Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura

aka: Aomi: Jishu yu Mofa, Arcanum : Engrenages & Sortilèges, Arcanum: Feitiços e Engrenagens, Arcanum: Hechizos y Engranajes, Arcanum: Macchine a Vapore e Magia Oscura, Arcanum: Przypowieść o Maszynach & Magyi, Arcanum: von Dampfmaschinen und Magie
Moby ID: 4498
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Description official descriptions

The luxury zeppelin IFS Zephyr begins her maiden voyage from Caladon in the Kingdom of Arland to Tarant, one of the largest cities in the technologically advanced Unified Kingdom. Suddenly, while the zeppelin is cruising over mountains, two monoplanes attack it and eventually shoot it down. The two half-ogre attackers die in flames along with all their victims except two who miraculously survived. However, one of them, an old gnome, is mortally wounded. Just before he dies, he gives a silver ring to the other survivor and tells him to "find the boy". The witness of the crash, a man named Virgil, declares that the now only survivor is "The Living One", a reincarnation of a deity, and offers to follow him wherever he goes. The hero begins a long and perilous search for the mysterious boy, the origins of the silver ring, and the unknown enemy who was behind the attack on the zeppelin.

Arcanum is a role-playing game similar in concept and many gameplay principles to Fallout. It is set in a unique world, which can be described as mixture between Tolkienesque fantasy, steampunk technology and elements of British and North American culture of the 19th century: dwarves may carry molotov cocktails, and a half-orc protagonist can travel by train between Victorian-like cities. Magic and technology are opposed to each other; most humans and dwarves embrace technology, while some elf clans stick to the old ways and consider scientific progress evil.

In the beginning of the game the player creates the main character, choosing from a variety of races, attributes, magical or technological disciplines, social skills, backgrounds, etc. When the character levels up, the player can increase his main parameters as well as any available skills. Like in Fallout games, the player directly controls only one character; however, companions who join the party may be given orders, and their inventory can be managed by the player.

The game is open-ended: the player is free to explore the vast world from the onset, undertaking a large amount of side quests or following the main story. Social interaction plays a significant role: depending on the player character's charisma and intelligence attributes, as well as persuasion skill, many problems can be solved in a non-violent way. The amount of companions willing to follow the protagonist also depends on the latter's charisma rating; companions may also leave the party if they disagree with the hero's behavior.

The player can select one of the three combat modes for the game: real-time, turn-based, and fast-paced turn-based. Turn-based mode is similar to the combat in Fallout games: characters require action points to move, attack, or cast spells.

The game includes an editor called WorldEdit, which allows players to create their own maps, campaigns, and non-playable characters. Objects from the base game can be carried across to the player-created scenario. The scenery editor allows players to create their own objects. It is also possible to set and change game variables, i.e. the amount of skill points required to perform a specific task.

Spellings

  • 奥秘:技术与魔法 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (Windows version)

157 People (118 developers, 39 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 61 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 168 ratings with 13 reviews)

Seems to be mything something.

The Good
The gimmick behind Arcanum is that it’s a fantasy role-playing game with technological elements. Thus, a steam-driven train might take you past the burial grounds of a dragon, halfling thieves might shoot at you, or you could fight a mechanized spider in a dungeon illuminated by electric lights. This does not mean that magick and technology work in concert however. One of the many storylines in this game deals with the struggle between magick and technology. This plays out in several ways regarding character development and means that as you progress towards either technology or magick, your ability to use the oppositional skills wanes. And it draws interesting parallels to the often antagonistic struggle between science and religion in our world.

So the question then, is how well does the gimmick work? Like the Fallout series, Arcanum presents a class-less role-playing system. As your character progresses you may specialize in thief-type skills, magic ones, etc. and through this create your class. Unlike Fallout, as a fantasy game you have your pick of races including human, elf, dwarf, and orc. These races have unique benefits and detriments and some close off gender options- Gnomish women, for example, are never seen. Arcanum does not make use of Fallout’s SPECIAL attribute system, but presents a similar one, which like Fallout, really affects game play. Most RPG’s don’t well integrated attribute systems, but every statistic in Arcanum really affects gameplay. Intelligence determines conversation options, Beauty affects how people react to you and Dexterity determines how fast you move. There are also statistics such as hit points and fatigue which are based on combinations of attributes and the level of your attributes determines how far you can advance in certain skills.

Which brings me to the skill section, which is the most complex system I’ve seen in any RPG. The skill set is broken down into three sets: character skills, magic skills and technological skills. These sets are then broken down into subsets such as combat, specific magic school or specific technological discipline. As you advance in level you apply points to these skills to increase your ability. You can also receive training in the character skills and advance from Apprentice to Expert to Master. Often training is purchased, but Master’s require special quests. Now you can also apply points to your attributes and you only receive one point per level. Therefore, deciding how to spend these precious points becomes strategic.

One final thing regarding the character: alignment. Your character begins the game with a neutral alignment. Depending on your actions (the quests you complete and your interaction with people) your alignment will shift towards good or evil. This is a dynamic system which does away with the complications of the traditional AD&D system and works very well within the game.

Actual game play resembles other RPGs, perhaps too much. You go on many mini-quests while uncovering the larger story. Talk to dozens (hundreds) of people and gain followers. Opinion of the usefulness of the followers seems to be mixed, but I felt like mine were great characters that did far more than carry heavy equipment. I was never able to make use of my dwarven technologist, but I think this was more my fault than his. They have wonderful conversations, fought very well, had interesting reactions between themselves and added to my enjoyment of the game.

There are many areas to explore and several major cities. Talking to the people in the cities results in useful information and interesting quests. During the game I played, I had to solve several murders, track down missing nobles and I found a fun X-Files themed conspiracy regarding half-orcs. There was seldom a time when I did not have at least one quest to work on and I usually had several on the backburner.

Graphically, this game is dated since it does not use 3D graphics, the graphics are good but result in some performance issues. Sound is wonderful. The string score is beautiful, voice work is consistently well above average and ambient noises are realistic and appropriate.

This is a very long game but highly replayable. As a non-thief character, I missed the extensive thieves’ underground, as a melee character I never got far into magic use and technology, and as a good character I didn’t touch on the dark side of Arcanum (however I did perform some evil acts for the greater good and some of my good acts resulted in bad outcomes). Finally, like the Fallout Series, at the end of the game, you get to see how your adventures affected the places you went traveled to.

The Bad
While the story in Arcanum was very good, it is unclear for most of the game. I think I prefer games where you know what points is from the get-go. Several major themes seem to disappear near the end of the game including the one with hero/villain technologist Gilbert Bates (Bill Gates?). Although, this could just be how I played the game. I also wished for more of the steam-punk, Victorian fantasy setting that the box seemed to advertise. While there was a mix of magick and technology in the game, most of the Arcanum world is entrenched in a pseudo-Tolkien setting. Pratchett’s Discworld books present a similar idea more convincingly.

The attribute/skill section I described above is very complex and since the game has a level cap it pays to plan ahead. I was very unhappy with the level cap because I wanted to do more with my character and if you can’t advance in level any more- why go on quests? I found myself very apathetic towards the end of the game, tired of the subquests and solely interested in the end of the game.

Of course one of the reasons for the level cap is the extremely poor balancing in the game. I was simply too powerful too soon. I was also very wealthy, so money oriented quests didn’t matter and I had all the items I wanted. While the ability to increase your attributes was fun, I was able to become almost superhuman. I think they needed to reconsider this element in favor of the traditional RPG feeling that attributes are carved in stone and only acts of God can change them.

While I mentioned some interesting quests, too many of them involved searching dungeons for a person/item. With all the dungeon crawling combat, you level up way too quickly. In short, elements of this game suffered from the Monty Haul syndrome discussed in AD&D books. RPGs have to be about more than who has the more points/gold, etc. By the time I got to the final battle, it was a joke. I was successful in a few minutes and never felt in any danger. The story and framework of Arcanum deserve more than a Cheaterz Diablo-type romp.

Finally, I mentioned that graphics were outdated. On my new system, I experienced several lock-ups because the game wasn’t making use of my 3D card. Characters weren’t particularly well animated, combat animations were minimalist, and the dungeons were visually unimpressive. There were some excellent rendered scenes, but they occur late in the game.

The Bottom Line
I played this voraciously and still don't know how I feel about this game. I definitely want to replay this game as a completely different type of character. As it stands now, I'd describe it as a failed masterpiece.

Windows · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2003

A fine, fun RPG in an original (at least in games) world.

The Good
This game generally fulfilled its vision of a new setting and story with the same sort of flexibility that worked for the Fallouts. The number of possible character choices and development paths is significantly greater and more diverse than in the earlier games. The interplay of magic and technology, and the different feel of each, is interesting. The evocation of a Victorian English feeling (with some more modern conspiracies below the surface) is particularly wonderful.

Perhaps most promising, the developers seem to have mostly grown up since Fallout2. The sophomoric "humor" is mostly replaced by more interesting and better developed characters. There are moral dilemmas and issues to think about. Many of the factions are drawn in moral grays instead of melodramatic monochrome.

Although some have complained about the "sexism" in the game, including both the lack of female art for two of the playable races (a production cost decision) and the inclusion of some gender discrimination in the world and character reactions (an integral part of the success in producing a Victorian flavor for the game world), I did not find the game particularly prejudiced, and in fact there is a strong subplot around issues of racism and racial exploitation.

The Bad
Not all characters are created equal - there were some balance issues.

One of the most interesting side quests was unfinished, and just leaves the player dangling.

The desire to make a "toolbox" game was not carried far enough to really catch on - in particular third-party adventures can't have a world map - but it was carried far enough to limit options for game scripting.

There were some annoying bugs in the UI even in the final patch.

Managing NPCs in your party was done well in general, but a technical character was not allowed to purchase items for magical followers and vice versa - shopkeepers refused to interact with opposite-aligned characters entirely.

The game was a slug on the best machines available when it shipped.

The Bottom Line
A fine, though not perfect, game and a landmark in CPRGs.

Windows · by weregamer (155) · 2003

Gnomes with guns and bits with bugs

The Good
Arcanum's setting is great. The blend of steampunk and fantasy is a welcome change from the Forgotten Realms or uninspired clones thereof that are all too often found in computer role-playing games. The setting goes far beyond just having gnomes with guns. It manages to capture a Victorian atmosphere and fuse it believably to its Tolkienesque world with a lot of attention to detail, from exploited orcish factory workers and a certain degree of racism towards orcs and half-orcs, including player characters, in general to mages not being allowed near locomotives out of fear of malfunctions, because the conflicting nature of magic and technology.

This conflict is also present in character generation, with a character that is strong in both magic and technology being just about the only thing you can't generate. Other than that you're pretty much free to do what you want. Like in Fallout, which was made by many of the same people, your character can be anything you want and the game is playable as almost everything as well. From stupid thieves to pacifistic chemists and from homicidal gunslingers to goody two shoes necromancers, anything goes. Many quests, including the main one, have more than one way to solve them, so the choice is really up to you, giving the game a lot of replay value.

The storyline is good, although it starts a bit slowly and even though is mainly linear, there are different paths and different endings depending on your choices along the way. The story will take you across the whole continent of Arcanum, from jungle islands to desert wastelands and from elven cities to dwarven caverns. All of these places are filled with side quests which range from simple delivery boy and assassination quests to elaborate conspiracies and political machinations. Still, there are entire villages that are completely optional, leaving much room for exploration. An interesting feature in this regard is that the whole world is like a huge canvas. If you keep on walking to the north east from Shrouded Hills, without going to the world map, you will eventually arrive at Tarant, just as if you'd traveled there via the world map. While doing this would be tedious and pointless, I appreciate that there's the possibility as it gives, to me at least, the whole world a sense of coherence as it doesn't just consist of isolated locations but also of the wilderness between them.

I also enjoyed how characters react to you differently, depending on your race, gender, reputation and technological or magical aptitude, even on some your equipment, like barbarian armor or a smoking jacket and that a character's equipment is reflected in both his graphics and his inventory. If you kill a servant, you'll be able to take and wear their uniform and if somebody attacks you wearing plate mail and wielding a broadsword, you will be able to take and use them as well after you defeat him. Assuming, of course, that the armor is your size, because small armor will only fit half-lings, dwarves and gnomes and elven chainmail is too small for half-ogres.

The Bad
However, just as most of Fallout's good aspects are present in this game, so are some of its not so good ones, unfortunately. First of all, there's the issue of bugs. The release version had lots of them and even after the final patch a couple of them remain. Mostly minor stuff, but annoying nonetheless and distracting from the game's otherwise great atmosphere. Also, the tile-based graphics are best described as functional. Streets are always at right angles and most buildings look exactly the same. There's little variety in the way dungeons look and most animations are wooden. Even special effects like spell animations aren't really spectacular. The graphics weren't state of the art when the game came out and certainly aren't now, but they get their job done.

Finally, there's one aspect that wasn't handled quite as well as in previous games and that's the combat. The game offers both a trendy real-time mode and a turn-based alternative. Unfortunately, neither works as well as those in other games. The real-time mode is not pausable and very hectic whereas the turn-based mode doesn't give you clear information how many action points each action is going to take. Additionally, real-time combat seems to favor ranged fighters whereas melee specialists seem to have the edge in the turn-based mode. Combat is arguably neither the focus of the game nor is it very hard as characters can get very powerful very quickly, but it's a pity it wasn't executed better.

The Bottom Line
Overall, the game is a worthy successor to Fallout and a true computer role-playing game. If you like role-playing games in general or Fallout in particular, this game is for you. If you like unusual settings in general or steampunk in particular, this game is also for you. However, if you like flashy graphics and lots of gunslinging action, you'll probably have to look elsewhere.

Windows · by Anym (165) · 2006

[ View all 13 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
[false alarm] glitch: no speech? Rola (8486) Oct 20, 2018

Trivia

Graveyards

A hidden graveyard, containing tombstones of Arcanum's most diehard fans, can be found at the location W: 1060 S : 809 on the world map. Another graveyard has lots of humorous epitaphs written on the graves. However, many of them are taken directly from Baldur's Gate.

Manual

Following on the tradition started in the Fallout manuals, Arcanum's manual includes an actual cooking recipe. This time it's Grandma Cookhill's Three Bowl Bread.

Mod pack

On 7 January 2002, the development team released a free mod pack, containing six new and exclusive adventures. It can be downloaded here.

Mods

Chris Beddoes has produced a mod for this game that addresses some balance issues, makes it overall a little more challenging, and replaces the entire opening area and quests. This latter is important because the opening area was used in the demo, and many players have just seen it too many times to want to start a new character any more, despite the near-infinite possibilities for character design. It can be found here.

References

  • There's a location in the game called the "Isle of Despair" which is a penal colony which holds it's inmates in a remote island behind a magical barrier that makes it impossible to escape. Now, when asking the generic NPCs for its location, they answer:

"You mean the Black Isle? I'm not quite sure..."

Black Isle Studios is the name of Interplay's RPG division, and the former home of Arcanum's development team.

  • A portion of the Stillwater giant quest contains a major (and fairly obvious) reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, specifically the part where you have to trace the beast to a cave and capture it. In fact, the whole sequence plays just like in the movie, you follow some giant footprints, enter a dark cave filled with bones and dead bodies, and so on.
  • There's a Fallout reference in the walled city of Tulla. Apparently one of the students had to venture out in the Wastes to find a Water Gem. He has since returned and the Mages fear how the journey changed him and the influence he might have on other students. Plus, he's wearing mechanized armor.
  • There's actually a reference to Bill Gates and Microsoft stealing the ideas for their Windows operating system from Apple's MacOS. One of the most influential and wealthy of people in Tarant is Gilbert Bates (Swap the G and B in Gill Bates and you have Bill Gates) because he brought the power of the steam engine to mankind. Another steam engine developer, called Cedric APPLEby is spiteful of Bates's success and claims that he invented the steam engine first and that Bates had stolen the idea off him.

Server shutdown

The official online servers were shut down on 1 November 2008.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Arcanum was composed by Ben Houge for string quartet and was provided in its entirety on Computer Gaming World's May 2001 demo CD.

Both the soundtrack and its sheet music are available as a free download.

Stillwater giant

Despite the result of the associated quest, the Stillwater giant DOES exist. It can be found on a random encounter between Stillwater and the pass to the elven city.

Information also contributed by Rambutaan, Sciere, Terrence Bosky, uclafalcon, Unicorn Lynx, weregamer, Wojit and Zovni

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Unicorn Lynx.

Additional contributors: Zovni, Kaliban, Indra was here, Jeanne, phlux, JRK, tbuteler, jsbrigo, Alaedrain, Patrick Bregger, Plok.

Game added August 25, 2001. Last modified March 19, 2024.