Plot hole with IFS Zephyr

I forgot the bridge was lost, I suppose someone from Caladon might not be aware of Quintarra after all. It would have been nicer if that had expounded on what they meant when they refer to continents in the game instead of just making it a throwaway comment.

 

I think this can be easily explained amnesia and confusion from the crash. Same with "i'm from different continent" line too. It's pretty solid to assume that the crash affected PC's head in a bad way, since PC seems to know awfully little about Arcanum in general for someone to have born and lived there for 20 years or in case of certain races even hundreds.

It also partly explains why PC has no friends or relatives. He/she forgot them.

Also it even kinda explains why PC sucks so much on everything when starting. He/she has suffered brain damage. :lol:

 

I guess that explains it then! Certainly explains why Stennar Rock-Cutter doesn't mention Kerghan even once. 3

So I'll just have to point to the other Caladon-related plot hole: After visiting Tarant and learning from the local Panarii church that the Archeon is kept at the first Panarii temple in Caladon, the PC should have been able to travel there by ship to read the book. And possibly meet Alexander. After all, the PC is the Living One, so how busy could he possibly have been?

The whole BMC-chase should have been optional, as it only leads back to the fact that the PC is the Living One. And optional stuff is more fun because it feels like I'm the one deciding to do it rather than just doing it because the game forces me.

Maybe there's already a thread on this subject?

 

Even if you do get there early, I'm pretty sure Alexander only shows his face until the appropriate point in the main quest (your told he's away or something equally as contrived) so you don't have an option to skip big parts of it. Besides, you'd have no reason to investigate Nasrudin so getting to Caladon and even meeting Alexander wouldn't accomplish a great deal; nor would you have any reason to locate the Curse of T'sen-Ang previous to that which prompts the Silver Lady to tell you about Nasrudin.

 

I would like to make an input into this debate, using my latest research as proof of the validity of my thesis.

Arcanum, I believe, is not big enough to house more than one continent. According to "study" P) Arcanum is only about 2000 km wide along its western coast (which is the longest). This hardly qualifies as the size of a continent in itself.

 

Continents on earth aren't necessarily defined by how big they are. As was mentioned before, continents can be so called due to tectonic plates. However, it's mainly a matter of convention - For example, both Europe and Asia are a single continent, Eurasia, but Europe and Asia are regarded as their own continents, even though there's no more divide between them than might be found between Caladon and Tarant.

The difference is in size, obviously. Now, if the mentioned width of Arcanum at its widest point is 2,000 kilometers, that means Arcanum is half as wide as Australia at its widest. At the very least, were Arcanum a real place on earth, it could certainly be regarded as its own continent should it be an independent land mass, and doubtlessly the smallest.

We have no idea what the rest of the planet featured in Arcanum looks like, that there's other land to be regarded in the sea other than what's visible on the map, or how big the planet featured in Arcanum is. We would either have to assume portions of the map with major cities on them can be seen as separate continents, or that there are indeed other, larger land masses neither discussed or visible in the world of Arcanum other than convenience of plot, i.e. "Yes, I'm an elf, though I'm not of this continent."

 

I find Gar's allusion to 'the foreign constitution' enjoying green tea intriguing.

Therefore I now concede that there probably are other continents.

However you look at it, though, the IFS was designed and built in, and began its only voyage from, Caladon.

 

Re:

True. This doesn't mean, however, that the LO didn't have a foreign background; maybe he/she heard about the technological marvel in Caladon and decided to investigate.

 

Indeed. Caladon is the biggest seaport, I think; a likely port of entry for foreigners.

It also occurs to me that if someone from a strange continent had arrived by sea, then boarded an experimental airship, then he or she wouldn't have any point of reference for putting that first city on a map.

So, the LO only begins by marking a map with Shrouded Hills because Virgil, a native, showed it to him.

 

It would appear, my dear ytzk, that we've solved the case.

 

Are we sure that it doesn't clash with a few of the pre made characters' backgrounds? Would Merwin Tumblebrook's parents send Merwin to Caladon to take an expensive Zephyr to Tarant instead of sending him directly to Tarant? And why wouldn't Merik Luggerton stay in Caladon if he managed to flee his original home. I think that Caladon is his hometown.

 

I'm sure all that can be explained with both rational and irrational choices made by the PC prior to the beginning of the game. I could look into it, I guess.