Game News Eschalon: Book I and II 50 % off

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: Basilisk Games; Eschalon: Book I

<p>Basilisk Games have a <a href="http://basiliskgames.com/purchase" target="_blank">holiday sale</a> going with 50% off until 2012.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Need help deciding whether Eschalon Book I or&nbsp;Eschalon Book II might be worth your bucks? I can refer you to <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=170">two different</a> <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=206" target="_blank">reviews</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Thanks, Jedi_Learner!</em></p>

 

[mugarod]

It has 75% off on steam, unless ofcourse you are one of many steam haters present here.

 

[Elwro]

While not classics by any means, these games are definitely worth the reduced prices. Sight / lighting mechanics could make combat quite interesting, for example.

 

[Gord]

Does it make sense to go directly for part 2 or should one definitely play part 1 first?

 

[Elwro]

It makes sense to start with 2.

... and experiment with different starting skills, this is important! Don't put more than 1 in Cartography.

 

[Metro]

There has been speculation that the first one will be in one of the indie bundles.

 

[Excidium]

I played the book I demo and didn't like it much. It has pretty iso graphics, though.

Aren't the devs working on a sci-fi RPG now? Any news on it?

 

[hoverdog]

I couldn't even get through the demos. boring.shit.banal.

 

[villain of the story]

Grabbed this and Geneforge Saga ($10) on Steam.

 

[Melcar]

I got them with 100% off .

 

[Hobo Elf]

Book 1 is shit but Book 2 is vastly improved. Just get Book 2. If you like it well enough then you can probably go and soldier through Book 1 afterwards.

 

[Disconnected]

The games are roughly equal in terms of length & content. Book II has slightly higher screen resolution and tweaked mechanics, but otherwise it's basically just a different adventure module, not a different game.

The games are connected and sequential, but you need no knowledge of Book I to get everything there is to get from Book II. Moreover, Book II's introduction offers a cliff notes version of Book I.

I agree Book II is slightly better, but they're sufficiently similar in every respect that if you like one, you'll like the other too.

At this point I've discussed both games with quite a few people, so I'll risk a potentially strawman'y way of recommending them:

The games measure time in squares moved, just like Rogue-likes. For most people, even people who (claim to) play Rogue-likes, this is a massive pacing problem that totally kills the games. For a few, though - including yours truly - it's a joy.

The character building system is slightly more complex than Spiderweb's games, similar to and somewhere in-between 1st edition D&D and 1st edition AD&D. And like those systems, your character will be a useless spass if you don't specialise to a much, much greater extent than you'll be used to in CRPGs. To some this results in a lot of false starts and impossibly difficult obstacles. Others find it immensely satisfying to build whatever kind of specialist they want to play.

Beyond the vastly superior art direction, the presentation is very Spiderweb'y, with suitably silly opponents, great dialogue and even event/location descriptions. Just don't expect the Eschalons to be as massive as a Spiderweb game.

If those three things sound appealing, you'll likely want to play both games (really, they're not that long). If not, steer clear. Most people don't like them at all.

If you need more info still, Basilisk's forums isn't a bad place to start. Neither are the Eschalon threads at Qt3 (which I've contributed a bunch to).

Aren't the devs working on a sci-fi RPG now? Any news on it?

Last I checked, Book III was coming first. But yes, he's got plans for a SF CRPG after that.

 

[Elwro]

Frankly, even though I liked the two games, Vogel's writing is a LOT better.

My reviews:

Book 1: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=170

Book 2: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=206

 

[PorkaMorka]

Try the demo before making impulse buys. You need to check if you can stand the slow walking animations. It was a constant irritation for me and the increase in book 2 wasn't sufficient.

 

[Jedi_Learner]

You need to check if you can stand the slow walking animations. It was a constant irritation for me and the increase in book 2 wasn't sufficient.

Does the game run like this on your computer? It should run like this. If it runs like that and you still find it slow perhaps you suffer from a short attention span?

 

[PorkaMorka]

Yeah, funny story.

The walk animations looked perfectly smooth, but very slow, so it felt intentional. Like a game with a run/walk setting stuck in walk mode.

But it turns out that the walking speed is actually highly variable based on system performance.

So just switching it from Direct X to Open GL like doubled my walk speed and now the little guy zips around at a reasonable pace. It actually kind of looks like he is walking in fast forward.

I guess I owe Eschalon guy an apology. I wonder of all those other dudes complaining about the walk speed had this issue?

 

[torpid]

Just bought this for 5 bucks on Steam (the second game I buy there after having vowed to never use the service again, fuck me). The reviews were too negative for me to buy it at full price when it came out, but for €5 I'll show some support to the developers.

Is the Medecine skill useful? And should I specialize in one school of magic or is investing in both elemental magic and divination viable?

 

[Elwro]

Medicine is about HP regeneration rate. Iirc it's better just to invest into Endurance and put your skill points into something else.

Not sure about the magic classes, I don't think you'll have enough skill points to really master both of them.

Tip: Alchemy is difficult without Foraging (talking about the 2nd game here).

 

[1eyedking]

Avoid these piece of shit games like the plague. Reinstall a classic instead and save your money.