How Are You Going To Play Book II?

[AK_Marty]

I think I will try a Ranger with some elemental magic. But more importantly, I'm going to "try" to avoid hunting for tips and hints from the forum during my first play through. I must admit I searched for a walkthrough while still playing the demo of Book I. Of course it remains to be seen what type of character will prevail in the new expanded world of Eschalon we will be exploring.

So folks, what strategy will you use the first time through?

[CrazyBernie]

Well, I'd like to play a straight rogue, provided that I can sneak around, backstab, and pick pockets... ^_^

[AK_Marty]

Well, I'd like to play a straight rogue, provided that I can sneak around, backstab, and pick pockets... ^_^

How do you backstab a Sentinel Stalk?

[CrazyBernie]

Either with an aerial or underground attack

I suppose I should reiterate it as a "sneak" attack, since if I'm invisible I can stab you in the face...

[Randomizer]

I'd like to see how far a straight mage can make it before picking up a real weapon skill for fighting. Unarmed combat to bash barrels doesn't count since it just means not waiting to recharge for using a spell.

I'd like the rogue, but it gets tiring waiting for light to see where all the loot is that I miss in the dark.

[Abyssal]

My heavy fighter will be rolling back into the field. I had fun with straight up armoured melee in the first game. And I have that nifty portrait (see avatar)...

[Getharn]

I think I will try a Ranger with some elemental magic. But more importantly, I'm going to "try" to avoid hunting for tips and hints from the forum during my first play through.

Yes, I'm also very tempted to play as a ranger - as you might tell from my avatar, I've always had a weakness for Ranger characters. I must confess that I never completed Book I with a ranger, mainly because it was my first play-through and I completely unbalanced my character. When I started again, I used a Paladin/Cleric archetype instead to improve my survivability at lower levels, and now I'm replaying as a mage because I didn't have any elemental skill at all last time.

Instead of elemental magic, I'd be tempted to play a Ranger with Thief tendencies - I find those two classes tend to complement each other quite well.

I also try hard to avoid seeing spoilers - it's much more fun to figure things out for yourself. It's always a little bit annoying when people put spoilers into posts and forums in which they're unexpected, so I hope once Book II is out, people will take care to mark potential spoilers!

How do you backstab a Sentinel Stalk?

Well, I guess all you can do is sneak close enough to throw a +3 bucket of weed killer over it.

[AK_Marty]

Well, I guess all you can do is sneak close enough to throw a +3 bucket of weed killer over it.

A new class? The Eschalon Orkin Man?

And now CrazyBernie has developed the ability to fly and tunnel under ground

And we still have a few months to wait to try these skills.

[IJBall]

Considering I had poor luck in Book I with the first two times I played as a Ranger, I think I'm highly likely to play Book II as a Fighter or as an Elemental Mage first. I think I'm more somewhat likely to play the Fighter first, as I found playing Mage to be almost a cake-walk in Book I.

Once I've played through once, I'll likely play through a second time, that time playing Ranger (my favorite class!).

No matter which class I play first, though I'm following elsol's excellent advice to me and playing a MAXED-OUT character - either maxed out Endurance & Swords for Fighter, maxed out Perception and Elemental for Mage, or maxed out Dexterity & Bows for Ranger.

I've learned my lesson in trying to spread Skill & Attribute points around!

[Unclever title]

Based upon my avatar it seems as though I'll be a snarling office worker riding a filing cabinet and bursting in through walls with important papers and folders flying everywhere.

So I guess I'll play as close to a pirate as possible, sounds like a fun challenge, actually.

To be perfectly honest I don't think I'm going to straight class anything my first run through, I'll just try to use my intuition on what skills will be necessary/available outside of leveling up. Also I'll likely be trying at least the first few levels of any new skills that show up if there are any that will. First run-through needs not to be thorough for me as I want to follow the depth of the storyline.

Then on subsequent run-throughs I'll explore the classes more thoroughly as I did for Book I.

I plan on looking for multiple ways to break different aspects of the game. Particularly with otherwise rejected skills (like mercantile, survival, and the like). Why? Because I'm a pirate... er... snarling office man.

[Dragonlady]

I'd probably do Divination with archery or get the skill as soon as possible, or perhaps alchemy. I like being able to heal myself without resorting to limited beginning cash buying heal potions. Archery for distant enemies while I build up mana for more prayers. I'm tempted to do a straight Ranger or Mage too. Not too fond of being straight fighter types.

[Getharn]

Based upon my avatar it seems as though I'll be a snarling office worker riding a filing cabinet and bursting in through walls with important papers and folders flying everywhere.

So I guess I'll play as close to a pirate as possible, sounds like a fun challenge, actually.

Am I being too tenuous, or is that really a Monty Python reference?

I'd probably do Divination with archery or get the skill as soon as possible, or perhaps alchemy.

Archery with some minor Divination sounds like a recipe for a classic AD&D Ranger. Shame that Predatory Sight is an elemental spell, since that seems so appropriate.

Not too fond of being straight fighter types.

I'm hoping the new combat options will make them rather more interesting, especially if they're tied to either existing or new skills somehow.

[Unclever title]

Based upon my avatar it seems as though I'll be a snarling office worker riding a filing cabinet and bursting in through walls with important papers and folders flying everywhere.

So I guess I'll play as close to a pirate as possible, sounds like a fun challenge, actually.

Am I being too tenuous, or is that really a Monty Python reference?

Oh no, it is. But it is coincidence the Meaning of Life reference ties so smoothly into this thread. I saw two people already relating their avatar to their intended choices of play style. I just took it in the opposite direction and decided my play style upon my avatar.

I stand by the decision, though, I will be a pirate without a crew and instead of sailing upon an office building I will traverse the seas of Eschalon Book II in my file cabinet dingy.

Yo ho, yo ho, a business life for me!

[Poxx]

I'm going to assume that the classes will be the same ( they won't, but let's keep it easy ) : Mage

[dare49devil]

I usually have that 'weakness' for Fighter characters...However I thoroughly enjoyed Ranger. I scrapped my first attempt at the game half-way through and rerolled a ranger...Twice. Then it was easy-mode because pumping dexterity with bows was just so awesome. I only got hit a couple times throughout the whole play through! (some of those icky situations took me a little to figure out though, hahaha)