8 / 10
24 May 2006 at 12:14
Review by: Bloodclaw
This is one of those games that I bought cause it was really cheap (after all I'm playing it now and the game was released in the end of 2002). Of course that the main reason was because it's a dark RPG, where you play the role of the hero that has to prevent the summonig of a devil god. All the action is set underground, where you can find several races such as goblins, trolls, humans (just like yourself), dwarves and a king of meduse women.
When the game starts we find ourself held prisoner in a goblin cell with a big bump on the head and with amnesia. Fortunately the objective of the game isn't the well renowed "find out who you are and kill everyone that stands in your way". With the plot development your character starts to recover from the amnesia so no bother there.
The character creaction and it's upgrading is pretty straightforward. The primary skills are four: Strenght (needed for fighters), Constitution (more hitpoints), Dexterity (adds to defence and range to hit modifiers) and Inteligence (magic abilities, identifying items, etc.) The secondary skills are influenced by the primary ones and determines all your actions in the game and your capacities as well (mana recovery, items identifying, stealth, fighting skill - needed for certain weapons and armors, spellcasting, etc.) When you level up you are allowed to spend a few point in the primary skills (1 or 2 points) and a handfull of points on the secondary (usually 15 or more). All of these issues are more or less common to the rest of the RPGs that you can find in the market.
What really stands up as unique characteristic of the game is the spellcasting. For you to cast any spell its necessary to find or buy different types of runes which, when combined, allows you to cast a certain type of spell. You might be thinking "So what? learning a spell from a scroll or using the runes is all the same...". That's where things get really good because for you to cast a certain spell you need to "draw" it (the rune sequence for a spell) in the spellcasting mode. The system means that you need some time before casting a spell but the same happens to enemy spellcasters, giving time to dodge, run or attack them while they are doing it. A good news is that its possible to precast 3 spells that you can cast them just by pressing the correspondig button, which gives you an hedge in a fight. For what I've seen being a good spellcaster and having lots of spells is crucial for advancing in the game because the spells inflict far more damage than head to head combat. Not to mention that you can use the "Hit and run" tactics this way and finish a foe just by using spells.
Another good thing about the interactivity in the game is the objects manipulation. Jowood has done it in the GOthic series (which I played before trying Arx Fatalis) and in here its the same concept. You have to combine 2 or several objects to obtain a certain object that you need for a quest or just to be able to use it. For example, when you kill a rat you can recover the ribs from the body but for you to eat them its necessary to cooked them first, which can be done by lighting a fire and toss the ribs to it and wait for them to cook. Another example is in a quest with the goblin king. You need to give him wine and the only way to do it is by combining the wine with the pies that will be cooked and that can be found in the kitchen. Of course this extend to other things, such as making your own potions :)
The visual aspect is good. You play in a 1st person view and the 3d graphics are cool, specially the spell effects. There are a few bugs (I've installed the 1.17 patch), mainly without imoportance (cameras in some corners allows you to preview what is on the other side without walking through it, frogs that are in the air - seems that they levitate... and some other miner bugs). The cut scenes are really good and is an important part of the plot, such as the NPC's conversations. About the sound I really like it. Depending on the sound its possible to "see" where it comes from (with a surround system is awsome) and the background sounds are really good (play the game in a room without light for the perfect mood).
In conclusion, Arx Fatalis is a very good game in most aspects, good graphics and sound system and it doesn't need much system requirements to play it :D
Overview
User Reviews
Prices
Reviews
Change Country
RSS
