Gun Toting Orcs and Magical Mayhem! (Arcanum - Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura (PS))

Member Name: Sue Hoskinson

Product:	Arcanum - Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura (PS)
Date:	13/11/01 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Loads of options, tons to do.

Disadvantages: Mapping is difficult initially

Arcanum is different; it’s an rpg that combines traditional magical elements with the newer technology of explosives and guns!
So which do you choose to play? Would you like to be a traditional mage or a gun-toting bandit? With Arcanum you get to choose and believe me the choices are almost endless!

The first choice you have to make is whether you want to create your own personal character or whether to pick one of the pre-fabricated characters that are available. I’ve always preferred to create my own characters so that I get to choose what they can do, but then that’s just me and, as they say, everyone’s different!
Deciding initially whether you want to be a magician or a technologist can be difficult and considering I’d never had this choice before I decided to try technology. I found the amount of choices available rather disconcerting because you only have five points at your disposal to begin with! Each area of expertise is broken down into seven levels:

Novice: Assistant: Associate: Technician: Engineer: Professor: Doctorate.

The realms of technology are:
Herbology: The first item is to be able to create a healing salve; eventually you’ll have the expertise to make an item called Cure All.
Chemistry: The first things you can make are charges; the final item is a Paralyzer.
Electrical: The first item is an electric light; something called a Tesla Rod is the last item.
Explosives: The ability to make Molotov Cocktails is the first item available; being able to create Dynamite is the goal here.
Gun Smithy: Putting together a Flintlock Pistol comes first for this one; to be able to make an Elephant Gun is the ultimate here.
Mechanical: A Spike Trap is the first thing here; creating a Mechanized Arachnid to help you is the best one available.
Smithy: Making Pure Ore is the first thing you learn here; finish your doctorate by making Elite Plate Mail.
><br>Therapeutics: Elixir of Persuasion comes first in this one; a Revitalizer will complete this training.

You can only advance to the next level if you have sufficient intelligence and that costs to increase as well!
You can also put points in combat skills such as Melee and Dodging too and with more experience you can train to improve! Don’t be put off by all this techno stuff; it isn’t as complicated as it initially sounds and with time it becomes very easy to manage.

Now for the story:
You are the only survivor of a zeppelin crash, an old man who looks like a gnome gives you a ring and tells you to find the boy and give him the ring – something evil is coming. He dies before you get the chance to find out who he is or what he’s talking about!
Virgil is the first person you come into contact with and the conversation with him is weird, he seems to think you are the reincarnation of some religious figure and wants you to find his mentor who, hopefully, will have a few answers.
The two main quests seem to be intertwined; discovering whom the ring belongs to and finding Virgil’s mentor take up most of the game. There are hundreds of sub quests that can be undertaken and most of them aren’t too complicated but they do get you the experience needed and sometimes they will put places on your map, which does make it easier in the long run.

This game is very long and takes around 50 hours to complete although I honestly believe that it will take me a lot longer to actually complete it.

Mapping is difficult, you can only see about two screens worth of the map at a time without moving so without an actual map reference or the location you’re trying to find being on your map it can be very frustrating! I spent 3 hours looking for one location before realizing how the system worked, you can click on an auto travel button to where you want to go and it will take you there
– you would probably never find it otherwise!
The town maps are quite good, whenever you highlight a shop or address it is marked by a question mark on the map overview, a definite plus when you can’t figure exactly where to go next!

Game play is governed purely by what choices you make, some quests are only available to males and vise versa but they seem to even themselves out!
Some characters will react negatively to you if you follow the technology path and others seem to prefer it! It really does come down to how you want to play and what you want to happen!

Combat can be turn-based or real-time depending on how you feel and there are three levels of difficulty available. You can fight real and fictional enemies such as Brown Bears and Orcs as well as Bandits and Ghouls! It’s a simple point and click system so there isn’t anything else worth mentioning about this.

My overall reaction to the game is positive and it’s definitely worth playing, the characters are completely different to any other rpg that I’ve played. There is an unusual feel to the way they’ve combined real and fiction, the towns are filled with nobles as well as the usual dwarves and elves but it works really well – how many games like this do you get the chance to travel around the countryside in a train?

UPDATE
I’ve added a few notes just for your information, I’ve not tried them myself so I can’t say whether they’re any good!
Firstly, there is a multi-player option within the game where you can play via a LAN or on the Internet. The instruction manual has a complete chapter on how to set up for playing this way.

Finally I’d like to add something about the magic that is available within the game – I didn’t put it in originally because the character I selected was to use technology, anyway this is what I’ve found out so hopefully it wi
ll give a more rounded overview of the game!

Magic is broken down into 16 categories and there are 5 spells within each. Willpower is required to advance, much like Intelligence in the technological side of the game.

The magic categories are:
Conveyance: This College holds spells that deal with motion and transportation such as Disarm.
Divination: This College concerns itself with gathering knowledge through magical mass; one of the spells available is Sense Alignment.
Elemental (Air): This College holds spells that manipulate the air and wind such as Poison Vapors.
Elemental (Earth): This College deals with spells of earth and stone such as Stone Throw.
Elemental (Fire): This College is the manipulation of fire and heat such as Wall of Fire.
Elemental (Water): This College uses the manipulation of water and ice and includes Call Fog.
Force: The College of Force contains spells that manipulate and direct pure energy such as Bolt of Lightning.
Mental: The Mental College attempts of influence and control minds by using spells like Charm.
Meta: The Meta College contains spells that affect other spells like Disperse Magic.
Morph: This College changes the substance of its target, for instance Weaken.
Nature: The College of Nature controls plants, animals and natural forces using spells like Entangle.
Necromantic (Black): This is the Evil College and contains spells like Harm.
Necromantic (White): The other side of the coin and contains spells like Minor Healing.
Phantasm: This College deals with spells that concern the control of light and illusion, such as Flash.
Summoning: This College concerns the summoning of creatures of progressive power such as Hellgate.
Temporal: The control of the flow of time is the primary concern with this College and contains spells such as Stasis.

I know it was long, sorry, but hindsight made me add it! I know I would have preferred
to see all the options available.

If you’ve managed to get this far then I thank you for being so very patient – it got too long again, I’ll have to learn how to stop rambling won’t I!!

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