Wish List for Book II {Compiled}

[woem]

Here are two requests:

• A sleep statbar? Since we can require our protagonist to eat and drink, why not require him to sleep from time to time? I rarely slept in Book I which isn't really realistic of course. It would be crazy to have to starve from not eating but still being able to go weeks without having to sleep.
• Quick Traveling actually taking in-game time, and also restoring health and mana but also affecting your thirst and hunger (and sleep).

I know the "sleep" request might be too late to implement but I find it odd/buggy to travel from Blackwater to Bordertown without any in-game time passing by and the health and mana points not being replenished.

[Goort]

Personally, I would really love to see the game support any screen resolution. Because nowadays, there are so many huge & wide screens (for instance, mine is 1920×1200). It could enable to see a bigger part of the map at once, and sprites wouldn't be distorted or zoomed.

I second that. It would work both ways - the game woluld be playable on 1024x600 netbooks. Please make the game support netbooks, Basilisk!

I've seen this first at "Sacred" RPG game , the feature shows in % how much of the game world (map) have you revealed.

For me it's too much of a spoiler. But if it can be enabled/disabled, it will be OK.

[jon_27]

This might have been already said but I would love to open a saved character file from Book I

[CrazyBernie]

Here are two requests:

• A sleep statbar? Since we can require our protagonist to eat and drink, why not require him to sleep from time to time? I rarely slept in Book I which isn't really realistic of course. It would be crazy to have to starve from not eating but still being able to go weeks without having to sleep.
• Quick Traveling actually taking in-game time, and also restoring health and mana but also affecting your thirst and hunger (and sleep).

I know the "sleep" request might be too late to implement but I find it odd/buggy to travel from Blackwater to Bordertown without any in-game time passing by and the health and mana points not being replenished.

The only issue I have about the whole eat/drink/sleep bit is that I want to play an RPG, not The Sims. At that rate, we might as well throw in having to go to the bathroom and a mood bar too... 0_o

I would think it easier to just require the player to have to "camp" every now and then, which would automatically consume food and water, and maybe offer a little 'MMO' incentive such as a boost in XP gain for a short period of time. If you pay to stay at an inn, then you would need to utilize your own supplies. You could still have the hunger and thirst stat bars that way, but offer a better way to manage them simultaneously.

I do tend to agree with the "no-time-passing-while-quick-traveling" bit though. I figured it would be fast, but not that fast.

[IJBall]

Here are two requests:

• A sleep statbar? Since we can require our protagonist to eat and drink, why not require him to sleep from time to time? I rarely slept in Book I which isn't really realistic of course. It would be crazy to have to starve from not eating but still being able to go weeks without having to sleep.
• Quick Traveling actually taking in-game time, and also restoring health and mana but also affecting your thirst and hunger (and sleep).

I know the "sleep" request might be too late to implement but I find it odd/buggy to travel from Blackwater to Bordertown without any in-game time passing by and the health and mana points not being replenished.

The only issue I have about the whole eat/drink/sleep bit is that I want to play an RPG, not The Sims. At that rate, we might as well throw in having to go to the bathroom and a mood bar too... 0_o

I would think it easier to just require the player to have to "camp" every now and then, which would automatically consume food and water, and maybe offer a little 'MMO' incentive such as a boost in XP gain for a short period of time. If you pay to stay at an inn, then you would need to utilize your own supplies. You could still have the hunger and thirst stat bars that way, but offer a better way to manage them simultaneously.

I do tend to agree with the "no-time-passing-while-quick-traveling" bit though. I figured it would be fast, but not that fast.

A couple of thoughts on these points, from moi!

• 1) I definitely had a problem with the way Book I handled sleep (of the lack thereof!).
  
  One of the challenges I want to see in Book II is a challenge for the "least number of *game days* played".
  
  But as soon as I thought of this challenge, I realized that, if Book I rules were in effect, people could "beat" this challenge by never allowing their characters to sleep, and simply play the game through day & night!
  
  So, I'd like to see some penalty assessed for people who try to play that way. Either:
  
  • i) Characters that have been awake for a certain amount of time (say 72, or 100, game hours) should just automatically involuntarily fall asleep (i.e. camp) for a predetermined amount of game time (say 10, or 12, hours). And if a monster attacks while they're involuntarily asleep - too bad! Either a set amount of damage is assessed, or maybe the character is just assumed to die!
    
    Or,
  • ii) Characters that have been awake for a certain amount of time (again, say 72, or 100, game hours) should begin losing hit points (say, 1 HP per turn) until they voluntarily camp (or die!).
  But being able to play forever without sleep was definitely an 'exploit' that could be taken advantage of in Book I, and I'd like to see that exploit 'closed' in Book II.
• 2) On the time/Quick Travel thing, I've thought about this issue, and I actually think I'd like to see it stay 'as is'.
  
  I've always just thought of Quick Travel as a kind of 'magic' that characters exploit (akin to a portal spell, without having to learn the Portal Spell!).
  
  Now, if people like, perhaps Quick Travel could be restricted until characters, say, reach a certain Level in Cartography, or perhaps it can be a "Special Skill" that characters somehow gain 'in-game'.
  
  But, after thinking it over, I'd like to see Quick Travel remain pretty much the way it is in Book I - instantaneous, and taking up no 'game time'.

But I bet both of these issues are one that a lot of people around here will have different ideas on!

And I'll be pretty much OK with whatever BW and co. finally decide on these two issues.

[Zeno]

This has probably been said somewhere in the thread, but

AUTOSAVE.

I'm sorry, but I'm not used to having to save every two minutes. Sure I get a little more accustomed to it every time I play, but how hard would it be to program in a feature to autosave, say, every time you enter a new area?

[narf03]

I just read the 1st post so im not sure the summary contains what I am going to suggest, if its repeating, sorry for that. Please compile mine into the main list

Suggestions:

1) Items stat improvement, example
Dragon Scale armor, +5 to +10hp, +0 to +1 to all armor skills, -3 to light armor skill
the hp might be 5,6,7,8,9 or 10, its random but fixed range, and +skill can apply to group skill, even got -skill for high spec eq

2) Long weapon, like spear
Able to attack up to 2 tiles away, but cant use shield

3) Some special skills for fighter(including mobs), active fighting skills
Charge - run and engage something far away, higher skill level, able to engage further, more damage, less chance being interupt(like casting spell near a mob). This skill mainly for fighters to finish their job easier when mobs trying to flee, or trying to run away when all 8 directions are blocked by mobs.

4) Some special skill for ranger, active fighting skill as well
Thunderstrike(my english is no good) - shoot arrow to 1 direction, anything in the path will get damaged, low skill level might cause arrow to stop after hitting 1 or 2 targets, higher skill level can hit more and higher damage

5) Hidden skills, only by getting certain weapon or equipment, cant increase levels by training nor level up
Its like some special effect from weapon, you change the eq, no more, for example drain hp while hitting with sword(lol not chests or barrels)

6) Pets
Like hawk can scout enemy for you, help you draw maps that you cant see with line of sight(eg forest), but wont work in dungeon, rat, can detect hidden wall/treasure for you, pet need to be small, which enemy will always ignore, should be able to run faster than player.

7) Item generation
Item should be generated far before the player arrive either in chest or on mobs, so keep loading and looting wont help.

Mobs repops
Mobs should be regenerating when player went too far from the area, ie a map without any mobs will slowly regenerating when player went 2 or more maps away

9) Show chance of hit when the cursor went on top of the mob
Now is being shown only when the player is actually hitting the mob, should be variance, depending on multiple factor, ie the mob is facing you or not, or if you are shooting an arrow, chance will be lower if the enemy is too far away or your arrow need to bypass some other enemy or line of sight isnt good.

10) Home, with a big chest
I hate to store items in multiple locations

11) Mana regeneration
Should have decimal, even not showing to the player, and not limited to a small amount, ie 1.4 mana generated per turn, on the 3rd turn I should be getting 2 mana(1,1,2). This should also apply to hp.

12) Some extremely difficult side quest
Always can ignore, but can show how good you are if you able to finish them, if you do half way and leave the area, expect a re-do

13) Spell damage based on skill level and int(or wis)
Can still keep the current idea, 2-4 damage per skill level, but if your int(or wis) is higher, chance you will rolling a 4 is higher.(like critical hit)

14) Easier ways to get rid of poison/curse
1000 gold per curse is too damn expensive when the shop have no such potion, I would prefer it fade after a certain period, but not few days

15) End game statistics
took how long, how many game turn, how many game days, being hit how many times, lose how much hp, camp how many times, total camp time, lose how many hp, complete how many normal quest, and complete what special quests, and if can, general score and hahaha how many time saved.

15) Game resolution
Yeah mentioned, but I would like to suggest again, should be able to suppose multiple resolution, like im using 1920x1200, 800x600 or 1024x768 is still too small, i need to adjust my mon resolution to much lower to have a bigger picture.

16) Autosave
Timely and during player leaves a certain map, different slot

17) Skill level limitation
If increasing a skill will no longer getting any more benefits, the game should limit it

18) Smart AI
The AI is just too stupid, they want to flee but only know runing away from player, they should choose a good path to flee, or hiding behind a wall or tree from caster or ranger, or better some key mob should just run away and call for help, so human player will need to be smarter too. Some caster mobs that know to cast protection spell, or healing, or invis(omg ...)

19) damn its too late, i need to sleep. tnx for reading.

[The Master Ackrovan]

I admit, I did not take the time to read this entire thread, but has anyone suggested being able to recruit mercenaries? I understand Eschalon is meant to be a single-player game, but similar games, such as Fallout 3 and Fable, allowed you to take on followers for quests or to serve as defenders. It was one of the more enjoyable experenices for me, and it opened up a plethera of new types of side quests, or parts of the main story. I can see this translating well into Eschalon. t could also make those long journys a bit more friendly.

Just a thought

The Last Archon

[woem]

2) On the time/Quick Travel thing, I've thought about this issue, and I actually think I'd like to see it stay 'as is'.

I've always just thought of Quick Travel as a kind of 'magic' that characters exploit (akin to a portal spell, without having to learn the Portal Spell!).

Now, if people like, perhaps Quick Travel could be restricted until characters, say, reach a certain Level in Cartography, or perhaps it can be a "Special Skill" that characters somehow gain 'in-game'.

But, after thinking it over, I'd like to see Quick Travel remain pretty much the way it is in Book I - instantaneous, and taking up no 'game time'.

Quick Travel isn't some kind of magic. If it were magic then you'd have to train in it. It would be the equivalent of a permanent Portal spell, which is currently only reserved for the most skilled of mages so not anyone should be able to use it. Since you're not allowed to used Quick Travel when monsters I near I think it's pretty certain that it's the in-game equivalent of walking from point A to B, so time should definitely pass and your HP and MP should restore at the normal rate.

[CrazyBernie]

I admit, I did not take the time to read this entire thread, but has anyone suggested being able to recruit mercenaries? I understand Eschalon is meant to be a single-player game, but similar games, such as Fallout 3 and Fable, allowed you to take on followers for quests or to serve as defenders. It was one of the more enjoyable experenices for me, and it opened up a plethera of new types of side quests, or parts of the main story. I can see this translating well into Eschalon. t could also make those long journys a bit more friendly.

Just a thought

The Last Archon

There aren't any plans on making the Eschalon Series with "hire able" characters or party-based. See This thread

That's not to say there won't be future BW projects that might be party based...

[woem]

You can always have monsters follow you to town, or to other monsters, and have them help with the fight. So in a way, you do have followers

[Claw]

Hey, is it too late to add wishes to the list?
My wishes aren't really new - I've stated them long ago, but they are not on this list.

1) An improved spell book. I dislike having to "bind" every spell prior to casting it. I'd rather be able to select a spell in the book and cast it immediately. Also, I'd like to bind spells without leaving the book so I can bind a bunch of spells at once.

2) Higher customization of the starting equipment. Different items depending on starting skills, class, maybe race and alignment in some cases.
To be honest, the real point behind this request is that Healers get Fleshboil as starting spell. Excuse me?! Fleshboil for a Virtuous Healer (aka Cleric)? It's a perfect fit for a Nefarious Healer, but otherwise it's really weird, and you know... did both magic classes need to get a damage dealing spell for starters?
Of course this may already not be an issue in Book II, but such things should be taken into consideration.

3) Character creation cosmetics. I don't get why a Druidic Healer is called a "True Druid" when there is no false one. I also intuitively felt that "Necromancer" would be a much better fit for divine rather than an arcane caster. Besides, seeing how the Healer class is basically defined by as divine caster, maybe it should be called the Cleric class.


No hurry. If it takes a little longer to implement my wishes, I can wait.

[Nova]

In Book 1, the duration of the Haste spell / potion was reduced drastically to 4 rounds - too much so, IMO. I would like to see the duration increased to 8 rounds for Book 2.

[agulhasde]

01 A release on Steam
02 Steam Achievements

03 A little more fixed loot. It feels like I spent about 25% of the game rerolling the contents of Chests and you could really miss out on some great equipment if you are not rerolling the content of chests.

04 An option to disable auto-opening chests when a lock was picked or a trap disarmed. This gets really anmnoying in combination with 03.

05 More recipes for modifying armor. Maybe some resitance recipes.
06 maybe penalties for modifying an item twice unless you have a high alchemy (20+).

07 Backstabs: instant death for monsters that have not spotted you. You have to hit with a short bladed weapon.

[Minttunator]

Hello,

while playing EB1 I often found myself missing a screenshot button. I love taking screenshots in all the games I play and this functionality comes built in in most of the recent games - having to use an external program for this really slows things down. Just an idea.