Chris Avellone playing Arcanum

[Regenshire]

I'm hoping it makes it onto the Making Of documentary somehow

 

This please, thank you

[CheeseGraterSuicide]

I hope they use Youtube; live streaming just doesn't offer the quality required for a game like this. This is a game where being able to read the text matters, and that almost certainly requires upscaling the source to 1080p or better.

Twitch.tv supports 1080p broadcasting. I have seen some old IE games streamed from there with perfectly readable text. Obsidian would just have to have the proper hardware and setup for it.

[gakmen]

Hmm, I never finished Arcanum. I should play it too.

 

Same here.

[Enoch]

Hmm, I never finished Arcanum. I should play it too.

 

Same here.

 

Meh. I've never finished it, either, but I've also never had any desire to revisit it. There were some neat world elements, but it just failed at being an entertaining game to me. The ability balance was non-existant (a majority of the places you could put points at level-up could fairly be described as one of either "screw you, that's mostly useless!" or "you just won the game!"), the XP system was completely bonkers (which led a lot of character builds being simply not viable over the long haul-- e.g., PCs who rely on party members to deal most of the direct damage in combat), and although the setting had some neat points, none of the characters I met were interesting enough for me to care what happened to them for very long.

 

Ultimately, a very forgettable experience.

[Shadenuat]

Do a pacifist run.

[Zeckul]

I hope they use Youtube; live streaming just doesn't offer the quality required for a game like this. This is a game where being able to read the text matters, and that almost certainly requires upscaling the source to 1080p or better.

Twitch.tv supports 1080p broadcasting. I have seen some old IE games streamed from there with perfectly readable text. Obsidian would just have to have the proper hardware and setup for it.

I'd like to see an example. AFAIK you can't upscale when live streaming, so the only way you'll get 1080p is by using the widescreen mod and force the game to run at that resolution, which makes everything tiny including text. Add the low-bitrate compression of twitch.tv and I don't see how you'll be able to see text without squinting.

[CheeseGraterSuicide]

I'd like to see an example. AFAIK you can't upscale when live streaming, so the only way you'll get 1080p is by using the widescreen mod and force the game to run at that resolution, which makes everything tiny including text. Add the low-bitrate compression of twitch.tv and I don't see how you'll be able to see text without squinting.

It is true that much of the text is too tiny to read without going full screen. It's quite readable then, though. I'm not sure how to fix that.

 

I found a few examples after a quick search on Twitch. I found 2 decent videos of Arcanum itself, which I'm not sure are in HD, but are readable enough in full screen.

 

http://www.twitch.tv/scab_/b/335139922

 

http://www.twitch.tv...ice/b/329092556

 

 

But here's an example of a nice HD broadcast:

 

http://www.twitch.tv...ing/b/277639070

[Zeckul]

I found a few examples after a quick search on Twitch. I found 2 decent videos of Arcanum itself, which I'm not sure are in HD, but are readable enough in full screen.

 

http://www.twitch.tv/scab_/b/335139922

 

http://www.twitch.tv...ice/b/329092556

I'm not exactly sure what the "high resolution" patch does or what resolution was used for these videos, but it does look quite readable for this game and nothing is particularly tiny. So, twitch might be a go for that game. I wouldn't use it for any other IE title though. Edited October 17, 2012 by Zeckul

[PeonWarrior]

Arghh!! Playing Arcanum myself is like experiencing a quick death, watching Chris play Arcanum is slow torture j/K!!!!

[AwesomeOcelot]

Will he do voices? Nyes or No?

[Theobeau]

Thanks CheeseGraterSuicide for the update about MCA's mysterious dislike of Arcanum!

 

Someone else asked this question as well, is it established why MCA dislikes Arcanum and what are the reasons?

Chris did an interview with Gamestar.ru where he said this:

 

"Lack of balance is the great destroyer, and while it's been in a number of recent titles, it's not a recent development. Lack of combat balance and any need for tactics - so much so that the combats are so easy that you don't have to do much to win or vary your combat style - is pretty crippling. One RPG in the past I've never played because I'm aware there's one low-level spell that makes the critical choice with your character progression in the game meaningless because that spell is overpowered."

 

After I read that, I wondered if he meant Arcanum (magic in the game is generally considered overpowered). But who knows?

 

Anyway, I hope he does stream it, and I also hope he at least tries out playing a low intelligence character. I tried playing as a simple-minded half-orc once, and the dialogue is hilarious. People actually treat you like an idiot and take advantage of you, and your character doesn't know any better. Best dumb dialogue ever.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Theobeau

[Starwars]

As far as I know, Chris not having played Arcanum is just one of those things where... He never got around to it. I seem to recall him mentioning that in some interview (along with pleas that the angry RPG mob shouldn't kill him now that the cat's was out of the bag), but I can't seem to recall there ever being any mention of him disliking it. And I tend to follow Obsidian news fairly dilligently.

[Theobeau]

@Starwars

 

So not so much dislike but that he never got around to playing it?

 

Strange then it was put in as one of the final stretch goals though by then the OBS team had probably been hitting the sauce rather hard!

 

Thanks for the additional comment; it probably isn't worth the forum's time spending any more energy on this question as we can probably put it to MCA during his live stream via twitter account and all.

[CheeseGraterSuicide]

As far as I know, Chris not having played Arcanum is just one of those things where... He never got around to it. I seem to recall him mentioning that in some interview (along with pleas that the angry RPG mob shouldn't kill him now that the cat's was out of the bag), but I can't seem to recall there ever being any mention of him disliking it. And I tend to follow Obsidian news fairly dilligently.

Starwars, perhaps you mean this interview with Eurogamer?

 

"Eurogamer: I always felt that, prior to Bethesda's game, Troika's Arcanum was probably the closest thing to a Fallout sequel.

 

Chris Avellone: Umm... Well, the weird thing is, of all the games I've ...

 

Eurogamer: You've never played Arcanum?!

 

Chris Avellone: Well, look, in all the conversations I've had with Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, we've never discussed it. It's always been that way.

 

Eurogamer: The RPGCodex would be pretty cross with you, Chris.

 

Chris Avellone: I think they're going to be cross with me no matter what I do, and I've learned to live with it as long as they provide me with detailed critiques, because past all the profanity they'll spit out, they've actually got some good information on why certain systems are broken, and which ones aren't. Those are actually worth paying attention to, so I value those guys."

 

But yes, this is all speculative. Hopefully Chris will address this.

[Jarest]

The game balance in Arcanum is way off, unfortunately, and there are a few bugs, but when it came out I got obsessed with it just the same, because of the story, the depth, the scope and most of all the amazingly realized world. I've played it more times than I remember, and I think MCA has been missing out all hese years

Edited October 18, 2012 by Jarest

[chisled2bone]

it just all started as a joke between an AMA and the interviews. On the AMA though someone asked Tim Cain how he felt about the fact Chris hasnt played the game. Then it came to the discussion that Chris should play it if we reached "X" amount of dollars...

[Ignatius]

I've been replaying it, and It can kind of be enjoyable to play a broken game. Cheese is good. Sometimes. Of course, a challenging game is always important. But Arcanum has so many things going for it, you can just sort of let it slide. I think it's the side effect of attempting to let you be whatever you want in that game, which is sort of what makes it so fun.

 

And I love this quote:

 

Chris Avellone: I think they're going to be cross with me no matter what I do, and I've learned to live with it as long as they provide me with detailed critiques, because past all the profanity they'll spit out, they've actually got some good information on why certain systems are broken, and which ones aren't. Those are actually worth paying attention to, so I value those guys."

Edited October 18, 2012 by Ignatius

[AgentOrange]

Why livestream. Make him write up a Let's Play, with pictures and talking heads.

 

 

But really he should play it on his own time, and not concern himself with people who want to watch and comment.

[chisled2bone]

It was already said it will be streamed or recorded in some way, since after all it was apart of the stretch goal

[Progressive_Stupidity]

The game balance in Arcanum is way off, unfortunately, and there are a few bugs, but when it came out I got obsessed with it just the same, because of the story, the depth, the scope and most of all the amazingly realized world. I've played it more times than I remember, and I think MCA has been missing out all hese years

 

Huh. Well, I mostly play games for story and character progression so the fact that I could just choose 'harm' at the start of the game and breeze through most battles was probably a point in Arcanums favour for me. I can see how that is a problem for other people but it's still well worth playing.

[Veeno]

[phimseto]

Incidentally, for Obsidian...this would be a great time to do a "Directors Commentary" for the game that you could package with digital sales of Arcanum going forward.

[lordgizka]

If he does play it, he might not know of the existence of terra-arcanum's patch. We should be vocal about it when the announcement comes.

[Anaeme]

Where is the footage of avellone playing

[Lysen]

Chris probably tried to play unpatched version gifted to him by the Codex (with the most vile intent, no doubt) and rage quit after one of the game-breaking bugs. No Arcanum footage for you, sorry(((