Arcanum: of Steamworks & Magick Obscura | 
| From: Vivendi Universal
Buy New: $19.71
as of 7/29/2010 14:32 MDT details
New (7) from $19.71
Rating:  146 reviews
Format: CD-ROM
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95
Genre: role_playing_games
ESRB: Mature
Media: CD-ROM
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows 95
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
Model: 71047
UPC: 020626710473
EAN: 0020626714983
ASIN: B00004TTHT
Release Date: August 22, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Automatic character management features let you delve into the quest at hand for action-oriented players. | | • | Explore a huge game environment, with dozens of cities, dungeons, and towns to find. | | • | Meet more than 300 unique characters and 280 different monster types across the land of Arcanum. | | • | Multiple paths to victory abound in the scores of quests surrounding the main storyline. | | • | Accurate day/night cycles affect the gameplay, from combat to thieving skills. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Arcanum is the first game to come from the development house Troika Games, LLC, started by former Fallout team members Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson. This team takes the depth of gameplay and world-building in role-playing games to entirely new levels of realism and excitement.
Arcanum creates a compelling new world where magic and technology coexist in an uneasy balance. As Arcanum opens, the mechanical age has only recently arrived in this ancient land where Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs and other races have learned to survive in the new sprawling industrialized cities. But this radical shift from magic to technology has created a potentially explosive situation. As the townspeople and other thinkers begin mass production of light bulbs, batteries, eyeglasses and guns, the Mages grow leery. This tightly wound setting is the starting point from which the character must set out on his quest.
Classless, point-based attribute system allows for limitless creativity in guiding your character's development.
Complex stat system underlies every event taking place within Arcanum
Amazon.com Review
Most role-playing games are set in a fantasy world, and if they're not directly related to Dungeons & Dragons, they at least follow the blueprint of the D&D rules. Not so with Arcanum. Set in the world of steampunk--a genre of fiction that puts forth the idea that computers and other advanced technology existed back in the late 1800s--Arcanum's world is fantastic and instantly recognizable at the same time. The game begins with the crash of the L.F.S. Zephyr, which you were aboard. Things go from bad to worse as assassins try to kill you. Meanwhile, you struggle to understand why people think you are the reincarnation of "The Living One." Developed by Troika Games--which is staffed by many of the people who created the excellent Fallout games--Arcanum takes the conventions of the RPG genre and turns them on their head. Instead of binding players to a specific character class, such as Paladin or Barbarian, Arcanum lets you create a completely unique character. Experience points can be distributed in any area, so you can create a character that's a thief, magic user, and gunslinger all in one. In addition, you can specialize in either magic or technology, which will impact how the other characters in the game deal with you. The world of Arcanum is simply massive, and the story is extremely detailed. The main plot will provide you with 30 to 40 hours of gameplay, and the side quests will add another 10 to 20 hours to that figure. The quests run the gambit from fetching items to finding a cure for lycanthropy, and they're all well designed. Arcanum is viewed from a third-person isometric view--similar to Diablo II and Baldur's Gate II--and the graphics easily compare with any other RPG on the market. The characters are modeled nicely, and the backgrounds and structures are very detailed and really add substance to the game. Unfortunately, even on a high-end system such as an Athlon 1.33 GHz, the game suffers from long loading times, and will occasionally slow down during combat. Those minor problems aside, Arcanum is a sensational game. The open-ended nature of the character-creation system guarantees replayability, and the setting and story will offer relief for anyone tired of Diablo II's dungeon crawls. --Kilmic Robbins Pros: - Great story
- Numerous quests
- Ability to completely customize character
Cons: - Long loading times
- Interface can be overwhelming at times
Amazon.com Product Description
Imagine a place of wonder, where magic and technology hold equal sway, and an adventurer might just as easily wield a flintlock pistol as a flaming sword. A place where great industrial cities house castle keeps and factories, and home to dwarves, humans, orcs, and elves alike. A place of ancient ruins and steam works, of magic and machines, of sorcery and science. Welcome to the land of Arcanum.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 146
Arcanum: the underrated rpg July 6, 2010
Micah
Arcanum is a complex RPG the sum of which is greater than it's parts. It has enough interesting content to keep you playing riveted for hours, not to mention that for a game as obscure and old as this, there are many mods and unofficial patches still being made. I'd give the story a 5/5. Each possible follower has an interesting back story, and the main plot twists and gets bigger as you go. Combat will get a 3/5, but only because the interface is a bit clunky in both turn-based, and real time modes. But character creation and development is so much fun you don't even care. Almost every situation has a non-violent outcome, either by using charisma or personality skill points to say just the right thing to convince the NPC in question what you want.
tl;dr: play it!
Great game, terrible price February 16, 2010
W. Castro (New Hampshire, USA)
If you like Baldur's Gate and the early Fallouts, this is a game for you. I like the steampunk setting with swords and sorcery alongside more modern firearms. The interface contains a lot of information, maybe too much, but you can tailor your player character in innumerable ways. However, the vendor Hitgaming Video Games is ridiculous with their prices. I don't know why Amazon sponsors this grossly overpriced vendor. I got my copy as a download from [...] for $[...]!!! It runs fine on Vista with none of the problems mentioned in other reviews (stuttering, long load times, crashes, etc.)
 Amazing January 23, 2010
Kristine Tomlinson (Bellingham, WA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Normally, I don't do reviews on anything, but after reading so many negative comments on this game, I felt inclined to.
First of all, I would like to acknowledge that the graphics aren't the most amazing thing ever, but other features of the game make up for this. The game is something that can be played for hours, and if you like games that have good story lines and lots of options to make our character a true individual, than you will love the game. It is the only game that I know of that you can truly build your character to be exactly who you want him/her to be to this amazing of an amount. There is so much to do and so many different options to choose from, just like in real life.
You don't have to only start as a warrior to get far. For instance, I almost always choose to play a supermodel half elf. Not much strength there.
I also played it on a very average computer, and yes, sometimes it was slow, but not to the extent described.
I highly suggest buying this game.
good but with problems October 25, 2009
Rachel Andreatta
To start out with its really a fun game, has a very cool story. Its 2D overhead like Fallout or Balders which is what I like personally. Problem is that the thing has lots of bugs in it that drove me crazy trying to fix just so I could play it. The combat system is a little funky and not ballanced very well if you ask me. But the story and atmospere makes up for it. What ever you do, make sure you patch it before playing.
I would also like to add that its got the best re-playability I've yet to see in any time.
Greatest RPG I've played March 29, 2009
Carl Severtsen (Altanta, Ga USA)
The variables in the game play make this such a unique game, each time you create a new character the posibilities are endless and throughout the game play (in turn based or real time) the results of your actions are never the same. If you create the exact same character and try to play the game through the same way the game is always different
Showing reviews 1-5 of 146
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