Arcanum: I can't remember if it's worth 5 yuros

[Razgovory]

Morrowind had no dialogue recorded.  In a lot of ways, that was much better than having random dialogue  recorded.  I think one of the Gothic games was the first to have all dialogue recorded.

Deus Ex was the first one I remember.  I doubt it was the first.

[Queequeg]

Deus Ex was the first one I remember.  I doubt it was the first.

Knew I was forgetting something. 

[LaCroix]

GTA (maybe, haven't played it), Half-life, and Bioware games could not re-do Arcanum, because Arcanum was sandbox.  Sandbox games are by definition different.  Try again.

Arcanum was a brilliant idea poorly realized.  It deserves another incarnation, and the Bethesda game platform is the only current one that seems capable of handling it.  Do you really disagree with this diagnosis?

i disagree

i think the bethesda design is great for a moderately sized region in scope, but it would fail to capture the vastness of an entire continent. i personally remember enjoying the distinct countries, making it far easier to immerse myself in the game's universe. i don't think you can recapture that on a 16x16 mile map, especially when it takes less than 10 minutes to physically walk through the whole continent. with how travel worked in arcanum, of course only the major/important cities were available to visit, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a whole lot of smaller villages lying around. you can't recreate that with something that looks like morrowind.

i think to remake arcanum today, one would have to find a more indie developer. not that console developers are bad, but i don't think any of them could redo arcanum. the latest fallout game by one, i think, proved that. not that it was bad, but it was different. it was a good game set in the same universe, but it was not fallout.

[Josquius]

Anything is worth 5 euros. Its just a beer.

[Eddie Teach]

That's enough to buy a 12 pack of beer. But yeah, Arcanum is well worth it.

[grumbler]

i disagree

i think the bethesda design is great for a moderately sized region in scope, but it would fail to capture the vastness of an entire continent. i personally remember enjoying the distinct countries, making it far easier to immerse myself in the game's universe. i don't think you can recapture that on a 16x16 mile map, especially when it takes less than 10 minutes to physically walk through the whole continent. with how travel worked in arcanum, of course only the major/important cities were available to visit, but that didn't mean that there wasn't a whole lot of smaller villages lying around. you can't recreate that with something that looks like morrowind.

i think to remake arcanum today, one would have to find a more indie developer. not that console developers are bad, but i don't think any of them could redo arcanum. the latest fallout game by one, i think, proved that. not that it was bad, but it was different. it was a good game set in the same universe, but it was not fallout.

There is nothing inherent in the Bethesda model that says you couldn't have a larger world.  Most travel in Arcanum is fast-travel anyways (I am not sure you even CAN stumble across things just traveling on the Arcanum tactical map, and there was little in the game - or any game - more boring than having to walk far enough away from a major city center to activate the fast-travel mode), and the type of fast travel Arcanum used could be implemented pretty easily, and improved upon quite a bit.

In fact, IIRC, you need to have the Arcanum style of fast travel, because you needed to be stopped from getting to the elf village too fast (and the method used was to create a pass that you had to be told about before you could use it).