Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Is this the arcanum sequel i'v been waiting for?

Arcanum is my favorite game of all time so I know the game won't fill those boots completely, but I just wonder if theres any systems like Arcanum in this game?

Examples:

In Arcanum, you had MANY ways of completing quests/scenarios

1. First city, Shrouded Hills, you can speak to the doctor in town who has recieved a tip off that the bank is about to be robbed, you can help him save the bank and in return claim a reward. On the other hand you could track down the bandits (who carry rusty weapons, not very well equiped) and help them rob the bank, OR you could just rob the bank yourself. You could even steal the rewards off the doctor, just to be an ass ; )

2. There was a FANTASTIC reaction system in the game, depending on your intelligence you would either play dumb, or be incredibley smart and people would react accordingly to this. You could also increase people in a certain town reactions towards you by completing quests, and you could also put gear on such as smokers jacket that increased your reaction and this would open up alot more dialogue and gameplay. You could also get drunk and this would have even more different responses.

3. You could get fantastic gear at the start of the game by being a bit evil, stealing. For example in the first town there is a locked chest in the Blacksmiths where he keeps his stock, this is a very hard chest to pick lock early game but if you complete certain quests you could earn a fate point that would allow you to critical success the lock, at night, when the NPC is sleeping (Yes there was actually NPC scheduling, game felt very alive.) and loot stock, alot of good items to be had. On the other hand there is a travelling merchant in the first town who sells magical swords (one of the best swords in the game infact) if your brave enough, and strong enough to kill her or perhaps even pickpocket her, you could claim these powerful weapons for yourself.

These are just a few, a very small selection of some of the things that made this CRPG so incredible, and I just wonder if this game has ANY of these features? I hear a lot about reactive gameplay when people talk about this game which is why I ask this question.

I did play the first one and while it was good it didn't quite have the level of freedom thatbarcanum had, mainly when it came to the dialogue.

I thought Arcanum was an excellent game - certainly it belongs amongst the greats but I would invite you to experience this game on its own merits. The beauty of Divinity is that it is redefining what a tactical isometric RPG can accomplish and the types of battles you can have. Arcanum, while fantastic from a story and roleplay perspective belongs to a much older genre of more simplistic rpg's that had a more limited sense of tactical and combat possibilities.

Although you are welcome to use the creator to re-make Arcanum using this engine and I think you would have a much better game if you did that.

Cheers!

I loved Arcanum and this looks to be that times 100.

try it and see for yourself, it's as good if not better imho

Personally I don't think Divinity will ever quite live up to Arcanum but they're both pretty different games. To OP, is this an Arcanum sequel? No, not in the slightest. You can very broadly paint them similar enough but you'd just end up lumping the majority of cRPGs in there too. For instance, Tides of Numenera does everything you exampled.

Ultimately though it'll feel similar enough that I think you'll enjoy Divinity Original Sin 2.

I suppose combat wise it is very different and I understand that, but from a role playing perspective do these games at least come close to one another?

From a dialogue point of view I read that dialogue is different based on many different things, your race, class, origin and even your reputation towards that NPC. Is this correct or have I read to much into it?

I suppose I'm not looking for a game exactly like arcanum, but from a dialogue and role playing perspective nothing has ever come close to the detail and depth arcanum has, and I was hoping - from everything i have seen so far - that this game would be that title that does match it or even surpass it.

Arcanum had great reactive gameplay and it was the little details that counted. For instance, you could actually steal a merchants stock, what other RPG do you know where you can actually do that? There isn't one, every other role playing the stock is invisible. You could claim quest rewards by simply killing the quest giver or looting their house, how many games let you do that? None, just arcanum.

For these reasons and for many more - some of which I have noted in my original comment - are why the arcanum is my favourite rpg of all time and I want an RPG that matches the reactivity of that game.

I'm with you. The 3 games I have always wanted sequels/prequels to: Baldur's Gate, Arcanum, and KOTOR.

I love Arcanum. The combat kinda sucks, but where else can you actually choose how pretty your character is, AND IT MATTERS. Go ahead, play a character with Beauty: 1-3. People won't necessarily be unfriendly to you, but some might be. Some people will be straight up rude. Play as an ogre/orc and see how many people talk down to you or are downright hostile.

DOS 2 doesn't seem to be quite that responsive in regards to reactivity towards your character customization, but it does have people who will respond differently based on your race, though I don't know if your gender makes a difference or not. The crafting isn't on the same level as Arcanum... but, it is fun and worthwhile. No skill trainers, like in Arcanum, which is too bad- it is something I haven't seen any game do besides the Elder Scrolls games, and that was a different mechanism. Pickpocketing is MUCH more limited, and we'll see what happens with the full release... but they made some stupid mechanic where if you are SUCCESSFUL at pickpocketing someone... they will then accuse your entire party of stealing from them and immediately try to have the entire party searched... risking almost certain death if they go hostile because they find their stolen equipment/items in your inventory. No gambling. No substantive min/maxing... which is annoying. If I want my character to have flimsy health, in exchange for being ridiculously dextrous and fast, I should be able to... but DOS 2 won't let you do that. So, you can't have your Doc Holliday archer, who is continuously hacking up his lungs, yet still able to nail a fly to the wall with a bow and arrow at 20 paces (and believe you me, that I made my Doc Holliday gunslinger in Arcanum). DOS 2 is a lot more linear than Arcanum, so you can't just go wandering around freely, trying to find whatever suits your fancy. Maybe that changes after the 1st chapter, but that has yet to be seen so far. Day and night cycles? As far as I am aware, they won't be implemented in the game, which is too bad.

What else... I don't know, that is what I can think of off the top of my head, as I'm sitting here, hoping that it will indeed be available for download it a little less than an hour... but might be severely disappointed. I don't think it is the 2nd coming of Arcanum by any means, but it is a great game. Just based off of my experience with the early access, this is definitely going into my top 10, maybe even top 5 of favorite cRPGs.... For reference, that looks something like this to me:

1.) Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 (just so epic, so many ways to replay it, great party banter, so huge)

2.) Arcanum (most reactive game I've played, with largest ability to really customize your character in a meaningful way, and I love steampunk)

3.) Fallout New Vegas (only real drawback is that you can only have 1 companion and I don't really like the post-apocalypse setting)

4.) KOTOR 2 (made me actually appreciate the Star Wars universe- a tad short, but great party banter as well)

5-10.) Mass Effect 1-3, Shadowrun games, Neverwinter Nights 2, Planescape Torment... and I might be forgetting something, but those games all sort of occupy the same space for me. I love them all, but I don't consider them the absolute best.

What I would LOVE would be for a conversion of Arcanum to the DOS 2 engine. The combat in DOS 2 is way better, and could easily replace Arcanum's. Arcanum Remastered would be absolutely brilliant. I would 100% replay it, even though I have played it who knows how many times in it's original form.

I wish Larian would get the rights to the Arcanum IP and make a new game based in that universe. There are only a handful of developers I would trust to do that: Obsidian, Larian, Hare-Brained Schemes, and CD Projekt Red. If any of them announced a Kickstarter for it, I'd be on it like white or brown on rice...

Looking forward to Steampunk 2077... but that won't be until 2019, and it will probably be such a resource hog that I won't even be able to play it

I'm glad you too see the depth that Arcanum had. Many people here have probably never played it before and so have no idea where we're coming from when we speak about true reactive gameplay.

This game may tout its self as being that, but the truth is there are older games - much older games - that blow modern day crpgs out of the water, and its a shame because you would expect them to only improve not get worst. DOS is a step in the right direction - only a step - to getting that freedom that those of us who grew up in the 90s had, and I am looking forward to seeing what the future of DOS looks like.

As it stands right now however, interms of reactivy, Arcanum is still king and anybody who hasn't played it really owes it to themselves to give it a try because then you will see what all this fuss is about.

For sure. The early 2000s had so many brilliant games, and then along came shooters and 3d graphics and physics and cRPGs sort of "lost their way" as they were all being pushed to incorporate those things into their games. That's why I love Kickstarter and Fig, because they allowed the return of Shadowrun, Wasteland, Pillars of Eternity, and Divinity.

I'm hoping that Inxile might announce that they are going to do an Arcanum universe game... but, they are working on Wasteland 3, so that won't be happening anytime soon. Larian and Hare-Brained are the only possible candidates, because Obsidian and CD Projekt already have several years into the future forecasted.