Finished and what a ride!

[MajorKong]

Well, my review couldn't be more enthusiastic. I finished Book II last night. I completed Book I, proceeding carfully, doing all quests I could find and killing everything I felt was appropriate to kill, in about 30 hours. Book II took me nearly 62 hours, TWICE as much wholesome RPG goodness! And now with a full serving of fiber in every bowl full! (I'm really a completist--I "mow" every single map practically down to the last pixel, for example. The folks put all this cool stuff in the game--I wanna see it! And savor the fun.)

I ordinarily play a tank in every RPG, but Book II challenged me to branch out. My technical game-beginning class was Paladin, but I found myself amping up my bow skills for all the useful reasons, including without limitation wearing those Taurax down as they close in on you, and firing at that portcullis handle to take out those pesky guards round and about. Not only that, but I was foraging and brewing potions as a middle-quality alchemist, and casting decent level divination spells. So kind of a TankRangerPriestDruid, or TRPD.

I found that I wasn't necessarily finding, buying and selling equipment all throughout the game. I used the bow Warmoth for most of the game, and the sword Emberdark (the latter acquired with a bit of regrettably necessary larceny, but I highly recommend it). I never found anything I wanted to replace them with. My gauntlets were Burglar's Gloves (imbued to the extent I was able to improve them) for the entire game.

I finished as a Level 21 Archmaster, having garnered the Hellbringer and Wealthy Lord perks over nearly 548,000 turns. Holy smokes!

Couldn't have had more fun, and will buy Book III the moment it becomes available.

If there was anything I would have liked, it would have been:

* At least one more "armor set." I had a bow set with suitable pendant and rings, and a sword set with suitable pendant and rings, but would have liked to have a quick way to have my "nightshirt" or "make camp" set, i.e., foraging rings, Zen Cloak and the like for when I'm just kicking it, roasting marshmallows and grubbing around for dried brainstem in the underbrush. The number of times I had to change into my jammies....!

* The opportunity to try on The One, the rat bastard.

* Have some armorer (like the dwarven blacksmith, for character's sake) sell black powder kegs, even just one or two from time to time, even if they're a bit pricey. I had plenty of money at the end, and would have liked to, well, you know, go all pyro on a buncha stuff.

* Some kind of return marker, or town portal to get all Diabloey about it. Some of the areas where I had to work were quite a ways--couple of maps of hiking--from town. Woulda been nice to plant a maker, auto-march back to town, and auto-march back to the marker.

Some things I like:

* Nice balance. I found some nice treasure, but not tons of it, and money was a problem (as it should be, when you're just a punk) in the early going. The foes were nicely balanced too--I did die upon occasion (upon quite a few occasions!), and I always felt like the challenges were suitable to the level and the state of progress in the game.

* Nice story arc and inclusion of side quests without crippling the primary narrative. I always had in mind what I was doing, and what I needed to do.

* Several nice NPC's, with more than just surface personality in their dialogs.

* Plenty of range for all types of playstyle. I'm fascinated to run through again emphasizing things like super lock picking, mercantile, hide in shadows and skullduggery type skills.

Let me give Basilisk and everyone who worked on this game a big, sincere BRAVO. Extremely well worth the money, and a blessing to us old RPG players.

Your friend,

Major Kong

[Dragonlady]

Gee, I guess he liked it! A lot!

Now, spread the word so BW will have enough $ to start work on Book III.
I loved it too, both in fact. So many things you can do. That's how I rate games and books. Replay/re-readability. And Eschalon fits that to a tee.

[Noru]

For the Portal spell you need a temporary 25 INT and probably 15 elemental for lv 1 and 2 of the spell, effectively replacing a Town Portal spell. You can train to lv 10 with only gold, and possibly get some extra elemental skills via items.

Lv 1 for the home place, lv 2 for the "battle" point, both is relocatable anytime.

[MajorKong]

For the Portal spell you need a temporary 25 INT and probably 15 elemental for lv 1 and 2 of the spell, effectively replacing a Town Portal spell. You can train to lv 10 with only gold, and possibly get some extra elemental skills via items.

Lv 1 for the home place, lv 2 for the "battle" point, both is relocatable anytime.

No points to pour into Elemental if you're a jolly Divinator...the price one pays for not being a battle-magic slinger, I suppose.

[Gorgon Rider]

Just finished. Holy crap, that was fun! Played as a 'Cleric/Fighter' and my character rocked. Reached level 22 (Supreme Archmage) at the end. I had planned on playing a different game when I finished this one, but I think I may have a go at it again. Maybe a Rogue/mage...