Ideal Arcanum Starting Character?

Discuss anything from Age of Empires to Wasteland. Any gaming talk that isn't Fallout-related goes here.
User avatar
Menno
Wanderer
Wanderer
Posts: 400
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2003 9:13 pm
Location: New York

Ideal Arcanum Starting Character?

Post by Menno »

I bought Arcanum a few months ago along with Temple of Elemental Evil. Played Arcanum briefly, but because of my initial reaction to the combat system [where I had a gun that fired like a cap gun, and missed frequently at point blank range] I gave it up to play ToEE. It's been a few months and since I hear Acranum's pretty good and I have the free time, I figured I'd take another crack at it.

I'm sure a portion of my initial disillusionment is due to the fact that I created a poor character. So I've been wondering what's the ideal starting character? I'm more interested in a tech-based character than I am a magic one, and if you guys can provide specific numbers for what I should set my stats to and what to specialize my character in, it would be much appreciated.

Agreed ?

:joy:
User avatar
Jeff
Mamma's Gang member
Mamma's Gang member
Posts: 5442
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 7:05 pm
Location: The Outernet

Post by Jeff »

It's probably not your fault, tech just sucks in Arcanum. I tried to play a tech dwarf first too, but then gave up because he was so shitty and all my money went to bullets. My magic whore on the other hand was filthy rich buying mansions and shit. Can't give you any advice on creating a good character as it's been ages since I played it, sorry. Try www.terra-arcanum.com , there's a character creation guide and all kinds of nifty stuff.

The Ozrat has spoken
User avatar
Megatron
Mamma's Gang member
Mamma's Gang member
Posts: 8030
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2002 1:00 am
Location: The United Kingdoms

Post by Megatron »

On my first play through I tried to be a scientist type of dude, but I kept dying at the first ore golem at the black mountain clan bit.

I then started again with a half-ogre and chose the 'Ran away with the circus' background. If you just buy the iron dagger or something at the start, you can easily get through the first bit. I killed everything, opened the magic chest and got a few cool items (a magic sword and some small armour). If you go into the cave at the top corner you can do a quest so before you come to the first town you're at level 3?

Another nice thing about choosing a melee guy is that you advance levels by killing stuff. With a melee guy you'll be killing stuff pretty quickly, so you advance pretty fast. I was level 50 3/4 into the game. Before that I was getting critical hits almost every time and combat was over in a few rounds.

Tech is probably the toughest/weakest path to follow as you have to carry round a lot of trinkets and most of the time the items you build are shitty. I managed to do pretty well with a smart, charismatic guy who fired a gun but there's a few dungeons in the game you have to do so it gets pretty trixy.
Silver
Desert Wanderer
Desert Wanderer
Posts: 521
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2002 7:02 pm
Location: Club Hedonism IV

Post by Silver »

All I can say is... Sexy siggie Gimp.
User avatar
Megatron
Mamma's Gang member
Mamma's Gang member
Posts: 8030
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2002 1:00 am
Location: The United Kingdoms

Post by Megatron »

Why does your avatar have a cock on it's head?
:chew:
Raymondo
Pussy Lord
Pussy Lord
Posts: 623
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2003 11:12 am

Post by Raymondo »

I think its a ass crack?
User avatar
atoga
Mamma's Gang member
Mamma's Gang member
Posts: 5440
Joined: Tue May 14, 2002 4:13 am
Location: Coney Island

Post by atoga »

Play a circus escapee half-ogre who doesn't care about magic or tech. That way you can't go wrong, and you don't waste your points on boring spells or crappy schematics.
suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. suddenly somebody will say like 'plate' or 'shrimp' or 'plate of shrimp', out of the blue, no explanation.
User avatar
CloudNineGT
Striding Hero
Striding Hero
Posts: 1294
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2004 10:38 pm
Location: Naked

Post by CloudNineGT »

I'm sick of people bitching about tech. Its not tech that sucks, its guns. If you want to good tech try smithy, mechanical, and therapeutics for a strong melee/tech build. Brain Builder and Mind Marvel can be especially helpfull if you have a little more brawn than brain.
User avatar
Megatron
Mamma's Gang member
Mamma's Gang member
Posts: 8030
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2002 1:00 am
Location: The United Kingdoms

Post by Megatron »

A pure melee character will have a few (about 15) char. points to spend by the end of the game if you don't increase throwing (just str, dex, agi, melee, dodge)

I'd tag some tech skills, just not any you need to tag other skills with mebbe
:chew:
Silver
Desert Wanderer
Desert Wanderer
Posts: 521
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2002 7:02 pm
Location: Club Hedonism IV

Post by Silver »

Megatron wrote:Why does your avatar have a cock on it's head?
Fallout Junkie wrote:I think its a ass crack?
Achtung, SS Totenkopf!
User avatar
Radoteur
Desert Wanderer
Desert Wanderer
Posts: 520
Joined: Tue May 28, 2002 8:57 am
Location: WASHIGNTEN

Post by Radoteur »

You're kidding.

The reason I wanted to buy the game was the cool tech.
Bummer.
Mailbox Man!
Yar.
User avatar
Som Guy
Vault Elite
Vault Elite
Posts: 357
Joined: Mon May 27, 2002 4:00 am

Post by Som Guy »

From my experiance the best type of charater I played was half or full elf, point mostly to agility and strength and throwing skill. Use boomerangs things like that. The range is nice, the speed is nice, and the accuracy is nice as well. Works well only in turnbased though.
Ozrat
Banned Bitch
Banned Bitch
Posts: 407
Joined: Mon May 05, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Whiskeyonsin/Canadabis

Post by Ozrat »

Gimp Mask wrote:The Ozrat has spoken
No no no nonono.

It's:

The Ozrat Approves!
:clap:

...

Although that doesn't really fit into this context because nothing is really being approved here...

So how about:

Said The Ozrat!
:blahblah:

________________________________________

So is Arcanum a good game? I've always been tempted to buy it since it looked like it would be somewhat like Fallout. I saw the PC Gamer demo a few years back, but it was buggy as hell so I never really got into it.

Should I buy it? If so, are there any brainiac rodent characters I could make?
ExtremeRyno wrote:I don't really represent the views that I've written here in this thread... I just like to type.
User avatar
Jeff
Mamma's Gang member
Mamma's Gang member
Posts: 5442
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 7:05 pm
Location: The Outernet

Post by Jeff »

i'm givin you the best of both worlds, the ozrat AND killa-killa in the same sentence! :dance:

yes, Arcanum is a good game and worth buying.
Ozrat
Banned Bitch
Banned Bitch
Posts: 407
Joined: Mon May 05, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Whiskeyonsin/Canadabis

Post by Ozrat »

Y'know, now that I reflect upon it all, your way of saying it is better...

Perhaps:

The Ozrat has spoken!
:blahblah:

The Ozrat has spoken!
:joy:

The Ozrat has spoken!
:drunk:

Or just:

The Ozrat has spoken!


Discuss.

Oh, and if I see Arcanum any time soon I'll be sure to pick it up since I'm so intrigued now.
ExtremeRyno wrote:I don't really represent the views that I've written here in this thread... I just like to type.
User avatar
SuperH
Hero of the Wastes
Hero of the Wastes
Posts: 1752
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2002 9:31 am

Post by SuperH »

Hu-ah, after reading this thread I want to try Arcanum again. I got like 10 minutes into it before.
User avatar
Jeff
Mamma's Gang member
Mamma's Gang member
Posts: 5442
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 7:05 pm
Location: The Outernet

Post by Jeff »

it's all good rat boy.
oh and I can understand SuperH as the beginning was pretty shitty, but once you get to the first city it gets better.
User avatar
Phias
Vault Elite
Vault Elite
Posts: 393
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2003 3:43 am
Location: Around

Post by Phias »

I did not like the crash site, but the game picked up from Shrouded Hills. I wished more cities were in the game, but I suppose I can't complain. It was a good game.

My first character was a simple one. A pure melee-dodge Ogre, with high strength and dexterity. I also raised his charisma, because I wanted to have more party members.
Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
User avatar
Viktor
Desert Wanderer
Desert Wanderer
Posts: 530
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 3:59 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by Viktor »

CloudNineGT wrote:I'm sick of people bitching about tech. Its not tech that sucks, its guns. If you want to good tech try smithy, mechanical, and therapeutics for a strong melee/tech build. Brain Builder and Mind Marvel can be especially helpfull if you have a little more brawn than brain.
That worked for me! Leave the whole guns/firearms thing behing and go melee/smith/mech so you can build a nice fireaxe (IIRC) which will deal with most enemies PDQ.
Kashluk

Post by Kashluk »

Too bad the lever-action Clarington was too sexy to be ignored. I just HAD to get it, even though I had no gunslingers in my party :)
Post Reply