Larger areas

Discussion in 'Arcanum 2 Suggestion Forum' started by Rosselli, Nov 7, 2003.

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  1. Rosselli

    Rosselli New Member

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    Rosselli, Nov 7, 2003
    Rosselli, Nov 7, 2003
    #1
    The cities in Arcanum II should be much, much bigger. I mean really, Tarant is supposed to be a huge industrial city, yet it takes five minutes to run from one end to the other. And there are few more than fifty people living there! I realize that Troika had limited technology to work with, and I don't resent them for it. But since they will have access to much better technology (like the Source engine) for the sequel, it would be nice if Tarant really was huge. Just imagine what you could do with that kind of a playing field. There could be five times as many thieving quests, hundreds of citizens to interact/kill/steal from. It almost seems as if the Tarant in the first game is only pieces of the true city. Did anyone else notice how address numbers jump several digits from building to building, even when they are directly adjecent to one another? Maybe they just included the buildings and areas that you could do meaningful things with, and you are just supposed to imagine that the city is much larger. One thing I'd really like to see is an orcish ghetto in tarant. It would be great. Orcs lounging on dilapidated porches, orch-children fighting in the street, etc, etc. And imagine Qintarra with a really good graphics engine! It would be spectacular! I've seen things they are doing with Wookie cities in Knights of the Old Republic, so I'm sure they could have similar environs for Arcanum II.
     
    Rosselli, Nov 7, 2003
    Rosselli, Nov 7, 2003
    #1
  2. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    Dark Elf, Nov 7, 2003
    Dark Elf, Nov 7, 2003
    #2
    I agree with you, although there are disadvantages with large cities.

    One thing - it will run slow. Take a huge area, add lots of moving objects (ie people) and voila: people with low-end systems cry rivers. This is the case for many people already, Tarant is hell for people with slow machines.

    Another point is that much of the city content will be boring. Making all people quest-givers is impossible, so there will be quite a good deal of houses occupied by NPC:s that won't contribute anything to the game. Not so good. And if an important quest-giver resides at house 48 in a long lane, who will be interested in looking that up?

    You hit the head on the nail there. Like I wrote, there's a reason for that.

    Actually, I think it would be better if cities were split into different areas, just like it was done in BG2 and IWD2. That way, you could add all of that content you want, while you cut out most of the performance/boredom problems.

    Peace!

    Dark Elf
     
    Dark Elf, Nov 7, 2003
    Dark Elf, Nov 7, 2003
    #2
  3. Solaris

    Solaris New Member

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    Solaris, Nov 7, 2003
    Solaris, Nov 7, 2003
    #3
    Is Tarant not slowing the game down enough for you? I don't even want to know what would a bigger city be like. I would rather have more new cities the size of Dernholm and Ashbury, and all sorts of small farms and quest locations in the wilderness.
     
    Solaris, Nov 7, 2003
    Solaris, Nov 7, 2003
    #3
  4. Rosselli

    Rosselli New Member

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    Rosselli, Nov 8, 2003
    Rosselli, Nov 8, 2003
    #4
    I see what you are saying, but they have quite a large area in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and there are no lag problems if you have a fast enough machine, and it is still fun to just drive around the city. If you had a horse or something, crossing the city wouldn't be that bad, and if they made the scenery interesting, it would be cool. Of course, not everyone is going to have a horse, so that is a problem. But in Tarant they have the steamrails anyway. Still, there might more problems than it would be worth.

    I'm pretty sure Arcanum II would be using a better engine and not have the lagging bugs the first game has. Why is it that equally large and well-populated areas in Fallout (which uses an older, but similar engine) have no lag problems at all? Did they just not have enough time to fix Arcanum completely?
     
    Rosselli, Nov 8, 2003
    Rosselli, Nov 8, 2003
    #4
  5. DarkChylde

    DarkChylde New Member

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    DarkChylde, Nov 9, 2003
    DarkChylde, Nov 9, 2003
    #5
    Solaris, what is your system? I'm running a decent system, and I've got no problems... what are you trying to play it on? a 486? :lol: :lol: :lol:
     
    DarkChylde, Nov 9, 2003
    DarkChylde, Nov 9, 2003
    #5
  6. Silvara

    Silvara New Member

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    Silvara, Nov 9, 2003
    Silvara, Nov 9, 2003
    #6
    Good question, that. Makes you wonder how much influence do the publishers have on the release date...
     
    Silvara, Nov 9, 2003
    Silvara, Nov 9, 2003
    #6
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