Troika Games article

[g0zen]

I call bullshit.

A technologist has less advantages out of the gate, but in the long-term it more than makes up for it with advanced weapons, armor, healing, etc. The magick path was quick and packed a punch from the start, but the costs in fatigue and scarce level points more than balanced it at the end. There is no compelling argument that Arcanum had an imbalanced magick / technology system.

[bVork]

Try again. Guns, for instance, remain fairly hard to find and weak throughout the whole game. In fact, there are far fewer technological items found in Arcanum - most drops are heavily biased towards magical items.

Both disciplines should have been satisfying but different, rather than packing serious flaws.

[g0zen]

Umm..Yeah, they are hard to FIND..Because you can MAKE them with very EASILY acquired materials. Magicks can't be created, they have to be picked up through treasure. Face it, if you played things correctly they were balanced.

[bVork]

Face it, if you played things correctly they were balanced.

And that's the problem. Arcanum tried to be like Fallout and let you play the game any way you wanted. But it failed.

[g0zen]

How did it fail? Sure, it had bugs, but none of them were complete game-killers (after the initial patch) and none of them hampered my enjoyment. As for the system, as I said it worked fine. I think you're just arguing here for the sake of argument.

[bVork]

Hey, you're the one who felt the need to "correct" my statement.

My issue, as stated previously, is that Arcanum tries to be Fallout and fails. Have you played Fallout? There are a ton of ways to complete any given objective. As you yourself said, Arcanum has to be played "correctly" to be balanced. It isn't balanced if you want to do your own thing.

Furthermore, some of the materials required for the higher level technological items really are rare, despite your statement that they're all easily acquired. Both technology and magick get progressively more difficult to fully use later in the game, but magick has the advantage in that you can at least get useful item drops. Unfortunately, you run into the fatigue issue. So, both sides have fairly pointless higher level stuff - you'll end up using low or mid-level stuff even through the final parts of the game.

A game isn't balanced if both sides are equally screwed up.

[g0zen]

My issue, as stated previously, is that Arcanum tries to be Fallout and fails. Have you played Fallout? There are a ton of ways to complete any given objective. As you yourself said, Arcanum has to be played "correctly" to be balanced. It isn't balanced if you want to do your own thing.

Umm, your analogy fails right from the get go. First, you mis-characterized my statement. By 'correctly' I simply mean there is a game mechanic that one is encouraged to follow if they want to succeed. Fallout had those, they were called Action Points. In no way does playing the game correctly hinder the amount of player choice that exists in either game.

Furthermore, some of the materials required for the higher level technological items really are rare, despite your statement that they're all easily acquired. Both technology and magick get progressively more difficult to fully use later in the game, but magick has the advantage in that you can at least get useful item drops. Unfortunately, you run into the fatigue issue. So, both sides have fairly pointless higher level stuff - you'll end up using low or mid-level stuff even through the final parts of the game.
A game isn't balanced if both sides are equally screwed up.

Actually, they aren't. In fact a lot of the lesser technologist skills are ones that specifically create the materials you'll need later for higher level items. The system works. As for item drops, magickal characters are greatly helped by higher level drops, technologists aren't. That's part of the tradeoff. There is no vast imbalance in one over the other.

Naturally, as someone whose actually played the game from both angles I can tell you that at the end my technologist was far more formidable than my Magickal character. But, regardless, this wasn't because it's a better skillset; I followed a template on some Arcanum forums and it helped me choose which paths I invested my EXP into. As in Fallout, if you invest your points wisely your character will be great no matter if they're magickal or technologist, that's why it's a balanced game.

A game isn't balanced if both sides are equally screwed up.

They aren't screwed up though. Why is this so hard for you to understand?

[bVork]

Actually, they aren't. In fact a lot of the lesser technologist skills are ones that specifically create the materials you'll need later for higher level items.

Some disciplines are entirely barren of such incremental upgrades. Furthermore, you still need to find the second item in most cases.

As for item drops, magickal characters are greatly helped by higher level drops, technologists aren't.

Which means that magickal characters won't actually be using their higher level skills. And technologists still can't easily acquire the items they need for their higher level skills.

I followed a template on some Arcanum forums and it helped me choose which paths I invested my EXP into. As in Fallout, if you invest your points wisely your character will be great no matter if they're magickal or technologist, that's why it's a balanced game.

You don't seem to understand that two screwed up paths does not equal a balanced game.

In Fallout, you didn't need to follow a template to get a useful character. You didn't have to be psychic. The found schematics can be entirely useless if you haven't developed your character with the intention of using them.