Before I commit to playing Arcanum, I was wondering if anyone could tell me about it – the pros and cons, general overview, etc. Can someone fill me in, so I can decide on playing or moving on...?

Pros:

Arcanum is far and above other RPGs in terms of meaningful freedom. That is, you can do whatever you want, and it can have large consequences in the game. You can decide to help an orc rebellion ruin the largest city, or kill the figure the religion revolves around, or literally kill everyone and still finish the storyline. Others will judge you based on your race or gender, your good/evil alignment, your appearance, even your clothes sometimes.

So you can really go a lot of different ways about the game. I have played it 13 times myself.

Other great things about the game:

Great characters, and a good selection of them to join your party.
Great setting, the steampunk world is done very well.
Great writing, and a surprisingly well done story (though it seems very basic to start).
Great detail, with things hidden here and there that you will only see if you are playing a certain way through the game.


Cons:

The combat system is simply ridiculous. You can become insanely overpowered early on if you know how, but as a new player you may choose something which is insanely underpowered and find the game frustrating.

You could run into some bugs if you don't use the unofficial patch (surely a few after as well). Every now and then some people report corrupted saves, but that has never happened to me.

There are some difficulty spikes that surprise people, particularly the Black Mountain Clan Mines rather early in the game. Don't let it deter you.


Overall if you have played and enjoyed other isometric RPGs (Diablo, Baldur's Gate, Fallout 1+2, etc.) then this should be a must play game.

In ths game, is there much in the way of griding for character development? Do encountered enemies respawn? Is this gamne story-driven, or is the story and world open for exploration?

Enemies don't respawn AFAIK (though I haven't played very far into the game yet), but you can always travel around on the world map until you get a random encounter. On the other hand, the level cap in the game isn't too high anyway, so I'm not sure how much point there would be in doing so.

Pros
- You can create pretty much any character you desire, and unlike most games, there's a good chance you'll be able to finish the game. Even if it's a crazy build.

- Absolutely great story.

- Beautiful soundtrack.

- Giant map to explore.

- Good atmosphere.

Cons
- Broken combat

- Magic and technology are not perfectly balanced

- Some musics get repetitive

- Bad graphics (not that I care. But I have to admit the characters, animals and etc are ugly)

- There is difficulty spikes, like BMC mines and final location (last boss is weak, though).

- Bugs. The most annoying I ever experienced was one that randomly made the game slow. Fan-made patch fixes some of the bugs, I recommend you install it.

It's a mix of both. You're mostly free to wander wherever you want, but early on you won't know of many locations to travel to, and you'll find more as the story progresses. Technically you can find most places "ahead of time", but in practice you'll need to already know where to look. There are also a few places that are explicitly locked out until you get to the relveant point in the story.

But by and large you are free to wander and do all manner of side quests and other things. if you have played Fallout 1 and 2, Arcanum is slightly less open than those because the story is more involved, but it's a similar feel.

As for pros and cons, others have done a good job summarizing them already, but I want to emphasize just how good the character creation in the game is. There are so many possibilities, and so many ways to roleplay that really end up mattering to the game. That's a huge "pro".

Of the pros and cons not yet mentioned:

Pros:

Different followers (party NPCs) will interact with each other, and with certain game-world NPCs, differently. Each such interaction can reveal a little more backstory about the world of Arcanum.

A number of the so-called side quests can end up having real-world consequences. A summation of their effects is given in the closing cutscenes, after you defeat the final boss.

There really are multiple ways to solve most quests, from combat to talking to assassination and thievery to letting your followers do the fighting for you.

You have near-unlimited ability to mold your character; but there are also consequences. You want to be magic? Stay away from guns and trains. You wanna be evil? Expect to be shunned. Oh, turns out you're kind of ugly? Shopkeepers will raise their rates, and oftentimes insult you to your face.

Each skill has its own unique mastery quest, which can range from "give me money" all the way up to "conquer this hidden castle, and solve its mysteries". A couple of the mastery quests are even tied together.

Finally, and as if you weren't OP enough, there's a long and involved parallel quest which can make you the favored of the gods. It's well-hidden, but a lot of fun to do.


Cons:

Real-time combat is broken. If you're facing more than one opponent, everything happens too fast.

Gunslinging is far weaker than you'd expect, to the point of being severely UP.

Getting around the continent can be a pain. Dungeons, even more so. The waypoint system that's supposed to make it easier has some frustrating limitations.

With so much available to do, it's easily possible to max out your XP before the main quest is 2/3 done, which can be kind of frustrating. There is a way around it, but it involves installing a mod (specifically, the Level 127 hack) before the game begins.

And it's been said before, but it bears repeating: don't even consider playing this game without first installing Drog Blacktooth's UAP. The vanilla game is far too buggy without it.

Cheers.

I would not say there's much grinding. I've never found it so, at least. Respawning is not a simple yes-or-no answer. In dungeon locations there is no respawning, but you can always walk in the countryside and run into random encounters. The forest never runs out of wolves, in other words.

While the combat system is rather bad, it does have the virtue of being fast and easy so you don't have to spend a lot of time agonizing over it. Arcanum is much more story- and setting- driven than combat-driven.

A simple recommendation I usually make is to play with turn-based mode turned on, with your finger on the "start combat" key (which is "R" iirc, but I may not remember correctly). You see, combat mode doesn't activate until an enemy gets within melee range, which can be really annoying if you like ranged weapons. You should start combat manually as soon as you see any hostiles. That makes it a lot more tolerable.

With one glaring exception. Following the resolution of a moderately-important plot point about 3/4 of the way thru the game, the most difficult random encounters (but also the juiciest, in terms of drops) simply disappear.

Granted, by then you probably neither want nor need either the XP or the items (and the gold they represent) but still.

I don't know if you have continued playing the game or not.

Here is my input.

You do not need to install the unofficial patches or mods. The game is perfectly playable and finish-able without any of them.

The game has two main difficulty spikes if you are new to it. One at the very beginning of the game up to the point you get to leave the first village. The second is later on (how much later on depends on you) with the so called black mountain clan dungeon. The rest of the game is normal.

There are random encounters but that's the only "respawn" of any time. Well...there is a side mission where you have to do something to stop something but technically it is not respawn, it's more like endless spawn.

If you want an easier game, focus on magic, but make sure at least at first you have as many companions as possible. To get hit instead of you :p

If you decide to go for a specific character (aka role playing), focus on playing as that character. You will enjoy the game even more.


Some people have said the graphics as con....not sure what they were thinking, this game looked great when it was first released and it still looks great, unless of course you want 3D graphics.

The music is very good but also depressing, at least for me.

I highly suggest to avoid the real time battle. It's cringe worthy.

Depending on your character, some missions will not be available, but others will. Enjoy it, don't get pissed off if something is not available in a way you want to do it. Think of your character and how he/she would proceed with it, not you. There are at least 2 ways of solving perhaps all of the quests.

There are only two cons I can think of which are worth mentioning. The real time battle system. The endless clicking when traveling.
The first can be fixed by playing in turn based mode. The second cannot be fixed completely but it can be easier to walk long distances using the auto/planned route mode. Don't forget there are two of them. One for the strategic (world map) view and one for the "area/town" view. Set waypoints which do not go through obstacles and you will be fine for the most part.

I love this game. I am considering starting a new one.

Your advice is spot on for the most part; but I'd like to offer a few clarifications.

This is correct. But there are a few potentially gamebreaking bugs that the UAP repairs (along with, in fairness, a few exploits and loopholes it does away with). One important caveat: if you begin a game without the patch and then install it, do not try to continue the original game; start over.


It's, um... not quite endless. But it does take a while.


Do, or do not. There is no consider.

If you say it is not endless I will take your word for it. I never left it....on its own, for long enough to find out. See a problem, deal with the problem ASAP, is my motto. (which I just made up).

If I start a new game it will be for my YT channel and I am thinking that perhaps no one is going to watch. Which is fine of course, but.....ok most likely I am going to start a new game. Never played as a complete moron, I think I will roleplay as one.

Pros: You get to stay at a lot of nice hotels in this game.

Cons: Be careful in the bar.