Well, of course, many of us on this prestigious forum have fond memories of Arcanum and it's often put beside Fallout 1/2 as one of the best isometric rpgs ever, but for today's audience the game is completely inaccessible. Gamers expect pretty 3d graphics, voice acting and real time combat and the ability to master all skills in one playthrough. Having never known anything else, one can't really blame them, but, of course, Arcanum does not deliver these modern qualities.

On the other hand, Arcanum does have a very nice setting with an interesting magic vs technology conflict. Since Bethesda is already producing two distrinct settings covering the two, one would think they are the natural choice for producing an Arcanum sequel. The IP rights probably aren't worth anything either, so this would be a cheap acquisition for Beth.

Sure, some things will be lost in translation. For instance, the bland 2d graphics will be replaced with something more contrasty so console gamers can play it on their suboptimal tvs, the endless grind will be replaced by levelled enemies enabling bored players to finish the game at level 1, the dialogues will be shorter and done with a more basic vocabulary to make the game more approachable to the state-schooled 9-13 target demographic,...

Overall though, I think it would be a step in the right direction. Arcanum does not deserve to be forgotten and I believe Bethesda has the opportunity to create something magickal

What do you hink?

I don't think it's a proper fit for BGS. They're busy with the TES and Fallout IPs which take up a significant chunk of manpower. And if they have any aspirations to branch out into another IP, I'm guessing they're at the stage that they'd rather build their own according to their ideals. Furthermore, many an RPG purist decried the Beth acquisition of Fallout, bemoaning the 'death' of the game they loved. I can only imagine that those people, few though they may be, would cause an even bigger stir if the same were to happen to Arcanum.

It may do as something published by Bethesda but under the direction of, say, Obsidian or Arkane, though.

Maybe. They'd have to have a rather large shift in their RPG-making paradigm, though. I don't think I'd like to see the Arcanum setting slapped on to TES gameplay.

Perhaps one of Zenimax's other developer studios would be better suited. Not Obsidian, their games have way too many bugs.

We got it, the industry went from niche to mainstream and you're not happy about the direction - but that's no reason to belabor the point or insult any demographics. If you're going to take this sort of tone there's really no reason to leave the thread open; in the future please give greater thought to the forum rules and expectations or the next time you post something like this you will be formally warned.