I am so sharing that pain... =]

I've got it easy. I'm too broke for buying a lot of games, even on sale, so there's no way in hell I can afford that spendy console.
I'm actually not complaining. I've been enjoying the **** out of Wolfenstein 3D again lately.

The summer hidden gem sale made it even worse in terms of games I've built up that I need to play now. I also need to remember to do stuff for my blog and not just play videogames with all my free time. Of course, when I write about the old games on my blog I can justify it in my mind. Yeah, that's why I'm spending hours playing Rollercoaster Tycoon again, for a blog post about old videogames that still rock, it's not because I'm addicted. I can stop anytime I want. Honest.

I hear that got quite a solid backlog on gog now thanks to the Summer hidden gems sale and the release of one of my all time favorite pc game across all genre Rollercoaster Tycoon. Maybe i start playing Arcanum soon after i am done with Planescape Torment cause i also used to play the **** out of Arcanum back in the days of my Youth

I played and finished all of these games (BG 1&2, Fallout 1&2, Arcanum, Planescape, all of the FF series through 9 ( yes even 8), all of the and many more MM series, and many more) when they came out (boy, that makes me feel old). The one thing that I have decided is that they are different. I, know, "of course they are different, don't be a noob". What I mean is they all have an individual feel that makes them each enjoyable in a different way.

That being said, I loved Arcanum. The plot, the setting, but what I probably found most enjoyable was the contrast. Magic VS technology, as opposed to magic AND technology, At least the way they represented it in a steamworks setting.

Which leads me to a question: Does anybody know of anything similar?

In the White Wolf roleplaying company's World of Darkness setting, technology in general works on a particular paradigm of belief. That belief system has become very dominant, but it's rather mutually exclusive with spirits, ghosts, faeries, and the ability to speak with the Gods. As that paradigm becomes more deeply entrenched, which amounts to something of an ill-defined field effect around areas of strong adherence to this notion.
A mage by definition believes in something else, some way to power that doesn't involve technology as we know it. The most historically popular paradigm to fall out of favor was the Order of Hermes, based firmly on the principles of a real-world philosophy said to derive from the emerald tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. That's where you find alchemists, Gnostics, that sort of thing. I won't go into the rest, just thought I'd give an example.
In such small, consecrated areas controlled by a magician, or superscientist or whatever the weird bastard calls himself, that normal paradigm is suspended. If light bulbs work there, it's because that person believes they should work, and it happens they work in a particular way. (And to be fair, if their paradigm excludes light bulbs, they're stupid. Everybody's paradigm includes light bulbs. They just might believe they work differently than the rest of the world does.)
It's an odd setting. Reality obeys certain laws not because they're natural and real, but because they're believed to be natural and real by a critical mass of the populace. The result is that the general population is powerless, believes itself to be powerless, and mages in general find themselves in a kind of opposition to technology even as they use it every day.

In the movie Wizards, there's clear reference to a frequent, recurring coming-to-loggerheads of champions of magic and technology. The opening scroll, just to be clear. Anyway, this manifests within the story as a battle between the various fair folk, elves and dwarves and faeries and magicians, against... well, oddly enough, a wizard of great power himself, but who fancies that he can do quite a lot for his side by dredging up technologies which haven't been used since --
Um, well, you see, it's a drastically post apocalyptic setting. The Earth nuked itself, and the human-descended mutants who remain in the radiation-drenched lands aren't happy people on the whole. Those areas which have cleared out are populated almost exclusively by "the true ancestors of man," the various mythic creatures which resemble humans but are not. The bad lands are called Scorch, and the good lands are pretty much, to my knowledge, mostly the Kingdom of Montegar. (Sounds like there's more territory out there, but not relevant.)
The tech vs. magic thing doesn't come up as much as matters of morale, propaganda, etc. After all, the one side is led by presidents and kings, the other by a dictator who is a powerful wizard.
And, um, it's pretty heavy-handed on the Nazi aspects.
Also has some really, really remarkable eye candy in the form of Elinore, who is apparently patterned after the writer/animator's ex-girlfriend:
http://www.ralphbakshi.com/desktops/bakshidesktop2.jpg
If I were you? I'd just watch it. I don't think I've really spoiled much at all. But it may or may not be close to what you're talking about.

I don't know of any sort of Magic VS Technology games, but there are a few steampunk games out there, and some games about normal society VS new technology, as it were. For instance if you want normal society VS new technology you have the classic Deus Ex, one of the best games of all time, and the sequel coming out soon apparently isn't too bad either and expands on that concept--plus the open-ness of the world is reminiscent of how you can pretty much do anything in Arcanum. Bioshock reminds me of Arcanum in some ways with its weird mixture of kinda-magic powers that are sorta-tech based and its unique world along with plot twists that make you go, "Say what now?."

I'm trying to think of games besides the obvious, so I hope those two, Dues Ex and Bioshock, both make sense and also are interesting and not ones that would normally pop in your head as similar to Arcanum--if you think about it they have some things alike though.

Oh, and if you just want an awesome game despite some flaws play Heavy Rain.

Thank you for the suggestions.

I have played Bioshock and Dues Ex, and, although excellent games, not really what I was looking for. I guess what I really liked was the way magic and technology affected each other. Having to choose between the two just did it for me (whatever that means). I suppose that you could play "neutral", but that never ended very well for me. I will just have to play Arcanum again!

I will have to check out Heavy Rain.

I dimly remember watching 'Wizards' back in the day. It didn't impress me, but maybe I will watch it again now that I have grown up a little, if not matured.

I tried playing some of White Wolfe's stuff and just couldn't get into it.

It may have niche appeal. Probably worth trying again, though. Bakshi's an odd man, but an artist regardless, and a lover of Arcanum is a lover of art. It's widely appealing, but it's not for everyone. It's just not. Besides, while it does have a Magic Vs. Tech thing going on, it's very background, the battle's pretty much lost to technology, and it's cheating since technology is a form of magic in that setting.

When I say broke, i meant that it broke the main quest. I don't want to say any more because of SPOILERS.