To be fair to Arcanum in terms of companions Baldur’s Gate 2 was really the watershed moment in terms of how companions were treated in RPGs. Arcanum released less than a year after it and so while development timelines were shorter back then I doubt they had much time to adjust and get influenced by BG2. Fallout 1&2 doesn’t have it much better in terms of fleshed out companions.
(Fallout 1/2 combat had many issues by modern standards, but it was definitely much more refined than in Arcanum).
I would definitely recommend FO 1&2 easier than Arcanum and with fewer caveats. Maybe that’s just because I think they are fundamentally better and more important games than Arcanum though and so they are more worth suffering through some jank for. They still have a fiendishly retro interface that is quite clunky and the combat is not great, especially without mods. There is some really questionable encounter design in there and they both suffer from tremendous RNG heavy potential misery and loads and loads of reloads. Not least with random encounters.
Also the first few hours of Fallout 2 are absolutely miserable. It’s still one of my favourite games of all time though.
I played the Multiverse Edition which had a bunch of patches and fixes integrated. Including HD I believe.
I think the world building is pretty good, at least parts of it. There is some disappointingly boilerplate Tolkienesque fantasy in there, but the conflict between magic and technology is well realised and interesting and feels grounded in the world. The steampunk aesthetic is cool and I like the Victorian racism angle they’re doing with half orcs and ogres. I liked the newspapers and there are some interesting quests, like the half ogre conspiracy. I thought the peace negotiation was going to end up being absolutely amazing but in the end it is just an anticlimactic stat check.
The combat is absolutely atrocious in every possible way, from balance to animations and whether you play turn based or real time doesn’t really matter, both are horrible. It’s quite possibly the worst AI I’ve ever seen and every fight is just every creature mashing into eachother until one dies. I don’t think anyone or anything has special abilities or different AI behaviour. You can’t use Mage followers because they don’t use their magic, opting instead to charge into melee with their fists or staves.
The tech skills are the most interesting and unique aspect of the game, but involves a horrendous amount of parts collecting, crafting, inventory management and over-encumberance for very little rewards.
The companions feel extremely bare bones by modern standards and it’s extremely disappointing that none of them even get ending slides. I liked Virgil but not even he got any sort of closure at the end.
The main story was okay, it had some twists and funny moments like with Nasrudin. The whole “life was a mistake” angle by the BBEG felt a little tired to me, but maybe if playing Arcanum was the first time I came across that concept it would have blown me away.
The actual writing itself is not bad in terms of the prose and dialogue etc and the game has some funny moments.
The vast freedom you get with character building is probably the best part. I like how varied you can make your characters, although I don’t know that all builds are viable. Props for following the example of Fallout 1 and 2 and including specific “dumb dialogue”, even though I didn’t go for that personally. Having to balance tech and magic with your character build is a fun concept.
Overall I understand why it has its cult following and I’m glad to have played it, but it’s hard to recommend it to people unless they have an extremely high retro game/clunk tolerance.
Thanks to the design documents being leaked back in 2007 (I think) and the original designers being open to contact from some dedicated people, there are actually a couple of fan made attempts at creating what would have been Van Buren. I know of both Project Van Buren and Fallout: Yesterday.
spoilerThe Fountain right? I assume it’s on the east side lawn, but I haven’t found any way to open a door to the outside on the east side. I’ve been through the Garage on the west side. I have found the pump room and drained as much of the reservoir as I could, but there is still a touch of water at the bottom preventing me from going down there and both tanks are full, as are all rooms. No idea how to empty the last bit. I thought it was opening the tap in the kitchen to drain the water, but that doesn’t seem to affect the water level…
I will throw in another vouch for this series. It is exactly what you’re looking for. I haven’t played any of the more recent entries but I’ve heard they’ve been received very well. Total War: Rome 2 is a classic, but for something more modern I’ve heard only good things about Three Kingdoms, though I haven’t played that one personally.
and I’m shocked at how much there is. I thought I was going to get somewhere this run.
spoilerI look like I’m stuck, I assume the gear puzzle can’t be solved first time? I can’t figure out how to move the mine cart. And maybe drain the reservoir? Is this supposed to happen? It looks like there is another entrance from the Tomb (though I’ve never even seen a tomb when drafting!). Am I on to something? Am I not supposed to be able to get further this run?
You kind of have to just bumble around for a bit and take notes on everything and hope it starts making sense later. I’ve been playing it like “take notes and screenshots first, ask questions later”. The roguelite part and the puzzle/mystery part sort of play out in parallel.
My final tip is to actually not see it as a roguelite. You don’t need to just have luck / better insight for a winning run, every run is a new moment to investigate new stuff and attempt new things, not to get better at doing the same stuff like other roguelikes. I hope I’ve explained this well.
Exactly this. You start out thinking “oh okay, its a roguelite and I need to get to rooom 46”. But that’s not actually the point and once you realize there is more depth to it you start seeing value in every run, even those that never get close to rank 9.
At least that’s been my experience so far, and I’ve yet to even enter the antechamber myself.
And there are those who have it even harder than YOU. Everyone’s station in life is different. They are allowed to experience that.
I’ve never understand the logic of the people who espouse that line of thinking. Is only the one single person alive who has it the literal worst out of all the billions of living human beings allowed to feel bad, and everyone else is obliged to look at them and say “well it could technically be worse so I guess I’m not allowed to feel bad”?
Wholly agreed. In general the concept that “you can’t patent an idea” or “you can’t patent a general concept” is supposed to be at the heart of patent law. I think some of these game mechanics parents, like this and the Nemesis System, go against that too much.
I could probably have made the antechamber last night if I had picked up a pair of dice I missed and found on the way back. But I’m kind of glad I didn’t as there is so much unexplored and unexplained still.
I’m loving it, but definitely also constantly second guessing whether I’m smart enough for this game haha. Especially when you come across a problem and can’t work out whether you’re supposed to wait for the clue/solution to turn up later or whether it’s something you’re supposed to be able to solve but are being too stupid to notice/connect.
How far in are you in terms of Days/time played. I’m at about 12 hours and 12 days played.