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 Welcome to my LP of Arx Fatalis! This is one my favorite games, from my all-time favorite developer (Since Arkane Studios contain a lot of luminaries from Looking Glass Studios, I view them as Looking Glass reincarnated). What is Arx Fatalis? Think Ultima Underworld with a more modern interface and graphics, an intriguing plot and gesture-based magic. The game has a sprawling subterranean kingdom for you to explore, including abandoned mineshafts, Goblin dungeons, troll caves, mysterious ice caverns, haunted catacombs and ancient magical temples. Like Ultima Underworld, the world has several races who inhabit different levels of Arx. At the topmost level is the human kingdom. Beneath them lie the Goblins and Trolls. As for who lies beneath them... Who knows? Shall we go on a journey of discovery together?  As I said, this game has a lot of similarites to Ultima Underworld. For example, you will need to eat on a regular basis. To this end, you can not only find various types of food, but you can cook it as well! Find some flour, mix it with water, and make some bread! Or if you have a rolling pin, make a pie! Or if you have apples, make an apple pie!  What a kind gesture! *FWOOOOSH*The game has a rather cool magic system that uses hand gestures to cast different spells. Each spell is composed of Runes, and each Rune has a gesture associated with it. By casting runes in certain sequences, you can achieve all manner of effects. For example, the first spell you can cast is "Aam Yok". "Aam" means "create" and "Yok" means "Fire". By using this, you can set fire to torches, campfires and other flammable sources. Later, we get to do all sorts of rad stuff, like speed ourselves up (To make running through town and running errands bearable) fire flame balls and heal ourselves.  All of this only scratches the surface of what this game has to offer. So grab your torch, gird your loins and prepare to delve into the world of Arx! EpisodesIntroduction (Basically opening cutscene): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_PA4xaoUSc Part 1: Escape from Gobbler Bay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IXsk0s0m0 Part 2: Killing Stephen Russell. Over and over. In our pants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBk8dBMqXjs Part 3: Working at odd hours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLHnUCq5DjA Part 4: Tunnel O' Part 5: Cop AND Robber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi9x2VvXehw Part 6: Open the Plot Bay Doors Please HAL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF3k5HzzTic Part 7: Gotta Go Fast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqBGn9kQ_L4 Part 8: Looking for Shany in all the wrong oh there she ishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRl7jmC-rjg Part 9: Oh god its going to kill me please stophttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiVoCeBUTRQ Part 10: It is coming...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl44jSVv6D4 Part 11: Me am puzzle not gudhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA-HlbivpYY Part 12: Down in the Bonehoard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mfNS1zGxqE Part 13: You're looking kinda Ylsidehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc7OiHhW7NU Part 14: We meet again, Kultar! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3uTciC7Tn8 Part 15: Aaaaaavvvvveeeennnngggeee meeeeeee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYSLwqr-l8U Part 16 (Finale): Animal Magnetism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNJU0sgZinw PiCroft fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Sep 11, 2015 |
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Aug 1, 2015 13:25
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Also, as mentioned in part 1 - we are using a mod called Arx Libertatis. In addition to fixing several bugs, it makes the game playable on modern operating systems. Additonally, feel free to comment, but please don't post plot spoilers! By all means discuss secrets or little quirks. PiCroft fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Aug 1, 2015 |
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Aug 1, 2015 13:25
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Part 1: Escape from Gobblers Bay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IXsk0s0m0 Wherin we get a name, a face and a huge bone. PiCroft fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Aug 1, 2015 |
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Aug 1, 2015 13:25
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Oh nice, Arx Fatalis. As a big fan of Ultima Underworld, I really enjoyed this game and is one of the reasons I played the next two games Arkane made.
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Aug 1, 2015 17:47
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Yes, Arx Fatalis is one of those great games that just slipped under the radar for some reason. The ambiance in this game is excellent, you really feel like you're trecking around in a cave system!
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Aug 1, 2015 19:27
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This game looks fun, not sure how I've never heard of it as I was a gigantic UU fan back in the day and I still think it's weird that there have been so few games to go with the same premise.
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Aug 1, 2015 20:54
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RabidWeasel posted:This game looks fun, not sure how I've never heard of it as I was a gigantic UU fan back in the day and I still think it's weird that there have been so few games to go with the same premise. It started as a "spec" development to be Ultima Underworld 3, but EA passed on it. There's still a LOT of UU stuff in it, such as rune magic.
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Aug 2, 2015 02:36
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Should have the next part up soon. I'm having to learn an awful lot about video/audio editing now. RabidWeasel posted:This game looks fun, not sure how I've never heard of it as I was a gigantic UU fan back in the day and I still think it's weird that there have been so few games to go with the same premise. After starting this up, I now really want to get back into underworld - I might briefly touch on stuff that I *think* could be a reference to Underworld in part 3 although I have no idea if it actually is a reference. That being said, there is the ~UU Mode~ which I'll probably throw into a bonus video along with all the other secret spells and a few other goodies besides.
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Aug 2, 2015 03:01
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Arx Fatalis is great, Arkane are great and they deserve their success. It's 5 bucks on steam.
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Aug 2, 2015 04:19
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Part 2: Killing Stephen Russell. Over and over. In our pants. Wherin our fine, upstanding hero engages in a massacre, robs the victims of a massacre, engages in gambling and commits fraud. In tap-dance shoes, naturally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBk8dBMqXjs
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Aug 2, 2015 05:08
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wiegieman posted:Arx Fatalis is great, Arkane are great and they deserve their success. Otherwise you can also get it on GOG if you want.  Also, hooray for gibbing enemy bodyparts with criticals! e: You can actually get the two items on that ledge you can see from the outpost, you just have to jump under them and use those magic hands to grab them straight through solid rock! Koorisch fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Aug 2, 2015 |
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Aug 2, 2015 05:16
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This is an utterly fantastic game more people should know about. I'm really glad someone is finally showing it off. The only reason I never managed to finish it was rampant arachnophobia. Looking Glass (and its descendants) are really loving good at scary spiders. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 10:58 on Aug 2, 2015 |
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Aug 2, 2015 10:30
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Koorisch posted:Otherwise you can also get it on GOG if you want. I can tell you have played this game a LOT  anilEhilated posted:This is an utterly fantastic game more people should know about. I'm really glad someone is finally showing it off. I agree, this and Thief made the best/worst spiders. Arx spiders sound like clockwork monstrosities and look creepy as poo poo to boot. The huge bastards are the worst and there's one in the level directly beneath Arx that we'll be exploring in the next video.
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Aug 2, 2015 12:47
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The thing about Stephen Russell in Thief 2 is that he's hiding in plain sight. You can't tell he does Karras because he also does Garrett. They're about as different as one man's voice can be and they're both shoved in your face all the time. It's a pretty cool discovery when the credits roll, honestly. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 13:40 on Aug 2, 2015 |
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Aug 2, 2015 13:37
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Yeah AF blew me away. I've no clue why it didn't get more popular  It's been a while by this point, though, and I can't remember any specifics. Will be following along, thanks!Echoing that you should definitely grab it on GOG if you can!
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Aug 2, 2015 15:28
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I replayed it from GoG just two months ago and now look at me. Look at what you've done. Look at all this fish I'm cooking now, forever. Speaking of UU though, some of the original Looking Glass folks decided to dip into the Kickstarter well for a spiritual sequel a few months back and are still accepting pledges via paypal. Since then it's apparently turned into a full-on sequel. I'm honestly surprised there haven't been more clones and successors over the years, but hope's not dead.
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Aug 2, 2015 20:57
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Stephen Russel does the really stupid guard and the guard who's annoyed with that guy as well, right? I thought Thief had gone the Loom route and hired a acting troupe to do some of their stuff, but that may be apocrypha. There's even a light gem when you sneak.
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Aug 2, 2015 23:08
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wiegieman posted:Stephen Russel does the really stupid guard and the guard who's annoyed with that guy as well, right? I thought Thief had gone the Loom route and hired a acting troupe to do some of their stuff, but that may be apocrypha. Stephen Russell does Garret, Karras, the male civvie, the drunk and hoarse-sounding guard (aka "Benny"). The other guard that the Benny guard always spars with is a different voice actor, Joffrey Spaulding, who also covers several other roles (Although the pair form a running duo throughout all three Thief games and are explicitly hinted to be the same guys who are present in many of Garret's missions and always end up getting sacked because of Garret ).Thief did have a fair few voice actors but while I knew of Russell (obviously), Spaulding and Brosius I didn't know any other voice actor on the games by name - I assumed they were all devs or friends and family of devs (Terri Brosius was wife to Eric Brosius who did sound design for System Shock 2 and for both Thief games, and she co wrote Thief 1). A bunch of voice actors also crossed over to Deus Ex Invisible War too (Terri Brosius being one). If you're referring to the light gem in Arx, its not actually a stealth indicator, its actually a strength indicator because in Arx you can hold down attack to build up the strength of your swing, which is pretty much a requirement if you want to kill anything in a time frame less then a human lifetime 
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Aug 3, 2015 00:26
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PiCroft posted:If you're referring to the light gem in Arx, its not actually a stealth indicator, its actually a strength indicator because in Arx you can hold down attack to build up the strength of your swing, which is pretty much a requirement if you want to kill anything in a time frame less then a human lifetime Also allowing you to pop a few heads/arms/entire loving upper bodies is always good times.  Also you missed a little item hiding in a ruined mess in the Outpost area, inbetween the area around the outpost and the inn, it's just a small thing but just FYI.
Koorisch fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Aug 3, 2015 |
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Aug 3, 2015 01:08
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Hey, Arx Fatalis; cool. I played Ultima Underworld way back when, and that "learn some of the lizard-man language" puzzle is one of the more memorable parts of it for me. It was a very Looking Glass kind of puzzle; it was organic and made sense in the context of the game world. Decoding a few words of a foreign language because you need to ask someone something feels a lot more grounded than... I don't know, needing to find the Shark Crest to open the Shark Door, or something. It was emblematic of a time when you needed to make your own notes to play games, though. I didn't learn about Arx Fatalis until a few years after it came out, and I bought a physical copy on ebay, from memory. I've still got it, but I haven't played it since then and didn't actually finish it at the time, either. It does a lot of things I really like, but it got to be a bit too much like a point-and-click adventure game at some point. At least I think that was the problem; it was a long time ago. On Stephen Russell chat; he's also Codsworth the robot in Fallout 4. Plus a bunch of other characters in Bethsoft games, including the head of the Thieves Guild in Skyrim - which I didn't realise until after finishing the game because he's a vocal chameleon.
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Aug 3, 2015 06:44
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Koorisch posted:Also allowing you to pop a few heads/arms/entire loving upper bodies is always good times. Ah, I remember! God drat, you are like the item-hunters guardian angel aren't you?
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Aug 3, 2015 15:17
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I used to play this game all the time when it came out, but I never got through it for some reason. I guess I mostly just cooked food and such. One thing that has been annoying me far more than it should is that I made a few things happen in the game world the first time I played it, but I've never been able to replicate them and it drives me crazy from time to time.
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Aug 3, 2015 18:26
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PiCroft posted:Ah, I remember! God drat, you are like the item-hunters guardian angel aren't you? Naw, I just tend to look around in these kind of games, they always leave stuff lying around in strange places, just like that scroll on the wooden roof in the castle's kitchen.
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Aug 3, 2015 19:33
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Huh, I've never heard of this game but it actually seems to be pretty neat. I got into FPS RPGs through Morrowind, so this speaks to me. I can also feel your hoarder pain Though, I'm curious where I heard that event jingle the game uses before. It seems really familar to me but I can't figure out why Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Aug 4, 2015 |
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Aug 4, 2015 20:26
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Hopefully part 3 will be done soon. How do people feel about speeding up and cutting out footage? Due to the nature of the game, there may be parts where we kind of triapse back and forth between shops or destinations, sort out our inventory and crush up ALL of the plants for potions. I can imagine these parts could be boring, in the event of having long periods of clopping down hallways with our tap-dancing shoes, I was going to speed-up or jump cut (with captions, so people don't get confused) to cut out dead air.
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Aug 4, 2015 22:13
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Good editing makes an LP better. Cut the chaff for sure. This game is fascinating. It sounds exactly like something I would have loved if I had been aware that it existed back when it came out. I'm really considering getting it on GoG so I can play it ahead of the LP.
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Aug 4, 2015 22:19
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I tend to get totally lost on complicated maps if LPs feature a lot of jump cuts. Personally speaking I would prefer sped up footage, a lot of LPers seem to add music or little asides about the history of the game and stuff during the sections so I can see a lot of opportunity there. This is a great LP though. I've heard a lot of talk about this game, but never picked it up. I love your thorough attitude and familiarity with the material, it really helps highlight the features of the game. The LP of UU2 I think a number of years back was one of my favourites, and as others have said this game gives serious vibes.
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Aug 4, 2015 23:39
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Getting a pretty big Ultima Underworld vibe from this and my only experience with that game is through a kickass Ultima 7 Black Gate + Ultima Underworld + part of Serpent Isle walkthrough written as a journal narrative. It is awesome. Agree on cutting out the chaff where possible.
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Aug 4, 2015 23:59
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This game is great, and also can be completely broken in various ways.
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Aug 5, 2015 00:05
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Part 3: Working at odd hours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLHnUCq5DjA So yeah, despite knowing about a certain little money-making scheme, and someone on these forums explicitly reminding me of it, I still gently caress it up like a scrublord. Also, arachnophobes beware, there is a big motherfucker in this part.
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Aug 5, 2015 01:25
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Cool LP, I always wondered about this game. Your volume is very low compared to the game's volume, though. Makes it hard to hear you over door creaking and chicken clucking and whatnot. Does this game do the Ultima Underworld thing where daggers do a lot more damage stabbing, swords are better slashing, and axes and maces are worthless unless you do the overhead chop? MartianAgitator fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 02:24
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PiCroft posted:How do people feel about speeding up and cutting out footage? Due to the nature of the game, there may be parts where we kind of triapse back and forth between shops or destinations, sort out our inventory and crush up ALL of the plants for potions. I can imagine these parts could be boring, in the event of having long periods of clopping down hallways with our tap-dancing shoes, I was going to speed-up or jump cut (with captions, so people don't get confused) to cut out dead air. Yeah, I'd say show something if it's the first time, then cut it out or speed it up if it becomes tedious busywork or backtracking - along with some note about what you're doing. ("And then I went all the way back to x, passing through y and z. Nothing happened along the way.") Edit: Ahh, baking bread in an RPG; takes me back to Ultima 7. Forging your own sword is very much like Ultima 7 too, though it was more involved there. That also just gave you a bog-standard sword. (Not counting the bit with the Black Sword from the Forge of Virtue expansion.) Antistar01 fucked around with this message at 06:06 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 02:39
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PiCroft posted:Also, arachnophobes beware, there is a big motherfucker in this part.
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Aug 5, 2015 08:36
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MartianAgitator posted:Cool LP, I always wondered about this game. Your volume is very low compared to the game's volume, though. Makes it hard to hear you over door creaking and chicken clucking and whatnot. I forgot to boost the volume of my commentary - I actually lost my save file and had to play through from the start again  (if you are particularly eagle-eyed, you may notice our character stats are different from in the previous part).This episode was full of me being an idiot both in the game and making the final video, I'll be sure to remember to boost the volume next time. As for the weapons thing, I'm not sure actually. I've never noticed any meaningful difference in damage from the various styles of attack. There is an enemy that for a long time I thought was only vulnerable to stabbing attacks but after playing that part again recently its not the case as I could damage them with slashes and chops as well.
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Aug 5, 2015 09:17
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Ack, you sold the crystals to the boxes instead of giving him them, 52 per crystal is awful.  Also you are right about the sword-making, I tested it when I had 50 crafting and I got a Longsword instead of daggers! I'd assume that you get even better stuff if you wait until you get as much as you want in that skill. Koorisch fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 12:44
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Koorisch posted:Ack, you sold the crystals to the boxes instead of giving him them, 52 per crystal is awful. Seriously!? I couldn't even get that right? I thought selling them to the boxes WAS the right way to get more cash e: also, cool that the sword-forging improves with your stats! I was curious because I knew I had gotten shortswords from this process before, but in this playthrough I'm suddenly making daggers. PiCroft fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Aug 5, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 13:00
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PiCroft posted:As for the weapons thing, I'm not sure actually. I've never noticed any meaningful difference in damage from the various styles of attack. There is an enemy that for a long time I thought was only vulnerable to stabbing attacks but after playing that part again recently its not the case as I could damage them with slashes and chops as well. Man, this makes me miss the frame dragons from Ultima Underworld whose eyes would glow different colors depending on enemy health. I loved the way they would fidget. It doesn't look like there's any way to tell how much health an enemy has left in this game; is there?
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Aug 5, 2015 16:07
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MartianAgitator posted:Man, this makes me miss the frame dragons from Ultima Underworld whose eyes would glow different colors depending on enemy health. I loved the way they would fidget. It doesn't look like there's any way to tell how much health an enemy has left in this game; is there? If you boost your intuition, it can give you the ability to see information on enemies which I believe includes health.However, there isn't much point in boosting intuition as its main advantage - giving favourable buying and selling prices - is easily outweighed by the fact that lots of money is not difficult to come by. Its only other advantage is providing a "sixth sense" that causes hidden objects such as levers, switches and doors to highlight when you get close but there is a powerful item you can get to turn that ability on permanently.
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Aug 5, 2015 18:11
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With people being grossed out by the spiders in this game, I wonder how you feel about the hairy buggers in Dark Messiah? Speaking off, I installed that game to scratch my RPG itch because I know that I'll sink a retarded amount of time into Arx Fatalis if I buy it now.
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Aug 5, 2015 20:54
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Tin Tim posted:With people being grossed out by the spiders in this game, I wonder how you feel about the hairy buggers in Dark Messiah?
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Aug 5, 2015 20:58
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