ArCaNuM-- FiNiShEd

Today I finished Arcanum for the first time. I feel a bit woozy having finally beaten a game that took me three years to complete, going on and off.

And so, a few questions and comments:

1. Doesn't Kergan's philosphy actually seem reasonable? He explains what it means to die in Arcanum, and that in death one finds peace and harmony. So by killing everyone, he frees people from the pain and suffering experienced in life, resulting in and never-ending peace. Sounds gruesome, but do you know what I mean?

2. I wish there was more story to the Vendrigoth scenarios. The city kicks ass-- at the cut-scenes at the end, I couldn't get enough of those skyscrapers and proto-types of cars, etc. In that thread (which is long dead and off-topic), that'd be the place I'd live at. Like Tokyo but without that Tokyo twang.

3. In my version of the game, Arrnonax proved to be a most useless companion. He couldn't equip items and had 55 unspent SP. Meh. Anyone else experience similar issues?

4. Who invented this game, this story? I'm amazed this all started at the Crash Site. I'm fucking nostalgic for the innocence of the beginning of the game

Well that's it. I'll think of other things to rant/comment upon later. Feel free to react :thumbup:

 

1. Kergan is insane. Like all insanity, it's rooted in something of a fact. Why are people who commit suicide considered cowards by so many philosophies? Because, when confronted with the hardships of life, they flee into death. Kergan takes this to the extreme, almost altruistic in his maniac mind, end. Kill everyone, that way they are no longer burdened with hardships. This is the most radical extension of pessimism ever.

2. Vendrigroth did rock, perhaps some modder will make a story revolving around it. Perhaps that mod might even get released.

3. Yea, he sucks. Whatcha gonna do, it's not like you really need him.

4. It rocks, I know the feeling. I get it alot with good games. I almost cried when Aeris died. And at the end of FF7, oh Jesus...

 

I had the same feeling when meeted in Gothic 2 characters from Gothic 1...In that moments I thought they're my friends, because they were friends of hero... And Arcanum nostalgie, of course. Perriman reminds me someone.

 

Same as in the case Fallout 2 and Dogmeat in the Cafe of Broken Dreams

 

The warcraft 3 campaign!

 

Yes. I almost smashed my keyboard to pieces when Illidan was defeated by that motherfucking sonovvabitch Arthas in TFT. God, I just hate Blizzard at times, as well as loving them for such a wonderful story.

 

Oh yea, given how most of'em've the success-rate of KoL... :lol:

 

I'm new to mods concerning Arcanum. I've only played the real game and Vormantown. Tell me more about these failed mods.

 

I will eternally hate Blizzard until they come out with Starcraft 2 and let me beat the shit out of Kerrigan with Jim Raynor.

 

The game will come soon. They've worked on Ghost and SC2 at the same time. There are screenshots avaible as we speak.

 

If you're lying... I will kill you... You know this right?

 

No it doesn't. Life should be valued for what it's worth. Death will come eventually, no matter what, anyway, and this is a fact in both video games and real life. One day I'll be dead and so will everyone here.

I don't think that shooting out an armageddon because he thinks life is hard is really right. People should try their best to live through the pains and pleasures of life and do their best in order to make the world a better place. We'll never succeed in being perfect, but that's no reason not to try.

And I the same. Personally I would wish for more of everything in the game. More cities, more little villages and towns, but what we got is good enough and I guess that asking for too much isn't exactly reasonable. It was hard enough to make the game as it was.

I agree. For someone who was supposedly the most powerful mage of his time and his defeat required the combined strengths of many powerful wizards, I would say that he should have put up a better fight. My maxed out fighter just beat the living crap out of him in a split second and that's not really what I consider to be a strong opponent.

So you're saying that this game is totally fantastic from the start on? I agree as well, but I'm a cheater and I never play fair.

 

Blinky, yes, I know this. I've read many gaming-magazines, and they all say that Blizzard will release SC2 soon.
I hope they're right. Else, I'll kill them.

Well, well, bringing up the old subject about Kerghans philosophy, are we? Right then. I'm in.
A funny thing about it is that it is similar to the Buddhist philosophy about Nirvana. Nirvana means "to blow out the candle" (rough translation). Therefore, Nirvana is the point where you exit this life forever, and disappear. And, since the point of the Buddhist philosophy is Nirvana, the point of life, as they see it, is to exit life and eternally die. There is no real pleasure in life, only moments without hardship or pain.
That's the Buddhist philosophy. Quite similar to Kerghans, eh?

I think Buddhists are crazy, but that's just my opinion.

 

Well you have the Buddhist only kind of right.

They do believe that most life is mainly suffering and pain, but that it isn't life we are trying to escape, it is samsara, the almost never ending cycle of birth, life, death, and then rebirth. After one exits this world, then they shall hopefully attain nirvana if they have good karma. And I'm not one of those bratty know-it-alls, I just aced my Buddhism test a week ago.

And my point was that Kergan was the only person in our earth who had seen the other side in its full extent and then come back. He even (if I remember correctly) addressed that people who think we should live life the fullest are just rationalizing a justification to live.

I don't agree with Kergan I just feel that it should be identified that he isn't insane (he does, however, completely ignore the idea that dying can be a painful process in itself).

 

Even I finished a Buddhist test last week, and I got an MVG (the highest grade). That cycle, samara, is life. Isn't it? And by reaching Nirvana, you exit that cycle, which means that you exit life. You cease to exist.

I get so angered with people who stubbornly sais that Nirvana is a kind of "paradise", 'cause it's not.

 

Well, wait a moment. Who says life is existance? There are many ways to exist. A rock, for instance. It exists, it does not live.

The fact is life is painful, not existance. It is conceivable that some sentient being could exist and not live, and since we're talking about a belief structure, I don't think that the idea of a soul is too removed from the conversation to bring up. While Nirvana could be the great nothing, it could also be a form of heaven, where you're sentient mind exists at a higher level, removed from such aspects of life that cause pain, discomfort, or displeasure.

 

I agree but this does not really fit with nirvana. One of the entry requirements for achieving nirvana is lack of consciousness. By the standard definition a sentient being must be conscious.
On the other hand, nirvana can be achieved as a temporary state while a person is alive. It's a state of mind or "lack of mind" if you like. Permanent nirvana is then achieved at death.

This whole discussion cannot be settled because it is impossible to compare nirvana to anything. The various religious texts state that nirvana is outside of human experience so it simply can't be understood by humans. Even those who achieve nirvana in life can't really describe it as they aren't conscious when they achieve it.

 

Quite so. I just don't like the idea of leaving this world, this life, forever. I mean, yes, the most of our lives consists of pain and suffering, but there is too much joy and happyness in life to miss it.
I'm happy most of the time. I'm sad Buddhists can't be

 

I think it's stupid that all of you claim to know buddhism so well, and argue about their beliefs if you are not, in fact, buddhists.

 

At no point did I claim to know buddhism "so well". Anything I said can be verified with a quick google or probably a trip to wikipedia.
Also by your logic something cannot be understood unless you in fact are what you are studying? So botanists are all plants, psychotherapists are all insane, detectives are all criminals, quantum theorists are all quarks, etc.