Thank you!

And duh, Torian Kel! I literally recruited him as a follower the last time I played (a couple of months ago) specifically because he is voiced and I hadn't played a game with him as a follower before.

Thanks for the answers you two!

ಠ_ಠ
I had retroactively lost respect for you as an Arcanum player - how could anyone that knowledgeable have never recruited the awesomest NPC ever? Of course, the respect had been retroactively restored as of "several months ago", so this post serves no purpose except to reiterate how awesome Torian Kel is.

edit:typo

^Awesome post. Torian Kel is indeed pretty great. Overall I'd say the best "story" party would probably be something like, Virgil, Raven, Zan, Torian, Magnus, and Loghaire. Shame Raven and Zan aren't very good. Also, there's no room in there for Payne. And Payne is fantastic.

The problem with Zan is BMC mines. The increased difficulty encourages players to explore the rest of the map and level up some more, which means by the time Zan appears, her "what do you think about this place" hints are mostly useless.

I was thinking more along the lines of her being a companion mage (and therefore mostly useless), but that's true too.

[VVV Major spoilers below VVV]









Speaking of mages, was I the only person who found Arronax as a party member kind of hilarious? I was all like, "Cool! Let's see that legendary magical strength!". And then he runs up and punches the dude. -_-

Eee.. glad I didn't loose all your respect there. :)

But that was a great post about Torian Kel. He is really awesome, and his tiff with the
[SPOILERS]





Bane of Kree when they meet in the Void is quite interesting as well.

And Gazoinks, when I first played, getting Arronax was probably one of the most cool - and then instantaneously worst moments of the game. He is so great in theory and in legend. And then you recruit him and he's a horrible level 50 NPC mage that can't do anything useful. :(








[/SPOILERS]

Combat in Arcanum is not difficult, and she's late in the game. By that time, you're either individually competent or a persuasion expert with an entourage of three heavy-hitters and are thus free to recruit whomever you want regardless of their usefulness in combat.

This. I hate Dark Queen of Krynn in general and can go on for hours about what I hate in particular, but one of the bits I liked was that after I freed Raistlin, he automatically resolved every combat encounter in the Abyss. (And it's a Gold Box game, so it wasn't an in-your-face dick-waving cutscene - just a sentence onscreen.)

I wouldn't have liked Mr. Spoiler Alert to completely overshadow my party in combat, but some basic competence (such as not rushing naked into melee to be killed by a freaking lizard) would've been much appreciated.

That is true, but the general useless of the Mage AI still kind of gets on my nerves. >.>

She turns into an earth elemental, then goes into melee. That's remarkably less stupid than any other caster.

Wasn't it a fire elemental? And I suppose that is true, especially compared to Raven "Bows are melee weapons, right? Oh, and look, I can turn into a Water Elemental! Pretty cool, yeah?" and Jormund "...I'm a dwarf". I just dream of mages who actually stay at a distance and throw fireballs or cast buffs or something.

While we're talking about companion flaws, who else was annoyed that the only tech healer refuses to join evil characters? I mean, it's not a big deal to put one point into herbalism, but still.

Nope, she doesn't even have Fire. GTA, Perriman, and Jormund are Fire casters, although I've only seen GTA to actually turn into a fire elemental.

I'm much more annoyed that she refuses to join magick-oriented Persuasion Masters - the mastery only affects alignment requirements and NPC hate, tech aptitude is not covered.

Ouch, that's a pain too. I got her early on my Diplomage (and subsequently abandoner her early), so I never noticed.

Come to think of it, I never actually finished a game with Jayna. It usually works like this:

PC: Would you like to join the party?
Jayna: No! Never! You!.. You sold your soul to a demon!
PC: I am not really evil. Seriously, in the course of our travels, we have reopened a mine and gave it back to its rightful owner for free...
Sogg: ...killed lotsa evil dudes...
Geoffrey: ...rescued a lot of worthless lowborn scum...
Perriman: ...prevented a war between Tarant and Caladon...
Virgil: ...reaffirmed the honor of a most noble and ancient order...
Vollinger: ...reaffirmed the honor of - er, what he said...
Magnus: ...helped a Dwarf to reclaim his legacy...
Torian Kel: (whispers) I don't really have anything nice to say about you, is that okay?
PC: (whispers) Yes.
Raven: ...saved a town from genocide...
Z'an: ...by not committing genocide...
Waromon: ...contributed to an alliance between two ancient Peoples...
Jormund: ...saved an innocent from wrongful conviction...
Franklin Payne: ...all but restored the rightful king of Cumbria to the throne and the kingdom itself to its former glory...
Murgo: (whispers) I have a feeling this game is unpatched.
Thorvald: (whispers) Looks like it, yes.
PC: ...and now we're going to stop a villain from destroying Arcanum!
Dog: *woof!*
Jayna: No, no, what I mean is that you're a freakin' wizard and I'm a techie!
Sebastian: So what? I'm a techie too! You gain levels when the PC does, no matter his aptitude!
Geoffrey: Look at that weenie, he started barely able to swing a staff without hitting himself on the head and ended up resurrecting the dead!
Magnus: I joined late, but I already know the third schematic!
Virgil: You can help more people once you're leveled!
Jayna: No! Wizards have cooties!
PC: What a waste of time.

alternatively:

PC: Would you like to join me?
Jayna: Why, sure! Let's go!
(later)
Jayna: B-b-but...
PC: Shhh, not now, I'm trying to...
Jayna: Stealing is EVIL with a capital E!
PC: Go to the void, Jayna. Seriously, that Panarii cultist was more reasonable. I'm going to find him and learn some herbology in the meantime.

:D To be fair, Wizard cooties are the worst kind of cootie (wait, is the singular spelled cooty?). Incidentally, it'd actually be pretty great if good companions would rat you out when you stole things.

As for my meetings with Jayna... They were both pretty lame:

Diplomage: Hey, half-elf, join me and you can be a better doctor! Everyone's already dying here anyway, so you're basically superfluous!
Jayna: Eh, alright. You kind of smell vaguely wizard-y, but it might just be that cloaked fellow standing next to you.
Diplomage: Oh. Uh, right. Virgil. Yeah, actually, turns out I don't need you. Bye! Have fun in your lame little town!
Jayna: what.
Diplomage: *Leaves*

and

(evil half-orc) Gunslinger: You, woman, join me.
Jayna: No! You're an evil rapscallion!
Gunslinger: What? How do y- I mean, no! That's preposterous!
Jayna: Then how do you explain your blood-stained hands?
Gunslinger: It's tomato juice! From, uh, making pasta for orphans?
Jayna: Oh, and what about the evil undead warrior following you around?
Gunslinger: He's my pasta chef! And he's not evil! OR UNDEAD!
Jayna: And what about that bag of jewelry wrested from the hands of the elderly?
Gunslinger: Come on, they were already dead anyway, it's not like they were going to use them!
Jayna: They were dead because you killed them!
Gunslinger: Oh, ah, right. Yeah, this suddenly got awkward.
Torian: Can I kill her now?
Gunslinger: Wait, no, we'll convince her yet.
Jayna: No you won't.
Jayna: Poopy-head.
Gunslinger: Ah, nevermind, go ahead Torian.
Torian: It appears now... the pasta... is on the other shoe... *Kills Jayna*
Jayna: Eek! *Dies*
Gunslinger: Look, Torian. I know you've been dead for like 200 years, but you've really got to work on your one-liners.
Torian: If you say so.
Gunslinger: I do. *Leaves*
Gunslinger: *Returns. Takes jewelry.*
Gunslinger: *Leaves*

How does everyone psychically detect your alignment, anyway?

EDIT: Oh, and then there was Sebastian on my Diplomage:

Diplomage: Hey there, want help with the mob?
Sebastian: Certainly! Do you have a plan?
Diplomage: Of course! First, give me all your equipment.
Sebastian: Er, what?
Diplomage: Come on, I don't have all day.
Sebastian: Um. Okay?
Diplomage: The cool shield, too!
Sebastian: Oh yeah, sorry. So how does this-
Diplomage: Alright, now stay here.
Sebastian: Wait, what?
Diplomage: Stay here for, say, 10 years. Or so. Don't come looking for me. Because of... plan... reasons.
Sebastian: This is ridiculous! I'd almost be inclined to say you want to run off with all my stuff and leave me here!
Diplomage: You know what's ridiculous? That accusation! Now give me your pants.
Sebastian: W-
Diplomage: I can vaporize people with my mind. Give me your pants.
Sebastian: Fine. Fine! But I'll have you know, Mr.-
Diplomage: Yeah, whatever. Bye! See you in ten years! *Leaves*