EPT![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/HKQVT.jpg)
I believe I need to draw attention to this old, beautiful game. Arcanum is a game I was lucky enough to randomly stumble on years and years ago, and if I had not, I would have missed out on one of the most original and stimulating games I've ever played.
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I am very poor with descriptions so I will do my best to describe what I think is important, but along the way I will be posting snippets of writing from a forum member named, "ForceflowX" whom I do not personally know, but I like how he approached the game.
First things first, Arcanum is a steam punk-fantasy RPG designed by much of the same people who created Fallout, Troika Games and published by Sierra Entertainment. The game was released in North America and Europe in August 2001. The beautiful part about this game in my eyes is how open it is. The game is entirely open ended and non linear. What you did 40 hours ago, can directly affect what happens to you in the moment your in.
I would do this game a serious injustice if I tried to explain how diverse it can be and how many options there are in this game, so instead of trying to list them all, I will list how it works.
For your character alone you have,
Races
Races
Eight different races, all with different advantages and base stats.
Human - Typical humans. No bonuses, No flaws.
Elf - Quicker and more beautiful, but weaker and frailer. has an aptitude for magic and a technical deficiency.
Dwarf - Sturdier and stronger, but clumsier and less charismatic. Very good with tech, but horrible with magic.
Half-Elf - Elf, with lesser versions of the same bonuses and penalties elves have.
Gnome - Frail, but strong-willed and good at dealing with people.
Halfling - Weak, but agile and with a knack for sneakery.
Half-Orc - Strong, tough, good with melee combat, and resistant to poison, but ugly and uncouth. Also, people dislike you.
Half-Ogre - Very strong and resistant to damage, but ugly and dumb as bricks. People really dislike you.
Gender:
Gender does have a mechanical impact on your character.
Background:
Background is absolutely huge. Backgrounds give you bonuses and penalties to your character, and are neat little bits of flavor.
For backgrounds, I will quote ForceflowX, "
I'm too lazy to type all of the descriptions out, but I'll list the names,
Raised By Snake Handlers
Apprenticed To A Blacksmith
Raised By Elves
Raised By Monks
Child Of A Hero
Inheritance
Special Person
Professional Knife Tosser
Apprenticed To A Shopkeeper
Born Under A Sign
Extreme Personality
Bookworm
Bully
Elven Blood
Hyperactive
Army Training
Sheltered Childood
Troll Offspring
Ran Away With The Circus
Raised In The Pits
Feral Child
Sickly
Beat With An Ugly Stick
Lady's Man(Male Only)
Raised By Orcs
Charlatan's Protege
Educator
Escaped Lunatic
Idiot Savant
Barbarian
Nietzsche Poster Child
Sold Your Soul
Day/Night/Sky/Nature Mage
Agoraphobic
Hydrophobic
Afraid Of The Dark
Magick Allergy
Arsonist
Bandit
Technophobia
Only Child
Frankenstein Monster(Male Only)
Mad Doctor
Miracle Operation
Dark Sight
Sent To Charm School(Female Only)
Debutante(Female Only)
Supermodel(Female Only)
Tomboy(Female Only)
Bride of Frankenstein(Female Only)
Clanless Dwarf(Dwarf Only)
Foppish Elf(Elf Only)
Dark Elf Follower(Elf Only)
Disenfranchised Gnome(Gnome Only)
Halfling Orphan(Halfling Only)
Factory Escapee(Half-Orc Only)
Suppressed Orcish Looks(Half-Orc Only)
Tough Hide(Half-Orc or Half-Ogre Only)
Freed Bodyguard(Half-Ogre Only)
Wild Half-Ogre(Half-Ogre Only)
Rare Half-Ogre Birth(Half-Ogre Only)
Raised By Snake Handlers
Apprenticed To A Blacksmith
Raised By Elves
Raised By Monks
Child Of A Hero
Inheritance
Special Person
Professional Knife Tosser
Apprenticed To A Shopkeeper
Born Under A Sign
Extreme Personality
Bookworm
Bully
Elven Blood
Hyperactive
Army Training
Sheltered Childood
Troll Offspring
Ran Away With The Circus
Raised In The Pits
Feral Child
Sickly
Beat With An Ugly Stick
Lady's Man(Male Only)
Raised By Orcs
Charlatan's Protege
Educator
Escaped Lunatic
Idiot Savant
Barbarian
Nietzsche Poster Child
Sold Your Soul
Day/Night/Sky/Nature Mage
Agoraphobic
Hydrophobic
Afraid Of The Dark
Magick Allergy
Arsonist
Bandit
Technophobia
Only Child
Frankenstein Monster(Male Only)
Mad Doctor
Miracle Operation
Dark Sight
Sent To Charm School(Female Only)
Debutante(Female Only)
Supermodel(Female Only)
Tomboy(Female Only)
Bride of Frankenstein(Female Only)
Clanless Dwarf(Dwarf Only)
Foppish Elf(Elf Only)
Dark Elf Follower(Elf Only)
Disenfranchised Gnome(Gnome Only)
Halfling Orphan(Halfling Only)
Factory Escapee(Half-Orc Only)
Suppressed Orcish Looks(Half-Orc Only)
Tough Hide(Half-Orc or Half-Ogre Only)
Freed Bodyguard(Half-Ogre Only)
Wild Half-Ogre(Half-Ogre Only)
Rare Half-Ogre Birth(Half-Ogre Only)
That is just the very first character screen, the very, very, first.
Upon creating your character, you then have five points to spend in your attributes. There are a ridiculous amount of things to spend your points in, but there are eight different stats. There is,
Stats:
Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Beauty, Intelligence, Willpower, Perception, and Charisma. All of these will directly influence how people treat you, and how your game plays, and how your character is built.
Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Beauty, Intelligence, Willpower, Perception, and Charisma. All of these will directly influence how people treat you, and how your game plays, and how your character is built.
There are also sixteen skills in four different groups. The groups are Combat, Thieving, Social, and Technological.
Skills:
Combat - Bow, Dodge, Melee, and Throwing.
Thieving - Prowl, Pickpocket, Backstab, and Spot Trap. ( as a side note, if you do pickpocket + pick locks, you can literally break into any shop at night and steal their wares if your good enough. )
Social - Gambling, Haggle, Heal, and Persuasion.
Technological - Repair, Firearms, Pick Locks, and Disarm Traps. Putting points into Technological shifts your aptitude to tech, however.
from ForceFlowX,
Aptitude:
Speaking of magical/mechanical aptitude, I should explain that now. In Arcanum, magic and tech are opposed forces. Being proficient in spells will make it harder for tech items to work on you, and vice versa. Now, this is a blessing and a curse, because it applies to everything, from the spell or gun that bandit just threw at you, to the healing spell or salve your teammate is using to keep you alive. You can balance it by taking both spells and tech skills, but most people like to dive into one or the other.
Speaking of magical/mechanical aptitude, I should explain that now. In Arcanum, magic and tech are opposed forces. Being proficient in spells will make it harder for tech items to work on you, and vice versa. Now, this is a blessing and a curse, because it applies to everything, from the spell or gun that bandit just threw at you, to the healing spell or salve your teammate is using to keep you alive. You can balance it by taking both spells and tech skills, but most people like to dive into one or the other.
There are sixteen different colleges of magic to work from.
Spells:
The colleges are Conveyance, Divination, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Force, Mental, Meta, Morph, Nature, Necromantic Black, Necromantic White, Phantasm, Summoning, and Temporal. Each containing five spells.
The colleges are Conveyance, Divination, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Force, Mental, Meta, Morph, Nature, Necromantic Black, Necromantic White, Phantasm, Summoning, and Temporal. Each containing five spells.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/Uh2ft.jpg)
To counteract the spell colleges, since everything is set magic versus technology, technological characters have, disciplines.
Disciplines:
The disciplines are Herbology, Chemistry, Electricity, Explosives, Gunsmithy, Mechanical, Smithy, and Theraputics. There are less disciplines than college's of magic, however each discipline has seven things to learn.
The disciplines are Herbology, Chemistry, Electricity, Explosives, Gunsmithy, Mechanical, Smithy, and Theraputics. There are less disciplines than college's of magic, however each discipline has seven things to learn.
And that is just during character creation.. Some other things to note,
-The game has a 24 hour day/night cycle, which can be fast forwarded if you sleep.
-The game's map is monstrous
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/SiY0Q.jpg)
My personal favorite part of the game is the music. I forgot to include this in my original post, but this games scoring is so beautiful and elegant. As a composition major, take my word, these are brilliant pieces!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftvpi-6Z6qw
Important Edit - If you are interested in playing it and are down about the bugs, go to http://www.terra-arcanum.com/ there are unofficial community patches that fixed and polished the game up.
So, in closing, I have a few things to say ; How many of you fellow TLers have played this game? And how many want to?
