Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura is a video game that consists of 2 releases
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura is an isometric RPG, following in the tradition of games like Fallout, that combines a classic high fantasy world with steampunk technology and Victorian-era sensibilities.
Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Magick and technology thrive together in the land of Arcanum where an adventurer might just as easily wield a flintlock pistol as a flaming sword. In taking a trip from Caladon to Tarant on the zeppelin, IFS Zephyr, the player's life is quickly turned upside down when it is attacked by bandits flying monoplanes. The zeppelin crashes killing nearly everyone on board except for you and an old gnome who begs the player to deliver a ring for him. The gnome dies soon after from his injuries leaving the player with many questions, but it is only the beginning of an adventure that will uncover the secrets of Arcanum, its history, and set them on a collision course with destiny against an ancient evil that had been thought long forgotten.
Overview
Arcanum's world embraces both magick and Victorian-era technology, such as steam engines and flintlock pistols, as Tolkienesque races such as elves and gnomes live in a world that is quickly becoming 'modernized' with such advances. It's a blend of both steampunk ideas as well as classical fantasy, and this is one of its greatest strengths.
It was Troika Games' first RPG and was designed by RPG veterans such as Timothy Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson who were also responsible for Fallout and the direction and work initially done for its sequel, Fallout 2. They had left Interplay to found Troika.
The game had strong reviews upon release despite reported bugs such as those that would corrupt saves or break certain in-game events, a reputation that would follow the developer's other titles. Despite these isssues, it had gained an Editors Choice award from several publications in 2001 as well as being one of Troikas best selling games with sales of 234,000.
In the years since, it has come to be hailed by many as one of the more innovative RPGs to have ever come out in the West for both its setting and itsclassless character mechanics, earning a place as a true classic on many role-playing game lists.
One of the games most prominent aspects is its open-ended game-play. The non-linear style gives players a chance to shape the main quest through their own doing giving their actions real consequences even if that means closing off various quest paths.
The game was also multiplayer capable allowing players to come together and adventure through Arcanum in a LAN setting or over the Internet. An editor was also included with the game called WorldEd allowing fans to create their own scenarios and share them with others. With it, players could shape terrain to create new NPCs with dialogue.
Steamworks and Magick
Arcanum's manual was written from the perspective of its own fiction with allowances made to describe aspects of its mechanics such as those within character creation. It is illed with lore covering the setting of the game such as essays describing the use of magick to an analysis of the races of Arcanum.
In another example, the lore also gives the impression that magick is seen as something of an older tradition while technology is seen as a revolutionary concept. But the two are diametrically opposed to each other. In the entry for elves, for example, it is mentioned that because of their extremely magickal nature, they may become ill when near significantly advanced devices while lesser machines may actually fail instead.
Gameplay
Statistics and other tangible measures of a character's effectiveness are highly interrelated within Arcanum. Little "wasted space" was left unused in linking many of the character's abilities which could make management of the character a daunting task for newcomers to the statistics-heavy world of the classic PC RPG. Not only are actions accounted for within the game, but weapon preferences and magick ability also play a part in shaping the character's growth.
Character interaction with NPCs was handled by clicking on them and initiating a dialogue sequence and the relatively open nature of the story assured the player that they had many options to explore in how they were to resolve it. There is an alignment system that can determine who will follow you or what you might be able to use, but much of the emphasis is on the consequences of your actions which could alter what opportunities would be encountered similar to that explored most recently with CD Projekt RED's, The Witcher.
Character Creation
A set of statistics with a standard amount of points are initially assigned to the player's character, but the choice of race and background can also alter them. A few points allotted to the player to learn skills, spells, or improve existing traits is also a part of the process. Attributes cannot be lowered to gain more points to spend, but the choice of race can do so to the benefit of others, as is typical among most RPGs.Races
Arcanum allows the player to pick from several different races in creating their character. These choices can also open up different options during character creation as well as affect certain traits and attributes.A fictional author, John Beddoes, had endeavored to study the races of Arcanum and had come up with the following conclusions. Experimentation within the character editor will yield more tangible results as to the benefits and downfalls that each can offer.
Races are divided into three different classifications: the Minute races (dwaves, gnomes, and halflings), the Gigantic races (Ogre and Ogre Hybrids), and the Median races (Humans, Elves, Orcs, and Human Hybrids).
- Human: According to John's work, the author considers humans as the oldest race on Arcanum and the root for most every other of the Median races. This is a 'safe' choice without any real negatives or great positives.
- Half-Elves: Human-elf hybrid that have decent magical ability and some of the human hardiness of their other half. Predictably, they make excellent mages or those that can both fight and use spells at the same time.
- Half-Orc: As with many other RPGs, these hybrids tend to be slightly more intelligent than their pure orc halves and almost as tough. Can be decent fighters if you don't expect to have a philosophical discourse with one.
- Elves: They're still around and disdain much of the technology brought to the world thanks to Progress. They are close to Nature and are strongly magickal practicioners as a result, although their superiority complex (although they regard halflings with a friendlier attitude) can grate on everyone they meet. Not exactly a tough race leaving them a poor choice as swordsmen.
- Orc: Ugly, twisted, and brutish creatures, orcs aren't entirely without some spark of intelligence and can make considerable warriors. Highly resistant to disease, they are also quick to heal and far more adaptable to extremes of climate.
- Ogre: Perhaps descended from the Giants who are now only myth from the Epoch of Enchantment, ogres are strong, though, and mak excellent fighters. Primitive and more bestial than the orc, they nevertheless find employment as muscle. Or onboard a zeppelin through whatever circumstances had sent them there.
- Half-Ogre: Although John spends some time trying to describe how this hybrid turned out, suffice it to say that it shares the strength of its ogre parent and some of the intellect of its human half opening a few more doors to what it can achieve out of life.
- Dwarves: Also diminutive, dwarven clans are considerable warriors but are completely without any ability to wield magick. However, their expertise in the lore of Natural Law have enabled them to invent, build, and construct mighty monuments to their genius. Great warriors who can also think their way into providing new weapons for themselves make them a good choice for the technically minded.
- Gnomes: While they may be descended from dwarven stock, they are very different in approach to life. While not as strong as dwarves or as hardy, they adapt well to politics, business, and maintain an open, cosmopolitan, view on life in general making them very sociable creatures. They are also very family oriented and as John points out, while the impression may be that they are greedy misers, the ulterior motive is always that which might help their family survive.
- Halfling: Perhaps descended from gnomish stock, halflings love the outdoors and the freedom of movement that it gives them. They are quick, agile, and make excellent farmers and wine makers. There is a slight magickal resonance to their person, although they're not the first choice when it comes to deciding on a mage.
Statistics
There are the statistics that all races share and can be altered by the choice of race, background, and by the player during creation.- Strength (ST): Raw muscle that determines anything strength related from being able to wield certain weapons to how much a character can carry in their pockets.
- Constitution (CN): This determines how tired a character can get, how quickly they heal, and their resistance to poisons.
- Beauty(BE): This determines the first impression that others receive from your character whether they will be attracted or repulsed. It can determine just how easy it is to talk to certain characters as a result.
- Intelligence (IN): The power of a character's Cerebral aptitude. It impacts certain Skills, definitely has an affect on learning Spells and Technological Disciplines. What the player can say to others is also limited by this, so a distinctly challenged character won't be able to wax poetic on the virtues of a waterfall with a noble if they are as smart as the rocks at its feet.
- Dexterity (DX): Determines how well a character performs their Skills.
- Perception (PE): How alert a character is and how well they can use it with ranged weapons, affecting their aim.
- Willpower (WP): Mental toughness. Determines spell availability, how well a character can haggle, contributes to hit points, resistances, and hit points. Fatigue is also affected by this statistic.
- Charisma (CH): Your character's personality and charm. Affects your ability to persuade others and how many NPCs are willing to follow you into death.
Derived Statistics
Certain statistics improve only during course of gameplay and cannot be altered during creation.- Level: A staple of many RPGs, levels are milestones indicating how far a character has come thanks to earned experience. Points are earned to spend on Skills, Statistics, and Spells. The maximum level that can be reached is 50.
- Experience Points: A character starts with nothing, but eventually earns enough to become a formidable force...or failure depending on how they develop.
- Alignment: A character starts out neutral and through their actions, will veer towards Good or Evil. This can determine who will follow you as well as what items you can use in more extreme cases. One interesting note is that if you are evil and slay a creature of lesser evil, it isn't considered a good deed unless you are less evil than it was.
- Reputations: Characters can have more than one reputation and these can affect how NPCs recieve you.
- Fate Points: A character has no Fate Points when they start out but earn them through the completion of quests in the game. These are like wild cards and can be used to alter events in the player's favor. For example, you might use a Fate Point to guarantee that the next attack you make will be a critical one.
- Character Points: These are acquired at each new level and can be spent on Statistics, Skills, and Spells.
- Poison Level: It starts at zero, but when it adds up, it will sap your health and eventually kill your character.
Skills
Arcanum features an extensive skill system allowing you to develop your character in any number of ways. Mixing together fighting, technological, and even a little magic into a character's build is not unusual in this game.
Skills are divided into four different disciplines: Combat, Thieving, Social, and Technological.
Combat
These are the skills most concerned with fighting with passive effects that can also apply to different situations, such as dodging the explosive effects of an invention gone wrong. - Bow - applies to anything requiring a bow and arrow
- Dodge - a character's ability to dodge trouble, accidental or intentional
- Melee - the ability to land hits, whether bare fisted or in striking with a weapon such as a sword
- Throwing - Hurl deadly things at different degrees of accuracy.
Social Skills
These are the skills concerned with such things as business or in trying to get others to see that your idea is the better one.- Gambling - The better the gambler, the higher the stakes, and the bigger the pot if you win.
- Haggle - How to squeeze the best deal out of stubborn shopkeepers is a fine art.
- Heal - How best to use those healing accouterments to staunch particularly nasty wounds is determined by this. Fortunately, failure is not rewarded with that of the lethal kind. At least, not right away.
- Persuasion - How well it can help to get people to see your side of the story.
Thieving
The fine art of the five fingered discount hasn't gone out of style in Arcanum despite the onset of industrial progress, and these skills can help a character become much better in getting what they want or in secretly dealing with particularly annoying people.- Backstab - Improves the use of a dagger making it deadly in the right hands
- Pick Pocket - How to add and remove things from an NPC without having to pay (or kill) them. It does carry the risk of being found out, though, which diminishes the better your character gets with this.
- Prowling - Affects sneaking about without becoming noticed. Armor affects this as well, which makes sense considering how hard it is to move in plate.
- Spot trap - Just as it says, this helps to spot traps.
Technological Skills
These determine how well a character can use technology in general. Very useful for things such as being able to use that weird gun that you mght have uncovered in your journeys.- Repair - This gives you a chance to fix anything, from swords to Tesla guns, depending on how well it is developed.
- Firearms - After fixing that Tesla gun, this can help you fire it, along with anything else, with deadly accuracy.
- Pick Locks - Tumbers don't care what turns them, just as long as you're good at making them spin in the direction you want them to. Valuable talent to have in discovering what others don't want you to find.
- Disarm Traps - What's the use of being able to spot traps without having the aptitude to disarm them?
Technological Disciplines
The player's character doesn't necessarily have to go to school, but these disciplines work in a similar fashion. There are eight of them, each one affecting related aptitudes and improving the character's ability to do certain things such as in learning how to use schematics for inventing new items.Each one also has seven degrees and each one has to be learned in turn before rising any higher in any particular discipline.
- Smithy - A discipline useful for making armor
- Mechanical - Useful for creating gadgets
- Electrical - Explores the mysteries of electricity
- Explosives - Research and formulate even bigger explosives
- Chemistry - How best to use everyday substances to wipe out your foes
- Herbology - Focused on the body and nature's cures
- Gun Smithy - Enables a character to be able to build firearms
Spells
Sixteen colleges exist in Arcanum, each one with its own specialty and five spells apiece.- Conveyance - This concerns spells that focus on movement
- Divination - This focuses on discovering knowledge
- Air - Focuses on the element of air
- Earth - Focuses on the element of earth
- Fire - Focuses on fire based spells
- Water - Focuses on the element of water
- Force - Focuses on manipulating "cosmic" energies
- Mental - Influence and manipulate whoever you want
- Metaphysical - Spells that can affect other spells
- Morphological - Focuses on the material substance of the target
- Natural - Focuses on nature, such as plants and animals
- Black Necromantic - Can negatively affect the life force of a target
- White Necromantic - Can positively affect the life force of a target
- Phantasmagorical - Illusory spells
- Summoning - Call forth strange creatures
- Temporal - Focused on wielding the power of time
Automated Leveling
The interlocking relationship between the large number of disciplines, statistics, and skills can be initially overwhelming, but the game does offer a way to automate your character's growth and assign everything earned on the basis of a pre-set Scheme that it will follow.Magical/Technological Aptitude
The character starts at a neutral state when it comes to technology or magick, but as they go through the game, this will change. A character that has used quite a bit of technology may find their aptitude having shifted to reflect that, making it easier to use devices although at the detriment of any magickal aspirations that they may have. The same goes for magick.Combat
The manual also states that it is possible to attain the highest level possible in the game without laying waste to everything that might stand in your way, either by knocking out your enemies or in carefully avoiding them. There are a variety of side-quests that can be undertaken in the game and while encounters are set and do not respawn, there is more than enough to fight and experience within the game.
General Information
Edit
| Game Name | Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
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| Themes | |
| Original US Release |
Aug. 22, 2001
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release | know the real date? |
| Aliases | |
| ESRB |
ESRB: M
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| PEGI |
PEGI: 12+
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