I've played Fallout 1 & 2 and I love D&D, so I was really psyched when Arcanum showed up as a GOG sale for just $3. And the major theme of the game (technology being introduced to a magic-based world & upsetting the balance) seems truly original & intriguing in an RPG.

So, I played it for a couple of hours last night as a warm-up, fully intending to restart once I had a better feel for the game. I got as far as some tinkering around with some stuff in Shrouded Hills. Here are my first impressions...

The whole "points buy" system seems odd to me. You can raise a stat (Dex, Int, WP, etc), a skill (Pick Locks, Bow, etc), or a magic spell (Harm, Heal, etc), and each one costs exactly 1 point from the same points pool? That just seems unbalanced somehow. I did notice that you require a minimum stat to raise a skill or learn a magic spell, which I understand & agree with, but I feel very unsure about where best to spend my points when starting out.

I chose the theme of "Necromancer", to see how themes work. Apparently having a theme auto-picks everything for you each time you level up. Was that part of the original game, or is it the unofficial patch that adds that? Anyway, it wasn't that great of a help, as I didn't get a description of what each theme focuses on. The info is probably out there somewhere, but it wasn't in-game like the backgrounds were (I'm a human who "sold my soul to a demon", btw...I was going for a true role-play with my character).

I'm going pure magic, so I bought a staff & some robes, because it just seemed right. At first I was smacking my foes with the staff for poor damage, but then I started casting Harm (from my Necro theme) & was doing massive damage. But I'm not sure which of my stats (if any) affected the damage or the cost to cast. It seems like I should just skip weapons altogether, since Harm does so much more damage. Armor could be an issue, but it seems ridiculous by D&D standards to bog down a mage with heavy armor.

Then there's combat in general. I'm going fully turn-based, that's one of the things I loved in Fallout. It still feels a little foreign, though, not a pure Fallout clone as far as the combat goes. At first, I was falling unconscious from over-expending my spell-casting, but now I get it.

So I think that's it. There were a couple of vague questions up in there, so if anyone could address them for me, it'd appreciated. I'll say this for Arcanum, I do like it...I don't love it yet, but I'm still getting used to it. I think I'll end up loving it once I get a better grasp on the whole game engine.

You can turn off the auto-pick feature when leveling. In the manual, it's talked about on page 36, as "Auto-Level schemes".

Hi ChaunceyK,

I was in the same situation, loved Fallout, bought Arcanum at weekend sale and was a bit bored after playing the beginning of Arcanum.

To answer your questions. Yes the auto level feature is in the basic version too and it's not a special patch feature. I never tested it deeper, cause one of the exciting things is levelling up the char.

At the start I was a bit confused of this character cheet too. But believe me, you will get comfortable with it quickly.

The combat system isn't as deep as it is in fallout, but after playing a while you will recoginze, that it is well done too. Once into, its getting challenging too. with similar decisions as your used to do in fallout.

After getting out of sounded hills this game will get more and more exciting. I'm somewhere in the middle and this game is really Great. One of the best experiences I've ever made in over 25 years of gaming. The story and decisions you have to make will follow into your sleep.

So the best thing you can do, is to play few hours more and get into the story.

Thanks for the page number. I just looked it up, but it really doesn't go into what each Scheme (by bad for calling it a Theme earlier) encompasses.

I still don't know why it keeps resetting to "Always Run" but I saw on the QuickRef card that the NumLock toggles it.

Anyway, I'm definitely warming up to the game more, now that I've gained a couple of levels. Still don't like the "1 point to spend per level on any of 3 completely different things"...just doesn't seem balanced to me. But I'm definitely enjoying the story & my influence on it (I'm playing very pro-magic & anti-tech), and I'm not dying nearly as much.

Oh, another thing. The cursor sometimes changes into a springy-looking thing...definitely a graphics glitch, as the only way to get rid of it seems to be shutting down the game entirely & re-starting it. Anyone else experience this?

Regarding the "1 point each for very different things", I found that it didn't end up being unbalanced because of the way those things inter-relate to one another. Let me explain:

First of all, differentiating "skills" and "spells" isn't quite right. Spells are really just another kind of skill... specifically a "magical" skill that will also shift your character's aptitude towards magic and away from tech if you spend a point on it. So really, you just have stats and skills. Some skills are "neutral", like melee or lockpicking, others are tech-aligned or magic-aligned (tech disciplines or magic schools).

Anyway, the "1-point-per" system works because stats and skills are very much related to one another. As a magic user, for example, you will want to have a decent Willpower stat, because this stat will provide bonuses when using spells, but ALSO because there's a minimum Willpower required to access higher-level spells. So you have to choose... you can spend lots of points on Willpower but have fewer points left over to spend on actual spells, meaning you'll get a small number of powerful spells, probably all from one or two magic schools. Or, you can spend fewer points on Willpower and more on spells, meaning you'll have a large number of lower-level spells but none of the most powerful ones. Then you might also want some Intelligence, because higher Intelligence lets you "maintain" more spells at once (things like magical shield spells or detect trap spells that are durational).

Then of course you have to consider whether you want points in other non-magical skills, or in other stats. Things like melee fighting skill and it's stat, Dexterity, can be useful if you're going to do any hand fighting. Other skills and stats can help you talk your way through things. Since there's a level cap in the game, you will only ever have a certain number of skill points, so you have to choose where to spend them wisely.

I agree that the whole stats and skills system can seem overwhelming at first, but once you understand the relations between stats and skills it makes a lot more sense. At the beginning of the game, starting a mage character (as you are) you need to think about which spells you eventually want to have, which will automatically require you to spend points on Willpower and the spells themselves. Then ask yourself if you want your character to be good at anything else besides magic, and assign some points accordingly. There's more than enough points in the game to max your Willpower and max out a magic schol (or, as a tech character, maxing out your intelligence and maxing out a tech discipline) so feel free to spread points over several magical schools or into some other stats and skills.

I don't know about the springy-looking thing, but I wonder if you may have accidentally tried to use a skill like "pick lock" or something, which would change the cursor to indicate that you're looking for a target for that skill? I can't remember how I reset that when it happened to me... maybe try the right mouse button?

Yep, right mouse button will cancel those things. Will also drop you out of turn based combat mode when no enemies are near, which can get annoying.

I appreciate your taking the time to write out such a detailed explanation, Waltorious. It helps me to put the game mechanics into a better perspective. +1 for you!

Also a good suggestion from both you & Aro about the springy-cursor...for all I know, it could be something like Traps or Repair (I could see a Spring being the cursor of choice for either of those). I'll have to check it out & get back about it.