Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

This game was and is the gold standard for small unit rpg. The fact that your stats matter out in the world in interactions is something that still hasn't been done to such a level decades later and that is a lose to the community. The only game in recent time that is any threat to this one is Kingmaker..and yes both have their bugs and poor decisions..and stil I, on of the harshest critics of gmaes over the years, rate them both highly. Why? Because, while they can and should be improved, what they did right is to go above and beyond in depth and feel. This genre is about exploration and it is about character development..games that do that poorly, whatever they do well, are failures to this genre. Few other games come close.

Je vais essayer d'être objectif, étant donné que j'ai poncé ce jeu dans tout les sens il y'a presque 20 ans maintenant. C'est un chef d'oeuvre (objectivité tout ça) mais pour les habitués des rpg old school tout de même. Vous avez une liberté de création et d'évolution sur votre personnage qui assez enorme pour l'époque, plusieurs arbres de magies et de technologies à apprendre en fonction de ce que vous aimez, jusqu'à des blueprint pour creer des objets technologiques quasiment introuvables autrement. La musique est plutôt jolie et suffisament discrète, certains pnj (les compagnons possible et pnj de quete principale) sont doublés ce qui est assez apréciable également. Bon évidement le jeu à 19 ans alors ne vous attendez a rien question graphismes, que vous équipiez une épée courte ou un cimeterre, votre personnage brandira une épée générique a l'écran, la différence graphique s'effectue dans l'inventaire. En revanche, les effets des sorts sont plutôt jolis pour l'époque sans être exceptionnels non plus. Le choix entre les combat en temps réel ou tour par tour vous est laissé a n'importe quel moment du jeu (même en plein combat) et toute une foule de compagnons est possible. Alors pourquoi pas 5 étoiles ? Et bien parceque ma nostalgie en a donné 5 mais le jeu n'est pas parfait. Les combats sont un peu brouillons en temps réel, le jeu se casse avec quelques exploit au niveau économique que je ne devoilerai pas, mais qui sont découvrables assez simplement avec un peu d'observation, et les mécaniques ont un peu vieillies. Mais si vous cherchez un "rpg du commencement" un de ces anciens jeux qui ont un forgés ce que sont devenus les rpg, celui là en est un digne représentant et je si vous êtes plus jeune que le jeu ou un peu plus vieux mais que vous faites l'effort d'oublier les graphismes, ce jeu vous fera passer un très bon moment.

I played this game for the first time this year. I didn't grow up with old cRPGs but I eventually fell in love with the genre, after playing Fallout 1/2. This game is really old and outdated, it caused my computer (I7-10th gen and RTX 2070) to brick. I lost 2 save files and had to redo 10 hours of gameplay. You would think that this would make me quit, right? Nope replay it and still loved it, this game is a gem and in some aspects a masterpiece. The best parts about this game is the story and the world building, it may seem like a run of the mill fantasy game but there is a lot more than that here. The magic is really unique and the tech class is outright impressive for a 20 year old game. I only played in turned based mode and the game was much more balanced, to keep in mind which mode you should stick to, since real time is broken beyond measure. Overall, this game is probably my favorite cRPG and really goes to show that despite the bugs and bad combat, this game still shines. Wish we could get a remaster or something to fix the problems, but other than that I definitely would recommend this game as someone who isn't just blinded by nostalgia.

This is a remarkable game, and it is true that it has many a flaw. I highly recommend you seek out the fan patch, as it fixes a lot of these problems and lets you really enjoy the game for what it is. Troika's developers were responsible for some of the greatest RPGs ever made (Vampire bloodlines, Fallout New Vegas) and you can see a lot of those elements in Arcanum as well.

Ah, Arcanum sure is a weird one! So much to talk about ! To start, as a steampunk CRPG that allows you to choose both turn based or a real time system, Arcanum, with its clash between magic and steampunk technology, brings to the table an in-depth system that allows you to customize your character however you like : you can play a simple fighter, wizard (with TONS of spells at your disposal) a gambler, thief, a diplomat or an even inventor ( my favorite one and the truly unique feature : an enormous crafting system never seen in a CRPG, extremely well implemented) with no class restriction. On top of that, the amount of things to do is simply amazing : hinted sub-quests or secret places that you randomly discover are often great and fun. Sounds great, right? Actually, there are downside to it that almost made me rate this game with 3 star. First and foremost : the story : Victorian age inspired and sometimes it gets really dark. Actually, too much dark, there's even one particularly sub-quest almost get me to quit for how they handled certain themes, which one could call outrageous and really of bad tastes ( who played the game fully will surrey now what I'm referring about... Damn Gnomes). Speaking again of the main plot, funny thing : it is not really even bad ( a little pretentious), but there are clear sign that it wasn't nearly finished by the time they shipped the game ( it ends way sooner and without following any pace between start and ending). Indeed, near the end most stories that you ended up invested are abprutbly terminated, some of them are buggy as hell and most companions don't have any quest related to them. Second , as already said : start and ending. Unfortunately, the game starts great, with a new land to discover and lots of things to do, but more you spend time, the difficult starts to diminished (since there are no new enemies) and there are way fewer quest, bad designed too. So, worth it? Yes, but it's a game not for everyone's tastes.