Just got Arcanum

Hi all, I just got Arcanum from Amazon.com. Although I was disapointed in the small box it is still a great game. But I am having some problems, I keep seeing the time clock in the upper right hand corner. This is making it very hard to get around Tarant. My system - 1.3 ghz celeron, 256 ram, geforce 4 MX 420 and direct x 8.1 is there anything I can do about it?
Also, I just picked up Magnus. He doesn't carry a weapon, and I see his attack number ( or whatever its called) is at 12. When I buy him an axe the number doesn't change, so what is he using as a weapon? He also seems very hard to heal, when I use a healing potion on him it only heals 2 hp's. Plus Virgil wont heal him. I tried waiting three days but it seems characters cannot heal that way. Is there some way to make virgil heal him? Or is there a better way to heal my characters? Thanks

 

Hi, welcome aboard.

The lag problem is directly related to resource availability. Try; 1, defrag. 2, go into task mangeler (the Ctrl - Alt - Delete thing) & turn off everything except for Explorer & systray. 3, how much video memory do you have? The more the better, but I think your board has 32 or 64 megs, more than enough to avoid lag except for LARGE parties.

Magnus can make his own weapons. Much better ones than an axe. If you are buying weapons, buy the Katana. Did you get the book with that? Is there a virtual manual on the disk? Read it. It is a good read & has a LOT of nessacary info. If you still can't find out how to have Magnus make things, search this forum or ask. Hint, left click on Magnus & use the "What kind of things can you make for me?" option.

Magnus is too tech for magic potions to work well on him. There are tech Healing Salves, let him carry 6 or 8 & he will use them on himself. Vergil's magic healing has a hard time on him even when he gets Major Heal. But Vergil has the social skill heal as well. Give Vergil bandages, available at general stores & herbalists & he wil be able to heal the techies as well.

 

this problem usually depends on how much ram you've got,so arcanum should run smoothly on your system... onder: as for magnum,he's a high tech player and therefore can't be easily healed with magic

 

Thanks for the replies! I havent been this excited about a game since Fallout 2. I will look into the healing for magnus and having him mak his own weapons. I hope it isnt to expensive to buy the parts, I am pretty short on money. Are the best weapons always the ones that are made by characters? I havent seen many good throwing weapons at the stores. I had just seen Gangs of New York before starting to play Arcanum, so I wanted to play a character that threw knifes, but it seemed like the boomerang was the best throwing weapon I could get. I will also try closing everything else and see if that helps with the gameplay. Thanks alot for the advice.

 

Throwing knives just suck. The magical armorer in Tarant usualy has Chakrams & Serated Chakrams in his inventory, & on your first day in Ashbury the wise woman has a Mystic Chakram for sale.

THe best tech weapons are those you make. Try Explosive or Electrical Grenades. And look for the Charged Sword & Pyrotechnic Axe schematics.

 

Make sure you hang onto a Kathorn krystal

 

?? I dont think I've seen one of those. I only remember a ruby, but I'll look out for one.

 

they're not difficult to find if i remember well the orcs that ask you to pay a toll on your way to tarant should have one

 

Also hang on to at least one Molochean Hand Amulet. (Amulet worn by assassins)

 

It's not hard to find more of those.

 

But some find it easy to sell every last one.

 

The supply runs out?

 

you must be quite in need of money to sell every kathorn crystal you've got...they're not much valuable :-o

 

Nah, it's just that there doesn't seem to be anything to do with them, so all that you can do is flog them off.
Gems and Jewels and precious stones in RPGs are usually just for the picking up and selling, so it seems the right thing to do.

 

i do the same thing

 

I keep one or two of anything I can't see a use for. They might come in handy & if I need money, I can always have a tag or garage sale.

 

But I don't have a garage, I put all my stuff in an ogre.
I'll just rearrange the letters, add an o, and have an ogre sale instead

 

Hah, the only thing I think Arcanum REALLY lacks is variation on the random encounters... Molochean Hand and the Orc Thieves come so often you'll stop looting them after a while...

 

Uh, yes, who remembers the Fallout2 moonshriners?? BAKA BAKA! Ahh... they should do like in Fallout, making a lot of random encounters with... err... intelligent beings (and kites are not intelligent).

I mean, wouldn't be good to fight an evil Mage in your way to Shrouded Hills... or a band of raiders with Levered miniguns? ...well it wouldn't be good in your way to Shrouded Hills... but you get what I say.

 

Hah, and those moonshiners didn't care if they noticed me stealing from them either! I loved them!