Isle of Despair ("that strange deserted island thing") - The third arena opponent, the female barbarian carries a special sword called just "Sword" which can be one of your best weapons until the end of the game. You have to loot it off her corpse before you are ejected from the arena after victory.
Post edited April 08, 2012 by ewmarch
Posted April 08, 2012
Thanks so much to everyone, I am starting now (just after finishing off BG1 for the 4th time).

Special thanks goes to ewmarch - this person has definately gone into depth, and told me exactly what to do.
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraGonna do it now(8 posts)solved(8 posts)solved
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