Probably the most interesting fantasy world I've seen in any game. Some of the quests at about the half-way point became very frustrating leading me to drop it. Magic in this game should be really cool but feels mostly just unintuitive even with Arx Liberatis installed.

Steam says I have 15.5 hour in this game and that's all one play-though. I wish I could remember specifically why I decided to just drop it after that long but last time I played it was about 8 months ago. I'd like to pick it up again one of these days.

Игра вызывает у меня схожие с Готикой впечатления. Она хороша и в неё, казалось бы, стоит сыграть каждому, но время не щадит. Нужно приложить много усилий, чтобы преодолеть устаревшие её составляющие и начать наслаждаться. Если в Готике абсолютно недееспособное управление, в Arx Fatalis главная проблема - левел-дизайн. Типичный образец игр нулевых: локации из лабиринтов-коридоров и неадекватные-полусекретные действия для продвижения по сюжету. Очень бесит и много времени жрёт какая-то незначительная ерунда типа поиска кнопки в залупе мира (пещеры). Этот момент показался мне единственным значительным минусом. Система ближнего боя сойдёт. Магия и прокачка вообще фишка игры. Много оригинальных заклинаний самого разного предназначения, с которыми можно экспериментировать на противниках, на мирных персонажах и на локациях. К сожалению, я не качал магию и прочувствовать полноценно эту систему не смог. Банальный сюжет про злого бога, возрождением которого занимается поехавшая секта, тоже на достойном уровне. Лично мне разве что сеттинг не нравится. Ну как не нравится? Он мне омерзителен. Я ненавижу данжи-пещеры, а тут весь игровой мир - подземелье. А пещеры и есть пещеры. Вся игра состоит из тёмных однообразных туннелей. Очевидно, разработчики загнали нас в них, чтоб мы до бюджета игры не добрались.

Все перечисленные аспекты не раскрывают суть. Я пишу о первой игре Arkane Studios. И их почерк чувствуется. Главная фишка - взаимодействие игрока и мира, «иммерсивность». Arx Fatalis не имеет открытого мира и тысячу активностей. Она обладает количеством локаций, которое можно посчитать и не сбиться. Вполне компактна, комфортна. Как следствие, проработана. Изучение не утомляет. Над имеющимися объёмами игры разработчики постарались. Здесь даже придумана оригинальная система взаимодействия предметов и окружения. Она успешно косит под реализм, что добавляет очков атмосферы. Эта механика повсеместно используется в игре, в том числе и в мозговыносящих головоломках. К этому прибавляем магию, которую надо кастовать не нажатием одной кнопки, а начертанием символов, из которых состоят заклинания. Идея великая. Имеющимися на тот момент техническими возможностями, бюджетом и силами Arkane уже начали воплощать концепцию поглощающей живой игры, в законы которой веришь на уровне механик. Arx не RPG, но дарит схожее с этим жанром чувство погружения в другой мир и ощущение приключения. Проходить рекомендую только на свой страх и риск.

a really fun title only held back by it's age and questionable design choices such as mages being an easy mode and the last segments of the game being vastly harder than the previous parts of the game.

some puzzles are of questionable quality because their design very well could be placed in a category of a timesink to forcibly extend the playtime

also it's absurd how easy it is to softlock urself, basically anything that looks unique should be held on with dear life.

A mecânica de crafting e de runas (onde você faz os feitiços desenhando com o mouse) são o ponto forte da gameplay. Não cheguei a desbloquear todos feitiços, mas tem uma a variedade boa de como você pode usar eles: em puzzles, lidar com algumas situações em quest, fazer estratégias pra lidar com vários inimigos ou um muito mais fortes que você no soco, stealthing, facilitar a exploração de segredos no mapa e etc.

Entretanto, essa utilidade da magia mostra como o sistema de skill é falho e desnecessário. Eu não vejo necessidade em focar em um skill de combate quando a variedade de armas e encantamentos é minúscula (Você tem um arco em todo jogo, e só pode envenenar e deixar ele um poquinho mais forte), acho até que se eu não colocasse alguns pontos em magia e tentasse fazer um personagem totalmente focado em projetil teriam partes que seriam muito mais difíceis, outras até impossíveis. Pickpocket é quase inútil com a pouca quantidade NPC e lojas no jogo, stealth chega a ser inútil em algumas partes importantes, crafting não precisava ser um skill upavél, pickpoccket é quase inútil. A magia consegue cobrir facilmente esses pontos fracos, dando invisibilidade, cura. Sem falar dos npcs que podem concertar equipamentos ou te vender itens de cura por um preço baixo.

Na minha opinião, um sistema de nível básico (upar um pouco de todas skills de combate) pra bloquear alguns recursos de serem usados muito cedo já serviria.

As dungeons e os puzzles são criativos, e ajudam a divertir apesar do combate simples. Algumas áreas tem mecânicas e inimigos únicos, como o andar dos anões onde você tem que fabricar uma espada com um cão demônio imortal te seguindo nos tuneis estreitos, os puzzle das mulheres-cobras onde você vai ter que descobrir as dicas por meio de charadas nas placas, a cripta onde os zumbis revivem e tem muitas armadilhas...

A história não existe. É um clichê bem raso, não tem um personagem digno de menção.

Um jogo bem divertido pra quem gosta de explorar masmorras e socar paredes em busca de portas secretas (Eu)

The act of grinding out this game in a week made me say to myself "ok maybe we should actually play less video games next year."

Game is pretty cool though! Having never played an Arkane game before I've been told this is like the 2nd worst introduction to their catalog but I still had fun. The casting system is fantastic, and the exploration can really suck you in. If you plan on taking this game on, get more inventory space as soon as possible and hold onto anything that looks unique or like it may eventually be valuable, because it will be, and it is a miracle I didn't softlock myself.

I really loved it, and didn't expect to.
Both setting and story are kind of basic, but it makes sense and doesn't force too much on the player;
I fell in love with how instead of crafting menus you actually have to do stuff with your own hands(well, mouse, actually)- whether it's alchemy, forgery, enchanting or simply cooking;
Magic in this game honestly suprised me. Having to actually draw symbols for spells in a middle of battle takes skill, but it feels like actual wizardry, and not simply using skill buttons( although you can pre-cast up to 3 spells);
Sound design is way ahead of this game's time. Even though there is almost no soundtrack, Arx Fatalis delivers atmosphere through sound amazingly.
But I have to say, the biggest problem with the game is general navigation and understanding what to do. I had to use guides multiple times because logs don't give much information, and map layouts ARE FUCKING AWFUL, might be the worst level design I've ever seen in videogames and nearly made me quit.
Despite that huge minus, I really enjoyed it. It is somewhat refreshing to play even 20+ years after release.

It is a must-play for fantasy RPG lovers and a classic ahead of its time!

Great story with some intriguing sidequests, an open world to explore and discover its secrets, puzzles to solve, spells to learn (with a spell-casting system where you have to draw runes with your mouse), many enemies to fight and defeat, skills to master, chests to loot, choices to make (through your actions), and most importantly, MANY APPLE PIES TO BAKE (with wine)!

Arx Fatalis is one of the best RPGs I've ever played, and it took me years to finally come back to it so I could finish it. I still own a physical copy from since when I was younger, but my English wasn't that good so I got lost at some point and have never progressed since then. Now that I've completed it, I can claim how great this game is.

I also recommend installing Arx Libertatis on it, it enhances the game and fixes bugs, without taking away the original experience!

I played this game because I wanted to see the first product of Arkane Studios, a company that I adore. I also heard that it's a good RPG in its own right. I've played plenty of RPGs in my life, but never tried anything dungeon-crawler-esque other than the Elder Scrolls: Arena. Below is a pros/cons list of my most important observations.

PROS

- Interesting underground setting, with 8 levels of mines that can be accessed pretty much whenever you wish. Exploring these levels will lead you to be very familiar with certain areas, which makes exploration of new areas very exciting.

- Well written story that seems cliche at times, but provides twists and interesting story arcs when you least expect it.

- The lore isn't fully fleshed out but is well written in what is explained. This leaves a sense of mystery for some things that contribute to the atmosphere of the game.

- Voice acting is surprisingly good.

- Very atmospheric, with a dark and creepy tone (however there is some humour in some notes and dialogue you encounter).

- Interactivity, such as picking up, throwing, and using items with other things.

- You have to have a very high attention to detail in this game. This could be a bad thing for some people, but I enjoyed making sure that I read every note, looked under every pillow, and talked to every NPC I could. The game rewards you for paying attention.

- Drawing runes is a really interesting concept, and is really satisfying when you get it right.

- Wide array of spells.

- Some clever puzzles and quests that make you feel real smart when doing it without help.

CONS

- Combat isn't great. It's pretty simple and there isn't much feedback when you hit an enemy.

- Horrendous user interface.

- Drawing runes was pretty unreliable (at least for me), especially during combat.

- Many puzzles and quests make me question how people could possibly play this without a walkthrough. The game expects you to know what to do and where to go next, despite there being absolutely no clues.

- The game throws some really tough enemies at you. I spent over an hour fighting a certain enemy that broke two of my swords. This was an encounter that I couldn't walk away from, as you can with most encounters. The fact that I was grateful that the final boss, who is supposed to be really hard, bugged out for me and didn't attack, is a sign that the combat system just isn't fun, and fighting enemies that are tough makes for great stress.

- You can only level up 10 times, which sucks because when starting the game, you will probably choose skills that you would in any other RPG, like stealth and ranged combat, yet are in reality quite useless. You have to know which skills are most useful, and be really careful in how you spend your XP, as you risk playing a weak character.


My overall takeaway from this game is that I'm super impressed that this is Arkane's first game, and how good it is for a really small team of devs. A modern return to this IP would truly be amazing, given how Arkane has excelled in creating immersive simulator games. Although this game is really rough around the edges, it features innovative design and an immersive experience.

El debut de Arkane está repleto de sus señas de identidad en un mundo de fantasía heavy metal pero a la vez plagado de problemas de equilibrio y dificultad, trayendo todo lo bueno y lo malo de los RPG de la vieja escuela.

Los controles son bastante extraños y cuesta acostumbrarse a ellos, en particular lo relacionado con el inventario que parece excesivamente inspirado en Ultima Underworld. Fuera de ello, es más similar a lo visto en otro immsims y juegos en primera persona, pero con las particularidades de poder manipular objetos del entorno.

La trama es relativamente sencilla, un clásico “antiguo mal resurge” y algo de trasfondo del curioso mundo del juego, que parecía orientado a una secuela. Si bien tiene algunos momentos narrativos interesantes, con giros de guión, secundarias que alteran la principal y muchas pequeñas tramas que puedes alterar o ignorar por completo, está claro que el foco está mucho más en la exploración e interacción con el entorno que en la historia. La ambientación peca en algunas ocasiones de demasiado típica mientra que en otra da muestra de ideas interesantes, aunque nunca llegan a desarrollarse demasiado.

La subida de nivel es bastante simple, con atributos para fuerza, destreza y magia, y unas cuantas habilidades pasivas para crear pociones, lanzar conjuros de mayor nivel y otros menesteres fantásticos. Aquí, sin embargo, es donde empiezan a notarse las costuras. Algunas de las habilidades son muy poco útiles, otras hacen lo que se les pide y otras son casi necesarias para avanzar en el juego. En particular, la magia es lo que más cariño se llevó durante el desarrollo, mientras que el combate cuerpo a cuerpo recuerda al de Thief: The Dark Project (esto no es un elogio).
La magia es el verdadero protagonista del juego; en lugar de aprender conjuros aprendemos runas, palabras mágicas con las que desbloqueamos conjuros; los conjuros son combinaciones de múltiples runas. Así, curar será la combinación de las runas “mejorar” y “vida”, por ejemplo. Además, para lanzar un conjuro tenemos que pintas las runas en el aire. Para suavizar el previsible marrón que es hacer esto en tiempo real, el juego nos permite guardar tres conjuros en accesos rápidos.
Este sistema, así como su interacción con la exploración, es lo más interesante del juego.

El punto fuerte, a lo que venimos en un immersive sim, es la interacción, libertad de acción y exploración. En esto, Arx Fatalis cumple en muchas ocasiones y donde más énfasis pone. El mundo es un subterráneo dividido en niveles, con distintas razas gobernando algunos de ellos. Esto hace a cada nivel una especie de mazmorra autocontenida, donde algunas áreas serán inaccesibles para un personaje de nivel bajo, haciendo revisitarlas fundamental.
Desde el tutorial, el juego anima al jugador a recoger todo lo que encuentre, encender antorchas o apagarlas, cocinar, mezclar objetos en el inventario y usar otros para resolver puzles, habilidades que serán necesarias hasta el final del juego. Más adelante se abre un mundo de posibilidades; usar levitar para evitar fosos y trampas, usar un filo y un palo para crear una estaca (lo único que puede mantener muertos a los zombis)… Algunos puzles son muy inteligentes, ofrecen solucione creativas y permiten dar rienda suelta a la imaginación del jugador, mientras que otros se negarán a ser resueltos salvo con la forma intencionada, disminuyendo esa sensación de libertad que tan bien construye en ocasiones.
Esto es algo también ocurre durante la principal; en al menos dos ocasiones, el juego decide no dar ninguna clase de indicio de por dónde continuar en momentos en los que no hay forma de saberlo; uno requiere un encuentro aparentemente fortuito con un NPC, y el otro requiere acceder a una zona aparentemente inaccesible mediante un conjuro. Tanto esto como los puzles resultaría menos sorprendente y más un producto de la época si no hubiera una suerte de consejeros con los que consultas la mayoría de las misiones principales y dan desde instrucciones bastante explícitas a indicaciones en la dirección correcta. En cuanto a los puzles, algunos simplemente carecen de feedback alguno y solo se pueden resolver por fuerza bruta.
Por último hay que destacar que Arkane quiso tener en cuenta la mayoría de las interacciones con NPC. Como ya se ha mencionado, hay muchas pequeñas historias, no pocas de las cuales son fáciles de pasar por alto, incluyendo el final “verdadero”. Hay tesoros escondidos que requieren seguir una larga lista de pistas, pequeñas secundarias basadas en realizar acciones de forma orgánica y cierta reactividad a algunas acciones que sorprenden para un juego de este calibre y época.

Resulta imposible pasar por alto todos los defectos del juego cuando algunos son tan fundamentales como un sistema de combate poco equilibrado, habilidades poco útiles, puzles frustrantes o la extrema facilidad para quedarse atrapado en las irregularidades del terreno, pero tras todo esto hay un juego con mucha alma y mimo.

got softlocked at the last 5 mins of the game.
I almost love this game, but it dips in quality so hard so fast. Arx Fatalis has 10/10 art, level, and sound design (please use eax audio holy fuck its so good). i also really liked the kingsfield-esc combat, granted i ended up not really using the magic system as much as i would of hoped. theres more than a few moments of the game too where you just cant use magic which is super lame. My biggest issues with this game are MY FUCKING GOD the padding design and enemy wise as well as the overly cryptic shitty puzzles and quest logs. i got stuck and had to refer to guides more than not while playing, i even somehow ended up sequence breaking some of the final cutscenes with Alia so fuck me i guess, no pay off for all the side quests i did for the better ending. i finally just gave up after i got to the final boss and realized i in fact forgot/lost one of the meteorite rocks. i remember not knowing if theyd be useful so i might of thrown it out somewhere along the way and there is NO WAY IN HELL im backtracking the entire games map to find one item to get the final cutscene.

also idk who the fuck designed the final temple or the stats and hitboxes of the Yilsids and lich, but have they ever played a game before let alone had fun? because its just bluntly not good or remotely fair. all i read online was "spam fireball" doesnt that sound fun!!!