Let's Play! Arcanum (Oh, so many images...)

Update the First: Shrouded Hills and Environs

An old preview that I never saw but I think it's pretty cool.

Prelude: Meet Pixie

Note: In updates, comments in italics are from Xiao as the player, outside the actual game world. Normal text is used for events from Pixie, in character and running around the game world like a madwoman.



The Fire Witch background is... interesting. I haven't noticed any effects for the magicpts bonus yet, but it may just be that I need to boost my Fatigue a bit more. Whatever. The -20 Reaction has been biting my buttocks a bit, but it's tolerable. Because of the desire to have an attractive, persuasive half orc with this background, I won't be doing to proper Blessings quest. Instead, I'll grab the +1 BE from Geshtianna and that will be it.



Pixie's stats and skills. I popped 1 CP into CH to get my first rank of Persuasion. Persuasion is fun, y'all. I also took a rank of Haggle, which will pay off big-time later in the game when I'm hoarding Fatigue Limiters.



Agility of Fire. Practical, and a good step up to everyone's favourite fire spell. I am a Fire Witch, after all.



Charm, bless your twisted little hearts. I haven't used it much yet - that will change eventually.



Pixie's starting gear. That dress is probably the most useful thing there - it counters my low reaction modifier. When your dress is more useful than your dagger, well, you know you're fucked.

And now, it begins...

The opening movie - Crash of the IFS Zephyr, Find the Boy

Ow. Ow. Many kinds of ow. What the hell just happened? I could have sworn I saw ogres flring mechanical devices while the ship was crashing. I have to have been drinking.

And what was with that gnome? I don't need some stupid little silver ring, what I need is a good bath, a good meal, and something to set on fire, not necessarily in that order.



Goddamn noisy humans. I know exactly what this means - this means I'm going to set you on fire if you don't shut up.

Highlighted responses in these conversations are the ones I picked. Enjoy the angry.



Bwhu? Did he get hit by shrapnel or something?



I thought some of the pure-bred orcs were stupid. I think I just got pelted in the face with a giant egg.



This is one of my favourite dialog options in the whole game.



...Alright. He's not stupid, he's just insane. I'm not sure if that's a step up or not.



That's putting it mildly. Urge to incinerate... rising...





If I knew the answer to that, dear boy, I'd be a very rich woman right now.





Oh, he'd better have a damn good answer.



Screw this, I'm out of here.



Ack! Not the puppy dog eyes! Stop it! STOP IT! ...Fuck. Fine, he can come. I could always use someone who thinks I'm a god backing me up.



He's joking, right? The passengers on this ship were a pack of racist bastards, and that Clarissa woman had the spine of a worker ant. Fuck them all, let the wolves eat the corpses. Speaking of wolves...



Must have been one hungry bastard to try and take us on. Still, once Virgil cracked it over the head a couple of times, it was child's play to stab it to death. He may be a madman, but he's a madman with a big stick.



Amazing how the evil-tongued harpy could sound so sweet on paper. You lucky bastard, Jared, you dodged a bullet there.



Boars are nasty, unless you get the chance to stab them in the eye. Virgil approved. Maybe he's not entirely annoying after all.



After my head cleared enough to use basic spells, I decided to make it a little harder for the local wildlife to turn me into their dinner. Virgil looked at me like I'd parted the skies instead of casting a minor cantrip. Is it really that hard to believe that a half-orc can use magic? Boy is he in for a surprise once I'm feeling myself again.



Wow, I didn't imagine it. ...Damn. I thought the wine they were serving aboard was a bit watered down, and now that I know for sure I can't demand my money back! Damn!



Apparently the ability to notice the blindingly obvious is a requirement to join the Panarii. That's new. Normally that's the last thing a religion wants in its followers.



Still, it has some blackmail potential. Into the pocket it goes.



I thought bullshit like flying ogres was par for the course in scriptures. Huh... It might actually be worth sticking to this loon for a while, if for no other reason than his religion isn't out to make me into a whore or a corpse.



You IDIOT.



Hey, that's pretty awesome. Normally it takes a shaman and a whole lot of freaky dancing to make that happen. Ah, tortured human souls. I'm almost feeling nostalgic for home right now. Almost.







Bullshit.



See, now I'm listening. If only more humans would get it through their thick heads: we don't give a shit about your charity or your supposed good nature. We just want your money.



Money and the chance to kill a priest? Fuck yeah! Still...





What the hell. I'm stressed, let's go set someone on fire.



From the shaman's chest - 12 gold and a mnura coin. Literally the WORST drops I have ever gotten in that chest. Here's hoping I find something better later on.



Hah! I'd like to see any so-called 'Evil One' hold a candle to my mother when she got annoyed! Whoever the hell this 'Evil One' is, he's going to regret getting out of bed that day. Assuming, of course, that I can't just seduce him into being a good little boy and letting me be his right-hand woman.



Idiot.



Just... don't talk to me for a second, alright?



Where'd he get the evil one bit from? It's not on the altar... Oh hell no. No no no. I'm not going to be his saviour or anyone elses but my own.



Fucking holier than thou elves, bossing everyone around just because they happen to live a little longer. Freaks!



This could be good for a laugh.



Oh yeah, definitely good for a laugh.







Huh?





Wow...





I'm going to do to you what my mother did to my father. Whoa damn you're hot when you're angry.





Oh come on, you were doing so well for a minute there.





You may not be a warrior now, but you were before. And I saw your eyes just now. You enjoyed that almost as much as I did. One day I'm going to work out how to flip that switch in your head permanently, and then you're mine.



Abusing Stun along here is a wonderful way to gain some cheap levels early on in the game. It can hurt if you're not careful, though.





*sigh* Guess I'd better make sure I'm stabbing the right fool.





Why the hell did I say that? I'm here to stab an available target, nothing more!



No I'm not! I don't care!

A slip of the mouse for me, a moment of supreme discomfort for Pixie. Mwaha.







Hmph. Good men don't put curses on people's souls. You're just as guilty as the rest of us, you high and mighty bastard. Rot in hell.



Not shown - Pixie spending the entire fucking fight Stunned. Grrrrrr.







And if you weren't already dead, I'd be killing you right now.

Next time, Shrouded Hills!

 

I'm fine with the amount of images we have, and I'm eager to get to the parts where we will be able to vote.

 

Good start! I was wondering what happened to the tuesday/wednessday thing..

I guess there isn't much to write/vote on for the moment but I'm looking forward to the rest of it.

 

There won't be many places to vote (After all, y'all told me to manipulate then burn) but when the really BIG decisions come down the line, I'll let my backlog of updates lapse to give you voting opportunities. Plus there'll be a few bonus things you can take part in, like the running of the whores...

 

I think you're off to a great start. :thumbup:

 

Entertaining and observant. A truly great start.

I've seen it after I've already finished the game, and I'm glad it was in that order. Seeing it before playing Arcanum would make me avoid this game at any cost.

Your referring to Fireflash of course, but don't underestimate the Walls of Fire. Not only are they powerful and nicely looking (Fire! Fire everywhere!), thanks to the UAP the spell received +200% awesomness for the FWOOSH sound.

 

Just when I think the world is okay, I spot magikot leaving comments on youTube that barely relate to anything.

EDIT: Also, the game being shown in that commercial looks really awesome. I haven't even seen all the videos displayed. Too bad they forgot to actually mention what the gameplay looks like. I mean, it's there, but it's definitely not obvious.

 

Aw, thanks! Basically, Pixie hates everyone pretty much equally, so you're going to get plenty of snark and snarl from her. It's so much fun to write angry. I almost never get to write vicious, nasty, angry, vengeful characters.

This is a fresh install with the level cap remover and some tweaks to the EXP charts so I can get everything y'all wanted quickly as possible. So no 'Fwooosh' of awesome, I'm afraid.

 

Well, fuckity fuck fuckin' FUCK.

Something's gone horribly, bizarrely wrong with my copy of Arcanum. I've re-installed it twice and the problem still lingers. Until my computer god friend gets here (or the damn problem fixes itself - it wouldn't be the first fucking time) this LP is on hiatus. I'll just have to drop to the second LP on my list for the time being. Apologies.

I was really looking forward to the running of the whores, too.

 

If the problem turns out to be the additions I sent you, let me know.
I'll see what I can do to create something more compatable with a stock game + UAP combo.

 

I doubt it's your additional backgrounds, as it's been working fine for something like a month since I installed them. I have had this problem before, but normally it goes away after a reinstall. I'm not sure what it is and it's driving me maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

*slams head against the wall repeatedly*

 

Y'know, being technically minded as most of us like to think we are if you told us what was wrong we may be able to help anyway.

It's a shame regardless, but oh well.