Everyone compares Arcanum with Fallout, and well, yes, so will I. If you liked Fallout 1/2, you'll like Arcanum. However, I feel Fallout 1 and 2 as a whole were better. Maybe it's just my Alzheimer setting in, but I can't really remember having too much frustration with those games, whereas Arcanum can be frustrating. Having said that, I should straight away mention that I feel it's worth the frustration. It's a fun game, with lots to explore and lots to do. Did I say Fallout 1 and 2 were better? Yes, but Arcanum has some (rough) diamonds which Fallout was missing. So here's my advice: Play Fallout 1 and 2 first. If you like those, you'll probably like Arcanum. It's a great game. However, if only they had gotten the interface and the graphics right, then it would have been one of the very best.
Depending on your point of view, you'll either love or hate this game. The atmosphere, the graphics and the story are just great. You feel part of something bigger. However, this comes at a price: gameplay. Dialogues are long, and often you feel like watching a movie; not playing a game. Still, I enjoyed it very much, and I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes adventures. And PS: if the above is true for The Longest Journey, it's even more so for its sequel: Dreamfall. That's just a movie where every once in a while you have to do something - often no more than just running from a to b.
Okay, so maybe this kind of game isn't really for me. But I enjoyed Sacred and had some fun with Titan Quest, and I thought I'd give this one a try. Bad choice. It's not that it's really bad, but it's just not anything. The idea might have been good, but it's just boring. So better avoid this game.
Personally I enjoyed the Gothic-series more than the Elder Scrolls. I know, the latter are bigger and more polished (ahem!), but Gothic feels better (even though the controls are clumsy and unusual at the least). Okay, so don't compare Gothic 1 with Oblivion, but still I feel the Gothic series deserve more credit than they're given. In the Elder Scrolls it's easy to get side tracked so much you forget about the main quest. In Gothic there are many side-quests, it isn't linear and doesn't feel like it is, and yet, you're always inside the main story. The characters are more human en recognizable than the ones in the Elder Scrolls. So yeah, I loved the Elder Scrolls, but I sleep with Gothic... ;-)
But even then, I'd still like to play Stonekeep. Okay, so it's not Ultima Underworld or System Shock, but it's still one of the better (and funnier) RPG's. Play it and decide for yourself: Maybe you too would rather be a dwarf.
If you are an RPG-fan, then there are a couple of games you have to have played: Ultima Underwold (1&2), Ultima7, System Shock (1&2), Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment and Deus Ex, to name but a few. Fallout (1&2) also belong in this category. Okay, so maybe the graphics aren't up to today's standard, but the gameplay more than is. As Bob Dylan would have said: Don't think twice, it's alright.
