Thunderstruck! Blind playthrough of Arcanum

[JustKneller]

I took a pass on this game back in the day. I mean, I got it, but I didn't get far before I moved on to other things. It seemed like I was in for a good story, but the mechanical gameplay was just kinda janky. The feedback is also not great (e.g. I often can't tell if someone hits or misses an attack). It's just wasn't that gripping to actually play. Nevertheless, the story has clearly stood the test of time. I'm older and more patient now, so I think it's time I have a bash at it. I'm basically playing blind. I remember nothing of what actually happened when I played it before. I did read chunks of the manual and some non-spoiler parts of the wiki to understand the basic mechanics, just so I know what things mean, but I have no idea what I'm in for here.

Spoiler: Elizabeth Marie Clarke

So, as you can see, I'm shooting for a story powergamer build. Technically, I didn't optimize, though. Long story short, had I picked a dwarf, I would have come out ahead in points. Plus, I really, really, tanked my combat ability more than I needed to for the sake of the character concept. I'm not just going to play the story build. I'm going to make it make sense.

And what can I tell you about our Elizabeth Marie Clarke (who I named after Elizabeth Blackwell, Marie Curie, and Edith Clarke)? You get some of the story above, but there's always more to the story. The Clarkes were wealthy industrialists who made their fortune on electrical products. They lost their fortune to pay for Elizabeth's treatments, but the determined young woman refused to let her good family name fade into obscurity. Once cured, she decided to dedicate her life to biotechnology. Upon reaching adulthood, she simultaneously started her studies in medical sciences (Healing +1, Novice Herbology) and electrical engineering (Novice Electrical) while taking over managing the ailing family business (Persuasion +2).

At the time of the airship crash, Elizabeth was returning home from an investor meeting in Caladon. Unfortunately, the meeting had not gone well. The last of the investors had pulled out. Elizabeth was returning home with no idea of what to do next.

 

[m7600]

Nice! Miracle Operation is a really good background, especially for a gunslinger, due to the huge Perception bonus. Is she gonna be a gunslinger?

 

[JustKneller]

Nice! Miracle Operation is a really good background, especially for a gunslinger, due to the huge Perception bonus. Is she gonna be a gunslinger?

Possibly/probably. Once I build out her people skills and tech, I'll get into weapons. I'm having npcs fight for me now.

I may go throwing/explosives instead, though, depending on how the skill points shake out. It's more expensive (I also need to pump Dex), but the throwing weapons seem better (at least, no ammo and the starting boomerang seems better than all the pistols I've found so far). Conceptually, throwing doesn't really fit, though.

I dunno. I'm on a fence now.

 

[m7600]

You don't need to take up Gun Smithy as a technological discipline to be a gunslinger though, that's something to take into account. You can be a Firearms expert without knowing how to fabricate guns, you just need to know how to use them.

 

[m7600]

Another thing is that you don't need Dexterity to be a firearms user. You just need Perception.

 

[Skatan]

Possibly/probably. Once I build out her people skills and tech, I'll get into weapons. I'm having npcs fight for me now.

I may go throwing/explosives instead, though, depending on how the skill points shake out. It's more expensive (I also need to pump Dex), but the throwing weapons seem better (at least, no ammo and the starting boomerang seems better than all the pistols I've found so far). Conceptually, throwing doesn't really fit, though.

I dunno. I'm on a fence now.

Going for double attack skills is costly in points, though all is ok for RP reasons of course. but if you wanna powergame, I'd advice against spreading your points into both throwing and firearms. But with enough companions, none of that matter since you don't have to lift a finger if you don't want to.

A tiny, itsy-bitsy spoiler tips just to get a slight headstart (how to use a certain companion and their starting skill to the max), but don't click if you want to play pure blind.

You'll meet a certain dwarf fairly early. He's a tech guy and has a recipe already memorized to create one of the best swords in the game: the balanced sword. You can quite literally finish the game with that same sword and it's awesome for all companions. Cheap to make yourself, so don't sell any ore, and hilt and guards you find so you can create a couple of those as soon as you meet tech guy and give to big ogre guy, Virgil and whoever else you team up with that use melee (which are most of them tbh).

 

[JustKneller]

You don't need to take up Gun Smithy as a technological discipline to be a gunslinger though, that's something to take into account. You can be a Firearms expert without knowing how to fabricate guns, you just need to know how to use them.

Didn't know that. Well, that saves me about a half dozen points.

Another thing is that you don't need Dexterity to be a firearms user. You just need Perception.

See, and that was my thought. Firearms is the one combat skill that complements Miracle Operation. It has the best synergy.

Going for double attack skills is costly in points, though all is ok for RP reasons of course. but if you wanna powergame, I'd advice against spreading your points into both throwing and firearms. But with enough companions, none of that matter since you don't have to lift a finger if you don't want to.

A tiny, itsy-bitsy spoiler tips just to get a slight headstart (how to use a certain companion and their starting skill to the max), but don't click if you want to play pure blind.

Yeah, especially since I'm putting off my combat skills for so long, building two combat skills later is probably a bit much. I know I have 64 points by the level cap, which isn't much if you think about it. Especially since I also just realized I'm going to need some ST to actually lift a weapon. Added to the 20ish points I'll need to max ST, IN, and CH, I haven't even touched skills and techs yet.

Yeah, I'll have to think about it. I might actually have to plan the character.

Also, I didn't click the blur. It was tempted, but I don't want to risk getting spoiled.

 

[m7600]

Think of it like this. As a gunslinger, Perception is your combat skill. You don't need dexterity, you don't need to be smart, and you don't need to be charismatic. You don't even need a good constitution. Just a bit of strength to draw your weapon, and a keen eye. Miracle Operation is indeed the best background for a gunslinger.

 

[JustKneller]

The strength bit was a bit of a curve ball when I discovered it, though. What's really annoying is that the wiki is crap and doesn't indicate what the strength requirement is for various weapons.

 

[JustKneller]

Ok, I figured out some things.

It looks like, on your character sheet, your skills go to five, but really they go to 20 and every increment is four skill points. Every character point, bumps you four skill points. This makes the Dwarves' tech bonus pretty useless since +2 to skills is only a half rank and going over 20 is a waste, apparently.

Healing is not super useful. It doesn't impact salves and crafted items.

Someone made a spreadsheet. The most strength you need for any firearm is 15. However, you can get by with around 7-8. You do need 11 for the Tesla Cannon (highest damage weapon), but that thing uses quadruple the ammo per shot and has an average damage only slightly higher than a high-end pistol (which uses a single bullet per shot).

I think you actually need Gun Smith to run the firearms line. My understanding is that NPCs skills are limited and take time to grow to usefulness. Like I think they only go four ranks in. You need someone with more than that to make the best pistol in the game.

That being said, and because I only made it as far as the first real city (the one after the first village). I'm reconceptualizing the character a little.

Spoiler: Irvine Flintfire

I'm not doing screenshots after this one. Something is odd about this game and they either take forever to capture or just don't work. In any event, our hero is now Irvine Flintfire, Dwarf with a Miracle Operation (like Elizabeth). I mostly picked a Dwarf because of a) my new backstory which gives me more of a reason to invest in the plot and b) the Dwarves' bonus isn't inherently helpful, but it does take some of the bite out of Miracle Operation's penalties at the effective cost of one point of Charisma.

Irvine's clan made their fortune on firearms and munitions factories. At the time of his illness, Irvine was already a competitive trap shooter (Firearms 3) and would often do product demonstrations much to the entertainment of potential investors and buyers. When he fell ill, it barely slowed him down. He quickly (IN boost) learned to compensate for this blindness (the PE boost). People were even more impressed with his performance (CH boost), as even with his debilities (Physical penalties), he could put on a remarkable display of shooting skills. Irvine didn't let his illness break his stride and he tried to make the most of the time he had left.

The cure for Irvine's illness was bittersweet. On one hand, his life was saved and he could see again. On the other hand, it ruined his clan financially. Where they once owned factories, many of his clan now worked in one. Irvine would be working beside them if it wasn't for the fact that he still could find halfway decent work (Persuasion 2) as a sharpshooting performer which paid better than the factory. He sent most of his earnings home and only kept what he needed for himself.

Irvine was traveling between shows on the fateful day of the Zephyr's crash. He was likely the only passenger not enjoying the airship's maiden voyage. All Irvine could think about was how he was sailing in lavish comfort while his clan worked themselves to the bone in a factory, all on account of him. He would not have even considered the airship if he was not so pressed for time to get to his next show. He spent the journey wallowing in guilt and ruminating over his situation. The shows paid decently enough, but Irvine was starting to resent them and yearned for something bigger to help his clan restore their former glory.

 

[m7600]

Irvine Flintfire sounds like a really fun character! I would have called him Irvine Matchlock, but that's just me.

 

[JustKneller]

(Unlike tabletop, my character names in video games tend to be rather uncreative and derivative. Irvine is the gunner character from FFVIII and Flintfire is a reference to Flint Fireforge, my favorite dwarf of all time.)

Well, this is a fine kettle of fish, or kettle of whatever dwarves eat as I imagine that fish are hard to come by in the belly of a mountain. The only silver lining here is that Irvine actually survived the airship crash. Then again, considering the rate of survival for an airship crash is 63% (at least according to the Hindenburg), it would seem less that Irvine is lucky and more that 2/3 of the other passengers and crew are quite unlucky.

Being lost in the wilds of no man's land with naught but the clothes on his back and a purse of his earnings from recent shows is at least a lesser form of bad luck. A gnome almost survived, too, but instead passed him a ring to give to "the boy" before passing himself. Irvine surely was going to miss his show in Tarant. Maybe returning the ring will come with a reward to make up for the lost wages.

Irvine barely pulled himself from the wreckage when he was accosted by some human who thought he was the reincarnation of some elf. There was nothing remotely elf-like about the dwarf. If he ever needed a reason to think the tall-folk were addled, he now had it. He chose to suffer the priest's company, for now. Irvine was a rational and enlightened dwarf. He payed no attention to the ways of the pagans. However, he was also lost in wild territory and his prized target pistol was now molten metal in the ship's wreckage with the rest of his luggage. Virgil can swing his stick and keep his priestly sermons to himself.

Irvine scavenged what he could from the valley. He found a cave with a ghost that offered him a substantial reward if avenged. The dwarf put this on his "to do" list.

He also found the wreckage and body of one of the ship's attackers. Irvine wasn't aware ogres were smart enough to operate such a complex machine. The amulet he found on the body suggests they had help. Whatever their mission was had surely been accomplished.

The pair left the valley to return to civilization. They were soon meet by a rather peculiar and cranky elf (tall-folk, right?). Virgil offered to handle it and Irvine hand-waved the matter. The dwarf knew how to talk to people, but considering the recent ordeal, he couldn't be arsed.

The entire way to Shrouded Hills, Virgil spoke to Irvine about his religion and clearly he (mis)understood or just couldn't remember some things. As the priest prattled on, Irvine doubted that his survival of the crash was actually good luck.

 

[m7600]

I imagine that fish are hard to come by in the belly of a mountain.

In Dwarf Fortress, they have underground rivers. "Cave Fish", is what I think they call them.

Shrouded Hills is a cool place for a Start Area Town.

 

[JustKneller]

Irvine started with the ghost business. He discovered that the ghost lied on multiple accounts and made sure he paid for it.

It was the middle of the night when the duo entered Shrouded Hills. They went to meet Virgil's mentor but found only a couple of dead bandits (with the same amulets as the ogres at the crash site) and a note. The note was from Joachim, Virgil's mentor, and detailed the obvious based on the scene. It was already too hot in Shrouded Hills and he had moved on to Tarant.

Irvine started to wonder into what he had wandered. This was clearly more than just fulfilling a gnome's dying wish to deliver a ring for hopefully a reward. He started to calculate if this was worth the trouble and then wondered if he could even get out of this. He never made it as far as getting any answers as he was quite tired from his journey. They rented a (different) room for the night and rested until morning.

The next morning, Irvine took stock of his situation. He was ill-equipped by land travel on foot. There were nefarious forces involved with the crash and they were currently sniffing around. Virgil's church was somehow involved and not on the friendly side with this enemy. Like it or not, Irvine was stuck in the middle of this mess. The first thing he needed to do was gear up. At the very least, he needed a halfway decent gun to protect himself. A little more muscle might help, too.

The latter came quite easy. Irvine met a half-ogre deep in his cups. Sogg Mead Mug seemed a good sort, though, and joined the budding crew. Irvine gave him an enchanted axe he found near the crash site. Even drunk , the ogre was a force with which to be reckoned.

Still unprepared for travel, Irvine and associates took a few odd jobs about the town to drum up some resources. They investigated the local haunted mine, but would have to travel to Dernholm to see it through. A local Luddite, erm, alchemist asked then to destroy the town's steam engine. As if a dwarf would vandalize technology for the sake of magick! Instead, Irvine reported him to the constable. As thanks, the town didn't seem to mind him using the local vacant temple to store various materials he had been accumulating. Finally, they helped thwart a robbery of the local bank. This earned Irvine a serviceable pistol, and he also picked up some pointers on shooting in real combat (Firearms Apprentice and Expert).

Irvine ran into gnome claiming to be the brother of the gnome in the blimp crash. However, when pressed to validate their claim, they folded and scurried off.

Finally, Irvine picked up a lead on the gnome's ring. The local fine goods dealer pointed him to a merchant in Tarant who may know something about the ring. With nothing left to do in Shrouded Hills, and being as equipped as he can be, Irvine decided they would set out.

There was only way out of town and it was a bridge being tolled by bandits. Irvine sized them up and didn't like his odds. They were a human and two ogres. He was a dwarf with but one ogre and a priest with a stick. He decide on a crafty approach, convinced the leader that he represented a powerful thieves' guild and intimidated them to shove off (and pay a tribute of 200 coins to Irvine for the inconvenience). Irvine was now the Hero of Shrouded Hills, which apparently only pays a one time sum of 50 coins.

The next step was to decide where to go. They could avoid the matter with the airship crash, go to Dernholm and wrap up the business with the mine. Or, they could head to Tarant, deliver the ring, and possibly be done with this business. Both options were tempting, and as he crossed the bridge, Irvine pondered and hoped he would make his choice by the first crossroad.

(edit: adding my level ups. +2 CH and +1 Persuasion, trying to max my follower count first)

 

[m7600]

Finally, they helped thwart a robbery of the local bank.

Awesome quest, but I got super bummed out when I realized that I couldn't recruit Doc Roberts as an NPC. Really cool and unique character, and he doesn't even say much as far as dialogue goes.

There was only way out of town and it was a bridge being tolled by bandits.

It's a tough fight (one of the toughest fights in the game, early on), but it can be done.

 

[JustKneller]

Ok, I'm not writing this next bit narratively because a) it was a lot of FedExing which just reads poorly and b) I'm getting irked by this game.

I decided to do Dernholm so I wouldn't have that damn Shrouded Hills mine quest hanging over my head. But, that lead sends me to Tarant anyway. I putter around town a bit to see if I can pick up some xp and it's just a bunch of fetch and delivers. Get this ring, grab that box of taxes, find this dagger. It's just a lot of running around and (not great) dialogue grinding. The fetch quests have brought a new town into the mix (Black Root), which has more fetch quests. Well, except for one. And that brings me to the stuff that is annoying me:

1) I'm level 5 and the one non-fetch quest puts me up against enemies around level 15, which can wipe out my party in a few rounds. Ok, whatever, we'll just put a pin in that one until later.
2) I spend a lot of time basically wandering the woods, but am finding next to no herbs and whatnot. Like, I think it's great that the world map is truly a world map (and not just going to individual maps all the same size like BG). However, they are doing next to nothing with that space. It's like, you could spend three hours walking to the next town, or just fast travel. This alone has me tempted to scrap tech for magic simply for the teleport spell. I'm not going to do it, but I'm tempted.
3) Random encounters are truly random. And I mean, half the stuff I run into totally outmatches my party and TPKs me. More than half my world travel ends with a reload. Worse still, I can't run away from these (or any) encounters because my companions are kamikaze fighters who engage everything.
4) I'm seeing massively overleveled enemies where they probably shouldn't be. Black Root, which is a low level area, has a variety of level 50 (i.e. max level) enemies wandering around the outskirts of the town. On one hand, I suspect it's related to the one non-FedEx quest, but on the other hand, that's just nuts.

In any event, I picked up Jayna so I have something to make healing salves for me without me spending a skill point. She's rubbish at combat, though, so I'll likely eventually spend the skill point and then drop her for someone/anyone else. I have been focusing on Charisma and getting to Persuasion 3. I figure this does double duty for me. I can just dialogue check my way through things (there seems to be a lot of that), and I can max out my followers ASAP. Once I start getting into tech, I'll probably go for Mechanical to work towards automatons and Gun Smithy for better guns.

I think the only thing I have left in Dernholm and Black Root is that last quest with the level 15 enemies. Maybe I'll circle back later. For now, I'm on my way to Tarant.

I've been fantasizing about a pure solo character on the side. I'm thinking a high dex throwing tech thief who gets into explosives and mechanics. Or a mage who can teleport, I don't even care about the rest of the build so long as I don't have to walk around so much.

 

[JustKneller]

lol...I didn't even notice she was half-elf. Nevertheless, I dragged her butt back to my stash in Shrouded Hills and gave her all my homepathic materials. I can have her generate healing salves as needed. I think she'll do as a tech healer and free Irvine up from that line.

I really, really wish I could get rid of Virgil, though. His magic is now useless to me, but he keeps trying (to the point of passing out). The only reason I'm keeping him is because I'm sure he's going to have some plot significance (maybe not BG2 Yoshimo level, but still something). Considering this is my story build, I gotta keep rolling with him.

I may take another run after this one, but something that solos well, probably a techo-thief.

 

[m7600]

Jayna Stiles is actually a decent frontline warrior. She's not the best tank in the game, but she can definitely tank and also deal some melee damage. She's like the Arcanum version of Jaheira.

 

[m7600]

You have to understand that the characters in Arcanum are more like abstract concepts than actual characters. Like, if you compare Jayna Stiles to Jaheira, it's obvious that Jaheira is a far more fleshed-out character. But Jayna is just as cool as Jaheira. If you agree with that, you'll have a blast playing through Arcanum. If not, then Arcanum is probably not the game for a man of your tastes.

 

[JustKneller]

What you're free to debate, though, is if the list of classic, isometric, party-based RPGs are indeed the best RPGs of all time.

I'll jump on that grenade.

Disclaimer, this is my opinion and I don't intend it as an objective fact.

It depends on how many slots are on the list. The problem I had with the IE games is that (aside from Planescape) the stories range from mid (Icewind Dale) to terrible (Baldur's Gate, there, I said it). The story may be adjacent to the game itself, but the story is still important as it provides context and investment that you're not going to get from a fully abstracted system. But, even looking at it from the game mechanics design side of it, I still wouldn't rate most of them to be absolute best. Icewind Dale was the only IE game to get it right. Planescape was janky and Baldur's Gate was just terrible design.

Fallout is good. The first game really captures the atmosphere (but the mechanics break easy). The second game has better mechanics, but everything is so built up that you lose the wasteland feel a bit. They're still 5/5 games for me, but not the five-iest of 5/5s. I would actually argue that New Vegas beat them both out. They really patched up Besthesda's cruddy system from FO3 and the DLCs were just amazing.

I can't say anything about Arcanum yet, as I haven't finished it.

Even though I didn't finish it, I thought ToEE was really well done. My not finishing it is entirely a function of a) not being in the mood for a dungeon crawl at the time and b) generally not liking D&D 3e or 3.5e. However, ToEE was a legendary module for AD&D. It was a good one to pick for this game and I could tell from the bits I played that the fidelity was high.

However, none of these make the tip-top of the list for me. Call it cliche, but there's a reason that Final Fantasy (pre-X) and Chrono Trigger/Cross make the top of the top however many list of rpg games of all time.