I WANT MY MONEY BACK

[Archimbaud]

It could be applied to health and advocates too.

[jim-penny]

I personally believe that College Tuition should come with a money-back guarantee.

Were that the case, colleges would hardly make any money at all.

Personally, I felt more in control of my education when I went to art school. Before that, I had no direction, I didn't know what I wanted to learn or for what reason, other than painting, sculpture and fiction writing, and although I had a basic interest in a lot of different things, literature and philosophy and sciences, I had no focus, I didn't know how to focus, I didn't know how to absorb anything . . . therefore I absorbed next to nothing.
.

[Evnissyen]

Umm... I'm sure there must be a response in there somewhere?

Not making fun, just... surprised. I'm rarely quoted without some sort of degrading retort to follow it with. Now I don't know what to think.

[Vernholio]

I may be called-out for promoting this strategy, but I found that the "Save Game" methodology works really well when starting out... That, and use the area transitions to your advantage:

1. Save + Camp - In trouble? Just had your arse handed to you by those three thugs in the Salted Coast? Well, run away until the music changes from the "battle symphony" music, to the typical "exploring" music (i.e., you're out of sight from the baddies). Stop, and save the game. Camp. Wait it out... If your sleep is interrupted by random monsters, just restore the game to before you camped, and camp again. Rinse, and repeat, until you fully heal/recover mana. Sure, it's a little monotonous and it takes advantage of a pseudo short-coming in the game, but, hey... IT WORKS! (Sometimes, I'd even break camp and save the game when I was 1/2 healed, to avoid the need wait for the FULL recovery).

2. Area Transitions - Four thugs, three fanged salamanders and a goblin chasing you down? No worries... just make your way North/South/East/West to the next map area. Enemies don't follow you when you transition! Once in the new area, see #1, above.

Again, I may be taking advantage of a design flaw in the game, but it works well early-on, when you're sure to die often. I actually got to the point where I was saving the game after every positive achievement I made in the game... Kill something? SAVE YOUR GAME! Get a cool treasure? SAVE YOUR GAME! All you have to do is hit Escape, click on a save game slot and hit Enter... Done.

Now, can we just please implement this good ol' "save a game anywhere and everywhere" PC game mentality into the damn console games? The "checkpoint" method just sucks... I've quit many a game on the PS1 - PS3/Wii, never to go back because I just got sick and tired of re-doing the same damn stuff, over-and-over, just to get back to the point in the game that kicked my arse!

[Vernholio]

...Oh, and as a side note: Don't fall victim, the same way that I did...

Always use the "Save Game Before Camping" method when camping near a quest-giving NPC.

Unfortunately, I camped and was "rudely awakened" by thugs or toxic salamanders in the North Parish map, and ran away from them... Well, I ran them right passed Mary, a quest-giver, and the jerks killed her. Now, I can't complete her quest.

Had I saved the game appropriately, I would have been able to restore with NO baddies, and Mary would still be with us today. D'oh!

[Kreador Freeaxe]

You're taking advantage of Eschalon being really old skool. The area transitions are good. In a few places you can use it to get different enemies chasing you, and when you hit the area transition, they decide to take it out on each other instead of you. Just go around and come up behind them from the other side and snipe them when they weaken each other.

Some people were really upset by the save-a-game-anywhere-anytime element of Book I, so in Book II you have the choice to block yourself from using it in certain situations (for those people with absolutely no self control--and, let's face it, that's a large proportion of us video game players).

[Vernholio]

You're taking advantage of Eschalon being really old skool. The area transitions are good. In a few places you can use it to get different enemies chasing you, and when you hit the area transition, they decide to take it out on each other instead of you...

Noticed that nice little perk yesterday when I ran my 2/3 dead/ nearly mana-spent Spellsword in to two Thugs and a <Insert Region Name Here> Mercenary, and ran from them, only to bump in to two of the Carnoraptors... The Raptors tore up the Thugs for me, while I ran in small circles and Fire-Bolted the Merc! Very nice... Well, that is until the Merc and Thugs were dead, and the Raptors then decided to turn on me... Run! Run Away!!

[Incendax]

Personally, I prefer an actual difficulty instead of the illusion of one. This is what makes a game a game instead of an interactive movie. But I respect your opinion and wish you luck in getting your money back, even though I don´t really think you´re entitled to a refund...

I think that camping as frequently as Eschalon requires counts as 'the illusion of difficulty'.

[Antigrav]

I think the mistake made by most newcomers to the series is not focusing enough on a weapon skill (or offensive magic). That's really what makes all the difference. Then, find a way to get past locks (bashing, Melt Lock or lock picking). Everything else is frosting.

P.S. I would like back all the money I ever spent on clothes that I only wore once and CDs that I eventually didn't like. Plus Metropolis andthat Barbarian game I bought in 1989, the Tandy computer I bought in 1992 and the tower PC I bought in 1995.

Both books of Eschalon, however, were a good deal.

[Incendax]

That is only partially true. It would have been nice if the manual told me I was in for a lesson in futility if I had anything less than a 30 in my weapon skill. I wasted 14 hours of my life struggling against even basic enemies.

Meanwhile with 11 points in Elemental I could take down a Taurax with Fire Dart before it even landed a hit on me.

[Antigrav]

That is only partially true. It would have been nice if the manual told me I was in for a lesson in futility if I had anything less than a 30 in my weapon skill. I wasted 14 hours of my life struggling against even basic enemies.

Meanwhile with 11 points in Elemental I could take down a Taurax with Fire Dart before it even landed a hit on me.

I've always been good with a little over 20 in whatever weapon skill, emphasizing one melee weapon and minoring in a ranged weapon, or vice-versa.

How many Fire Darts does it take to bring down a Taurax Scout? Not that they don't all deserve a slow death, but I find the meat is much more tender when they never even see what hit them.

[Incendax]

6-7 Fire Darts, depending on your damage rolls. It's also more mana efficient to use Firedart over any of the higher tier spells when you're fighting a single enemy.

[xolotl]

6-7 Fire Darts, depending on your damage rolls. It's also more mana efficient to use Firedart over any of the higher tier spells when you're fighting a single enemy.

Personally I tend to ditch Fire Dart as soon as I can (in favor of Compress Atmosphere) because so many creatures have an Elemental resistance which often works against you.

[WorBlux]

One trick I've used successfully is to pick one skill, yes one and level it up to 20-25 before thinking about anything else. (Just leave the skill point unused for the next level up.

This is especially usefull for the bow skill or elemental skill.

For difficulty in Book 1 i find that

Elementalist is easiest, followed by Buff based cleric (basically a palidin), then followed by a heavy warrior, then archer, and then everything else.

The game is not so difficult if you can make some tough decisions off the get-go and really focus in on one or two strategies, and leave everything else to books, equipment, and trainers. (I admit I made the mistake once or twice trying to many things at once and wasn't able to advance after a certain point in the game) There are character editors so you can add 10 points to one or two skills to make up for a lack of planning without completely mis-balancing the game as well.

If you have a high mellee skill, you don't need lock-picking as you can just bash through everything, if you have elemental > 18 , you only need one cartography, and you don't need lock picking or skulduggery.

[KarlXII]

I do not agree with the OP.

Personally I find the difficulty level just about right. It is not too hard and yet not too easy. You just have to choose your career building carefully and choose where you put your skillpoints and attribute points in a wise way.

I also save at least one level of points to be able to maximise a skill or an attribute when I really need it.

I personally hate and loath game difficulty as seen in the so called Gothic 4 and other recent games where you actually can be good at everything in the end anyway. What kind of hand helding is that ?