Frightened by 'crash' posts... Is Arx really worth the hassle?

bassmanret on 28/2/2005 at 13:14

Hi,

I'm a huge Thief fan, and usually hang out in those forums, but I've noticed this thing called the "Arx Fatalis forum" for some time, and finally decided to give the game a try. I found it pretty cheap from an online dealer I was already buying from, so I added it to my cart, and installed it yesterday. Things went downhill from there.

After the opening movie, "CRASH"!! Found the patch and installed it...."CRASH"!! Changed video settings, ...."CRASH"!!!

I started doing some searching, and have noticed one recurring theme in many forum posts at the arx website: "CRASH, CRASH, AND MORE CRASHES"!!

So, before I start getting close to the inevitable hair-pulling phase, I have a question for anyone who has actually gotten the game working and has played it to completion: Is it really worth the headaches it looks like it's going to cause me? I mean, assuming I even stick with it long enough to get it running at all, should I even bother? I'm envisioning countless hours of reading forum posts, followed by the back-and-forth emails to tech-support people, which may or may not produce a playable experience.

Bottom line: How good is it? Is it worth it? Should I bother?

Any suggestions/comments are most welcome. :)

addink on 28/2/2005 at 19:41

Well, I really like it.

And if it would take me a couple of hours of tweaking to play it, for me, it would definately be worth it.

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However this isn't a game for everyone. Some puzzles are really hard. And its quests are not always clear. Also -as you mentioned Thief- stealth is very dependent on your character stats. But..

this game OOOZES atmosphere: more than making up for any shortcoming in the game balance department.

Also, it features the best spellcasting system to date. It actually feels like you are casting a magic spell on whatever. And you'd get better at it just by practice, in the same way you get better at FPS if you play them a lot.

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My votes:
How good is it? -Really Good
Is it worth it? -Yes
Should I bother? -Yes

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Perhaps a good way to check if you thinks it's worth bothering: try it on a friend's computer.

bassmanret on 1/3/2005 at 00:56

Thanks for the reply, addink! You've convinced me to give it an effort, though how much I can't as yet say. I'll probably try to get it working in increments, so as to minimize the frustration level. I'll try a few things tonight, then if I get no results, I'll wait a few day before messing with it again. (sigh), here I go... :tsktsk:

Shadowcat on 4/3/2005 at 07:04

Good luck. It's a fine game with, as addlink mentioned, loads of atmosphere. It does have issues, but I certainly didn't experience the degree of instability that you seem to have, so I hope that it settles down for you. One thing to be wary of is that it's possible to reach places before you have any need to do so. If you find yourself wandering for a long time in new places with no real purpose in mind, you should probably backtrack a ways and try something else instead :)

(http://arx.rpgdot.com/) is a good web site to know about, and v1.17 is the latest patch (just to be sure you didn't get an older one by accident).

bassmanret on 13/8/2005 at 17:48

Yes, I know this thread is old... but I just wanted to say that I gave it my all, and Arx just will not work on my machine.

Huge disappointment, and even MORE of a dissappointment that I can't contribute to the TTLG community.

a sad day. :(

Shadowcat on 14/8/2005 at 00:28

Sorry to hear that, bassmanret.

You're more than welcome to post your system specifications, and maybe someone here might be able to offer further suggestions. With Arx being a relatively recent game, we don't exactly have comprehensive troubleshooting information sitting around here, but that's not to say that people definitely won't have answers.

The following information may help... Windows version and service patch level, DirectX version, CPU, RAM, Video card and driver version, Sound card and driver version, and of course a confirmation that you are using Arx v1.17 :)