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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura: Difference between revisions
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (view source)
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{{work}}
[[File:arcanum_cover_copy.jpg|frame|''[[Exactly What It Says
''Arcanum'' is an expansive and very open-ended [[Role Playing Game]] where Tolkienian [[High Fantasy]] meets Vernian [[Steampunk]], courtesy of the designers behind the first two ''[[Fallout]]'' games.
Much of ''Arcanum'' deals with [[Item Crafting]] and character building -- almost everything the player finds can be customized, and [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]. It contains a very detailed setting and a well-designed scenario, as well as ''vast'' amounts of political backstory in the game's libraries, newspapers and legends. The game retains a cult following similar to its cousin ''[[Fallout]]'', and is additionally often very favorably compared to ''[[Baldurs Gate II]]'' and ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', although ''Arcanum'''s detail focuses more on its setting's history and mechanisms than on its playable characters.
The ''[[Zeppelins
There's only one survivor, the player character -- and, as they crawl out of the wreckage, a dying gnome begs them to take [[MacGuffin|his ring]] to "the boy". The player character soon meets a man named Virgil, who claims to have found the reincarnation of a long lost prophet... and that's where the story properly takes off.
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** [[Artificial Stupidity]]: You can use the AI's proactive behavior against it, though. If an NPC spots a piece of equipment sitting around unattended, they might pick it up for themselves... and if it looks better than what they're currently using, they might equip it. Even if it's actually a cursed chainmail shirt that continually poisons its wearer. There is also a guard captain whose patrol route occasionally takes him right through a campfire. Left to his own devices, he'll walk through that fire until his platemail melts right off his back.
*** There is still no justification for picking up large, massive objects that greatly encumber the character. Like big boulders.
* [[Ascend to
** St. Mannox was believed to have done this. {{spoiler|He was actually murdered, making this a subversion.}}
** {{spoiler|In some of the [[Multiple Endings]], the PC can do this.}}
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* [[Cryptic Conversation]]: Virtually everything the Silver Lady has to say. It takes at least a second playthrough to fully decipher her visions, which include not only advice on where to go next but also tidbits of backstory as well as hints to the true nature of the villain. {{spoiler|Her mention of a lone figure floating above a plane of mirrored glass is worth remembering when listening to Kerghan's motivations}}
* [[Cutting Off the Branches]]: One of the more impressive things about this game is the strength of how this trope is [[Averted Trope|averted]]. Aside from the fact that nearly every problem has multiple solutions, there is indeed the possibility that you could kill someone with quest-relevant information. If you don't find any items on their person with the information you need, you can even cast a Black Necromancy spell to conjure up their spirit and interrogate them that way. [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|Party members with voices even have dialogue for this!]]
* [[Cutscene Power to
* [[Da Chief]]: The Police Chief in Caladon.
* [[Damage Discrimination]]: Averted. One stray bullet or misaimed boomerang is all it takes for two townsfolk to start laying into each other.
* [[The Dark Arts]]: Averted. Black Necromancy and even demon-summoning are morally neutral, though in point of fact Black Necromancers tend to be [[Jerkass|jerks]].
* [[Death
* [[Deconstruction]]: The game see-saws randomly back and forth between deconstructing and [[Reconstruction|reconstructing]] [[Heroic Fantasy]] tropes.
* [[Deconstructor Fleet]]: For the [[Steampunk]] genre. The game takes pains to [[Shown Their Work|point out the more unpleasant side]] of the Victorian era, including hideously unsafe factory working conditions, strikers being gunned down, classism, racism (try playing the game as an half-orc), eugenics -- there's a ''very' uncomfortable book that talks about a way of solving the Orcish Question via use of a breeding program and removal of a 'malignant gland'. Not to mention the Half-Ogre breeding project, which has some distinctly unnerving parallels with antisemitic conspiracy theories of the time.
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* [[Dummied Out]]: Characters in-game frequently mention the island of Cattan, a tropical touristic island. You can see it on the map, but you can't actually go there in-game without using glitches or cheats and it's completely empty anyways.
* [[Dump Stat]]: Beauty. It only really helps to keep people from being hostile on sight and resolving a ''small'' few situations without combat. You can get by with a 2 (and even maximize your Charisma).
* [[Elves Versus Dwarves]]: [[Playing
** Elves and dwarves have traditionally gotten along fairly well -- the recent industrial revolution has, in fact, caused both civilizations to dislike humans far more than each other, though elves are still a bit bitter about the dwarves letting Gilbert Bates get his hands on the steam engine. {{spoiler|However, a faction of racial supremacist elves manipulates the dwarven king by threatening war between elves and dwarves unless he banishes one of his own clans as punishment for elevating humans. Years later, the king realizes that it was not, in fact, the elves' doing.}}
** King Thunderstone points out that the two races don't get along (but are civil about it) because [[Blue and Orange Morality|their moral and ethical philosophies differ too much]] for them to understand each other properly. Ironically, if you consider the philosophies, they are actually very similar.
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* [[Heroic Fantasy]]: Melded with [[Steampunk]].
* [[Heroic Spirit]] / [[Heroic Willpower]]: {{spoiler|Raven}} is the first character where the evil strategy of 1) murder 2) cast Conjure Spirit - doesn't seem to work. {{spoiler|Her}} ghost doesn't feel any pain from the summoning, and actively mocks the PC's attempts at interrogation.
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: The Elven Council went around righting wrongs and doing hero stuff in the Age of Legends, but [[Can't Argue
* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]:
** Virgil is [[
** The Silver Lady is also Adalon in Baldur's Gate 2, while Nick Jameson (the guy who voiced Gilbert Bates) has done a lot of roles, a small handful of which include [[Psychonauts|Dr. Loboto]], [[
** Loghaire is also [[Jade Empire|Master Li]], proving that he learned from his mistakes - [[Dragon Age|just not for very long]].
* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: Two of them. And four dwarf ones {{spoiler|(only one's left, though)}}. Probably more, but they're just too well hidden to be in the game. And one for super-powerful [[Designated Hero|"good"]] wizards. And one for [[Lizard Folk]].
* [[Historical In-Joke]]: While the use of an engine muffler to make a silencer may look like just another example of [[Rule of Fun|the game's]] [[Bamboo Technology|approach to item crafting]], both items were invented by the same person (Hiram Maxim) on the same science.
* [[Hollywood Silencer]]: Although, since semi-automatic pistols have yet to be invented and normal revolvers can't be silenced, [[Reality Ensues|it can only be used on a certain custom-built firearm]].
* [[Hoist
* [[Humans Are Bastards]]: Dwarven technology in human hands has propelled Arcanum into an industrial revolution, which has led to the destruction of Morbihan Forest and rendered Tarant the world's most polluted city. Dwarves in particular invoke this trope, and attempt to justify it; humans, being so short-lived compared to the non-human races, must be motivated by the fear of impending death (in other words, they want their life to mean something), driving them to greater and greater heights of progress. They rarely live long enough to see the destructive consequences of their actions.
* [[Hundred-Percent Heroism Rating]]: The PC gets better reaction from other characters (including shopkeepers who give them discounts) if he or she helped the inhabitants of a given settlement. Additionally, characters sometimes mention specific deeds of the PC and act accordingly. Of course, evil deeds get attention and respect of shady characters (including party members who base their decision to join the PC on his or her karma meter).
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* [[The Obi-Wan]]: Elder Joachim to Virgil.
* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: {{spoiler|Kerghan.}}
* [[One-Gender Race]]: An in-game reason was made up to explain what amounted to space limitations. Dwarf women are rare (you never see one in-game, and bringing up the issue with male dwarfs can somehow [[Berserk Button|trigger homicidal rage]]), while gnome and halfling women apparently suffer from [[Stay in
** Don't forget Half-Ogres, but it is never explained why in universe.
*** It is explained. {{spoiler|The Gnomish Industrial council keeps all the females that result from their breeding program at their farms to breed more half-ogres.}}
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** [[God Stat]]: Dexterity, and Speed in general if you're playing the game in Turn Based mode.
* [[Our Elves Are Better]]: The major elf groups can be ''colossal'' [[Jerkass|Jerk Asses]] to anyone who isn't an elf...up to the [[Knight Templar|Dark Elves]] who want to [[Fantastic Racism|bring all non-Elves under Elven domination, or else just kill them off]].
** [[Can't Argue
** [[Screw You, Elves]]: Unless you are totally unwilling to put up with her shit, in which case it's time to start killing (or pickpocket her).
* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]]
** Played straight to the extent that female dwarves are simply a rumour dwarves never discuss (and your player can't be one), so all dwarves to be found are bearded males.
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** [[Invoked Trope|Attempted invocation]] by {{spoiler|Magnus, who's so ashamed to be a city dwarf, he makes every attempt to be More The Same like he imagines ''real'' dwarves should be. Even when he doesn't exactly know the customs he should be following, he'll make them up as he goes along.}}
** Also subverted by {{spoiler|Preston Radcliffe, the dying 'gnome' at the game's intro. He's actually a dwarf who shaved his beard to disguise himself. To the rest of his clan, this is an unthinkable disgrace only partly forgiven by the severity of the situation. The player, if a dwarf, can lampshade this by saying, "We dwarves would rather cut our throats then cut off our beards."}}
* [[Pacifist Run]]: Possible if you have a high Persuasion skill and one of the following: [[Stealth Run|High prowling skill]], [[Non-Lethal Warfare|technological non-lethal explosives]], or the [[
** [[Technical Pacifist]] Runs are a bit easier: just build up your Charisma until you can sign up a bunch of henchmen to do your fighting for you.
* [[Physical God]]: Anyone of sufficient personal power is effectively a deity. Nasrudin and Arronax are even worshipped as such, {{spoiler|and they're hardly the most powerful beings in the setting. In the ending, you can declare yourself a god, and given that you just took Kerghan apart, it's really more of a [[Lampshade Hanging]] than anything}}.
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* [[RP Gs Equal Combat]]: Technically it's possible to complete the game without fighting and it isn't even hard, but it requires you to have a very specific character build. The non-combat gameplay parts are still better than those in most [[Western RPG|RPGs]] anyways.
* [[Scaled Up]]: Kraka-Tur, a human who transformed himself into a dragon using dragon's blood and a magic scroll. {{spoiler|Kerghan's necromantic experiments have also transformed him into a giant dragon creature.}}
* [[Schizo-Tech]]: Showcased as early as the brief animation that plays when you first start the game, in which a traditional knight in plate armor with an enchanted sword is showcased alongside a warrior with a [[Revolvers Are Just Better|revolver]] and a suit of [[Steampunk]] [[Powered Armor]]. Things only get more ridiculous from there - the market district of Tarant, for example, has a gunsmith selling ''machine guns'' next door to a weapons shop peddling swords and maces, airplanes and commercial [[Zeppelins
* [[Science Destroys Magic]]: One late conversation mentions that the world goes through cycles of magic, uneasy balance, tech, etc., with the game taking place during the uneasy balance leading into an era of technology. There's an [[Unreliable Narrator]] at work, however, {{spoiler|and other indications (such as the state of the world in the Age of Legends) indicate that it's possible for high technology and high magick to exist simultaneously}}.
* [[Science Hero]]
* [[Shotguns Are Just Better]]: Averted. They're cheap, light, and compact but are still objectively one of the worst firearms in the game, with [[Short-Range Shotgun|terrible range]], [[Arbitrary Gun Power|poor damage]], no armor penetration and a slow fire rate.
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Selective Memory]]: Our hero was going from the second largest city on the continent to the largest one, but does not remember where these cities are located. All our hero has is a map which shows the major topographical features of the continent, but none of the settlements. The player character is supposedly from a different continent which makes their lack of geographical knowledge about Arcanum understandable.
* [[Serial Killer]]: {{spoiler|L'Anamelach.}}
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* [[Take a Third Option]]: In the Boil, you have the option of joining one of two gangs to defeat the other. To get the good ending for that section, you have to wipe out both gangs. This is actually a quest in itself, but you could be forgiven for never actually receiving that quest since it's a bit difficult to find.
** Most of the quests in this game have a third option that can be taken in lieu of the "correct" one. For example, one quests tasks you with retrieving a gem from a shrine, only to be told that making any noise (i.e. failing to Sneak) will summon a bunch of monsters to kill you. There's nothing to stop you from just walking up, murdering the hell out of the monsters when they appear, then taking the gem at your leisure. Quests only ever give you an objective, they never say it has to be completed a certain way. That said, quest-givers do occasionally reward you better if you do it according to their instructions.
* [[Talking the Monster
* [[Third Person Person]]: Ristezze in Shrouded Hills, the first town you come to.
* [[Too Awesome to Use]]: Magic Scrolls end up being this to many players. You rarely encounter them lying around, and they cost a lot of money; even the nearly-useless ones. So they just end up sitting there, waiting for "that time" where you'll want that Scroll of Fireflash.
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* [[Vagueness Is Coming]]: The dying gnome at the start of the game helpfully informs you that "unimaginable evil" is coming to "destroy everyone and everything".
* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]:
** Use [[Charm Person|Charm Beast]] to befriend a wild animal, like a wolf or bear. Walk to the nearest town. Have your animal friend enter an occupied house while you wait outside. Magelock the door shut. Then dispel Charm Beast. (You might want to magically seal the windows, too -- you don't want anyone to escape the wrath of [[Everything's Worse
** There's also the fact that there exists only 1 NPC in the game who can't be killed {{spoiler|(The Silver Lady)}}. Every major character can be murdered, then have their ghost summoned and interrogated. A true villain may kill the dwarf leader of the Isle of Despair, then raise his spirit just to tell him that you're going to travel to his home clan and kill everyone - oh, and that you'll drag the corpses into the daylight just to add insult to injury (sadly, you can't actually drag the corpses outside). There's almost no limit to how much cruelty you can inflict upon the populace of Arcanum.
* [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]:
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