Is Arcanum just a pale copy of Baldurs Gate II????

I just played the demo, and well I really wanna like this game but the demo didnt impress me, I mean the battles was so darn fast that eather you die instantly or you kill instantly, all things happens so fast, you can cast the spell "harm" like 10 times within 1 sec!
I dont know if I have played Baldurs Gate II to much but I think BGII has a better feeling to it, better graphic, more detail, better sound, easier interface, more spells, funnier NPC, and much much funnier, better, harder, longer battles!!!
So what do you say guys does Arcanum get better a bit further in the game or is it just a pale copy of BGII all the way???

 

Rat_c what can I tell you? I'm sure I won't change your mind about this game, hell I won't even try. But Arcanum is great RPG game. I was playing BG 1&2 with both expansions, it may surprise you but I liked the first one better. Each game has some flaws, but I guarantee you if you really like role playing games, this is it.

 

SETHMAGE - You did change my mind, all I wanted to hear was another RPG fan´s opinion, so if you say this game rock, it sure hell rocks! Heck, first thing tomorow im gonna buy this game!

 

god knows it has its problems, but arcanum is just a really unique and inturesting game. Its able to hook me in in ways the BG series never really could. Its no Torment, but it may just be the next best thing...

oh, and the demo isnt really the best, but as for the combat issues, try putting it in turnbased mode. it may take a bit of getting used to, but it allows for much more strategy

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kaldak on 2001-10-01 03:16 ]</font>

 

I agree there are some... problems, but so far I consider myself lucky, I'm playing this game since the release and only froze twice (knock, knock), I haven't encounter minor bugs either (double knock).

 

What PROBLEMS??? :smile:
Ok Seth's right, there are some in the start, but once uve configured ur PC right, it can't go wrong... So far there are some minor slowdowns, which is forgivable especially if ur in Tarant...Some minor bugs which I believe won't last that long, what with a new patch in the making, am I right?
Overall this is a great game, hell, I didn't even noticed POR was already out, saving me the grief of real bugs??? ;D

 

I like Baldurs Gates battle system better and I find it irritating that you can't control your friends as much either, but Arcanums plot and world is much more interesting.
The way the modern world is changing the traditional fantasy world.

And I also like that the quests in Arcanum more than those in Baldurs Gates, where you always ended up killing everything that moved.

 

hey thers an identical thread to this but a different title, what the hell?

 

Just a newbie deciding whether or not this game is worth every peny.

 

Arcanum: Open door, walk into room. See enemies. Cast Harm spell five times, killing every enemy before they have a chance to move. Loot bodies. Restore fatigue. Go into next room. Rinse wash repeat.

BGII: Open door, send Skull Trap into the midst of enemies already running towards you. Send fighters into the room. Panic when one of the fighters gets charmed and turns on your mage. Paladin casts dispell magic, eliminating the Charm spell, but also the mages Stoneskins. Enemy mage casts Time Stop. Summons up help and casts meteor shower. Cleric and Mage are quickly evacuated, while Paladin remains behind to hold off the Pit Fiend, and fighters stay behind to try to deal with the enemy fighters. Hear someone die, and realize that your mage has just been backstabbed. Cleric uses the Rod of Resurrection to bring the mage back, while the Paladin goes after the enemy mage, chugging back a healing potion every few seconds. Mage comes back, casts stoneskin on himself. Enemy thiefs second backstab fails due to stoneskin. Vampire attacks Mage, draining away levels. Cleric starts beating on Vampire while the mage runs away, the cleric is immune to level drain. The Paladin finishes off the enemy mage (despite his attempt to turn invisable), and runs back to help finish off the Vampire. Loot the bodies. Heal level drain, restore hitpoints, go to next room. Rinse, wash, repeat.

 

huh?

That tells him nothing at all,GTG, except that you are biased. Arcanum can have big battles too but maybe not as exciting as BG2. Anyway, combat was never really meant to be the best part of Arcanum.

 

Arcanum:
Int 2: Duuuh...me wan' weapon.
Int 10: Hail, good merchant!

Baldur's Gate (any):
Int -900000: Hail, good merchant!
Int 200000000: Hail, good merchant!

Arcanum:
Mage: Get out of here with your magicks! Not around my machinery!
Tech: Ahhh, good to see a fellow machinist. Welcome!
Elf: (insert some derogratory remark about elves)

Baldur's Gate (any):
Anyone: (insert generic greeting here)

Conclusion:

If you want to play a game with more options in combat, sure you can go with Baldur's Gate where stats are just used for equipment and fighting. Although you can likely just do things like fireball the whole room a few times. Kind of the same tactic as using Harm a lot.

But if you want to play a game that gives more options to play different types of characters without the game feeling the same every single time no matter what you play like (aside from the stronghold andsome misc. quests for classes in BG2), Arcanum is the way to go. It's never the same experience with a different kind of character. Plus, if you want to be able to go through the game in ways besides fighting almost nonstop, and solving quests like talking/stealing/sneaking/etc. instead of fighting/ignoring quest, then Arcanum is your cuppa.

So if a game means more to you than just combat, I'd suggest Arcanum.

_________________
"To make the individual uncomfortable, that is my task."
- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: The Roshambo Warrior on 2001-10-01 14:38 ]</font>

 

Cast Harm five times? That's a hell of a lot of DX you have to do that.

By the time you're able to cast harm five times per turn, and NOT pass out from Fatigue, five harms won't cut it.

 

Rat, have you played Planescape? If you have and didn't like it I wouldn't recomend Arcanum... If there was a scale on how much you need to think in a game it should go like this:
1. Planescape - if you are really good (and run really fast :smile: ) you won't even need to fight one battle.
2. Arcanum - I havn't finished all of it yet so I won't say much but it doesn't look like a hack&slash game for now
3. BG2 - Quite a lot of fighting, quite little thinking...
4. Diablo2 - Mad clicking on the same enemies over and over again. No thought, just clicking...

Conclusion: It all depends on your playing style... If you just buy the to hack through tons of enemies you should get something else...

_________________
Life is a bad thing - you die from it.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Vicsun on 2001-10-01 15:29 ]</font>

 

Welcome to the forum, Vicsun! 0

 

Lots of subquests,

and you have to really think to finish some of them as no one will take your hand and guide you leaving you only battling.

Quite a lot of things could be improved in Arcanum though.

Bottom line is: On the subquests, interaciton, character development Arcanum beats BG2 to the very ground and 6 feet under.

On the technical side though, well I encountered no bugs in BG2 and there are quite a few in Arcanum (slowdown is the worst). Also lots of things which could be tewaked and are not something extraordinary but are pretty close to standard in games.

Basically if you like mostly fighting in RPGs I doubt you'll like Arcanum. If, like me, you like tons of subquests and various dialog options which allow you to talk yourself out of fighting and even gain some loot "for free" you'll enjoy this game a lot. Unless slowdowns will kill you that is :smile:

 

Arcanum seems better in all aspects except battles... There erally are no battles. Just fights which are like flipping coin - win or lose instantly.

 

How is battle different from fights?

 

BG 2 vs Arcanum

As you could probably tell, a lot of the forum members seem biased towards Arcanum or BG 2.

I'll try to help with the pros/cons of each...

Baldurs Gate 2
Pros -
Very long, involving storyling
Good replay value (diff classes, evil vs good etc)
Excellent, Strategic battles
Many interesting NPCs with their own quests based on them.
Good Interface
Runs well on most systems
Beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds

Cons -
No option for turn based combat
Character levelling options is limited to class
4 CD's, lots of CD swapping

Arcanum
Pros -
Very good replay value
Great open ended character development
Different dialogue options depending intelligence, though its really limited to - Dumb, Smart, Smart + Persuasive
Interesting Setting
Interesting Storyline
A dog npc! :smile:

Cons -
Major slowdown issues on most computers (even high end systems)
Buggy
Imbalanced fighting
The RT fighting system is simply a much poorer version of Diablo 2's fighting
The TB fighting system suffers from -walk to target, hit, wait till next turn
Its no Fallout 2 :sad:

All in all, my opinion is.... If you don't have any of these games, get em in this order -
Betrayal At Krondor (A bit old, but still my favorite RPG)
Fallout 2
Fallout
Planescape
BG 2 / Expansion
BG / Expansion
Arcanum
System Shock 2 :smile:

Edit.. Added some pros for arcanum

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Random on 2001-10-02 01:15 ]</font>

 

Then why not do a full install? You won't be swapping since you'll only be needing one.

BTW, Welcome to the forum, Random! 0