Arkane Puts Out One More Arx Fatalis Patch

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
Arkane Puts Out One More Arx Fatalis Patch


Believe it or not, Arkane Studios has released a brand-new Arx Fatalis [http://www.amazon.com/Arx-Fatalis-Pc/dp/B000070MQJ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1295035494&sr=8-2] patch, bringing bug fixes and Windows Vista and 7 compatibility to the cult classic RPG.

A little bit of background for those who may be a bit confused about why a new, official Arx Fatalis patch is an awesome thing. Developed by French studio Arkane, Arx came out in 2002 - that's right, nine years ago - and made a big stir with old-school RPG fans as a "spiritual successor" to the Ultima Underworld [http://www.amazon.com/Ultima-Underworld-Stygian-Abyss-PC/dp/B000RJ4PO6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1295035587&sr=8-5] games. It was weird, it was a little incoherent - it was very European, in other words - and it was far from a big hit, but as they say in the beer commercial, those who liked it, liked it a lot.

Nine years later, the game is available through Direct2Drive [http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/arx_fatalis], but playing it on current systems can be a bit iffy. Which is why it's great news for those who haven't played it, and those who'd like to play it again, that Arkane today released the Arx Fatalis v1.21 patch. The new update improves stability under Windows Vista and 7, and also fixes a handful of bugs including HUD scaling at high resolutions, Nvidia performance issues, an EAX glitch and more. In other words, it's not just a bit of tweaking to get the game running on modern hardware, it's an actual, legit, bug-fixin' patch.

Great news, yes, but why release a patch for an obscure RPG that's almost a decade old? That I cannot answer, but I do think it speaks rather highly of Arkane's new owner, Bethesda Softworks [http://www.zenimax.com/] that bought the French studio last year. Any media company that buys a studio and then lets it horse around supporting old, semi-successful games is okay in my book.

Arkane said this will be the very last Arx update it ever puts out, so it also released the game's full source code for fans who want to make future updates or mods themselves. Is that cool or what? The patch and the source are both available from arkane-studios.com [http://arkane-studios.com/uk/arx_downloads.php].


Permalink
 

D_987

New member
Jun 15, 2008
4,839
0
0
I bought this game, today, without knowing about this patch and was surprised the game ran so well... couldn't have chosen a better time to buy.
 

Leg End

Romans 12:18
Oct 24, 2010
2,948
58
53
Country
United States
Wow, thank you Andy for introducing me to another game I need to get!

It appears good games will live on.

[sub](Sarcasm not intentional, poor wording)[/sub]
 

matell

New member
Oct 13, 2010
69
0
0
it is commendable to see a developer patching it's games nine years after launch, so that it has a good compatibility with current-gen systems, these guys have my respect
 

TheDoomPenguin

New member
Mar 25, 2010
19
0
0
Arkane is an awesome developer, glad to see they're still alive and doing work. This also bodes well for ZeniMax letting ID release IDTech 4's source code.
 

BreakfastMan

Scandinavian Jawbreaker
Jul 22, 2010
4,367
0
0
Okay, that is certainly odd. I have never heard of something like this happening before. Nonetheless, it will be a good thing for those who liked the game. Never got much into it myself.
 

Hungry Donner

Henchman
Mar 19, 2009
1,369
0
0
I loved Arx Fatalis, hopefully Arkane is working on a sequel :)

(I don't know who has the rights to Arx Fatalis but it would be rather humorous to have a spiritual successor to a game which itself was a spiritual successor)
 

ulizez89

New member
Jan 8, 2011
17
0
0
great news, I'll be coming back to the underground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm the only one hoping some arx fatalis/dark messiah stuff going into TES V since arkane was incorporated by zenimax?????
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
It almost makes me wonder if Bethesda has something in mind for Arx. What better way to ramp up interest in Arx 2 than to whip up a fresh dose of attention (and playability) for the original game?
 

Ernil Menegil

New member
Aug 2, 2010
58
0
0
Susan Arendt said:
I love this game. Love, love love, love. Also adore.
The spellcasting system had me from the get go. I loved it to bits too, and I wish every game took its approach to spellcasting.
 

Gildan Bladeborn

New member
Aug 11, 2009
3,044
0
0
Oh neat, I will totally go download that now... is what I would say if I hadn't actually started the download slightly before I started typing this post (and it's already finished, heh). I've been meaning to sit down and actually finish Arx Fatalis one of these days, so it's nice to have something like this prodding me into action.
 

individual11

New member
Sep 6, 2010
262
0
0
Wow. It's sitting on my desktop as one of those games I never uninstalled or got around to playing again. Full credit to Arkane, and to Good Old Games. Maybe some other publisher/developers will follow the example.
Patching now.
 

Eponet

New member
Nov 18, 2009
480
0
0
ulizez89 said:
I'm the only one hoping some arx fatalis/dark messiah stuff going into TES V since arkane was incorporated by zenimax?????
Nope, because Dark Messiah's combat was awsome, even if the storyline, voice acting, dialogue and everything else was terrible.
 

Flamex

New member
Oct 6, 2009
11
0
0
Eponet said:
ulizez89 said:
I'm the only one hoping some arx fatalis/dark messiah stuff going into TES V since arkane was incorporated by zenimax?????
Nope, because Dark Messiah's combat was awsome, even if the storyline, voice acting, dialogue and everything else was terrible.
Bethesda did promise to change the combat in skyrim saying that fans got tired of the previous elder scrolls combat system, I do hope the people who worked on dark messiah's combat work on skyrim
 

Khemzar

New member
Jul 2, 2009
3
0
0
Agreed, this is a thoroughly impressive move. I remember playing the demo of this, way back when it was new. I think I'll buy it now, major dev/publisher cred :D
 

saito82

New member
Oct 5, 2010
27
0
0
obscurumlux01 said:
Imagine the spellcasting system done with motion control on today's consoles.
*squeals with glee*

:)

Yeah, I can be happy sometimes, can't I? ^_^

^This would be awesome!