Chris Avellone Plays Arcanum

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So what did people think of it?

I thought he didn't really made a very good job of exploring the area or figuring out what different buttons do, but maybe I'm being harsh.

 

I'm wondering why we didn't supply him with a copy of Arcanum considering we are meant to be the site when when it comes to all things Arcanum. Lost a lot of chance at exposure when we dropped the ball on that one guys.

 

I thought the same - partially - admittedly if the ball had been in my hands I would have dropped it too. RPG Codex are a bigger community than us, they have a greater awareness and I'd imagine their regulars put greater stressors on their superiors to act. Frankly, I'd think people here have better things to do with their lives than offer a $6 game out to others - which is exactly why I said I would have dropped the ball. It's one of those things that easily slips through the net.

What disheartened me more was a thread was started on Chris Avellone's LP that I'd brought up commentary on a fair few hours earlier - only I brought it up in the Arcanum subforum. I thought as a community we should all at least maintain a passing interest in Arcanum, not targeting Wolfsbane in particular (sorry Wolfsbane if you take offense) as I'm sure most regulars aren't very active in the Arcanum forums - but to scan them for new posts doesn't take any effort.

I was pretty surprised that me, with a lazy interest in these things in the first place, was the first to comment on the LP. I'm not a person known for being on the ball so I thought someone would have noticed sooner; even I noticed a few days late.

 

Turns out the VIPs discussed it in the lounge, no doubt over brandy and cigars.

Seems like that's being true enough to the HoL history and culture to qualify as jolly good form.

I'm pretty sure recognition and publicity would only attract the wrong sort of people anyway.

 

It would of attracted traffic, which helps pay for the site I thought. I barely have anything to do with this forum anymore anyway so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Well, T-A stopped mattering for Arcanum fans years ago. For most of its existence it's just been a circlejerk for about only a dozen of lonely people to discuss their mental illnesses and funny pictures they found on the Internet.

And now the main site's dead, the downloads are offline too. There's nothing important left.

GOG, PC Gaming Wiki and others picked up where T-A left. I thought about making a huge mirror of everything Arcanum that I have stashed on my HDDs, but I refuse to spent a cent on a video game related website. Now, if somebody provided me with hosting....

 

Anyway, turns out Chris Avellone is terrible at video games. A 10 year old Down Syndrome kid with half of his fingers missing would've still performed better.

What's that blue light coming from Virgil? Why can't I hit things if I put all my points in CH/PE? Are you supposed to read the manual, huh?

A huge embarrassment for Obsidian.

 

I apologise for my earlier post, I was drunk and being boorish. For whatever reason I often feel more impassioned when drunk over things I'm completely indifferent to in the morning. If anyone was offended, then I'm sorry and please don't take it to heart.

On topic and on reflection, I don't think I was being harsh at all and I think Drog's assessment of Avellone's roleplaying ability is pretty accurate to be honest. You would think he would have got feedback from his peers before they put it on the net, but apparently not. I thought he would have at least got to Shrouded Hills and not have re-trod the same ground several times over (his memory must be shit, I have no idea how he couldn't recognise that he'd walked a certain portion of the map before), whilst failing to find actual interesting stuff like the cave. It's pretty ironic that he said "Oh I wish there was a cave right here" (or words to that affect) when if he'd tried slightly harder he may have found one.

He also seemed to have no interest in buttons lighting up at the top (like the level up or journal buttons), I know the FRAPS framerate marker was partially obscuring them but damn it use your eyes man! I felt satisfied that his character died, if he can't use a simple map interface then it's what he deserves - especially when the game actual says outright pretty much "use the map, dummy". Other than that, I didn't find his delivery style at all engaging and his sense of humour was pretty juvenile ("Kadura Stems are like weed, lol"); there's certainly been far superior LPs than that. It was disappointing in the least, and I got the sense he didn't give a crap.

 

He doesn't, you could hear it in his voice, either that or he is just a boring person.

 

I think that it's something he got press-ganged into as obviously with a crowd funded project you have an obligation to the backers, not something he would have done through choice. Still he could have at least tried, he didn't have to make such a half-arsed job of it. I sure as hell wish I had a professional obligation to play video games.

 

I for one think that it was interesting to watch a first time player who hadn't bothered to read the manual. He certainly seemed more focused on having fun rather than being successful, which is a completely valid way to play games in my book. Looking at all the unintuitive interfaces in Arcanum I don't blame him for not finding anything, or noticing that someone is healing his character. It's not as if Virgil does any chanting or such, like he'd do in Neverwinter Nights. :/

And I know I'm not much, but at least his LP got me to visit this place again. :wavey:

Because now I kind of feel like getting back to my second playthrough... The one that I put on ice because Arcanum is a bloody boring game when entire cities just want to die by my feet. First Tarant, and then Caladon, all because of a couple of quests where I chose the bad options. Consequences that make the game boring is not the kind of consequences I enjoy. Maybe I'll just power through and focus on the main quest. That should be doable.

And if I don't find the time to get going again, I'm sure that Avellone's next infuriating Arcanum video will provide sufficient prodding. Or the next. Or the one after that one. And so on. At the current pace he'll be at it for a while. Though if he wants to finish the game faster he should probably just bite the bullet and read the damn manual. :shootme:

 

The Codex bought him that copy back in 2011 or even 2010, shortly after he admitted to never playing it in an interview.

 

How convenient Muro.

 

Gosh these Codex chaps seem pretty dynamic and proactive, and well-populated and -funded too.

I hate that.

 

I'm still curious about which spell he was referring to. I'm used to hearing about Harm, but surely Stun is much more powerful? Or maybe he was referring to the elemental attribute-boosting spells that are also quite unbalanced, and able to directly facilitate character progression?

 

I'm sure he meant 'Harm' the most famousest of overpowered level one spells in the game.

In vanilla, and most versions thereafter, it's all you ever need for combat if your MA is high.

 

I think he is a whiny little bitch.

 

Despite it all, I like watching him play it. It's interesting to see game makers play great games.

Particularly enjoy his use of "I will cut you."