Dragon Warrior 1 vs Arcanum

Ok, before I write, get this straight :
It's VERY possible a lot of people have the full version of Arcanum at the moment, due to it being released in other countries. If someone has the full version they may have imported it or bought it overseas.

I just felt I had to get that straight because all I see is accusations fly around on all sites. From what I know there's a problem with releasing it in North America?

Anyway, on to the topic at hand.., in my opinion I really believe Dragon Warrior 1 is a better game. There's a goal and it, no the game makes you WANT to level up and get there or at least do something because it's so simple and small you feel that the next task at hand is easy to finish and you get right to it.

Fallout1%2 of course defeat any of the Dragon Quest series easily or any other console RPG except maybe the Final Fantasy games released before the big-mega-movie-wannabes-7,8,9,10.

Arcanum compared to Fallout.., the Arcanum engine seems too big, in a way that you will get really tired of walking around and clicking. We all thought realistic games would be great, but now that we get it, it's sort of a let down, there's simply too much and not enough uniqueness. Fallout had tiny towns, very compact, with very unique gangs and areas.

Large areas though as seen in Anarchy Online are great though, I commend them for that, so it also could be that Arcanum has eaten away at itself by being 2d bland flat ground with the same little square huts(repetition)and not 3d huge ass world where making 1000 unique structures is easy as clicking a button like Anarchy.(2d art is very hard to make)

When going in a town you want something simple, like Darklands. To date Darklands is for sure the best RPG. You had NO goal whatsoever yet you wanted to play, to fight the guards, to beat up dragons, etc.. and their towns consisted of text only.

It's very obvious a lot of time went into arcanum, but they didn't even include item descriptions. Hello! I'd rather have a town that consists of 2 shops and 1 guy, that will fully explain why it's there and how, with full item descriptions than 20 huts that everyone looks like clones and you have no idea why you're there.

I felt they could have made a better game, that's all I'm saying. And that maybe those old-school RPGs like Darklands and Dragon Warrior1 may not be beaten. Infact I recently picked up Dragon Warrior3 for gameboy colour and it is testamount how a 20 year old idea with a 30 year old graphic engine can put it's sword against Arcanum's.

I hear there's mods coming out in the community though, if I can somehow hax0r this game to include item descriptions and draw my own characters I wouldn't mind gathering a group of people and show Troika how it's done.

You got to have 1 of these 3 things to make a successful RPG :
1. Include features/stats/info beyond "go to town ____ and get me water" and label/explain everything.
2. Allow the player to further customize his character than "the orc of +1 dmg" or the "gee i couldn't pick anything else, but arsonist sounds cool". Let them make a real background, or better yet allow them through a series of trials to establish a link between the character and the real person playing the game.
3. Simplicity! Compact everything into objects and towns that are easily distinct, yet simple, with very unique characters.

On a side note, why does Arcanum remind me of Lord of the Rings(the multiplayer RPG version) for SNES?? I swear this is almost the same game as far as the horrid battle system goes (aside from turn based) and graphics.., were any of the developers part of that team?

Any comments and opinions will be taken into consideration into my future RPG or even mod team, thnx.

Btw, if you haven't played Darklands, go and download it now, I believe it is on those classic sites that hand out games for free that cannot be bought anymore. It was released in the early/late 80s?

P.S.S do buy arcanum as maybe if we shove a lot of money into Troika's mouth their RPG dream team will include item info next time.

Hell, I'd do it in exchange for being allowed to influence game design and no monetary compensation.

 

Aww . . . that post is too good, I can't delete it

Actually, no, the game isn't officially released anywhere. Anyone with the entire game who didn't get it by virtue of being press or personal friend of the developers is using a pirated copy. Hence our editing out anyone asking for spoilers on the subject - we really, really don't think people who prefer to get the game legally should be exposed to spoilers on a game they have yet to play. Well, that and general issues of morality. Your post doesn't touch any spoiler issues as such, so I'll let it slide, but try to avoid flinging observations from the full version around, hmm?

As for your issues, I really don't think Dragon Warrior and Arcanum are that comparable, being from completely separate genres and so. I must, however, agree that the wilderness of Arcanum is a bit bland and the houses do look very much alike. There's not much they could do about if you chose to go for a tile-based system. In return for this issue we get a level of editability thus far unprecedented in RPGs, straight out of the box. Maybe Troika'll choose to switch the balance around in their next product, forsaking easy mod creation for graphical diversity?

It's also very unfeasible to make a truly huge world without reusing old work at any point, regardless of 3D or 2D engine. Case in point; the Elder Scrolls series. All 3D games with gaming worlds larger than anything created both before and after. All built by reusing the same 'modules' of 3D art several times. Anarchy Online has also, from what I remember of the beta, reused the same buildings quite a few times in those huge cities and the terrain, although realistic, isn't that individual either.

The major difference between Arcanum versus Anarchy and Morrowind is that they're reuse is more 'streamlined', for lack of a better word. Arcanum's tile system will often look far too artificial for its own good, such as the 90-degree, single-width pass from the crash site. The 3D nature of the other two make their modular system of handling massive worlds seem much more natural.