It had been a long time since I played Arcanum the last time. Now that I've completed it once again, I can only say that it's just a really, really exceptional game. It's good in a lot of the ways Fallout 1 and 2 are good, but it also has so many unique features and traits of it's own to make it stand out.

The expansiveness of the world and the vast number of different ways there are to interact with it really make it seem alive. I mean, I don't know how many times I've played this game now, but there are still parts of it I've never seen. That's amazing.

I used to wonder why I kept creating new characters, playing for a bit, then going back and creating another new character all the time. Now I realize it's because the character creation system alone is so fun. How many games can you say that about? Creating a new character is so fun that, apart from actually playing the game, you want to do it over and over.

Even its flaws (of which there are many), tend more toward the endearing kind of flaws than the annoying kind.

Arcanum is very, very good.

I haven't completed it yet. I know. Shame on me! Playing it right now. But from what I've seen of the game, I concur with your every word. Troika created great, if rough around the edges, games. I really love all three of them. It's a damn shame Arcanum setting isn't used for another game. I wouldn't need new and shiny graphics - isometric 2D with turn based combat is a perfect fit for it - just another cRPG in the same world.

I'm not sure if you've played it already, but I would warmly recommend Underrail to anyone looking for a similar experience. Character creation itself is a stroke of genius brimming with options for viable character builds. Oddities experience points system is such a simple solution to making even non-combat characters perfectly playable without having to kill everything in sight. How no one thought of it before is beyond me. Styg, guy making this gem, listed as his influence Arcanum and Fallout games, and truly does these games justice.

I realize this looks like paid advertisement for an Early Access - I absolutely abhor that scheme BTW but made an exception in this case - but I'm just impressed by this labor of love.

I've heard good things about Underrail. I'll be keeping an eye out for it when it's finished.

I really think it's just the best computer rpg ever made. There are so many things they did unbelievably right, things that no other game seems to have truly accomplished to such an extent.

When I first played it, I enjoyed it so much that it felt like a love affair.

Amazing. The game is just amazing.

If only the combat were better.

Frankly I don't think the combat is too terribly awful in turn-based mode. I'm not saying it's good, but at least it's simple enough that it's not painful to experience. The real-time combat might as well be tossed on the junk heap though. It would also be nice if mages didn't rush forward into melee range all the time, and things like that.

But there are far more things to like than there are to complain about.

Combat certainly isn't great but passable. Not something you painfully avoid, but also not something you revel in doing. Sierra is to blame for forcing Troika to introduce real time combat into a game designed for turn based. One of the clearest examples how a publisher can mar a great game with their meddling. There are a lot worse things out there. Try Inquisitor. It's a game where combat totally destroys otherwise decent game and interesting world. First cRPG I'm forced to play on easy. That is, if I wish to get anywhere in the game.

I find fast-turn-based mode to be quite fun!!!

I tried fast-turn-based mode, but I decided I like regular turn-based mode better. Subtracting the units' movement animations makes it seem like they're teleporting around the battlefield. It's disconcerting!

I can see why you'd prefer the speed increase though.

If there were a way to make mages hang back in combat and use their spells to buff their friends, it would make combat a lot better. Along the same lines, it would be nice if archers and shooters would hang back too. Currently they do unless they see an obstruction in the way of their target, which is most of the time. In that case they run up to the first place they get a clear shot, which is usually melee range. Instead they should be willing to take shots through cover as long as the odds aren't too bad. If they move to get a clear shot, they should move around the edge of combat, not directly toward the enemy.

Even with the rest of Arcanum's combat problems, those two changes would really make a positive difference.