[Jedi_Learner]

Eschalon: Book II is the second game from Basilisk Games, an independent game developer. Feel free to discuss anything related to Book II in this topic. I will update and add to the information below on a daily basis.

June 10th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games	June 10th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games	June 10th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games	October 6th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games	October 13th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games

October 20th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games	October 27th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games	October 27th 2008 Found at Basilisk Games	January 13th 2009 Found at RPG Vault	January 13th 2009 Found at RPG Vault

February 10th 2009 Found at RPG Vault	February 10th 2009 Found at RPG Vault	February 10th 2009 Found at RPG Vault	February 23rd 2009 Found at Colony of Gamers	August 25th 2009 Found at Basilisk Games

August 25th 2009 Found at Basilisk Games	October 13th 2009 Found at Basilisk Games	December 21st 2009 Found at Basilisk Games	January 22nd 2010 Found at Basilisk Games

"The Road Less Traveled" | Teaser Trailer

---------------------------------------------------------------
Changes and Enhancements from Book I
---------------------------------------------------------------

• Four combat modes (Ref)
• Keyboard movement (Ref)
• In-game gamma adjuster (Ref)
• Powder Kegs are now moveable (Ref)
• Book II is playable in 1024x768 resolution (Ref)
• Items and equipment now degrade with use^* (Ref)
• Torches can be removed from your inventory (Ref)
• Difficulty modes, challenges and tracked statistics (Ref)
• You can now choose the gender of your character (Ref)
• Your character will now need to eat and drink to survive^* (Ref)
• Male characters recieve a +1 bonus to strength, and female characters recieve a +1 bonus to dexterity (Ref)
• Weather effects including rain, snow and thunderstorms which can affect your gameplay statistics and skills (Ref)
• Inventory keyring, potion mixer and "equipment configuration" presets for convenient swapping of equipment (Ref)

^* Can be enabled or disabled with the difficulty modes

-----------------------------------------
Information about Book II
-----------------------------------------

• The story is a continuation of your character's journey. If you choose a female to play in Book II, then we just assume that your character was a female in Book I. The original consideration of a male-only character for the entire series was to eliminate this issue with switching genders between games. We have since removed any reference to gender-specific elements so that even if you switch genders, the story can still be valid. (Ref)

• Book II starts with a Level 1 character. The storyline picks up a couple years after Book I and without constant honing of your adventurous skills, you've become rusty and must begin anew. (Ref)

• You'll get a chance at the start of Book II to say how you finished Book I (or if you played or finished it at all) so that the intro narration is adapted better to your personal experience with the first game. (Ref)

• Book II will have a few more exclusive tracks by "Glorian" which we have commissioned him to create just for us. He has kept the "Eschalon theme" from Book I and has built upon it, sort of like the Star Wars theme used from movie to movie. He is awesome. (Ref)

• In Book II we’ll have more quests that branch based on player choices, and the effects of these choices will be more apparent. For example, helping one person may affect your standing with someone else, or completing certain quests may impact the game world in unforeseen ways. Overall, we just want to give the player a greater sense that their actions have real consequences. (Ref)

• We are planning on taking the player through three regions in Book II, starting out with a temperate zone similar to Thaermore in Book I. The other two zones will be a volcanic wasteland and a frigid arctic area. (Ref)

• We are still designing the towns and villages that you will be able to visit in Book II so I don’t have an exact count yet, but I can say for sure there will be one very large city which is practically an adventure all on its own! (Ref)

• There will be no run option in Book II, but the walking speed has increased by about 20% so your character now walks with more of a “brisk stride” rather than a “casual stroll”. I have already gotten some positive feedback on it, so I am pretty sure most people will be satisfied. There are also more Quick Travel and portal options so you’ll need to do less tedious backtracking. (Ref)

• There will be no special quests for males/females, but on this note we will have at least 1 significant "Class Quest" for each of the 5 classes. (Ref)

• The storyline for Book II does not involve Thearmore so we are not planning on reproducing that entire destroyed region within Book II. However, we are planning on taking players back to one small area inside Thaermore... (Ref)

• In Book II there are bigger buildings, but every town still has numerous small stores and cottages. As for roofs, not with this engine. We will have many more multi-level buildings in Book II. (Ref)

Official list of new features and changes for Book II can be found here

[Palmer Eldritch]

I don't know - I bought book I and liked it initially, but about halfway through I gave up, as it felt too empty and slow. I did enjoy the story, so I expect to finish it some time, but I can't say that I'm too excited about its sequel right now.

From my experience with book I, side-quests and dialog really needed more depth. I wonder if this has been improved for the sequel...

[Jedi_Learner]

The website has been updated!

From my experience with book I, side-quests and dialog really needed more depth. I wonder if this has been improved for the sequel...

"...Book II features a sprawling story spanning three regions with cause-and-effect outcomes to many quests."

[Oscar]

Sounds interesting. Thanks, JL.

[Scott]

I also played halfway through Book I.  One thing you can say about the game:  there's a lot of it.

Frankly not one of the "improvements" listed in the first post interests me in the slightest.  If he had said "true turn-based" and "now with party" I would have been impressed.

[Jedi_Learner]

I also played halfway through Book I.  One thing you can say about the game:  there's a lot of it.

Not really, I found the game quite short, coming in at under twenty hours. The second time I played, I managed to shave another four hours. This is properly why Reigsecker was going to do a free add-on for Book I which would of added another four to five hours of gameplay. Unfortunately the add-on is now on hold because of technical problems and the focus is now on Book II which uses a much improved engine.

Frankly not one of the "improvements" listed in the first post interests me in the slightest.

I wasn't expecting people to jump out of their chairs and furiously play with their trouser snakes, the reason I mentioned those "improvements" as you put it, was to give a general indication of where the Eschalon series is heading.

If he had said "true turn-based" and "now with party" I would have been impressed.

I'm sure Reigsecker has mentioned another project, something similar to Eschalon but with a party. Go search their forums.

[Palmer Eldritch]

The website has been updated!

From my experience with book I, side-quests and dialog really needed more depth. I wonder if this has been improved for the sequel...

"...Book II features a sprawling story spanning three regions with cause-and-effect outcomes to many quests."

That does sound promising. I don't recall any skill-checks in dialog in book I, so that would be a nice addition as well. Any word on that?

As for the other features, well let's see...

Eating and drinking to survive - depends on implementation. If it's just a matter of stocking up on food supplies, like potions or whatever, then I'd say it's more annoying than beneficial. It would be pretty neat if certain skills would be useful for gathering food though, making ranger-type builds all the more plausible.

Equipment degrading upon use - I hope this will be a slow process, because it's a really annoying feature in some RPG's. I assume (hope) they've added a repair skill.

Gender - who cares, unless it truly makes a difference within the game. I guess it's nice for female players though (assuming there are any within the eschalon fan-base).

Combat was really a chore sometimes in Book I. My character used longbow and sword, and just trading blows got old quick. I tried a mage and just waltzed through any resistance with the same fireball spell. Lost interest...

Action points, or at least more options would be nice.

[Jedi_Learner]

Any word on that?

None, but I'll be asking at the earliest opportunity when the Q&A opens up. As for the some of the features like eating and equipment degrading, there will be difficulty modes so I believe you can toggle options at the beginning of the game. I'll ask that too just to make sure.

[Scott]

I'm sure Reigsecker has mentioned another project, something similar to Eschalon but with a party. Go search their forums.

Yeah, I think I can probably wait until something is announced.

What I'm trying to convey is my disappointment that the E:BI community voted to stick with the single-player format, which IMO makes for terribly uninteresting combat, which in turn brings down the entire game.

[Jedi_Learner]

I have updated the first post with more information about Book II for anyone interested. BasiliskWrangler has finished a lengthy interview with RPGWatch and it should appear this weekend.

[Oscar]

Cool. Thanks, JL.

[Gamefan]

I'm sure Reigsecker has mentioned another project, something similar to Eschalon but with a party. Go search their forums.

Yeah, I think I can probably wait until something is announced.

What I'm trying to convey is my disappointment that the E:BI community voted to stick with the single-player format, which IMO makes for terribly uninteresting combat, which in turn brings down the entire game.

Thats why I will never buy book 1 or 2.

[Jedi_Learner]

The interview is now up at RPGWatch. Good stuff, I'll update my first post in awhile.

In Book II we’ll have more quests that branch based on player choices, and the effects of these choices will be more apparent. For example, helping one person may affect your standing with someone else, or completing certain quests may impact the game world in unforeseen ways. Overall, we just want to give the player a greater sense that their actions have real consequences.

Combat depth was probably the number one complaint from our “hard-core audience” so we definitely want to improve that, while at the same time keeping it accessible for players who enjoyed the way combat was handled in Book I.

We are still designing the towns and villages that you will be able to visit in Book II so I don’t have an exact count yet, but I can say for sure there will be one very large city which is practically an adventure all on its own!

[Oscar]

Thanks, JL! You are an important part of this community

[Jedi_Learner]

You are an important part of this community

A little update, BasiliskWrangler plans to include a small gender bonus in Book II, +1 strength for males and +1 dexterity for females. Already one or two members have claimed this is a bad decision, apparently a sexual stereotype. What do you think?