Fun game, horrible documentation

In over 10 years of PC gaming, I have never played a game so fun, so big, with such an incredible lack of documentation. The book dosen't even have a table of contents or an index!!! And of the stuff the book actually does explain, 90% of the time they are so vague you can only guess as to what they mean, referring to "figure 2-10" which is a really small sepia/white pic that you can barely see. For a game that tries REALLY hard to be just like baldurs gate, I can't understand how the developers expect anyone to be able to play the game without having to refer to forum/discussion boards to ask other users what they think stuff means, only to get flamed as a newbie in response. (ooh i forgot i had these donuts sitting here, mmmmm) I'm just now learning that your followers are nothing more than that, followers. I guess its good thats what they are called instead of something like 'party member' which would leave you to assume that you actually had control over them.

Another thing, if I want to purchase, say, a Shamans Staff, I can see in the lower right it says it has 10 uses. Excuse me? 10 uses? 10 uses of what? Can i replenish those uses? Can my followers use those uses?

All it would take is probably a week maybe two to whip up a manual addendum and pop it into the readme file to explain all the stuff they didn't have time to put into the manual (a fitting word, seeing as I have to learn the game MANUALLY). Please, developers, I understand that you are on deadlines, and that no matter what happens a game is going to be released unfinished, hey all software is released unfinished (with maybe the exception of PONG), but please, do not skimp us the users in documentation, skimp us with minor bugs that you can (and won't) patch later.

And my last rant, WHAT THE HECK IS WITH THE GRAPHICS ENGINE? WERE YOU GUYS ON CRACK WHEN YOU DECIDED TO USE IT? You would have been better off using one of those freeware RPG makers you can find out there. at least the game runs smooth. Ah well, a waste of $50. This game is the reason I browse the "bargain" shelf at Fry's first when i buy games. Arcanum, slow, decent but plain graphics, bad documentation, but still fun, $50. Sacrifice, fast, beautiful graphics, very adequate documentation with in game tutorials, quite addictive, $7.95. A lesson to be learned from Interplay, now those guys know how to pop a game into your hands better than ANYONE!

 

I coulnd't agree more about the low quality manual and the way it affects game enjoyment. I'm a fairly experienced player of RPG's, comp games, CRPG's and Arcanum in particular and I have many unanswered questions regarding various elements of the game.

Like you, I particularly disliked the vaugueness concerning how magic items work. It's not like you could even apply common sense, since we're talking about magic!

Some aspects of the graphics engine bug me too, although I enjoy the artwork itself.

I'm not sure about the learning of lessons though. Sierra have been producing games for long enough to have learnt these lessons. If they're still leaving it up to individual project teams to make these mistakes, they're probably never going to learn.

 

AMEN!! I totally agree with the lack of a in-depth manual. Not that I could've done any better, Ioo, before you slam me. :smile: But still I found it very hard to understand several aspects of the game. I have yet to figure out how magic weapons work. I have asked this question before in this forum, but still didn't get an answer....


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bryant1380 on 2001-11-20 13:49 ]</font>

 

Maybe that's because we're all working from the same manual ...

 

LOL

 

i vaugely recall reading in the manual next to the hot key bank directly under the main screen there is a button that is only active when you have a weapon that has a magic attack or spell of some kind

 

I remember reading/hearing about the same thing. I haven't seen it yet....

mrnobodie, I take it you do not play magic characters?

Also, what does the sword that Doc Roberts gives you for helping him defeat the bank robbers do? It is magickal.....It is also the sword I equip but I have yet to find out what it does....Man, wish I could find that button....

 

actually the game i'm playing now is a fighter/mage with lvl 5 in conveyence, necro, white force and temporal i just don't use weapons that have magical uses

 

mrnobodie, how do you deal with draining your fatigue? That is the biggest problem I have right now. I am using harm on Necro Black, and the heal spell, and I sometimes, in a big battle, knock myself out. Then I get a serious ass-whoopin. How do you deal with it, since you use all magick?? Do you just carry a lot of fatigue restorers?

 

If you must read the manual to play a simple game u must be a complete idiot. I always play first before I read the manual and I know how to play. Also if you dont like the graphics you can go play ur Diablo II. If you want a book with contents send a letter to Sierra and request a book with contents and I doubt you can make a game with graphics better than Arcanum's cause u only know how to whine.

 

I'm disagree... A game can function fine without manual... as usaully the case with pirated versions... I'd rather be playing then reading the manual, or walkthrough or whatever about the game...

And another thing you got wrong, this game rates 3rd in goodness in RPGs... Because Fallout 1 and 2 are the best ever... I think I had more fun playing D2 then Arcanum sometimes. :smile:

 

LMAO, I knew someone would call me an idiot for reading the manual. Well, ok Tesla, tell me then, how did YOU figure out the apprentice/expert/master bonuses without looking at the book? What typical common sense did you use to know what each acronym means? Sure some stuff is shown right on your screen, but myself, I like to have a reference where I can look up what certain stuff does without having to find it in the game first. If manuals were so useless, there would be thousands of technical writers out of work. Granted, many of them would be from Asian countries where instructions in thier language translate into English as "Before take seven pin, connection as to four pin", but I think most of us could do without these cryptic texts. Serious, manuals are a part of life, whether you like to pretend that you're cool and say "bah, I dun use 'em" or not dosen't matter. Most likely you are just lying to yourself. Solid documentation is key to a solid product that contains any more complexity than a standard pez dispenser. Sure most of the stuff in the book you don't need, but if you are going to bother to put it in there, at least make it complete in its description. Those new magic boots you got that say AC 6 (+3) ...etc, well is that AC 6 and +3 more? or is that AC 6 with 3 of that coming from a bonus? Intricities like these are the things that most people would like to see covered. Granted, we all know how to equip items, drag, drop, easy, but what about the guy out there that has never played this kind of game? Maybe he would like to know. I'm just spitting these as examples, not that this stuff isn't in the book, but just to say that if you're going to write a book, finish it.

 

Hey, don't be so hard on him. Some players are fine drifting through the game blissfully unaware of how much better their performance could be.

It's only for people who want to master the game who need to know the full information on how their charcacters, items and actions work.

I just started Civ 3 and did my usual of diving right into play (although I admit I know Civ's 1 and 2 pretty well). It's a "simple" game in the same way Arcanum is - if you don't know what you're looking at, the UI is nicely transparent and easy to use. Halfway through my first game I was reaching for the manual (or the Civelopedia in this case).

Looking at the manual turned my game around. I was taking a kicking from two other nations, read up on the "Military Units" section and waged a war that forced them to ask for peace.

Sierra would do well to look at what Firaxis has done. A great manual + a searchable, hypertexted version available from within the game.

 

but he called me an idiot!!! %)

 

O wonder was that a coicidence or did he know Loo is from Russia?

 

IMBECILES!!!

It took me a little while to figure out, but seriously, some of you must be brain damaged!

If you look at the bottom of those boots, you will see "Magic power available: X%" where X is a number between 0 and 100. The number is calculated using your magick-tech aptitude and and magick-tech complexity of the item. The percentage number is applied to the number in the brackets, in this case 3. If you had 75% there, then putting those boots on would increase your AC by a base of 6 (which everyone would get) and 2 (magick item bonus). A 100% aptitude (for the item) would yield an overall AC of 9.

Why the fuck would the creators of one of the greatest CRPG's ever (this being Fallout) try to emulate a seriously inferior game? Arcanum in no way tries to be like Baldur's Gate! If they did, they would be even more stupid than you have suggested. If every game was the same, then people wouldn't buy games would they? No one wants to buy the 10th blatant rip-off of Baldur's Gate do they? Honestly, you say you've been playing games for 10 years? You must have spent all of that time playing games, because you've obviously left your reasoning abilities somewhere else. Maybe at Fry's when you picked up your 5th copy of Baldur's Gate and said "Maybe this time it will be different!"

I actually rather like the manual. It's in the spirit of the Fallout manuals. Some games you can play the manual without (I've done this with Deus Ex and Civilisation 2), but for some games the manual is not only essential, but fun. Sure, I don't like it that there is no contents or index page. Minor flaw, big deal. Get over it.

Honestly, though, how can you have the stupidity and the gall to compare Arcanum to Baldur's Gate, and then say that Arcanum tries to be like it?

 

Well done, Jarinor, now let me ask you something.

If you were a games creator (publisher, designer, some part of the whole team) how would you feel if some aspect of your game consistently caused confusion amongst a significant portion of your players?

Do you think, as a games manufacturer, you would want to label those players as imbeciles? I think I'd be more worried that I was introducing unnecessary resistance to people enjoying my game, and I want to put the (small) effort in to correct that in my next game.

I agree with you about Arcanum not emulating BG in any way. I can't even see how someone could make such a claim unless they were very new to RPG's in general and hadn't experienced the commonality between them.

Obviously, Icewind Dale and Pool of Radiance have similarities. They're in a family of games that are supposed to share a game system (AD&D). It's called maintaining consistency, not creating a rip-off.

I definitely do not believe the Arcanum manual is in the spirit/tradition of the Fallout manual. Sure, MOST manuals make an attempt to share style/tone/register with the game they explain, but the Fallout manauls itemised game functions and explained each one in terms of how to use it (from the UI) and what factors affected its use. The Arcanum manual not doing this is exactly my complaint.

 

I cannot actually believe people would make a fuss outta a manual. So what if theres no contents? BIG DEAL! Flip through the pages and find yor answer. And from what ur asking, I could probably know that you've never actually played alot of RPGs before, cause those terms are often used in other RPGs.

 

Also, can I just point out that we have both a table of contents and an index available in the articles section on this site? Just thought some of you might like to know. :smile:

 

It is right beside the hotkey bar, it's the magick symbol. I dont know if thats what you meant though