Indie "old-school" RPG - Eschalon: Book 1

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:56 pm

I don't think I've seen a thread on Eschalon: Book 1. It's a 2D turn-based RPG with a look a little like a Spiderweb game (nicer art, IMO) and citing Ultima, Wizardy and M&M as inspiration.

RPG Codex did an interview here and we did one yesterday here.

From what I've seen, I'd like them to be a little more adventurous with things like quests and multiple solutions but skills like Cartography affecting the mini-map and Perception affecting the "dungeon master" descriptions sounds pretty nice.

Edit: the blurb from their site-

Basilisk Games is very pleased to announce our first title Eschalon: Book I, the start of an epic trilogy of computer RPGs created in the spirit of the great role-playing games of the past. Eschalon: Book I will take you across massive outdoor environments and deep into dozens of sprawling dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of who - or what - you are.

► Hundreds of items and dozens creatures to discover. A combination of randomly generated treasure and carefully hidden goodies.

► An non-linear storyline that can be played at your pace. As you struggle to uncover the secrets of your past, you must decide where to go and who to trust. The game world is yours to discover- just be careful not to get yourself in too deep, too soon!

► Unlimited character development style...Choose from 25 unique skills to make the character you want and 8 base attributes that affect your character's every action throughout the game.

► A turn-based yet fluid combat system keeps the action feeling near real-time. Strategy is key in Eschalon- careful skill management, weapon choice and magic usage will win your fights, not rapid button clicking. We are very pleased to say this is not another "action RPG".

► An epic adventure that you face alone...a single-player RPG carefully designed to feel like the great RPGs of the past such as Ultima®, Might & Magic®, and Wizardry®.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:53 pm

Looks very intriguing.

Eightball · Post by **Eightball** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:30 pm

I read the RPGCodex interview. Sounds interesting. Have you had a chance to look at it?

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:37 pm

What do you mean by "more adventurous with the quests", at least outside of the Fallout multiple solutions thing?

I'm intrigued.

weeskwee · Post by **weeskwee** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:47 pm

looks great!

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:00 pm

No, I haven't seen it. We agreed to do something closer to release, so hopefully we'll do a preview then.

More adventurous with quests? I am being a bit presumptuous and didn't choose great phrasing but my interpretation of a couple of the answers (questions on gameworld, story, dialogue, being non-linear) suggested they have a fairly generic fantasy gameworld with a linear main story and some "non linearity" provided by side-quests. A non-linear main storyline and multiple solutions to quests aren't part of the core design. Thomas sort of suggests they have built the world and tech and now they are thinking about quests.

Still looks very nice.

Munin · Post by **Munin** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:31 am

Love the art style

Dodger Bullet · Post by **Dodger Bullet** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 2:09 am

On that screenshot, with that itty bitty pic of some eviscerated gob of meat and the blood, what some knows as teh g0r3? Well I love that.

Count me in.

Meghan · Post by **Meghan** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:13 am

Thanks for the heads up on this! I'm going to be watching this one closely. I hope he'll have a demo.

Poleaxe · Post by **Poleaxe** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 3:12 pm

Interface is way too intrusive. Old school should not mean that they ignore game development since 1995.

Meghan · Post by **Meghan** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 4:35 pm

I kind of like the interface. It's clean and well laid out. It presents the info you need in an orderly way.

But it does rather step you out of the action. Modern UI's attempt to preserve immersion above clarity, often with mixed results.

So I can see what you're saying. I think though I would have to say that clarity and usefulness is more important than transparency in UI design.

JayG · Post by **JayG** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:10 am

Look's nice. I miss old style RPGs. especially the Ultima's and Might and Magic's.

Poleaxe · Post by **Poleaxe** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:11 am

Meghan wrote:I kind of like the interface. It's clean and well laid out. It presents the info you need in an orderly way.

But it does rather step you out of the action. Modern UI's attempt to preserve immersion above clarity, often with mixed results.

So I can see what you're saying. I think though I would have to say that clarity and usefulness is more important than transparency in UI design.

I understand your point, and I'm really not an interface nazi when it comes to games. Having said that, it takes up about 50% of the available screen. That seems way excessive. Even Baldur's Gate, which would be considered to have an intrusive interface by today's standards, was nowhere near as pervasive.

Peacedog · Post by **Peacedog** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:52 am

You can have both, though it's easier said than done. This is probably this guys first effort (a guess, I don't know this). Were I beta testing I'd certainly be offering up commentary about going with a more minimalistic approach while not sacrificing important information. It may not be something that changes for this game, but if this games sells then who knows what the future would hold.

farley2k · Post by **farley2k** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:10 pm

This looks great, but they will need a strong story to get people back to that old style stuff. It often seems like this is the weakest part of RPGs. They invest a lot in programers but don't try to get professionals for story and dialogue.

I also hope that since they went with 2D and other retro things that they keep system requirements really low. It would be great if this game would run on my crappy old laptop! It will play HOMM3 fine but totally chokes on Weird Worlds.

D.A.Lewis · Post by **D.A.Lewis** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:14 pm

Poleaxe wrote: I understand your point, and I'm really not an interface nazi when it comes to games. Having said that, it takes up about 50% of the available screen. That seems way excessive. Even Baldur's Gate, which would be considered to have an intrusive interface by today's standards, was nowhere near as pervasive.

I personally like all the stuff on the front screen instead of scrolling through menus. But once again another promising RPG that I have to wait for. Lets see, Gothic 3, Oblivion, The Witcher, TheRoots, The Fall, Neverend, Divine Divinity 2, Gods, Heart of Eternity, Phase Exodus. My gawd, it seems all we CRPGers do is wait.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 11:38 am

Poleaxe wrote:Interface is way too intrusive. Old school should not mean that they ignore game development since 1995.

The best solution would be a user min/max option.

Lee · Post by **Lee** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:41 pm

It looks like you get one character, someone tell me I am wrong please. I love having a group to control. I have been itching for an old-school RPG so can't wait for this. (SpiderWeb's games need a graphic/interface upgrade badly in my book or I would go play one of those.)

Dhruin · Post by **Dhruin** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 6:12 pm

Um...you're wrong?

No - it's single character only.

dbemont · Post by **dbemont** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:23 pm

This looks like a purchase.