Arcanum: of Fanpatches and Modded Obscura

Bluegrime on 30/4/2011 at 01:10

I don't have much to add beyond whats been said but I heartily endorse Arcanum. imo it is up there with Fallout (not on the same level as the original but definately on par with 2) and gives the player fairly diverse options for almost every problem.

Pro tip though: The starting backgrounds that give you items are fucking rubbish and sewer rats / wererats give an inordinate amount of experience.

doctorfrog on 3/5/2011 at 22:31

This is from an SA thread on this game, and it's pretty much correct as to what you'll need:

Quote:

Basically this game owns, owns owns. You can get it for six dollars from Good Old Games here: (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/arca..._magick_obscura)

After that you can get the official patch here: (http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downlo...num_en_1074.exe)

And then the Unofficial Community Patch here: (http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downlo...s/UAP091225.exe)

Also there is a high resolution patch if you so desire: (http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downlo...HighRes1.1a.exe)

Krupp's All in One Hack rebalances the technological side of the game: (http://www.mediafire.com/?1hqyt1a9vxw076s)

Those links won't resolve in my quote, so see the original post:
(http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3396909)

This isn't a downloadable, but you'll also need a forgiving nature, as Arcanum is about as fair and balanced as Fox News to techy players. You should also specialize your character, and not so much make it a jack of all trades. Easy mode, as I recall, is as a necromantic magic-tosser: spamming Harm will get you through much of the game. I did fairly well as a hideous half-orc, and since the beauty/charisma spell stacked, I got all the benefits of that sort of character as well.

EvaUnit02 on 4/5/2011 at 04:35

Drfrog, most of your links are broken.

Quote:

Hmm, wouldn't the GOG version likely already have the latest official patch installed? Probably a redundant step.

EDIT: (http://www.gog.com/en/forum/arcanum_of_steamworks_and_magick_obscura/must_have_arcanum_fan_patches_widescreen_and_more/post63) This suggests that my assumption is correct. SA Goons are fucktards as usual then.

Yakoob on 4/5/2011 at 20:44

Hmm, how is tech side unbalanced? If anything, it's the magic that is way too easy, not the other way around.

Minion21g on 4/5/2011 at 20:57

Two reasons: The throwing skill exists and turn-based grenade throwing is ridiculous with 20 DEX. But really, either side can be just as unbalanced as the other. I think it comes down to preference.

steo on 22/5/2011 at 22:19

Has anyone played with the (http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4917&view=next&sid=3bd608ca1fc8d6b4c69f4e075e839c03) Polished Carcanum mod?

There's a lot of dead links for it on the web, but a working one isn't too hard to find. I decided to give it a try and played for a while with it only partially installed - turns out you have to run another .exe once you've run the installer to finish the installation. Anyway, just installed it properly and am beginning to think the creator had a serious meth habit. I've died several times in the crash site because there's poison fog traps everywhere. I have no idea how anyone could think putting them in could be a good idea and they make no sense in the context of the game. They hit you with about 50 points of poison, for each round you're in them, they pop up out of nowhere around pretty much anything you can search and also do fatigue damage, so you can easily (especially with me playing a mage) end up unconscious when they trigger, which means certain death because your fatigue just keeps dropping and your poison level keeps rising.

Can anyone vouch for this mod? I'd imagine once you get a little way into it, you wouldn't be so susceptible to these ridiculous traps and some of the content does sound interesting, so I might persevere for a little while...