Who is your favorite character in Arcanum?

Arcanum is and has always been my favorite game ever, largely due to its innovative fantasy/steampunk setting, magnificent soundtrack and excellent writing. I love how you can converse with hundreds of different personalities and take those conversations in whatever direction you want, and the dialogue itself is the best I have ever seen in terms of writing; playing Arcanum is like reading a never-ending book.

The lore, the bits and pieces flying around until you find someone with that particular information which you seek to fall into place, only to uncover something larger in the plot, is what makes Arcanum such a great game. Although its graphics aren't as great as what they could be, its atmosphere rather makes me dream of the world of Arcanum from my own perspective and how my character would see it, had he/she been real and alive.

With a plethora of remarkably written personalities, I am rather curious as to what character in Arcanum is your favorite. It could be anyone, from a significant character such as Virgil following you through most of if not the entire game, to a commoner walking around in Tarant giving you the latest rumours.

So, as to narrow this down: Who is your favorite character in Arcanum?

 

Hmm not sure. There are characters I always have in my party but I think in terms of a favorite I'd said Geoffry the necromancer that you meet in Ashbury. He has a great voice actor and what he does at the end of the game is unexpected and neat. I also like the dog because he's a great damaging member of the party. I usually pay the bridge toll at the beginning of the game cause farming to beat the guys is too boring so I then head straight for Ashbury and get the dog and head back

Been a while since I played so don't remember them all.

In general I don't really have a favorite as I like a lot of characters the same. The voice acting and character of everyone I've met is good. I do prefer voice acted characters over non-voice acted typically though.

 

I tend to run lone-wolf in most games, but the most interesting companion for me has to be Garr. I know he's not as fully voiced or fleshed out as, say, Virgil, but even just the initial introduction and backstory is enough for me.

 

What's Garr like?

 

I like Thom Grak. The way he took any and all verbal abuse was very admirable.

 

I will put as much effort into my response as you did detailing your question: Cool.

 

"I will put as much effort into my response as you did detailing your question" er.... ok. I had not considered the question a problem but how about this:

What race is Garr? What is their background? What kind of person are they currently? What is it about Garr that makes them cool to you? Are their stats a factor in why you like them? If so, in what way? Is he/she/it more powerful then a steaming locomotive? Can Garr leap tall buildings in a single bound? Does he know what Birds are? : P These are some of many questions that cross my mind when I consider just exactly what an person is like.

 

I always assumed it was Ristezze as I was unsure if you had ever gotten past him.

 

Whoa snap!

 

Oh shit! I GOT TOLD

Really though, Ristezze is the best characterized person you meet in Shrouded Hills! If I could recruit him I would.

 

Definitely one of the more thought out characters with in depth dialogue.

 

Gar must be my favorite one, since he drinks tea. I'm sure most civilized beings during the late 19th century in Arcanum would enjoy tea, but Gar is, as far as I know, the only person actually bragging about it.

And with two ranks of Persuasion, you'll discover something about him...

 

Green tea really is superior, though.

Virgil has become my favourite character, just because of the depth of his personal journey.

His spiritual development, for good or evil, is both credible and intense. The way he confronts his recent trauma and his past karma is really quite touching.

God knows I'm sick of the sound of his voice, but the acting is excellent and the script is very complex. Also, he has a debugmenu dialogue.

 

Yes, Virgil is a great character for his voice acting. I can't help but feel that the game is a little dull without him.

Of course, the occasional "That's the way to show those bastards... I mean, good hit, sir!" never hurts to hear.

 

Definitely Torian Kel. Attractive 1000 years old warrior with incredibly beautiful voice... Very sad story... I am in love!

 

K'an Hua is one of my favorite characters. What a twisted and fucked up excuse for a human elven being. And his voice actor is incredibly talented.

Spoiler

He was born sometime during the Age of Legends, possibly was on the Elven Council since he can recognize Nasrudin in person. He appears a total of 3 times in the game, all require slaughtering Stillwater:
-- You get an audience with him in the Panarii temple in Caladon after slaughtering Stillwater, he introduces you to what's happening, except from the Dark Elves' point of view. The Arronax banishment movie is played with K'an Hua's voice over.
-- Now that you know this bit, you can (optionally) look into the church's matters and eventually discover Mannox's secret hideout. Once you bring his belongings to Alexander (Mannox's descendant) normally nothing would happen, Alexander would just swear revenge, but, if you're on the Dark Elves' side, K'an Hua teleports in right in front of everybody screaming "Betrayer! Your life is forfeit!" and starts hurling Disintegrate (wtf) spells around. You either die, or if you manage to defeat him get banished to the Void instantly.
-- If you follow his orders, he will be the one waiting at the Ring of Brodgar to banish you to the Void. But of course there's a special case with such an awesome villain. You can secretly investigate shit on your own, meet Nasrudin and go back onto the "good" path. 'Course, good ol' fuck Nasrudin is going to say "meet you at the Ring of Brodgar, son", as usually. The fuck happens, you might wonder? Once you get there, there will be a corpse of K'an Hua lying about and Nasrudin will grumble about "some lunatic" that lunged at him screaming "you can't be alive".
TL;DR: Learn to use the power of the Dark Side, Anakin.

How old is he supposed to be lore wise anyway? His character sheet sadly says 20 which is just the default age, gotta fix it.

 

I can't recall exactly, but a thousand or two-thousand at least. He is contemporary with the Bane of Kree, is he not? I believe Elder Jaohcaim's (sp?) book about the Molochean Hand gives some indication. They were assassins for a group of Necrmoancers but turned on them. So it all must have happened some time after Kerghan was banished to the void.

Anyway...


Torian is definitely a favorite of mine too. Meeting and recruiting him is interesting in its own right, but also quite horrifying. When he describes the fate that has befallen his comrades, an "And I Must Scream" kind of fate I find that it is not hard to understand why he will take the actions he does at the end of the game. He's a tragic figure and a man out of time. I like asking him about Tarant and I recall some other places. In Quintarra I recall he mentions having an elf mistress whom he left to go and fight in the battle that took his life. I do think though that he's never quite made sense as an evil follower. I know he's an undead and served the Grey Legions, but his personality seems to be one centered around honor rather than slaughter or cruelty or greed. I think the devs were just throwing evil players a bone by making him evil only. Same with Z'an Al'urin. Another character I like.

She has a cute voice but she's also a fairly intriguing and mysterious person. She seems to hate the dark elves and even herself but I don't recall her going into a lot of detail as to why. I want to know more about her life and how she came to feel that way. She has a great scene debating with Loghair wherein she also drops a big reveal about the Clan War between the dwarves. Considering she is too horrified by her visions in Vendigroth to tell you much of what she sees I wonder then why she is apparently okay with slaughtering Stillwater if you go on evil path in the game. That coupled with her hatred of T'sang and the Dark Elves makes me question whether she should be an evil follower or not. Considering her ultimate motivation though... perhaps she is ruthless enough to do evil for good's sake.

I do wish though that we go more interaction between her and Raven. Or any at all really. Raven throws a hissy fit if you recruit Z'an but she herself is silent on the matter.



It has already been said, but Virgil is unquestionably a favorite of mine too. He and Magnus really, and I kind of see them as a bit of a duo sometimes. As I play tech characters most of the time Vigil is usually pretty useless but I enjoy his story so much and he feels like such a natural part of the experience that I rarely leave him behind. His confession near the end is pretty powerful too and I think his backstory in Arcanum is one of my favorite character backstories ever. It's fairly simple actually, but very effective.


Magnus is endearing to me for his innocence. He wants so badly to belong to traditional dwarven society but he knows nothing about it, something that a diligent and (frankly nosy) character might discover early on, in a rather amusing way. When he is forced to admit to Loghair that he is actually clanless I find that to be pretty heartwarming. Magnus also seems like somebody destined for great things... I really wish the epilogue slides went into greater detail about his life if you complete his personal quest. Most especially if the player character makes an enemy of Magnus early on in the game. As I recall, as long as you meet Magnus and he doesn't die he is always mentioned in the epilogue as having found his clan.


There are lots of minor NPC's that are memorable as well. Ristezze (whatever) of-course for his flamboyant dialog and his girly screams (Drog should have left that alone), Doc Roberts no-nonsense badassery, and Constable Owens quivering at any suggestion that he might have to confront a badguy.

I think all of the Master Skill trainers are interesting people too.

 

Fuck man, the memories of coming across that temple and meeting Torian Kel for the first time are all coming back. IMO, it's the amazing voice actor (RIP) that made the character work. Lore wise, he's a ruthless and fucked up person, but his soothing and eloquent voice just kinda made you feel like he was above all that messed up crap.

As for his alignment, well he's "evil" in the sense that he doesn't care anymore. There's nothing left for him to care about. All his bros are dead worse than dead, his hometown is in ruins. Pretty much everyone he knew is long dead (like in that legend common to many different cultures). But yeah, there should probably be an option to persuade him otherwise at the end of the game, IIRC he's the only character that always sides with Kerghan, no matter what you say, which kinda makes him one dimensional.

CH 20 overrides Raven's hissy fit and all the other things like this, like Magnus hating Torian or Geoffrey disliking Perriman, you can also skip alignment requirements this way, i.e. recruit evil followers when you're a saint and vice versa.

 

My memory might be flaky, but I still recall that even with 20 CH and Master Persuasion that you will still have to talk Raven into agreeing to travel with Z'an. She'll of-course agree, but I mean that the dialog still comes up. I just wish that the two of them had a conversation or two throughout the game. A meeting between Raven and Min G'orad might have been interesting too. In my current play-through, first time in a few years, I'm looking forward to seeing Loghair and Bates interact. I don't think I ever made it that far since the UAP was released.


In the past I modified Torian to join up with a character regardless of alignment, but I don't know. I think that after this I will do an evil character again. It's been years. I miss having Geoffrey around. I really wish he was encountered in Shrouded Hills or something and not Ashbury. I think after Magnus and Virgil he's the one that most feels to me like a requirement... sadly I've only rarely ever gotten to use him.

That reminds me... Vollinger. I really wish he was voiced and worked into the main plot some more. Instead of being some random guy in a bar in Dernholm he totally should have been someone you meet as part of the main quest. Someone who seems a little shady but has vital information to speed you on your way. To give your character a compelling reason to take him along. I must admit as well that I feel a bit torn on his storyline because while it feels natural enough to make a friend of the Hand, on the other 'hand' I really enjoy Vollinger's betrayal. Nice little bit of melodrama at just the right time.

 

Dog is my favourite character.