Martin Karne on 30/7/2004 at 02:08
I wish the first game had the editor released to the public, but what the hell it's doesn't get released yet after 2 years.
Icebird on 9/2/2005 at 03:34
I realize I am *super* late on the draw here, but I just wanted to add--especially if Arkane employees are checking this board--that I thought Arx Fatalis was one of the most fantastic single player RPG's I have ever played. I was extremely impressed with the things you could do and the way it played considering that this was a completely in-house game engine. The art and enviroments were so believable and cool, especially the crypt. My (19-year-old) brother won't do the crypt levels at night time. Things in Arx still scare me once in a while they they jump out of nowhere. To me this is the sign of a great game and a development team that knows what makes games fun.
At any rate, I could go on for a long time about what I liked about Arx. Since I think most of that has already been covered here, I'm going to go on to what I would like to see with Arx 2.
1. Environment - One of the things that made Arx so fun was the creepy, believable level design. I'm a bit nervous that Arx 2 will be set above-ground as I think this takes away your best element. Please try to include at least some caves or creepy haunted castles, etc.
2. Spells - The spell system was genius, and extremely fun to play with. Keep this system and think of ways to expand and improve it.
3. Stats - I would discourage simplifying the statistics system; I didn't see anything wrong with it. Four main stats is pretty conservative compared to most RPG's today. The skill categories do need a bit of work as some of them were fairly useless or require too many points to be useful.
4. Quests - Overall I thought the story and quest system was very robust. I like being able to explore as much as I want after a point without having to go through all the quests. Most of the time this did not seem to have any negative impact on my questing.
5. Voice Acting - I don't know where you got those voice actors, but I hope you're getting most of the same ones for Arx 2. It is very hard to come by a game with believable and quality voice acting. The goblins were hilarious, and my brother and I frequently leave each other messages stating that, "Atok shoulda been da king."
Lastly, I saw someone else mention taking your time. I realize it's tough developing software when your profits won't be realized until you're finished, but please take as much time as you can perfecting this next installment, and I know it will be the top-quality product you are capable of making. Thanks so much for Arx 1!! May the success of Arx 2 be beyond your wildest dreams.
Icebird
Malygris on 13/3/2005 at 07:48
Since we seem to be bringing this thread back from the dead anyway, what's the news on Arx 2? Any updates of any sort?
elkston on 13/3/2005 at 11:58
Quote Posted by Malygris
Since we seem to be bringing this thread back from the dead anyway, what's the news on Arx 2? Any updates of any sort?
Nope. Not a peep at all from Arkane. I assume they are busy preparing to dazzle us. :)
Malygris on 13/3/2005 at 17:01
They better be. I don't want to drive to Europe and kick somebody's ass, but I will if I have to.
Digital Nightfall on 19/3/2005 at 03:17
Peep.
Shadowcat on 19/3/2005 at 11:37
Erm, does that mean that you're working for Arkane on this one, Digi?? If so, cool.
elkston on 19/3/2005 at 15:51
Okay, Digital Nightfall. I know that if you are truly employed by Arkane, that there are probably restrictions on what you can say publicly at this time.
So I'm going to make this easy for you. Please edit your original post to say "peep peep" if this is an accurate statement: "Arkane is working on Arx Fatalis 2, using the Source Engine".
The moderators can then delete this message (or I can edit it) to protect you.
Printer's Devil on 26/3/2005 at 18:04
I know I'm a bit off topic, but this seemed to be the most recent Arx thread. I finally got around to picking up Arx Fatalis a few days ago, and I have to admit it's an impressive accomplishment. While not everything is perfect (eg. the inventory system--urge to kill...rising!), the overall effect is very unique. That's why the announcement that Arx 2 will use the Source engine is a bit troubling. A game engine is not an intangible element--it can and does affect the final product. Are developers are trading in good ideas and gameplay for sweeter eye candy? Fans of the Thief series are only too familiar with where that notion led...
Musopticon? on 26/3/2005 at 20:04
Source in it's recent state is about five times more stable than Flesh or Ar's engine, so choosing it to power their next game was a good idea on Arkane's side. On the other hand, even as the engine itself is flexible, as shown by e.g Vampire:Bloodlines, the old versions of it seemed to have compatibility issues with hardware and sometimes memory leaks. On that regard; I hope Arkane is using the most recent version or is at least fixing or making somekind of a safeguard. Everyone remembers what kind of horror Bloodlines was prepatched. :nono:
