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1. 

   Barney Google-Goo
   Member

   This is for Whiterabbit and Valentines Day:

   January 13, 2014

   Eschalon: Book III is an interesting concept that stems from the wish to play a “good old fashioned RPG”. Eschalon: Book III pulls you in at the start, and will keep you engaged for hours to come. Gamers looking for a throwback title that screams value and depth, need look no further.

   Book III does what it aims to accomplish, and well so far. The time machine factor is immediately apparent upon getting to the game’s title screen, and carries through a majority of the game itself. While the visuals aren’t going to rival anything like Skyrim or The Witcher, that’s the point. That’s part of the charm and draw for a title like Book III, they are trying to wax nostalgic for those players that remember games like this, or those that want to have a more traditional experience with their RPG. While it might be easy to write the game off at aiming to just play on nostalgia, the game does have some great concepts, interesting art, and its fair share of challenge built right in.

   Eschalon: Book III is the third in the isometric, turn-based Eschalon: Book series, which saw its first title release back in 2007. Book I was generally well received, garnering positive reviews, and receiving the dignity of being runner up for GameBanshee’s Indie RPG of the year in 2007. That reception also translated into decent sales for the first title, with series selling about 25% better than anticipated, and turning a profit for developer Basilisk Games.

   The success of Book I no doubt paved an easy path for the developer to release Book II as planned, and the developer concedes that while the original did sell better, the reviews for Book II were solid as well, some in fact exceeding the original title.

   With Eschalon: Book III, Basilisk looks to continue the success of the series thus far, and enhance the already proven formula that nostalgia + depth + mechanics + challenge = experience.

   Not everyone will be able to jump into a game like any in the Eschalon series and immediately understand what they are going for, and what the game aims to do. What Book III does so well is offers that classic mix of challenge and control, within restrictions of the game world that are entirely fair, if sometimes unforgiving. During our playthrough of a preview build of Eschalon: Book III, provided by Basilisk Games, a few things became quite apparent, and quickly;

   The game is challenging at early levels, being that all areas in the game are immediately unlocked, it’s entirely possible to run into a dungeon that you have no business being in
   Running away is for champions and the brave. But really, this is a viable strategy, and one that should be utilized as a tactical/panic decision.
   Character creation is deep, and the paths are clear. Immediately apparent is the fact that you can pick up anything you want (encumbrance does factor in) and utilize it, only if your skills dictate that you can. Got a fancy new hat? Better be light armor level 2! And so began the quest to increase the light armor skill.
   If you want story, you will get it. The writing in the game is a welcome depth addition that most current games seem to fluff or just pipe in, not in Eschalon. The lore is solid and makes sense within typical fantasy archetypes and beliefs, while still adding elements that make the world interesting.
   Systems are deep, so take care. The character creation, menus, inventory, leveling, camping, and pretty much all systems in the game have received a ton of TLC from the dev team, and it really shows with how much time you could spend in game. From random books found in chests, to the effects and detriments a certain type of armor or spell can grant, time is your friend in this game, so take plenty.

   While the time spent in Eschalon is engrossing and captivating, some players that want to just “jump in” may find that things are not as easy as picking it up as they go. For instance, players need to know a hard lesson this Examiner learned all too late – repairing is only active while camping. The amounts of weapons that simply exploded in the characters hands was a little shocking until a vital skill came available outside of the game world; reading. The user manual is a must read for those wishing to get acclimated quickly. Some may find this a bit frustrating, but echoes the aim of the title at its very core, and speaks volumes to the experience that Eschalon creates, not only in-game.

   What this title really accomplished during the playthrough, was land the marketing message for the game thus far; made us yearn for a title that we could put a ton of time and care into a character, while being challenged and rewarded. Eschalon: Book III comes at a time that is extremely conducive of indie success, and it won’t be hard to imagine this finale being one that becomes the most successful for the series, and perhaps gets gamers to take a look in the old way-back machine for some context to newer and upcoming titles. One thing is for certain about Eschalon; this Examiner thinks it’s worth it to check out, and RPG fans will be well at home with this title.

   Books I & II in the series are currently available at more than reasonable prices both on Basilisk's website, and GOG.com and DRM free.

   Eschalon: Book III releases on February 14, 2014 and joins its predecessors in being a Mac, Linux, and PC title with absolutely zero DRM.

   Basilisk Games, developer of Eschalon: Book III, provided Examiner with a "Pre-Alpha" evaluation copy of the title, used solely for that purpose.

   article

   via RPGWatch

   Posted 10 years ago #
2. 

   Barney Google-Goo
   Member

   Quick Look: Eschalon: Book III – with Gameplay Video

   Eschalon: Book III is the third and final installment in the Eschalon role-playing game series, developed by Basilisk Games and expected to launch on February 14, 2014, for Windows, Mac and Linux.

   Eschalon is famous for its classical role-playing elements and isometric 2D worldview, eschewing from the fast-paced click-frenzy action modern iterations of the genre prefer, and delivering a more profound turn-based experience geared toward old-school RPG enthusiasts.

   The Eschalon role-playing game series features large, open-ended game worlds and very detailed character development options, based and improving on the old-school models of stats having a great importance in many of the game's mechanics, with a list of developable skills to choose from for further specialization.

   Eschalon: Book III will bring the series to an end, allowing players to finally uncover the mysteries of the character's past, the powerful crux stones and the secret behind the Orakur.

   The game starts off reminiscing of the good old days of pen & paper, by rolling the stats, and then choosing a gender, class, race and alignment to serve as character background, all of which offer different bonuses and penalties.

   The stat-based system seems very nice at first glance, with some welcome diversity and more than one stat governing each member of the holy triad of warrior/thief/mage.

   It would have been nice to have some insight into exactly how they influence your character's prowess though, but they all have synergies with the appropriate class skills.

   Eschalon: Book III, like its predecessors, does not offer skill trees to follow, instead opting to fully allow players to customize their skillsets. There are no prerequisites, just decisions to be made whether the first 3 points required to learn a skill are not worth considerably raising another one.

   Apart from the usual skills required to use various weapon archetypes and wear assorted armor or cast a certain school of spells, there are also some interesting ones such as Mapmaking, Hide in Shadows and Foraging.

   Without Mapmaking, for example, you cannot use the minimap at all. The first point investments will offer a rudimentary representation of the surrounding area, while subsequent ones will gradually increase the fidelity of the minimap.

   Eschalon: Book III's interface is another blast from the past, as the screen is not entirely devoted to the action, a big part of it being reserved for the minimap, basic character stats and various menus and interactions.

   There are some nice mechanics such as being able to gear your attacks toward doing more damage but having a lower chance to land and vice-versa, and the option to have your character go thirsty or hungry, which adds a new level of complexity to the game, as you have to plan your forays into the wild, and not just wander off.

   This is a good indication of how the game plays, you don't just go in and mindlessly spend a couple of minutes bashing heads, you have to be really careful and prepared, and you have to take advantage of every little thing you can, even abusing the AI, because the game is very, very difficult.

   If you don't have a torch in range, dungeons get darker, and if you don't carry a torch yourself, you'll quickly find your hit chance severely dropping when trying to teach some pesky cockroaches a lesson. And they can also spray some goo on you and blind you, further adding to the penalty.

   You can get bitten by leeches while simply traveling in swamps, if you're barefoot, resulting in you getting diseased. And traveling barefoot isn't just a nod to a popular fantasy series featuring hobbits, it also helps you make less noise when you're sneaking around.

   In fact, many of the game's critters and environments are actively trying to get you killed, by either brutal murder or slow, withering disease that you generally have to try and cure pretty fast, because some of them will severely impact your abilities (such as a 75 percent penalty to strength).

   You certainly won't be running around steamrolling throngs of baddies; your time will more likely be spent trying to get monsters separated from the group using some trees or a wall, or valiantly manning a choke point, and then taking them on one at a time, or at least more spread out so that you can quickly dispatch one before having to deal with another.

   Mages don't have it any better either, because they will constantly be needing to replenish their mana points. A nice feature is the ability to cast several magnitude levels of spells, so you don't have to waste precious mana on a low hp monster.

   You can also assign spells (including power level) to keybinds, which is certainly welcome, as you don't have to go through the spell list every time you want to use your bread and butter magical abilities.

   Combat is difficult, and even a couple of lowly bugs can quickly put you out of your misery. The game plays in turns, meaning that if you stop, so does the world; but your every move/attack/potion quaffed will allow a similar move to all onscreen characters.

   It plays better than it sounds, because turns go very fast, and the end result can be something close to real-time with the ability to pause.

   Of course, text is as always a big part of the game, as the narrative drives the action, and you can ask characters for information, opinions and back stories, which they present in some detail, with a good sense of prose that will surely please fans of good reading.

   The graphics are the usual package, isometric 2D tiles and sprites, but they look very nice, the color palettes are varied enough from one environment to the other, there are many visual effects for what's going on in the world, in and out of combat, and they all look pretty nice.

   Overall, a lot of work has been put into providing a detailed world that really comes across as believable and alive, including day and night cycles and lighting effects, that really add to the game's visuals as well as having an effect on gameplay mechanics.

   Eschalon: Book III so far seems to deliver a strong and detailed old-school role-playing experience that doesn't just play on nostalgia, tangible improvements having been made to the classic system, and it comes all wrapped up in a quaint, but gorgeously detailed, 2D world.

   The game is scheduled to launch on February 14, on its official website, and then make its way to most major PC distribution platforms.

   article plus 19 minute gameplay

   Eschalon: Book III - Preview @ Softpedia
   by Myrthos, 17:37

   With more detail compared to the Examiner preview Softpedia provide their thougths on Eschalon: Book III, which is to be released a month from now.

   via RPGWatch

   Posted 10 years ago #

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