Arcanum thread

Interesting

>there will never be another RPG where the madmen developers give unique dialogue to every NPC if you kill them and use the speak to dead spell.

You can beat the game with every single NPC you meet dead, or without killing any sentient creatures at all.

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>every NPC
Lol you didn't play the game. Generic NPCs have generic dialogue when you revive them where they just scream and beg you to release the spell.

Tech gunslinger/grenadier.

Pickpocket the Handcanon off that one Halvling guy that talks to you on the bridge. You won't regret it.

In Terent

Obviously generic NPCs don't count. Every named NPC has dialogue as far as I know.

I've only played vanilla apart from general fixes, but I'd probably recommend balance mods since literally anything's better than the horrifying vanilla experience. The balance is all over the place, and not in the fun or silly kind of way but the "one of the first unlockables skills / items for one playstyle is the best unlockable in the entire game so there's no reason to use anything else ever" and "the entire playstyle is so hilariously underpowered that you will never ever have any fun with it" variety.

All sorts of magic are overpowered as shit with small investment even disregarding Harm spam, whereas guns need ridiculous investments into several different stats plus very high level crafting skills and even then there's only one gun in the entire game that doesn't completely suck ass. Tech itself in general is a complete clusterfuck since merchants only randomly stock vital blueprints or crafting parts, in contrast to magic where you don't need anything apart from a level up to add another destructive or utility spell into your repertoire. Melee is also silly because the first smithable sword is arguably the second best weapon in the entire game, and you get a guaranteed blueprint for free.

Talkers and inventors who plan to rely on party members also feel like they get the short end of the stick, as the game uses a retarded EXP system where the amount you get is heavily influenced by how much damage your character personally deals. Party members themselves range from ridiculously overpowered to completely useless, especially spellcasters whose AI is retarded and mostly just whacks enemies in close combat rather than actually using any of their spells.

Do any mods fix the party AI?

>gnomes

I wanna play a gunner with some first aid skills, how well is that?

Lads, I'm gonna say it
B
.
.
Bl
.
.
BLACK
BLACK MOUNTAIN MINES

Thanks friend.

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fuck that place did they even QA that shit
>here's a maze full of the hardest enemies in the game in your beginner levels
>it doesn't get any harder for the next 90% of the game

Where my necro bros at

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You called?

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Maybe they only tested it with ranged characters, explosive builds, the invincible goD backwards, and arcane weapons

>the dog
I have never seen such a missable, overpowered and permanent companion in any game ever
What the fuck were they thinking?

>imagine not exterminating every g*ome you meet
fucking disgusting

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Start of the game I end up walking to a town
Have no idea what to do
I haven't played it since

the best part of this game is where you realize its terrible and you uninstall it
it's amazing

you should probably stick to your smash/cod/fifa/whatever
you're clearly unfit for games that requie using your brain

>establishes the friendship between nature and mankind, tying well to the theme of conflict between magic and tech
>establishes the gnomes as the primary antagonists to both good and evil characters
>shows the player the possibility of missable quests and characters
Seems good to me.

Charisma is broken as fuck

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Nice elf propaganda

>but what about the dark elves? t-those are your real enemies, h-human!
go home, gnome

Oy vey! Remember the 6 million vendigrothians!

How the fuck did raimi get away with the half-ogre sidequest?

arcanum is single most redpilled game I played
>you can learn dark terrible truth about financial elite of the world
>it doesnt matter because they alredy controll the public and nobody gives a fuck anyway

when that game came out gaming was still somewhat nishe hobby for kids and nerds so nobody gave a fuck

people had already freaked out over mortal kombat years earlier

Thanks. About once a year, I try getting back into this game. One of these days, I'll actually play the game for longer than a week.

>explicit gore vs vague political stuff
hmmmm

In Arcanum's case it's a missable side quest whereas Mortal Kombat is all about brutalizing people 100% of the time. Harder to find and no immediate graphic shock value.

Fair points. However, I suspect that quentin tarantino movies would be much more controversial if he took out the violence and replaced with theming that seemed anti-semetic.

All dwarf melee party, max persuasion

He may be overpowered but he killed himself attacking a fire elemental less than 10 minutes after I recruited him. Who cares.

They tested it with a Harm spam build and a Pyro Axe, no doubt about it. Any other weapon type will break into a million pieces after five attacks and hammers suck orangutan dick.

arcane weapons do ok

based

Arcane weapons are high tier random loot. I remember getting fucked with those pitiful early Magick version weapons.
Unless I'm remembering wrong.

I fucked around randomly and found an arcane mace too early in the game, so it seemed like enemies and locked doors stopped damaging my weapons randomly

If youre going tech, try out a therapeutics build. Therapeutics is the most OP tech collehe - if you know what you are doing

Totally agree - specifically since they have all these weapon devouring enemies in a REMOTE FUCKING LOCATION.

Throw that shit in P. Schuylers or something where I can quickly replace my weapon - or better yet not at all since disintegrating weapons has NEVER been a good game mechanic.

This is interesting, might try it on my next playthrough. I always find I get bored on tech playthroughs once I start dumpster diving to prep for the Black Mountain Mines

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Any of the idiots who'd get into an outrage about it never did the quest.

Obviously you said "every NPC." Get fucked nerd, go watch youtube since you obviously don't play games.

But someone can get offended about it when they find it in a walkthrough or somesuch.

What are you supposed to do with it? Temporary +2 stats is not much.

Links fucked for whatever reason. Tried disabling browser extensions and still won't work. Anyone got a mirror?

nevermind, works now

Generic NPCs are all the same NPC so actually their dialogue is unique, sweetie. I guess you don't know how videogames work.

This is a really good summary of Arcanum's balance issues, I'd also add that Tech is gimped by the Intelligence requirement - even though Int doesn't effect your ability to use tech items.

While a mage cranks up his Willpower to be able to cast high level spells he is also increasing his Fatigue (aka Mana). In contrast if you want to shoot or throw any tech item that relies on completely different skills/attributes. It makes "inventor" characters less fun because they have to burn like 12 points on what is essentially a useless stat.

>he thinks its only +2

You poor, poor, naive child.

Master ALL therapeutic schematics and you get:

+6 dexterity, strength and perception
+4 everything else

Add in Two charged rings, and you get TEN Dexterity. Basically put, if you have base 8 dex, just learn therapeutics and make 2 rings, and you dont have to waste points in dexterity.

How did they get away with such blatant anti-Semitism?

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>level 56

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You need two things, Harm and lots of mana

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>mixed magic and tech
>not keeping them seperate but equal

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>I feel like playing arcanum again but this time I'll make tech build for once
>5h later
>full battlemage build
it's like stealth archer build in skyrim

You can get Sebastian as a party member and he can make you 2 charged rings for free.. by that time though, you're about to go to Caladon.

HAY HAY PEOPLE

Gunslinger every time

If you go for a melee or tech build, the minimum magic that's good to have is Vitality of Air to Purity of Water. They're not affected by your magical/technological aptitude and basically give you +4 points in Strength, Constitution, Dexterity or Beauty. Each spell has a maintaining cost of 1 mana, so that's like 4 mana to raise all 4 stats by 4 each. It's pretty useful so you can put your points elsewhere.

I'm just playing it up because of autistic roleplaying.

Lord Mandalore here

if you havent played this game before youtubers made vids on it you're confirmed zoomer

hey man, no one told me about it

The guy who made the Unofficial patch is making a new patch. He says one of the planned features is adding playable orcs and ogres. Although he's asking people to give money for this patch.
terra-arcanum.com/drog/uap.html

oh shit

>playable ogres
idk how I feel about this one

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you can already play as half-ogres

>positive rep
>He didn't assassinate the King of Caladon, King of Dernholm, Mayor of Black Root, every single gnome you can find and the hunters (sure it's technically not evil to do so but, Raven is a qt 3.14, and with 20 CHR I get the qt dark elf too) for shits and giggles
Playing the game wrong hombre.

Every time. I could stomach finding schematics, buying books and being comparatively weaker, but the inventory management nightmare broke me. It's way too much work finding and carring clutter.

Best playthrough comin up.

>> be gnome
>> get 20 charisma for 5 followers
>> max persuasion
>> max barter
>> max gambling
>> max mental
>> high/max constitution for fp
>> Heal from White Necromantic
>> Ogre from Summoning
>> max conveyance
>> max willpower
>> black necromantic for undead pets

- win all persuasion checks
- buy items dirt cheap
- gamble rare equipped items from shopkeepers and npcs
- summoned pets and followers + charmed monsters are your army so you don't have to fight
- teleport all over the map instead of taking trains and walking

>g*ome

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>>> be gnome

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>be gnome
buddy
>using ogre

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>be gnome

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UH, ALL THE GNOMES OR GNIGGERS AS I LIKE TO CALL THEM, GET OFF THIS COMMUNITY BECAUSE IT'S FOR HUMANS ONLY, UNDERSTAND? CAUSE IF YOU DON'T I WILL MAKE GNOMES SLAVES AGAIN!!!

Around gnomes, guard your homes.

How did you get the Falchion before getting banished? I thought you couldn't come back to Arcanum.

Ok...

>> be dwarf
>> max firearms or melee
>> max dodge
>> dex 16
>> perception enough for firearms and/or thrown
>> max smithy
>> max explosives
>> max gunsmithy
>> few points to electric for charged rings
>> few points to mechanical

- build the best rings and helmet possible as early as tarant
- dig through the fucking trash like a trash panda collecting rusty sprockets, nails, and junk materials from shopkeeps to eventually make the best weapons/armor
- make badass items with schematics
- blow up all of the things with explosives before they get to melee range
- blow open locked doors and chests

I'll allow it.

There are certain tricks you can do to get back to Arcanum. It usually involves using magic or magic scrolls.
The only way I know of is using/casting dominate will on a boat captain and bringing them to be banished with you. Once banished, talk to them and they will teleport you back to Arcanum.

is there a way to get rebanished?

Thats true, but charged rings is only three points in electric.

Charged Rings, man. That was real technology.

Summoner also does well.

>when the main villain talks you into joining him

That's true. Magic in general is pretty rad.

I love this game so much. Time to replay again

He wasn't that bad of a guy. He had some valid points.

I don't know, it might not be a good idea to listen to Kerghan THE TERRIBLE.

>GNIGGERS
>not gikes
one job

I love how you show up in the void and the evil guy you're hyped up to go fight is harmless and good.

Please give it a chance. It takes a little patience but its rewarding especially if you dont spoil yourself. What problems do you have with it?

he's baiting

It all stems down it being Nasrudin's fault. He hid in his little cabin on his little island and let all the retards act in his name. I wish I could have sold info on where he was hiding to the Tarant newspaper so he could see what the MC had to put up with.

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he's samefagging

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Tech is nice since your followers can also use and benefit from your inventions. It's generally not nearly so powerful as magic, but I can see why on a societal level it can be powerful. A few scientists can equip vast numbers of people with powerful mass produced tech like guns and grenades to overcome the few individually powerful mages.

It still means magic is the better choice for yourself though because you can still get powerful magic gear easily and you generally can't have an army of followers to arm with your tech weaponry (inb4 steam arachnid army vs. permanent magic mind control or summons).

I'll note that magic does benefit highly from items. It's easy to blow through your fatigue and have to guzzle potions. Potions and multiple mana staves help mages keep their spell casting up without being kicked into 0 fatigue and losing consciousness for the rest of the fight.

not to mention the clockwork allies you can make

Healing automaton is the only party member I need. With DBT's patch that fixes them obviously. I don't think I've ever done a run where I didn't abuse master prowling asap. Forcing the mountain pass to Caladon as soon as I leave the crash site is second nature to me at this point.

Unironically diffrent times

Prowling is pretty damn strong.

Master Prowling is absolutely absurd.
>Can run while prowling
>Light has a basically negligible effect on your prowling
And my personal favorite, that I've abused in every playthrough
>Abusing the ability to complete drop out of sight in combat with my LGR or in order to backstab certain NPCs
It's even more ridiculous when you realize you can literally skip the entire master quest and just have him train you right after meeting him the first time.

Stealth was pretty solid in many RPGs then.

The only thing I hate about Arcanum is how even if I assassinate the King of Caladon or Dernholm perfectly with absolutely no way of knowing I did it the game is programmed to automattically have their entire towns turn hostile to me when I change maps out of the castle. Kind of makes even bothering to not just kill everyone en route a waste of time.

That's a fair point.

And in Dernholm's case they fucking hated the guy anyway, so I did them a favor. They should have cooled down after Lianna announces Maximillian is coming back to take the rightful spot on the throne.

>forcing the mountain pass to Caladon as soon as I leave the crash site
>you can literally skip the entire master quest and just have him train you right after meeting him the first time
How? To both of these.

If I mindcontrol an NPC and have them give me their stuff, what ways are there to turn them non hostile and willing to normally talk to me again? If I teleport away and come back later will they have calmed down?

>king has such strong connection with his realm that everyone instantly knows when something happens to him
thats deep dude

>He's so incomptent they can feel the economy improve the instant he dies

Well for Prowling you still have to have Expert Training but you can get that in Caladon too but after that just go talk to Albert Leek, have a couple drinks with him and ask for training once you sober up because you've identified him as the Prowling master while drinking with him, bypasses the whole dumb find my notes quest.
As for forcing locations, you just need to know the coordinates and fast travel as close to that spot as you can, in this case for the mountain pass to Caladon its: Gorgoth's Pass @ W1498 S1443. If you force it as early as I do(right after the Crash Site) do not try to fight anything, you just want to force the locations asap. It's safer to have at least apprentice prowling an no other companions when you try to for the first time though.

That's a hell of a route.

Is there some way to turn the towns non hostile eventually?

Anyone make the banana bread?

Nope. Caladon and Dernholm are basically dead to you because every NPC will attack you on site from then on. It's only worth doing if you are going to side the the Dark Elves because you gotta wipe out Stillwater for them too. Which then locks you out of Quintarra and Tulla as well. I wonder if it could be patched to just remove that trigger that goes off on either King's death though, that could work. Wish there was a way to plant something so another NPC gets blamed more though.

Based thread

God now I'm remembering when I got absorbed in creating custom backgrounds just to jazz up the gameplay.

I'm playing a gnome. How do I join the illuminati to start subverting the other races?

now that's some advanced autism

>remastered never ever
>sequel never ever
>OpenArcanum release never ever

Reminder that tranquilizer rifle is the scumbag's weapon of choice.

Why not use Bangellian Scourge?

Doesn't it make you evil automatically like that one helmet you find in Ashford castle?

You should probably try not to fit in this hard.

That might have been my favorite run, just tossing status grenades, knock out gas and tranq'ing bitches. I felt like fucking batman. Add in 20+ dex for the bonus AP in Fast Turn Based/Turn Based Mode and I had "prep time" too lol.

>Doesn't it make you evil automatically
so?

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>tech thief
>reverse pick pocket homemade bombs into peoples pockets