Arcanum Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura Portraits

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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Game Walkthrough May 23, 2012 Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Guide and Walkthrough By Steven W. Carter scarter831@earthlink.net Last Updated February 10, 2004. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 01.00 Introduction 02.00 Character Creation.01 Backgrounds.02 Races.03 Genders.04 Notes.05 Suggestions 03.00 Companions 04.00 Masters and Experts. Is there a way to play this in a window or do I need to get a refund?:/ hopefully the former, I missed this game and Gog just doesn't cut it for me as a gaming platform. Sucks that so many retro games can only be found there. BUt thats beside the point. A small pack of portraits I made for use in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. The images themselves aren't mine, I just manipulated them slightly and set the proper formatting.

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Party Members

The Main Character

You were one of the passengers aboard the airship HSS Zephyr when it was shot down by Molochean Hand ogres. Amidst the wreckage, you encounter a dying gnome who gives you a strange ring and implores you to 'find the boy'. Not long after, you learn that you are in fact the reincarnation of the Panarii hero Nasrudin. So begins a journey that will soon determine the fate of all Arcanum...

  • Action Girl: If female.
  • Badass Normal: If one hasn't made any investment in magic or the technological skills that opens up possibilities for making stuff.
  • The Chosen One: Or so does the prophecy imply.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Can be played as one.
  • Guile Hero: With the Persuasion skill.
  • Multiple Choice Past: You can give yourself a more general background, or pick from several pre-made characters who all have more detailed backstories.
  • Science Hero: Possibly.

Virgil

A young initiate of the Panarii religion, and your first party member. He's the one who tells you about Nasrudin's prophecy and your role in it. Although kind and loyal, there may be more to his past then he's willing to tell...

  • The Atoner: He made 'friends' with a really bad lot, was a thief and a gambler. This eventually led to his brother being killed. Virgil joined Panarii religion and ever since tries to atone for his sins and death of own brother.
  • Back from the Dead: At certain point, he will leave the party to sort his own personal business. When searching for him, he player will find his dead body, killed by group of thugs he was 'dealing with'. There is always nearby spell and technological means to bring him back.
  • Badass Bookworm: Both trained with melee skills and White Necromancy.
  • Combat Medic: He is a decent fighter and and can support your party with his Healing Hands.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: He used to be a thief that ran up a huge debt to the local mafia, who eventually decided they'd forget about the debt... after they killed his brother.
  • The Lancer: He is the very first party member you can get and joins literally within first 5 seconds of the game. Due to his build, he is a viable follower till the very end of the game and one of the least problematic ones.
  • Magic Knight: Both trained with melee skills and White Necromancy.

Sogg Mead Mug

A simple, but friendly half ogre that loves a good ale. He is encountered in Shrouded Hills' tavern, and can be convinced to join the player with a decent charisma. If he joins, he quickly becomes a great fighter and tank.

  • The Alcoholic: Fortunately, a fully functional and jolly one. Or it's just the amount of alcohol it takes to knock this guy down.
  • The Big Guy: A half-ogre that has no qualms about joining the party, just by promising him some good fun and fights.
  • Drunken Master: He's one step from outright alcoholism, being drunk half of the time.

Jayna Stiles

A young fledgling herbalist that lives in Dernholm. She is struggling to try and help the Dying Town, but feels she is too inexperienced to be of any use. If the player has a high enough technological aptitude, they can offer to let her join so that she can learn what she needs to to be of help.

  • Badass Bookworm: She's perfectly capable of standing her ground in combat, while in the same time being highly-trained physician.
  • Science Hero: She dedicated her life to study of medicine to improve the life of people around her.
  • Squee: Try talking to her about the area while in Tarant.
  • Sweet Tooth: She likes sweet cakes.
Obscura

Dog (Worthless Mutt)

A literal dog who gets in trouble after stealing someone's dinner in Ashbury. Despite his name, he is definitely worth saving as he is one of the best fighters in a game especially after he becomes Master of Melee by himself.

  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Dog can tear wooden chests, metal doors, stone golems and fire elementals to pieces in couple of bites.
  • Cutscene Incompetence: When you first see this lightning fast killing machine, he has been kicked unconscious by a weak civilian with absolutely no combat skills. He was evidently very hungry, but if anything that should have made him more determined unless he was near-death.
  • Glass Cannon: On low levels.
  • Heroic Dog: The most trusting companion capable of defending his master or mistress from all sorts of dangers. He also happens to be a dog.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Later on.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: His prowess actually comes from this. Since he isn't human, his 'natural weapon' is much faster and more damaging than fists, and he's got no ways to invest skillpoints beside stats and fighting, meaning he gets to max STR and DEX (huge damage and action point bonuses) very quickly, becoming a real terror.

Magnus Shale Fist

A (relatively) young dwarf from Caladon, bent on finding his lost clan. His quest leads him to one particular jewelry trader, where the player can meet him and get him join.

  • Awesome Moment of Crowning. His lost clan tuns to be legendary Iron Clan. He restores it and is proclaimed a chief. And later, if Loghaire doesn't return, even a king of all dwarves.
  • Berserk Button: 'NEVER ask a Dwarf the name of his Clan!' Because he doesn't actually know what it is. Shalefist is apparently just his last name made to sound dwarfy.
  • The Blacksmith: Sort of, he can craft some (rather useful) weapons and gear for you.
  • But I Read a Book About It: Magnus tries to behave as 'true' dwarves do... well, at least as 'Ron's Almanac About Dwarves' says they do.
  • Do Not Call Me 'Paul': There are hints that Magnus' real name is Malcolm Schulefest, but he will rather cut his beard than admit it.
  • Orphan's Plot Trinket: His dwarven gauntlets, which is the only thing that was left to Magnus from his ancestral clan.

Gar

'The world's smartest orc', who lives in a museum, amusing people with his kindergarten-level intelligence. In fact, Garfield Thellonius Remington the Third, intelligent, educated, well-mannered pureblood human who was born with the appearance of pure orc due to some genetic quirk. If you are eloquent enough, you may pull him into a discussion about tea, thus uncovering him, and then he may join.

  • Cultured Badass: He comes from a high class family and received all the proper education any wealthy gentleman could get.
  • Guttural Growler: Has a raspy, growling voice.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: The entire act of the 'smartest orc' is based on the fact he's in fact a quite intelligent human with a looks of an orc.

Loghaire Thunderstone

The King of all dwarves, who was forced to sentence the entire clan to banishment under the threat of a world war between dwarves and elves (whose woods are now being destroyed with dwarven technology, which was given to human by said clan). Soon after he begun to suspect that he was deceived (he was indeed, by Dark Elves) and felt himself a traitor. The guilt finally broke him and drove him to exile. Howewer, the Player Character can convince him that it wasn't a treason, while his exile is.

  • Authority Equals Asskicking: He is one of the best melee characters in the game and also happens to be dwarven king.
  • Badass Grandpa: He's extremely old even by dwarven standards.
  • The Exile: Sent himself into Exile as atonement for banishing the Black Mountain Clan.
  • Genius Bruiser: One of the largest and strongest dwarves, excellent fighter, wise, eloquent and experienced.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Combines high Strenght, Dexterity and Constitution with equally high melee and dodge skills.
  • War Is Hell: He knows that better than anyone.

Raven

Elven princess, ruler of Quintarra, who helps you uncover Dark Elves' plot and later joins on to solve problems herself. During a course of events, she may fall in love with the Player Character.

  • Bi the Way: Whether the Player Character can seduce her is entirely unrelated to their gender.
  • Making a Splash: With water magic.
  • Princesses Rule: Justified as her mother retired due to her incredible age, preparing to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence and becoming kind of an oracle. It is Raven who now must do everydays work.
  • Rain of Arrows: Just give her a certain magic bow and certain magic gloves and boots, and she will fire 60 arrows per turn (or 15-20 per second).

Franklin Payne

A world-wide known adventurer, explorer and hunter, who always seeks for some trouble and will follow you gladly to the island of Thanatos... just to shoot a hundred more of a lethally dangerous beasts.

  • Adventurer Archaeologist: He's Allan Quatermain of the setting.
  • BFG: His trusty 'Old Mary'.
  • Great White Hunter: The reason why he joins your quest to stop an evil sorcerer from causing The End of the World as We Know It? You are going to visit Thanatos island, and he always wanted to hunt there.
  • Large Ham: He's well-aware of his status in the verse as famous hero and explorer.
  • Weak but Skilled: Though game describes him as quite a powerful man, gameplay-wise he is too weak to use his BFG properly... but then he proves surprisingly effective with it.

Torian Kel

An ancient warrior from Kree, who lived somewhen at the Age of Legends, but was raised from the dead a millenium later as part of Derian-Ka's Gray Legions to fight the Molochean Hand who rebelled against the order after learning about the horrible deeds of Kerghan, its founder. After their defeat, Torian was among a few survivng Legionaires who returned to the temple of Dearian-Ka. They stayed there for centuries, and eventually, their flesh rotted away, reducing them to crumpling skeletons and later to dust...

  • And I Must Scream: Subverted since Torian himself was lucky enough to escape this fate. His fellow Legionaries whose bodies decayed to dust weren't.
  • Back from the Dead: Not exactly from death, but due to the passage of time, his physical body turned into a dust and requires dragon blood to restore it.
  • Guttural Growler: Has a really deep voice.
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water: Twice, first when he was raised as Gray Legionaire a millenium after his death, second when he was revived by the Player Character another millenium later.
  • Immortality: A mix between Type II, V and VI.
  • The Undead: As part of the old necromancy experiment, he and his men were granted 'eternal life'. Well, sort of...
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: At the end, he will join Kerghan regardless of the Player Character's choice, as only Kerghan can 'free' his undead friends.

Z'an Al'urin

An Elven girl who, despite being a Dark Elf, is prone to question the philosophy and the path of Dark Elves. She joins evil/master of persuade Living One to search for answers all around the world and finally concludes that the best she can do is kill Arronax. She is also a powerful mage and a seer, and will tell about visions she has in every city if asked.

  • Dark Is Not Evil: She is anything, but evil at this point. While once she believed strongly in dark elves and their philosophy, she is now disillusioned with all of it, but still retains all her training and skills.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Apt earth mage.
  • Heel Face Turn: Though only technically, as she really isn't as evil as her character sheet can tell. She must have had it before meeting the Player Character.
  • Minion with an F In Evil: She long lost any interest in supporting the cause of dark elves, but is still within their ranks.
  • Mystical Waif: She's a quite powerful seer and can help with minor quests by giving clues if asked.
  • Time Master: The only follower with temporal magic in her sleeve.
  • Waif Prophet: Has a minor insight in the future, which is part of being increasingly weary of dark elves: she knows their efforts are and will be futile.

Sebastian

A mysterious man, perhaps a mercenary, who is sent by Willoughsby to 'clean' the Boil, the criminal part of Tarant (this means 'to kill leaders of both main gangs'). He will appreciate every help and joins if you manage to remove one of the leaders.

  • Badass Bookworm: He has an engineering degree, while being perfectly capable of fending his own in a fight and blowing his opponents to pieces.
  • Master of Unlocking: Eventually.
  • Professional Killer: Hired to kill leaders of the Boil's gangs.
  • Science Hero: Expert of explosives and electrics, capable of making bombs out of random scraps and pieces.
  • Stealth Expert: Eventually.
  • Throw Down the Bomblet: Well, he knows how to make bombs and how to throw them.

Vollinger

A gnome that may join your party in Dernholm and who actually is an agent of the Molochean Hand.

  • Badass in a Nice Suit: And a top hat!
  • Death Glare: His avatar is portrayed this way.
  • The Gunslinger: Though he knows melee too.
  • The Mole: Eventually, he will try to assassinate you if didn't became friendly with Molochean Hand.
  • Professional Killer: He's a Molochean Hand member send to get the Chosen One killed.
  • Science Hero: Knows gunsmithing and chemistry.
  • Stealth Expert: Eventually.

Major NPCs

Brother Joachim

A high ranking member of the Panarii religion, and Virgil's mentor. Seeking him out is the first leg of the player's journey.

Arcanum Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura Character Portrait

  • Badass Grandpa: He manages to take out two Molochean Hand assassins by himself. If you fight him, you'll see why: the man can both summon and become a Fire Elemental. At the same time.
  • The Mentor: To Virgil.

Gilbert Bates

A genius inventor of steam engine, the primary cause of Arcanum's industrial revolution, one of the world richest men. Actually, he used dwarven technology, a deed which he deeply regrets and which almost costed Arcanum its existence. He is the mysterious 'boy' whom you were instructed to find.

  • Big Good: The go-to quest-giver for most of the game.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Gil Bates, an eccentric millionaire, inventor of revolytionary technology. Oh, and his rival is called Appleby.
  • Lonely Rich Kid: As a young man.
  • Orphan's Plot Trinket: His ring.
  • Self-Made Man: Actually, not so much, as his invention was an improvement on an already-existing dwarven engine, though most people don't know that. He feels a bit guilty about this. Also, he capitalized the invention with his inheritance from his father.
  • Uncle Pennybags: Unless you mention labor unions to him.

Nasrudin

A legendary elvish hero who fought and banished Arronax the Destroyer long ago. He is revered by the Panarii religion, and the Player Character is believed to be his reincarnation. However, it eventually turns out that Nasrudin is in fact alive and well, albeit living in seclusion, disillusioned with the things he had done.

  • Big Good: In the final stretch of the game.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: He is the father of Arronax.
  • My Greatest Failure: After Arronax's banishment, he became extremely disillusioned with his deeds and resigned from any further public activity.

Arronax the Destroyer

Portraits

A frighteningly powerful Dark Elf sorcerer that once tried to plunge the world into chaos, but was defeated and sealed in the Void by Nasrudin. His plots to escape drive the plot of the game, or so the party thinks...

  • The Atoner: If he stays alive by the end of game, he will restore Vendigroth and bury his father on Thanatos.
  • Big Bad: Subverted! You're led to think he is for most of the game, but he's actually still stuck in the Void, and Kerghan's the one you've been tracking down the entire time.
  • Cutscene Power to the Max: His power in the Backstoryand the ending is far, far greater than his power in the game proper.

Kerghan the Terrible

A mysterious necromancer that was killed in a war between his order and the Molochean Hand long ago. He, not Arronax, is the true villain of the game.

  • Anti-Villain: He is undoubtedly the antagonist of the game, but he does have a genuine reason for the evil acts he commits.
  • Big Bad: For being the man who orchestrated the banishment of the Black Mountain Clan by the hands of Dark Elves and, as the consequence, started the entire plot, Kerghan, not Arronax, is the main villain in the game.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Or Omnicidal Sane as he has a well-thought-out argument for it.

The Molochean Hand

An ancient, enigmatic assassin's guild that has agents throughout the world. For reasons unknown, they are determined to prevent you from finding the mysterious boy.

  • Even Evil Has Standards: They fought against and defeated Kerghan and his necromancer order when they learned of his plans. You can cause them to repeat this when everything breaks loose a second time.
  • Exclusively Evil: Not. Most are actually fairly decent folk.

Other NPCs

Bane of Kree

A powerful Barbarian warrior who gathered an immense army and rampaged over Arcanum till he was banished.

  • The Brute: He's an evil barbarian. It's a given.
  • Evil Weapon: The Bangellian Scourge.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: If you return Bane from the Void, he will grab Infinity+1 Sword and go on rampage again. You are the one to blame.

Doc Roberts

A respected gunfighting doctor from Shrouded Hills, Doc is the only town's real law enforcer, as the official sheriff is a coward. Doc will eventually become a new and much more competent sheriff.

  • Badass Bookworm: Experienced both in healing and gunfighting.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Doc Roberts' character is based on Wyatt Earp (whose portrait he shares) and Doc Holiday.
  • The Sheriff: Unofficial and later official.

Hieronimus Maxim

A factory owner in Caladon, the inventor of a zeppelin, an airplane, and a machine gun. Unfortunately, his factory was robbed and trashed, planes were stolen (and crashed after being used to shoot down the zeppelin), and the worst, he's going to have his funding cut unless he finds a proof that his heavier-than-air-machines actually flew.

  • Disproportionate Reward: Downplayed: from Maxim's point, it's even too little help to give a healer robot to the one who saved the work of his life, assemble him a powerful gun and teach him Mastery. From the Living One's point, it's slightly disproportionate because the Player Character only has to keep that broken camera from crash site with him.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Besides being the master of Repair, he also invented airplains and produces advanced technological devices, such as a mechanized gun and a medical arachind.
  • Mr. Fixit: He's the Master of Repair after all.
  • Shout-Out/Expy: The real-life inventor of machine gun was Hiram Maxim.
  • They Called Me Mad: After his flying machines were stolen, Maxim was left without any proofs that his machines can actually fly and is ridiculed by the people. However, if the Player Character gives him the camera from the crash site, Maxim can prove them wrong.

Kraka-Tur

Once he was a cowardly man, but one day an ancient scroll containing powerful spell of transformation fell in his hands. The man killed the last Arcanum's dragon with a poisoned cow, took his blood and used it with the spell to transform into a monster. He took the name Kraka-Tur and 'avenged' the world for his fears for ten years, but finally was caught by Elven Council and banished.

  • Comic Relief: His hamminess is just plain funny.
  • Dirty Coward: To say he's skittish is an understatement.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: Using a sample of dragon's blood and magic, he turned into a dreadfull braconid himself.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: And half dragon.
  • Large Ham: Loves to boast how powerful and dangerous he is.
  • Miles Gloriosus: He pretends to be a formidable fighter and dangerous beast, while being neither.

Stringy Pete

The most cruel, ruthless and Ax Crazy pirate of all times, feared all over Arcanum. He died more than two centuries ago, but rumors are that his spirit still sails the seas, punishing anyone who plays with his name...

  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Pete's most horrible sins are: sadistic murder of an innocent for his silver bootstrap buckles, breaking a pirate oath by slaughtering his fellow pirates under control of an Evil Weapon, and peeing on the altar stone. It was the altar of a Greater God, however.
  • The Atoner: He asks you to right the various wrongs he's committed over the years so that his soul can be at peace.
  • Badass Abnormal: Arguably the toughest character in the game.
  • Bonus Boss: Himself and his crew.
  • Death Equals Redemption: Literally, since he is already dead for 200 years.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Bangellian Scourge is too evil even for Pete, and he found the will to throw it and run away after he killed all his crew when controlled by the blade.
  • For the Evulz: Why he defiled Halcyon's altar.

Arcanum Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura Portraits Pdf

'Sir' Garrick Stout

The captain of the guard of Dernholm, a close confidant of the king of Cumbria, and the mastery trainer for the Melee skill. On the surface, he is an arrogant, elitist snob, but he does his job of keeping the peace well. In reality, however, he's a depraved psychopath who uses his position to stalk a noblewoman and remove her fiancee from the equation... by any means necessary.

  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Well, he's certainly got the attitude.
  • Jerkass: Oh yes.
  • Karmic Death: He ruined the planned marriage between the woman he's stalking and her fiancee (who happens to be the Dodge master) by using a special poison to destroy the fiancee's eyesight. The good-aligned ending for the Melee Mastery quest has you defeating him by using poison. Poison made by the vengeful woman, in fact.
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura (PC)

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Arcanum Of Steamworks Magick Obscura


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Arcanum Steamworks Guide

Arcanum is a large and unique RPG game in which you are thrown into a region that is trying to balance technology with magic.

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Arcanum is a very unique RPG that effectively combines the world of magic and technology. It is one of the few games that I have ever played in which one character could be using a pistol, and the other could be using a traditional sword or axe.
The game opens with a cinematic movie in which you are aboard a zeppelin and it is suddenly attacked by two small planes piloted by ogres. The dirigible crashes, and your character is the sole survivor. You find a dieing gnome who gives you a ring, and instructs you to give it to 'the boy'.
This area is known as the Crash Site, and this is were the adventure begins. The first person to approach you is a human priest by the name of Virgil who claims you are the 'Living One', and believes that you are the incarnation of a prophet from his religion. He is the first of many NPC's that will accompany you on this journey. At first, the main plot of the game revolves around you finding out as much as you can about the ring that was given to you, and what its origins are. As you adventure more through Arcanum, you uncover a grave threat to world. Ultimately, you will have to make a choice for good or evil.
Before you can begin playing Arcanum, you must first create your character. In Arcanum, you must carefully decide if you will be concentrating as a magic user or a technologist. You can choose to build your character in both areas during the game, but this approach tends to complicate the game. I recommend you concentrate on magic or technology.
If you wish to just jump into the game and avoid this section, there is a wide variety of pre-made characters to choose from that will allow you to skip character creation and start playing immediately. If you prefer to create your own character, these are the things you will be deciding upon for yourself:
Choose a portrait (a wide variety of male and female options)
Choose a gender (advantages and disadvantages for each are displayed)
Choose race (typical options like human, dwarf, or half-elf)
Choose background (this is optional, all the backgrounds will have pros and cons).
After you are done with this, the next step is to spend your beginning character points on the character editor screen. You are given 5. They can be spent on anything that is on this screen (statistics, skills, spells, technology, or bumping up your health or fatigue meter). Once you are done with all of this, you can begin your adventure, and the fascinating world of Arcanum awaits you.
The graphics in this game were good -- not the greatest I have ever seen -- but still decent enough to be able to make you feel like you were really in the woods or exploring a city.
I considered the sound to be a little better than the graphics, and that is because there was a good amount of weapon sounds, ambient sound effects, and unique character voices.
Gameplay was good, with excellent monsters to fight, and plenty of quests to keep your attention.
The interface was very easy to use, with everything being a mouse click away, and easy access to helpful screens like the character editor, and logbook. I think the only problem I encountered with gameplay was slow character movement in some cities, but that was really a small thing.
Replay value of this game is extremely high, due to the fact that there are many different ways to play the game (tech-head, magician, melee expert, thief, and so on). There are so many quests available that I find it hard to believe that you will get them all the first time playing. You have an alignment meter. You can alter the outcome of some game plots and quests by being more evil, or more good.
The learning curve is almost non-existent for this game. All your tools and needed screens are easily accessible, movement and combat was easy, so it took very little time to learn how to access everything. There was also a brief walkthrough of the crash site area at the back of the manual.
The following sections outline basic statistics, skills, technological disciplines, and the spell index.
Anytime you level up in the game, you will get points to put into any of these areas. Most of the experience points in the game come from completing quests and combat. Arcanum will give you (XP) points for each hit that you inflict upon a creature or foe. Another feature that is very unique and helpful in Arcanum is the fate point system. There are certain quests and other circumstances during the game that will grant you a fate point, and the drop down menu for this is located at the top of the game screen. You do not have to spend the points immediately, you can collect points and spend them whenever you need to. Fate points allow you to be successful at some action that you would otherwise not have the skill or training for. Here are some examples of what a fate point can do for you: unlock a door that you could not unlock before, or get a critical hit on the next combat strike.
There are 8 basic statistics that can be improved upon during the game: (ST) Strength (which will determine how much you can carry), (DX) Dexterity (effects ranged weapons), (CN) Constitution (resistance to poison, fatigue rate), (BE) Beauty (effects reaction from NPC's), (IN) Intelligence (allows you to learn more spells and technologies), (PE) Perception (effects alertness and ranged weapon use), (WP) Willpower (can effect haggling, spells, and other skills), and (CH) Charisma (the higher this number is, the more NPC's you are allowed).
There are four different skill areas that you will have a chance to improve upon. They are the following: combat (bow, dodge, melee, throwing), thieving (back-stab, pick pocket, prowling, spot trap), social (gambling, haggle, heal, persuasion), and technological (repair, firearms, pick lock, disarm trap). You begin each of these skills at the untrained level, but as the game progresses, you will run into instructors in every city that will be able to train you further. Each instructor will want some gold for their troubles, but it is well worth it if you can afford it. Each advancement in a skill will grant you bonuses when using that skill, and the three different levels of advancement are apprentice, expert, and master.
There are 8 different technological disciplines that you can experiment with. They are: smithy (constructing armor), mechanical (gadgets), gun smithy (making guns), electrical (electrically charged items), herbology (making healing and fatigue restorers), Therapeutics (potions that effect the body), chemistry (substances that can affect the mind), and explosives (bombs and other thrown weapons). There is a list of items under each of these that you can make once you reach a certain level in that discipline, and there is a button that will bring up the schematic for that item, which will tell you what equipment you need to make that item.
The component pieces needed to make items can be found anywhere within the game world, and they can also be purchased from shops. Some examples of items you can make in Arcanum include charged staff, mechanized arachnid, or a revolver. This had to be my favorite feature of Arcanum, I really enjoyed the tech-head type of character, and being able to make so many different types of weapons, armor, and other items. I think it gave the game a hands-on type of feel that is unfortunately not too common in games. As you might guess, every time I played this game, I played as a tech expert, but that is not to say that the magic user character would not be just as fun, and maybe someday I will play again as a magic user.
There are sixteen colleges of magic that are available in Arcanum. They are the following: conveyance (motion and transportation), divination (information or knowledge), air (control air and wind), earth (control earth and stone), fire (control fire and heat), water (control water and ice), force (control cosmic energies), mental (control the mind of characters), metaphysical (affects other spells), morphological (transforming into other creatures), natural (controls plants, animals, and natural forces), black necromantic (negatively affect the life force of a creature), white necromantic (positively affect the life force of a creature), phantasmagorical (controls light and illusory images), summoning (creatures to aid the caster), temporal (control the flow of time). Experience points can be used on any of these spells, and just like the technological disciplines, you must advance from one level to the next to have access to higher spells.
The logbook is another convenient and helpful feature that Arcanum offers. You can access it by pressing the logbook button on the game screen or the L-key on the keyboard. The following useful information can be found in your logbook: rumors, notes, quests, keyring, reputation, blessings and curses, kills and injuries, and background if you choose any.
In Arcanum, when you bring up your inventory screen, you of course will see everything you are carrying, and it also has what you have equipped on the left hand side. The following items can be equipped and used in Arcanum: a helmet or hat, gloves or gauntlets, body armor, weapon, shield or torch, boots or shoes, amulet, and two ring slots. There are two-handed weapons available in this game, and when you use one of these, the shield slot is blacked out and you cannot place anything in it.
Combat in Arcanum is automatically initiated when a hostile creature approaches your party, the movement cursor will turn into a sword icon, and combat will commence. If you go into the options menu, you will have the ability to choose which type of combat style you want to use, the turn-based style or continuous turn-based. If you need a detailed description of how these work, than you might want to check out my Fallout reviews, they go into further detail about them.
The gaming screen was set-up very nicely in Arcanum, for the most part it is a full screen playing area. Dialog options are displayed directly on the screen, and at the bottom of the screen are many useful areas. There is a big box that describes many things you will come across in Arcanum, from doors to weapons. Placed above that box are the hot keys, which are 10 slots in which you can place anything from healing salves to fatigue restorers. They correspond to the number keys on the keyboard (1-0), so you can quickly use items by just pressing the corresponding number key. The health and fatigue meters are also on the bottom of the screen, and all the buttons for the logbook, game options, and character editor screen. On the upper left hand side of the screen is the character portraits of yourself and the NPC's in your party, and on the very top of the screen are other features like the fate point drop-down menu, and the drop-down menu for sleeping, which can be a fast and easy way to totally heal yourself. Do keep in mind that the sleep feature only works in outdoor and cave areas, when you are in a town, you must rent a room at a local Inn. There is also a world map button than can be accessed. Arcanum is a very large area, and there are many towns and dungeons to explore. There are many different ways to travel through Arcanum: by foot, ship, and even train. Some of the cities have tram like devices that will take you from one side of the town to the other.
There is a special 'God's Quest' that you can do in this game, and without giving too much of it away, I will just say that it is an optional quest that you can find more information about in the city called Tarant. There are many altars you can find within the Arcanum world. If you make the correct offering to them, some of your stats will be upgraded. If you do this in a certain order, a large and powerful change will take place with your stats. But as I said, talk to the locals in Tarant, and they will fill you in on what this quest is about.
There is a multi-player option available in Arcanum, and I am sure it is quite fun. Arcanum provides additional modules that are available in the single player campaign as well, and I have tried some of them, and they are very challenging.
As you can see, there is a lot to this game, and you will spend many hours exploring the world that is Arcanum. I believe you will have a great time doing it. I don't think there was anything that I really disliked about this game, I have read other reviews, and one of the biggest complaints they had was that there was not enough balance between a melee character and any others. They said that because of the way experience points are distributed in this game, that a melee fighter will gain levels quicker. I admit that I have never played this game as a melee character. I always kept my charisma score high, and therefore was allowed more NPC's to accompany me. I have found that combat in any RPG will be easier if you have as many NPC's in your party as you can. I am sure that this game could have done better with the balance between different types of characters, but I don't think it was a big enough problem to give the game a bad rating.
This was a great game, very entertaining, great story, and always fun to be able to create items.
I would highly recommend it, and hope that someday they decide to make a sequel.
Your fellow gamer,
Bobby
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