Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

NOTE: Running with clean GOG install, plus Drog's unofficial 2.02 patch, which I consider essential. Available at terra-arcanum dot com. When Arcanum was released, it suffered from two huge problems. #1, it was buggy AF, almost unplayable on release. #2, It launched in maybe the most phenomenal season in gaming history. 2000-2001 saw Halo, Splinter Cell, GTA 3, Wiz 8, Tony Hawk 2, BG 2, Morrowind, Thief 2, System Shock 2, The Sims, (and on and on). Small wonder that a buggy, weird title didn't get much love on launch. But some things really do improve with age. Between the official and unofficial patches, it's now possible to play the game as it was intended. While it still has problems, I think it stands as one of the best RPG's to ever grace my screen. Let me get the minuses out of the way. Even with the hi-def patch, the visuals are flat and uninspiring. Very much like Fallout 1 and 2. Voice acting is spotty (sometimes really bad), and by today's standards, infrequent. There are STILL bugs. (pro tip, have multiple saves before you hit Level 50). Completionists and power-gamers will tear their hair out. It was baked to reward fairly balanced characters, and it's impossible to complete on one playthrough. The more you lean towards either tech or magic, the more some paths become closed to you. Now to the good stuff. Even after the years, one of the deepest, richest worlds ever created. This single entry can stand proudly along Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, and KotOR franchises for world building. It is a world that you will love to learn and explore. Combat, magic, tech, stealth, and persuasion are all fully realized and useful. INSANELY deep and rich character creation and progression. Even today, it's character system is one of the best of all time. This is a weird game to categorize. By turns traditional and genre-breaking, sublime and frustrating, I rec it 100% for any RPG fan.

Arcanum is great. If you like roleplaying games at all, you should definitely give it a try, especially at this price. Everyone has mentioned how awesome the setting is, but it does bear repeating. Take a standard Tolkien-esque fantasy setting, complete with magic, elves, dwarves and orcs, but then add steam engines, trains, guns, and the like. Add to that the fact that the new technology is diametrically opposed to magic, so technology doesn't really work well on magical people and magic doesn't work well on technological people, and you have a really interesting place to roleplay. The character creation system is fantastic as well, and it really lets you build any type of character you can think of. It's like the Fallout character creation system, but better, with more options and possible builds to use. The additional of different races makes things interesting because some races have specific aptitudes towards magic or technology, and there is quite a bit of racial prejudice in the game as well. There are a huge number of technological skills to learn and even more magic spells, so you can put together something truly unique. Like Fallout, one can play through the game in a variety of different ways. You can be a hero or a villain, magic user or techology user or both, a sneaky thief or a burly fighter, or simply sweet-talk everyone and recruit tons of AI companions. The game itself feels a little less "open" than Fallout... while you can technically do whatever you want, there is definitely a more overarching plot to Arcanum, and following it reveals new places to go and things to learn. The player may feel forced to follow the main plot, but it is excellent, with all sorts of great twists and really interesting developments. Also, while following the plot there are many different ways to tackle most problems. The one exception might be dungeons... usually the only way through these is to kill things. There are lots of different ways you can kill things, and some sneaking might work too (I actually haven't tried a sneaky character yet) but it's not really possible to sweet-talk your way through these areas (but you CAN sweet-talk through lots of other things in the game). One early dungeon especially is quite aggravating to get through, but stick it out! The game is totally worth it. (By the way, it IS technically possible to go through the game without killing anything, but you will have to knock creatures and opponents unconscious instead. I haven't tried it, but I imagine it would be quite a bit of trouble.) Combat is, unfortunately, less good than in Fallout. The inclusion of the real-time combat seems to basically be just to enable online play, which as far as I can tell no one really ever used. Turn-based is OK, but there aren't as many tactical options as in Fallout, and unfortunately if you have AI companions, they are not very smart and will not know when to hold back instead of rushing into fights. It's still interesting enough though and more of a minor complaint than anything else. The other big gripe most people have about the game has to do with game balance. I have only tried two characters so far... a straight melee fighter and a technological character who uses grenades. The melee character was very powerful, such that nothing in the last half of the game really posed much of a challenge. Things got a little boring with this character after a while. The grenade user had a little bit of a tougher time, but was also mostly OK. I've heard that guns are actually quite a bit tougher, not doing a whole lot of damage and with ammo hard to come by. I haven't tried them myself though so I can't say. I've also heard that magic users tend to have a much easier time than technological users. Personally, I don't mind such balance issues as much, because I just enjoy roleplaying the characters, and frankly a bigger challenge would be nice, relative to my melee character. One more thing that I think is quite cool about technological characters... rather than simply buying technological equipment, most of the stuff you have to build yourself, using starting materials and schematics (and also you need high enough skill). For instance, my grenade user could make molotov cocktails out of fuel and rags found in garbage bins. There are junk dealers around who can sell you springs, scrap metal, tesla coils, etc., all of which can be jury-rigged into equipment ranging from hardened armors to electrical tophats that deflect bullets to motorized daggers to steam-powered automatons that help you in battle. It's a pretty cool mechanic. This is the type of game that you play again and again, trying out different characters and tackling things differently each time. I've only done two characters but I can already think of five or more other ones that I want to try. If that sounds like your kind of thing, definitely grab this. Final note: Others have mentioned the unofficial fan patches and stuff, but I just wanted to add that they are top notch. There are lots of bug fixes, some content that was cut from the original game is restored, there are some higher quality town maps, and a patch that lets you set any resolution you want (instead of the default 800x600) which is great for widescreen monitors.

Arcanum is my favorite video game. I don't feel I can really add much in the way of game analysis, since it has all been pretty well dissected over the years. Everything you've heard is true. You'll either love it for it's insane but ultimately unrealized potential, hate it deeply due to being essentially half-baked playable code sold as a real game, or bounce off it forever after being flummoxed by character creation and then promptly eaten by wolves in about 10 to 20 minutes. here's a list of some of the characters I've played over the years: - a half-ogre pit fighter seeking to end racism and class struggle - a wormy gnome charmer with his own posse who talked his way out of the final boss - a serial killer necromancer super model with only a killer dog for a companion - an accident prone dwarf gunslinger and thief - an imbecile half-ogre who uses and abuses Flowers For Algernon style potions to warp the fabrics of time and space with all too temporary magical mastery - a magic-hating inventor and walking half-orc stereotype that just can't get enough of Belle Arcanum holds a very dear and special place in my heart. It's one of the few video games where I feel that the character development system has any true effect on the game. This game has one of the woefully rare examples of you, the character represented as assigned stats and skills on the character sheet, and you, the protagonist of the story, work in full harmonious tandem. It's all incredibly empowering and self-deteriministic. Anyways, I am writing this review to address the fact that Drog has released a new fan patch! Check out the forum for further details. It is now EASIER THAN EVER to get Arcanum up and running in modded state. This is the kind of breakthrough we needed. With this new patch, I can finally now FULLY RECOMMEND Arcanum to newcomers. It's so easy to set up, and runs brilliantly. There has never been a better time before to start Arcanum for the first time or the hundreth time.

To put it bluntly, no avowed rpg nut should pass up on the opportunity to play Arcanum for several reasons: Innovation I can't think of any other rpg which melds a tolkienesque world complete with fantasy pulp races (orcs, elves, dwarves etc...) with steampunk so convincingly. You can play as either human, elf, half elf, dwarf, half orc or even a half ogre in a world 50 or 60 years after its own industrial revolution. You'll travel to huge cities connected by a strange device called "the iron horse" and empires which prefer magick. Indeed part of the story is due to how both magick and technology both hang in an uneasy balance. Depth With so many different stats to choose from (strength, agility, perception, charisma etc..) including background types and races; Arcanum has an enduring playability. Added to the game is the character's ability to choose between either magick, or technology or something in between. Be warned though, this is NOT a game for those new to the rpg genre, players already familiar with the Fallout series will feel right at home. There are so many character types and stats to create that it can easily overwhelm players which cut their teeth on baldur's gate and or fallout. Will you play an elven mage and rain firey destruction on your foes? Or will you be professor in one of the technological disciplines or perhaps a cutthroat thief or a pit fighter? Atmosphere The world of Arcanum is a mix of the fantasy cliches you often see in other rpgs but with a 19th century look and feel which comes complete with a fantastic soundtrack which makes the world very believable. That isn't to say that Arcanum isn't without faults, the graphics could have been better and there appears to be quite a few bugs which can be quite jarring. Though the good news is that there are many patches available to download. This really is a game that the serious rpg'er should consider.

After owning this for 8 years on GoG, I finally sat down for a 50 hour marathon that took me two weeks, but I finally beat Arcanum tonight. Despite the steep learning curve for new players, I must say that the journey is well worth it. This game requires your full attention. Have a real pen and notebook ready, because the in-game journal doesn't hold your hand at all. I constantly had to look up where an NPC was to get back to them. The main quest is intelligent, the lore behind the world is thought-out, and the constant struggle between Magick vs Technology creates palpable tension in the world visible during your journey. Every dialog with an NPC feels natural, and your choices reflect the type of character you want to be. Tired of talking to this person? Pick an agressive line, such as: "Uh, that would be the sound of ME descreating your pathetic remains!" kill them, and loot their pockets for the knowledge you seek. Or, with enough charisma, you might convince them to tell you what you need to know, willingly, without any confrontation. OR you might discover they have a rival who will help you instead. The game gives you the tools. The choice is yours. Your INT affects your dialog, so if you're drunk, your responses will be slurred until you sober up. I haven't seen dialog this dynamic since playing as a Malkavian in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It feels like you're having actual conversations. With the latest Unofficial Patch, you no longer have to hunt down for all the graphic and sound mods, however there are some areas' framerates that still run like hot garbage due to the way the engine is rendering the sprites on the screen, which is the only reason it gets a 4/5 stars. It can be frustrating debugging the game if you run into a problem. I wish we could go back to days like this where we can be so much more immersed, where your options affect the world, and the game actually treats you like an adult who can solve problems. Good stuff.