Arcanum for PC: Worth getting in this day and age?

[Herobizkit]

I'm not that computer savvy... but I really want to see this Arcanum I've heard so much about. I've found it for download on the cheap all over the place, but then I read all about the "patches", and patches make me nervous because one wrong patch/in the wrong order and your game is useless.

Does it withstand the test of time, both in gameplay and the evolution of computer hardware?

 

[aboyd]

It's actually better now than it was before, for the simple reason that there are fan mods that make it bearable. For example, there is a fan mod that will increase the limited screen size (800x600) up to modern screen sizes. Generally, install the official patches first, in order. Then apply just the 1 or 2 fan patches that really, truly appear to be important to you. There is a fan patch that *really* patches the game -- fixes typos, broken quests, etc. Get it all patched up and have fun.

1 tip: remember that you cannot stay in turn-based or phase-based play entirely. There is a bug in turn-based play which will make some fights (such as the bridge early in the game) rather difficult. So you'll have to switch to the frentic "live" crazy play mode every now & then at least. But if you're willing to do that, you'll have an amazingly open-ended story that has lots of twists and good outcomes.

Lots of fun companions, too, if your charisma is high enough.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

yeah Troika's games are AMAZING, but very buggy, once patched, awesome!

(never played Arcanum lol, just going by pals experiences and vids of it, but ADORE Temple of Elemental Evil and Vampire the Masquerade Bloodline, all done by Troika
just not much into steam/magic punk, will eg one day though as their other games are amazing)

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Arcanum is my favorite computer RPG, ever.

There is still a fan community for the game, all these years later - including a fan made patch to upgrade the graphics. Also good are several bundles of schematics for the tech oriented character. Terra Arcanum is very good.

Magic is less interesting than tech, for me at least. And magic does not mix well with tech - the better you are with one, the more likely the other is to fail.

I am so very glad that Gog.com has made Arcanum available again! And they have an active forum for the game.

The Auld Grump

 

[Ainamacar]

Arcanum is totally worth playing (and replaying), and one of my favorite games of all times, despite some of its less polished aspects. As mentioned above, the official patch plus the Unofficial Arcanum Patch and the Arcanum High Resolution Patch will give a good experience. I also play with the High Quality Townmaps mod, which provides a modest but noticeable improvement to some of the graphics, and doesn't affect gameplay at all.

These are all available from Terra Arcanum, and I've had no issues with this set up.

The game enables some rather different ways to complete it. For example, one time I played the game as a stunningly beautiful society woman that only wore fancy dresses and never committed acts of violence, leaving that to her cadre of followers. It is a much different experience than playing a dumb brute, or a canny technologist, both in combat and in how the world reacts to you.