edwardhuggett on 4/12/2002 at 19:59

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I agree with Sledge on his observations ...
After completing Arx I somehow felt like there were a few points which stopped it from being on par with Ultima Underworld, SS2, DX, thief etc.
technologically it was more superior than all the above games, as would be expected, and it had the same level of immersion and beleivability that all the classics have. However, wheras the UW series was presumably tested really hard for correct development of experience etc, and Deus Ex is obvioudly leading the way in this, Arx felt like this was the only area it really fell down.
I felt really rewarded if I searched for secrets in Deus Ex, of which there were many, but to a lesser extent in Arx as the reward was not always as, how shall i say, as "usefull" - it may be some potions and scrolls rather than some more exotic weaponry.
The town of arx, for example - I wish this was bigger and there were more secret areas here - ledges tucked away etc.
Don't get me wrong - Arkane have done a great job, but it almost feels like they need another team of people purely working on some really detailed levels with good rewards for exploration and following character sub plots.etc - the things like robbing the bank which you could only do later were pretty pointless as later on you have no need for money anyway .....

So in Arx 2?
- More detail
- More secrets with good rewards
- More bablanced character development
- More varied weaponry
- Less levels with "single objectives" (level 8 - only 1 real objective / use for the level, the ratmen level - a bit of a "filler" really)

Anyway they are just some thoughts, hope you see my perspective.
Cheers,
Ed

xman on 5/12/2002 at 23:52

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Is it a SCOOP ? There will be a sequel to Arx ?
:wot: :D ;)

p7eter on 7/12/2002 at 01:03

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thanks for the review sledge, i value your thoughts. i agree, it was agreat game, all things aside.

i loved the graphics too. i often really felt like i was "there". Like the great atmosphere in the goblin caves and crypt. For example when u heard the woman moaning sound in the background... i really wanted to find her and save her.

i didnt notice any problem with the sound propogation.. i guess since it wasnt required for gameplay to have occlusion, i didnt notice the lack of it. And i am used to thief FMS which often have bad zoning, etc so i guess my mind filtered it out. But i liked the atmospheric sound and the walking sounds... very high quality and moody, imho. I liked the snake womans voice :D

i agree journal was underutilized. and what i often thought were side quests turned out to be main quests... really not very many side quests like MW. I didnt like some of the skills. i thought there were not enough and unbalanced. Foremost, you have no idea in the beginning of what they can be used for later, so you waste precious skill points until you find your preferred style. You really need combat to win, i dont think a pure stealth character has it easy. Further, skills like arrow shooting are useless since theres only 1 bow in the game! (ok 2 bows, but ones a secret). I didnt think there was enough weapons/armor either. It was much more gear than a FPS, true. but much less than a rpg like baldurs gate.

puzzles were fun but way too hard. I agree: The Beast was lame and prescripted like half life. A non-independant-thinking annoyance of a quest. It is fine to make the player find non-violent solutions. But give them more options. I mean, I would run down the wrong path, the beast chasing me, and its a dead end. RELOAD (hope you use alot of save slots). Try another way: locked door. RELOAD. Find a differnt locked door. Try your key ring: failed. By then the beast has caught up and you are dead. RELOAD. try many different ways/doors and get frustrated, so I read a walkthrough. And I had to replay the whole level because i ran into the smashing room without grabbing the "dwarf meat". Im not a cannibal and no one needs dwarf meat, so I left it in the corpse. I mean, why the hell would i ever take the dwark meat with me? I never would have, until i read the walkthrough. Other stuff was often non intuitive, but i wont hold it against them, i just think its poor style. IMHO, the main storyline of a game should never require the user to consult a walkthrough. In this game I was at the arx.rpgdot.com like every 3 hours for hints. I never needed a walkthrough for Thief mind you, and I am a seasoned gamer. Side quests can be hard, fine. But the average player should be able to solve it on his own for the Main quests. Further, when trying to figure out how to do stuff, there is too much space. If you dont know where to meet the next quest NPC for example, it could be anywhere on all 8 levels! this is not entirely bad though, on the good side it makes you explore and take your time.

i didnt like the stealth system, its not as consistent as thief. i didnt play true thief style, but i put alot of points into stealth and i just didnt feel stealthy. it wasnt like thief where you can look at the ground/shadows and know how concealed you will be. Thief has many gradients always discernable. Arx was more like morrowind, where youre either $Hidden or $NotHidden and you can quickly fluctuate between the 2 if you move a little. I found it easier just to use an Invisible spell/potion during pivitol moments, like when i was stealing krahoz. Also i would never know when i would have a successful pick pocket. there was too much chance of failure whenever i tried. and i would just rather reload than have the whole town after me.

UI was great, but i would have liked more quickslots. like to quickly press a button to bring up my sword or switch weapons. and more spell slots. it was way too hard to cast spells during combat, because it would take at least 2 or three tries to get the game to recognise my gestures, and thats assuming i have the spell memorized already. But i loved the way u move mouse for spells, very intuitive.

all crits aside, i loved playing it. I agree that gamers are spoiled, but why shouldnt we be :D:D just giving my constructive criticism.

Brodieman on 9/12/2002 at 00:41

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I agree with Sledges review and infact with the great majority of things posted within this thread. In Australia Arx Fatalis has been a very low key release, maybe because it's battling with Morrowind to capture the FPS rpg market. So far i've encouraged everyone of my friends and contacts on my interne haunts to get behind this game and give it a good crack and see how they like it, hopefully at our end we will buy enough copies to keep Arkane pushing on to greater things.

Morte on 9/12/2002 at 08:56

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I didn't realise i should've used the dwarf meat before I saw it in a walkthrough either, but I managed to kill the beast without using it. I took a couple of tries before I worked out the timing, but it's doable.