Arcturus - The Curse and Loss of Divinity

[ArcturusFan]

Yes indeed there is! Japanese ones too.
The biggest wiki I've found is this one: http://ko.projectarcturus.wikia.com/wiki/%EC%95%85%ED%8A%9C%EB%9F%AC%EC%8A%A4(Arcturus,%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%83%88%E3%82%A5%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B9)_%EC%9C%84%ED%82%A4

Thanks a lot Helly! I was thinking about a walkthrough more than a Wikia, something with overworld and dungeon maps, optional side quests and a progression list for the main quest, since the game seems quite open ended and I would hate to miss something. I've seen a lot of Japanese walkthrough sites for Japanese RPGs, some of which are extremely detailed, and I was wondering if there was something like that for Arcturus, too.

I've gotten a few of those little side-story events. Some of them I'm unsure if they advance the plot or not, so I just look for them anyway. Right now I'm searching those three islands for the Dallants. I did everything I think I could do, and I'm not sure what to do next, or if I missed anything.

Also, after coming back to Answers, saving at the inn, then leveling up a bit and trying to save at the same inn, I'm told they're doing renovations and can't do so. Is there an invisible passage of time in the game regarding events, or are they locked to average level like some games in the SaGa series are?

I spent a long time in the Kingdom before returning to Dome and combing the city in search for side events, I even tried going to Pergamos (road was blocked) and to Elhive castle (just an optional conversation with a fishy salesman there, nothing too interesting) before finally heading for the mines.

By the way, did you experience a stark difficulty spike as soon as you reached the areas near the mine? I had to level for some time before being comfortable with the monsters two screens north of Dome, and the monsters in the mine are definitely too much for me at the moment, unless I somehow manage to level up a lot using the save point inside the mine. It's very unfortunate you can't get outside the mine, and even before that the game wouldn't let you return to Dome after you talked with the villagers.

The equipment in Dome's shops is also extremely expensive even if one asks the attendant for money, which can't be exploited as much as I would like considering you need to drop below 2000 G before asking for a new subsidy.

[peco]

Thanks for the release, Helly. Looking forward to finally playing this game.

Addendum to my last post (should it ever actually go through),

After a few hours of uninstalling, swapping files, disc drives and experimentation with files, I've found the english files work if I do NOT copy over the new exe. If I swap only the data files, and open from the original ArcExe and not the launcher, it seems to run fine--at least up to the prologue. I haven't tested it any further yet.

You can try this no-CD/no-DVD patch:

ArcExe.exe file offset 00035A1Bh
Find: 55h 8Bh ECh 81h ECh E0h
Replace: B8h 01h 00h 00h 00h C3h

[LunaireticOmega]

I spent a long time in the Kingdom before returning to Dome and combing the city in search for side events, I even tried going to Pergamos (road was blocked) and to Elhive castle (just an optional conversation with a fishy salesman there, nothing too interesting) before finally heading for the mines.

By the way, did you experience a stark difficulty spike as soon as you reached the areas near the mine? I had to level for some time before being comfortable with the monsters two screens north of Dome, and the monsters in the mine are definitely too much for me at the moment, unless I somehow manage to level up a lot using the save point inside the mine. It's very unfortunate you can't get outside the mine, and even before that the game wouldn't let you return to Dome after you talked with the villagers.

The equipment in Dome's shops is also extremely expensive even if one asks the attendant for money, which can't be exploited as much as I would like considering you need to drop below 2000 G before asking for a new subsidy.

I definitely did have a difficulty spike. What I did was, as expected from a Gravity game headed by Hakkyu Kim, grind my butt off. A really weird thing about the leveling system is that randomly, all the experience will go to the party member in the lead. Since I had Sizz in the lead, he quickly leveled up to 14, and somewhere along the lines of that, he learned the AoE spell Fire Shower, which decimates nearly everything in battle (also, for some reason he's an amazing physical attacker, am I doing something wrong?). I exploited this by leveling up everyone this way (camping at a recovery pad so I can start off every fight with Fire Shower) by shuffling them to the front so they can get big exp boosts and raise their stats.

[Helly_]

I definitely did have a difficulty spike. What I did was, as expected from a Gravity game headed by Hakkyu Kim, grind my butt off. A really weird thing about the leveling system is that randomly, all the experience will go to the party member in the lead. Since I had Sizz in the lead, he quickly leveled up to 14, and somewhere along the lines of that, he learned the AoE spell Fire Shower, which decimates nearly everything in battle (also, for some reason he's an amazing physical attacker, am I doing something wrong?). I exploited this by leveling up everyone this way (camping at a recovery pad so I can start off every fight with Fire Shower) by shuffling them to the front so they can get big exp boosts and raise their stats.

You're doing it right. By which I mean that AoE spells are a game changer in Arcturus.

By the way, do report any bug or obvious mistake that you see, please. It's still a beta after all

[LunaireticOmega]

You're doing it right. By which I mean that AoE spells are a game changer in Arcturus.

By the way, do report any bug or obvious mistake that you see, please. It's still a beta after all

Don't worry, I will.

Also, maybe not enough of a game changer...

Spoiler

I've gotten all the stuff out of the Lachrymosa mine, but the guy's henchmen wreck me with Triple Attack and Deep Stab when I try to leave, the latter of which does 999. How do I fight these guys?

[close]

[Ikusagami]

Hummmmm, have you been using the DVD version of the game? I think the same thing happened to me one day when I tried the CD version.

It is the CD version.

You can try this no-CD/no-DVD patch:

ArcExe.exe file offset 00035A1Bh
Find: 55h 8Bh ECh 81h ECh E0h
Replace: B8h 01h 00h 00h 00h C3h

Thank you for the advice, but I know less than nothing about hacking, so forgive me if I sound like a complete idiot.   
But I downloaded Cygnus hex editor, opened the exe and was unable to find the designated thread. The find function automatically starts with 0000 for some damn reason, which I cannot delete, so using even parts of the string you gave come up with nothing. I searched manually, and had no luck.

[Helly_]

It is the CD version.

Yeah, I'm not too sure how good it'll work on the CD version. The Dvd version will definetely be less buggy, especially since it already includes the patches as far as I remember.

[ArcturusFan]

I've gotten all the stuff out of the Lachrymosa mine, but the guy's henchmen wreck me with Triple Attack and Deep Stab when I try to leave, the latter of which does 999. How do I fight these guys?

I'm stuck at the same boss, I leveled my characters a lot in the mine in order to handle the regular enemies, but the three henchmen are a whole new level of crazy and I really don't know how to build a strategy since my frontline fighters get destroyed very fast and Sizz alone can't spam AOE spells fast enough to make a dent into those HP sponges. I've found new weapons for all my party aside from Sizz, which got some nice magical trinkets at the end of the mine, but that wasn't enough either. I'm around level 16-20 depending on the character.

[peco]

Thank you for the advice, but I know less than nothing about hacking, so forgive me if I sound like a complete idiot.   
But I downloaded Cygnus hex editor, opened the exe and was unable to find the designated thread. The find function automatically starts with 0000 for some damn reason, which I cannot delete, so using even parts of the string you gave come up with nothing. I searched manually, and had no luck.

Ok, not really sure what you tried, but here's a step-by-step using XVI32 http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm

• Open XVI32.exe and open ArcExe.exe inside it (try using the one you got from Helly)
• Click Address > Goto ... (Ctrl + G)
• In the dialog box, set "Go to" to hexadecimal and "Go mode" to absolute, then type $35A1B in the input field and click OK
• Now you should see "55" highlighted in blue in the hex view on the left (click it). The hex sequence will read 55 8B EC 81 EC E0, and you should change it to B8 01 00 00 00 C3
• Simply type the following on your keyboard to overwrite the bytes: b801000000c3

After that you just need to click File > Save, and you're good to go.

[LuxEtUmbra]

Although an interesting note on compatibility: runs fine on win7 for me, but XP compatibility gives me an error that the game is not configured.

I think the game has the config attached to a specific user, if I try to run the game as administrator, it shows this message, as my user that I installed it, it runs fine, no messages shown.

Between, it drops FPS to you all on cutscenes, like when it shows the big character portrait on dialogues? I searched Falcom site, but there was no download patch to it, I'm using the DVD version.

[LunaireticOmega]

I think the game has the config attached to a specific user, if I try to run the game as administrator, it shows this message, as my user that I installed it, it runs fine, no messages shown.

Between, it drops FPS to you all on cutscenes, like when it shows the big character portrait on dialogues? I searched Falcom site, but there was no download patch to it, I'm using the DVD version.

I've also had frame drop when portraits appear during cutscenes, but I'm not sure why it happens. It's a little jarring, but it doesn't impact the game. Maybe the engine can't handle it too well?

[selius]

anybody manage to run this in a window without issues?

d3d windower and this game dont cooperate at all. i get screen tear no matter what resolution i use

[Helly_]

anybody manage to run this in a window without issues?

d3d windower and this game dont cooperate at all. i get screen tear no matter what resolution i use

Works fine for me. Did you try with those settings?

[selius]

i figured out a configuration that works well enough.

finally beat the first part of the game. my god i fucking hate maria. this bitch needs to die painfully.

[Ikusagami]

Yeah, I'm not too sure how good it'll work on the CD version. The Dvd version will definetely be less buggy, especially since it already includes the patches as far as I remember.

Ah, good to know, thanks. Will have to acquire the superior version.

Ok, not really sure what you tried, but here's a step-by-step using XVI32 http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm

• Open XVI32.exe and open ArcExe.exe inside it (try using the one you got from Helly)
• Click Address > Goto ... (Ctrl + G)
• In the dialog box, set "Go to" to hexadecimal and "Go mode" to absolute, then type $35A1B in the input field and click OK
• Now you should see "55" highlighted in blue in the hex view on the left (click it). The hex sequence will read 55 8B EC 81 EC E0, and you should change it to B8 01 00 00 00 C3
• Simply type the following on your keyboard to overwrite the bytes: b801000000c3

After that you just need to click File > Save, and you're good to go.

Thank you very much for the step by step instructions (and your patience with my noobishness, haha).

[ArcturusFan]

Happy new year! I'm back with some questions about progression to Helly or anyone who got further than me in the game's first act.

1) After attempting the mine's boss many times, I resigned myself to the fact that this dungeon wasn't meant to be the first one in this chapter and I loaded an old save back in Dome (losing some 10 levels in the process...). It definitely helped, since I found my way to Pergamos and breezed through the castle dungeon there, as convoluted as it was.

After Pergamos, the party talked about getting information in Dome's library, but unless I'm mistaken there's nothing to be gained there - bookshelves are empty, there is no progression with the NPCs and books in the game are still in Japanese so I wouldn't able to peruse them regardless.

Since going to the mine is still a no-no until I get much better equipment to avoid getting stuck at the boss another time, I went to Answers, but I had the same issue Lunairetic mentioned in the previous page.

Basically, there are plenty of hooks there: two medics missing, an NPC mentioning a mysterious treasure and two NPCs in the tavern providing some more details, another NPC mentioning a mysterious visitor to the lord's mansion with a dog freaking out just outside it... Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any way to progress further, since the Inn can't be used and the harbor office doesn't have any ship for rent, nor is there some event in the mansion.

Am I expected to go somewhere else and leave Answers for later? Aside from  Pergamos and the mine, which other destinations with active quests are open in this part of the game?

2) Where are the saves stored, exactly? I can't seem to find the folder to backup them, and the save folder in the main Arcturus folder is empty.

3) In Merhem I did most of the bar girl's quest, up until she disappeared the morning some documents were stolen. Where did she go? An NPC mentioned she liked walking outside the town, but she doesn't seem to be in the areas nearby.

[Helly_]

Happy new year! I'm back with some questions about progression to Helly or anyone who got further than me in the game's first act.

1) After attempting the mine's boss many times, I resigned myself to the fact that this dungeon wasn't meant to be the first one in this chapter and I loaded an old save back in Dome (losing some 10 levels in the process...). It definitely helped, since I found my way to Pergamos and breezed through the castle dungeon there, as convoluted as it was.

After Pergamos, the party talked about getting information in Dome's library, but unless I'm mistaken there's nothing to be gained there - bookshelves are empty, there is no progression with the NPCs and books in the game are still in Japanese so I wouldn't able to peruse them regardless.

Since going to the mine is still a no-no until I get much better equipment to avoid getting stuck at the boss another time, I went to Answers, but I had the same issue Lunairetic mentioned in the previous page.

Basically, there are plenty of hooks there: two medics missing, an NPC mentioning a mysterious treasure and two NPCs in the tavern providing some more details, another NPC mentioning a mysterious visitor to the lord's mansion with a dog freaking out just outside it... Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any way to progress further, since the Inn can't be used and the harbor office doesn't have any ship for rent, nor is there some event in the mansion.

Am I expected to go somewhere else and leave Answers for later? Aside from  Pergamos and the mine, which other destinations with active quests are open in this part of the game?

2) Where are the saves stored, exactly? I can't seem to find the folder to backup them, and the save folder in the main Arcturus folder is empty.

3) In Merhem I did most of the bar girl's quest, up until she disappeared the morning some documents were stolen. Where did she go? An NPC mentioned she liked walking outside the town, but she doesn't seem to be in the areas nearby.

1) You've done Valkenswaard, then? The next step is to go back to Tynie if I remember correctly. Ingame books aren't useful, really, and while I've translated them, I couldn't find a way add them to my patch (yet).

2) Saves are in the game directory: .../Arcturus/save   
Maybe there was a way to put them somewhere else during the installation process? I'm not too sure.

3) Sonya, right? Well, did you see the different scenes with her and Plums? And the scene where you find her eavesdropping on a strategy meeting? If not, I think you're screwed :-/

All in all, there's a lot of specific side-events you can only get if you do them in the right order at the right time. There's like 5, 6 of them in each town you visit.
I found those wiki pages for those interested:
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Dice/8578/
http://www.h-eba.com/gagharv/arcturus/arcturus.html

[ArcturusFan]

1) You've done Valkenswaard, then? The next step is to go back to Tynie if I remember correctly. Ingame books aren't useful, really, and while I've translated them, I couldn't find a way add them to my patch (yet).

2) Saves are in the game directory: .../Arcturus/save   
Maybe there was a way to put them somewhere else during the installation process? I'm not too sure.

3) Sonya, right? Well, did you see the different scenes with her and Plums? And the scene where you find her eavesdropping on a strategy meeting? If not, I think you're screwed :-/

All in all, there's a lot of specific side-events you can only get if you do them in the right order at the right time. There's like 5, 6 of them in each town you visit.
I found those wiki pages for those interested:
http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown-Dice/8578/
http://www.h-eba.com/gagharv/arcturus/arcturus.html

Thanks, that's extremely helpful

Looks like the bar girl's quest was actually meant to end in a sad and kinda unresolved way, which makes sense given the context. It also seems Answers' quest is an optional one best left for the game's second chapter.

1) I can't seem to see any reference to Lacrymosa mine or Christian Schultz however, is that also an optional quest you can safely ignore? It seems strange given how huge the mine is, even if in the end

Spoiler

there was no Dallant there unless you got it after the bosses.

[close]

2) Regarding the saves, they aren't in the save folder and I can't seem to find them in the User subfolders that sometimes gets used for videogame saves for random reasons. Even stranger is, one time I started the game after changing screen resolution in the game's Config and the saves were all gone. Then I panicked I bit, I restored the same setting in the Config program and the saves were back there. This is what prompted me to search for them in order to make a backup, by the way 

If someone is in need of money during Chapter 1, I happened to find a very useful side quest in Merhem's bar: if you click on the scroll on the wallon the left of the bartender, you can start a mercenary mission against a horde of monsters which pays off some 45.000 gold coins! It isn't too hard, but keep in mind there are five battles and a boss without any pause. They actually ask the player directly if he's interested to help, keeping the fourth wall thing I mentioned earlier going.

[LunaireticOmega]

I was able to beat the boss fight at Lachrymosa and

Spoiler

like the three islands, I didn't get any dallants

[close]

but when I won, Sizz was the only one left alive (we were all level 27), and he got 30k exp, shooting him up to 32. Now the others have to play catch-up.

It seems like going to every bar in each town is a good way to get information on what to do next (sorta like an actual adventure game). I'll have to do that for Valkenswaard and Pergamos, since I get barred from other areas by the ruler's guards.

[Helly_]

Thanks, that's extremely helpful

Looks like the bar girl's quest was actually meant to end in a sad and kinda unresolved way, which makes sense given the context. It also seems Answers' quest is an optional one best left for the game's second chapter.

1) I can't seem to see any reference to Lacrymosa mine or Christian Schultz however, is that also an optional quest you can safely ignore? It seems strange given how huge the mine is, even if in the end

Spoiler

there was no Dallant there unless you got it after the bosses.

[close]

2) Regarding the saves, they aren't in the save folder and I can't seem to find them in the User subfolders that sometimes gets used for videogame saves for random reasons. Even stranger is, one time I started the game after changing screen resolution in the game's Config and the saves were all gone. Then I panicked I bit, I restored the same setting in the Config program and the saves were back there. This is what prompted me to search for them in order to make a backup, by the way 

If someone is in need of money during Chapter 1, I happened to find a very useful side quest in Merhem's bar: if you click on the scroll on the wallon the left of the bartender, you can start a mercenary mission against a horde of monsters which pays off some 45.000 gold coins! It isn't too hard, but keep in mind there are five battles and a boss without any pause. They actually ask the player directly if he's interested to help, keeping the fourth wall thing I mentioned earlier going.

1)

Spoiler

Yeah, the whole Lachrymosa closed mine stuff is entirely a side quest. You could finish the game without ever going in it, as there are no Dallants to be found there, only death and misery (and items and XP!)

[close]

I was able to beat the boss fight at Lachrymosa and

Spoiler

like the three islands, I didn't get any dallants

[close]

but when I won, Sizz was the only one left alive (we were all level 27), and he got 30k exp, shooting him up to 32. Now the others have to play catch-up.

It seems like going to every bar in each town is a good way to get information on what to do next (sorta like an actual adventure game). I'll have to do that for Valkenswaard and Pergamos, since I get barred from other areas by the ruler's guards.

If it can help you all, I'll make a quick guide of the places you need to go to in the 1st chapter and in what order:

Spoiler

Martuinie
Pergamos
Valkenswaard
Tynie
Saardis
Philadelphia
Answers
Dome
Martuinie
Nebuchadnezzar

[close]