Rating: 
Summary: Awful
Review: This game is the worst I've seen in years.It makes Fallout 1 look like advanced technology. The graphics and sound literally look like something out of 1992... The idea that anyone would release such a piece of unmitigated [junk], in the age of Diablo and Neverwinter Nights, boggles my mind, and I urge you, nay, I ABJURE you, not to waste your money on this.
Rating: 
Summary: Great game with show-stopping bugs
Review: First off, this is a deep and lengthy RPG in the best sense. The character creation alone is fun and can yeild a couple of hours of fun by itself. Allowing players to chose between aptitutes in magic or technology just builds on this process. I was truly surprised how practically any character type (mage, scientist, thief, diplomat, smart, strong, dumb, weak) could make their way through the expansive world and always have options. Aside from the central quest their are hundreds of side-quests and how you solve them is totally up to you and the abilities you've chosen for your characters.
Clearly, this is the strength of the game. It's weakness? There are several late-game bugs that can happen that will simply end your game. In particular, there was a shrine I found that had an object I was too weak to lift at the time. Later, I returned and moved the object but had no need for it so I put it back. Then, hours and days later, I needed it and returned to find that it had evaporated. This was a key quest item, one that would lead to getting a necesary item for the end battle, and trying to get tech support was met with sad tale on message boards of no fix.
People finish the game, don't get me wrong, but if you're one of the poor souls gets shafted in the third act you're going to wonder why you wasted your time. Like to gamble with time? This might be for you.
Rating: 
Summary: FABULOUS!
Review: I have been playing RPGs religiously since I first got a computer (Yes I was one of the psycos that couldn't tear herself away from D&D). I have played almost every game on the market and very sadly there are very few that were actually worth my time of day as a woman that loves to roll play (not to mention the money I spent buying them blindly...). However, as all the other reviews stated, this game is fantastic. It easily takes you to a world unlike our own to a time that was really not that long ago. The thousands of side quests are all differant and unique by the character you create. The character database could be a little bit more detailed, however, it is worth it and the character point system for upgrading your character is FABULOUS and VERY unique.
One draw back is that you have very little control of other characters that join your party. They simply run blindly into absolutly ALL battles whether you like it or not! Very irritating if they die in the process!
The game has a few bugs when it comes to my computer but never has been worth quiting over. I have actually NEVER beaten this game I have six characters I play around the clock with, going after side quests and completely forgetting the maine plot to the whole story.
All in All ONLY for die hard RPGers that are willing to give up sleeping and eating for this FABULOUS masterpiece of a game!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent RPG - complex enough to keep one entertained
Review: I purchased Arcanum without having any information other than what was on the box; but it sounded like something right up my alley; I really love RPG's, and this looked like a good one. Getting started with Arcanum was almost intolerable to me, but once I got past the initial troubles trying to read the manual, it became really entertaining. The atrocious manual, though, lacks an index, or even a table of contents!!! It's also written in what's supposed to be a "clever" style of olde tyme, but which is actually just infuriating and annoying. I had a devil of a time finding actual helpful information, and generally just had to figure things out on my own. Once I got the basics down, though, I enjoyed the game tremendously. Characters are *completely* customizable - every skill, every nuance is able to be changed, and the NPC's in the game react differently to characters having different abilities and appearances. It's a bit difficult getting started this way, because of course you want to become good at something without totally neglecting the other items, so it's an exercise in patience and strategy. Ability points are doled out only one at a time at first, and then at certain intervals, two at a time. Still, it's frustrating to choose which spell or ability to level up, as each affects something else. I chose a magical path, rather than a technological one, and stuck to it almost exclusively. Hence, I can't comment on the technological aspects of the game. The magic and spellcasting interfaces were quick, intuitive and easy to use, something I really appreciate in this sort of game. Likewise, the combat system is excellent; if you prefer real-time combat, that mode is available. However, if you can't keep up with the computer, then you can easily switch to a turn-based combat system (which is what I preferred, for simplicity's sake.) Inventories are easily managed, especially given the "clean-up" button that immediately organizes everything into the most compact space, and trading with NPC's is basically a snap. The graphics are very good and diverse in texture and color, and I enjoyed the juxtaposition of technological and magical charaters and cultures. There is a tremendous variety of weapons, armors and sundry other items available for use, and it definitely pays off to get into every single locked chest you come across. The story line is sufficiently complex, involving twists, turns, mysteries and surprises, and the number of available quests is outstanding. It's a very non-linear game, letting you explore many areas of the world more than once, and oftentimes finding different items in places you've already been. You may be joined by any number of other characters, who add different skills, extra fighting power, and more inventory capacity to the party. Some people will refuse to join you if your reputation is too good or too evil - each act you perform contributes to your overall disposition, and also to how members of your party view you. If you anger your party members, they may choose to leave you. The land of Arcanum is huge, and I greatly enjoyed the ability to Teleport around in it, thereby saving valuable time and energy. However, the folks at Sierra came up with an innovative long-distance traveling method that's great, too; on the World Map, one is allowed to select waypoints and paths to different "main" areas and dungeons, and shows your progress with a red cross following a path, much like the movies of yore. Not requiring dull, boring first-person travel across the entire land is very refreshing. There are many, many hours of entertaining game play to be had here. The load times for the game are a bit long, and there were a few bugs in the system, especially in the maps - occasionally, labels for buildings would get mixed up between towns, resulting in buildings with half their name from one town, and half from another town. Further, there were bugs that disallowed completion of certain quests, which is always infuriating. However, there were no bugs that I would call Absolutely Fatal to the game. There were certain quests that were so picky as to what had to happen, that I had to look up a walkthrough site to find the answers. Even then, however, I wasn't able to complete them all, due to bugs or having clicked on the wrong item or something. Further, there were times when I stumbled upon an area or a person in the land that I wasn't "supposed" to bump into until much later - this sometimes caused problems with quests related to that area or person. One thing that really honked me off was suddenly being unable to level up any further - I was unaware that once a character attained level 50, that was it. I was increasing my Persuasion skills to finish another quest, and suddenly - POOF! No more level, buh-bye. I had used my level points from 7 levels, and still needed about 3 more to attain the right level to finish the quest, but all of that was wasted - not only did I not get to the Persuasion level I needed, but I had blown those valuable skill points on something I didn't need anymore. ARGH! Still, with the skills I had otherwise acquired, finishing the game wasn't difficult. The graphics were good, but a bit behind the times, especially given the long load times. This is definitely a game that can be played again and again, because how the story develops will depend entirely upon what sort of character you play, how you react to differing NPC's, and which quests you complete. Even the ending cutscene is customized to tell you what happened because of your actions. Overall, I give it a thumbs-up, but perhaps I'm just easily-amused. I like the genre, and a game that gives me hours and hours of enjoyable play is just dandy by me. I truly hope they come out with a sequel that will update the graphics, improve upon the manual, and be a tiny bit less clunky overall.
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: First for the stuff that I did like. Firstly this game is huge! You get alot of hours of play for your dollar. Go to their website just to see how long it take to walk arcoss Arcanum. I like how character creation (reminds me of GURPS) lets you do whatever you want. I also like the fact that there is rarely one way to do anything. This means that you don't have to figure out the soultion that the desiners thought was good, but one that makes sence to you. This is the best that a computer rpg can do. For example, I saw someone accedently lock the only door to a building in such a way that he couldn't unlock it, so he blew up a window with a grenade and climbed in the side. I also like the lack of focus on brute force and inorance so common to many rpgs. (Inflict more pain on the problem until the problem aleviates.) You get points for completing "quests" as well as killing stuff. (and I'm not talking about Diablo type quests where the object IS to kill stuff) Although, you can still play a big dumb ogre if you want. Summoner had a good swing at this non-combat gameplay, but arcanum does it better. Of course, you DO have to fight, but the focus is more on storyline/puzzle solving. Replay value looks to be very high too, because you can't get though the same way with different characters. In fact, you'd be hardpressed to get though the same way with the same character. And there's bound to be a bunch of stuff you missed anyway.
Now for the stuff I didn't like. What you may notice very quickly is that the user manual for this thing is terrible. No table of contents, no index, and very fluffy. What this amounts to is you not being able to find the one thing you want to know. (like what's this big green button on my interface for? or is there anyway to get my whole party to stop fighting?) Now, the gameplay graphics are just fine, but the gameplay animation is bad, and scrolling is a pain. The game window won't follow your character around, YOU have to follow it around everytime they move offscreen. One again, the focus is not so much on combat, so this is ok. I would love to see an Arcanum II with a decent manual and graphics reflective of at least 2 years ago. I couldn't think of any computer game players that wouldn't want it. But if you're all for gameplay over glitz and don't mind reading the manual stait though several times, you won't be able to stop playing!
Rating:
Summary: A exelent game.
Review: Pros:Technollagy and magic
Multible game paths and endings
Nearly full charater custimazation
A ton of fun and ingaging side quests and side plots.
You can have many followers based on your charisma
Ultra unlinear
Wonderful main story
Nice interface once you get to know it
Manual is very interesting to read and even includes a halfling recipe that resembles bannana bread.
A fun and rewarding experiance
Cons:Manual has know index.
Maby to unlinear
Occasionaly you might not know what to do
It has bugs in it but I ignored them
You might custimize your character to make them so so strong you can beat the game without a good challenge
Rating:
Summary: An innovative RPG
Review: i bought arcanum when it first came out, and it sure was worth it. i have been playing lots of ad&d games, and they are all the same. If you are sick of the same old thing like bg2, bg1 etc, definately buy this! It has a very in depth plot/story line, when i was done i thought i had read a f---ing book! The only bad part of the game, is the very limited control over the other characters in your party. The ally npc's are f---ing retarted, constantly picking up every useless item they find. The game features several very detailed cities though that even rival the bg2 city (what's it called? Amn?). The game takes place around like the mid 1800's so thats pretty much where technology is at, but you can choose to be a magick user or a technologist. Kind of like adding another dimension to the alignment scale. You can also choose to play as many different races, and choose between dozens of different backgrounds, which help decide how people treat you throughout the game. Very good game, very much worth buying. Very good. . . . very good. . .. .
Rating:
Summary: Cool ideas meet mediocre implementation
Review: There have been a lot of reviews posted for this game already, and they all seem to share the same basic sentiments: so close, and yet so far... Some are very original, some are just dry repeats of what's already been said. I will try to write this review in such a manner that it adds to the comments made, instead of restating them. I bought this game after checking out the box on the store shelf. That was the only exposure to it that I had at the time. I finished it. Now I'm writing a review... Many of the ideas packed into this game are original and creative, giving a whole new dimension to the gaming experience. The non-linear storyline is especially nice, as it allows you to follow your mood instead of trudging down a straight path with no deviations. This does have some issues, though, due to the implementation. Because you can take any path you choose to get where you need to go, it is very easy to circumvent points in the storyline by stumbling into areas of the map (via random exploring) that you otherwise would not find until much later in the game. This can create some real confusion when you get a quest in your journal, then talk to an/the NPC and IMMEDIATELY the quest is solved. This is a little sloppy -- it would have been better to either kill the quest, or just solve it the moment it is assigned, instead of making you go talk to another NPC. By wandering the map aimlessly, I found places that were never mentioned otherwise but obviously had some significance based on what I found there. I have no idea what I missed or where. The graphics are mediocre. Worse, though, is the very awkward interface. The repetetive actions are a tedium that most players will want to avoid, but alas it is unavoidable in many cases. Even allowing some kind of visual macro facility would have been helpful... Another neat innovation is the intermingling of magic and technology. At one point my character attained some level of mastery in a magic discipline, after which I was repeatedly kicked out of blacksmith shops. Nice touch. There seems to be a little bit of an imbalance in favor of magic, but using technology is still fun and allows the player to try something really interesting in an RPG. Some players are upset about the level-50 cap. Don't be upset about it, level 50 is high enough to finish the game quite easily. If you want to really go beyond that, there's a patch out there that lets you reach level 128, and at that point you're simply wasting your time because you're too powerful. The distribution of new experience points for the player to allocate is one way in which a player can directly manipulate the character. The system seems a bit strange and awkward, giving one point at a time to allocate to one of dozens of options. You need to carefully consider how you allocate your points. I must concur with one of the reviews I read -- this game caters to the male chauvanist pig, to the point of being a little offensive in a couple of areas. Interaction with NPCs usually involves selection of canned statements. These can directly impact the game. This is a good thing. These same statements can be issued over and over and over and over, with no progress. This is a bad thing. One interesting point is that the NPCs can get mad at you, and even leave your party, when you tangle with a game character that the NPCs seem to think is a "good person" -- even when said "good person" attacks you first. Not good. If you are the instigator, that's one thing. But when you're the victim, having your NPCs go turncoat is unacceptable. So why should you buy this game? Well, you should buy it if you are extremely patient with software that sports poor interfaces, or if you have a lot of free time on your hands and the money's burning a hole in your pocket, or if you just want to try something very different in the RPG genre of games. I give this game 3 stars for its innovations. It's a shame that such creative ideas are so poorly implemented in Arcanum. There are better RPG games out there; don't bother with Arcanum unless you want to experiment with the technology aspects.
Rating:
Summary: So close to good, but a little dated.
Review: I can't say I didn't like this game. It's got an interesting premise, a decent story, and some entertaining moments, but I couldn't help asking myself if this was the best they could do with it. So much of this game reminds me of 1996; the graphics, the repetitive music (ONE SONG?!), some of the gameplay. . . it's just old. Nothing's wrong with old games. Ultima 1 was a good game, but that doesn't mean I'd pay forty bucks for it. Fallout was also a good game, but I can get it and it's sequel for ten dollars now. Here, I'm playing the same game on a different world for 4 times that much money. Personally, I think this is a good start to a franchise. I'd buy a sequel, assuming they update it. Better graphics, more music, more skills, a better combat system, and deeper characters would have made this game of the decade.
Rating:
Summary: So close to great...
Review: Arcanum has one of the most unique and truly interesting set-ups for a RPG, a magical world of wizards and monsters going though a technological (sp?) revolution. But as great as this sounds the game is bogged down with some major problems. Small things like the choppy animation graphics and the slow to pop up map are forgivable, but the most fustrating part of the game is the inventory. First, it's a bit of a pain to deal with, something about the interface is just not quite right, but the real problem is that only certain merchants buy certain things, this means your inventory is often flooded with semi-vauble items that no merchant you can find will buy. On top of that this forces you to waste time running to every merchant in town every time you find a new town, it just breaks up the flow of the game. Also, their is lots of downtime as you run from NPC to NPC trying to find quests or information in every town. This isn't so bad in the first town that has about 20 or so NPC, but towns later on have 50+, it's slow and painful. Overall I enjoy Arcanum, for as much as some of these things bother me the game really does allow you to have your own personality (or game alter-ego) show though with the way you interact with NPC's. When "talking" to NPC's you are almost always given a few options on how to respond to them. For example, if an NPC were to tell you their tale of woe you could either respond with "I'm sorry to hear that, how can I help?" or "You seem to think I should care about your foolish problem, off with you!" Either answer will lead to a different path. Saving the game before this kind of conversations if kinda fun, you can either help the person or enrage them with insults until they attack you. Also the "techno" side of the game I found to be lots of fun. For some reason finding and combining a "Broken Revolver parts" and a "Large metal pipe" to make a Revolver was pretty cool, the same can be said for making items like "Charged Rings", "Repeating Rifles" and lots of other cool items that make the game more interesting. In the end Arcanum is a fun game and worth your money if you really love RPG's, otherwise, download a demo (if one exists) and give it a whirl first.
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