Witless and his bridge.

Mister Popo · Post by **Mister Popo** » Sun May 18, 2003 6:21 am

I've just got Arcanum and started playing, but I'm already stuck in the first village. I'm on the Betsy Toone quest and want to go to Dermont (I don't remember it exactly) but my path is blocked.

So as I have to clear the bridge for the constable (what's with this guy, is he completly daft?) and to reach Tarrant, so I probably have to clear it to get there as well.

But I keep getting killed in the fight, and if I try to help him out he says he knows I've talked to the constable.
I thought this may be because of my low persuasion.

So can anyone help this tech dwarf gunslinger out?

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun May 18, 2003 7:59 am

SPOILER...
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There are a few different ways to deal with Lukan. You can offer to help him and join the thieves, by destroying the building materials being prepped for a new bridge. Or, if you've stuck at least a point into Persuasion, you can lead the Witless wonder into believing you're much higher on the thieving totem pole than himself. Not only will he let you pass, but he'll give you 200 gold pieces. Finally, you can try to defeat him. I've done it, but it's hard if you can magically zap 'em, and nearly impossible if you've gone the mundane route. Up to you.

Mister Popo · Post by **Mister Popo** » Sun May 18, 2003 10:49 am

Okay, I need 80 XP to get level up and put a point in persuasion, and I could get it by robbing the bank.

But, I need to have lockpicks for that and I don't have any idea where to get those.

I could blow the doors open, but I'd probably get the guards on my tail.

I'll have to figure it out I guess....

(but any tips are welcome

)

Thanks Fable!

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun May 18, 2003 10:58 am

Did you deal with the town alchemist, or the ghosts in the cave?

Mister Popo · Post by **Mister Popo** » Sun May 18, 2003 11:06 am

Well I didn't know the ins and outs of the game but I was told it had a deep intricate char. building system, so I thought: "As I'm a tech, and a good char. I'm not going to destroy the machine as it will reflect badly on me."

I got the tip from a friend today to at least try each quest but save before doing it or completing it, as there are "evil" quests that won't hurt you.

I'm just a bit PO as I had a lot of training (on the other hand, I don't like paying criminals.)

It's also realy difficult to choose where to place points as there are a lot of options and everywhere I look on the net there are very different tips on how to spend your points.

(I got a reply from someone telling me that being a Dwarven Tech with aspirations for guns is one of the worst things I could do, especialy with an magic-allergy)

Edit:And I did do the ghost in the cave quest, did it the nice way.

UncleScratchy · Post by **UncleScratchy** » Sun May 18, 2003 11:05 pm

@Mister Popo: After reading your post I decided to load up the game again and try this out. I put my first level up bonus point on persuasion and then headed over to the bridge. After two tries I hit all the dialog choices correctly and got Witless to leave by convincing him I was a member of the Terant thieves guild. He gave me 200 gold and apologized for intruding on my territory (sweet). BTW, I decided on a human female educator type character and have her using the pistol you get for helping the Doc with the bank robbers. Seems to be working fine (she is apprenticed with two prof points on firearms) and I intend to make her a technician.

@anyone: Only question I have now is how do I teach my other party members my skills? With the educator sign you get one less party member but you're also supposed to be able to teach your skills to them.

Also, I can't believe how clunky this game feels compared to the BG games done on the Infinity Engine. It reminds me of Nox the way it plays.

Mister Popo · Post by **Mister Popo** » Mon May 19, 2003 4:50 am

Hiya Scratchy, yeah I'm going to help in the bankrobbery so I'll get some exp and put a point in persuasion.

LITTLE SPOILER

Tip, I just bought the camera back from the occult imporium as I got the tip it could be handy in an other quest.

He'll take a Betsy Toones shoe which you can find in the mine.

UncleScratchy · Post by **UncleScratchy** » Mon May 19, 2003 8:28 am

Originally posted by Mister Popo
LITTLE SPOILER

Tip, I just bought the camera back from the occult imporium as I got the tip it could be handy in an other quest.

He'll take a Betsy Toones shoe which you can find in the mine.

Those shoes can also be sold in Tarant to a museum. Not sure you can buy them back though - may be worth a try later on when you have gold to waste. The camera from the crash site is the better of the two items to keep. You won't be needing it for a long time so stash it someplace safe.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed May 28, 2003 8:33 am

Originally posted by UncleScratchy
@anyone: Only question I have now is how do I teach my other party members my skills? With the educator sign you get one less party member but you're also supposed to be able to teach your skills to them.

I remember seeing somewhere that that this was buggy when first released, but it was quite some time back--when the game was first released. None of the FAQs I previously read had anything on this.

Also, I can't believe how clunky this game feels compared to the BG games done on the Infinity Engine. It reminds me of Nox the way it plays. [/b]

I was surprised that the team which had done such a fine job on the interface for the Fallout series should turn out something as blatantly misconceived as the Arcanum interface. I asked Leonard Boyarsky about that after the game's release, and he said they wanted to avoid "the BG experience" of spreading a lot of material over separate pages. Okay: it succeeded in that respect; but I'm really not sure this was ever a desirable goal. A better one might have been to design an attractive interface that gives you instant access to just the information you want, in a manner that made instant sense. I suspect the interface was only passed by Sierra because the repeatedly re-purchased company had lost everybody in-house who understood RPGs.

Mister Popo · Post by **Mister Popo** » Thu May 29, 2003 5:14 am

Originally posted by fable
I was surprised that the team which had done such a fine job on the interface for the Fallout series should turn out something as blatantly misconceived as the Arcanum interface. I asked Leonard Boyarsky about that after the game's release, and he said they wanted to avoid "the BG experience" of spreading a lot of material over separate pages. Okay: it succeeded in that respect; but I'm really not sure this was ever a desirable goal. A better one might have been to design an attractive interface that gives you instant access to just the information you want, in a manner that made instant sense. I suspect the interface was only passed by Sierra because the repeatedly re-purchased company had lost everybody in-house who understood RPGs.

I agree, but have to say that there are other problems, such as Team interaction being rough and I really miss dialog windows (like in BG and PS:T) inventory doesn't work all that well and the level-up point system in Fallout was better, although I can't really put my finger to the problems I'm having with it, maybe it's just a logic problem for me or something else.

One final point of irritation, I just lost my clothing because of a critical miss (I think).

But the story, the quests, interaction with the people in the world, and NPC's you meet are very good.

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu May 29, 2003 8:06 am

Originally posted by Mister Popo
I agree, but have to say that there are other problems, such as Team interaction being rough and I really miss dialog windows (like in BG and PS:T) inventory doesn't work all that well and the level-up point system in Fallout was better, although I can't really put my finger to the problems I'm having with it, maybe it's just a logic problem for me or something else.

Leveling didn't bother me, but I'm with you on the other points. You have to *work* to get inventory arranged correctly, which is ridiculous. Combats are inept and utterly without strategic value, since you can't really control your party. The prevalance of random encounters means your character can level up fairly quickly, without regard to quests.

Altair72m · Post by **Altair72m** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 8:02 pm

Educator

I have been told and I believe that I have witnessed that as soon as an Educator Character acheives the level of Expert, all of his followers that can learn the apprentice level in that skill automatically learn it.

tom the terribl · Post by **tom the terribl** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:32 pm

Getting Gate Key

I play good but early in the game its too tough, so I do every thing I can to get to level 5 before fighting the thieves. But first I go the accessory dealer and check out his goods, then I retreat to a corner and toss one dinamite at him. After he is dead I pickup all I can and sell all I can. Warning take a long route to the junk dealer to sell or the sheriff will arrest you. You can get some money and leather armor but the money is needed for some skin thickening and slow fatiuge potions. I use the Harm spell and Virgle uses a quality sword. Both have health potions but I usually don't need it. IF virgle dies I restore the recentlly save game and do it again.

Tellaris · Post by **Tellaris** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 2:27 am

Early in game goodness

Refering to the above comments about it hard to be good in beginning, I find it easiest to get a buncha cash/stuff/etc. early in the game by doing 1 of 2 things:

1: Go to mr. Junk dealing fruit, stand behind him, save, then try and steal his key, if you fail, reload until you get it. If you succeed, you can go into his back room and steal his stuff. Also, if you gave him the boot or the camera, you can take it back from his chest, provided its still the same day that you gave him the item. Another fun, but game ruining thingy: go to the inn, sleep, go back to mr. fruit's chest (without looking at his stock(talking to him and selecting "buy")) and take the money that is in there. If your lucky, its > 2500, unlucky = < 500

2. Put a few points in lock openry.... lockpicking... whatever.... and go to the shop of you choice, go into stealth mode, make sure the shop keeper isn't aware of you, and lockpick away at their door/chest. If you don't have the lockpicks, too bad. If the door/chest jams, sleep at the inn and typically it will unjam... sometimes chest won't tho.

Both of those tactics, provided you don't pi$$ off the shopkeepers, will give ya lotsa stuffs. (I like to use 2 to get barbarian armor which significantly increases your odds of beating down the bandits... but remember, barbarian armor decreases people's reaction towards you.)