All the 5 stars reviews might induce you to think this is one of the best games out there. It depends on what you like, but let me say this: you have to be careful and invest a few hours in the game to begin to enjoy it. Once you get the grip of the mechanics and get to know the plot and characters...well, you will be in love with this game. The game is hard and may be harder if you want to. The voice acting is great and the characters are so, so awesome. And I usually hate a closed, small roster of characters, but man, these ones work great. By the time you get good at killing enemies, you start to look for more stealthy ways to accomplish missions and/or the game challenges you with some event. Thanks to the developers. I played this game during the covid 2020 spring quarantine and I really needed not to think of a very close relative delicate state of health. A game is meant to entertain and this game sure does the trick. Thanks again for all the hard work and love put into this game. Rest in peace mom, you would have liked this game.
Let me say this: I never played arcanum until now, nostalgia is not a factor here. First time I played, a few months ago, I enjoyed the chatacter creation and the very original art, atmosphere and greta music. Didnt play long, I made to the first town and was beaten to death by stuìd wolves while I tried to hit back and failed once and again. Second time I tried, a few weeks ago I turned off the real time combat, and used the turned based. And was shocked to see how the game was playable. The first part of the game is hard to newcomers and if you place points where you must not you may have a problem. If you overcome the first town and get out to the Arcanum world you will be slowly (but inevitably) addicted to this game. As a late fallout fan (tactics, 3, new vegas), baldur gate lover and classic rpg fan I have to say that arcanum has been one of the best gaming experiences, maybe because I expected only a crappy game and found despite some flaws an rpg gem. The game is hard (save often) and you need to write down where people are cause your journal is not as detailed as it should and turned based combat is a bit too simple compared to modern games, but... The plot is one of the best and most intriguing I have ever seen, the game has plenty of sub quests, quite a few characters to recruit, an insane number of magic colleges, and, well, a lot more, but others have described better than me the good parts. Important: -More than 55 hours into the game so far and no bugs. -Specialize is important -Your stats really impact the game: I started a new game with a character with 4 intelligence and ALL of the main character´s speeches were different. People recognize you as a "poor creature", "imbecile" or "simpleton" and deal with you accordingly. Some wont even give you a quest, others offer you a potion for completing a quest while you are not able to even say okay and can only vocalize "Otay". Best laughs with a game ever.
...nostalgia plays indeed a major role. This game was so great despite its obvious limits. Let me say that the biggest flaw is the scarce AI of the opponents (three that sonn will be two after an ingame event). If you are an experimented player you will find yourself toying with the AI opponents. That said, the game is great for a gentle, nice playing experience, not as time consuming as the Civ games. I have been playing this game almost since it came out and it still gives me good times. A lot of exploring, many Indian tribes, trade, lot of buildings, founding fathers that will provide bonus or traits, military units (mounted or not) that can be promoted like this: petty criminal-indentured servant-free colonist-veteran, missionaries intriguing with indians or just doing gods work and a king taxing you more and more, ultimately pushing the player into the ultimate goal: independence. And that is not as easy as toyng with your fellow europeans. Also, a rating sistem of your performance rather interesting considering the time: score plus something your name is given to, might be a serpent, a continent,... The sistem goes if I recall correctly from my younger days until 200% score: getting there IS a challenge. I dare you.
Ok, the game is very interesting. At first you will be probably face decadence and civil war because of the game mechanics. Yes, culture balance decadence. Yes, some buildings produce culture as well as decadence. Yes, conquering objetives reduces decadence. This is challenging and refreshing. The commerce sistem is also great. Depending on the buildings you build you will get a resource but if you lack other related goods you wont get any bonus (money, culture). Depending on your trade skill some goods may be not reachable tough. It is a great game, with so many nations to choose: since Rome to small tribes like Judea...and plus you have independents (like barbarians)you can not make peace with. At first you will be confused, give the game some hours and you will like it a lot. On the negative side: check carefully if your machine can handle the game or it will go painfully slow (like any othe game) There is one thing I dislike very much: the ranking between turns. Yes, it is great to be ranked, the token sistem (depending of your ratio culture/decadence you are ranked and likely to get a progress or aging token) is also good but... why not give the player the choice to avoid SEEING IT between every damn turn? It just makes the game slower as the game progresses.
