A more interactive world for Book II.

[Evnissyen]

Hmm.... What would be the point, though? In terms of improving gameplay or game experience, I mean?

Interactivity with people, of course... but... chairs? I don't know. I've seen games, of course, that let you sit in chairs or sleep in beds . . . it doesn't seem to add anything to the game experience.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I liked in the old Ultima games how you could stand in front of a mirror and could see a faint image of yourself (it was really just the same generic image that everyone cast when they walked in front of it). It served no purpose, but it was cool.

We probably won't add "sleeping in beds or sitting in chairs", but the world will be a bit more dynamic in Book II...detonate a powder keg in a house filled with furniture to see what I mean....

[devinv]

I think more NPC's would be good, just a sprinkling of them walking between towns, or fishing, or working, for example. I enjoyed interacting with the non-store NPC's in book 1 and feel it added a lot to the intangible sense of place that role playing and fantasy in general rely upon to be convincing. Also, being able to move powder kegs would be great, I enjoyed using them to even the odds during a few tough battles.

First, let me just say that Eschalon: Book 1 is probably one of my favorite games of all time. The story's great, the graphics are simple yet detailed, the combat is fun and intuitive, and the game itself is just plain amazing. But, I do have "one" complaint. Just one. And it regards the interactivity in Book 1. I love the game, don't get me wrong, but I think the interactivity of the game world could use a bit of work. Like you see all these chairs, beds, and all that what not and you can't even sit, sleep, or whatever in them. It would really be AMAZING (and I can't stress that enough) if you could sit in chairs, rest/sleep in beds. I don't just mean the chairs and beds of the world, I mean just whatever looks like it should be sittable, sleepable, examineable, or whatever, it should be!

[ChrisHallett]

On the topic of sleeping in places other than inns...

Why not allow the character to sleep in any bed they find? Obviously they can be snuck up on just like camping, but say if you find a cabin and pick the lock, then lock the door when you come in and set a fire in the fireplace, you would get a much better sleep than in a tent outside in the cold and rain. Your mana and hit points could regenerate quicker, and with the door needing to be opened (picked or bashed) by an enemy to enable access to you, if there is an encounter during a rest period, you would have the initiative.

That's another thing, when we are attacked while camping in Book 1, why do we have the initiative? Realistically, we should be surrounded and have been hit once already...

[Evnissyen]

Chris makes an excellent point about surprise attacks while camping... but I imagine that being in a tent and all would make a surprise attack more difficult, and certainly prevent your being beheaded or stabbed in the heart while you sleep.

As for sleeping in strange beds... this seems more dangerous since in that case, I'd think, somebody can sneak up on you and cut off your head or stab you in the heart or slit your throat. I don't see that you could have the upper hand in this situation unless some noise is made sneaking into the house. So... while I think making beds more effective in restoring mana and hit points makes sense, I think that if you want realism then this would make a dangerous situation.

Of course, Book 2 can include this feature and not allow Death by Surprise. Being killed while you're sleeping and trying to restore health and mana would be really very annoying and would prevent anyone from taking advantage of beds (except at inns), and if applied universally it would ruin the game.

So I guess basically... so long as no change in surprise is made, this idea makes sense.

I'll also repeat the assertion I made elsewhere that resting should restore your hp & mana much more quickly, and that mana should be restored passively (though obviously less quickly than when resting).

And under this system, I don't really think beds would be necessary.

[Unclever title]

Not to mention (though it seemed implied) in sleeping in strange beds the bed might have an owner. The owner of can thus stumble upon a the player in their bed, which can lead to a number of interactions including fights, verbal confrontations, and quests.

The Goldilocks scenario, if you will.

[Evnissyen]

"Quests" being a loose term, in this case, I imagine.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I'd imagine that sleeping in a strange bed, especially in dungeons, could lead to diseases (from tick bites or other parasites). You don't know if a goblin or a filthy pirate had slept there the night before.

[Mongolian]

Maybe i misinterpreted the original post, but I think the original post idea is referencing the idea of playing the "game of life". As in, if I play an RPG, I want to see the maximum # of options available for things:

INTERACTIVITY:
- pick up objects on a table?
- kick/push barrels?
- sleep anywhere or lay down?
- enable more actions to townspeople (not just talking/fighting).

I'm sure there is a long laundry list of nifty actions. Although, I must say this game isn't designed for these type of actions. But, I also feel when more interactivity is brought into a game like Eschalon, it really is very impressive.

[Dragonlady]

I'd imagine that sleeping in a strange bed, especially in dungeons, could lead to diseases (from tick bites or other parasites). You don't know if a goblin or a filthy pirate had slept there the night before.

Ha! I had to laugh when I read that. I had my players killing off goblins and ogres in a cave system recently. They cleared out the bedding to rest in the cave for the night. Lots of fleas from the untidey monsters...guess what's going to happen in a few days from the flea bites?! ...and the fleas are now on the wardog a mage 'created' from her "Vest of Useful Items". snicker.

[MegaHassan]

How about give the character total freedom. I played Morrowind a few days ago and I loved how almost ever NPC has a quest associated with it and how the player has total freedom. We can kill who we want, etc etc. It would also give the guards a purpose. They could stop us when we try to invade someone's house and sleep on his bed etc.

[Evnissyen]

Hey... you know, I actually like that bedbug/disease idea. In fact... the disease-catching thing in general is one of the many things I rather like about Eschalon... the only problem being that since I just restore my game every time I catch a disease, the feature becomes pointless.

Perhaps if the disease, for whatever reason Basilisk chooses to explain or not explain, prevents you from reloading? I think it already prevents quicktravel, but I'm not sure on this. If you can't reload when you're diseased, then that forces you to enjoy the disease... or stock up on potions.

Also, Dragonlady brings up an interesting idea: What if some of the NPC's, for quests performed, gave us certain special, magical equipment that we had to take care of, lest that NPC (who would have to be useful for other things besides just that quest) be angry when we return to him/her with it all mangled up?

Hassanumer:
I don't know if I've asked this question on these forums before, but... do you know where I might find a free demo of Morrowind? (In other words: no pay-sites/membership-sites.) I haven't been able to find it.

The idea of choosing among hundreds of quests sounds interesting, but a player like me would want to fulfill all of them, thus building myself up as much as possible (the typical powergaming attitude, I guess), and thus I'd bog myself down for much of the game. Ultimately, I suspect this would interfere with the narrative, should the narrative be stronger in the second game (nudge, nudge).

But I do like the idea of reputation, and the idea of choices, and responsibility... of being allowed to do whatever you want to but then also having to answer for that choice sometime later on.

[MegaHassan]

Evnissyen:
I dunno actually. I have this Morrowind CD that's like some years old, I forgot where I bought it from...

Back on topic, I've been playing Arx Fatalis and Morrowind a lot lately. The last time I played these two games was back like three or four years ago, when I barely even knew what an RPG was and never focused on the small details. One thing I like about Arx Fatalis (now that I'm playing it with the intention of enjoying the RPG) is that you can interact with just about anything. You can pick up these useless stones and bricks that don't fit in your inventory. Useless, but adds that extra bit of detail. Sometimes these little things can make something good become even better. Like how the (short) acoustic interlude in Megadeth's Holy Wars made the song 10% better.

I know that it would be hard for the game developers to add this level of detail (interaction with minor things) in the game, but if Basilisk ever decide to make a first person RPG it would be awesome if it had an interaction level like that. It would be cool if we could barge into every Tom, Dick and Harry's house and search through his drawers for items we could sell to get some extra gold (you could add underwear and dirty socks in the drawers for random humor )

One thing I want Eschalon Book II (or III) to have is a lot of different side quests related to different factions and groups that we could join. It would be pretty cool if there were some different factions with their own different backstories and quests etc. Like how Bethesda has a Fighter's Guild, Mage's Guild, etc etc in their games. It would be interesting as well, if we had a reputation meter in our profile. It would tell us our standing with the different groups and major personalities in the game.

[Abyssal]

I can't remember whether you could buy houses in Morrowind but you can in Oblivion. I wouldn't mind a feature like that in B2, I feel like such a bum rooting for my items in a barrel down some alley. It would be nice to have a place with some storage and a quick travel link.

[CainMaris]

I can't remember whether you could buy houses in Morrowind but you can in Oblivion. I wouldn't mind a feature like that in B2, I feel like such a bum rooting for my items in a barrel down some alley. It would be nice to have a place with some storage and a quick travel link.

Yeah, there's a certain house in the woods in Book 1 that comes with acceptable storage and ambience, but it means having to learn emough elemental to use a portal.

At least the previous tenant could be "reasoned" with.