Arcanum
WDS
fun at some point my game got really screwed up and I gave up
playing. My daughter likes games like Arcanum and I found a copy for
her a while ago to try. She really enjoyed it and while she was home
on spring break I re-tried it and it was a blast.
Now, on to the questions.
The game was fragile while I was playing (under XP). I was using the
latest patch I could find (1.0.7.4 or something like that). Part of
the problem seemed to be with reading the CD on my DVD drive. Did it
use some funky copy protection scheme? Any chance using a real CD
drive will work better (I have one that's not connected)? Was there
ever a *real* patch to avoid having the CD in at all? Worst case I
could put a sound card in my old Windows 98 machine and run it there.
Were there any fan patches (like the ones for Baldur's Gate 1/2) to
fix things up beyond the final official patch?
Is there any good guide to creating characters beyond the manual? I
vaguely remember certain kinds of characters were fundamentally broken
because of the game system (either too hard (gun guys IIRC) or too
easy (some kinds of mage)). I did a bunch of searches and a lot of
sites have dead links for guides and such. I don't want a walkthru,
just something that discusses various character creation and
advancement ideas.
MJB
"WDS" <Bi...@seurer.net> wrote in message
news:c3173353-e405-49ba...@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>I played Arcanum when it first came out and while I remember it being
> fun at some point my game got really screwed up and I gave up
> playing. My daughter likes games like Arcanum and I found a copy for
> her a while ago to try. She really enjoyed it and while she was home
> on spring break I re-tried it and it was a blast.
It's a fun game. Not your typical swords and sorcery role-playing game.
>
> Now, on to the questions.
>
> The game was fragile while I was playing (under XP). I was using the
> latest patch I could find (1.0.7.4 or something like that). Part of
> the problem seemed to be with reading the CD on my DVD drive. Did it
> use some funky copy protection scheme? Any chance using a real CD
> drive will work better (I have one that's not connected)? Was there
> ever a *real* patch to avoid having the CD in at all? Worst case I
> could put a sound card in my old Windows 98 machine and run it there.
I have a no-cd patch that works really well on my XP machine. Perfectly
stable and for all the months I played it, perfectly safe.
>
> Were there any fan patches (like the ones for Baldur's Gate 1/2) to
> fix things up beyond the final official patch?
I have all the official Troika mods plus a few fan patches. There is a
'gun' mod that fixes the most glaring problems with guns. It was only in
beta when I installed it, but it seemed to work very well. I found the
balance to be much more favorable with the beta patch.
>
> Is there any good guide to creating characters beyond the manual? I
> vaguely remember certain kinds of characters were fundamentally broken
> because of the game system (either too hard (gun guys IIRC) or too
> easy (some kinds of mage)). I did a bunch of searches and a lot of
> sites have dead links for guides and such. I don't want a walkthru,
> just something that discusses various character creation and
> advancement ideas.
Best site for Arcanum I've found and it still appears to be active. I think
the 'character planner' function is exactly what you're looking for.
http://www.terra-arcanum.com/arcanum/old/characterbank/WEB_ACP.html
Hope that helps. Just to show I'm not holding a grudge because we never
came to an agreement about you sending me your copy of 'Lionheart' back in
October of last year...
--
MJB
Mr. Tin's Miniature Painting Workshop:
http://web.newsguy.com/Mrtinsworkshop/
WDS
> Hope that helps. Just to show I'm not holding a grudge because we never
> came to an agreement about you sending me your copy of 'Lionheart' back in
> October of last year...
Thanks and ACK! I forgot about that. If you send me an email I will
see if I can still find it... Cross my heart!
MJB
Done.
Mark Morrison
>Is there any good guide to creating characters beyond the manual? I
>vaguely remember certain kinds of characters were fundamentally broken
>because of the game system (either too hard (gun guys IIRC) or too
>easy (some kinds of mage)). I did a bunch of searches and a lot of
>sites have dead links for guides and such. I don't want a walkthru,
>just something that discusses various character creation and
>advancement ideas.
I remember the combat got very easy if you had enough Tech knowhow to
make Fire Axes - they did insane damage.
Never did play a mage.
I'll keep track of any replies - I did finish the game (I think) but
it did have some problems, iirc.
Really, really liked it, though. Would have loved to have seen a less
buggy sequal.
A good game for theieves, iirc - had some find memories of reaching a
new town, and heading out at night to rob everyone blind.
MJB
"Mark Morrison" <bl...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:58pfu3pmuei4r28q2...@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 24 Mar 2008 06:24:57 -0700 (PDT), WDS <Bi...@seurer.net> wrote:
>
>>Is there any good guide to creating characters beyond the manual? I
>>vaguely remember certain kinds of characters were fundamentally broken
>>because of the game system (either too hard (gun guys IIRC) or too
>>easy (some kinds of mage)). I did a bunch of searches and a lot of
>>sites have dead links for guides and such. I don't want a walkthru,
>>just something that discusses various character creation and
>>advancement ideas.
>
> I remember the combat got very easy if you had enough Tech knowhow to
> make Fire Axes - they did insane damage.
That's true - I tended to play 'shooty' characters mostly because it was the
guns - no matter how munged the game meant them - that attracted me to the
setting in the first place.
>
> Never did play a mage.
Mages are... powerful. And the Magicka system was pretty 'kewl'. The
downside was that you couldn't recruit anybody who was interested in
technology once you became so adept at magicka. So your party quickly
became limited to the standard bow and sword types IIRC.
>
> I'll keep track of any replies - I did finish the game (I think) but
> it did have some problems, iirc.
>
> Really, really liked it, though. Would have loved to have seen a less
> buggy sequal.
Hmmmm... I remember the game having graphic problems on my old win98 system
when it was released. But when I played it last year on my winXP box with a
good modern graphics card, the lastest patch and a no-cd crack the game play
was smooth as butter. I can't say I remember there being any problems at
all.
>
> A good game for theieves, iirc - had some find memories of reaching a
> new town, and heading out at night to rob everyone blind.
It was pretty balanced for all the classes IIRC. There were some quests
that were only available to particular classes or alignments, which
definetely increased replayablility.
Nostromo
Anno Domini:
How topical! I just start playing Arcanum the other day, mainly on the work
laptop. Never have before (other than a demo) & thought I owed it to myself
to compete the Troika triplet :). So far, with the latest patch & no-cd, not
a bug or problem to be seen. Playing a summoner with guns, though I see from
following posts that I may need a gun mod, as I'm finding them to be next to
useless. From all indications (strat guides & FAQs), magic & melee seem to
be the easiest routes to take anyway.
--
Nostromo
Nostromo
Domini:
My main tech prob so far is the combat system constantly reverting to
'real-time' when I keep setting it to turn-based in options. Then again,
even at the start of the game my orc warriors are kickin major arse, w/o any
need for my help! :)
--
Nostromo
MJB
"Nostromo" <nos...@forme.org> wrote in message
news:rc3gu3hdk14lad12k...@4ax.com...
>
> How topical! I just start playing Arcanum the other day, mainly on the
> work
> laptop. Never have before (other than a demo) & thought I owed it to
> myself
> to compete the Troika triplet :).
That's definetely my feeling too.
> So far, with the latest patch & no-cd, not
> a bug or problem to be seen. Playing a summoner with guns, though I see
> from
> following posts that I may need a gun mod, as I'm finding them to be next
> to
> useless.
The early guns - gun mod or not - are indeed pretty useless. Although the
later guns you can make are pretty fearsome - especially when you combine
them with some of the technology improvements. I also think you can get
improved effectiveness by actually aiming at certain bodyparts of the target
by using a particular keystroke combination. But yeah, a gun mod is the way
to go IMO.
> From all indications (strat guides & FAQs), magic & melee seem to
> be the easiest routes to take anyway.
>
Definetely more effective in game terms too. Although the ability to
research your way to advanced technologies sort of evens out the process.
The one thing you have to take into effect though, is that your followers
will never advance beyond a tech level of four. So the player character has
to be able to advance to the highest levels on his own to get full benefit -
just remember you can buy skill books at the college in the main city that,
while in your inventory, will temporarily boost your skill level.
AND GET DOG!!!!!!! He rawks!
<grin>
MJB
> Thus spake "MJB" <mrt...@OLDsguy.com>, Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:53:08 -0600,
> Anno
>
> 'real-time' when I keep setting it to turn-based in options. Then again,
> even at the start of the game my orc warriors are kickin major arse, w/o
> any
> need for my help! :)
>
I seem to recall something similar happening to me too. I don't recall - it
was six months or so ago - if I was able to figure out anything to fix it or
just learned to live with it.
<shrug>
Still a very fun - if somewhat dated game.
Nostromo
> "Nostromo" <nos...@forme.org> wrote in message
> news:rc3gu3hdk14lad12k...@4ax.com...
>> How topical! I just start playing Arcanum the other day, mainly on the
>> work
>> laptop. Never have before (other than a demo) & thought I owed it to
>> myself
>> to compete the Troika triplet :).
>
> That's definetely my feeling too.
>
>> So far, with the latest patch & no-cd, not
>> a bug or problem to be seen. Playing a summoner with guns, though I see
>> from
>> following posts that I may need a gun mod, as I'm finding them to be next
>> to
>> useless.
>
> The early guns - gun mod or not - are indeed pretty useless. Although the
> later guns you can make are pretty fearsome - especially when you combine
> them with some of the technology improvements. I also think you can get
> improved effectiveness by actually aiming at certain bodyparts of the target
> by using a particular keystroke combination. But yeah, a gun mod is the way
> to go IMO.
Fair enough - haven't read up to that bit (targeting) in the mammoth by
today's stds manual. What irks me is only hitting 1 out of 4 or 5 times
when standing right _next_ to a critter. Yeah, I know I'm crap at this
level, but please - I could probably hit more often in RL with my eyes
closed! do I have to shove the gun in the critter where the sun don't
shine to get a clean shot of...? >;-)
>> From all indications (strat guides & FAQs), magic & melee seem to
>> be the easiest routes to take anyway.
>>
>
> Definetely more effective in game terms too. Although the ability to
> research your way to advanced technologies sort of evens out the process.
> The one thing you have to take into effect though, is that your followers
> will never advance beyond a tech level of four. So the player character has
> to be able to advance to the highest levels on his own to get full benefit -
> just remember you can buy skill books at the college in the main city that,
> while in your inventory, will temporarily boost your skill level.
>
> AND GET DOG!!!!!!! He rawks!
Will do - cheers!
--
Nostromo
MJB
"Nostromo" <nost...@nospam.org> wrote in message
news:fs9o96$as9$1...@registered.motzarella.org...
> MJB wrote:
>> The early guns - gun mod or not - are indeed pretty useless. Although
>> the later guns you can make are pretty fearsome - especially when you
>> combine them with some of the technology improvements. I also think you
>> can get improved effectiveness by actually aiming at certain bodyparts of
>> the target by using a particular keystroke combination. But yeah, a gun
>> mod is the way to go IMO.
>
> Fair enough - haven't read up to that bit (targeting) in the mammoth by
> today's stds manual. What irks me is only hitting 1 out of 4 or 5 times
> when standing right _next_ to a critter. Yeah, I know I'm crap at this
> level, but please - I could probably hit more often in RL with my eyes
> closed! do I have to shove the gun in the critter where the sun don't
> shine to get a clean shot of...? >;-)
I really think the inaccuracy / weapon inefficency in the beginning is a
balance issue between magic and technology. Later on - as a firearms master
with a repeater rifle - the character was able to really rip things-up. It
got to the point where I had to stop using the gun and revert to the sword
simply to convserve on ammunition. Because no matter how much ammo I
carried - with two gunners (the gnome technologist) I was sooner or later
going to run-out of bullets. When I took the game off my system I was in
the process of figuring-out how to build the flamethrower...
>>
>> AND GET DOG!!!!!!! He rawks!
>
> Will do - cheers!
Just make certain you save just as soon as you arrive in Ashbury. Because
if you dawdle and don't find dog as soon as you enter the cell containing
him, he'll be gone for good.
The Horny Goat
wrote:
>I remember the combat got very easy if you had enough Tech knowhow to
>make Fire Axes - they did insane damage.
>
>Never did play a mage.
>
>I'll keep track of any replies - I did finish the game (I think) but
>it did have some problems, iirc.
>
>Really, really liked it, though. Would have loved to have seen a less
>buggy sequal.
>
>A good game for theieves, iirc - had some find memories of reaching a
>new town, and heading out at night to rob everyone blind.
Hmmm. I'm going to have to see if I can find my disk - I won that once
as a mage and once as a 'scientist' and then put it away.
The main thing I recall I didn't like is how easy it was to break
certain quests by killing rather than running away from the first
character you met in town and it turned out to be someone critical to
completing a quest.
I've been dragging out some old games lately - on Sunday I won a game
of Civilization II at King level with 'raging hordes' barbarians. I
play most of my games "Bloodlust" (e.g. conquer the world and no
spaceships) and won my game with a Spotless reputation up until the
very last turn where I had previously eliminating all other players
but one then engineered a revolution so that I was no longer a
democracy and could attack and took his last seven cities (including
one on an island - this type of cities are brutal to take when ICBMs
are present and you refuse to initiate nuclear warfare) in a single
turn to end the game with an "Excellent" reputation.
This is a LOT tougher way to play than channeling Genghis Khan and
attacking everyone.
I have tried The Witcher but have been unsuccesful trying to dope out
the combat system. I keep getting killed by the sorceror who has some
bandits working for him that you have to kill first.
WDS
>
> news:c3173353-e405-49ba...@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>
> > The game was fragile while I was playing (under XP). I was using the
> > latest patch I could find (1.0.7.4 or something like that). Part of
> > the problem seemed to be with reading the CD on my DVD drive. Did it
> > use some funky copy protection scheme? Any chance using a real CD
> > drive will work better (I have one that's not connected)? Was there
> > ever a *real* patch to avoid having the CD in at all? Worst case I
> > could put a sound card in my old Windows 98 machine and run it there.
>
> I have a no-cd patch that works really well on my XP machine. Perfectly
> stable and for all the months I played it, perfectly safe.
Well, I grabbed one of the no-cd patches last night and tried it out.
If anything it was worse. What happens in that the game slows down to
slower than a crawl every few minutes. Think about 1 frame every 2
seconds. Even the mouse movement is like that. Then it clears up
after a short time (30-45 secs maybe) and on it goes for a few more
minutes. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with what is
happening in the game, either, as it happened when I was walking
around, looking at inventory, doing a save, talking to someone, ...
I thought it had something to do with the CD because it was accessing
the CD when I first saw it but obviously that's not the case. Any
ideas?
> > Is there any good guide to creating characters beyond the manual? I
> > vaguely remember certain kinds of characters were fundamentally broken
> > because of the game system (either too hard (gun guys IIRC) or too
> > easy (some kinds of mage)). I did a bunch of searches and a lot of
> > sites have dead links for guides and such. I don't want a walkthru,
> > just something that discusses various character creation and
> > advancement ideas.
>
> http://www.terra-arcanum.com/
>
> Best site for Arcanum I've found and it still appears to be active. I think
> the 'character planner' function is exactly what you're looking for.
>
> http://www.terra-arcanum.com/arcanum/old/characterbank/WEB_ACP.html
Terra Arcanum is pretty good but, alas, even it has a lot of broken
(internal even) links.
MJB
>
> Well, I grabbed one of the no-cd patches last night and tried it out.
> If anything it was worse. What happens in that the game slows down to
> slower than a crawl every few minutes. Think about 1 frame every 2
> seconds. Even the mouse movement is like that. Then it clears up
> after a short time (30-45 secs maybe) and on it goes for a few more
> minutes. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with what is
> happening in the game, either, as it happened when I was walking
> around, looking at inventory, doing a save, talking to someone, ...
The one I'm using is titled 'tca-a174'. And I've had zero difficulties with
it.
>
> Terra Arcanum is pretty good but, alas, even it has a lot of broken
> (internal even) links.
Well, IIRC it linked to other sites that are no long-gone. Including the
official Troika website. So unfortunately, Arcanum is going to have to
depend-upon the fan community for support - and that is going to (by
necessity, if nothing else) be oftentimes spotty at best.
<sigh>
I'll email you the stuff I've got on-file if you'd like.
Paula
Arcanum is my all time favorite RPG. I have played it several times and
will play it again. I had no problem running it on XP. I don't recall
any glitches or problems with it at all. I never played a gun person so
I don't know anything about that. It's a fun game. I wish there could
be a sequel!!
Paula
Aeek
>Well, I grabbed one of the no-cd patches last night and tried it out.
>If anything it was worse. What happens in that the game slows down to
>slower than a crawl every few minutes. Think about 1 frame every 2
>seconds. Even the mouse movement is like that. Then it clears up
I remember it being bad if I let the opening graphics run.
Darin Johnson
melee character with some spells, then a more magical character,
then a techy thief. The tech side seemed difficult in several ways.
First it's difficult to get healing; you have to keep making curatives
and such which take up a ton of bag space, and the tech healer
NPC that you can get uses them too quickly. Whereas with
magic I didn't care too much if Virgil wasted mana. So I ended
up carrying all the healing supplies and doled them out when
necessary.
The bandages and heal skill seemed useless. Either buggy
or I didn't figure out the trick. They just healed far too little
damage to be worthwhile compared to a salve or heal spell.
You also don't get the really good tech stuff until very late in
the game. Getting a bit more tech aptitude doesn't help as
much as getting that same amount of magic aptitude it seemed.
A balanced sword just doesn't have the same punch as your
one point harm or fire spells do.
I didn't try for guns, and never brought along NPCs who were
good at guns for long before dropping them.
--
Darin Johnson
MJB
"Darin Johnson" <da...@usa.net> wrote in message
news:ffff943d-95c2-44bb...@i29g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>I never really played a pure gun character. First did a hybrid
> melee character with some spells, then a more magical character,
> then a techy thief. The tech side seemed difficult in several ways.
> First it's difficult to get healing; you have to keep making curatives
> and such which take up a ton of bag space, and the tech healer
> NPC that you can get uses them too quickly. Whereas with
> magic I didn't care too much if Virgil wasted mana. So I ended
> up carrying all the healing supplies and doled them out when
> necessary.
I had the healer just carry the raw materials and make the potions as
required - that way Jana could only use the few completed potions she had on
hand. Plus there are enough Ogryns (and an Orc) you can hire who's empty
inventory made hauling all the crap necessary pretty painless. I didn't
find the technological healing too burdensome. Especially as most of the
materials could be found just laying about.
>
> The bandages and heal skill seemed useless. Either buggy
> or I didn't figure out the trick. They just healed far too little
> damage to be worthwhile compared to a salve or heal spell.
If your character had the healing skill he'd automatically use the bandages
provided they were in his inventory. I don't think the healing skill was
effective if there weren't any bandages - and if you didn't have the healing
skill, you couldn't use the bandages at all.
>
> You also don't get the really good tech stuff until very late in
> the game. Getting a bit more tech aptitude doesn't help as
> much as getting that same amount of magic aptitude it seemed.
> A balanced sword just doesn't have the same punch as your
> one point harm or fire spells do.
I just like guns more than magic. So I tended to concentrate on using them,
even if they weren't as effective as the magic spells.
>
> I didn't try for guns, and never brought along NPCs who were
> good at guns for long before dropping them.
I've played the game that way too. I just seemed like much more of an
ordinary experience that way.
WDS
> On Mar 24, 11:07 am, "MJB" <mrt...@OLDsguy.com> wrote:
>
> > "WDS" <B...@seurer.net> wrote in message
>
> >news:c3173353-e405-49ba...@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>
> > > The game was fragile while I was playing (under XP). I was using the
> > > latest patch I could find (1.0.7.4 or something like that). Part of
> > > the problem seemed to be with reading the CD on my DVD drive. Did it
> > > use some funky copy protection scheme? Any chance using a real CD
> > > drive will work better (I have one that's not connected)? Was there
> > > ever a *real* patch to avoid having the CD in at all? Worst case I
> > > could put a sound card in my old Windows 98 machine and run it there.
>
> > I have a no-cd patch that works really well on my XP machine. Perfectly
> > stable and for all the months I played it, perfectly safe.
>
> Well, I grabbed one of the no-cd patches last night and tried it out.
> If anything it was worse. What happens in that the game slows down to
> slower than a crawl every few minutes. Think about 1 frame every 2
> seconds. Even the mouse movement is like that. Then it clears up
> after a short time (30-45 secs maybe) and on it goes for a few more
> minutes. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with what is
> happening in the game, either, as it happened when I was walking
> around, looking at inventory, doing a save, talking to someone, ...
>
> I thought it had something to do with the CD because it was accessing
> the CD when I first saw it but obviously that's not the case. Any
> ideas?
Well, I figured this out based on some hints I found with google. I
backed off the hardware audio acceleration by one setting and now it
works without stuttering.
Nostromo
Anno Domini:
>On Mar 24, 11:07 am, "MJB" <mrt...@OLDsguy.com> wrote:
>> "WDS" <B...@seurer.net> wrote in message
>>
>> news:c3173353-e405-49ba...@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>>
>> > The game was fragile while I was playing (under XP). I was using the
>> > latest patch I could find (1.0.7.4 or something like that). Part of
>> > the problem seemed to be with reading the CD on my DVD drive. Did it
>> > use some funky copy protection scheme? Any chance using a real CD
>> > drive will work better (I have one that's not connected)? Was there
>> > ever a *real* patch to avoid having the CD in at all? Worst case I
>> > could put a sound card in my old Windows 98 machine and run it there.
>>
>> I have a no-cd patch that works really well on my XP machine. Perfectly
>> stable and for all the months I played it, perfectly safe.
>
>Well, I grabbed one of the no-cd patches last night and tried it out.
>If anything it was worse. What happens in that the game slows down to
>slower than a crawl every few minutes. Think about 1 frame every 2
>seconds. Even the mouse movement is like that. Then it clears up
>after a short time (30-45 secs maybe) and on it goes for a few more
>minutes. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with what is
>happening in the game, either, as it happened when I was walking
>around, looking at inventory, doing a save, talking to someone, ...
>
>I thought it had something to do with the CD because it was accessing
>the CD when I first saw it but obviously that's not the case. Any
>ideas?
No probs with the one I'm using either:
----
This archive contains the files needed both to disable the CD check in
Arcanum version 1.0.7.4 and raise the level cap to 126 (although the files
cover level 127, the real cap is one level lower due to the feature added in
1.0.7.4 of allowing followers to level up once the main character has hit
maximum level).
The arcanum.exe file (which replaces the one in your main Arcanum folder -
back it up first!) is based on the Fairlight/Ali213 fixed .exe (without the
annoying Ali213 popup) which was expanded using ArmKill
(http://reversing.kulichki.ru/files/unpack/armkill.rar) before applying the
generic patcher from
http://brededor.narod.ru/progs/arcanum50patch-0.0.1.zip.
The xp-level.mes file is also needed and must go in the Arcanum \data\rules
subfolder (create this folder if needed) - this was downloaded from
www.terra-arcanum.com
This has been tested by hex-editing a savegame and levelling up.
----
It's zipped to less than 700K, so let me know if you need it. I just tried
http://www.megafileupload.com/ & it's just going around in circles uploading
god knows what - same with http://www.2shared.com/ so I give up. Stoopid
file sharing sites - bleh!
--
Nostromo
WDS
Here's how to do this (Windows XP remember):
start->control panel
(for classic view) double click on Sounds and Audio Devices
(for category view) click on Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices and ...
(for category view) ... then on Sounds and Audio Devices
click on the Audio tab
Click on the Advanced button in the Sound playback area
Click on the Performance tab
There is a slider labeled "Hardware acceleration". Slide it one click
to the left of Full.
jglazier
>
> - Show quoted text -
Anyone know if Arcanum is old enough to be available as freeware? I
guess I can find it on ebay if I must. Does it run well on Vista in
XP compatability?
-=Jeff
WDS
> I played Arcanum when it first came out and while I remember it being
> fun at some point my game got really screwed up and I gave up
OK, after playing for a few days I am remembering some of what I
didn't like about Arcanum the first time. This doesn't make it a bad
game, just a could-have-been-better game.
Random encounters. Ugh. Either they are trivial and don't matter
(ok, 'cept they give me XP) or they TPK me. Everything starts out
right on top of you so you don't have time to react in game before the
combat starts. And you can't run away.
Poor plotting. You can do things in the wrong order. For example, I
found a wizard guy in Black Rock (Root?) who seemed as if he would
join me. He complained that joining me might result in his death
apparently (?) because he was higher level than my character (I was 9,
he was 12). OK, I'll come back later. When I hit level 12 I headed
back and now if I talk to him either I immediately end the
conversation or if I continue it he attacks me. WTF? I check out a
guide and it turns out that I have to talk to him while I am doing a
specific quest (recover gold for the king) or he won't join. I was
playing the game as it led me along so I can't ever get this guy to
join. Basically in order to get the guy I would have had to know
ahead of time that I needed to be a higher level than him AND doing
this quest and so wait to do the quest instead of doing it when it was
offered. I ran into another similar thing elsewhere in the game, too.
Save, save, save... When I play RPGs I don't like to be pulled out of
the game and have to save all the time but with Arcanum you really
have to do that. Death awaits around every corner.
Walk, walk, walk... I want to leave town and in order to do so I have
to walk some way outside of town before I can get to the world map.
Argh! Just walking around town can get tedious, too. The ALMOST
great waypoint system would sort of fix this but it doesn't work quite
right.
MJB
> On Mar 24, 8:24 am, WDS <B...@seurer.net> wrote:
>> I played Arcanum when it first came out and while I remember it being
>> fun at some point my game got really screwed up and I gave up
>> playing. ... I re-tried it and it was a blast.
>
> OK, after playing for a few days I am remembering some of what I
> didn't like about Arcanum the first time. This doesn't make it a bad
> game, just a could-have-been-better game.
No doubt that's true about everything. I bought the 'deluxe' edition when
it was released - the one packed with the Prima strategy guide enclosed in
the box. I couldn't believe how much stuff was going-on in the world of
Arcanum that the designers were trying to cram into one game. So I sort of
give them an 'A' for effort...
>
> Random encounters. Ugh. Either they are trivial and don't matter
> (ok, 'cept they give me XP) or they TPK me. Everything starts out
> right on top of you so you don't have time to react in game before the
> combat starts. And you can't run away.
<shrug>
The Fallout series were the same way. The first time I encountered
super-mutants was in a random - I has pistols and leather armor, they had
flamethrowers and auto-cannons. It wasn't exactly pretty...
I think it's a design philosophy on the part of the studio that goes back a
long way. If you go-a-wandering among the fields of green - be prepared to
be creamed. Can't say I always enjoy the experience - but I do like it a
lot better when you can go where you want on the map and not be locked-out
of certain areas until you're 'good' enough to go there. Admittedly Arcanum
locks off large portions of its map too - but the areas you're allowed to
explore are pretty huge and pretty open. And the map locking is almost
exclusively because of the game's plot.
>
> Poor plotting. You can do things in the wrong order. For example, I
> found a wizard guy in Black Rock (Root?) who seemed as if he would
> join me. He complained that joining me might result in his death
> apparently (?) because he was higher level than my character (I was 9,
> he was 12).
Ahh, Dante. He is a pisser, And his death will result because he was in
exile from Cumbria.
> OK, I'll come back later. When I hit level 12 I headed
> back and now if I talk to him either I immediately end the
> conversation or if I continue it he attacks me. WTF? I check out a
> guide and it turns out that I have to talk to him while I am doing a
> specific quest (recover gold for the king) or he won't join.
That's a tricky one. You meet a drunken outcast who won't let you insult
the king that put him into exile. But when you get a quest from said king,
the outcast is eager to help you in-order to redeem himself and recover his
former lofty position. Once I started thinking about Dante in that way, it
made a little better sense. It's not at all easy the first time through the
game... but Arcanum leaves so much 'undone' that it begs for a another
run-through. I've never played as an out-and-out evil character - so there
are a LOT of characters (ie, half) I've never had in my party. And a lot of
things I've never done - or seen the consequences of either. Like rob the
bank in Shrouded Hills.
> I was
> playing the game as it led me along so I can't ever get this guy to
> join. Basically in order to get the guy I would have had to know
> ahead of time that I needed to be a higher level than him AND doing
> this quest and so wait to do the quest instead of doing it when it was
> offered. I ran into another similar thing elsewhere in the game, too.
There are a lot of roadblocks the game throws-up for how you 'script' your
party. Be good and evil characters won't join you. Be too magical and
technological characters won't join you. Be immediately suspicious of any
characters who WANT to join you - they always have ulterior motives. But I
guess that's also a way of driving replay value - one door closes but
another opens.
>
> Save, save, save... When I play RPGs I don't like to be pulled out of
> the game and have to save all the time but with Arcanum you really
> have to do that. Death awaits around every corner.
How often you save is a personal decision, I suppose. But I have so little
time to actually play a game in the course of a week that I save frequently
just to avoid having to re-do parts of the game just because I made a wee
mistake... I also played Morrowind on a much older computer with much less
memory. The number of times that game CTD without warning, erasing all the
character's progress, sort of cured me of any save-phobia I might have ever
had. Save games are MY friend.
To Arcanum's credit - it does have ONE feature I've never seen in any other
CRPG. You can buy devices that will resurrect a dead character. If you
give one to an NPC to carry in his inventory and the main character is
killed - the NPC will automatically ressurect the slain main character. The
first time that happened, I just about jumped-out of my chair - I was about
to pound the keyboard in frustration when I was back-up and
back-in-the-fight. So while Death does await around every corner - it can
be avoided - sometimes. By careful planning and good inventory management.
<grin>
>
> Walk, walk, walk... I want to leave town and in order to do so I have
> to walk some way outside of town before I can get to the world map.
> Argh! Just walking around town can get tedious, too. The ALMOST
> great waypoint system would sort of fix this but it doesn't work quite
> right.
Towns are always like that in almost any CRPG came I've ever played. I'm
having the same sort of problem right now with Neverwinter Nights - SOU.
Just navigating Hilltop is a pain-in-the-ass. I have to give the designers
of Tarant a lot of credit, though. The streetsigns were certainly easy to
read...
<grin>
Arcanum isn't great, by any standard. It's not a classic like the Fallout
series or even the Baldur's Gate games. But I think it's pretty good and
pretty unique in it's own right. Numerous warts and all.
Ross Ridge
>Poor plotting. You can do things in the wrong order. For example, I
>found a wizard guy in Black Rock (Root?) who seemed as if he would
>ahead of time that I needed to be a higher level than him AND doing
>this quest and so wait to do the quest instead of doing it when it was
>offered. I ran into another similar thing elsewhere in the game, too.
I don't see this as bad plotting. Lots of game have peculiar requirements
for adding optional characters to your party. If you can't do the quest
without the wizard guy that would be a problem, but in a game like this
you can't expect to get everyone into your party.
Ross Ridge
--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rri...@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/
db //
drybones
>Cropped<
Nostromo,
Please send the files to me?
Thanks
dryb...@charter.net
Nostromo
15:03:53 -0700, Anno Domini:
On their way db! ;)
--
Nostromo
drybones
Received with a really BIG GRIN.
Many Thanks Nos.
drybones
Warren
it seems to be a different one as it only references leveling up to 100.
Which file was it that I should be looking for then aws I'd like to
have another go at this game... Thanks.
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Marcos....@gmail.com
"Arcanum.TMP0" file that is 1.960Kb.)
I have a problem with some DLL's, you know what's happening?
Thx!