Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

It breaks my heart that this game does not enjoy the recognition it deserves, a lot of people are put of by the apparent lack of polish as was I on my first couple of unfinished playthroughs but thankfully deep down I knew it was going to be something quite special and I kept going back to it to experience it in full. Steampunk genre sadly does not have nearly enough representatives in video games and this one has to be one of the leading examples. Possibly the main thing that put me off was the apparent skew of power between magic and technology - I despised the fact that I might need to play as a magick user only to make the game not as torturous but it was never ment to be. I simply had to play as a technologist and I'm happy to report that the game makes you want to be more involved into becoming propper, it does not do it in an artificial way. It seems an easy path to simply choose healing spells, magick potions and magick items but in my estimation it's a lot more rewarding going the tech route; for every magickal conundrum there is a tech answer. So fret not my technologist comrades and be on your way to explore the depths of Arcanum!

thank you GOG for having this game patched! Also to note, it works fabulously on Debian via wine.

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.

I really enjoyed Arcanum when it first came out. I still enjoy playing it. The story revolves around you being in a blimp crash and being found by a newly religious man named Virgil. Virgil tells you that you are supposed to be the reincarnation of an all-powerful being and that a group of assassins are out trying to murder you. And that is where your journey begins... In terms of plot, Arcanum's works quite well. While it's not overly original, I feel it was very well done and it's a lot of fun to unravel the plot as you reach different points in the game. The main quest is very easy to get through and there are quite a few side quests as well. Arcanum can be a lot of fun. There is a TON of room for character customization. Each level you will gain a skill point to invest where you like. Every 5th level you gain two, and at the start of character creation you have five points to spend. How you spend those points is up to you and what you want to do. You can build nearly anything you wish: from the smooth-talking gunslinger, to the beautiful mage, all the way to a half-wit who can barely speak (hilarious options for stupid characters) but for whatever reason everyone still loves them and wants to be their friend. The only thing you cannot do, is create a character who is both technologically and magically inclined. Combat has two modes: turn based and real time. Real time is pretty much pointless as things move too quickly and are over too fast to focus on what you're doing. You can hire followers (some have voices, others do not). The AI is pretty shallow. Followers and enemies charge each other head on. That's it. This game is unfinished and somewhat broken. Magic is far more powerful than technology. There were also known bugs that I never encountered, but those may be fixed by now. Overall, I say give this game a try. One warning is this version tends to have a speed issue. There is a fix, but I don't know if it works with the GOG version.

I myself is one of those who loves it. If you are considering buying this game, remember it's not perfect. And to make it run without the lag, download the the latest unoficial patch 2.0.2