Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

"RPG of the Year?"

By far one of the best RPG's that I have played in all my years of Gaming. Ever since I got my first computer back in 1994, I've been a fan of Adventure and RPG games. Arcanum has brought back the joy and addiction of playing an RPG for the first time, and with better graphics and story line.
The game takes place in the land of Arcanum, where both Magick and Technology are existing. In some areas clashing and in others coexisting together. The game sort of feels like it takes place in a Tolkein type environment, maybe the influence of an upcoming movie played a role in this. The game starts out with a little movie, where it shows your Blimp getting shot down, and your the lone survivor. In the midst of the wreckage is a short dying individual who gives you a ring, and from here your journey begins.
In the game you can choose from one of an assortment of races, 8 in all, each with varying stats and characteristics. As well, a creative feature lets you choose a background for your character. It all rangers from being the Son of a Hero, to a Feral child brought up by wolves. Each has its perks and disadvantages, but they seem to even themselves out. And from this point you go to your character screen, where you have an initial 5 character points to ration out to a variety of different areas. You can go from beefing up your base skills, to learning spells, different areas of technology (i.e. Rifle making etc) or use them to becoming a natural with a sword. It's all up to you, and you alone.
The game took me around 12 days to beat, but I must of logged in around 70 hours or so of game time. (Whatever you do SAVE periodically, it Helps A LOT!!!! The F7 button, which is autosave will be your best friend) After taking a bit of a break, I am planning on playing it again because I think I missed some area's in the game. There are oodles of quests that you can do throughout the game, and none of them are timed or have to be done in any given order. Even if you take on some secondary quests, you don't necessary have to do them to finish the game. You do get some cool stuff though from doing them, especially initial in the game becuase your poor, weak, and mal-equipped. Even the the game is immense, and you do have a great deal of flexibility, you don't really get stuck. Even if you do, it will only stump you for a short period of time. The longest i got stuck at one point was towards the end, and it took me about an hour of trying to get it. I won't go into further detail, you guys will realize where I'm talking about when you get there. It's probally the hardest ''quest/puzzle'' in the game.
The game also has two stages of fighting, realtime or turnbased. I personally like realtime more, but it's all up to the player. Honestly, I haven't tried turnbased, but I might give it a go next time around, who knows.
Anyway, to wrap this up, go buy the game. It is a great RPG, especially in today's world of FPS and their clones. Have fun, Use your character points wisely, and save often!!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/03/01, Updated 09/03/01