<https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62232-yo-bg-arcanum-fallout-iwd/>
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"...I am real happy for you and ima let you finish, but Planescape: Torment was the best game of all time.  \n  \nThat's really the essence of this post. I have played all of these games, sans Ice Wind Dale (because I just couldn't bring myself to do it after Baldur's Gate), and they simply do not compare, despite being great in their own right. Planescape: Torment was the best of the best. I want to take this game by game. \n  \nFallout was, admittedly, great. Well, Fallout 2 - I sort of ran through Fallout 1 without really knowing/caring what's going on. Something about evil mutants. In FO2, I loved that you really could go anywhere you wanted, and there was nothing keeping you from getting smoked by Power Armor clad soldiers in the first 5 minutes in the game. That, and you could steal that sniper machine-gun thing. It didn't even mess with the balance since you didn't really have the skills to use it / the ammo for it. But the fact that you could get it made the world feel that much more realistic, considering how much of a role luck plays in the real world.  \n  \nThe game also did a good job of being atmospheric and the quests seemed to have at least some point. In most games, you do not give a **** about the quest / the characters. There was also an atmosphere of mystery sometimes - you really wondered where that crashed enclave VTOL Osprey-looking craft came from, etc.  \n  \nThe NPCs were more interesting that all of the other games listed here, but I still don't really remember any of them other than Vic. Speaking of which, going through the whole slaver thing made him seem that much more valuable.  \n  \nAlso, hobo-phase: There is nothing like getting smoked by some random drug-dealing punks in the first \"city\" of the game. Games are ruined when you develop super powers too quickly. It's priceless when the \"common\" enemies actually present a real threat for a while, and the easiest solution isn't to just blast them.  \n  \nFinally, the ending really did feel epic.  \n  \nArcanum: I am not sure what happened here, but I simply did not find the game interesting. At first, I was fascinated by the idea of mixing tech with magic and thought it was really clever. Loved all the little notes about how machinery stops behaving according to the laws of physics, etc. But then, the game just felt empty, despite the numerous locations. They just weren't interesting.  \n  \nThe combat was uneventful - I don't remember a single opponent, whereas the ones from fallout feel distinct. All I remember is that golems broke my sword, so I got some magic sword. My whole strategy, the whole game, was to run around and bash things with my magic sword. I got some party members, but I don't remember any of them, they ran out of arrows fast, so I gave them magic swords. We happily bashed away, not a single one of them said anything memorable. I learned to teleport around, so I teleported and bashedthings more.  \n  \nI do remember the exiled king - he had a story. I wanted to know more / wanted to see if anything can be done about helping him and went back to \"his\" town/kingdom, but there was nothing. So I bashed more things with my magic sword. \n  \nThen there was a dragon or a necromancer, or something, it was sleeping in some magic shell or some such. I bashed it with my sword. I don't remember what happened after. That's how I remember arcanum. I don't even do drugs and did really wanted to like the game.  \n  \nBaldur's Gate: My only explanation for people liking it is that they played it as a kid. Nothing wrong with that - I wouldn't recommend Quest for Glory to anyone over 12, but it was a great game. On the other hand, most of the characters weren't memorable (I remember the necromancer and the early thief girl - though I never quite got what her story was), and even the ones who were had very little dialogue. Combat was pretty boring. Eventually I got bored and dumped my party. Then I snuck around and backstabbed everyone, all the way to the end of the game. Actually, I don't think I ever finished. I got back to the library and was supposed to do something there, and there were some side quests before you go underground, and there was some drama going on, but the result was utter apathy. \n  \nPLANESCAPE: TORMENT: I wrote many points here, but then I realized nothing can do this game justice. It was the only game that was more than a game or a book - it truly made me learn a lot about myself / the real world in a way that no other book/game/movie has since or before. Everything else was icing on the cake: every character was memorable, every faction mattered, every quest had a point, items had a story you cared about, the music was great, so were the animations. Still, the writing is what made this the best game of all time for me. Not the story itself, but the ideas presented through the characters - Mebbeth (/Ravel) on ritual (habits / things we get used to), Dakkon on will, the various ways to lead life / potential mental illnesses (as shown through the incarnations), power structures - factions, the Dabbus who were virtually defenseless, yet no one dared touch, etc.  \n  \nI can't even put it into words. As such, I almost want to delete everything I wrote because it sounds like a lot of hate for the other games, which I actually liked. It's just that nothing comes close, and I hope the new game is more of the same. \n"
<https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/62232-yo-bg-arcanum-fallout-iwd/>