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Almost Perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First for the stuff that I did like. Firstly this game is huge! You get alot of hours of play for your dollar. Go to their website just to see how long it take to walk arcoss Arcanum. I like how character creation (reminds me of GURPS) lets you do whatever you want. I also like the fact that there is rarely one way to do anything. This means that you don't have to figure out the soultion that the desiners thought was good, but one that makes sence to you. This is the best that a computer rpg can do. For example, I saw someone accedently lock the only door to a building in such a way that he couldn't unlock it, so he blew up a window with a grenade and climbed in the side. I also like the lack of focus on brute force and inorance so common to many rpgs. (Inflict more pain on the problem until the problem aleviates.) You get points for completing "quests" as well as killing stuff. (and I'm not talking about Diablo type quests where the object IS to kill stuff) Although, you can still play a big dumb ogre if you want. Summoner had a good swing at this non-combat gameplay, but arcanum does it better. Of course, you DO have to fight, but the focus is more on storyline/puzzle solving. Replay value looks to be very high too, because you can't get though the same way with different characters. In fact, you'd be hardpressed to get though the same way with the same character. And there's bound to be a bunch of stuff you missed anyway.
Now for the stuff I didn't like. What you may notice very quickly is that the user manual for this thing is terrible. No table of contents, no index, and very fluffy. What this amounts to is you not being able to find the one thing you want to know. (like what's this big green button on my interface for? or is there anyway to get my whole party to stop fighting?) Now, the gameplay graphics are just fine, but the gameplay animation is bad, and scrolling is a pain. The game window won't follow your character around, YOU have to follow it around everytime they move offscreen. One again, the focus is not so much on combat, so this is ok. I would love to see an Arcanum II with a decent manual and graphics reflective of at least 2 years ago. I couldn't think of any computer game players that wouldn't want it. But if you're all for gameplay over glitz and don't mind reading the manual stait though several times, you won't be able to stop playing!

Now this is a fun game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I cannot emphasize how much fun this game is! Turn-based, real-time, you can choose. Go straight for the end goal, or goof off with minor quests, go ahead. I've played it for over a year, and I still am discovering new stuff.

Very promising

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: May 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I played the Demo for this game, and I have to say that this it was very impressive. I liked this game's reputation system which in my opinion is alot more involving than "Fallout". The reputation system is involving because it is based off of your actions, race, and weather you are a Technologist or a magician, for example, if you are a Half-Orc who likes to use the technological disciplines, you won't be able to get any help from a magic using Elf, this is definatly better than "Fallout's" reputation system which was only based off actions. The character generation is also interesting, you get to create a character that you see in your own image. Each race has all their character points already set, does this sound disappointing? Well, even though you can't change character points, you can choose a background, one feature that wasn't featured in "Fallout". You can choose a background to your choosing, the backgrounds you can go to being a person who ran away from a circus to a mad scientist, some of these effects stats, skills, and reputation, while others only give you a special item at the beginning, such as inheritence where you start out with twice as much money than any other character, but it only effect one stat that is somewhat important. Even those these features are very interesting, it did lack a veriety of locations for the Demo, and the release date for the finished game has been irritadingly canceled. I hope to see the finished game soon, it's going to be great ! :)

Plenty of better CRPGs

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: September 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Lots of neat quests to keep you going, and the landscapes and cut scenes are really graphically impressive. However, character graphics/animation is sloppy. Only text based conversation with most NPCs--those that are not considered main characters to the story. Inventory management is difficult without more "stackable" items, and no "quick transport" from site to site without forking over 75 gold pieces a head or more to ride the train or sail in a ship. Overall, I'd rather play Diablo 2 or Baldur's Gate.

An innovative RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

i bought arcanum when it first came out, and it sure was worth it. i have been playing lots of ad&d games, and they are all the same. If you are sick of the same old thing like bg2, bg1 etc, definately buy this! It has a very in depth plot/story line, when i was done i thought i had read a f---ing book! The only bad part of the game, is the very limited control over the other characters in your party. The ally npc's are f---ing retarted, constantly picking up every useless item they find.

The game features several very detailed cities though that even rival the bg2 city (what's it called? Amn?).

The game takes place around like the mid 1800's so thats pretty much where technology is at, but you can choose to be a magick user or a technologist. Kind of like adding another dimension to the alignment scale.

You can also choose to play as many different races, and choose between dozens of different backgrounds, which help decide how people treat you throughout the game.

Very good game, very much worth buying. Very good. . . . very good. . .. .

Great RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game has to be one of the best RPGs made to date. One thing that is cool about this game is that as your character evolves the people in the towns will react differently to you. Also when you create new characters the game experience will be different for each one.

Not the latest or the greatest graphics...But still the best!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Arcanium is an older PC game but not at all out of date, and you don't need a trillion gigabit, super custom graphic card, quadruple pentium processor monster PC to play it. Yet I have not played a RPG any bigger, grander in scale or as open ended as Arcanium. You travel from place to place mostly by steam engine, or you can, if you like, walk through the vast wilderness between one city or quest to the next, occassionally fighting various wild animals or monsters along the way, but it could take literally days non-stop to do so. But its just cool to know the spaces in between are really there and not just a concept as in Baldur's Gate and other RPG's.

But the best thing about Arcanum is its sence of humor about itself. For instance you can go to a certain house of ill repute to gain quests or just for fun. You pick from a bevy of lovely ladies (or fellows), each having their own traits. With one, I recall, the lights go out and when you awake on the floor all your health and mana are drained to nearly empty due to the wild style of this particular vixen. In this same brothel you can actually choose a sheep...I did (hey,I had to try it!). I think the sheep had little love hearts flowing from it when the lights came on.

Fairly Accurate

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: May 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Arcanum is expected to be a very good game. It was created by the makers of Fallout and its less worthy sequel, and all hopes are high. I myself, however, have not played the game, or a demo of it.

For all who might be reading, I wrote this report in response to the one-star, near sighted review around here somewhere. No game deserves to be vindicated for its release date, and it is very likely that Arcanum will be a very good RPG. Please EDUCATE yourselves before writing a review that can condemn a genre, and the result of the very hard work of a group of artists and game makers. I saw the same about Myst 3, and Myst 3 was awesome, if you can stand the annoying puzzles.

I recommend, personally, that you find out more before you order this game. Good things were said about Fallout Tactics, and that game was terrible. I'd wait till the real reviews.

Good ideas stretched too thin

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: February 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I could talk forever about this game on what it did right and what it did wrong, but suffice to say it's a good game, but nothing special. It was an incredibly ambitious project for a tiny development team -- they wanted you to be able to be a human, elf, dwarf and more; fighter, wizard, thief, technologist, and more and any combination of those; and good, neutral or evil -- all in an incredibly huge game world that includes both real-time and turn-based combat, multiplayer and the ability to construct your own gameworld.

Well that's very impressive. But they didn't quite pull it off.
What happens when you have such a huge project like that and such a small development team is that everything gets stretched THIN. You have good parts here and there, but a lot of stuff that is pretty average and needed a lot more work. The combat system is bland. Many of the towns feel ... empty. And probably the most disappointing thing, the dialogue lacks the witty banter from the Fallouts. In addition to being fairly humorless, you're typically only given the chance be polite or to pick a fight. The best parts of the game are the areas right along the main story path.

But where Arcanum fails to live up to Fallout the most is just in the feel of the game. The atmosphere isn't there. Something about Fallout -- the sound of wind blowing across the desolate wasteland, the eerie music, the feeling of dread while walking through the failure of human civilization, feeling utterly alone at times -- the whole thing felt REAL. When you started up the game, you were in it. Arcanum does not replicate that feeling.

great non linear game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you hate linear games,you will love Arcanum.You can play at
you're own pace. The different directions you can go or countless
You will spend hours and never get board.This is a must to play.
A fantastic game with great graphics.

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