A Bittersweet Experience that sIgnaled the end of an era
User Rating: 8 | Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura PC
When I look at the game Arcanum, I am overcome with mixed emitons. It was the game that was very ambitious, from then newly formed Troika, whose founders, hailing from former reputed Black Isle no doubt had hoped great things for the game as their first project. However, plagued with delays and other issues concerning with either limited resource or pressure from Sierra (now Vivendi Universal) Arcanum has only amounted to a shadow of what it could've been (and should've been). You may say, "But Atomic, you've rated the game as 'great'!" Yes, even with the game not achieving its potential, not even half of what was promised, the game teeters on the brink of greatness. Speaking of its potential, the game was supposed to be what 'Neverwinter Night' realized with aplomb, which was to allow players to design their own 'modules' with the included map editor for online play with others. Alas, the editor was insanely cumbersome to use and multiplayer, well, more on that later. It was a great concept that never fully materialized, just like many of its other features. The graphics made me feel like that Arcanum, like the music industry, had a healthy appetite for anything 'retro'. They were essentially lifted up from 'Fallout 2' enriched to 16-bit depth (when Baldur's Gate 2 was flaunting its 32-bit background) and spruced up with fantasy setting and its trappings. But the graphics in general worked to maintain that consistent feel, however drab it was, and it literally grew on me like mold. The stilted and jarring animations, the scant model sizes, incongrous and clunky interface, the hexagonal tiles that force the characters go all zig zag, all of them quite exude some quaint antiquity that goes hand in hand with the faux-Victorian facade that lend the game a distinction of being a homage to its forebearers. 'Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura' moniker isn't just there for the game to sound pretentious or anything. It advertises one of its more interesting features, which is based upon the system that sets the discipline of magic against the discipline of technology, and their related skill sets and items. The magically inclined could choose to become a pure wizard harnessing spells from eight or nine schools of magic; the opposite is equally viable with the techies who favor something more tangible over casting nicely rendered magic spells. The flagship SPECIAL system is in place all in its glory, along with perks and skills that are contextually relevant (some being exclusive to certain character builds). They instantly make Arcanum as replayable and engrossing as any RPG, as far as character customization is concerned (although the limited amount of aesthetic options for the character build does not reflect that). I mean, what other RPG allows you to play as an idiot savant, with exceptional prescience and knowledge, but having to always suffer rude comments and neglect from almost every NPC in the game? The problem rises from the balance issues that have generally made the overall skill sets attributed to magic much more powerful than their 'equivalents' in the technology discipline. Without the right combination of skill sets that the tech related skills certainly do not apply, it would have been difficult to even get through early stages of the game. For example, one of what was supposed to be the centerpiece of the technology skill sets, item crafting from easily obtainable objects, could have been more beneficial if more than a few crafted items actually presented any practical advantage. It is unfortunate the extent of the damage potential within the technological discipline of skills goes as far as the type of weapons used (much like Diablo). The combat system is built in such a way that a lot of technological weapons based on ranged projectiles are rendered pretty much useless since the enemy predominantly wielding melee weapons can cover a lot of ground between them and you in a very short amount of turns. Since the party NPCs are controlled by computer AI, it is almost impossible to devise any feasible formation or arrangement as to provide some cover for the poor rifleman, even though you can instruct them beforehand to limit their movements (such as ordering them to stay close). The optional real-time combat only exacerbates the problem; or rather it literally debilitates the gameplay by seemingly accelerating every combat animation by tenfold; it comes only useful when you have to contend with a throng of low level foes that would otherwise require needless labour dispatching them, taking turns chasing after them. Speaking of chasing, that is only one of a few AI behaviours displayed in the game; rush headlong into close range melee fest or hightail it in desperate flight, that describes the wide range of what the AI is capable of in terms of combat. Strangely, there is also a suspicious lack of magic using foes; perhaps it was too daunting for Troika to script competent AI for them? Overall the game generally presents too obvious of a route for power-mongers who can opt for strong melee class or magic class, for whom the game provides almost no challenge while being quite painfully difficult and restricting for those who would build their characters in a more liberal fashion. However, there are many possible builds that are quite practical and enjoyable. There is no particular game stopping barrier or bugs to prevent truly roleplaying. The sound effects of the game are rather mundane and generic. The weapons' sound effects could have used more variety and pronounced bass, since it is rather hard to otherwise lend excitement to turn based combat. The music soundtrack is nicely done, however, with somewhat minimalist and subtle but very distinct sound from a string ensemble. It is quite pleasant to hear, unless of course you hear it for the tenth time in a loop during the game. The voice work is rather good, I can recall some of the memorable lines (when Virgil first encounters the idiot savant character). Sadly, multiplayer is broken out of the box. No amount of bugs or patches alleviated the problem until the developers conceded to this incorrigible fault. Along with real-time combat, it would have been better for Troika to have scrapped the feature altogether from the outset during the early design phase and concentrated solely on balancing the skill sets and improving graphics and production values. What makes this game very memorable for me is that Arcanum has a very distinct subject matter pertaining to steampunk that more than intrigues me just by the mention of it being used in a game setting. The designers at Troika proceeded to craft this original world based on an interesting premise and produced the atmosphere that was strangely quirky yet refreshing at the same time. The storyline that Arcanum is based on is one of the best I've experienced, on par with that of the incredible 'Planescape: Torment'. There is no compromise in the breadth of content that is both mature and believable. It seems where the graphics fail to deliver in terms of the immersion factor of the game, the sheer amount of content and dialogues nearly make up for it. It would be rather difficult to experience the same Arcanum on the second time of play through with a different character build. The experience could be fundamentally different every time, with variables along the axis of good and evil, technology and magic, and other opposing values that just beg to be tweaked to explore whatever new content the game has to offer. I hold Arcanum in somewhat different perspective than most other RPGs, because it seemed to be the last game that fully strived to create and reinforce the kind of content that taps into the potential made available by a fully realized and original game property. Troika's second project, 'The Temple of Elemental Evil', was not so much of a throwback to an early era of roleplaying as a retread to the banal and rudimentary form of limited roleplaying. Recent RPGs are bolstered by prominent licenses, such as Star Wars, Neverwinter Nights, and so on. Many PC RPGs are also made concurrently for consoles, and some of the conventions that I've come to identify with in RPG and really appreciate are regressing into something of remote past. There is hardly an original world, an original premise, that games like Arcanum have instilled in my gaming experience, impressing me with glimpses into small tidbits of the history of this wonderous world to the sweeping, overarching theme that can be interpreted in as many ways as one is able to approach the game. Excuse me for getting a bit misty-eyed. 
