Unexplored or vague plotlines

Gentle readers, it is with the utmost regard with which I inquire as to what plot lines would you have loved to have seen expanded upon in Arcanum?

Does tulla's history seem too vague? Does the industrial revolution seem to convoluted? Does the unvoiced Jayna Stiles make you wonder of her history?

 

Going to throw it out there before everyone else, I would have liked an conclusion to the Half-ogre mystery. Perhaps an explanation as to why the city of mages was so close to the Vendigroth ruins. It would of been nice to have done more quests involving Doc Roberts, perhaps helping him take the sheriff position.

 

Does this have to be an intentional move, rather than a coincidence? As I always saw it, Pelojian chose the Wastes because they seemed to be the most secluded place in Arcanum at the moment.

Here are some things that come to mind:

• Tulla. It's beautiful, it's climatic, but it's small, short and there is little to be done there. It was disappointing for my first character who waited through his whole game to finally visit the mysterious city of mages.
  
  There should be more quests and more NPCs. Or wait, I take that back - no new NPCs, but new personalities. At the moment the only master mages having something that could be called a personality are the masters of Water (=heartless overseer), Meta ("magic is dying and we should accept that fact") and maybe Fire (potential arsonist).
  
  I'd love to have the masters send you on quests around Arcanum and have disagreements with themselves. Maybe even a "The master of X wants you to murder the master of Y and make it look like the master of Y did it" quest.
  
  
• Thanatos. Finding the Ashlags slaughtered was a let down. I'd rather see a tribal village there. What would the choose to do: consider you a god, eat you or sacrifice you to the God of Thanatos?
  
  It was also said that there was an ancient civilisation living on the Isle, even before the Ashlags. Were they magickally or technologically oriented? I'd like to hear more about them and explore the buried ruins of their civilisation. Perhaps they still live in an underground city?
  
  
• The Iron Clan. The whole game worth of searching for this legendary Clan to find out that their caverns consist of a throne, three containers and, well, that's it? Unsatisfied, I am.
  
  
• Locations and creatures that are said to be around but are hardly visible. Where are the wild ogres? The halfling villages? The orc village with a deranged human for its leader? I'd like to see those.
  
  
• Where is the mad scientist with his army of mutants and robots? Surely bank robbers can't be the only tech enemies around.
  
  Sure, they are the poachers and the firearms master's nemesis' gang, but they are the same evil tech muscle with a higher level. Where is the evil tech mind, I ask?
  
  
• I want to fight Fire Giants with a broken rusty sword, too!

 

I would say it makes further sense that putting the college of magick next to the tech ruins balances out the net magickal profile on an hypothetical magickal radar. Ie, it makes Tulla even harder to detect.

Also, don't forget whatshisname was a precognisant. He may have put it there for the future convenience of the Living One.

Also, there is nothing further to add to Muro's list, as usual. To quote Professor Dumbledore, Muro,

"Don't you have studying to do?"

 

I suppose from a training stand point, placing tulla next door to vendigroth is fairly rational.

It forces their mages to train even harder so that they might be able to overcome the massive aura of technology surrounding vendigroth.

 

What's with the latest wave of newcomers provoking thoughtful discussion as opposed to ire and wrath?

Welcom, rychek!

 

Haha!!! Thank you
Now if i can just figure out the custom avatar!

Though I must say, arcanum is a game that will never stop to inspire simply between the ambient music and the art and architecture they have created a unique experience that is unforgettable. I wish more games out there would strive to do the same.

Few games have such memorable music and even less aspire to the architectural heights Arcanum did in their towering buildings.

But hey that is just my opinion -- and man, I gotta say I wish that the half ogre conspiracy would have been settled!

I would've killed to find out who was killing all those innocent women l:
(ironic I know)

 

I quite agree. Arcanum (and any other game for that matter) will never get any better than the synopsis on the back of the box. For me, the best part of any game has been imaging what the game is actually like given the description on the packaging. My imagination extrapolates what could be and the actual experience never quite lives up.

Arcanum is no exception. While excellent, it cannot quite compete with my imagination. Be that as it may, Arcanum is a very compelling system and I believe the final line says it best (my apologies for an errant quotation):

Spoiler

Arcanum remained what it always has been, a land of endless possiblitiy.

There is so much atmosphere and flexibility in Arcanum that I cannot help but be fascinated by it.

 

- The Dragon Knights.

The history bits you get on them are atmospheric, and their utter defeat isn't quite understandable - if guns and fusiliers were that effective, there would by now be hardly any reason for the existence of melee weapons (except maybe bayonets) and armor. IIRC the Dragon Knights are also the only cavalry unit that is mentioned in the entire lore. Which is also surprising; with the lack of really heavy field artillery, some lightly armed cavalry regiments could supplement the technological armies. Anyways, I think they were a great link to Arcanum's sword and sorcery past, and would deserve some more recognition.

- the Vendigroth Wastes. Possibilities are endless.

 

Indeed, known as Herkemer Oggdoddler he is.

 

Come to think of it, this doesn't necessarily have to be true. After all, Arcanum is different from our world because of the omnipresent magick.

It could be argued that the general weakness of firearms in Arcanum compared to the ones we know is not just a game mechanic but a fact caused by the background magickal field of that world.

Highly technological and expensive rifles used in wars are deadly, yet cheap and mass produced pistols barely counter the magickal field of their environment and therefore hardly harm enemies with their slowed down, softened bullets, making an average, unweakened by its environment sword a wiser choice of weaponry than an average firearm.

 

That's the reason why guns won the day, but that still begs the question why this hasn't repeated itself to the point where melee weapons - or at least armor - has disappeared. I know that bladed weapons, especially sabres, stayed in use for quite some time with cavalry regiments (often non-armored), which is why I said they could be a perfect supplement to the Tarant riflemen. Powerful, failure-inducing mages aren't that common anymore.

 

Guns are more expensive to produce than swords or bows, etc. That's why I would think that swords and bows are still more common on tech characters. Also for dwarves for example Gilbert Bates says they wouldn't use steam engines because they do the physical work for the dwarf; I always imagined this train of thought might be a reason why you very rarely see dwarves with guns. Aside from this, though it isn't very significant, magic characters wouldn't use guns - maybe it's just a cultural thing produced from the days when magic was more prevalent as to why people don't use guns.

 

I've always thought Zeph Yeats should have been present in Shrouded Hills and had some story content.