Hey Obsidian, how about a sequel to Arcanum?

[PaxForce]

Greetings, Obsidian fans. Wouldn't it be the greatest thing if they made a sequel to Arcanum?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/500810/

 

Of course this time it would have to be a much more balanced game than the original, however awesome it was

[HooAmEye]

I don't know. I've never really thought Arcanum was that great of a game. Intresting story and setting to be sure, but the UI, graphics, combat, and movement was just horrible

[Apatia]

Arcanum is owned by Activision and I doubt they are very interested in doing anything with the license, including selling it.

[Gizmo]

Look at Torment: Tides of Numenera; does anyone even know who owns the license for the Planescape:Torment cRPG?  [License hell, last I heard]

 

They could make an Arcanum sequel, by just skirting the line enough. It wouldn't have to be a direct or official sequel, or use anything at all from the original.

 

Arx Fatalis was an unlicensed sequel to Ultima Underworld.

 

A revised and even re-imagined Arcanum could ~by another name, be just as superb, or better.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Gizmo

[PIP-Clownboy]

I don't know. I've never really thought Arcanum was that great of a game. Intresting story and setting to be sure, but the UI, graphics, combat, and movement was just horrible

 

Your opinion is objectively bad. 

[Blodhemn]

Look at Torment: Tides of Numenera; does anyone even know who owns the license for the Planescape:Torment cRPG?  [License hell, last I heard]

 

They could make an Arcanum sequel, by just skirting the line enough. It wouldn't have to be a direct or official sequel, or use anything at all from the original.

 

Arx Fatalis was an unlicensed sequel to Ultima Underworld.

 

A revised and even re-imagined Arcanum could ~by another name, be just as superb, or better.

That plus the fact that Boyarsky has said he's currently working on his "dream game". The only logical conclusion at this point is that it's the Arcanum spiritual successor, with whatever grain of salt you want to take that with.

[Gizmo]

The only logical conclusion at this point is that it's the Arcanum spiritual successor, with whatever grain of salt you want to take that with.

That or this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X8Z14ExYxo

Edited December 27, 2016 by Gizmo

[Rostere]

I don't know. I've never really thought Arcanum was that great of a game. Intresting story and setting to be sure, but the UI, graphics, combat, and movement was just horrible

 

Behead all those who insult Arcanum!

[IndiraLightfoot]

Arcanum is one of the few CRPGs, I haven't played, it seems. The more praise I read, the more I wonder if it would tickle my fancy. I hope to get around to play it someday, for sure.

[Nonek]

A word of caution, Arcanum is in some ways fundamentally broken, it is undeniably ugly even for the period, and some of the mechanics (such as trapfinding) are infuriating. That said however the game offers massive amounts of reactivity, a narrative that unfolds masterfully, characters who are extremely interesting (though sometimes mechanically useless,) a setting that is very well made and cohesive, and ambition by the bucketload.

 

A divisive game that is not for everyone, and also empty of many modern idiot proof measures, so exploration and experimentation still play a part instead of following the big flashing lights.

[ShadySands]

Arcanum also can't read good and its mom dresses it funny

 

 

 

I don't know. I've never really thought Arcanum was that great of a game. Intresting story and setting to be sure, but the UI, graphics, combat, and movement was just horrible

 

Behead all those who insult Arcanum!

 

 

 

 

but really though when are we going to get some game announcements?

 

 

Edited January 5, 2017 by ShadySands

[Gromnir]

Arcanum is one of the few CRPGs, I haven't played, it seems. 

consider self lucky.  never has our expectations been so brutally crushed.  broken mechanics and terrible writing.  notice the near complete lack o' arcanum additions on those ubiquitous "best crpg characters" lists?  the one unforgivable sin for a writer is to be boring. the arcanum characters is universal dull, flat and lifeless. you didn't play?  you win.

 

arcanum were at its best Before we played.  rare has a crpg garnered so much hype. back in the days o' print magazines, arcanum were getting frequent and enthusiastic previews.  development team were universal well-regarded and the setting were unique.  the developers were a bit tight-lipped (jerks) 'bout actual game mechanics, but with their fallout pedigree, most industry writers had high hopes.

 

a bunch o' reactionary crpg fans has convinced themselves o' the greatness o' arcanum, 'cause it checks the right boxes.  is a sand-box open world which lets you explore.  is, for the time released, a dynamic setting. you got freedom o' classless character creation.  got tim cain. etc.  so how could game be bad?

 

buggy, horribly balanced and dull.  is no forgiving dull.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps we wouldn't mind if obsidian did an arcanum sequel, just as long as they went for a kinda battlezone (1998) take on the original.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Gromnir

[IndiraLightfoot]

You're one convincing, man, Gromnir! After your colourful write-up, I'll heed the warding and not touch Arcanum with a stick, even. Now I understand why MCA never did live up to his KS promise of an Arcanum playthru.

 

@Nonek: Granted, I do love myself some juicy idiot-proof exploration, but the rest just seems off-putting, to say the least. I happened to read Gromnir's post first, and I googled around for a bit, and watched two Youtube clips, and I didn't enjoy what I saw.

Edited January 5, 2017 by IndiraLightfoot

[Fenixp]

You're one convincing, man, Gromnir! After your colourful write-up, I'll heed the warding and not touch Arcanum with a stick, even. Now I understand why MCA never did live up to his KS promise of an Arcanum playthru.

I wouldn't discredit it entirely. If you liked the original Fallout (and if you've not played that well... Screw Arcanum and go play it, Fallout's insanely ahead of its time), Arcanum is a very nice throwback to it. It's true that the game is neither as elegant, as concise nor as functional as the original Fallout was, but it's still a very nice story to experience, and it has city of Tarant going for it which is among the best cities in RPGs (even if a little starved for content in places.)

 

It does have a lot of problems of course - they went with a choice of whether you want to play turn-based or real-time battles, resulting in neither method working particularly well, character development is broken beyond belief when combined with (rather poor) encounter design - I could go on, the game just doesn't play very well. But the world is amazing, extremely detailed with a ton of hidden things to find and it gives you a lot of agency in how do you wish to resolve individual quests. And while Gromnir isn't wrong about individual characters being rather forgettable, many locations and stories unfolding in them will stay with you as some of the finest RPG experiences.

 

At the price you can currently get Arcanum at, especially on sales, there's very little reason to not at least give it a shot, especially if you're a fan of classic Fallout games.

 

idiot-proof exploration

Note that the large part of idiot-proof exploration actually means that the game has limited level scaling (none with fan patch), so you can meet random encounters that will kill you with no choice but to reload the game, more or less regardless of location of the map you're at. And considering method of saving the game on global map is... Rather contrived, you'll wish the game was a bit less idiot-proof (how did original Fallout get this right and Arcanum managed to screw it up is beyond me, but it's a big pet peeve of mine with the game.) Edited January 5, 2017 by Fenixp

[Rostere]

a bunch o' reactionary crpg fans has convinced themselves o' the greatness o' arcanum, 'cause it checks the right boxes.  is a sand-box open world which lets you explore.  is, for the time released, a dynamic setting. you got freedom o' classless character creation.  got tim cain. etc.  so how could game be bad?

 

buggy, horribly balanced and dull.  is no forgiving dull.

 

It's not because it "checks the right boxes", it's because it is so fun. It is pure fun to just create different character builds (which can be very varied) and go around exploring the world.

 

The balancing of Arcanum is like the opposite of most modern RPGs. Nowadays, you just grind and get items which incrementally give +1 to your whatever stat. Arcanum is wild and crazy in that you will always discover new wacky strategies. Some things are "easy mode", some things are more hard to find. It's great fun to replay the game and restrict yourself to specializing your character in different ways. On the other hand, if you are a min-maxing dork then Arcanum must truly suck.

 

There is a huge number of NPCs, who differ from not having anything to say at all, to commenting on your every action.

 

I love that always when you talk about how Arcanum is broken, people give completely different examples of what they believe is the one broken way to play the game. Hint: you should also increase difficulty if you think the game is easy overall.

 

Also, the setting and how is realized is one of the best in any game I've played, ever.

 

Arcanum also can't read good and its mom dresses it funny

 

 

You're one convincing, man, Gromnir! After your colourful write-up, I'll heed the warding and not touch Arcanum with a stick, even. Now I understand why MCA never did live up to his KS promise of an Arcanum playthru.

 

What do you mean? MCA started on his Arcanum playthrough, and it is the best "Let's Play"s ever, in fact I would dare say that it is one of the highest expressions of art ever. He's just taking a brief pause to strategize about fighting wolves, and reading the manual, which by the way is awesome. The manual of Arcanum is better than many games are on their own. You can skip playing the game if you are an irredeemable heretic but you should at least read the manual.

[BrotherFerg]

How about a new game set in the MATRIX.

[LittleRose]

I don't need an Arcanum 2. I just want a good steampunk RPG. What it's called doesn't matter.

[Ganrich]

I don't need an Arcanum 2. I just want a good steampunk RPG. What it's called doesn't matter.

 

Pretty much how I feel.  I think the only thing I would lift is the versatility of the Character Generation system.   I'd like it Open World like Arcanum, and I'd prefer TB combat.  I would also enjoy the magic vs tech angle.  I'd like similar levels of reactivity.  Any other details are minute on my requirements. 

[milczyciel]

and here I am, sitting in the corner, hoping against all hope, that some day... SOME DAY! my uncannily inteligent and yet so blinded by self loathing and not-so-righteous anger half-ogre will drown the streets of Tarant in gnomish blood

 

PS

F me for watching that tech demo of Troika's unrealized post-apo rpg!

...again!

lets out a powerless cry 

[dark___devil]

Arcanum is really fun game outside of the Half-Ogre quest and it will be fun to get a new game.By the way another good rpg that is crying for sequel is Vampire

[Rostere]

Arcanum is really fun game outside of the Half-Ogre quest and it will be fun to get a new game.By the way another good rpg that is crying for sequel is Vampire

 

Oh, come on. The half-Ogre quest is one of the best in the game. It really plays with your expectations and then with what the resolution to a "quest" can be.

[selkino]

again with the music, the biggest issue with Arcanum for me were not the bugs or the imbalance, but the very heavily packed string insturments soundtrack

[Signer]

https://www.change.org/p/ir-activision-com-petition-to-lease-the-arcanum-ip-to-obsidian-entertainment

[Chilloutman]

again with the music, the biggest issue with Arcanum for me were not the bugs or the imbalance, but the very heavily packed string insturments soundtrack

what are you talking about? This is HERESY! it was one of the best soundtracks EVER

[Kilthan]

Man, i had to make an account just to reply to the Arcanum hate.

I wonder if some of you ever played Wizardry VII. There was a kick-in-the-pants challenge.

Yeah, the game is unbalanced, but that's half the fun. I am, at this moment, playing through as a half-orc Idiot Savant named Mervin.  The only reason he didn't die in the starter area is because the Kite Shaman's chest contained some nice magic platemail.  He can gamble and melt faces with harm (eventually Disintegrate). But by  Nasrudin, he dies fast and everyone is a jerk to him.  except for Dog.  Dog is friend. Dog is whirling dervish of death.

The soundtrack is amazing.  It hits upon the right sort of music for the setting.

The half-ogre quest line is awesomely frustrating.  evil gnomes need to be squished.

yeah, a lot of stuff is broken.  But its fun despite brokenness, sometimes because of it.

And anyone that claims the characters are flat and lifeless must have been playing a different game.  Gar alone makes the game worth playing.  And a play through with the idiot dialog has been consistently hilarious. 

I personally like the graphics.  But i'd prefer companies to spend less time on graphics and more on game play. 

I'd love to see Obsidian get the rights to the IP, or to make a spiritual successor. Either way would be great.