After reading a tremendous backlog of posts (albeit in the hints forum), and a few things occur to me to say. First, on piracy. It is indeed unfortunate that the game was pirated BEFORE release. My basic thought on piracy is that it is like shoplifting (hell shoplifting the game would hurt the developers less). A poor man taking a loaf of bread, yeah, whatever, I suppose that's fine. But someone who bought a computer and a net connection taking a $50 game, JEESH, I think that's pushing things. You don't NEED Arcanum. Yeah, games are expensive. Would they be less so if you stopped pirating them? *shrugs* Try it and see. And to those of you who are in regions untouched by the release, well, um WAIT (it'll make it sweeter in the end). Or cross some borders if you're desperate (yeah, the euro isn't ready yet, I'm aware). Now that I've vented the rage, time for good stuff. The world of Arcanum is the best I've ever seen in a game. It makes me want to read some steampunk novels. Any suggestions (yes, I've read Verne)? The other thing I've been asking for in an RPG is here: SCIENCE. I play pen and paper D&D and I'm constantly pestered by my pals to let them do things like make explosive bananas, or napalm. Nicely done Troika. The world feels, fresh, no more tired fantasy and dragons, sorry BG2. Also no more D2, fun as hell, but pointless as the story ceases to be your main drive after about 7 hours of gameplay. Okay complaints: Two weapons, this one seemed kind of obvious, why can't I be a desperado with dual six-shooters? Follower skills, Virgil has pick locks, and I'm sick of bashing every locked item in until it it disapears. Is there a way, isn't there? Also, reading things, I hate having to put things in quick slots. In fact, the inventory has a few issues. One thing I got from Diablo 2 (and the original come to think of it) was that easily maintainable inventory. I sometimes have difficulty removing things from quickslots and replacing them into my inventory (also, I can put a huge item into a single quick slot and have all that extra space, REALISM? Still, it's nice, and Baldur's Gate had the same problem, but on a larger scale. Rearranging follower Invens is annoying. They constantly replace every weapon I remove and won't hold certain items in there inventory without equiping them eg. Virgil kept equiping eyeglasses even though they hurt his Perception. Also weapon switching would have been a nice optional perk. Blast em with a gun, then switch to my mace when they close. I also want to know if anyone else finds in odd that in a dungeon where you start off against level 3 monsters like kites and wolves, you suddenly get nailed by a lv25 something-or-other. Seriously though, despite a clunky inventory and somewhat oddball difficulty, I'm having tremendous fun playing through. Little quests to pass the time, discovering that the person sent to kill you might pay more to have you wax your employers instead. I've been playing through in Tarant all day (started this character this morning), and I still haven't finished everything. The other great thing is that I'm getting to know the city, the street names add a lot, because when someone sends me to "Number 9 Four Privet Drive" I can think, "O yes, I know where that is, the street is in that suburby end of town, and there's that weird cat with glasses looking at a map at one end." It's also nice that I still get lost, because I've grown familiar with only certain bits of the city. One final query before I drift off: Has anyone gotten the Official guide (bradygames I think)? If so, is it worth the extra $$$, I bought the Baldur's gate one and it was about as helpful as a dogskin coat at an ASPCA rally. With that exhausting outpouring of emotion, thank you and GOODNIGHT. I'll be here all week. Arcanum4eva!
Authors, gameplay tips and much more! Glad you're enjoying the game so much - it is good isn't it!! Steampunk authors - just a few dredged from my (probably unreliable) memory. The Difference Engine - Bruce Stirling & William Gibson (the 'creator' of cyberpunk!) A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! - Harry Harrison Anti-Ice - Stephen Baxter (haven't read this one yet - Victorian England discovers antimatter - sounds cool!) Perdido Street Station - China Mieville - a VERY strange blend of magic, science and pure bloody talent! I highly recommend this book for any fantasy/scifi fan. It's even got a great in-joke for RPGers - you'll know it when you see it! Or you can go back to the source as you have already mentioned - Jules Verne, H G Wells, probably even some Edgar Rice Burroughs, to get a feel for it - a blend of high-tech and old-fashioned sensibilities. Another recommendation is Terry Pratchett's Discworld series - not strictly 'steampunk' but a wonderful blending of a fantasy world and the issues and problems facing us in the 21st Century. There are very few books that can make you laugh and make you think at the same time - the Discworld series pulls it off regularly! Complaints: Dual-wielding would be cool, but was just impractical - Troika had a limited number of artists and just didn't have time to create character models for every combination of weapons, shields etc dual-wielding would need. Lockpicking followers - this is being addressed in the upcoming patch - until then BOTH you and your follower need lockpicks, so when you try to lockpick something, he/she will leap forward and say 'I'll do that!' Reading items (or just generally using them) can be accomplished using the 'use' button/box in the inventory screen. See the boxes on the right under the ammo/gold counters? The 'hand' is the use box, drag a note over and drop it on the hand and you will read it. Drag a healing potion and drop it and you will return to the main screen with an icon and you click on whoever you want to heal, etc, etc. The 'down arrow' box underneath that is the 'drop' command, which is pretty self-explanatory. You can do a limited weapon swap by using the hotkeys prior to combat. Equip yourself with your ranged weapon of choice (gun, bow, etc) and then place your melee weapon in one of the hotkey slots. Then, during combat, if something gets a little too close for comfort, click on the hotkey or hit it (1=0) and your melee weapon will become equipped - as long as you have space in your inventory for the ranged weapon! Inventory management is important in Arcanum as I'm sure you've already discovered. As for followers equipping unwanted items, you just have to take them away from them sometimes. Maybe Virgil thinks he looks more intelligent wearing glasses?? Part of the charm of Arcanum is that your followers are semi-independent and they'll often have their own preferences regarding weapons and armour selection. On the whole they seem to be pretty good at it. Remember, just because you are strong enough to wield a particular weapon, doesn't mean they can! Or they just might prefer a weaker weapon which they can wield faster (and thus hit more often). Weapons have so many different factors affecting their usefulness, you can't point at one weapon and say that is the ultimate one, different weapons suit different characters. Well, enough rambling from me - back to the game!
What does the expression "two cents" mean? Been hearing this lately and since I am not an American...
Americanisms The entire phrase is "throwing your two cents in" and it refers to stating your opinion when you have not been asked for it but you have reason to believe it might be welcome of beneficial. ~Aldin
Slippery when wet Well... it can be used a lot of ways but the some of the most common are... Well for my two cents... OPINION Just to toss my two cents in... OPINION OPINION ...of course, that's just my two cents. OPINION. Just tossing my two cents in. ~Aldin
hmmm... Skorpios, thanks for the hints on follower skills. And also the notes, things begin to make more sense. Figure it's time for me to start playing today. also, re the two cents expression, I like to think it's somehow connected to "Penny for your thoughts" although god knows how.
