Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
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| Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura | |
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| Developer(s) | Troika Games |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Designer(s) | Jason D. Anderson, Leonard Boyarsky, Timothy Cain[1] |
| Engine | Arcanum engine |
| Release date(s) | NA August 21, 2001 EU August 24, 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Computer role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, LAN multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ELSPA: 11+ ESRB: M (Mature) OFLC: MA15+ USK: 12+ |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Media | 2 CD-ROMs |
| System requirements | 200 MHz Intel Pentium CPU, 32 MB RAM, 8 MB video card VGA card (minimum 4 MB RAM), 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 7.0, 16-bit Directx compatible sound card, 1.2 GB available hard disk space, Windows 95 |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse |
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (aka Arcanum) is a computer role-playing game. Developed by Troika Games and published by Sierra Entertainment, it was released in August 2001. It is played in isometric perspective and takes a steampunk-high fantasy setting. The player's main objective is the completion of a central quest, which may be aided by a party.
Debuting at fourth position on NPD Intelect's best-seller list,[2] 234,000 copies of Arcanum have since been sold,[3] with takings of $8.8 million.[4] Despite these lukewarm figures, it remains Troika's best-selling title.
Critical response to the game could best be summed up as "flawed, but still very good", with IGN scoring it 8.7[5] and conferring the IGN Editors' Choice Award on 24 August 2001. PC Gamer and GameZone awarded Arcanum 90 out of 100,[6] with the latter also conferring its Editors' Choice accolade. The Electric Playground awarded the game 9 out of 10, calling it "the most diverse and open-ended RPG to date."[7]
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[edit] Story
[edit] Prologue
Arcanum begins with a cutscene of the IFS Zephyr – a luxury zeppelin, on her maiden voyage from Caladon to Tarant. Biplanes, piloted by ogres, shortly close in on the craft and commence attack runs, succeeding in shooting it down. A passenger aboard the IFS, an odd-looking gnome, now in his death throes under charred debris, tells the player to bring a silver ring to "the boy", and promptly dies. A robed figure walks among the debris to the player.
Virgil, a robed wayfarer, appears. In utter exasperation, having to rationalise the idea to himself first, he gingerly confirms that the player is the "Living One".
[edit] Non-linear design
Arcanum is an example of a non-linear role-playing game. The conventional tenet of most console RPGs—there being one pre-programmed set of events by which the player navigates the game world and unfolds the story—often does not apply to computer RPGs.
At various points throughout the game, players may take the story in different directions, sometimes permanently removing different paths of action. The game's central quest ultimately develops according to how players navigate its dichotomies, the most apparent being that of magic and technology.
[edit] Steamworks and Magick Obscura
The basic premise of Arcanum is one of the game's most exceptional aspects. Hinted to in its subtitle, Arcanum's is a world recently emerged from an industrial revolution.[8] The delicate relationship between the magickal establishments and the nascent technologies of industrialisation affects Arcanum on a host of social, geopolitical, intellectual and, in one particularly memorable episode, legal, levels.
This shift is dynamic to the politics of Arcanum. There is a great enmity between elves and dwarves, the former being naturally inclined towards magickally-defined society, the latter being forerunners of the technology race. Scientists are not welcome in magickal societies like Qintarra or Tulla, but will be respected if they are righteous and good folk. Conversely, a mage would be admitted onto a steam train only on the provision that he take a third-class, "last-caboose" seat, so as not to cause interference with the locomotive.
Orcs and Ogres alike are looked down upon as savage, feral peoples by Arcanum's civilised folk, who own virtually all the industry of the major population centres. Half-breeds inhabit the world as a result of humanity reproducing with anything possible (and not always as willing participants).
[edit] Gameplay
The game involves much travel, with the player often making repeated visits to locations as quests and sub-quests develop over a large in-game timescale. There are sections of guaranteed combat, but it is possible to talk through large portions of the game without having to fight, and the player can use any combination of magic, technology and brute force en route. In addition to this are situations where the player must make moral choices that have lasting effects on the game world and his standing in it.
[edit] Character system
Arcanum is a role-playing game. Players play the role of their characters, who are either pre-generated or custom-created, the latter allowing diverse combinations of race and skill traits, and background. These three characteristics play vital parts in the ways the player interacts with the game world. The player is in control of such things as their character's reputation, and blessings and curses received. The player's actions have in-game consequences.
Characters are developed by fighting opponents and completing quests. In the game, there are any number of different approaches to solving a particular problem.
[edit] Combat system
Arcanum's combat design has received criticism, with claims that it is "poorly balanced"[9] and "overly simplified".[10] Two combat modes were included in the final release: real-time or turn-based. Again, the player's combat capabilities are in large part governed by the character he has chosen or created.
Deciding whether to use violence in the game sometimes carries consequences for the player's party. Some AI-controlled allies the player makes will find their character's conduct morally objectionable, and leave, or even attack the player.
[edit] Locations and races of Arcanum
Arcanum is the toponymic fantasy world in which the game unfolds. It consists of a continental mainland and three islands. The player is at liberty to explore the mainland, their coverage partly being governed by the quests they choose to undertake. The three islands—the Isle of Despair, Thanatos and Cattan—become available only upon initiating particular quests.
The game's races are typically Tolkienian in design, but the way they relate to the world and its other inhabitants imbues them with great degree of realism. The dwarven clans are prone to factional infighting; the elves are separated into two societies due to a political schism ages past. Ethnopolitics features in subquests, NPC dialogues and in-game literature.
[edit] Modification
The game comes packaged with an editor, allowing players to create their own maps, campaigns and NPCs. Called WorldEdit, the programme allows any game-world object to be input into existing and newly created environments via GUI menus. Editing can be done in either isometric or top-down views. Players have charge over the game's variables, such as the skill level requred to pick a certain lock, or the precise time that an electric light will turn on. Players are also able to create brand new objects via the scenery creator.
[edit] Development
Arcanum's public beta testing commenced in September 2000.[11] It is the debut title of now-defunct development house Troika Games, which consisted of former Interplay Entertainment staff—most notably Tim Cain—responsible for 1997's critically acclaimed Fallout.
On release, the game was found to be incompatible with some video cards such as Voodoo2, and drivers such as nVidia's Detonator3. Furthermore, the game's copy protection software, SecuROM, caused system-component conflicts with particular brands of sound cards and CD-ROM drives.[12]
[edit] Sequel
In a 2000 interview with Nextgame.it Tim Cain announced plans for an Arcanum sequel,[13] but these plans would not come to pass – Troika Games filed for dissolution on September 30, 2005.[14]
In September 2006, one of Arcanum's lead programmers and tri-founder of Troika, Leonard Boyarsky, divulged that the studio had originally commenced work on a sequel, going by the working title of "Journey to the Centre of Arcanum", which would use Valve's Source Engine. Development was curtailed by disputes between Sierra and Valve, resulting ultimately in the project being shelved.[15]
[edit] Soundtrack
Arcanum features an unusual soundtrack for any RPG, let alone computer game. Composed by Ben Houge, it is scored almost entirely for string quartet. It follows the conventional RPG soundtrack format: short, impressionistic vignettes which are looped in-game. The soundtrack was produced by Ben Houge and Jeff Probst, with Leonid Keylin on first violin, Kathy Stern on second violin, Vincent Comer on viola, Susan Williams on cello, Evan Buehler on marimba and Ben Houge on djembe, rainstick and synthesiser.
The soundtrack was not commercially released, but is available for free download[16] here, courtesy of Sierra On-Line and Troika Games. The sheet music is also provided.
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* String quartet and percussion; $ Synthesisers.
[edit] References
- ^ Game Credits for Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura. Moby Games. Retrieved on 16 October 2006.
- ^ Arcanum debuts at number four - Video Game News - Yahoo! Video Games. Yahoo! Games. Retrieved on 5 October 2006.
- ^ Troika Games' Sales Figures. GameBanshee. Retrieved on 30 September 2006.
- ^ Troika Games' Sales Figures. GameBanshee. Retrieved on 30 September 2006.
- ^ IGN: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Review. IGN PC. Retrieved on 30 September 2006.
- ^ Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 30 September 2006.
- ^ Electric Playground - Arcanum Review. Electric Playground. Retrieved on 30 September 2006.
- ^ Nextgame.it: Interview to Tim Cain - Intervista. Nextgame.it. Retrieved on 6 October 2006.
- ^ Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (PC) Reviews. PC Games Reviews by CNET.. CNET. Retrieved on 5 October 2006.
- ^ AVault | PC | Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura Review. Avault. Retrieved on 5 October 2006.
- ^ Dimensions of Arcanum - Game Beta Testing. Dimensions of Arcanum. Retrieved on 28 September 2006.
- ^ Dimensions of Arcanum - General Game FAQ. Dimensions of Arcanum. Retrieved on 4 October 2006.
- ^ Nextgame.it: Interview to Tim Cain - Intervista. Nextgame.it. Retrieved on 6 October 2006.
- ^ Troika Games no longer exists. Troika Chronicles. Retrieved on 6 October 2006.
- ^ Terra Arcanum. Journey to the Centre of Arcanum. Retrieved on 18 October.
- ^ Ben Houge, Arcanum Soundtrack. BenHouge.com. Retrieved on 6 October 2006.
