cromwest: Just curious but who do you think the best NPC in the game is?
(sorry for delaying the reply, I accidentally the whole post and kinda burned out)
Torian Kel. One of the main themes of Arcanum is
myth in the age of progress. And I don't mean magick vs. tech. They might be opposing forces, mechanically, but magick is obviously treated as a tool, even more so than tech. Consider that there are "secret" tech schematics but no hidden magick spells - the spells are made available for you to get acquainted with at your convenience even if your char has trouble using two-syllable words. Magick stuff is sold in shops, affluent citizens use magickal equipment without the slightest fear that it will eat their souls or whatever. Magick is not considered awesomesauce: it is sometimes an advantage and sometimes an inconvenience. Virgil makes the prevalent opinion concerning myths very clear from the beginning.
So the player might get the impression that Arcanum is meant
to parody heroic fantasy, one of those "if fantasy stories were realistic" joke collections. Mages are second-class citizens (while magick items exist, tech is clearly shown to be better suited to making things for other people - thus, anyone in the market for tech items will avoid mages), the knights of Dernholm are tragicomically slaughtered - "this is how your precious fantasy heroes would fare in the modern world, kids". The main plot concerns (SPOILER ALERT) you running around investigating a false prophecy that no one takes seriously, a prophecy that in a grand
take that to various heroic fantasy stories turns out to be
actually false.
But then the player has a brush with an actual legend, exemplified by Torian Kel (for those not in the know: one, Torian Kel is an ancient undead warlord, and two, why are you still reading this? go play the game), and it turns out epic fantasy is still as cool as it was on the day you first opened
Welleran or
the Hobbit or whatever (the writing turns appropriately high-fantasy-poetic). And when this legend accepts your invitation to the party, the level of awesome goes through the roof. Remarkably, despite his legendary status, he's not broken mechanically and not an all-powerful douchebag from a flavor standpoint (see Elminster). As a bonus, take Geoffrey with you and watch the annoying prick squirm.
And finally, when you get Torian Kel, you'll have probably been to Tarant. Possibly more than once. In fact, you might be able to navigate it blindfolded. Or you might keep mistaking Lion's Head Circle for that smallish green islet and vice versa, as I do. Whatever the case, the point is you have run around the city for quite some time and it's no longer a novelty (if it ever was: the graphics are not too dated, but not dated enough to qualify as timeless pixel art; I for one am a fan but new players here have been asking if the visuals ever get better).
Now, you can ask Torian Kel what he knows about Tarant, on the off chance that it was a site of an ancient battle or whatever. And, unsurprisingly, he wouldn't have facts to share, but he will voice an opinion. And that opinion is "AWESOMESAUCE!" (not exact quote). Seriosly. A legendary undead general who once set out (SPOILER ALERT - dammit guys, why are you still here?) to murderize every living thing in order to rescue them from the torment of life wholeheartedly approves of the alternate option chosen by humanity - that is to make life better.
As unbiased evidence of Torian Kel's awesomeness I offer the fact that if you google for his name, quite a number of hits will be
people's online handles, and that means a lot if the character in question doesn't have traits that typically lend well to handle adoption (leadership, rebelliousness, hawtness, speshul powarz, a relatable outlook on life). And if we're talking character abilities or game content as a factor in NPC worth, he's an accomplished melee fighter and knows the backstory which he can tell you with excellent full voice acting.
