Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

I wanted to love this game. I'm a big fan of their other games, especially Fallout 1 & 2. I've played those through many times, and though those games have a few minor bugs, they are not bugs that ruin the game experience. If you could cut out the horrendous number of bugs in this game, this game could really be a great game. However, I've been playing this game for a few days now, probably put in about 20 hours of game play so far, and I'm not sure if I even want to finish it. I love RPG's and this is nothing against the actual base of the RPG itself. The leveling system and everything is interesting and the concept drew me in. The bugs started the very minute I started playing and continued growing throughout the gaming experience. For example, my character, being a mage, summons an orc champion to fight; after fighting, I decide to rest to recover my experience, and my orc champion disappears, but his icon remains in the upper left hand corner. No big deal, I think, a minor bug is all. Well, I continue playing and realize, not only will that icon never disappear, it affects my other characters. My NPC's will not fight, not even retaliate when being attacked. They would not walk with me, but would just magically appear by my side every few minutes. I could talk with them, whenever the computer decided. Later on, I manage to figure out that though invisible, I could still kill that orc champion spawned at the beginning of the game, which I do, and voila! My NPC's start working again! Ok, that's fine, I think, but even more bugs pop up, I put on a magical invisibility ring, and turn invisible; take it off again, and I remain invisible, unable to talk to any shop owners or finish my quests, because the people think it's a ghost! Some quests, when they become broken, remain in the journal, while other quests get marked as broken quests, correctly (Bring the ale quest, 1 example). Sometimes, when summoning a creature, my other NPC's get angry and start attacking me without provocation. There are tons of bugs like this. My character is a level 22, almost level 23, half-elf mage. He will probably stay that way, unless I can muster up the willpower to go in and suffer through till the end. My advice: If you haven't played the Fallout series, you're missing out. Go try that one instead.

I'm giving this game 5 stars, even though it's not necessarily a 5-star game, at least as you might imagine. It certainly lacks some polish, and hasn't aged that well. This is somewhat offset by a couple of easy community patches (check the forums), but Arcanum is still a rough diamond. Why does it deserve 5 stars then? It's because this is the quintessential classic RPG. The amount of freedom is staggering. You can approach any probelm in any way you want. Seriously - there are almost no dead ends. The story is also excellent, and there is a great twist on the whole "Chosen One" trope that really pleased me. Arcanum is like no other game - exceedingly ambitious, and it trips up several times along the way. But what it does achieve is incredible, and for that it deserves a place in every RPG fan's library.

Such a great rpg with beautiful soundtrack. Play it. Its a true good old game. Difficulty is not too hard. The world building is exellent. Its one of my favourite isometric rpg,s to this date.

This is one of the most conceptually original RPGs ever made, and I wish its ideas had had a bigger impact on subsequent developers. However, a lot of design errors ranging from bugs to major game balance issues prevent the game from rising to its full potential. Well worth the GOG.com price, but more for an appreciation of what it could have been than for the game itself.

An enjoyable game made somewhat frustrating by the design mechanics and limitations of the era in which it was made. But if you can overlook that, it offers a fairly unique RPG experience. Pros: +An interesting story filled with twists and turns. +Many and varied side quests. +Robust character creation. One of the best I've ever seen, in fact. +Multiple ways to complete most quests. +The technology verses magic mechanic is more than just story filler or world building. It affects your character build greatly. +Many different NPC's to recruit. Or go it alone. It's up to you. +Lots of exploration. You can always find a back door or a window to climb through or some hidden hatch that will offer an alternative route. +Doesn't pigeon-hole you into a fixed role. Want to play as an evil character? Go right ahead. +Lots of hidden locations on the world map to find. +Lots of replayability. Without using a guide, you can probably play this game through 3 or 4 times and still not experience everything. Cons: -It doesn't do a good job of explaining certain gameplay mechanics to you. Definitely RTFM. -Can be quite buggy. The unofficial patch helps somewhat, but it's still not perfect. It's mostly small stuff though, like combat music that won't stop. -It's quite possible to build a weak, ineffective character. The game expects you to specialize to some extent and will punish you if you spread your character points too thin. Don't make a jack-of-all-trades character. -Ore Golems. These are enemies that when attacked with a melee weapon, cause that weapon to take damage. The problem is that the NPC's in your party aren't smart enough to figure that out and will happily smash their weapons against the ore golems until the weapon breaks. It can get frustrating at times and definitely shows its age. But it's also one of the most unique RPG games that I've played in years. If you can tolerate its old-school design, I highly recommend giving this one a go.