Finished Arcanum

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Yes, I teared it apart. For those interested what I did, this is my spam on it.
If you finished it too, feel free to post your status at the end.

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I played as Half-Elf Educator (Natural Teacher).
Reached level 43.
Got blessings: Arbalah (initiated in crash spot cave), Toussande (Tarant), Brigitte (Stillwater) and Ultimate Power (three circles of pagan gods + one above them all).
Got no curses.

Got these skills:
Apprentice: Spot Traps, Haggle, Heal, Disarm Traps
Expert: PickPocket, Persuasion, Repair, PickLock
Master: Dodge, Melee

Spell Colleges: Conveyance and Necromantic White (all spells)
Tech Disciplines: NONE

MagickTechMeter: 11 on Magick side (couldn't got it back to 0 )

Alignment: 100 (good)

Party members on finale: Dog, Sogg, Virgil, Jormund, Raven, Franklin Payne and Arronax himself

Just a note: the NPC Wildfire suggested me to pick in Tarant (some tech I can't remember a name) SUKKS!!!
He dies constantly although he is very high level. I just lost experience trying to get somewhere with him - and finally I had to remove him from the party.
If you want a good tech in your party, I suggest you to concentrate on Franklin Payne (available in Black Root when you're supposed to go to Thanatos).

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Unfinished things:

1. Never got the sword from Ancient Maze. But also never got 2000 gp from the similar spot in another ruins.

2. Never found Amulet of N'Tala.

3. Never collected enough essences from Vol'ars Wisp - instead of solving it, I pickpocketed the prize.

4. Never found a proof that machines heavier that air flew.

5. Avoided messing into Tarant/Caladon relations.

6. Although I killed blue bunny in one of random encounters (Stillwater Giant in fact) - I never found out what am I supposed to do in random encounter with Vorpal Bunny. IMHO it is just an Easter Egg (Fallout).

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I remember someone mentioned somewhere that Arcane Great Sword is the best sword in the game. It is NOT!

The best game sword is wielded by Bane of Kree (Void). It is Torian Kel's Ancestral Sword:
Speed: 27
D: 10-25 (+10)
FT: 1-4
TH: +10 (+21)
Magic Power: 62%

However, this sword you can get at the very last stage of the game (evil heroes can in fact get Bane of Kree in the party - I killed the bastard).

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It is true, the game has it's bugs. Trust me, there is no critical bug that would prevent you from finishing the game.
The only bug annoyed me is the one with Magnus negative reactions. I haven't known at the time that you can avoid it with ordering him to wait (while you do something he is not fond of, but should be), so watch it out if you have him in the party and want to keep him.

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Finally, this game is far better than I ever expected. The store to buy it is open. What are you still waiting for?! *glower*

 

I noticed you said in another thread that Arcanum is Fallout 1 & 2 + PS:T all in one. Is the story for Arcanum that good?

 

After making so many characters and doing the beginning for every single character, Arcanum got pretty boring for me and I could never bring myself up to play one of my characters.

 

Lol. Same thing here SG. I did the same thing. I most have tried aleast 5 different Chars.

 

I don't know, I've tried out only two character already and I'm content with my second creation. The game would be far more interesting character creation wise if they at leats gave the option of making more than one party member. But all said, I'm happy with my choice.

 

BTA...ROTFL

Capstone, the story is kickass! It has some turn-overs (can't find a proper word). There are points in the story that change your previous beliefs.
Besides, there are sub-quests that in fact introduce you to the complete world of Arcanum - the place of choices.

To Shadow_Goddess and Thalantyr: I started with one hero - and NEVER restarted. I played it with that hero till the end.
Try to make a choice next time you play. That is the way of finishing this game. Don't weep for a possible mistake. If I did that, I'd probably restarted after I increased my STR. But no - ok, I increased it, it is a mistake, but I'll continue. And then I got two quests where my good STR was needed. See?
This is not some BG. You can be anything - and you choose it from playing style through the game - not at the very beginning of the game.

And, I forgot to mention above - I've collected 9 fate points thru the game. Of those, I used only one - to lockpick one door in the void (with gnomes).

 

First of all: Magnus rocks! He deals out the most damage in my group just now, and rarely dies.

Second of all: You can proof Flying Machines exist by getting a camera and taking a photo of the crashed plane in the crash site.

Third: I saw an amulet of N'tala on someone, but I can't remember where just now, nor who.

Fourth: Magnus rocks .

Fifth: Get Sebastian, he is an excellent techie. Level 30 when you pick him up, 4 points in explosives and electricity tech disciplines.

Sixth: I don't see how you got such little XP, I am level 44 and only just re-starting the Dark Elf city (I accidently quicksaved after doing something stupid).

Seventh: So when's your walkthrough coming?

Eighth: Woohoo! Congrats

P.S. Magnus rocks

 

Wildfire, where is that tech of 30th lvl?
I picked up Magnus but I'm lvl 30 and he is lvl 9 because I came to Tarant only after I finished Dernholm, Black Root and the city which starts with an A, whatsthename...

 

I started with a tech dwarf.. played it for awhile, but the bugs corrupted my saves and it was simply unplayable.
Waited for some patches and now playing slightly magical half-elf and enjoying alot.

Why not setup an Arcanum forum in here? Is it because it's not D&D? Just in my opinion you should consider it.. most of the people I know who have played BG, Planescape.. PoR.. also play Arcanum and I am already packed up with tons of questions
Not in the mood to find a new backbone page for help in those difficult moments RPGs give. Back to Tarant sewers ->

 

First off Elendil, the city you keep on forgetting the name of is Ashbury .

Second, the level 30 techie bloke is called Sebastian. You can only get him if you have found Quintarra. Spoiler:

You meet a person in Tarant, I think his name is Mr. Willoughsby or something like that. If you talk to him, he will first give you a quest to bring Caladan into the alliance between Tarant and Blackroot, but only if you have good enough persuasion skills. He also tells you about the trouble there was in the boil. He tells you about an undercover agent of his called Sebastian working in the boil. If you go to the bar in the boil, talk to Sebastian. He tells you he is willing to help you if you help him. You will have to kill Darien Maug (One of the gang leaders) in the Boil. Then he will join your party.

Thrid: Pretend, you got it exactly right. Tal doesn't want to create an Arcanum board as it is not d&d which is fair enough.

Fourth: I have also heard that if you play with Alergic to Magic as your background, then at one point in the game, you cannot proceed any further in the plot due to a bug.

[This message has been edited by Wildfire (edited October 14, 2001).]

 

arcanum gets way faster boring that ps:t or fallout

 

Wildfire, I haven't said that Magnus is not great. He is! I said only he is bugged so I had to drop him - instead of restarting the game. OK? How do you think I finished it so quickly?

Your tech (Sebastian) is lame. My tech is level 35 when you pick him up. My tech is not complaining when you do good things. And the best - my tech NEVER died. Your tech died in almost every fight of mine. But, suit yourself. As I said, I finished the game. You bought the game a month before me.

Spoiler more for your tech: you must kill BOTH gang chiefs. Not only one. At least that was in my game.

I don't care for flying machines proof. Was it obvious I'm not playing tech nor I want anything to do with techs (except repair skill, it is more handy than I thought)? But mister, I want that damned Amulet!!!

Little XP? I don't understand your HUGE XP. I really took and played every single quest I could find. Hmmmm, maybe you took more random encounters.... Want my saved game?

Walkthrough will be done when Tal opens a space for Arcanum here. I certainly won't write walkthroughs for other sites.

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To pretend: Just post your questions here in Whatnots forum. One by one please.

 

Congrats Extremist. Do you still got a life (tm)

To answer the question of your amulet: It can be pickpocketed off the elf in stillwater who asks you to find the stillwater pelt. You can kill him for it too off course, but do so after you got the location of Qintarra from his sorry ass

I'm still at the part just after the return from Qintarra to Tarant, just was to often in chat instead of playing this great game. (The Addiction!!) And restarting seven times wasn't much of a help either.

Did you dudes know I never finished Baldurs gate I, Baldur's gate II or PLanescape Torment either? Must have been the same restarting fever which is bugging me know

EDIT: Wildfire and Extremist, maybe your difference in experience gain had to do with Extremist playing on hard, and Wildfire on Easy, thuss earning less and more experience respectively.

[This message has been edited by Igneous (edited October 14, 2001).]

 

Played an evil elf pure pure pure mage.
sheltered childhood, female

stats
strength: 0 (set as minimum of 1)
constitution: 18
willpower: 18
intelligence: 20 (can maintain 5 spells at once)
dexterity: 8
perception: 9
beauty: 8
charisma: 8
health: 100+ i think
fatigue: close to 200 (pumped the remaining character points into it)

skills
none

magic
all black necro
all white necro
all summoning
all meta
conveyance: disarm & unlocking cantrip
elemental air: up to body of air
elemental earth: up to wall of earth
elemental fire: agility of fire
elemental water: purity of water

im a plain mage period. i take no crap from anyone, im evil. killed magnus cos he was rude. killed the sheriff of shrouded hill cos he was a wuss. killed the king of caladon cos he was rich. killed all of stillwater cos i wanted to join the dark elves. killed stringy pete for his ship and his arcane sword, helm and shield. killed all of tulla cos they wouln't let me in. killed anyone that pissed me off basically.

for the amulet of N'tala i killed the elf, took the amulet, then conjured spirit and wouldn't let his spirit rest till he told me where quintara was (didnt need to go through the stillwater giant crap).

when in shops i cast 5 purity of water to max out my beauty (the shopkeepers love me, cheap good yeah!)
in fights my main technique is body of air self (melee attacks amost useless against me, urgh, 1 damage, urgh 1 damage), open hellgate or summon ogre guard, cast strength of earth and agility of fire on them or my familar, sit back and watch.
against mages cast reflection shield. against many oppenents cast wall of stone around myself, summon stuff outside the wall and watch.

so magic cant touch me (reflection shield), melee cant touch me (body of air or wall of stone), guns cant touch me (wall of stone), reflection shield doesnt block my summoned creatures... im pratically invincible. until my fatigue runs out anyway.

only prob is with strength zero i cant lift the lightest of objects (got around that with strength of earth though). and i die at the slightest scratch...which never happened.

oh, and im gonna help that guy destroy Arcanum, muahaha!!!

 

Arkados, I luv ya!

See guys what you can do in Arcanum? Use your imagination!!!


[EDIT]
Just spotted XP note... No, I was playing moderate. Not easy nor hard. Hard is next

[This message has been edited by Extremist (edited October 14, 2001).]

 

Oh, and the most powerful sword in the game in my opinion is the Bangellion Scourge!! (at the Bangellion deeps which stringy pete points out when u say u wanna help him. killed him anyway though. spoiler: cast disarm on him and his skeletons. their hp is like 200-300 and mondo damage resistance, but without their weapons they deal *drumroll* zero damage per punch.)
Bangellion Scourge 10-35 damage i think, thats nothing much. but with every attack u get either harm, poison, lightning, or quench life. awesome.... gave it to evil virgil (he killed Joachim, i let him do the honours) and he's killing everything before i can get into view.

The blade of unholy fire is awesome too. 10-30, chance of 30-50 fire damage. but it damages the wielder and his armour like anything, so give to a healing melee guy like virgil or dante and give him dread armour.

The sword of viscious haste is also awesome, but is really damaging to self. 10-35, speed +4, chance damage to self.

I loooooove hexed items. (helm of evil too! -20 alignment +20 magic aptitude)

[This message has been edited by Arkados Blackmire (edited October 15, 2001).]

 

Well I collect techies like books so

The experience difference was probably due to the difficulty setting. Or due to Extremist's general incompetence in finding quests j/k

You only have to kill Darien Maud to get Sebastian. Even if he is a lower level than you, he is still very useful. The flow spectrometer for example is very useful, and you don't to waste slots on your main character for it. If only he could get up to docterate level in it, then I could get my Tesla Gun.... /me sighs

Magnus is great, especially at the Iron Clan.....
He never dies in my game. First to go was Dog. He was great, but slighlty unrealistic. The dog managed to damage an automaton severly without and damage to itself, which is very strange. I have no idea about Franklin Payne, as I haven't got that far, but undoubtably I will get rid of him. I'm going to try and get Raven too, as I heard she has an interesting story and you can have a romance with her, which is much better than most the NPCs who just sit around not saying anything.

BTW: co-ordinates of the Ariel Decapitator, a very good throwing weapon, probably the second best in the game is at 750 556. Very nice weapon, so I've heard.

[Edit] Ok, ok, I thought the techie guy that Extremist said that was in Tarant was Magnus, so I apologise. But I haven't had sebastian long enough to really form a good opinion of him, so I'll just keep quiet about him. [/Edit]

[This message has been edited by Wildfire (edited October 14, 2001).]

 

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I was searching Google trying to find a solution to my woes and this thread came up. And I just feel like venting my anger out.

Trust me, THERE ARE critical bugs, and THEY WILL prevent you from finishing the game.

In fact I've hit one such bug.

I can't get to Caladon.

The reason is simple: I did some quests out of order. I was being sneaky in Tarant, broke into the Hall of Records at night, and got the quest to find "Horror among the dark elves" FAR sooner than I was supposed to (naturally I didn't know THAT at the time). Being intrigued I tried pursuing it further, got the Tsen Ang book from the library, and made my way to Ashbury. Spoke to the author, who had nothing to say. I eventually just forgot about it.

And NOW I'm stuck, completely and hopelessly. I no longer have the Tsen Ang book, and as far as the game is concerned it probably no longer exists. Its author is saying nothing. I can't get Caladon to appear on the map, and I can't get there by ship. I can't walk into the part of the continent where it's supposed to be (according to walkthroughs). I can't do anything.

I could of course start the game all over again, for the third time. I am not doing that. I would have if it was a great game, or even a good one. Up to now it's been average at best. Crappy interface, crappy AI, crappy combat, and THE worst movement system ever to grace a CRPG. It's a shame really, because the game had so much potential, with one of the most interesting premises for an RPG. The Victorian setting really worked for me, and is the main reason I kept going despite the game's numerous flaws. But this does it. I can't even find an editor to give myself the book, or move myself directly to Caladon, and there are no cheat codes in the game. I just feel like I've wasted all these hours on a PC game, and that is pissing me off.

Sorry about the rant folks.

 

Sorry you had such problems with the game, Zaid. I've actually played it several times and enjoyed it. I have found very few bugs. There is a character editor available but not afaik an editor for CLUAing in stuff. My major complaint with the game was the handling of NPC's so was delighted when I found the Character Editor.