Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

[Schadenfroh]

I recently purchased Arcanum because of the good track record of Troika / Black Isle Studios.

What is your list of "essential" mods / unofficial patches for this game? Any tips (without spoilers) that I should be aware of before I start it?

Update:
It appears that the final version of the Unofficial Arcanum Patch was recently released (July 8, 2008)
http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/...&postorder=asc&start=0

 

[shortylickens]

None.

Sorry, played it when there were no mods (or not easily found) and got through it just like that.

Please post back if you find any that are good.

 

[DSF]

How's the game? I've never heard of it.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
Please post back if you find any that are good.

After updating to the last official patch, I found this community made unofficial patch. It seems to still have a following, as it was released May 10, 2008:Q

Originally posted by: DSF
How's the game? I've never heard of it.

I have not played it for any significant length of time, but it is made by the people that made Fallout 1 and 2.

 

[imported_protoz]

Wow, there are still making patches for this game? I might have to reinstall it.

It was a really cool open ended RPG where looks matter and I could make an NPC go from loving me to stabbing me in a single dialog tree.

The combat system was a bit weak but nothing to really get too worked up about.

RIP Troika

 

[Izzo]

Wow, haven't heard of that game in a long time. Overall, I had a pretty good time with it, but it seemed like it was almost too big and in depth (if that is possible). Going to new cities wasn't as fun as FO and FO2 just because they were so damn big and so much to do. I found myself getting lost and wondering what to do next.

IIRC, guns were way more powerful than anything else. So being a tech guy instead of a magic guy was a lot easier. But patches and mods may have changed that.

 

[mundane]

Tangential, Arstechnica had a short article on the Steampunk genre in games, with a brief mention of Arcanum.

Edit: Bought and played the game when it came out, and was disappointed given the developer's previous work.

 

[rstrohkirch]

I liked it and thought it was better than fallout 1/2 though most people don't.
Most people hate the interface and the way combat works but I never minded it.
What really got me was the huge open ended world with the steampunk backbone.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

The only mod I ever had any use for was the guns rebalancing mod. It was less about balance with other weapons though, more about making the hard to create high tech guns actually remotely worthwhile.

Tipwise:

If you're gonna hit things with a stick/sword/axe, be sure to get strength to 20 ASAP. I think it has to be natural (background and race modifiers only) 20, but if you get it, your strength damage bonus doubles. Mix that with a fast (1 ap) weapon (dagger of speed), and you're instant blender.

Always get expert training in your preferred weapon type ASAP - the speed factor bonus is a big help. And always invest in training whenever and wherever you can, it's always a big help.

Fate points are for pickpocketing. Don't use them for anything else.

Don't stray too far at first - while the later combat can be disgustingly easy, you can easily run into enemies far too tough for you early on.

 

[bullbert]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
None.

Sorry, played it when there were no mods (or not easily found) and got through it just like that.

Please post back if you find any that are good.

Well, not sure about your definition of MODs, but check out

http://www.terra-arcanum.com

specifically the 'download' page. LOTS of stuff including a category called 'Arcanum Modding Tools' and many many 'Modules'. There is even a *still* active forum including a
'Modding and Scripting Support' index. I believe that website had been around for several several years. Too bad 'shortylickens' missed it. I am sure I found it via google (or maybe altavista back in those days) although I could have followed a link from mikesrpgcenter.com which I am sure I found via some web search.

I have not replayed it for a couple of years, but I do remember using a level uncapper mod, and using a mod to personally edit my favorite followers' level-up schemes.



I checked my old old Games\Arcanum files and found a Terra Arcanum 'Article'
-
Editing follower level-up schemes and AI
by Zewy, posted August 30th, 2001
-
but I quickly checked terra-arcanum and did not see it. Maybe it is still stashed away in some archieve. DOH! There is almost the same thing at
http://www.terra-arcanum.com/p...php?topic=518&forum=11



Anyway, if you like real CRPGs like Fallout or Baldurs Gate (or even the current crop of watered-down ActionRPGs) you will most likely really like Arcanum. GREAT game. I think it was made by some of the same folks that make the original Fallout. Install the latest official patch. Skim the manual or the webpage official and unofficial FAQs. (your choice to install mods) PLAY AWAY!



Personally (if I remember correctly) I played a Halfling 'Raised by Monks' stealthy fast backstabbing thief who used my level-ups to master almost all the Skills (why? because they were there ) and stayed close to neutral tech/magick early in the game to use the Magick enchanted rings and armor early in the game and leaned toward Tech later in the game to use the neat tech stuff (rings, helms, armor) my NPC made for me. I left my modded NPCs to level-up in Magick Healing (Virgil) for early game and to level-up in Technology (oops, semi-SPOILER, Jayna Stiles, Magnus, & Sebastian) for middle and late game. That is just me, though.



Ow! Ow! Ow! You are twisting my arm! Making me remember! Making me want to re-install and play Arcanum again

EDIT: added a semi-SPOILER note about my 3 favorite NPCs. (can I 'white-en' text in this forum, requiring you to highlight spoiler text? oh well, not a big spoiler)

I am kind of surprised that those fan websites still exist (after 7 years), and even more surprised that forum users are still semi-actively discussing this old classic CRPG. More proof that the click-monkey console fanboys have not killed the PC gaming market. Say what you will about those console click-monkeys, but I still believe them when they claim I need to buy a new $600 video card every 6 months in order to play good PC games. :disgust:

 

[misle]

I was looking to get this game a little while ago, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

So, anyone know where I can get it?

 

[bullbert]

Originally posted by: misle
I was looking to get this game a little while ago, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

So, anyone know where I can get it?

gogamer.com has an import version for $18. I am not sure if the import version differs than the US version, but I believe that is what the '(I)' suffix means on gogamer. It was a <$15 48-hour sale item a couple weeks ago. The 48-hour sale might be one reason why the renewal of interest in this game.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Well, I am rerolling as a magic character. I keep running out of money because I have to keep buying ammo. Any idea if my good / evil rating comes into play for the spells? Necromantic black looks good, but I plan on playing a good character. Will my harm damage be impacted by my character's good demeanor?

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Black necromancy isn't impacted by alignment, no. But do yourself a favor, go for the magic tree with disintegrate as well.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: PhatoseAlpha
Black necromancy isn't impacted by alignment, no. But do yourself a favor, go for the magic tree with disintegrate as well.

Noted, but I hear disintegrate eliminates all of the items on an enemy as well, so I take it that I should only use it on nonhumanoids (I have yet to see a nonhumanoid drop an item)?

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

It's been a while, but that seems accurate. By mid game though, most enemies don't have anything worth worrying about anyway.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Are both the vanilla install and the Carcanum mod too tricky for anyone else? In vanilla I get killed by sewer rats in the first cave and in Carcanum any number of crazy spawns kills me in the very beginning zone.

 

[Schadenfroh]

In vanilla I get killed by sewer rats in the first cave

Common for level 1s in any cRPG.

I must say that this game is excellent, I have put several hours into this and they really did a great job with this game.

The modding community is very dedicated as well, the main guy behind the unofficial patches (add no new content, just polish / fix the game in Troika's vision) released an update yesterday! I bet Troika never imagined to still have such and active and dedicated following for that game after all these years.

Unofficial patch link:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=23720

 

[Schadenfroh]

This is making me angry. How do I access the magical abilities of my items? The manual on the CD's PDF has such low resolution pictures that I cannot see anything on them and the text descriptions tell me to refer to the figure. I would love to be able to channel some of the mana from my items to negate some fatigue, but the button that I suspect of being my magic item button is unclickable (I suspect that the grayed out circle with twin circles on each side save the right side directly adjacent to the hot key mapping buttons on the left is the magic item key). I have 4 magical items (with mana pools) equipped.

My screen basically looks like this:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070411/Arcanum.jpg

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

IIRC, it should pull magic from equipped items automatically if you've got them equipped. Just cast a spell as normal Though, what are you four magic items equipped? I seem to remember only staves and the rare magic weapon as of having magic pools.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I was mistaken about what I thought was the mana indicator. The percentage is just the percentage of the potential of the effects that you are getting at your current magic level.

 

[Schadenfroh]

If anyone is interested, the guy that maintains the Unofficial Arcanum Patch has released his final version. It came out yesterday (see the OP for a link).

 

[astrosfan315]

Played through it years ago and it was a fun play through, but not anything that I'd consider replaying such as any of the BG series or Fallout series.

 

[DefDC]

I remember really digging the story. The combat was meh... This'll be a good game to run on my older laptop. Thanks for reminding me!

 

[Schadenfroh]

I just finished the game, it is excellent. I suggest that anyone who is a fan of story driven cRPGs give it a play through despite the aged graphics.

However, be sure to use the community patch that I linked... without patches it is fairly buggy.

It is a shame that Troika is no more (thanks Activision!) and that there is no hope for an Arcanum 2.