Ive been using the search function quite a bit lately as I have quite a bit of questions since I got back into the game. One thing that Ive noticed, is that many of you recommend doing a "vanilla" playthrough of the game before diving into Drogs UAP or Rroyos AWIP so one can better appreciate what these guys have done. Im all for this, and since my UAP run is still fairly young, I was thinking of just starting over with a basic, patched installation of Arcanum. Another thing Ive seen several of you people acknowledge, is that playing a melee character (or even better, a magic melee character for more effective healing from Virgil) is an easier way of playing the game. I have also read that playing a gun wielding technologist (my initial character preference) isnt the most pleasant experience in a vanilla run through. Im aware that games like Arcanum are all about playing the character type that YOU want to play, and I plan on it. It just seems that playing my gunslinger in Drogs UAP might be a better (and less frustrating) endeavor. Im not opposed to playing melee characters though, and that leads me into my next question. For a regular run through the game, would you recommend a melee technologist, or a melee magic user? Anyone have a decent build for a magic fighter? Any recommendations for spell trees? So far I can identify the Earth, Force, and Temporal colleges as being "nifty" for a fighter type although, im not too keen on nuking an entire NPCs inventory with disintegrate :/ What say you?
Regarding vanilla vs. Drog's UAP vs. Rroyo's A:WIP: Personally, Drog's patch fixes and adds enough subtle content back into the game I'm finding less and less of a reason to recommend a vanilla version runthrough first just for it's own sake. The UAP is simply a better version of the game. Telling someone to run Vanilla first so they can know how much better the UAP is is like telling someone to eat a hamburger first so they can appreciate the steak better. I'd rather just eat steak twice. Rroyo's A:WIP patch adds enough extra content that I'd try it after a few regular run-throughs first, however. As far as character builds, a melee build is a bit more straight forward versus a gun-based one. However, it's not so much more complicated that I'd recommend against it. There's just more to worry about with ammo and it's related costs/issues, and guns tend to be less overtly powerful until later in the game. In addition, if you're playing with few extra party members, the ranged benefit of using a firearm becomes less of an issue as they'll all rush you anyway. If you do go melee, magic-melee is pretty fun. Temporal is a great college and so is mental (for the stunning, if you stun + use backstab skills in turn-based mode it's so overpowered it feels like cheating). Force is good for the 1st rank shield, the rest is less useful if you're concentrating on a "pure" melee build. Conveyance is all-around useful (teleporting behind/out of groups of enemies, plus instantly going to any city is pretty badass), and you'll probably want something in necromantic white for healing.
Melee master + backstab master + hasten + tempus fugit. Now that would feel like cheating. Anyway, melee is easy playtrough by itself, so it propably is good for a first game. Adding magic to it is also less troublesome than tech (for example you can heal just with your fatigue, no need to find and accumulate ingredients for herb medicaments). As for magic trees for magic melee, Philes pretty much summed it up. The playing "vanilla before UAP" thing depends on what type of a player you are. If you a game fanatic type (like me ), you want to recognize which elements were in the original game and which came in mods/unofficial patches, even if for your own wisdom and satisfaction itself. But if you don't give a damn about such things, you can propably start with UAP.
Personally I'd recommend at least 1 magical playthrough pre UAP for the fun of permanent followers. I'm currently working through a game where with a combination of mental inhibitor and dominate will I plan on mentally enslaving all the Tullan Masters. It was also fun when I mentally enslaved each and every citizen of dernholm, polymorphed each of them into a sheep, led them all out to Torg's altar, and slaughtered them all.
He was the closest Altar. Probably would have been better to go with Shakar. Fill Kree with the blood of sheep!
And what's the best, even while being little, they still have the same ammount of blood! Nothing gets wasted!
[Insert random demotivational poster with dead feti, lots of blood and the legend BABIES - guaranteed to have the same amount of blood as adults]
No, you don't get a trophy. Tho' I do like little legs of lamb. It makes them microwavable. I give a leg up.
