Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura: Difference between revisions

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* When selecting your items from the shop before you start, get the lockpicks, as they have a 10% boost, and the dress (if female), since you won't find either again any time soon. Then get some potions and a cheap dagger. You'll find better stuff shortly.  
* When selecting your items from the shop before you start, get the lockpicks, as they have a 10% boost, and the dress (if female), since you won't find either again any time soon. Then get some potions and a cheap dagger. You'll find better stuff shortly.  
* Magic is incredibly useful. Teleport will eliminate annoying travel, catrip will unlock most doors, harm will kill almost everything, and charm will let you talk to almost anyone in a positive matter. Don't spam it at the beginning of the game though, you'll run out of fatigue, and fall over.


* Dexterity is probably the most important attribute, since it governs most combat skills, as well as the thief abilities as well. If you want to succeed at melee, you need DX more than you need strength (although that helps, too).
* Dexterity is probably the most important attribute, since it governs most combat skills, as well as the thief abilities as well. If you want to succeed at melee, you need DX more than you need strength (although that helps, too).
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* Turn the battle system on turn based.
* Turn the battle system on turn based.
* Magic is incredibly useful. Teleport will eliminate annoying travel, catrip will unlock most doors, harm will kill almost everything, and charm will let you talk to almost anyone in a positive matter. Don't spam it at the beginning of the game though, you'll run out of fatigue, and fall over.
* If you're a mage, get Harm.
* Fighting fucking hard enemies? Have Harm ready and turn the battle on to free time and rapid-fire Harm as the enemy runs at you. You'll attack a lot faster and far, far more often than turn based.


* Even if you're going tech, get teleport. It is so damned useful.
* Even if you're going tech, get teleport. It is so damned useful.
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* If you do decide to go the tech route, then for the love of god invest in grenades and throwing. You can easily fashion grenades out of things you find in trash cans throughout the entire game and they are devastating. However, be aware that your character will have some of severe palsy when throwing at first so quick save before you throw grenades at the beginning of the game because you will, without fail, end up throwing one backwards into a group of guards/children/teammates/etc.
* If you do decide to go the tech route, then for the love of god invest in grenades and throwing. You can easily fashion grenades out of things you find in trash cans throughout the entire game and they are devastating. However, be aware that your character will have some of severe palsy when throwing at first so quick save before you throw grenades at the beginning of the game because you will, without fail, end up throwing one backwards into a group of guards/children/teammates/etc.


* If you're a mage, get Harm.
* If you're a tech that's high on the scale (75 or so) healing magic will almost always fail on you. BUT most of the party-joinable NPCs in the game don't fall far enough on the scale in either direction for this to be the case, so you might want to have a healer in your party to look after them, while you take care of your own healing.


* Fighting fucking hard enemies? Have Harm ready and turn the battle on to free time and rapid-fire Harm as the enemy runs at you. You'll attack a lot faster and far, far more often than turn based.
* Items to hang onto: shovel, mithril, Molochean Hand amulet, kathorn crystal, heartstone, and, if you're a tech, saltpeter & charcoal (the two components in bullets).


* You get more experience in combat if YOU'RE the one hitting the monsters, not your party members.
* You need a Charisma of 20 to persuade the final boss to give up.


* Be sure to travel to Dernholm and Black Root before heading to Tarant.
* It's rather easy to break arcanum with real time combat by making a super fast melee attacker and using support spells. some weapons like the steel dagger have a 2 frame attack animation so you just attack dozens of times per second, obliterating anything with a thousand cuts before they can even attack. And sometimes you can just enable turn based combat and attack like 20 times per turn or something crazy like that.


* In Tarant, you can deliver a note for a shady individual (in the Wellington Gentleman's club), solve the theft of a painting (the Garringsburg heist), and fetch a new crystal ball for a psychic. Be sure to complete the quests in this order, and for the crystal ball quest, side with Toussaud not Besson.
== Location Specific Tips ==


* Speak to Thom Grak (middle of Tarant) to start one of the more interesting quest lines.
* In Roseborough, speak to everyone in the inn. One of them will help you find a bridge that's crucial to travel on that side of the continent.


* There's a warehouse in Tarant (just E of the Docks subway station) with a halfling outside. Help him clear out the rats in the warehouse, and you can use any of the interior containers for storage. Handy because it's right next to a subway station and the docks (for when you get your own ship).
* Make sure you have (and are possibly wearing) the Molochean Hand amulet before entering T'sen Ang.


* Worthless Mutt is the best fighter NPC in the game. If you want him in your party, remember two things: (1) Mutt is so good at fighting that for the first half of the game, having him in your party will make combat very boring (and less lucrative in terms of experience, since Mutt will tear through enemies before you can even reach them). (2) If you want him in your party, you'll have to hoof it to the inn the first time you arrive in Ashbury. Get to the east side of the inn (SE part of town) and rescue him from the gnome kicking him to death. If you take too long, Mutt will die.
* You cannot return to the Isle of Despair once you have left. There is an  NPC there you need to talk to in order to get the best ending for Dernholm.  
 
* By the time you explore the Black Mountain Clan, you should be at LEAST level 20, your entire party should be wearing metal armor, you’ll need to be able to take some heavy hits, you’ll need to be able to heal yourself a lot, and you’ll need at least apprentice level in repair, OR lots of weapons, OR the ability to teleport out of a dungeon with an Exit scroll to get your equipment fixed by someone else.


* When it’s time to go to Thanatos, you can either pay a lot of money for passage or you can get your own ship. Getting the ship is more complicated, but worth it since you can travel to virtually any city for free from that point on.
* When it’s time to go to Thanatos, you can either pay a lot of money for passage or you can get your own ship. Getting the ship is more complicated, but worth it since you can travel to virtually any city for free from that point on.


* Items to hang onto: shovel, mithril, Molochean Hand amulet, kathorn crystal, heartstone, and, if you're a tech, saltpeter & charcoal (the two components in bullets).
* By the time you explore the Black Mountain Clan, you should be at LEAST level 20, your entire party should be wearing metal armor, you’ll need to be able to take some heavy hits, you’ll need to be able to heal yourself a lot, and you’ll need at least apprentice level in repair, OR lots of weapons, OR the ability to teleport out of a dungeon with an Exit scroll to get your equipment fixed by someone else.


* If you're a tech that's high on the scale (75 or so) healing magic will almost always fail on you. BUT most of the party-joinable NPCs in the game don't fall far enough on the scale in either direction for this to be the case, so you might want to have a healer in your party to look after them, while you take care of your own healing.
* You get more experience in combat if YOU'RE the one hitting the monsters, not your party members.


* You cannot return to the Isle of Despair once you have left.  There is an  NPC there you need to talk to in order to get the best ending for Dernholm.  
* Be sure to travel to Dernholm and Black Root before heading to Tarant.


* You need a Charisma of 20 to persuade the final boss to give up.
* In Tarant, you can deliver a note for a shady individual (in the Wellington Gentleman's club), solve the theft of a painting (the Garringsburg heist), and fetch a new crystal ball for a psychic. Be sure to complete the quests in this order, and for the crystal ball quest, side with Toussaud not Besson.


* It's rather easy to break arcanum with real time combat by making a super fast melee attacker and using support spells. some weapons like the steel dagger have a 2 frame attack animation so you just attack dozens of times per second, obliterating anything with a thousand cuts before they can even attack. And sometimes you can just enable turn based combat and attack like 20 times per turn or something crazy like that.
* Speak to Thom Grak (middle of Tarant) to start one of the more interesting quest lines.


* In Roseborough, speak to everyone in the inn. One of them will help you find a bridge that's crucial to travel on that side of the continent.
* There's a warehouse in Tarant (just E of the Docks subway station) with a halfling outside. Help him clear out the rats in the warehouse, and you can use any of the interior containers for storage. Handy because it's right next to a subway station and the docks (for when you get your own ship).
 
* Make sure you have (and are possibly wearing) the Molochean Hand amulet before entering T'sen Ang


* Keep one of these items on you throughout the game: shovel, mithril, kathorn crystal, and heartstone
* Ashbury: Worthless Mutt is the best fighter NPC in the game. If you want him in your party, remember two things: (1) Mutt is so good at fighting that for the first half of the game, having him in your party will make combat very boring (and less lucrative in terms of experience, since Mutt will tear through enemies before you can even reach them). (2) If you want him in your party, you'll have to hoof it to the inn the first time you arrive in Ashbury. Get to the east side of the inn (SE part of town) and rescue him from the gnome kicking him to death. If you take too long, Mutt will die.


== If you're playing a gunfighter/thief: ==
== If you're playing a gunfighter/thief: ==
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