Arcuz Overview

8/13/2019 Arcuz Overview

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Notice: This blog was written WAAAAAY back in

December of 2010, and while the game itself hasn't

changed mch !Wh" wold it#$, m" e%&erience has

changed ite a bit since then( )'ll be rewriting this blog

in the ftre, bt when will that be is an"one's gess(

*11+1+201-

./er/iew of Arc

)ntrodction of the ./er/iew

Welcome to my overview of Arcuz...or, rather, a word that could better fit the title than Overview. Itwas initially review, but it was gonna be WAY more than ust a review, so I changed it to Overview.

I!ll let you figure out which is o"inion and which is fact. #hances are, there!s going to be stuff that I!mgonna forget, since there!s so much to cover. I!ll go over various as"ects of the game, as well as give out

a few ti"s and concerns every now and then. Well, anyhow, here is my Overview of one of my"ersonal favorite $lash %ames& Arcuz& 'ehind the (ar).

)ntrodction to Arc


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Arcuz *Official name& Arcuz& 'ehind the (ar)+ is an Action -% develo"ed"resented by $unnaut. It

veins itself similar to (iablo and /elda *though I would say (iablo and (emon!s 0ouls1 I!ll e2"lain

later+. 3here are, as far as I )now, five cha"ters in this game. It!s also a web browser game, so thatmeans it!s free to "lay *which is good, as always+. 3here are many different versions of Arcuz, thoughmany don!t have the full version. 4owever, the 5ewgrounds version says that agame.com has the full

version. 0o if you want to "lay Arcuz, "lay it in Agame.

4ere are the controls. You can move with either the WA0( or the (irection )eys. You can attac) withthe 6 button, and 6um" with 7. Although I go with the WA0( set8u", it "robably de"ends on whether

you!re right8handed or left8handed. 'y now, you!re "robably want me to get into the meaty8gritty. 0o

instead of doing it li)e most other reviews, I!ll give you a tour. 9i)e I said, calling this a review ustisn!t right, for some reason.

en creen and related as&ects

When you first "lay Arcuz, you get to "ic) a language. 3here are : languages in all, and if ;nglish isn!tyour native language, than you can "ic) any one of the si2 other languages. 3hen, you get ta)en to the

main menu screen. You can "lay the game, chec) out your achievements, if you have any, get hel" *I

thin) it teaches the controls, or something+, or read the credits. If you choose to "lay the game, youcome to this screen.


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9et!s go over the o"tions. 3he continue o"tion let!s you continue a "reviously saved game, if one isavailable. 5ew %ame creates a new file, though I!m not sure if it overwrites the saved game if there

already is one. 3he main


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@. 3his dis"lays your health and s)ill bar. 3he health bar is in red and indicates how much 4- youhave. If it hits zero, then you!re good as dead unless you have an auto8revive buff on you,

which I!ll get to later. Your s)ill bar shows how much 0- you have. If you don!t have enough,

you won!t be able to use your s)ills, which, again, I!ll go over with later.

. 3hese buttons show all about you. 3he character screen shows your stats. 3he 0)ill menushows all the available s)ills and what you canhave learn*ed+. 3he Inventory menu shows you

what e>ui"ment you!re wearing, and what items you have in your inventory. 3he Buests buttondis"lays all the >uests you!ve done. 3he ones with a chec) are finished, and the ones that don!t

are the ones you!ll "robably want to do sooner or later. 3he uic)ly consumed by the means of the @,

, and D )eys. If you have another "otion that!s e2actly li)e the "otion you!ve ust consumed,then that "otion will ta)e its "lace. 9et!s say you hit @ to drin) a small red "otion. If you have

at least one in your inventory, then that 0- will ta)e the "lace of the "reviously consumed"otion. 'ut if you have something li)e a


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only two ways to save your game. 3he other one is by 0ave and >uit and bac) to the menu.

While we!re at it, let!s o"en u" the menu.

3he #ontinue o"tion let!s you go bac) to the game. 3he 0ave

Buit o"tion let!s you save the game *the other way to save+ and>uit. 3he 4el" o"tion e2"lains the controls. 3he >uality one

changes the >uality of the gra"hics, by the way. I haven!t noticed

much difference when I messed with it, though. 3he 0word witha s"ea)er behind it controls the volume. 5ote that this includes

'O34 the 0$J andthe '%


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3here!s a total of s)ills, but really, you!re going to use less. $or one thing, there!s s)ills that

corres"ond to each of the three wea"on classes, so you!re gonna ignore the other sets of s)ills s"ecificto the ty"e of wea"on you!re not using. -lus, some of them aren!t really that useful. 3he number that

a""ears on the bottom8right corner of each s)ill indicates the level of that s)ill. If it says uests give you an additional A- as well.

3haracter:

One thing that I haven!t mentioned yet are the stats. 9et!s o"en u" our character menu and chec) it out.

@. 3his is your name. 3he default is Aaron.

. 3his shows your 4it -oints in numbersD. 3his shows your 0)ill -oints in numbers.

E. I have no idea what this is for.

F. 0ome enemies have magic effects1 this indicates the

chance of you resisting that effect.G. 3his shows your e2"erience in numbers.

:. 3his shows what level you currently are.

=. When you level u" or com"lete certain >uests, you gainF "oints to "lace in your stats.

L. 0trength indicates how much damage you can do.

@M. Agility shows how much defense *there!s a s"elling

error1 there!s su""osed to be an e+ you have against theenemies. 3his also shows the 0hield 'loc), showing

what "ercentage chance you have of bloc)ing an attac).

Agilityfor defenseH (oesn!t ma)e much sense.@@. #onstitution shows how much healthmana you have.

@. 9uc) shows you how li)ely you are to score a critical

hit.3he stats can also be increased by finding tomes. #ertain

tomes increase certain stats. Also, there!s a "assive ability that can raise stats.


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#ertain stats li)e defense are affected by what e>ui"ment you!re wearing. 9et!s chec) it out.

3his is the e>ui"mentinventory screen. As you can see, the

e>ui"ment area is fairly diverse. You got the wea"on, headgear,nec)lace, gloves, armor, shield, ring, bracelet, belt, and boots.

;ach "iece of e>ui"ment has a amount of slots for u"grades,

which I!ll get to shortly.And then you have the inventory. 3here are M slots, and you

have D "oc)ets, ma)ing a total of GM items you can hold.

4owever, once you get to cha"ter D, -aul will store your itemsthat you don!t wanna ta)e with on the go for you.

3here!s also the encumbrance, which is basically the weight of all

the items you!re holding. If it reaches over the ma2imumca"acity, your character will slow down until you reduce it.

You can also sort the items by wea"on, crystal, or "otion, but I

wouldn!t recommend it, es"ecially if you!re someone li)e me.

$inally, it shows how much money you have. You!d have to be amoney saver or sell a lot of "riceless stuff to have what I have

right, which I!ll get to later.

3om&osition:

You can also !u"grade! your e>ui"ment. %ive me a moment...No"ens u" screen shot and instructionsN

4ere!s the com"osition screen. (e"ending on the e>ui"ment, you can u"grade it from D to : or more

times. ;ach u"grade has four levels. What do you use to com"oseH 3here are four )inds of crystals*Wind, ;arth, $ire, and Water+, and three stones *'lessing, 0oul, and 4oly+. 3here are three levels of

each crystal, ma)ing a total of @ )inds of crystals. 4ere!s the general level of each u"grade&

9evel @& 0mall #rystal, 0mall #rystal, 0tone of 'lessing, and a "iece of e>ui"ment.


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9evel & ui"ment that has an u"grade of some sort. And "ur"le ones have >uestitems. I!ve seen gold chests before...wonder what they containH

3here!s another way to obtain the materials, and that is that 0usan sometimes sells certain crystals orstones in her sho". 'ut you have to go bac) and forth in and out of the village until 0usan sells the one

you want. And she can sell more than one, but if it!s three or more and you!re in cha"ter E, it can cut

off. (on!t get itH 4ere!s a screen shot for "roof&

Alright. 3his is anearlier screen shot. 'ut

it shows what can

ha""en.

0"ea)ing of which,

notice the lac) of adescri"tion. 3hat!s one

of the few ma4or"roblems of Arcuz.

3he "otions don!t tellyou what they do.


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onsters and 5e/eling 6&:

;very monster has levels in the odds. If you!re not a high enough level, when you enter an area, it!llsay #autionK, and the monster will have a HHH, thus, you won!t be able to )ill it. If you!re e2actly D

levels lower than the monster, however, it!ll still warn you, but you!ll be able to )ill it. 5ow, each

monster has a set e2"erience. If you go "ast their level, the amount of e2"erience will decrease until,when you!re high enough, they won!t give an"e2"erience at allK

4ere!s an e2am"le. I ust )illed a %oblin Warrior, and I leveled u". I )illed another one, and do you

see the difference in the amount of e2"erience I gainH 3he difference can be drastic. 4owever, there isa way to "reserve the amount of e2"erience they!d give, even when you!re "ast their level. 3he "oison

attribute, when in effect, will slowly sa" the enemy!s 4-. If the POISON)ills the enemy, and not your

wea"on, you!ll get the same e2"erience. 9et!s say that the ndgoblin died by "oison, and not my blade.

Instead of getting =@ e2"erience, you!d get @ e2"erience li)e the last goblin you )illed.3he monsters themselves are se"arated into different s>uares. When you leave the s>uare, and the

monster*s+ haven!t been )illed yet, it recovers to full health. 4owever, if you )illed the monster*s+ andleave the s>uare, they stay dead unless you leave the area.

3he actual monsters, though...recolored monsters are common in -%s, and it!s often o)ay, as long as

the variety of monsters outweigh the amount of recoloring there is. 'ut Arcuz...lemme count all the

different )inds of monsters. We have the slime, the wolf, the hornet, the goblin, the centaur, thes)eleton, ghosts, and ogres. I!m sure there!s at least one more, but seriously, I must have encountered at

least M )inds of monsters, recoloring included, and that!s the best they could come u" withHK

0"ea)ing about monsters, my biggest, "ersonal issue with Arcuz, are the bosses. 3hey!re not even

uni>ueK 3hey!re ust the same monster, e2ce"t that they don!t flinch when you attac) them *unless it!s a


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final blow of a combo+, and they have WAY more 4- than normal. 3he e2tra 4- is what I hate the

most. $unnaut got carried away when they added the e2tra 4- to the bosses. It ta)es $O;C; to

)ill them, and "lus, when you die, you have to start all over againKK

Death:

One last "art of Arcuz I should mention *unless there!s some that I forgot+ is what ha""ens when you

die. 9et!s find out, shall weH

3here are two o"tions. If you choose eturn in the Cillage, you!ll a""ear bac) in the village with a

"ortal leading to the beginning of the area you last died in. 3he catch is that you lose some e2"erience

and gold. If you choose 0ave and Buit, you!ll save the game, and go bac) to the menu. 3here!s no"ortal, but I!m guessing that you don!t lose any e2"erience or gold.

Or you could ust refresh the "age to start when you last saved, I guess.

What ) like abot this game:

Alright, enough chit8chat about the features. 9et!s go over what I li)e about this game.

3he music is very fitting. 3hey may not be that memorable, but they get the ob done. 0ome of

my favorites include the 0outh ui"ment you wear actually a""ears on you, which is a nice touch.

;tc.

Ti&s:

4ere are some of my "ersonal ti"s on "laying Arcuz.@. -um" u" your dro" rate "ercentage as soon as "ossible. You!ll need every bit of treasure and

money you can get, since initially, the game isn!t that generous. 3ry not to bother going to @F*level D+, let alone M *level E+, on one, single, "iece of e>ui"ment. Instead, s"read it among

multi"le "ieces of e>ui"ment, so you don!t have to get higher level, more rare stones and

crystals *large+.. If there!s a monster that!s your level or higher, and if it!s )ic)ing your ass, try training on lower

level ones. 3he reduced e2"erience, chances are, is going to "ut you off, so use "oison on your

wea"on to ensure ma2imum e2"erience.


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D. 3here!s u"grade attributes that heal you a small amount of 4- and 0- for every monster you

)ill. If you can, "um" u" on those and )ill wea)er monsters *"articularly lv.@ slimes+ to slowly

heal you u", saving money. 3rust me, it can really "ay off.

E. 3here!s certain s)ills that you!ll want A0A-. One is the one that tem"orary increases your s"eed*both movement and attac)+. Another one is an auto8revive s"ell. It!s bloody e2"ensive, but it!s

worth it.

F. Once the button8mashing a""roach is getting you )illed, try using more cautious methods ofattac)ing your enemies1 whether it!d be um" and attac) over and over, or hit and run tactics, try

to thin) u" of stuff to not get )illed.

3losing 3omments:

Arcuz& 'ehind the (ar) is one a""ealing game. 3here are some issues that can ta)e away the

e2"erience if you let it, but ultimately you!ll have >uite a bit of fun with Arcuz. $rom what I!ve learned,

the biggest decision is whether you value more& time or money, due to the dro" rate of actual treasurea""earing. 'ut whatever you choose, we all will meet at the end. 4ave fun ridding Arcuz of ;vilK

Oh, and here!s the lin)&

htt"&www.agame.comgameArcuz.html
http://www.agame.com/game/Arcuz.htmlhttp://www.agame.com/game/Arcuz.html

Documents

Arcuz Overview