RPGWatch First Impressions

[BasiliskWrangler]

November 17, 2007 - RPGWatch First Impressions!
Brian 'Dhruin' Turner of RPGWatch fame has posted his impressions of Eschalon: Book I after a week of playing around with a pre-release copy. Here's a small clip from his article:

"The first thing that strikes you is the production values – this is a beautifully crafted game that doesn’t just set a new benchmark for indie CRPGs, it would be perfectly at home on retail shelves if it wasn’t for the fact that 2D games have been long abandoned."

Direct Link: http://www.rpgwatch.com/show/article?ar ... f=0&id=126

[Sol Invictus]

A very encouraging preview. I must resist the forces of wild anticipation. Looks like you probably have a hit on your hands.

[Serpent's Sister]

Congratulations Tom on a great review!! Can't wait for Monday

[DemonWizard]

i love it, cant wait. The map and game world is big awsome!!!

[Dragonlady]

Kewlness! And more s reen shots

[Vennor]

it would be perfectly at home on retail shelves if it wasn’t for the fact that 2D games have been long abandoned.

Oww... Well, it's true but personally I think that the best RPG games was in 2D. I don't like those 3D RPGs like Witcher, Neverwinter Nights or whatever.

Look at Ultima, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment and an older ones (and those for consoles - SNES for example - Star Ocean, Fire Emblem and more.)

I'm glad that I can see and play more superb RPGs in 2D. Thanks, Basilisk Games.

[Saxon1974]

Oh man, great preview!

I think this was my favorite part;

"Exploration is probably the heart of Eschalon, based on our time so far. Chests, hidden stashes and encounters abound and often in hidden corners off the main path, so explorers will be rewarded with both quests and additional treasure (or trouble)."

The new screens are great too. I love the look of the world.

[Gothmog]

Nice preview. This one will rock the indie-world!

[skavenhorde]

I've heard about this game but haven't been following too closely until the preview at rpgwatch. So far I like what I've seen and will be getting this game once you release it. Thank you for making a rpg that the big companies (Witcher and MOTB excluded) are too afraid to make.

[JOG]

I've heard about this game but haven't been following too closely until the preview at rpgwatch. So far I like what I've seen and will be getting this game once you release it. Thank you for making a rpg that the big companies (Witcher and MOTB excluded) are too afraid to make.

The problem is that BIG companies need BIG money to pay their BIG staff. Good RPGs always were a niche-market dominated by small companies. Many of the best RPGs sold very badly, because they were too complicated for the BIG audience. This wouldn't be much of a problem, but the BIG companies also use their money to buy smaller companies, so that only non-corporate one man/family businesses remain.

Action adventures labeled as RPGs look attractive to FPS players draw in the famished RPG-players and are loved by fans of action adventures, so there's much more coin to make. The Sims sells better than all of them together, so sooner or later there will be only The Sims clones from big companies, and even Doom 4 or 5 may go back to the roots and become an indie-title...

So yes, thank you BasiliskWrangler, for taking the financial risk of making an old-school RPG. The result is everything I need from a CRPG and more, and I really hope that this will be successful, not only for you, but for myself as well, because a success means that there are more Eschalon-games as well as other old-school RPGs to follow.