A respectable engineer has no need for terrorism as he's an upstanding and of proper race, while the filthy magic golems are always waiting for a chance to commit crimes
author of the video missed out the point of their questions - it's that magic can go out of control when in presence of a complex machinery like train.
Considerong he explained the conflict between the two I doubt he missed the point. I too find it rather funny that they are worried about *possible* issues with Magic but don't show interest is *definitely* dangerous technologies in the same context.
Well, a fair number of settings have technology coexisting with magic, but most of those restrict it to a small and isolated society that has little influence on the outside world. Gnomes, usually.
It probably won't mean much to you, but I agree. And I always try to incorporate the idea of a fantasy world that isn't in medieval stasis into my pen and paper RPG settings. I have a setting right now that is roughly analogous to the colonial period. I really wanted the players to examine and think about how magic and fantasy tropes can affect colonizing a new land full of new and wondrous fantasy creatures, temples to plunder and so on. And do that all without some heavy handed Aesop. I just let the players decide what they want to do and whether they care about the morality of it. It's lead to several interesting scenarios.
I know, right? This is an idea I've wanted to explore since I was a child, and even more so when I discovered tabletop RPGs, but apparently most of the people I hung around with back then had horrible taste because they all thought it was a bad idea.
Several Final Fantasy games are basically about magic + technology. Final Fantasy VI in particular about how magic was almost gone from the world and people starting to invent technology, steam machines included. They just don't focus on it very much, it's a game setting, that's all.
I went to the red October factory with my elementary school class when I was a kid, and pretty much the only part of the trip I remember is that we were allowed to have as much free candy as we wanted, so most kids threw up on the bus back
"Due to our extreme personality trait, Thorvald the Dwarf immediately decides he won't be talking to us." *_*Necromancy sounds*_* "But he is wrong." 🤣🤣🤣
That half ogre conspiracy quest messed me up a little bit when I was young. -There is no definitive end to that quest. -There is no correct solution to that quest. -No matter how powerful you are, you are powerless to right the wrong. Truely one of the most disturbing and memorable quest seen in RPG.
I, like many others, just start murdering all the gnomes. While the game never accounts for it, I'd like to think that the Gnomish Industrial Council falls into utter disarray as its primary arms are wiped out, its people hunted to extinction, and they are forced to flee for their lives from stunned cities, their riches and Half-Ogre bodyguards rendered impotent by a raging, coca-snorting maniac with firebombs and a dog from hell itself.
@@jakzine540 I can do you one better: my supremely powerful wizard mind-controlled every single gnome in the game, brought them to the half-ogre farm, then turned them all to stone while facing the site of their master plan. The evil little psychopaths had no choice but to stare at their own handiwork until their stone bodies crumbled to dust, trapped forever with no chance of rescue and left wondering how it all went wrong. Never played Arcanum again after that--nothing I could do would ever top that divine retribution.
I always liked how it had a more "realistic" ending for a quest. You can't always achieve a happy end by beating the bad guys or talking them down... It helps with immersion in my opinion.
@Whip You're absolutely correct sir or ma'am, and Willoughsby and company were some of my favorite aspects of the game; play your cards righteously, honestly, with a Persuasion build of any kind, and you can utterly gut the Gnomish Cabal and put a just, canny, highly effective Half-Orc in charge of Caladon and Tarant who protects the rights of the people and makes both great cities richer and happier for the tolerance and acceptance of both Magick and Technology. Gnomes who recognize the actions of their people were horrid, and wouldn't allow the abuses to continue any further. I just can't deny how much I enjoy lobbing Molotovs at random street Gnomes and a few Halflings who looked too much like Gnomes for their own good while screaming half-drunken Worker's Revolt slogans in my apartment at three in the damn morning.
@Whip So you'd justified the mass kidnapping of women which could potentially include your wife, your mom and your daughter and turning them into a breeding stock for some crossbreed abomination? Stunning and brave opinion, good sir. Tarant needs more citizens like you.
Funny thing is: warlockracy showed only half of the avaible quests, locations, secrets and so on. So much stuff to explore. Well of course no bethesda game with countless locations. Arcanum felt to me always like a detective game. Puzzling together what really happened in the past. It has a similiar tone to Fallout. While not being post-apocalypse it still feels the same: all the major battle and events already happened and you see the outcome of it. Finding old locations, reading about the lore while the game give you a lot of option to roleplay. It's a game to lose yourself in. And then you break it so hard you lose kinda the immersion lol. And the music. God damn. the music is so unique and extremly fitting. While it can be boring at some parts because you hear it for hours it still captures the theme extremly well. Arcanum is about the tragedy about life, how things went to ruins and how from those ruins new things rose. It's melancholic with a shimmer of hope and change. I love this game like no game else. It just so unique
Shimmer of hope and change? did you even do the half ogre origin mystery quest? kidding aside, Arcanum is hands down one of the greatest games of all time.
Yeah there's a lot of rewarding feelings in the games quests and design. Memorable to me was just being in Tarant's university and seeing something about God Shrines giving out divine blessings. And how some people could have multiple blessings but sometimes the blessings canceled each other out. It doesn't really give you a distinct solution in obvious "Do A, B, C..." but it gave me just enough to inspire me to explore, experiment, and find the solution to becoming the walking monster of divine vengeance.
first time i played this game, i played as a sickly, deeply uncharismatic, middlingly intelligent, and iron-willed elven mage. she was a good witch who practiced dark necromancy and conveyance magic, and when she campaigned through the underworld with her two companions (the party size cap given her charisma score), she elected to purge it of the cretins who were banished there. when she faced kerghan, she did so with the reanimated corpses of history's greatest monsters. a good time.
@@SpecialProjectY Yes and no. You can get weapons and armour that are magic and have modifiers, but you can also get equipment that uses science to create effects, albeit somewhat over the top like building an army of automatons, creating a drug that cures all ills, make high explosives, or just put goggles on a helmet so you can see better.
@@Gorbz I mean the Legendary Weapon Effects, such as when you find a normal gun with a prefix "Furious" (Furious Glock, Furious Laser Riffle, etc.), which increase damage by 15% after each hit on the same target. Yet, Fallout 4 isn't a fantasy setting game...
What I like the most about Arcanum is that this video - as extensive and in-depth as it is - only shows a very narrow path you can take. Warlock touches upon it a few times here and there, stating what an alternative course of action and outcome would be, but even the nearly 2 hours long video barely covers what you can do in Arcanum. And I absolutely love it. *SPOILERS FOR ALTERNATE ENDING AHEAD* Probably my favourite thing about the whole ending with Kerghan is that if you play a diplomat character with ludicrously high charisma and persuasion, you can straight up point out flaws in his reasoning and convince him that his intentions are wrong. Arcanum is one of those rare gems that let you simply out-talk the last boss with solid argumentation, leaning strongly into its Fallout lineage.
I love how many stories are tucked away in unsuspecting places in the world. Like if you want the best account of the war between Tarant and Cumbria in the setting... from what I remember it wasn't actually talked about in either Tarant Or Dernholm. Instead you end up in Black Root. There's a town guard in there. Mentions he was a former soldier for the Kingdom of Cumbria. And he served in the war. He tells the story about how the kingdom really fell apart. How the queen had disappeared (To a certain Gnomish place). How the King was driven mad by it and in his grief and emotional distress was unable to stop the Council of Mages from Tulla basically staging a coup. They put Praetor on the throne, to use Cumbria against Tarant who they were fearing politically due to the effect that massed technology had on mages. He talks about how at first with the assurances of the Council of Mages they marched into battle. Thinking the Tarantian Militia of Riflemen were nothing before them and the magic that backed them up. And just how bloody those first battles on the plains were. How they kept losing ground. But Tarant it turned out, couldn't push into Dernholm proper. When they got to the more heavily wooded and mountainous terrain there, it turned. The Cumbrians started adopting ambush tactics (which he disdained as the tactics of an inferior force), using the heavy forest and mountains to force melee fights. And in those Melee, they just destroyed the Tarantian Militias. Which lead to the current peace, where Black Root and Shrouded Hills were taken and Dernholm remained Cumbrian because Tarant couldn't force the issue. But that he beleives Praetor is an idiot, as he still believes his Council of Mages advisor and refuses to recognize the benefits of technology. It's just fascinating to me. Because really there's two powers involved. Tarant, and the Council of Mages. And neither will really talk about it. Hell even the Council of Mages puppet, Dernholm, won't tell you TOO much about the war other than they faced setbacks but will get them next time. And that the Mages are "fully supporting' their efforts to resist Tarant. Kind of reminds me of the Napoleonic Wars where Britain just kept funneling money into anyone who'd go a few rounds with the French Empire. It's this big story that makes sense. Shows the complex changing politics and culture, ties into various plot lines going on in different quests... and you only really find this out talking to a random Town Guard NPC that you basically have no reason to really talk to other than curiosity. Just an example of how it all kind of hangs together. That one NPC talks about the war, mentions two of the major factions out there (Cumbria I don't count as Major, they're a minor power in that world). Talks about the exiled True King of Cumbria which is a side quest of its own later. Talks about the kidnapped queen which is part of another side quest. And it's just there. In what is a very natural package of this guard who was a former soldier kind of regretfully thinking of his past career. Or, considering the video's recap, maybe I'm misremembering. I have no idea why I keep thinking it was Dernholm, not Tarant with the Gnome tie in which is the big point I probably flubbed on my memory. But damn if I am, either way makes a great story.
A very realistic way for the aftermath of that kind of conflict. Neither side will say anything but their propaganda and their heavily biased view. But a normal soldier, who fought in the war, who experienced the real fight, who is disillusioned with the system, will take a more true story.
Regarding the question of resurrecting random NPCs: I once did an entire playthrough resurrecting EVERYONE I found in the game. Obviously I had to cheat to be able to do that. But that's beside the point, because yes, you can totally do that as long as body is "interactive", meaning the bodies of Molochean hand in the mines, or some random dead bodies found in Tarant's sewers etc. Some will even react accordingly: for example, did you know you can resurrect an archaeologist from Tarant, who you find dead, surrounded by Dark Elves in the ancient elven burial ground? And they (both Elves and the archaeologist himself) will react to that!
@@EmperorsChildren I'm not going to lie - discovering that is one of my most cherished gaming memories, because of how relatively unknown it was to the wider public at the time. In fact due to how unlikely it is for your char to be equipped with any means of resurrection so early in the game, it remained an obscure tidbit for so long, that I was able to be the first one to make an edit about it over at Arcanum wiki back in 2020 :)
@@milczyciel That's so cool! I felt the same when I did the triple cross I mentioned here and played both sides, because I didn't know any guides that mentioned that
I like the fate points thing allot, if there is something your character has to do for their roleplay this system lets them accomplish it instead of forcing the player to reload over and over.
Fate points let you come up with some great playthrough planning, including speedruns. Also the fact that a number of NPCs have some nice unique items equipped on them strongly provokes the thought that you should steal those with fate points and spend your levelup points on something else. For example a gunslinger character can just go to Tarant and steal a very nice revolver from the gun trader there, this gun can take you a long way, and you just saved yourself from trouble of investing points and resources into gun smithing.
@@Blisterdude123 IIRC they're points awarded at certain level ups and upon completing certain in-game quests/challenges that give just insane, 1 time boons. From 100% steal chance to full heals or guaranteed critical or persuasion success. It was a really rewarding reward. I always used them to force-recruit diametrically opposed companions. I've always been a Minsc+Edwin Viconia+Aerie kinda guy. :P
I love the ground kicking animation in this game, the first time I faced the bridge bandits I missed all my grenades and just started running until my character fainted, then in real time the three bandits and a random wolf ganged on my body and started kicking, almost fall of my seat by laughter.
I love all of warlockracy’s videos, the way he structures and writes his videos are so well put together that even on rewatches the videos are entertaining
I wish there were more games in this setting. I really loved and enjoyed Arcanum a lot. It's a type of fantasy setting rarely ever done right. To me it's a one of a kind. It has a lot a soul
It took me this long to realize that the intro to this game is made after the intro to Canticle for Leibowitz; while meditating in the desert Virgil sees the crash of the airship that leads him to the player character (as predicted by his canon), while in the book brother Francis comes across the wanderer (who bears canonical resemblance to Saint Leibowitz) that leads him to the Fallout shelter and the relics from the saint. Come to think of it the lost Vendigroth civilization is a parallel to the lost USA civilization in Canticle for Leibowitz.
Ah Arcanum, a true classic indeed. I remember purchasing this when it first came out and loving every moment of it. Played through it several times as a mage and a technologist, exploring different combinations of spells and tools and being fascinated about how many different ways there were to complete a lot of quests and how different builds unlocked different options. A challenging game to be sure, but one that really rewards exploration and experimentation. One thing though. This could be a case of something that got patched out, or changed in later versions as I purchased the first version of the game that was commercially available, but the map isn't as locked off by the main quest as you might think. Certain locations definitely are, like the Isle of Despair, Thanatos and the Vendigroth Wastes, but at least in early versions it was possible to move around the southern tip of the Stonewall Range and get into Caladon whenever you wanted. And if you explored up along the coast there's a bridge that lets you access the Glimmering Forest and into the northern parts of the continent. Now to be fair, by the time you had the levels and equipment to actually survive the trip you had probably already unlocked it through the main quest, but it is possible. Also, not sure I agree with gun builds being weak. Sure, early guns like the flinlock pistol and basic revolver aren't all that impressive, but with only a modest investment in Gunsmithing you can make the fine revolver (you can even find the parts for it in the starting area) which is serviceable enough if you put some points into the firearms skill and get training from Doc Roberts in Shrouded Hills (who can train you up to the Expert level if your skill is high enough). By the time you get to Tarant it's relatively easy to have enough skill to craft elephant guns and the parts are widely available in the city. I remember blasting down earth elementals, rock rats and other enemies that will shatter melee weapons with relative ease once you have that and the guns only get more powerful as your skill grows and you find schematics. Though I will admit that was a very early build of the game and things may have changed. Still, great review of a great game.
The premise behind this game's magic and tech system is actually pretty cool. The concept of science and magic being at odds with eachother where they both fuck eachothet up in various ways is something I wish was explored more often
There is a German book called "Arthur Brehmer - Die Welt in 100 Jahren" (The world in hundred years) which collected essays from people in 1905 describing how they imagen 2005. Well, we missed it by a lot. No more hunger, no need for physical work, British airship fortresses ruling Africa with an iron fist, submarine villas, no more genders.
@@HerrFenrisWolf Well, everything except for the last one is not that far fetched to be honest. If they had written, that some people will delude themselves into believing, that there are no genders, they would actually be correct on that one though.
@@raifthemadDidn't make it up, the thinking or theory in this piece was, the more political rights woman get, the more similiar they will be to man in appeareance, going so far as growing beards, until the day everybody is wearing different coloured overalls to differentiate. The book does not display a coherent idea, it displays many different.
I guess people prefer to keep their post-nuclear depression and medieval-whimsical fantasy games separate and not combined like Arcanum did, even if done well. Still, I am curious to see how this setting would fare in a first person action rpg. I will send e-mails to Nesquik, Marabou, Cadbury's and other rival chocolate companies to see if they will kickstart this idea
After watching this video, I think Bethesda could pull it off (despite how they've handled fallout). It would basically be a combination of the earlier elder scrolls and later fallout games which I think could be a really unique and interesting world to explore in an fps, especially with the tech v magic mechanics
I appreciate the commentary on the races were taken from the manual. That manual is one of the all-time greats. It's super well written and gets you into the headspace of the game really well. Man, I miss manuals. There was an art to writing them and I think the industry lost something precious in abandoning them.
''Its the most guarded building in the whole city'' ''Luckly we have a band of dangerous idiots'' Ahh yes every TTRPG party in a Nutshell Also Ooof...i totally forgot bout the half ogre breeding gnomes quest, but makes painfull sense to kinda have it in a industrial revolution setting with fantasy races Man the more you show those futurism pictures the more i wished we could have a game that can actually just take those and make em real haha Also i think you can defeat the big bad at the end through pure dialouge Also the last express train shots wierdly worked for the video lol
Yeah, Ogre Island pretty much cemented my hatred for gnomes in Arcanum. Hell, even the one gnome party member you can recruit is disgusted by this discovery, and thats saying something.
@@LeudieBlues What if the racial situation was so bad for thr gnomes that their actions were initially justified out of necessity? Thirst for revenge likely led to them going wild with it, though. Their alternative, to me, was giving up their wealth or self-banishment of sorts. Why bother for the sake of your victimizers when you're able to eliminate them or the threat they pose? They're basically a Killmonger who sought peace for his people instead of rule, but with a bit of the latter sprinkled in.
@@questioningespecialy9107 it sure is an interesting situation and a bit more nuanced than Warlockracy claimed, but he probably isn't as obsessed with the game world as most Arcanum fans, so I can 100% understand why he would see this conflict the way he does.
@Trevor Walker "Also, there was meant to be a sequel made using the VtM version of the Source engine, called JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF ARCANUM" Well, now you made me sad.
One important thing about the Arcanum game map - this is an actual one big seamless world map on which everything is placed. It's possible to force discover every location on the map by walking close to it, including the Vendigroth ruins. It's possible to find the mountain pass without being given the quest and go to Caladon before the end game. If someone is really patient it's also possible to not do any fast travel and random encounters (although this way of travel is very boring and very slow). Walking along the coast on the very end of the continent also allows for crossing the mountains.
I found that character generation actually has an effect on some chests that are supposed to be random. Even 1 character different in the name changes the random seed. An example of one of the random chests is in the crash wreckage. I've managed to find a couple combinations that give you incredibly powerful loot starting out.
That is ... kind of understandable. They have to create the seed in some way, so using the character name as part of that doesn't sound like a bad idea. It takes a while for players to notice, and if they do and start gaming the system, so be it. Why punish players for being intelligent and creative, that is a big part of roleplaying. And they end up with a ridiculous name, that is punishment enough.
I now realize where our 1st companian's name comes from. Virgil is the name of the companion of Dante Aleghieri in Divine Comedy on his journey through hell. He is actually the Roman poet Vergillious. Even his outfit in the game looks like the illustrations of Divine Comedy
49:20 Fun fact: since the world map is seamless you can actually find both the mountain passes and the bridges on your own by travelling to the nearest possible point to where they should be on the World Map and then going there using the "Town/Encounter" map. They don't pop in magically at certain plot points. In fact you can find ALL areas that way. Just don't venture into Quintarra or T'Sen-Ang (Caladon is ok), because it will stop the main quest progression and you'll have to load an earlier save or use a save editor. As for Thanatos there's a world map travel bug used by speedrunners, but I think it was fixed in one of Drog's patches.
The best kind of open world. Where the game doesn't lock a door or hide a passage until you're in the right part of the story. No, just have the map open and maybe put some incredibly difficult challenge there. Like some high level enemy. If you keep up with the power curve that enemy shouldn't be any issue when the story brings you there, but you can try to go past at any point.
This game has one of the most bizarre, hilarious, and outlandish enemy names I've seen in any game, ever; Apish Shaman. It's death rattle is still a meme between my brother and I, to this day.
Would love to see you make a video on the game Inquisitor from 2009! A lot newer than most of your games you review but it's the same isometric grim dark style.
Deus Ex was one of my favourite games growing up, and it was the one that brought me to your channel. This unique format of yours, a condensed walk-through with commentary/review, is truly a gem, bravo. Now another one of my favourites, I still remember picking up a two-disk game I'd never heard about before at Gorbushka, and getting really captivated by it for many months after. The year definitely started out well! I'd like to suggest one of my other (much more recent) favourites for your future videos, VTMB. That is, of course, provided that you played it. I feel it has a lot of sociological/philosophic-type content, your commentary on which I enjoyed so much in your Deus Ex review .
pd: my first was a disenchanted half orc woman, extremely bad treated all the time, specialized in harm. That was op as it could possibly be. Also I helped bring the stronk revolution to steampunk Shire The reaction system included is nothing I've seen anywhere else made so good btw. It actually plays like a realistic (and unsettleling) depiction of racist dickheads abusing, belittling you in a totally casual manner and, simply, marginalizing you in most quests... and, if you are a hot half elf, then they worship you and the rich say to your face they'll bang you for big bucks, it's insane
can't be racist against an orc - that's xenophobia. Racism is only within human context - racists think there is more than one race of humans and that different blood flows through veins and we have inherent personality traits based on race - but we don't. There is a single race of humans with a multitude of ethnicities.
@@statiq1941 orcs are considered a different fantasy race, thus it would be considered racism. Xenophobia is being against anything that lies outside of our own community/country/race or whatever. so no he still needs to go outside and was using the wrong terminology anyways.
Normally you should keep both factions the Technocrats and the Magisters at peak performance. If the Technocrats run out of coal for their power plants or if their car batteries gone empty. Having Mages around that can produce coal and electricity at will is more than convenience. Technology for everyday life. And having Magic as the icing of the cake. If your freezer dies, but you notice it in time. Having a ice spell at hand is probably the best short therm solution there is. Not to forget, you could imbue a piece of wood or a spoon with ice magic. To have that and similar things in your toolbox is convenience overload!
22:38 "Playing a technologist is challenging" I have to disagree. Many of the creations you can make are outright OP, the hunting for schematics and components is quite interesting, and the most important part, is that technological affinity of 20+ gives you resistence to magic so potent, most mages won't bother with casting spells on you and would resort to pummeling you with fists instead. Tech affinity of 50+ gives you an absolute immunity to magic. Not to mention the utterly awesome feeling of being this sort of adventuring gentleman-inventor the Arcanum so masterfully creates, like no other game ever did. I played a mage once and did not like it a single bit. Sorry, i went rambling. What i'm saying, is that i did not find playing a tech-guy all that challenging, but the mage path was utterly boring and uninteresting for me.
@@Warlockracy perhaps at first, yes. But once you craft the sniper rifle - most enemies are killed quite quickly and you have more ammo than Taliban. And that magic immunity, mate, i wouldn't trade it off for anything. And the way magic shop owners freak out when you wolk into their shop is hillarious. Speaking of which, you did mention in the video that magic disrupts the laws of physics, but forgot to add that technology has the opposite effect, and makes magic unstable, or negates it completely, hence the magical immunity of "nonbelievers". Also, another nice detail in the game - if you have hogh magical affinity and try to read a schematic, you pass out.
Magic is extremely overpowered in this game, and guns are by far and away the worst weapons; they're not only the slowest, they're also somehow the weakest (topped by both fists and throwing weapons, hilariously). Magic is so overpowered that it breaks the game; you can essentially teleport to the ending after talking to the right person to find out that certain locations exist.
@@GurniHallek Crafting the Looking Glass Rifle requires you to put 5 skill points into Gunsmithing, which in turn requires putting points into the Intelligence stat. Actually using it requires additional stat point investments into Perception and the appropriate weapon skill, as well as Dexterity for the action points. A tech melee fighter, on the other hand, can just recruit Magnus into their party once they reach Tarant, and have him craft several copies of the dubiously-named "Balanced Sword". At this point, they are basically set for the rest of the game as far as weapons are concerned. Being able to invest their skill points into Strength and Agility instead allows them to increase their damage potential exponentially.
@@maxjoechl5663 God bless the Multiverse Edition with its custom-patched executable to allow you to spec your followers as you like (so you can remove their default leveling scheme), and let, for example, Magnus or Virgil handle all your crafting needs (not from schematics at least, gotta hit them books); That way your character can actually focus on leveling only relevant skills and stats.
What a legend man, had a super busy month so just finished his balders gate video days ago thinking "man can't wait to see when that Arcanum video drops!" And here it is!!!
i really like these types of videos, these review+playthrough+meme videos are great, you, sszeth, mandalore, maXor and Uberdanger (and even hbomberguy has done it with his pathologic video) are all great and at the forefront of this genre, if you can call it that even tho you all have different styles, some of my favourite videogame videos on the platform really, if the game is good it usually makes me want to play it myself, while also being entertaining in general wether or not i played them and if i havent but end up getting the game then i usually end up watching again and have a whole different perspective on the video, they provide a good sense of the game but condensed to its better/more interesting moments while cutting the boring stuff that a usual playthrough would have, it has a scripted commentary which makes it usually funnier than most playthroughs since improv and general "funny moments" arent easy to do, and allows for more focussed critique of the game as well, i really think this type of video is peak videogame related entertainment. Great stuff all around, keep it up.
my dude youre a damn legend for knowing and playing this gem, this game is since my childhood my favorite out of all. even modded it to fix them bugs and more. keep it up
The half-ogre quest is mostly a result of the devs being into "X-Files". You know, the show where every episode is a mystery that gets hushed up with no conclusion.
Always loved Arcanum, even if when squinting it looks like Diablo 1’s UI (egregiously so I might add). Only complaints were cities too big for their own good, filled with vendors and the ensuing frame rate hit. Dungeons were nice but can easily be cheesed by kiting, door fighting (in some cases actually getting those red gorilla things stuck in dungeon doors), and spamming health/kill magic spells. I think magic and tech skills are tried to be balanced, but like most old cRPGs your life is 100% easier if you focus on the ‘essential skills’.
Were there dragons in the dungeons? There better have been lol. And to me it looks egregiously looks so much like Fallout 1 or maybe a remaster of the second one.
Apparently the original unpatched version of the game causes a memoryleak when you bring up the map and that will eventually lead to tanking the framerate
Kept meaning to watch this on Patreon and never got around to it. I played Arcanu8m back in the day and remember loving the setting to bits... and hating the game unfortunately. I had 2 separate playthroughs end in 2 separate game-breaking bugs back to back that made progress impossible and killed my desire to try a third time. Where I was able to beat Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines when it released (eventually, as I also got a game-breaking bug at the Giovanni mansion my first playthough of that too!) I never could with Arcanum. Crazy I just accepted it back in the day. :P I remember doing the mission for the Egyptian vampire lady when I read Troika went bankrupt, whoops.
@@KingLich451 First and only time I can remember reading about a company's demise as I was playing one of their games... that just came out! Unless you count Bioware and DA: Origins. :P
This game is why I got into Fallout. I watched my friend play through the zeppelin crash intro, then years later I tried to find it, could only find FO1&2 screenshots that looked similar to the setting, and assumed that was it, so I started playing FO3. Only figured out recently that this was a totally different game! I always thought that the airplane orcs were super mutants and was baffled that the 3D games had no air combat.
After getting my arse pushed in on the first few attempts I made a new character geared toward melee combat. A mentally substandard half-Ogre. Everyone was an absolute dick to me. Even Virgil. I was overcharged and underplayed by everyone! Gilbert Bates gave me the equivalent of a button for going to the black mountains and back
Aaah my beloved Arcanum. I haven't play it for a while, possibly 5 years. Might make it my new year resolution and check that fan patch (especially that restored cut content and those "DLCs"). Great video, as always, although I don't know if I agree on the Half-ogre Island quest being "distasteful". It sure as hell leave you uncomfortable and uneasy, but as you've pointed out yourself: a) it fits the setting perfectly b) explores the ever present themes of human depravity without going too far on either "gore" or "hush-hush" side of things c) is quite well written and thought through (but that's not anything unusual for the writing of majority of this game, see: Dwarven philosophy/religion, motivation of the main villain etc) d) is absolutely ambiguous about "what really happened" (and even if it happened, it does rise valid questions about how much exactly the rest of the Gnomish society at large knew, or how much was just accepted on a face value, given that not many of the other races _really_ questioned this sudden boom in half-ogre birth rate) As such, it leaves you with more questions than answers and you walk away from the computer with one, and one thing only: whatever happened was evil and ugly AF. And way, way to real and close to what we humans _actually do_ to each other. Especially for some silly, PEGI 12 video game about "magick and steamworks obscura". But most of all, it stays with you. For decades. For years I dreamed about drowning Tarant streets in gnomish blood... But I was a kid back then, unaware of the banality of evil, uneducated in the intricacies of coping mechanisms we human employ, when we have to justify our otherwise abhorrent acts, or our at the very best apathetic (and at the very worst eager) compliance with deeds perpetuated by "the authority" (whether it's a state, or our idols, or our ideological group, our even our workplace or friends and family). I'm telling you, I would pay outlandish amounts of money just to see Arcanum's sequel focusing and revolving its plot around this very sidequest (set either in Arcanum's past, when it was supposedly happening, or in the future after the protagonist of the first game - _in my case an actual half-ogre_ - found the means to share his findings with the public). Tackling themes like Milgram experiment, or responsibility of the group for participating in the benefits of the crime just a few of its members actually committed (like _we_ do on a daily basis, buying child or slave labour made goods for example) and so many, many ugly, banale, every-day, normalized atrocities. But I know it can't happen. Even nowadays when we as a culture got balls deep in relativism and pessimism (regarding human condition), we'd still find a way to make such story (and most importantly its conclusion) shallow, mindbogglingly stupid and as one sided as it gets in today's landscape. Not to mention, that I can't even fathom anyone daring to publish it against the inevitable "public uproar" coming from all sides (because ideally, it would show that we're equally guilty of it, left, right, center, atheists and believers, men and women alike) Yeah... I just realized that I wrote an unprecedented text-wall about a sidequest in some silly, old game that no one's playing anymore (your own words). If that's not at least a hint about its brilliance (or my stupidity) then I don't know what is :)
@fifaldo forgive me for my short reply, but I just woke up from one of those nightmares that suck away all the will to do _anything_ from you. I used the plural form because that's how my bubble looks. There's very, very, preciously little "honest & wise" optimism that wouldn't inadvertently fall into the traps od denial (I do not claim it doesn't exist mind you), plus it's so easy to be branded as someone with a superiority complex without relying on good old "we". Which is, as you've pointed out a trap in itself, so I will try to refrain from doing it in the future. Cheers.
a huge wall of text (you're quite talkative for a person with such username, I must say) i've read all of it and I agree with you wholeheartedly ;) Cheers.
Hire somebody to write a fanfic. Done. Whoever owns the IP will have the option of buying and converting it to an official release of whatever kind at any point thereafter. Don't let your dreams be dreams,... but don't expect such a project to be cheap considering they'll have to spend research time 100%'ing the game.
You won me over. Not only you go against the tide... you do it with love, passsion, knowledge and a healthy dose of humor I endured Arcanum back in the day (it was a battle against bugs and glitches) and I keep wonderful memories of this unique take on RPGs at so many levels... a true gem Can't wait to see your womderful work on BG 2, Planescape, Icewind, Neverwinter, KotOR... Thanks and keep up!
I am more amused than I should be by that reference to "Who hired him, Bates is very much dead" moment. I'm amused because mostly I remember something silly from Skyrim that always had weird implications for me. Until you join the Thieves' Guild (or at least I notice this stops happening when I do), there's a chance you'll draw a random encounter if you've properly stolen something. Three hired thugs in heavy armor coming to murder the crap out of you. Town guards, etc, anyone but your own follower just won't even give a crap about it. Now what amused me by it? The first time (and by far the most common case of it I've triggered this random encounter for), I found that there was a "Contract" note on one of the Hired Thugs who had come to teach me a lesson. Which mentioned that I had stolen from them, the owner didn't even care, they just wanted me to suffer. And that it is signed by the person who triggered that random encounter. But the first time I saw it? It was from "Anise". Who was very, very much dead. Not only that, she was dead before I stole anything from her cabin. Meaning someone (if you go by some sort of logic), must have found out she was dead in her cabin in the middle of nowhere. For some reason sought to summon her spirit from beyond. Talk to it. And said Spirit put out a hit on the Dragonborn over the fact that I stole a few alchemical ingredients from her shack (rather than because I killed her) and even somehow arranged a payment for it (which I find on the thugs). For some reason that always just amused me with the absurdity of imagining that situation. I know realistically it's just because in the scripting of the game there's a triggered flag for "You have stolen from a non-hostile NPC" and they add a random encounter to the deck of things that might be pulled from when you pass by a Random Encounter trigger zone (like near White River Watch, or the College of Winterhold's Courtyard, Whiterun Stables, etc). Granted in Arcanum where one of the first little quests you get is from a bandit's tormented ghost and such... it at least is set up as something that can and does happen in there. But still, the absurdity of that Skyrim moment always brings a smile to my face, and I was reminded of it.
I discovered your channel a couple weeks ago. I have watched pretty much every video on your channel. LOVE your content! Grew up playing Fallout 1 and 2 so these videos really stay close to my heart and hit home. Also this game looks super fun, your narrative and editing is super good!
Games have become too simple and convenient, they no longer require us to use our imagination. Therefore, these older games richer in "serious" content are actually unavailable to younger audiences. I am almost 30 years old and I find it hard to force myself to play something older, but when I play I feel stupid not to refresh any more classics. Unfortunately, it is fault of the times, not young people, but the FAST times we live in. Sometimes you have to slow down a bit. PS: I love your videos Warlockracy! Great content and voice
When I bought fallout 3 at launch I was so excited. And I never quite coalexced the thought of why I stopped playing like 20 minutes in. the intro sequence was great and then I got to a store with fresh food on the shelves and then frozen dinner in the bathtub of the first town and I just never played it again. thank you very much for giving me the key detail that made me realize how off it was.
I mean I like the channel, but the video’s just a walkthrough with commentary. Entertaining, but barely a review because it lacks critique/appraisal of the actual mechanics or features or game development behind it. Only examination in vid was the weird antisemitism tangent which can be taken by an impressionable viewer as borderline defamation of Tim Cain, Jason Anderson, and Leonard Boyarsky. Idk
@@NitroDubzzz The chad take is the Sseth stance; lean into the most controversial interpretation of any questionable content. When people get offended, laugh at them.
Interesting point about 1:03:00 -ish in that I recall watching this again (as UA-cam loaded it while I was working). Warlockracy mentions that he's "Probably the only Master of Repair in Arcanum". Wasn't touched in the video itself but every skill in Arcanum like Melee, Throwing, Pickpocket, Repair, Firearms, etc, has not just points that you can put into it (increading it's effectiveness), but also levels of training you can get. You need at least one point to get "Apprentice" training. Which is available all over. Like if you want Apprentice Training in Melee or Dodge basically any town guard in any location can teach you. It gives you an additional buff to your skill on top of your ranks. If you want "Expert" training, you need at least 3 points in a skill. There's usually only 3 trainers for Expert for any given skill and they usually are more prominent characters (Like one of the Expert Trainers for Speechcraft is the Madam of the Bordello in Tarant who has a few quests for you to do as well). Those earlier trainers just really require them to not hate you, and to pay them gold for the training. Then there are the Master Levels. There's only ever ONE of them in Arcanum. And it's never just forking over gold to get training. There's always some sort of quest about it. LIke the Master of Dodge has a quest line to earn his training revolving around the rivalry he has with the Master of Melee (both soldiers in Dernholm). The Master of Speechcraft has a quest that has you helping negotiate the treaty between Tarant and Caladon. Etc. And tend to give you a powerful effect for achieving that rank. Like the aforementioned Masters of Repair being the only people that can repair broken items (as well as not reducing their max durability when repairing and previous training level perks). I always thought it was an interesting system because to really be the best at something you didn't just sink points on level up into it. You also had to go out of your way to get that Apprentice Training, then Expert Training, and finally the Master Training to really be that Master Marksman or the Master Lockpick, etc.
This is my favorite game. I played every race and archetype and completed all quests available in the game. My hope that Microsoft will give it to the wasteland 3 devs and they will make a new arcanum
I think it speaks to the quality of Arcanum's writing that they were able to give a villain whose end-goal is "Kill everyone, everywhere, forever" a reason that not only makes sense, but is also compelling. I mean, by the time of the final confrontation, you can absolutely understand how and why he came by the conclusions he did. While it may be improving, the history of Arcanum is awful enough that some would see the peace after death as preferable to living. This goes doubly so if your character was a non-human and non-elf: While a human gets to see more... "positives" in their playthrough, that's effectively the view from the top, and even elves are going to have a slanted opinion of things. A dwarf, half-ogre, or half-orc will see a world painted in far harsher lights, and would likely see Kerghen's plan and goals far differently from the other races. Why risk your life trying to save a world and society that has treated you like garbage from day one, and even after you literally save all life everywhere will still treat you more or less exactly the same? You think a half-orc is going to see Arcanum, a place where they're treated as dumb, angry savages no matter how smart, calm or cultured they actually are, as a place worth saving? You think a dwarf, member of a race that is very clearly struggling in the face of the rise of humanity, is going to think saving the world pushing their race into irrelevance is a goal worth pursuing? You think a half-ogre, a race that literally only exists because rich gnomes wanted extra-strong bodyguards, is going to be all for saving the status quo after learning how they came to be? The devs made a world that, by the end, your character is going to either have plenty of reasons why they want to save it or plenty of reasons why they'd want to see it brought to an end.
Edward Teach is the human name of Blackbeard the Pirate.. Not sure if Arcanum spells it the same, but heavily implies your preferred boatsman to be a lot more experienced in your approach to social interdiction
I remember an article back in 2001 that said the Gnome sidequest is an homage to the X-files. It's ogre human hybrids because they didn't want to go so weird as to actually have aliens. Gnomes are the littlest, greyest, men in the setting.
I beg your pardon good sir, I myself was replaying this piece of gaming media over and over again on a contraption known as Intel Celeron powered personal computer with a clock signal frequency of three hundred megahertz more than fifteen years ago, whilst having absolutely no idea of this reddit thing you've mentioned, thus I declare your method of statistical analysis about who does play it and who does not completely bollocks.
I learned of Arcanum long after it's release, and was never been into playing it fully, because of it's old game UX issues. I've watched this video back to back, and enjoyed every minute. Good job and happy new year :)
Impressive that the people a century ago already had the idea of video telephones, roombas and podcasts/audiobooks. And the Wuppertal suspension railway, which was build between 1987 and 1903 and opened in 1901, so on time for those postcards
I've watched this video many times. A few days ago Arcanum was on sale on steam for $1.79. I bought it and played for 55 hours already. 10/10 I would love a sequel but that probably wont ever happen. Also the game that got me into this genre of games was Atom RPG, dunno if that is a game that you would like to cover.
I was watching an interview with Leonard Boyarski yesterday, and he was talking Arcanum and actually addressed the Gnome / Half Ogre conspiracy. He said he was big into X-Files at the time of writing and the alien hybrids / conspiracy influenced that part of the game. It wasn't intended to be a metaphor or dogwhistle for anti-semitism as he himself is Jewish
There is a strange beauty in talking down Kerghan. Yes, there is eternal peace in death, but the thing is, eternity in of itself will eventually become its own kind of hell. Kerghan just hasn't reached that point of realization yet, a realization you can help him understand. So he willingly takes his own unlife with the device, knowing that this is the best thing he can do for the world of the living. Sseth of all people put in in a surprisingly poetic way, "He decides to kill himself out of love for the world he hates"
I just fell upon your videos tonight during work and you have quickly become my new favorite youtuber. My only disappointment is that you have so few videos to go back through your history. I hope you continue to make new content. Entertaining, funny, and just plain enjoyable to listen to!!
Yes, yes, YES! Thank you SO much for doing this! Definitely new year suprise! I would prefer Arcanum over any Fallout anytime! I know it´s a bit late, but happy new year and I wish you a lot of ideas for upcoming episodes! :)
Excellent video! Arcanum (alongside Troika's other RPG, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodines) is a quintessential flawed masterpiece. Despite having far more flaws than its contemporary CRPGs, I still find myself replaying and enjoying this title more than others in its genre. There's just something so captivating about the world of Arcanum and its such a shame we'll likely never see more of it.
Your video made me replaying Arcanum again. For the seventh time. Thanks for that. I have mad nostalgia for this game and I do think, that a lot of it was unfinished. I've even ideas for the plot of the sequel. Basically: every good ending happened and now a World War is starting, because everybody has the strength to do it. Your job would be not to stop the war (you can't), but to hinder it becoming worse ... or making it worse! Also necromancers want to build their realm of the dead on the ashes, of course. But the story and writing still holds up and you have to admire Troika for taking the clichés of two genres and turning it into something original and brilliant. Still, I would pay good money for a sequel with refined mechanics and a fresh visual look.
I listen to this soundtrack several times a week while I work - it's one of my favorites. I will agree that this is a beloved RPG that no one plays. Honestly, as an actual game, it's pretty bad - terrible combat, buggy, etc. As an RPG, it's fantastic. I think that's what puts people off about it.
Really enjoyed watching this, was a lot of fun! I remember playing this game as a kid. Can't believe how much I had forgotten by the end of this video.
Wtf thought that this was a playthrough. I lift my hat sir for your commitment on this game. I recently realized that this game was developed by same studio as on of my all time favourites - VTM: Bloodlines.
1:20:28 I did a playthrough of resurrecting a lot of people. It gives a massive boost to relation too, so it's possible to make some characters be nice with you after you killed and resurrected them. Damn, I loved this game as a kid. Despite all the bugs of original version and a bunch of the ones brought with localization. Like that one that would ask you if you want to quit the game. Sometimes like 15 times in a row. I really need to replay this again. Still not sure which restoration pack to use.
"It's incredible how helpful elves become when they're dead."
Dwarven hands wrote this line.
You will find that to be the foreword section in our book of grudges
dwarven hands aren't wrong
Rocks are hard, tunnels are dark, elves are shite...some things are constant in the lifespan of dwarves. 😁
"They checked for explosive magic, but they didn't for actual explosives" - that is hilarious somehow
A respectable engineer has no need for terrorism as he's an upstanding and of proper race, while the filthy magic golems are always waiting for a chance to commit crimes
author of the video missed out the point of their questions - it's that magic can go out of control when in presence of a complex machinery like train.
Considerong he explained the conflict between the two I doubt he missed the point. I too find it rather funny that they are worried about *possible* issues with Magic but don't show interest is *definitely* dangerous technologies in the same context.
Racism against mages smh smhead
that's bigotry for you
Industrial revolution in fantasy world is such simple but unique setting. It's a pity so little games (or any media in general really) use it.
Well, a fair number of settings have technology coexisting with magic, but most of those restrict it to a small and isolated society that has little influence on the outside world. Gnomes, usually.
It probably won't mean much to you, but I agree. And I always try to incorporate the idea of a fantasy world that isn't in medieval stasis into my pen and paper RPG settings. I have a setting right now that is roughly analogous to the colonial period. I really wanted the players to examine and think about how magic and fantasy tropes can affect colonizing a new land full of new and wondrous fantasy creatures, temples to plunder and so on. And do that all without some heavy handed Aesop. I just let the players decide what they want to do and whether they care about the morality of it. It's lead to several interesting scenarios.
I know, right? This is an idea I've wanted to explore since I was a child, and even more so when I discovered tabletop RPGs, but apparently most of the people I hung around with back then had horrible taste because they all thought it was a bad idea.
Weirdly Chinese webnovels using it a lot based on my readings, still, to a limited extent.
Several Final Fantasy games are basically about magic + technology. Final Fantasy VI in particular about how magic was almost gone from the world and people starting to invent technology, steam machines included.
They just don't focus on it very much, it's a game setting, that's all.
I went to the red October factory with my elementary school class when I was a kid, and pretty much the only part of the trip I remember is that we were allowed to have as much free candy as we wanted, so most kids threw up on the bus back
"Due to our extreme personality trait, Thorvald the Dwarf immediately decides he won't be talking to us."
*_*Necromancy sounds*_*
"But he is wrong." 🤣🤣🤣
That half ogre conspiracy quest messed me up a little bit when I was young.
-There is no definitive end to that quest.
-There is no correct solution to that quest.
-No matter how powerful you are, you are powerless to right the wrong.
Truely one of the most disturbing and memorable quest seen in RPG.
I, like many others, just start murdering all the gnomes. While the game never accounts for it, I'd like to think that the Gnomish Industrial Council falls into utter disarray as its primary arms are wiped out, its people hunted to extinction, and they are forced to flee for their lives from stunned cities, their riches and Half-Ogre bodyguards rendered impotent by a raging, coca-snorting maniac with firebombs and a dog from hell itself.
@@jakzine540 I can do you one better: my supremely powerful wizard mind-controlled every single gnome in the game, brought them to the half-ogre farm, then turned them all to stone while facing the site of their master plan. The evil little psychopaths had no choice but to stare at their own handiwork until their stone bodies crumbled to dust, trapped forever with no chance of rescue and left wondering how it all went wrong.
Never played Arcanum again after that--nothing I could do would ever top that divine retribution.
I always liked how it had a more "realistic" ending for a quest.
You can't always achieve a happy end by beating the bad guys or talking them down...
It helps with immersion in my opinion.
@Whip You're absolutely correct sir or ma'am, and Willoughsby and company were some of my favorite aspects of the game; play your cards righteously, honestly, with a Persuasion build of any kind, and you can utterly gut the Gnomish Cabal and put a just, canny, highly effective Half-Orc in charge of Caladon and Tarant who protects the rights of the people and makes both great cities richer and happier for the tolerance and acceptance of both Magick and Technology. Gnomes who recognize the actions of their people were horrid, and wouldn't allow the abuses to continue any further.
I just can't deny how much I enjoy lobbing Molotovs at random street Gnomes and a few Halflings who looked too much like Gnomes for their own good while screaming half-drunken Worker's Revolt slogans in my apartment at three in the damn morning.
@Whip So you'd justified the mass kidnapping of women which could potentially include your wife, your mom and your daughter and turning them into a breeding stock for some crossbreed abomination?
Stunning and brave opinion, good sir. Tarant needs more citizens like you.
Funny thing is: warlockracy showed only half of the avaible quests, locations, secrets and so on.
So much stuff to explore. Well of course no bethesda game with countless locations.
Arcanum felt to me always like a detective game. Puzzling together what really happened in the past. It has a similiar tone to Fallout. While not being post-apocalypse it still feels the same: all the major battle and events already happened and you see the outcome of it. Finding old locations, reading about the lore while the game give you a lot of option to roleplay. It's a game to lose yourself in. And then you break it so hard you lose kinda the immersion lol.
And the music. God damn. the music is so unique and extremly fitting. While it can be boring at some parts because you hear it for hours it still captures the theme extremly well. Arcanum is about the tragedy about life, how things went to ruins and how from those ruins new things rose. It's melancholic with a shimmer of hope and change.
I love this game like no game else. It just so unique
Shimmer of hope and change? did you even do the half ogre origin mystery quest? kidding aside, Arcanum is hands down one of the greatest games of all time.
@ioJack Can confirm, half ogre side quest is the creepiest in the game with basically no ending. Can't save everyone
@@iojack1199 Well. And there's always gnomes. Fucking gnomes
@@abc-ug5ym this one we can agree on. and as long as we're mentioning masterpieces (and Troika) lets add VTM Bloodlines to that list
Yeah there's a lot of rewarding feelings in the games quests and design. Memorable to me was just being in Tarant's university and seeing something about God Shrines giving out divine blessings. And how some people could have multiple blessings but sometimes the blessings canceled each other out. It doesn't really give you a distinct solution in obvious "Do A, B, C..." but it gave me just enough to inspire me to explore, experiment, and find the solution to becoming the walking monster of divine vengeance.
"The dog. Eats. The Wizard."
game of the century
The most powerful necromancer in history is no match for a dog on methamphetamines
first time i played this game, i played as a sickly, deeply uncharismatic, middlingly intelligent, and iron-willed elven mage. she was a good witch who practiced dark necromancy and conveyance magic, and when she campaigned through the underworld with her two companions (the party size cap given her charisma score), she elected to purge it of the cretins who were banished there. when she faced kerghan, she did so with the reanimated corpses of history's greatest monsters.
a good time.
A game where you can wear full plate and shoot things with an elephant gun. A classic.
i only played it once, but that's exactly how i played it. how can he talk about called shots but not actually show us how it works?
Not only that, but you can do it while wearing a top hat that uses magnetism to repel attacks.
Basically Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, where weapons have "magical" modifiers.
@@SpecialProjectY Yes and no. You can get weapons and armour that are magic and have modifiers, but you can also get equipment that uses science to create effects, albeit somewhat over the top like building an army of automatons, creating a drug that cures all ills, make high explosives, or just put goggles on a helmet so you can see better.
@@Gorbz I mean the Legendary Weapon Effects, such as when you find a normal gun with a prefix "Furious" (Furious Glock, Furious Laser Riffle, etc.), which increase damage by 15% after each hit on the same target. Yet, Fallout 4 isn't a fantasy setting game...
What I like the most about Arcanum is that this video - as extensive and in-depth as it is - only shows a very narrow path you can take. Warlock touches upon it a few times here and there, stating what an alternative course of action and outcome would be, but even the nearly 2 hours long video barely covers what you can do in Arcanum. And I absolutely love it.
*SPOILERS FOR ALTERNATE ENDING AHEAD*
Probably my favourite thing about the whole ending with Kerghan is that if you play a diplomat character with ludicrously high charisma and persuasion, you can straight up point out flaws in his reasoning and convince him that his intentions are wrong. Arcanum is one of those rare gems that let you simply out-talk the last boss with solid argumentation, leaning strongly into its Fallout lineage.
I love how many stories are tucked away in unsuspecting places in the world. Like if you want the best account of the war between Tarant and Cumbria in the setting... from what I remember it wasn't actually talked about in either Tarant Or Dernholm. Instead you end up in Black Root. There's a town guard in there. Mentions he was a former soldier for the Kingdom of Cumbria. And he served in the war. He tells the story about how the kingdom really fell apart. How the queen had disappeared (To a certain Gnomish place). How the King was driven mad by it and in his grief and emotional distress was unable to stop the Council of Mages from Tulla basically staging a coup. They put Praetor on the throne, to use Cumbria against Tarant who they were fearing politically due to the effect that massed technology had on mages.
He talks about how at first with the assurances of the Council of Mages they marched into battle. Thinking the Tarantian Militia of Riflemen were nothing before them and the magic that backed them up.
And just how bloody those first battles on the plains were. How they kept losing ground. But Tarant it turned out, couldn't push into Dernholm proper. When they got to the more heavily wooded and mountainous terrain there, it turned. The Cumbrians started adopting ambush tactics (which he disdained as the tactics of an inferior force), using the heavy forest and mountains to force melee fights. And in those Melee, they just destroyed the Tarantian Militias. Which lead to the current peace, where Black Root and Shrouded Hills were taken and Dernholm remained Cumbrian because Tarant couldn't force the issue.
But that he beleives Praetor is an idiot, as he still believes his Council of Mages advisor and refuses to recognize the benefits of technology.
It's just fascinating to me. Because really there's two powers involved. Tarant, and the Council of Mages. And neither will really talk about it. Hell even the Council of Mages puppet, Dernholm, won't tell you TOO much about the war other than they faced setbacks but will get them next time. And that the Mages are "fully supporting' their efforts to resist Tarant. Kind of reminds me of the Napoleonic Wars where Britain just kept funneling money into anyone who'd go a few rounds with the French Empire.
It's this big story that makes sense. Shows the complex changing politics and culture, ties into various plot lines going on in different quests... and you only really find this out talking to a random Town Guard NPC that you basically have no reason to really talk to other than curiosity.
Just an example of how it all kind of hangs together. That one NPC talks about the war, mentions two of the major factions out there (Cumbria I don't count as Major, they're a minor power in that world). Talks about the exiled True King of Cumbria which is a side quest of its own later. Talks about the kidnapped queen which is part of another side quest.
And it's just there. In what is a very natural package of this guard who was a former soldier kind of regretfully thinking of his past career.
Or, considering the video's recap, maybe I'm misremembering. I have no idea why I keep thinking it was Dernholm, not Tarant with the Gnome tie in which is the big point I probably flubbed on my memory. But damn if I am, either way makes a great story.
A very realistic way for the aftermath of that kind of conflict. Neither side will say anything but their propaganda and their heavily biased view. But a normal soldier, who fought in the war, who experienced the real fight, who is disillusioned with the system, will take a more true story.
Regarding the question of resurrecting random NPCs: I once did an entire playthrough resurrecting EVERYONE I found in the game. Obviously I had to cheat to be able to do that.
But that's beside the point, because yes, you can totally do that as long as body is "interactive", meaning the bodies of Molochean hand in the mines, or some random dead bodies found in Tarant's sewers etc. Some will even react accordingly: for example, did you know you can resurrect an archaeologist from Tarant, who you find dead, surrounded by Dark Elves in the ancient elven burial ground? And they (both Elves and the archaeologist himself) will react to that!
whoa
Damn, I played this game a LOT, and I didn't know that! What a fucking great game
@@EmperorsChildren I'm not going to lie - discovering that is one of my most cherished gaming memories, because of how relatively unknown it was to the wider public at the time. In fact due to how unlikely it is for your char to be equipped with any means of resurrection so early in the game, it remained an obscure tidbit for so long, that I was able to be the first one to make an edit about it over at Arcanum wiki back in 2020 :)
@@milczyciel That's so cool! I felt the same when I did the triple cross I mentioned here and played both sides, because I didn't know any guides that mentioned that
@@EmperorsChildren it's the best :)
Internet took that sense of discovery away from us.
I like the fate points thing allot, if there is something your character has to do for their roleplay this system lets them accomplish it instead of forcing the player to reload over and over.
...just realized that I forgot to explain what fate points actually do
Fate points let you come up with some great playthrough planning, including speedruns.
Also the fact that a number of NPCs have some nice unique items equipped on them strongly provokes the thought that you should steal those with fate points and spend your levelup points on something else.
For example a gunslinger character can just go to Tarant and steal a very nice revolver from the gun trader there, this gun can take you a long way, and you just saved yourself from trouble of investing points and resources into gun smithing.
@@Warlockracy Got the gist of it based on what you used it for, to be fair.
@@Blisterdude123 IIRC they're points awarded at certain level ups and upon completing certain in-game quests/challenges that give just insane, 1 time boons. From 100% steal chance to full heals or guaranteed critical or persuasion success. It was a really rewarding reward.
I always used them to force-recruit diametrically opposed companions. I've always been a Minsc+Edwin Viconia+Aerie kinda guy. :P
@@Warlockracy yeah that video is a little more chaosy than the others
I love the ground kicking animation in this game, the first time I faced the bridge bandits I missed all my grenades and just started running until my character fainted, then in real time the three bandits and a random wolf ganged on my body and started kicking, almost fall of my seat by laughter.
Didn't realize the wolves had a kicking animation :)
Jump on em!
I love all of warlockracy’s videos, the way he structures and writes his videos are so well put together that even on rewatches the videos are entertaining
yeah I rewatch almost every one pretty much every month
facts I love Rewatching his videos
True
Yeah I come back to this one alot. Arcanum as a setting is really relaxing to listen to him play through
I wish there were more games in this setting. I really loved and enjoyed Arcanum a lot. It's a type of fantasy setting rarely ever done right. To me it's a one of a kind. It has a lot a soul
Fully agreed.
"Do you have any work you need done? Be warned, I'm not qualified to do much of anything." Me at a job interview.
I fucking love this channel so much. The voice, the games, the detail, the play style. Just everything.
I agree with you..
you read my mind my dude
The perfect mix of information and entertainment
It's the dead pan delivery of information. When he tells you something funny, it's just a fact. There's no exaggeration.
It took me this long to realize that the intro to this game is made after the intro to Canticle for Leibowitz; while meditating in the desert Virgil sees the crash of the airship that leads him to the player character (as predicted by his canon), while in the book brother Francis comes across the wanderer (who bears canonical resemblance to Saint Leibowitz) that leads him to the Fallout shelter and the relics from the saint.
Come to think of it the lost Vendigroth civilization is a parallel to the lost USA civilization in Canticle for Leibowitz.
Seeing the trifecta of Mandalore, Sseth, and now Warlockracy reviews gives this game the weirdest look, love it
Ah Arcanum, a true classic indeed. I remember purchasing this when it first came out and loving every moment of it. Played through it several times as a mage and a technologist, exploring different combinations of spells and tools and being fascinated about how many different ways there were to complete a lot of quests and how different builds unlocked different options. A challenging game to be sure, but one that really rewards exploration and experimentation.
One thing though. This could be a case of something that got patched out, or changed in later versions as I purchased the first version of the game that was commercially available, but the map isn't as locked off by the main quest as you might think. Certain locations definitely are, like the Isle of Despair, Thanatos and the Vendigroth Wastes, but at least in early versions it was possible to move around the southern tip of the Stonewall Range and get into Caladon whenever you wanted. And if you explored up along the coast there's a bridge that lets you access the Glimmering Forest and into the northern parts of the continent. Now to be fair, by the time you had the levels and equipment to actually survive the trip you had probably already unlocked it through the main quest, but it is possible.
Also, not sure I agree with gun builds being weak. Sure, early guns like the flinlock pistol and basic revolver aren't all that impressive, but with only a modest investment in Gunsmithing you can make the fine revolver (you can even find the parts for it in the starting area) which is serviceable enough if you put some points into the firearms skill and get training from Doc Roberts in Shrouded Hills (who can train you up to the Expert level if your skill is high enough). By the time you get to Tarant it's relatively easy to have enough skill to craft elephant guns and the parts are widely available in the city. I remember blasting down earth elementals, rock rats and other enemies that will shatter melee weapons with relative ease once you have that and the guns only get more powerful as your skill grows and you find schematics.
Though I will admit that was a very early build of the game and things may have changed. Still, great review of a great game.
The premise behind this game's magic and tech system is actually pretty cool.
The concept of science and magic being at odds with eachother where they both fuck eachothet up in various ways is something I wish was explored more often
There is a German book called "Arthur Brehmer - Die Welt in 100 Jahren" (The world in hundred years) which collected essays from people in 1905 describing how they imagen 2005. Well, we missed it by a lot. No more hunger, no need for physical work, British airship fortresses ruling Africa with an iron fist, submarine villas, no more genders.
... One of those things is not like the others.
@@vetreas366 Can you tell which of those things is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
@@HerrFenrisWolf Well, everything except for the last one is not that far fetched to be honest. If they had written, that some people will delude themselves into believing, that there are no genders, they would actually be correct on that one though.
@@raifthemadDidn't make it up, the thinking or theory in this piece was, the more political rights woman get, the more similiar they will be to man in appeareance, going so far as growing beards, until the day everybody is wearing different coloured overalls to differentiate. The book does not display a coherent idea, it displays many different.
@@raifthemad Have you ever considered that you might be the dinosaur?
I guess people prefer to keep their post-nuclear depression and medieval-whimsical fantasy games separate and not combined like Arcanum did, even if done well. Still, I am curious to see how this setting would fare in a first person action rpg. I will send e-mails to Nesquik, Marabou, Cadbury's and other rival chocolate companies to see if they will kickstart this idea
After watching this video, I think Bethesda could pull it off (despite how they've handled fallout). It would basically be a combination of the earlier elder scrolls and later fallout games which I think could be a really unique and interesting world to explore in an fps, especially with the tech v magic mechanics
@@Jiub_SNYeah but I'm not sure how well they would pull off the nuaces of the world building and writing
@@djlethargic badly they would pull it off badly.
I appreciate the commentary on the races were taken from the manual. That manual is one of the all-time greats. It's super well written and gets you into the headspace of the game really well. Man, I miss manuals. There was an art to writing them and I think the industry lost something precious in abandoning them.
''Its the most guarded building in the whole city''
''Luckly we have a band of dangerous idiots''
Ahh yes every TTRPG party in a Nutshell
Also Ooof...i totally forgot bout the half ogre breeding gnomes quest, but makes painfull sense to kinda have it in a industrial revolution setting with fantasy races
Man the more you show those futurism pictures the more i wished we could have a game that can actually just take those and make em real haha
Also i think you can defeat the big bad at the end through pure dialouge
Also the last express train shots wierdly worked for the video lol
@Trevor Walker *Owned by Activison Blizzard* Why do you curse my with this knowledge
Yeah, Ogre Island pretty much cemented my hatred for gnomes in Arcanum. Hell, even the one gnome party member you can recruit is disgusted by this discovery, and thats saying something.
@@LeudieBlues What if the racial situation was so bad for thr gnomes that their actions were initially justified out of necessity? Thirst for revenge likely led to them going wild with it, though.
Their alternative, to me, was giving up their wealth or self-banishment of sorts. Why bother for the sake of your victimizers when you're able to eliminate them or the threat they pose? They're basically a Killmonger who sought peace for his people instead of rule, but with a bit of the latter sprinkled in.
@@questioningespecialy9107 it sure is an interesting situation and a bit more nuanced than Warlockracy claimed, but he probably isn't as obsessed with the game world as most Arcanum fans, so I can 100% understand why he would see this conflict the way he does.
@Trevor Walker "Also, there was meant to be a sequel made using the VtM version of the Source engine, called JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF ARCANUM"
Well, now you made me sad.
One important thing about the Arcanum game map - this is an actual one big seamless world map on which everything is placed.
It's possible to force discover every location on the map by walking close to it, including the Vendigroth ruins. It's possible to find the mountain pass without being given the quest and go to Caladon before the end game.
If someone is really patient it's also possible to not do any fast travel and random encounters (although this way of travel is very boring and very slow). Walking along the coast on the very end of the continent also allows for crossing the mountains.
I found that character generation actually has an effect on some chests that are supposed to be random. Even 1 character different in the name changes the random seed. An example of one of the random chests is in the crash wreckage. I've managed to find a couple combinations that give you incredibly powerful loot starting out.
All hail sir Gou5s zZzn9!
What I have noticed is that they always give you the incorrect armor pieces. Playing as a human I constantly get small magic plate armor.
@@planescaped what gear does that name end up giving you?
That is ... kind of understandable. They have to create the seed in some way, so using the character name as part of that doesn't sound like a bad idea. It takes a while for players to notice, and if they do and start gaming the system, so be it. Why punish players for being intelligent and creative, that is a big part of roleplaying. And they end up with a ridiculous name, that is punishment enough.
"Exercise better impulse control in the next life." God DAMN. That was stone cold.
For the American viewers the golden idol at 26:10 weighs 7000 pounds, I guess that magical strength is really paying off.
I now realize where our 1st companian's name comes from. Virgil is the name of the companion of Dante Aleghieri in Divine Comedy on his journey through hell. He is actually the Roman poet Vergillious. Even his outfit in the game looks like the illustrations of Divine Comedy
49:20 Fun fact: since the world map is seamless you can actually find both the mountain passes and the bridges on your own by travelling to the nearest possible point to where they should be on the World Map and then going there using the "Town/Encounter" map. They don't pop in magically at certain plot points. In fact you can find ALL areas that way. Just don't venture into Quintarra or T'Sen-Ang (Caladon is ok), because it will stop the main quest progression and you'll have to load an earlier save or use a save editor. As for Thanatos there's a world map travel bug used by speedrunners, but I think it was fixed in one of Drog's patches.
The best kind of open world. Where the game doesn't lock a door or hide a passage until you're in the right part of the story. No, just have the map open and maybe put some incredibly difficult challenge there. Like some high level enemy. If you keep up with the power curve that enemy shouldn't be any issue when the story brings you there, but you can try to go past at any point.
I no longer have time to play many RPGs, thank you for bringing us your thoughts on these experiences! Abraços do Brasil!
This game has one of the most bizarre, hilarious, and outlandish enemy names I've seen in any game, ever; Apish Shaman. It's death rattle is still a meme between my brother and I, to this day.
I caught up on your videos a couple days ago and this is my first video of yours that I have been able to watch as soon as it has premiered. Cheers.
Ох, великолепная игра, раз в пару лет стабильно перепрохожу. Спасибо за великолепный контент!
Ah Arcanum, the only game in all my years playing RPGs where I actually managed a triple cross, this game is nothing short of genius
Only Arcanum and Disco Elysium did it for me
What do you mean by triple cross
@@IEatDogShit double Cross plus one?
I suspect Age of Decadence also allows that, can't exactly remember now.
@@cjnf11 Double cross for sure, never pulled a triple in AoD or any other game
EDIT: WE ARE DONE! Thank you!!!! This community owns.
What a fuckin guy
Hey hey people
Good work man
@@Balgias Look at this sigma red pilled man. Lmao, btw your losing ;)
Would love to see you make a video on the game Inquisitor from 2009! A lot newer than most of your games you review but it's the same isometric grim dark style.
Deus Ex was one of my favourite games growing up, and it was the one that brought me to your channel. This unique format of yours, a condensed walk-through with commentary/review, is truly a gem, bravo. Now another one of my favourites, I still remember picking up a two-disk game I'd never heard about before at Gorbushka, and getting really captivated by it for many months after. The year definitely started out well!
I'd like to suggest one of my other (much more recent) favourites for your future videos, VTMB. That is, of course, provided that you played it. I feel it has a lot of sociological/philosophic-type content, your commentary on which I enjoyed so much in your Deus Ex review .
pd: my first was a disenchanted half orc woman, extremely bad treated all the time, specialized in harm.
That was op as it could possibly be. Also I helped bring the stronk revolution to steampunk Shire
The reaction system included is nothing I've seen anywhere else made so good btw. It actually plays like a realistic (and unsettleling) depiction of racist dickheads abusing, belittling you in a totally casual manner and, simply, marginalizing you in most quests... and, if you are a hot half elf, then they worship you and the rich say to your face they'll bang you for big bucks, it's insane
can't be racist against an orc - that's xenophobia. Racism is only within human context - racists think there is more than one race of humans and that different blood flows through veins and we have inherent personality traits based on race - but we don't. There is a single race of humans with a multitude of ethnicities.
Wat
@@agnidas5816 holy shit go outside
@@aaroncurley5117 using the correct word is useful
@@statiq1941 orcs are considered a different fantasy race, thus it would be considered racism. Xenophobia is being against anything that lies outside of our own community/country/race or whatever. so no he still needs to go outside and was using the wrong terminology anyways.
Normally you should keep both factions the Technocrats and the Magisters at peak performance. If the Technocrats run out of coal for their power plants or if their car batteries gone empty. Having Mages around that can produce coal and electricity at will is more than convenience.
Technology for everyday life. And having Magic as the icing of the cake. If your freezer dies, but you notice it in time. Having a ice spell at hand is probably the best short therm solution there is. Not to forget, you could imbue a piece of wood or a spoon with ice magic.
To have that and similar things in your toolbox is convenience overload!
22:38 "Playing a technologist is challenging"
I have to disagree. Many of the creations you can make are outright OP, the hunting for schematics and components is quite interesting, and the most important part, is that technological affinity of 20+ gives you resistence to magic so potent, most mages won't bother with casting spells on you and would resort to pummeling you with fists instead. Tech affinity of 50+ gives you an absolute immunity to magic. Not to mention the utterly awesome feeling of being this sort of adventuring gentleman-inventor the Arcanum so masterfully creates, like no other game ever did. I played a mage once and did not like it a single bit. Sorry, i went rambling. What i'm saying, is that i did not find playing a tech-guy all that challenging, but the mage path was utterly boring and uninteresting for me.
maybe not in absolute sense, but it's definitely harder to play a gunfighter compared to a harm wizard or a basic melee fighter
@@Warlockracy perhaps at first, yes. But once you craft the sniper rifle - most enemies are killed quite quickly and you have more ammo than Taliban. And that magic immunity, mate, i wouldn't trade it off for anything. And the way magic shop owners freak out when you wolk into their shop is hillarious. Speaking of which, you did mention in the video that magic disrupts the laws of physics, but forgot to add that technology has the opposite effect, and makes magic unstable, or negates it completely, hence the magical immunity of "nonbelievers". Also, another nice detail in the game - if you have hogh magical affinity and try to read a schematic, you pass out.
Magic is extremely overpowered in this game, and guns are by far and away the worst weapons; they're not only the slowest, they're also somehow the weakest (topped by both fists and throwing weapons, hilariously). Magic is so overpowered that it breaks the game; you can essentially teleport to the ending after talking to the right person to find out that certain locations exist.
@@GurniHallek Crafting the Looking Glass Rifle requires you to put 5 skill points into Gunsmithing, which in turn requires putting points into the Intelligence stat. Actually using it requires additional stat point investments into Perception and the appropriate weapon skill, as well as Dexterity for the action points.
A tech melee fighter, on the other hand, can just recruit Magnus into their party once they reach Tarant, and have him craft several copies of the dubiously-named "Balanced Sword". At this point, they are basically set for the rest of the game as far as weapons are concerned. Being able to invest their skill points into Strength and Agility instead allows them to increase their damage potential exponentially.
@@maxjoechl5663 God bless the Multiverse Edition with its custom-patched executable to allow you to spec your followers as you like (so you can remove their default leveling scheme), and let, for example, Magnus or Virgil handle all your crafting needs (not from schematics at least, gotta hit them books); That way your character can actually focus on leveling only relevant skills and stats.
What a legend man, had a super busy month so just finished his balders gate video days ago thinking "man can't wait to see when that Arcanum video drops!" And here it is!!!
i really like these types of videos, these review+playthrough+meme videos are great, you, sszeth, mandalore, maXor and Uberdanger (and even hbomberguy has done it with his pathologic video) are all great and at the forefront of this genre, if you can call it that even tho you all have different styles, some of my favourite videogame videos on the platform really, if the game is good it usually makes me want to play it myself, while also being entertaining in general wether or not i played them and if i havent but end up getting the game then i usually end up watching again and have a whole different perspective on the video, they provide a good sense of the game but condensed to its better/more interesting moments while cutting the boring stuff that a usual playthrough would have, it has a scripted commentary which makes it usually funnier than most playthroughs since improv and general "funny moments" arent easy to do, and allows for more focussed critique of the game as well, i really think this type of video is peak videogame related entertainment. Great stuff all around, keep it up.
Two of the best review/meme/playthrough videos are still Sseth's videos on Morrowind and Wizardry 8
The only thing missing to emphasize how unique this game was is to show the paper instructions for the box version.
Thank you for introducing this to me! I am now running a D&D campaign inspired by this world.
A new Warlockracy video on the first day of 2022? That's how I know this'll be a good new year.
my dude youre a damn legend for knowing and playing this gem, this game is since my childhood my favorite out of all. even modded it to fix them bugs and more.
keep it up
The half-ogre quest is mostly a result of the devs being into "X-Files". You know, the show where every episode is a mystery that gets hushed up with no conclusion.
Always loved Arcanum, even if when squinting it looks like Diablo 1’s UI (egregiously so I might add). Only complaints were cities too big for their own good, filled with vendors and the ensuing frame rate hit. Dungeons were nice but can easily be cheesed by kiting, door fighting (in some cases actually getting those red gorilla things stuck in dungeon doors), and spamming health/kill magic spells. I think magic and tech skills are tried to be balanced, but like most old cRPGs your life is 100% easier if you focus on the ‘essential skills’.
Were there dragons in the dungeons? There better have been lol. And to me it looks egregiously looks so much like Fallout 1 or maybe a remaster of the second one.
Apparently the original unpatched version of the game causes a memoryleak when you bring up the map and that will eventually lead to tanking the framerate
Kept meaning to watch this on Patreon and never got around to it.
I played Arcanu8m back in the day and remember loving the setting to bits... and hating the game unfortunately. I had 2 separate playthroughs end in 2 separate game-breaking bugs back to back that made progress impossible and killed my desire to try a third time. Where I was able to beat Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines when it released (eventually, as I also got a game-breaking bug at the Giovanni mansion my first playthough of that too!) I never could with Arcanum. Crazy I just accepted it back in the day. :P
I remember doing the mission for the Egyptian vampire lady when I read Troika went bankrupt, whoops.
damn, Troika... Went way too soon
@@KingLich451 First and only time I can remember reading about a company's demise as I was playing one of their games... that just came out!
Unless you count Bioware and DA: Origins. :P
@@planescaped yeah, that game was pretty nice too
I love how you make fun of antique futurists and how you pronounce gnome in this video. They contributed to my enjoyment immensely.
It's because in Russian (and I suspect in many Slavic languages) it is pronounced as gnom, with that distinct g sound.
And it also means "dwarf", not "gnome".
Your videos, commentary, formatting, script, and accent are 10/10
This game is why I got into Fallout. I watched my friend play through the zeppelin crash intro, then years later I tried to find it, could only find FO1&2 screenshots that looked similar to the setting, and assumed that was it, so I started playing FO3. Only figured out recently that this was a totally different game! I always thought that the airplane orcs were super mutants and was baffled that the 3D games had no air combat.
After getting my arse pushed in on the first few attempts I made a new character geared toward melee combat. A mentally substandard half-Ogre. Everyone was an absolute dick to me. Even Virgil. I was overcharged and underplayed by everyone! Gilbert Bates gave me the equivalent of a button for going to the black mountains and back
I remember when i was 16 or 17 i canceled a date cuz i didn't want to intterrupt my gaming
Aaah my beloved Arcanum. I haven't play it for a while, possibly 5 years. Might make it my new year resolution and check that fan patch (especially that restored cut content and those "DLCs").
Great video, as always, although I don't know if I agree on the Half-ogre Island quest being "distasteful". It sure as hell leave you uncomfortable and uneasy, but as you've pointed out yourself:
a) it fits the setting perfectly
b) explores the ever present themes of human depravity without going too far on either "gore" or "hush-hush" side of things
c) is quite well written and thought through (but that's not anything unusual for the writing of majority of this game, see: Dwarven philosophy/religion, motivation of the main villain etc)
d) is absolutely ambiguous about "what really happened" (and even if it happened, it does rise valid questions about how much exactly the rest of the Gnomish society at large knew, or how much was just accepted on a face value, given that not many of the other races _really_ questioned this sudden boom in half-ogre birth rate)
As such, it leaves you with more questions than answers and you walk away from the computer with one, and one thing only: whatever happened was evil and ugly AF. And way, way to real and close to what we humans _actually do_ to each other. Especially for some silly, PEGI 12 video game about "magick and steamworks obscura".
But most of all, it stays with you. For decades.
For years I dreamed about drowning Tarant streets in gnomish blood... But I was a kid back then, unaware of the banality of evil, uneducated in the intricacies of coping mechanisms we human employ, when we have to justify our otherwise abhorrent acts, or our at the very best apathetic (and at the very worst eager) compliance with deeds perpetuated by "the authority" (whether it's a state, or our idols, or our ideological group, our even our workplace or friends and family).
I'm telling you, I would pay outlandish amounts of money just to see Arcanum's sequel focusing and revolving its plot around this very sidequest (set either in Arcanum's past, when it was supposedly happening, or in the future after the protagonist of the first game - _in my case an actual half-ogre_ - found the means to share his findings with the public). Tackling themes like Milgram experiment, or responsibility of the group for participating in the benefits of the crime just a few of its members actually committed (like _we_ do on a daily basis, buying child or slave labour made goods for example) and so many, many ugly, banale, every-day, normalized atrocities.
But I know it can't happen. Even nowadays when we as a culture got balls deep in relativism and pessimism (regarding human condition), we'd still find a way to make such story (and most importantly its conclusion) shallow, mindbogglingly stupid and as one sided as it gets in today's landscape. Not to mention, that I can't even fathom anyone daring to publish it against the inevitable "public uproar" coming from all sides (because ideally, it would show that we're equally guilty of it, left, right, center, atheists and believers, men and women alike)
Yeah... I just realized that I wrote an unprecedented text-wall about a sidequest in some silly, old game that no one's playing anymore (your own words).
If that's not at least a hint about its brilliance (or my stupidity) then I don't know what is :)
@fifaldo forgive me for my short reply, but I just woke up from one of those nightmares that suck away all the will to do _anything_ from you.
I used the plural form because that's how my bubble looks. There's very, very, preciously little "honest & wise" optimism that wouldn't inadvertently fall into the traps od denial (I do not claim it doesn't exist mind you), plus it's so easy to be branded as someone with a superiority complex without relying on good old "we". Which is, as you've pointed out a trap in itself, so I will try to refrain from doing it in the future. Cheers.
a huge wall of text (you're quite talkative for a person with such username, I must say) i've read all of it
and I agree with you wholeheartedly ;) Cheers.
I had so much hope the new game they released after getting together was Arcanum successor. Outerworlds was a disappointment.
post of exceptionally high quality
Hire somebody to write a fanfic. Done. Whoever owns the IP will have the option of buying and converting it to an official release of whatever kind at any point thereafter. Don't let your dreams be dreams,... but don't expect such a project to be cheap considering they'll have to spend research time 100%'ing the game.
You won me over. Not only you go against the tide... you do it with love, passsion, knowledge and a healthy dose of humor
I endured Arcanum back in the day (it was a battle against bugs and glitches) and I keep wonderful memories of this unique take on RPGs at so many levels... a true gem
Can't wait to see your womderful work on BG 2, Planescape, Icewind, Neverwinter, KotOR...
Thanks and keep up!
This channel deserves more recognition. Love your videos, greeting from Poland!
I am more amused than I should be by that reference to "Who hired him, Bates is very much dead" moment.
I'm amused because mostly I remember something silly from Skyrim that always had weird implications for me. Until you join the Thieves' Guild (or at least I notice this stops happening when I do), there's a chance you'll draw a random encounter if you've properly stolen something. Three hired thugs in heavy armor coming to murder the crap out of you. Town guards, etc, anyone but your own follower just won't even give a crap about it.
Now what amused me by it? The first time (and by far the most common case of it I've triggered this random encounter for), I found that there was a "Contract" note on one of the Hired Thugs who had come to teach me a lesson. Which mentioned that I had stolen from them, the owner didn't even care, they just wanted me to suffer. And that it is signed by the person who triggered that random encounter.
But the first time I saw it? It was from "Anise". Who was very, very much dead. Not only that, she was dead before I stole anything from her cabin.
Meaning someone (if you go by some sort of logic), must have found out she was dead in her cabin in the middle of nowhere. For some reason sought to summon her spirit from beyond. Talk to it. And said Spirit put out a hit on the Dragonborn over the fact that I stole a few alchemical ingredients from her shack (rather than because I killed her) and even somehow arranged a payment for it (which I find on the thugs).
For some reason that always just amused me with the absurdity of imagining that situation. I know realistically it's just because in the scripting of the game there's a triggered flag for "You have stolen from a non-hostile NPC" and they add a random encounter to the deck of things that might be pulled from when you pass by a Random Encounter trigger zone (like near White River Watch, or the College of Winterhold's Courtyard, Whiterun Stables, etc).
Granted in Arcanum where one of the first little quests you get is from a bandit's tormented ghost and such... it at least is set up as something that can and does happen in there.
But still, the absurdity of that Skyrim moment always brings a smile to my face, and I was reminded of it.
“It’s incredible how helpful elves become when they’re dead.”
The Emperor approves.
This is hands down the best video I've ever seen on Arcanum. Top notch!
I discovered your channel a couple weeks ago. I have watched pretty much every video on your channel.
LOVE your content! Grew up playing Fallout 1 and 2 so these videos really stay close to my heart and hit home.
Also this game looks super fun, your narrative and editing is super good!
Games have become too simple and convenient, they no longer require us to use our imagination. Therefore, these older games richer in "serious" content are actually unavailable to younger audiences. I am almost 30 years old and I find it hard to force myself to play something older, but when I play I feel stupid not to refresh any more classics.
Unfortunately, it is fault of the times, not young people, but the FAST times we live in. Sometimes you have to slow down a bit.
PS: I love your videos Warlockracy! Great content and voice
When I bought fallout 3 at launch I was so excited. And I never quite coalexced the thought of why I stopped playing like 20 minutes in. the intro sequence was great and then I got to a store with fresh food on the shelves and then frozen dinner in the bathtub of the first town and I just never played it again. thank you very much for giving me the key detail that made me realize how off it was.
Edward Teach is Blackbeard, rumored to have swum around his own boat 3 times after being beheaded.
this quickly became one of my favorite youtube channels, this is what game journalism SHOULD HAVE evolved into
I mean I like the channel, but the video’s just a walkthrough with commentary. Entertaining, but barely a review because it lacks critique/appraisal of the actual mechanics or features or game development behind it. Only examination in vid was the weird antisemitism tangent which can be taken by an impressionable viewer as borderline defamation of Tim Cain, Jason Anderson, and Leonard Boyarsky. Idk
but it's the opposite of what I was arguing
@@NitroDubzzz The chad take is the Sseth stance; lean into the most controversial interpretation of any questionable content. When people get offended, laugh at them.
What a way to start a year, here's to great 2022 for Warlockracy!
There are so many golden lines in this video I barely know where to begin.
Unfathomably based.
Finding this channel was the best thing that happened to me in 2021.Thank you for all your awesome content 🙏
Interesting point about 1:03:00 -ish in that I recall watching this again (as UA-cam loaded it while I was working). Warlockracy mentions that he's "Probably the only Master of Repair in Arcanum". Wasn't touched in the video itself but every skill in Arcanum like Melee, Throwing, Pickpocket, Repair, Firearms, etc, has not just points that you can put into it (increading it's effectiveness), but also levels of training you can get.
You need at least one point to get "Apprentice" training. Which is available all over. Like if you want Apprentice Training in Melee or Dodge basically any town guard in any location can teach you. It gives you an additional buff to your skill on top of your ranks. If you want "Expert" training, you need at least 3 points in a skill. There's usually only 3 trainers for Expert for any given skill and they usually are more prominent characters (Like one of the Expert Trainers for Speechcraft is the Madam of the Bordello in Tarant who has a few quests for you to do as well). Those earlier trainers just really require them to not hate you, and to pay them gold for the training.
Then there are the Master Levels. There's only ever ONE of them in Arcanum. And it's never just forking over gold to get training. There's always some sort of quest about it. LIke the Master of Dodge has a quest line to earn his training revolving around the rivalry he has with the Master of Melee (both soldiers in Dernholm). The Master of Speechcraft has a quest that has you helping negotiate the treaty between Tarant and Caladon. Etc.
And tend to give you a powerful effect for achieving that rank. Like the aforementioned Masters of Repair being the only people that can repair broken items (as well as not reducing their max durability when repairing and previous training level perks).
I always thought it was an interesting system because to really be the best at something you didn't just sink points on level up into it. You also had to go out of your way to get that Apprentice Training, then Expert Training, and finally the Master Training to really be that Master Marksman or the Master Lockpick, etc.
Pretty interesting
This is my favorite game. I played every race and archetype and completed all quests available in the game.
My hope that Microsoft will give it to the wasteland 3 devs and they will make a new arcanum
That was great, played this game a couple years ago myself but lost my save when I got a new pc. Super fun to watch a full run like this!
I loved "The Last Express" out of nowhere.
I think it speaks to the quality of Arcanum's writing that they were able to give a villain whose end-goal is "Kill everyone, everywhere, forever" a reason that not only makes sense, but is also compelling. I mean, by the time of the final confrontation, you can absolutely understand how and why he came by the conclusions he did. While it may be improving, the history of Arcanum is awful enough that some would see the peace after death as preferable to living.
This goes doubly so if your character was a non-human and non-elf: While a human gets to see more... "positives" in their playthrough, that's effectively the view from the top, and even elves are going to have a slanted opinion of things. A dwarf, half-ogre, or half-orc will see a world painted in far harsher lights, and would likely see Kerghen's plan and goals far differently from the other races.
Why risk your life trying to save a world and society that has treated you like garbage from day one, and even after you literally save all life everywhere will still treat you more or less exactly the same? You think a half-orc is going to see Arcanum, a place where they're treated as dumb, angry savages no matter how smart, calm or cultured they actually are, as a place worth saving? You think a dwarf, member of a race that is very clearly struggling in the face of the rise of humanity, is going to think saving the world pushing their race into irrelevance is a goal worth pursuing? You think a half-ogre, a race that literally only exists because rich gnomes wanted extra-strong bodyguards, is going to be all for saving the status quo after learning how they came to be?
The devs made a world that, by the end, your character is going to either have plenty of reasons why they want to save it or plenty of reasons why they'd want to see it brought to an end.
Edward Teach is the human name of Blackbeard the Pirate..
Not sure if Arcanum spells it the same, but heavily implies your preferred boatsman to be a lot more experienced in your approach to social interdiction
Unrelated: it's also the alias of The Last Psychiatrist :D
I remember an article back in 2001 that said the Gnome sidequest is an homage to the X-files. It's ogre human hybrids because they didn't want to go so weird as to actually have aliens. Gnomes are the littlest, greyest, men in the setting.
That just says something about conspiracy theory media and the proliferation of crypto-fascist tropes in the genre, honestly.
Don't know, greedy elites doing weird sex stuff on an island doesn't sound impossible now
"I use a potion of speed on the dog. The dog eats the wizard".
Fucking beautiful.
I beg your pardon good sir, I myself was replaying this piece of gaming media over and over again on a contraption known as Intel Celeron powered personal computer with a clock signal frequency of three hundred megahertz more than fifteen years ago, whilst having absolutely no idea of this reddit thing you've mentioned, thus I declare your method of statistical analysis about who does play it and who does not completely bollocks.
The half ogre island stuff is some of the most memorable parts of the game to me.
I learned of Arcanum long after it's release, and was never been into playing it fully, because of it's old game UX issues. I've watched this video back to back, and enjoyed every minute. Good job and happy new year :)
Impressive that the people a century ago already had the idea of video telephones, roombas and podcasts/audiobooks.
And the Wuppertal suspension railway, which was build between 1987 and 1903 and opened in 1901, so on time for those postcards
I've watched this video many times. A few days ago Arcanum was on sale on steam for $1.79. I bought it and played for 55 hours already. 10/10 I would love a sequel but that probably wont ever happen. Also the game that got me into this genre of games was Atom RPG, dunno if that is a game that you would like to cover.
5:52 Half-Ogres start off with intelligence penalties. Virgil is correct.
thermian argument
@@charliejohanssen7421 Ogres aren't real.
"Virgil said he was going to Caladon to confront his past or whatever. We, too, are confronting things." [footage of chaos]
First video of yours I stumbled across and boy am I glad I did! This video is a treasure and was a joy to watch, thanks man.
it makes me very happy that this channel seems to be slowly growing.
I wish nothing but success for you man
I was watching an interview with Leonard Boyarski yesterday, and he was talking Arcanum and actually addressed the Gnome / Half Ogre conspiracy. He said he was big into X-Files at the time of writing and the alien hybrids / conspiracy influenced that part of the game.
It wasn't intended to be a metaphor or dogwhistle for anti-semitism as he himself is Jewish
Oh, that only makes it more delicious still to the anti-Semite crowd.
Yeah but your avatar and name are Kaiserreich.
@@JoshSweetvale I have never played Hearts of Iron in my life
There is a strange beauty in talking down Kerghan. Yes, there is eternal peace in death, but the thing is, eternity in of itself will eventually become its own kind of hell. Kerghan just hasn't reached that point of realization yet, a realization you can help him understand. So he willingly takes his own unlife with the device, knowing that this is the best thing he can do for the world of the living.
Sseth of all people put in in a surprisingly poetic way, "He decides to kill himself out of love for the world he hates"
I just fell upon your videos tonight during work and you have quickly become my new favorite youtuber. My only disappointment is that you have so few videos to go back through your history. I hope you continue to make new content. Entertaining, funny, and just plain enjoyable to listen to!!
Yes, yes, YES! Thank you SO much for doing this! Definitely new year suprise! I would prefer Arcanum over any Fallout anytime!
I know it´s a bit late, but happy new year and I wish you a lot of ideas for upcoming episodes! :)
Men that Last Express scene.....brings back memories.
What a great video. I like the way you tell me about the story, and will definetely check the rest of your content. Thank you.
Excellent video! Arcanum (alongside Troika's other RPG, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodines) is a quintessential flawed masterpiece.
Despite having far more flaws than its contemporary CRPGs, I still find myself replaying and enjoying this title more than others in its genre. There's just something so captivating about the world of Arcanum and its such a shame we'll likely never see more of it.
Your video made me replaying Arcanum again. For the seventh time. Thanks for that.
I have mad nostalgia for this game and I do think, that a lot of it was unfinished. I've even ideas for the plot of the sequel. Basically: every good ending happened and now a World War is starting, because everybody has the strength to do it. Your job would be not to stop the war (you can't), but to hinder it becoming worse ... or making it worse! Also necromancers want to build their realm of the dead on the ashes, of course.
But the story and writing still holds up and you have to admire Troika for taking the clichés of two genres and turning it into something original and brilliant. Still, I would pay good money for a sequel with refined mechanics and a fresh visual look.
I listen to this soundtrack several times a week while I work - it's one of my favorites. I will agree that this is a beloved RPG that no one plays. Honestly, as an actual game, it's pretty bad - terrible combat, buggy, etc. As an RPG, it's fantastic. I think that's what puts people off about it.
Really enjoyed watching this, was a lot of fun! I remember playing this game as a kid. Can't believe how much I had forgotten by the end of this video.
Wtf thought that this was a playthrough. I lift my hat sir for your commitment on this game. I recently realized that this game was developed by same studio as on of my all time favourites - VTM: Bloodlines.
1:20:28 I did a playthrough of resurrecting a lot of people. It gives a massive boost to relation too, so it's possible to make some characters be nice with you after you killed and resurrected them.
Damn, I loved this game as a kid. Despite all the bugs of original version and a bunch of the ones brought with localization. Like that one that would ask you if you want to quit the game. Sometimes like 15 times in a row. I really need to replay this again. Still not sure which restoration pack to use.