Regarding the permadeath of important NPCs, I think the “new” approach of having party members autorevive after combat (as in Mass Effect) just removes the tedium of reloading and replaying encounters. As Tim wrote, a large majority will probably reload if Virgil dies in the beginning.
I do agree that the auto revive approach removes the sense of adventure somewhat. There should be a middle ground where your party feels more mortal. Otherwise you’ll just end up treating them as damage sponges in combat.
Over the years game developers have improved about game design, with clearer and more useful interface, integrated tutorial in the game, less stupid and annoying little problems in general, more “in-game scene” and less external cutscenes, less ways to break a game and having to reload a saved game from three days ago, etc. Games are less frutrating, smoother experiences.
But this, combined with the new way of designing game (focus on narrative, scripts, set pieces, etc) have become a problem. I will put an example. Yesterday i watched the 9 min. video of Bioshock and they make great emphasis in the “Big Sister” and how she is scary and the biggest danger for the player, she is cunning and whatever…
The truth is, the video shows the typical scripted moments where from time to time the Big Sister makes an entrance, the lights flicker, she moves fast and it seems she is going to attack, but she only look menacing, in the end she dissapears, afer throwing some object or sabotaging a part of the scenario.
And the problem is, IT DOESN’T WORK. The scene doesn’t work, I know i am not going to fear her, not even try to kill her or try to stop her actions (like when se break the glass and you walk in the ocean). Because they are all scripts, and because i am a seasoned player and i know how game developers works these days (see first paragraph) i know they aren’t going to kill me in the game in a scripted scene, because that would be BAD design. I have meta knowledge about games and game design which impedes my enjoyment of the game. I know that important npcs (both friendlies and enemies) are usually immortal, i know my life is not in danger in the spectacular (read: scripted) scenes, i know that there aren’t going to be nasty surprises or real problems in the first half of the game because all have been designed to comply with a smooth and controlled difficulty curve, etc etc.
HL2 and HL2 episodes (i was playing them for a 2nd time not much time ago) are also examples of this problem. Polished games, but perhaps too polished and controlled for their own good?
The answer is right there. That balance between traditional levels of challenge and modern advances in gameplay and player reward has been hit in this game. You need to start constructing a rationale for a PS3 now.
So has anyone bought this on GoG.com yet? I thought I’d go through my “old games box” and find the original, just so that I could have the manual and map and whatever else it came with in my hands, but alas, this might have been one of those games which I lent to my friend and never got back when I moved away from Seattle.
Does anyone know yet which version is GoG.com selling? Is already patched up? Will I need to install unofficial patches and other things myself (probably)?
Well, I’ll see later tonight, in case I’m the only one here who is getting the GoG version.
I am sure gog version comes patched with 1.74 patch and you have to install unoficial stuff manualy. Myself I will pass since I still have my retail version.Would like to give it a playthrough after I wrap up Dragon Age too.
This link still works. So I downloaded and applied the unofficial patch.
This link no longer works. It sounds like he has let his site fall apart a bit, and no longer hosts some of the files. The first one was a link to RPGCodex, so that one still works. The second is a link to his website, which no longer has the files. I guess I’ll have to digging around a bit.
Ahhhh… Arcanum. I rather liked that one. You know, you think there really would be more steam-punk themed games.
Between this and Planescape, I’d love to see some sequels or whatnot. After X-Com though, of course. That’s the A-number-one priority. Let’s not lose sight of that.
So I started the game and made it to the first town. I accepted the quest to clear the thieves on the bridge, but they’re way too strong for me, I don’t think I have a way to scrape together 1000 gold, and I don’t have the skills to persuade them to leave. Am I just screwed? I think I’ve done all the quests west of the bridge already.
First of all, you can try hiring Sogg Mead Mug, since he almost certainly has much better combat survivability than you do. Secondly, you can set yourself up as a grenadier and saturate the area with high explosives (grenades, Molotov cocktails). It’s a bit cheesy and a borderline exploit, but that fight is horribly unfair anyway.
I actually started a new character. A Gnome with no combat skills to speak of. Planning on Maxing Persuasion, Gambling, and Pickpocketing and maybe Lockpicking. (Virgil has that skill already so maybe not) Already got a posse to kill idiots for me. Mostly going this route because I dislike the combat in Arcanum. I may still give him some gun skills to shot things later down the road…
I managed to get by the bridge (by killing and looting a level 12 shaman in the first area, who for some reason is nowhere near as tough as a level 3 wolf) but I’m probably gonna do the same thing. Definitely not a fan of the Fallout-style combat in realtime or turn-based.
Edit: WTF. I can’t be a female gnome or dwarf? Do they breed asexually?
I was super-psyched about Arcanum back in the day. Then I bought it on release day and I don’t think it ever grabbed me. I remember I played a ways into it, but I don’t think I ever finished. I think I’ll pick it up on GOG for $6 and see what it’s like with all the fan patches and widescreen hacks. It still looks really interesting.
Arcanum also makes me glad that most games have done away with the unavoidable death is potentially around every corner so quicksave compulsively or face the consequences type of gameplay.
Resurrecting this thread after having grabbed Arcanum at gog’s recent $2.99 sale, and patched it up to high res. Never tried it before.
Roguefrog are you out there? Did this build work out? I’ve heard so much bad about Arcanum combat that – even though this is my first stab at the game – I was going to try a non-combat approach. Or is that ill-advised for a first timer?
