Arcanum developer
chat, June 26, 2001, 4:00pm PST
Edited for content by skwerly, mascot of GamesNET's #arcanum
<Calis> Hello
to you all, and welcome to this Arcanum developer chat!
<Calis> Before we begin, the only ground rule: Please do not disrupt
the chat. This includes repeatedly leaving and rejoining the channel,
and repeated nick changes.
<Calis> As this is a moderated chat, questions should be sent to
me, and I'll forward them to the channel at the appropriate time. You
can msg me by double-clicking on my name, for the IRC-inept among you.
<Calis> While the channel is moderated, you can join #arcanuminn
for unmoderated chat.
<Calis> Now before we start with the questions... how about you
Troika maniacs give us a description of who you are and what you do?
<shellman> My name's shellman... Sharon Shellman and I buy the cookies.
:)
<Leon> I'm leon, the joint ceo/art director/designer/silly guy
<Steve[Troika]> <-- programmer and official dog playing toy.
<JDA> I'm jason and i eat cookies. do art, design. go insain
<Steve[Troika]> Jesse is rebooting, his computer sucks.
<TimCain> I am Tim. I like candy, system level design and programming
<ChuBaka> I'm Tiffany and i .... i dunno
<ChuBaka> what do i do?
<Steve[Troika]> You scratch the dog when he's bored.
<shellman> Uh??? Help with the general lunacy
<Calis> well, wanna get started with the questions?
<Michael_Wolf>
How many and what kind of multiplayer (or singleplayer) scenarios will
ship with the final game?
<JDA> one
<shellman> of each
<shellman> We're leaving the mod-making for you guys
<Leon> One each, though we've made a module to be distributed by
some outlets
<shellman> Although I'll make a few small ones to demonstrate the
manual
<Steve[Troika]> The multiplayer module much smaller than the single
player one.
<Leon> ...and then there's the two uh, nevermind
<Kozmo_Naut>
How do you feel about Arcanum at this moment. Is it all you hoped it would
be?
<shellman> I don't think any game is every *all* you hope for. But
we're very, very happy with it.
<Leon> Arcanum is everything and more!
<Steve[Troika]> I'm overly impressed with all of the great things
we were able to get into Arcanum.
<Ilraven> Well, it has almost everything from the original design
doc. ;)
<TimCain> It turned out to be HUGE too!
<shellman> Its definetly our best effort. And a ton of fun!
<JDA> It has most of what I wanted, a little less and alot more
I didn't think wluld be in there.
<Michael_Wolf>
Will there be any "official" scenarios after the release?
<Leon> Possibly
<shellman> Probably.
<Steve[Troika]> Well I know there was a module that was to be released
with special retailers. Rumor was internally some people had their own
'mods' they wanted to work on, but nothing official I know of.
<TimCain> Some people here are making mods. I am not sure if Sierra
has in mind anything "official"
<shellman> Depends how swamped we are with the next baby.
<Calis> Speaking
of The Next Baby... I take it you won't be answering questions about that
in any shape or form? :)
<shellman> Its a .... game! :P
<TimCain> Sierra wants it to be mum for a while...
<Thenomain>
Thenomain's Important Question: Will the amazingly popular and wonderfully
fun "Twixt" card game (based entirely on the Arcanum world itself)
be distributed with Arcanum?
<Steve[Troika]> I don't think it's on the CD, and it would be up
to sierra to have it printed out and put in the box. So I don't think
so.
<Steve[Troika]> But I could be wrong.
<shellman> I don't believe it will be on the CD, but I'm sure it
will be available. Sorry about not on the CD :(
<Sahin> Question
about multiplayer: Will we be allowed to have 1 character we join in many
games with (via Diablo), or a new character for each game?
<Steve[Troika]> Your character gets saved and can go to different
games. Items do not transfer over however.
<Steve[Troika]> You can also export your character from the single
player game into multiplayer.
<TimCain> I used my character, MR. Speedo, in several games.
<JDA> The character becomes unique with each game you join.
<stravaig>
to all: what is the longest stretch of time you spent at the office while
working on arcanum?
<Leon> 20 hours
<shellman> Jason did 3 straight days...
<Ilraven> Well, 7 days a week...but I never slept here...I live
too close by... ;)
<Steve[Troika]> I think one time I was here for nearly 20 hours,
but I took the next day off cus I was so tired.
<JDA> I got the record 3 days no sleep
<Fintilgin>
Does Troika have a philosophical or other preference for the isometric
3rd person POV (2d/3d irrelevent), or is there any chance we might see
a first-person perspective Troika RPG at some point in the future? Personally
I prefer 1st person, as it's the difference between >playing< a
character, and >being< a character. :)
<Leon> it's hard to do parties with a first prson perspective
<shellman> I haven't liked the party controls in any of the first
persons so far
<TimCain> I think we will try first-person one day, but it makes
for a VERY different game and groups are almost impossible to control
<Leon> but we never rule anything out
<Steve[Troika]> Personally I think each has its own severe limitations,
and really its up to the game mechanics to make it come out good.
<[SoO]Genocide_Angel>
What kind of cookies do they each prefer? <since they all like cookies
obviously>
<ChuBaka> i'm o a diet
<Leon> chocolate chip!
<TimCain> CHOCOLATE CHIP!!!!
<angryhippo> mrs. fields
<Ilraven> ginger snaps & peanut butter ;)
<shellman> I think we go through Nutter Butters and Taffy cookies
the most
<JDA> Choc Chip
<TimCain> Girl Scout cookies too
<angryhippo> uh... nutter butters!!!
<Steve[Troika]> MMmm... my roommate's parent's neighbor makes a
mini chocolate chip with vanilla pudding baked in it, its absolutely wonderful.
<Calis> <stravaig>
have you done a patch yet?
<TimCain> We have code in place for the patch, we are one version
ahead of the gold right now
<Leon> We're working on something
<Leon> maybe
<JDA> Not officaly.
<Leon> uhm or maybe not
<Steve[Troika]> Huh, whats a patch, Tim's too perfect of a programmer
to need a patch.
<Leon> it's not to fix bugs....
<Leon> Ooops
<Leon> did I let something slip?
<Hecktar>
If Any charecter can beat the game(even a weak one) is this means the
end-boss is easy?
<Ilraven> It means that there is more than one way to "win"
the game... :)
<shellman> Yeah... the end-boss is a wus. ;)
<Leon> It depends what kind of bugs you exploit, I mean, what strategy
you take
<Steve[Troika]> There are always multiple ways to get out of different
situations.
<Leon> It depends which followers you have
<JDA> If you are weak you better have some friends.
<TimCain> The game takes so long to play, that the end boss kills
you via exhaustion
<Leon> I think Chad wrote 152 different follower interactions for
the end
<TimCain> Mostly "Let's run away!"
<Telchar>
Editor related question: What can we edit regarding the magick spells
and skills ?
<Ilraven> You can't add any new spells or skills...
<Ilraven> But you can attach spells to items...
<JDA> You can via scripts in a way
<Steve[Troika]> You can't really change any of the ones that are
already there. But there are other spells besides those of the colleges
to have in scripts.
<Ilraven> Yah, you could "script" skills/etc., for a module...would
be specific to it
<_Strider_>
why did they remove the background editing?
<shellman> Uh... it wasn't *removed*
<Ilraven> Just never made it in...
<shellman> Sadly, we just didn't have time to add it.
<Steve[Troika]> The engine doesn't really support having text stored
in players well.
<shellman> That was one of the few things that we envisioned that
didn't make it.
<Fintilgin>
How do the difficulty levels/experience gained differ in the final build
from the demo we've played?
<Leon> It's hard to remember
<JDA> A little steeper
<Leon> The game balance improved dramatically in the last month
<Eiloch>
If you had a chance to do this all over again, fresh from the start, would
you do anything differently? Are there any design decisions or such that
you wish you'd gone with a different way to start with?
<cmoore> I'd fire Leon...
<shellman> More people!
<JDA> that is a big question
<Leon> I'd cut Chad's pay
<cmoore> don't let me answer...
<TimCain> I would have gotten the dog earlier
<Steve[Troika]> I know I wouldn't have let so much of the game get
written without multiplayer support already in place.
<Leon> Definitely more people
<Steve[Troika]> And of course, more and more and more people.
<Ilraven> and more cookies
<Leon> We figured that we had about 2.5 full time artists for the
duration of the game
<Leon> compared to every other games 15
<cmoore> A more comprehensive design as well...
<Leon> You should talk to the lead designer about that, CMoore
<shellman> Or some designers that didn't keeping adding more and
more and MORE! :P
<Leon> Yeah, Chad
<cmoore> I take no responsibility for anything...
<Leon> I remember a certain ship captain
<toblix>
How do you feel about the criticism Arcanum's graphics received? Are you
satisified with the games graphics or would you, if possible, improve/change
it?
<cmoore> go ahead, art director... :)
<Leon> Once again, we would have been helped by having about 10
more artists, but I think we got some pretty good things in there
<Leon> I think the art has been inordinately slammed
<shellman> I agree
<Leon> It isn't horrible (leon breaks down in tears)
<Ilraven> especially, wait until you see other places in the game..
;)
<Steve[Troika]> I do think there are a lot of apples to oranges
comparisons in terms of the graphics too.
<angryhippo> there are some really beautiful areas in the game though,
that's for sure.
<Steve[Troika]> That and the later parts of the game are rarely
reviewed.
<stravaig>
so, is the teleport spell going to be useless in mods? if so, is there
any way to alter it and make it usefull?
<Ilraven> it's not useless...
<ChuBaka> it's not useless, it's just not as useful?
<Ilraven> it teleports you back to the starting point of the module
<TimCain> It is trivial to make teleport scripts and attach them
to items and tiles
<Steve[Troika]> I do believe without a worldmap the teleport spell
is like a recall spell, brings you back to the start point.
<toblix>
Are any of you planning to write a Post Mortem for Gamasutra? I find those
interesting to read.
<Steve[Troika]> Tim loves writing those, don't you TIm.
<Leon> We were just speaking about that today
<JDA> Just talkin' about it
<TimCain> Funny you should ask Toblix...
<cmoore> I have many opinions...:)
<shellman> Do we each get to write our own?
<JDA> We plan on it
<TimCain> Yeah we will write a post-mortem
<TimCain> Shellman will write NOTHING!
<cmoore> "...I blame everyone else..."
<Leon> Yes, something will be written
<TimCain> Gamasutra may not want it...
<shellman> Can they publish words like that?
<Calis> by the way, fully 3 people asked the Gamasutra thing. They
really want it. :)
<Korny> Can
I put my own music in my MODs ????
<cmoore> Of course!
<Steve[Troika]> Yup
<ChuBaka> mp3 right?
<cmoore> yup
<JDA> Yes no prob
<Olvan> How
well do you think you balanced firearms and tech-melee weapons?
<cmoore> JDA?
<Leon> Testers?
<shellman> Anyone? :P
<TimCain> Bueller?
<angryhippo> wellll.........
<ChuBaka> it's pretty well balanced
<Leon> I sense some stalling here
<JDA> I think they are
<Steve[Troika]> Urm is such a confident response.
<Ilraven> I think they are fairly balanced overall...
<cmoore> IMHO, I think they are balanced very well...I played both
kinds of characters, and both were viable and enjoyable
<ThemisMH>
will there always be many paths to solve a quest or you will have to get
to an endless bloodbath to the bitter end? How about the final challenge
will we able to face it with many different ways or just pure violence?
<Ilraven> Yes, there are multiple solutions to all main story-arc
quests...side-quests are different story though
<Steve[Troika]> Some non-story arc quests may be VERY specific on
how they must be finished, but from what I can tell the trip down the
main game can be finished many different ways.
<angryhippo> there are different ways indeed.
<cmoore> There are more paths in Arcanum then in any game ever made.
<TimCain> The Pick Pocket skill is an excellent way to avoid direct
confrontation
<Calis> And he's not just bragging.
<cmoore> Beleive me...I had many nightmares about those paths...:)
<_Strider_>
what do you guys have to say about that pirated version of the game that
has been leaked
<cmoore> Walk the plank!
<TimCain> They are bad people!
<Ilraven> well...it was bound to happen...we certainly aren't happy
about it...
<ChuBaka> that version isn't as cool as the final version
<cmoore> exactly...
<Steve[Troika]> You tell them Tiff!
<shellman> Um... we're not shocked
<JDA> I personaly can't say any thing.
<angryhippo> good save good save.
<cmoore> [uh...wasn't that the final verion...?]
<angryhippo> no
<shellman> Shhh dumbass!
<JDA> no
<ChuBaka> HAHAHHAH!
<cmoore> sorry...uh...nothing to see here!
<TimCain> No the pirated version is full of bugs that erase your
hard drive
<angryhippo> uhhh....
<Calis> [no, it was the "blow up computers all over the world
next week" version, I think]
<Steve[Troika]> Piracy is bound to happen, we didn't want it to
but we expected it.
<SierraPR> The pirated version will sleep with your wife and burn
down your house
<Steve[Troika]> And beat your dog on Sundays.
<Ilraven> even more than you do
<ChuBaka> i don't have a wife, and thankfully nor do i have the
pirated version!
<stravaig>
now that it's done, where are you all going for vacation?
<Ilraven> vacation?
<JDA> HAHAHAHA
<JDA> Not any time soon.
* TimCain looks up "vacation" in the dictionary
<Steve[Troika]> If I can ever get this shackle removed I'd be happy
to leave, but at the I think Tim and Jason and Leon have lost th ekey.
<Ilraven> I want to go to Spain again someday... *someday* ;)
<shellman> We get vacations?
<JDA> but weekends are nice right now
<shellman> Yeah... we ACTUALLY get weekends... Go figure.
<ApTyp> Do
you hope to repeat or possibly exceed the success of Fallout? If yes,
why - the market is getting more and more saturated with CRPGs these days.
<shellman> We very much hope to exceed the success of Fallout.
<Steve[Troika]> Personally I had nothing to do with Fallout so I
think of the game as hopefully being independantly successful.
<Ilraven> Well, obviously we want it to be as popular as possible...the
depth of the game is so huge, I think people will really enjoy it immenselly
<cmoore> I think Arcanum will do much better than Fallout as well...
<shellman> And I don't think there are too many rpgs out there right
now.
<Calis> Ok,
now an important follow-up to the 2.5 artist thing...
<Eiloch> What exactly does half an artist look like, and was he
or she a result of some playtesting with real swords?
<ThemisMH> what happend to the other half of the artist?
<Leon> He became a designer
<Ilraven> We left it at the last building...
<cmoore> Cooter...
<shellman> they were uh... doing design and scripting and dialog
and crap...
<Telchar>
Follower Q: will followers join or leave the party because of the story
? and can we loose a follower with no way of getting him back ?
<angryhippo> yes
<ChuBaka> yes
<Steve[Troika]> The easy answer is: yes
<cmoore> yes!
<stravaig>
will you forgive me if i get the pirated version, but still buy the game
when it hits the shelves?
<cmoore> no
<ChuBaka> you must pay with girl scout cookies!
<Steve[Troika]> No we'll hate you forever.
<Steve[Troika]> But of course our love can be bought by chocolate.
* TimCain pulls out his notebook and writes "Stravaig"
<shellman> You must pay for your sins in chocolate...
<stravaig> chocolate chip okay?
<Whipporowill>
Will the next "project" have a bigger team, or is that still
to be decided?
<Leon> BIGGER!
<Steve[Troika]> Well if we keep eating chocolate we'll get bigger.
<TimCain> We plan to expand, both in number and in size
<cmoore> We're eating as much as we can to increase the team's size...
<JDA> Yes, we will be adding people
<Ilraven> *We*?
<shellman> More money = More people, right? ;)
<cmoore> Uh...you'll have to run that one by me, JDA...
<cmoore> Let's do lunch...
<Lord_Davidian[TTC]>
What were your favorite character types to when playing Arcanum?
<ChuBaka> half ogre mages!
<ChuBaka> then elf mages!
<TimCain> I like the dumb ogre fighter. Some of the dialogs made
me spew with laughter!
<cmoore> Dwarf Mechanist with bow skill...unstoppable...
<shellman> half orc or half elf female mage.
<Steve[Troika]> Suave gun toting humans.
<Ilraven> I liked mages a lot...but that's because I had to test
spells all the time ;)
<JDA> Gunfighter with a little magic
<angryhippo> female half-orc raised in the pits.
<TimCain> Dont forget Xena with a boomerang
<cmoore> Anything, as long as your not a mage...
<Korny> Can
I lock my mod if I don't want it to be edited ??
<Steve[Troika]> Nope, it can be unpacked. Although if you repack
it it is not considered the same mod.
<JDA> No, but it wont be seen as the same mod
<Cw5|Cybermancer>
How many hours of gameplay will there be (min/max)?
<Leon> I think it's about 60 minimum
<JDA> 60 minum sounds right
<cmoore> 200 max
<TimCain> It's a HUGE game
<Steve[Troika]> I still haven't finished the game.
<enclave_trooper>
are there any safari quests... i really want a safari quest..
<cmoore> hmmm...maybe...
<ChuBaka> kinda like yah
<cmoore> I'm sure you'll be happy...:)
<angryhippo> yes.
<Steve[Troika]> Well if you buy little plants and place them by
your desk, and buy one of those funny pit hats, and of course turn on
Animal Planet during the Croc Hunter, it'll seem like a Safari.
<[Saints]Dabrinko>
What exactly was translated to europe?
<shellman> Dialog
<shellman> lots and lots of dialog
<cmoore> everything...
<Leon> French and German
<angryhippo> the languages you mean?
<Calis> you got voice-overs too?
<shellman> box and manual too, I believe
<Steve[Troika]> From what I know, English, French, German, and French
voice overs too? (not positive) and manuals too.
<cmoore> yes, I think so...
<SierraPR> sounds right - I thought Spanish too, but I could be
wrong
<Lord_Davidian[TTC]>
How do you all unwind when things get hectect at work?
<shellman> We beat on Tim
<TimCain> I am beaten
<ChuBaka> cooter pettin'!
<Ilraven> We walk the dog. ;)
<Steve[Troika]> We wait until Chad is not around and drink till
we puke.
<Ilraven> Well, *some* of us puke. ;)
<shellman> Let the children run wild in the office for a while?
<Leon> We go home and bask in the glory that is our children
<Steve[Troika]> And then we walk the dog in traffic.
<Steve[Troika]> I guess Jesse (while sober) supervised.
<shellman> We eat out a lot?
<ChuBaka> super smash bros
<TimCain> Captain Morgan
<Ilraven> UT
<ChuBaka> mario kart 64
<shellman> More COOKIES!!!
<Calis> Next
question is one you've heard a zillion times, but people love hearing
about it, so-oo...
<Telchar> Will events reported in the tarantiant daily always link
to real events in the world ? like the black root werewolf, for instance
?
<ChuBaka> "real world?"
<Leon> Not always, but there are some cool ones in the game
<SierraPR> That would be funny to grab a Tarant Daily with the headline
"Bush Meets Sharon, Says Sees Some Progress"
<cmoore> There will be both kinds...things that are happening in
the world around you, and things that you make happen in the world around
you...
<toblix>
How do you come up with the death animations? Where do you get inspiration?
<Ilraven> cartoons? :)
<angryhippo> from real world expereinces
* Ilraven edges away from angryhippo.
<shellman> Our sick, twisted imaginations?
<Steve[Troika]> Some say itchy, others say scratchy...
<stravaig>
what's your favorite quote from the Holy Grail?
<TimCain> "Some call me...Tim?"
<shellman> Spank Me?
<shellman> (boy am I gonna hear about that one...)
<Olvan> Who
is the main responsible for writing the tech schematic descriptions?
<Leon> CMoore
<shellman> Chad
<ChuBaka> CHAD!
<Steve[Troika]> Chad!
<angryhippo> go chad!
<Calis> I think Olvan means: "They're really good! Good job,
Chad!"
<Leon> I gave him spiritual support, though
<cmoore> thanks!
<angryhippo> they're hilarious.
<enclave_trooper>
are there romances in arcanum?
<cmoore> yes...
<ChuBaka> HA! yep
<angryhippo> uh... "romances"....
<ChuBaka> they can be interpreted as such in any case
<angryhippo> yes, what she sad.
<Leon> It depends how smooth you are
<shellman> Some fine romances can be found at Madam Lils. ;)
<shellman> Baaaa
<cmoore> smoothness is rewarded...:)
<Leon> How long does it have to last to be considered romance?
<Steve[Troika]> If playing a little Barry White while you go to
madam lil's is romantic I guess so.
<delta> Can
we ride some veicules in the game?
<Leon> Nope
<cmoore> trains...
<cmoore> boats...
<ChuBaka> steamrail
<Whipporowill>
Are the manuals translated for all non english speaking countries? Can
I get a hold of a english manual if I'd prefer it to my native tongue?
<Leon> The manual is translated for France and Germany, at least
<Steve[Troika]> If you buy the English version you'll get an English
manual.
<Steve[Troika]> I think French and German are in their respective
languages.
<Leon> I think if you buy the german version you get an english
manual
<Leon> and the french manual comes with the english version
<Whipporowill>
Are there any female halfling/gnome/dwarf/half-ogre npc's? I believe I
saw a female halfling in Shrouded Hills
<shellman> Yes.
<Leon> she was hot, wasn't she?
<shellman> at least for the first 2
<[AW]Bad_Buck>
For the mods can you have your own Tarant Daily with your own headlines?
<Leon> YES!!!!
<TimCain> Yes
<Steve[Troika]> Yup.
<Ilraven> Yup, cool!
<shellman> Uh... that would be a positive. ;)
<Leon> They are extremely easy to implement, as well
<TimCain> That was a TC triv
<Leon> It's all text file based
<stravaig>
mod making: can you lock a follower's inventory (or an item in their inventory)
so that the pc can't take it?
<Leon> YES
<stravaig> like $$?
<cmoore> YES
<Leon> You can't lock it, but you can make items themselves not
removable
<angryhippo> yes
<Leon> Or you can flag items to be no show, so the PC can't even
see them
<ThemisMH>
will each NPC have its own story that will unfold through the game like
Torment did?
<Leon> Most of the main ones do
<cmoore> what leon said...
<TimCain> we have a lot more NPC's
<ChuBaka> tim, it's not nice to brag
<Leon> You can even recruit some main story arc characters...
<cmoore> There are almost 20 unique followers...
<Whipporowill>
Would you consider adding a fan-made follower as a prize in a contest
(for the next project)?
<cmoore> leon has to implement it...
<Leon> We'll consider anything if the price is right
<Steve[Troika]> If the "winner" happened to know how to
"play ball" it may happen.
<Sawtooth>
But does the paper have to be the "tarant daily", or is that
font based and not in the art?
<Steve[Troika]> The title of the newspapers all say Tarant Daily.
<TimCain> That is in the art
<Leon> You'd have to hack the code for that
<Leon> which I'm sure no one will do
<shellman> Its the only newspaper in Arcanum. ;)
<Ilraven> It gets shipped out to all of the towns...
<ChuBaka> it's like omnicorp
<cmoore> Its the only one you need...
<shellman> Even those unheard of ones in the mods...
<Leon> The Tarantian has bought every newspaper publisher in Arcanum
<Cw5|Cybermancer>
Is there religion? (if yes) is it a big factor?
<cmoore> Hmmm...interesting question...
<shellman> yes. No.
<cmoore> Yes...there is a main religion (see: Virgil) as well as
various other "pagan" religions
<cmoore> they will play a part in the game as well...
<enclave_trooper>
what games are you guys looking forward to?
<Leon> Arcanum
<shellman> War 3!!!
<cmoore> Arcanum 2
<angryhippo> metal gear solid 2
<ChuBaka> dynasty warriors 3 (and arcanum 2)
<monkeypunch> Civ 3, arcanum
<TimCain> Shadows of Luclin
<JDA> War 3
<Leon> Warcraft 3
<cmoore> Baldur's Gate: Throne of Baal. I need some new coasters...
<ChuBaka> unreal championship
<Leon> Oh, wait, I meant Empire Earth
<stravaig>
would you guys 'sell out' and let product placement ads in your games
for enough money? like, being able to buy coca-cola or pepsi in a tavern?
<Leon> Define "enough money"
<cmoore> Of course
<Steve[Troika]> Perhaps you missed my statement about "playing
ball".
<Leon> As long as it didn't impinge on our integrity
<TimCain> Nope
<cmoore> Virgil could sport a rolex, drink some Heinekin...
<Steve[Troika]> Integrety? Hahahahaa.a..a....
<JDA> only if i belived in the product :)
<shellman> wE LIKE money!!!
<Leon> Though who needs integrity when you're rich?
<cmoore> exactly...
<Steve[Troika]> When Mike's driving around in his Lambo he's not
caring about integrity.
<enclave_trooper>
in iwd there are musical things for the bards.. i kno arcanum has no bards..
any items similar to that in the game?
<JDA> no musical things realy
<shellman> Didn't we shoot all the bards?
<cmoore> No singin allowed in Arcanum.
<Leon> isn't there a music box?
<ThemisMH>
are there factions, clans etc if so how essential are to the game does
the game involves politics?
<cmoore> Factions can determine who will help you in a fight...
<cmoore> They can also alter people's reactions to you...
<Leon> The main story arc has it's share of intrigue, but the factions
and politics are much more evident in the side quests (we needed to allow
every character to finish the game, remember)
<cmoore> The game does involve politics, but not so much having
to do with factions...
<Calis> Against
my better judgement:
<stravaig> to each of you: who's your favorite fan?
<Leon> Paladin Lord!
<shellman> M!
<cmoore> Chud...my arch nemesis...
<Steve[Troika]> The tewit guy!
<angryhippo> oh, that's right! the tewits!!
<JDA> Yeah Scratch is it.
<cmoore> although the T-A guys are right up there as well...
<cmoore> As well as all the guys at the board...
<Calis> quick, someone say Strav is his favorite fan! He'll be really
depressed if you don't.
<Steve[Troika]> Oh, and Strav.
<TimCain> I like Strav!
<cmoore> and the rest of the fans who are going to BUY the game...
<Leon> Jason MacIsaac
<cmoore> oh, hell...I love everyone...
<cmoore> who is not a mage.
<Leon> I can't believe that guy has posted a journal for everyday
for so long!
<Cw5|Cybermancer>
Instead of killing/robbing people for their loot, can you bully/blackmail?
<cmoore> yes
<Leon> In some instances
<ChuBaka> for some people
<Fintilgin>
Do the major NPCs (like Virgil) have full speach for every line of dialoge
they have, or only partial speach, like in the demo?
<Leon> FULL
<cmoore> every line
<JDA> Yes
<angryhippo> yup
<Leon> Every last long winded drawn out line
<Steve[Troika]> Sometimes I think Virgil just wont SHUT UP!
<Whipporowill>
How much of the found treasure are random? Is it possible to find _all_
items with the same character?
<Calis> and we want an exact percentage. ;)
<cmoore> its possible...
<JDA> Most of the chests in dungeons.
<JDA> in the towns for the most part it is set
<Fintilgin>
Will some major areas (like the Mage city) be totally inaccesable to certain
characters (like techies), or will every character be able to /go/ everywhere,
even if they can't do all the quests.
<Leon> Every character can go most every place, unless his previous
actions have made it impossible
<cmoore> I don't think there are specific areas that are inaccessible
to certain characters...
<JDA> No you can go every where one way or an other
<ChuBaka> you just might not be able to DO everything there
<Leon> And you can always just kill the door guards if they won't
let you in
<cmoore> ...but there will plenty of quests that are customized...
<Sahin> is
it possible to get through the game without you yourself killing anyone
(i liked the thing you did with the dark elf wanderer and virgil, but
the gnome that attacked you on the other side of the bridge, you had to
kill.) :(
<Steve[Troika]> Technically there were ways around killing him.
<Leon> It would be difficult. You'd have to turn off auto combat,
definitely
<cmoore> You could do it...
<Ilraven> Well, you could have knocked him out... :P
<cmoore> You'd just have to let your boys do the fighting for you...
<TimCain> You will always be forced into conflict with random encounters
with monsters, though. You cannot talk your way out of a wolf bite
<Steve[Troika]> Bad doggie... charm beast... good doggie.
<cmoore> Animal Scent!
<Leon> What about animal scent or charm beast?
<Whipporowill>
How effective are unarmed combat compared to melee? Is it good idea trying
to stay unarmed during the game?
<ChuBaka> you might want to fetch a gauntlet
<Ilraven> Depends on your character stats, too..
<JDA> You generaly do more fatigue damage punching
<Steve[Troika]> Sometimes the speed of fists is better than the
damage of a sword.
<stravaig>
how weird does jason look without his beard, anyway? can we get a pic?
<ChuBaka> he's so HAPPY!
<Ilraven> Well, he looks different... :)
<shellman> Well, I think he's kinda cute, myself. :)
<Telchar>
We know that there will be more than 50 found schematics, but how much
"item-only" spells are in the game ?
<Ilraven> There's like 60+, but some of them are very specific
<Ilraven> or variations on other spells...
<Ilraven> Different durations, etc.
<ApTyp> Will
we see children NPC in Arcanum?
<Leon> No Children
<Saint_Proverbius> Why no children?
<Leon> Europe doesn't like them to be killed
<Steve[Troika]> Killing kids in europe is bad.
<shellman> We'd get an M rating. ;)
<Sahin> Will
the ogre champion be butt naked like in the demo? Some stuff we dont wanna
see.
<Leon> He does have underwear on
<cmoore> skivvies
<ChuBaka> sadly, there are no naked butts in arcanum
<TimCain> Elves have red underwear
<shellman> Isn't naked the best way for an ogre champion to be?
<JDA> yes he will still be naked
* shellman had
fun and will talk to you all later! :) Goodbye!
<Leon> I gots to go as well. Thanks to all you Arcanumaniacs
<ChuBaka> leon's gone to play UT
<TimCain> Are we done?
<Ilraven> almost 5:30
<Calis> Thanks for coming, guys.
<stravaig> yes, big thanks.
<Calis> Some nice infobits, especially at the beginning.
<JDA> sure thing it was fun
<Ilraven> Glad to come!
<ChuBaka> have fun then!
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