The_Onesin
First time out of the vault
What is this game?
- Arx Fatalis is an exploration heavy RPG game developed by Arkane studio. It was released in 2002, and is regarded as spiritual successor of legendary Ultima Underworld series.
Setting?
- This game takes place in the world of Arx, where the sun is no longer existent and most of the lifeforms have retreated to abyss below to avoid extreme coldness that has plagued the surface.
You play as a human male with the name of 'Om Shagar', meaning the person with no memory. It is up to you to find out what you are, and what will happen to Arx.
Features
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2MM8bn1Tew[/youtube]
- Arx Fatalis has features which are similar to The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind. The player can interact with basically all the objects he sees, and the game progresses on first person viewpoint. This game emphasizes dungeon exploration and puzzle solving, which are critical to advancement of the plot.
The player can level up after gaining enough experience point, and can spend his skills points into different skills. This game also features a rune magic system, which was unique to Ultima Underworld series. To cast a spell, the player needs certain rune stones in his inventory, and draw the shape of the runes perfectly to cast the spells.
Some things that get in the way
- First, this game is far too linear. You have to progress your main quest from quest 1 til the end, and the way you can finish the main quests are very linear.
Second, this game can get too easy. You will find overpowered weapons with bit of exploration, and from that point enemies will trouble you no longer. Magic is also extremely powerful in this game, and few casts of magic missiles will kill most of the enemies at your level.
Third, NPC interactions are very limited. You don't have any dialogue options at all, and the game will just automatically proceed with dialogues (slowly).
And finally, some of the puzzles are quite unpleasant to tackle. The hints are quite difficult to find, and it is likely that you will be frustrated after spending hours trying to figure out some of the answers.
In the end..
- Arx Fatalis is a decent RPG game with its own strong points and weaknesses. However, it is hard to deny that this game does feel like a dumbed down Ultima Underworld because of limited character interactions, smaller maps, and unbalanced game mechanics.
Even then, this game has good level designs and clever puzzles which will satisfy players who are looking for challenge. Also it is better than most of the recent RPG games, so I recommend trying this one if older RPGs from DOS era overwhelm you.