Interview Eschalon interview at GameBanshee

[Elwro]

Tags: Eschalon: Book I

<A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/">GameBanshee</A> has an <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/eschalonbooki2-1.php">interview</A> with Thomas Riegsecker, lead programmer on <A HREF="http://basiliskgames.com/book1.htm">Eschalon: Book One</A>. The topic is of course the recently released game and its continuation. Here are some snippets:
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<blockquote><strong>GB</strong>: Would you say that the game's main plot is a little cliché?
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<strong>Thomas</strong>: I think you are referring to the “amnesia hook” that we use to start the game off with. While that bit is not too original, we definitely take the story in a fresh direction after that. What surprises me is that we managed to stay away from the “savior of the world” plot unlike what every single commercial RPG still uses, and people still comment that our amnesia hook is overused. All I can say to the critics is: play the game and then comment on it. Saying a story is weak when you’ve only read the first page isn’t very fair.</blockquote>True, but I think an answer to this might be to provide a big fat demo containing not only the "first page" of the plot. A new indie developer might consider it risky to expect that people will buy the full version just out of hope the game will get better in the later stages.
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And for those who think the game is too short:
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<blockquote>(...) I can say that our plans are to make Book II about 3 times larger than Book I. The rule system used in Book I is really trimmed down from what I had designed, and so Book II will feature a much more complete version of this system. It will also feature gender selection and multiple racial choices for your character.
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The only thing else I can tell you for certain is that we have no intention of changing our design philosophy: we’re going to continue to model our RPGs after single-player, old-school classics. We are happy to support this neglected corner of the market.</blockquote>
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Read the whole thing <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/eschalonbooki2-1.php">here</A>.
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Thanks, <strong>Vault Dweller</strong>!

 

[Saxon1974]

Cool interview, thanks for posting.

I sure hope it sells well enough to get Book II made.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Good read. I think i'm only halfway through the game but the story has been picking up and i'm curious to see how it unfolds.

I do agree that the demo does a big disservice to the overall game as far as making the plot seem dull and unimportant. You never get any exciting dialogue going, but the plot is interesting and clever at times. It's about on par with Spidersoft which is really all I need.

I'd buy a second game if I got pretty much the same thing plus a party. I'm sure he could widen his audience if more time was spent on writing (or hiring a writer)

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So, how is it overall then? Also, what is the max for each stat based on dice rolls? Is it based on D20 or something, or just something of his own design?

 

[FrancoTAU]

Own Design. The initial roll is 7-14 for each attribute. You add 15 points as you see fit on the startup and than 3 points on each level. I don't know if there is a max though. I'm up to 30 Dexterity and still counting.

I haven't tried any other builds yet, but it seems pretty hard to power game. I think i'm more than halfway through and my thief can only tank through beginning level monsters. If I don't make sure i'm in the shadows when attacked by 2-3 enemies than i'm usually hurt pretty bad.

The plot is solid once you get going. NPCs are mostly robots that spit out some info, dispense quests and hawk wares.

It's hard to compare it to any recent games. If I had to go back than I'd say it's Ultima 3-5 with a really nice late 90s graphic and sound upgrade but missing a lot of the intangibles.

 

[dagorkan]

Own Design. The initial roll is 7-14 for each attribute. You add 15 points as you see fit on the startup and than 3 points on each level. I don't know if there is a max though. I'm up to 30 Dexterity and still counting.

d8+6 I'm guessing.

It's hard to compare it to any recent games. If I had to go back than I'd say it's Ultima 3-5 with a really nice late 90s graphic and sound upgrade but missing a lot of the intangibles.

I'd say it's Ultima with Arcanum-quality visuals.

 

[thesheeep]

It's hard to compare it to any recent games. If I had to go back than I'd say it's Ultima 3-5 with a really nice late 90s graphic and sound upgrade but missing a lot of the intangibles.

I'd say it's Ultima with Arcanum-quality visuals.

True. Though Arcanums graphics were a lot better than Eschalons. But nonetheless, Book I has really nice graphics and sound.

I bought it and am more than happy. Unlike any other game I recently played (exceptions: Europa Universalis III and The Witcher), I was able to play it like 9 or 10 hours without a break. So those 28 $ are definately worth it.


BUY IT!

 

[Micmu]

Just got it - two months is too long to wait for a Linux version. Too bad I had massive problems getting it run properly (fast and stable enough) in WINE. Looks like I'm stuck with wintendo again. No matter.
It is indeed a great old-school comeback.
Btw, funny how I never had any problems with Spiderweb's graphics and interface but now I sighed when I saw Avernum 5 screenshots.

 

[Brother None]

I sent him these questions when I was about 6-7 hours into the game, before I reached and explored Blackwater.

That was a bit of a mistake, because the ploy does pick up there, quite a bit. At no point does it become brilliant or vibrantly original. It still follows the basic amnesiac-saves-the-world plot, but the hook is weaved into the story better than it normally is. Not sure why he'd say "we managed to stay away from the “savior of the world” plot" because, honestly, they didn't.

So, not brilliant, but good. The question I asked him is thus slightly unfair, though the point that he shouldn't expect people to give the game a chance if his demo doesn't feature anything to induce such giving-of-chances.

 

[Saxon1974]

It's hard to compare it to any recent games. If I had to go back than I'd say it's Ultima 3-5 with a really nice late 90s graphic and sound upgrade but missing a lot of the intangibles.

I'd say it's Ultima with Arcanum-quality visuals.

True. Though Arcanums graphics were a lot better than Eschalons. But nonetheless, Book I has really nice graphics and sound.

I bought it and am more than happy. Unlike any other game I recently played (exceptions: Europa Universalis III and The Witcher), I was able to play it like 9 or 10 hours without a break. So those 28 $ are definately worth it.


BUY IT!

I agree, I have lost sleep over this game. Sadly Im going to finish it soon Im not sure if its the nostalgia or what, but Im loving this game. I have high hopes for how good book II could be, he said they are planning to make it 2 or 3 times larger than book I. (Assuming it sells well enough for a book 2)

 

[k_bits]

So...people are now saying that the full version is significantly better than the demo?

How sandboxy is the full game? Can I for example go off to a library, read some obscure myth / story and then persue it within the game world?

IOW
Tell me about some the side quests in the full game please?

 

[Saxon1974]

So...people are now saying that the full version is significantly better than the demo?

How sandboxy is the full game? Can I for example go off to a library, read some obscure myth / story and then persue it within the game world?

IOW
Tell me about some the side quests in the full game please?

Yes, I think the full game is better than the demo, it's seem like I like the game more the more I play.

Its pretty sandboxy, there are a few blocked off areas in the beginning but they fit into the story, but for the most part you can explore and do quests in the order you see fit, bearing in mind you will get your butt kicked in some areas as a newbie.

The quests are pretty basic, but I still enjoy them alot. There aren't all simple so when you finally complete them you feel a sense of accomplishment.

Example (Not sure yet if this is a side quest yet or not though) You get a quest to take a healing potion to a sick man living near the sea by a preist in the one of the towns. When you take it to him he throws it on the ground saying the priest is trying to poison him because of some things he saw, so he asks you to take the information to the caption of the guard at a keep in the game. I thought this quest was interesting.

There is another quest where a guy lost his sextant in a shipwreck and you can go find the shipwreck and bring the sextant back to him and then he will teach you the cartography skill..

Just a couple for examples.....

 

[k_bits]

Hmmm....interesting.

Are there quests you can directly uncover that aren't given to you by NPC's?

I'm willing to reconsider buying the game...

Say, is there any news / way to improve the screen resolution? I have fairly poor vision (no doubt from jacking it to too much furry porn), so some kind of magnification would come in handy to me.

 

[FrancoTAU]

I'm enjoying it more as i go along too and i only sort of liked the demo. I can't quite explain why, but i think it's a mixture of wide open exploration and challenging combat as a thief.

The quests are pretty generic for the most part, but some of them have twists like Saxon said.

 

[Brother None]

Are there quests you can directly uncover that aren't given to you by NPC's?

Hmmm...no, I don't think so. There're a few started via notes, but that's just indirectly via NPCs.

It's basically all "do something for me", but the good thing is there are no "go to the forest and kill 10 floozels." There're quite a few fetch-the-item quests, a few "kill the big bad" quests, and a few more creative ones "find a way into this place" or "assassinate this person" or "carry this mindbendingly heavy item somewhere" (that one sucks)

Don't expect anything really original, but most quests are fun to do and really satisfying to do. So good quest design, but nothing really original. There're a lot of fun old-skool dungeon "puzzles", y'know, the type of you see two boxes, above the boxes are the signs "give me strength" and "make me better". Those kind of endearingly recognisable situations.

The main plot really picks up at Blackwater, in fact the whole game does. The combat and travelling are the biggest bores, but outside that the game's a lot of fun.

 

[Saxon1974]

Are there quests you can directly uncover that aren't given to you by NPC's?

Hmmm...no, I don't think so. There're a few started via notes, but that's just indirectly via NPCs.

It's basically all "do something for me", but the good thing is there are no "go to the forest and kill 10 floozels." There're quite a few fetch-the-item quests, a few "kill the big bad" quests, and a few more creative ones "find a way into this place" or "assassinate this person" or "carry this mindbendingly heavy item somewhere" (that one sucks)

Don't expect anything really original, but most quests are fun to do and really satisfying to do. So good quest design, but nothing really original. There're a lot of fun old-skool dungeon "puzzles", y'know, the type of you see two boxes, above the boxes are the signs "give me strength" and "make me better". Those kind of endearingly recognisable situations.

The main plot really picks up at Blackwater, in fact the whole game does. The combat and travelling are the biggest bores, but outside that the game's a lot of fun.

This sums it up pretty well, good post.

I also agree with Franco that exploration is its biggest strenght, exploring a new area is big fun in this game. I get excited when I find a new area to explore.