Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

This game has one of the best settings, and ability to roleplay I've seen in most RPG's, and this is why Arcanum gets all of it's praise. However, the actual combat and story at times tends to be terrible and limiting. The technology using or dual siding characters are extremely limited against Magic users, thanks to terrible balance, the partner AI and classing options are terrible and can hinder your progress at times, and the game can be extremely hard at points for seemingly no reason unless you have a certain magic build. The storyline is mostly pretty decent, but at many points it's too vague and leaves you without any idea where to go or how to progress, and it can just seem to vanish at a few choice points. The game is indeed fun, if you can get around these major flaws, but to me, they make it unfun to replay, and stressing to play the first time.

I enjoyed playing this game for a while until I inevitably ran into many of the game's limitations and its bad balancing. My first disappointment was when I realised that magic and tech were at odds. Really fantastic doodads that mix magic and tech are impossible. Strange then how many unrealistic and unworkable devices exist in the tech branch we haven't figured out yet to this day. If you opt for the Jules-Vernian-side of this divide, be in for a few rough surprises. Any ranged attack character needs ammo, and ammo is expensive, basically eating up your early gold resources quickly. Since half the time monsters rush you, ranged attacking is not much of an advantage. When the ore golems showed up, being a firearms expert was suddenly worth nothing. This is still early-to-mid-game, mind you. None of the NPCs become more useful through levelling really, you cannot control them much, so everything you really want to do your PC has to do for you. This means that you can't mix and match your party, because the really useful character has to do almost all except cast some minor healing spells - because that's all your first friend can do in magic after even 15 level upgrades. Etc. It is not a bad game per se, but to see a good idea marred by such dismal execution... Very disappointing.

Да, есть куча переводов, от 7 волка и от фаргуса, но эти переводы НЕ являются официальной локализацией, еще сейчас бы не продавать копию игры вместе с ПИРАТСКИМИ переводами, ага... Вопить во всю глотку можно сколько угодно, особенно вместо того, чтобы своими ручками поставить русификатор, если уж настолько наболело. Зачем приходить в официальные сторы с плачем по ПИРАТСКИМ переводам? Так и хочется послать вас куда нибудь в торрент, там вам все пиратство бесплатно будет, раз жалко за легендарную игру 249 р в оригинальном английском варианте, собственно единственный ОФИЦИАЛЬНЫЙ вариант во все времена.... P.S. Учите английский, вместо того, чтобы орать - в жизни в общем то он пригодится.

I saw Theme Hospital on sale but decided to buy this instead as I'm a long time RPG fan, thought I was getting something like Fallout or Baldur's Gate but turned out to be an awful game with an awful interface and engine. Dont waste your money on this one.

it was good