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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
| Opinions of Arcanum and Pool of Radiance (new one) |
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Hi:
I've been working on rounding out my RPG collection lately, recently adding Planescape Torment, and Icewind Dale II.
I have seen mention of Arcanum, and that seems to have gotten reasonable reviews. What are opinions here?
Also, there was a Pool of Radiance game put out a few years ago ... I heard rumor it was crap. Is that true? Is it just 'flawed', or is it 'Mistmare' bad, 'Breed' bad, 'Kreed' bad ... you get the picture.
Just for reference: I like - NWN, KotOR, BG, BG2, IWD, Gothic II (just started #1), Arx Fatalis. I *don't* like Diablo, Dungeon Siege, and got bored with Sacred.
Thanks,
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
Wed Jul 28, 2004 10:07 pm |
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Seth
Last Man Standing
Joined: 23 Jan 2002
Posts: 1008
Location: Faerun |
Arcanum has great story and pretty good character development. Combat is a hybrid between turn/phase-based-real time, in short it sucks. Interface takes a lot of space but patch takes care of that. Also the balancing between magic vs. tech leaves something to be desired. Sound is cool and graphics seemed outdated even at that time, but this is never mine concern. I would definitely recommend at least trying, since demo is also available.
Pool of Radiance – Ruins of Myth Drannor, well… calling this game a piece of crap would be very unjust, giving crap such a name tsk, tsk, tsk. Combat is turn-based and this is as much good things I can say about this game. Get the patched version (unpatched is a horror story). There is so many things in this game done wrong, so I just keep with what was right. Yup that’s it.
_________________
Money - An article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness. |
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Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:01 am |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
I was able to download the Arcanum demo finally (firewall at work is quite tight), but unable to grab Pool of Radiance.
Thanks for the advice,
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Thu Jul 29, 2004 5:04 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
Arcanum is very good game (I mean I really enjoyed it). Very good story, good character development, good fights and very interesting kind of scifi setting . |
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Thu Jul 29, 2004 6:55 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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Arcanum was great, for some reason. It just draws you in despite bad graphics and a crap combat system. It's got a fun story and I like the atmosphere. It's one of my favorite CRPG.
Pools of Radiance 2.... aiiiuuurrgh. Don't get me started.
In short, I hated it. Yes, hate. Not "I think this was a bad game." or "I appreciate what they tried to do, but the end product was poorly implemented". Hated.
The graphics were passable and the story appeared ... well... uninspired but classic. That was it. The turn based system was very poorly implemented. The rules of D&D were changed on fundamental level. You had very little control over your character at level up (can't choose which feats you get, etc... the computer does it for you.) Focus on endless combats worth 1 experience each because they decided they didn't like the CR system beecause you increased level too quickly. HAH! Not with good game design! Incredibly slow character and monster animations leading to it taking 5 minutes for 12 skeletons to close around your party so your cleric can take 2 seconds and destroy them all.
Level design was utter monotonous crap. Treasure alotment was utter crap.
Everything about this game was utter and truly crap.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Thu Jul 29, 2004 4:17 pm |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
Point taken on PoR.
What about Lionheart?
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Thu Jul 29, 2004 5:25 pm |
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Seth
Last Man Standing
Joined: 23 Jan 2002
Posts: 1008
Location: Faerun |
| Re: Opinions of Arcanum and Pool of Radiance (new one) |
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quote:
Originally posted by txa1265
I *don't* like Diablo, Dungeon Siege, and got bored with Sacred.
If you didn’t like Diablo, the chances are you gonna hate LH.
Beginning of a game and character creation looks promising, but when you finish most of the quests in Barcelona and start following the plot (btw there is no way that you couldn’t), the things get out of hand. Repetitive slashing and bashing and uselessness of companions kills the game flat. I had actually high expectations about that one; boy did I get a cold shower.
There is also a demo to that game, if you have masochistic tendencies try it out, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
_________________
Money - An article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness. |
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Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:05 pm |
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Korplem
Swashbuckler
Joined: 23 Dec 2002
Posts: 853
Location: Pearl Harbor, HI |
I agree, LH is bad. Very bad. Beside the eventual decent into hack 'n' slash and the fact that it didnt really have anything interesting there was one huge bug that annoyed the hell out of me. I was playing it on LAN just for something to do and every time the host opened his inventory or other windows MY screen would adjust the way his did. Yeah, you read that right, MY screen would adjust to match HIS. Everytime he checked an item or whatever, my screen would suddenly move the the right and my character would be stuck at the left of my screen.
_________________
If soot stains your tunic, dye it black. This is vengeance.
-The Prince of Nothing |
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Fri Jul 30, 2004 1:49 am |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
OK, going with (and against) better judgement, I have gotten:
- Arcanum
- Pool of Radiance 2
- Lionheart
All for the princely sum of $11. At that cost, if I never install PoR it won't be a loss.
A PoR question - I've heard rumors of hard disk deletion on uninstall. Is this true? Are there patches? For the others?
Thanks again,
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Tue Aug 03, 2004 3:42 pm |
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Schattenherz
Head Merchant
Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Nuremberg, Old Europe |
The Rumor is true. Though it happend only to a few People (IIRC one of them was the Webmaster of Ironworks). There are 3 or 4 Patches for the Game and you have to run the first Patch before you install the Game, because there is a new Installer in this Patch - but I advice that you don't bother with this Game it is total crap.
Arcanum on the other Side is a good Game (With a better Combat-System and better Animations it would be great).
_________________
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
-Nietzsche |
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Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:45 pm |
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txa1265
Magister of the Light
Joined: 13 Apr 2004
Posts: 390
Location: Marlborough, MA USA |
quote:
Originally posted by Schattenherz
I advice that you don't bother with this Game it is total crap.
Advice taken ... I'll probably put it in the same box as some old non-OS X games I got as part of a Mac games deal I bought ... thanks again.
quote:
Originally posted by Schattenherz
Arcanum on the other Side is a good Game (With a better Combat-System and better Animations it would be great).
Isn't the Arcanum engine used in ToEE? I'm enjoying that right now - beautiful game, entertaining combat, if not highly story-rich.
Mike
_________________
Dopelar effect (n.) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Check out my blog. |
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Tue Aug 03, 2004 4:52 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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They said ToEE's engine was based on Arcanum's ... but I never could really see the resemblence at all. I've played Arcanum to completion three times, which is incredible for me, and I learned to mod it... which is even odder for me. I loved Arcanum.
Arcanum's graphics are really, really poor for the year it was released. When I first loaded it after playing Diablo 2 for six months I was staggered. It took me an hour for the crap graphics to give way in my mind for fun story, dialogues, and character advancement.
PoR2 never fully uninstalled from my system. It even refuses to give up its registry references, especially its Direct Play entries. Just another nail in its coffin.
Though the best nail is when you create your party. You get to use a 25 point buy... but the NPCs or pregenerated characters got 30 and therefore are better. That right there sets the tone for the game. And I'm convinced that the random number generator is rigged... I've seen my characters roll eight 1's in a row and the computer roll five 20s. In fact the computer tended to roll a 20 every four throws. I never critically hit with a 19-20 critical hit weapon despite sporting +15s to hit vs armor class 14 (only miss on a 1).
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Tue Aug 03, 2004 5:36 pm |
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Seth
Last Man Standing
Joined: 23 Jan 2002
Posts: 1008
Location: Faerun |
quote:
Originally posted by EverythingXen
And I'm convinced that the random number generator is rigged... I've seen my characters roll eight 1's in a row and the computer roll five 20s. In fact the computer tended to roll a 20 every four throws. I never critically hit with a 19-20 critical hit weapon despite sporting +15s to hit vs armor class 14 (only miss on a 1).
Yes, I remember we had discussion about this, I was rolling 1’s and 2’s dozens of times in the row and puter was having blast at my account (I think I was rolling his critical failures and “he” my 20’s).
Yup, if you decide to play this game, make sure you have valium in an arm reach, you gonna need it.
_________________
Money - An article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness. |
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Tue Aug 03, 2004 8:02 pm |
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the mighty stamar
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 602
Location: arcata ca, humboldt county |
For very cheap lionheart is worth playing.
I think of it as sort of a 1/4 length infinity engine. If I had to do it again, I would get a character cheater and play through barcelona, then be superman to get to the end.
much better than por 2 which is bad. |
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Wed Aug 04, 2004 1:17 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
quote:
Originally posted by Schattenherz
There are 3 or 4 Patches for the Game and you have to run the first Patch before you install the Game, because there is a new Installer in this Patch.
What? Patch you must install before you install the game, patch you must install to uninstall game without deleting your whole HD? Very interesting, how could somone release such Gama version (well, it doesnt sound like good Beta, does it?).
I suppose I should be happy that I never met this game. |
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Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:02 am |
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