Suggestion

[JWenham]

There could be a feature added to the game that shows what the difficulty of a game is. Such as what options were checked off at game creation.

[IJBall]

There could be a feature added to the game that shows what the difficulty of a game is. Such as what options were checked off at game creation.

Actually, it would probably be relatively easy to add that info to the 'Game Stats' screen.

That said, while yours is a good suggestion, I'm not sure that we should expect it happening before Book III (but I've added it to my Book III wishlist!)...

[Evnissyen]

I don't know... shouldn't this be something you sort of remember?

Most games with difficulty levels allow you to move the difficulty up and down. I'm not sure if I'd want to suggest that for Eschalon, so maybe others can decide on that.

...Maybe I should put up a poll for that one? Not sure if it's important enough to warrant a poll. I mean... I wouldn't want to see people putting up polls for every single Book 3 suggestion they feel is near and dear to them.

On difficulty levels: personally, I'd suggest:
- If you aren't going to add an in-game (as opposed to end-game) XP advantage to increased difficulty: then please do not mention giving an XP advantage. It's misleading. I expect that the average user is probably disappointed when they finally learn that they aren't actually getting an advantage from the increased difficulty, though it was suggested otherwise when they signed up for it.
- Same goes for the "challenges".

In my view: game difficulty has always been a choice based on simply how challenging you want your game to be, and should never be tied to how much XP you get . . . as is the case with Book 2 except that Book 2 is misleading in suggesting that there is an in-game XP bonus.

Also, on the Challenges: the Challenges came out of the forums. Leave them here. The fun is in thinking up new challenges and playing the game again with that new challenge in mind. And since we don't get in-game XP advantages for those, either: why even have them in the game?

(And, please: before anyone tries to correct me: No, I don't think an end-game XP add-on counts as a true XP bonus.)

Personally, I would support using the typical "EASY, NORMAL, HARD, TORMENT" levels of difficulty that other games use. I think it's a good idea for players to be able to manage difficulty levels. I suppose BW is trying to take a different approach to this by putting the challenge specifics on things other than your foe's HP & on attack stats & such, and that would be awesome if it worked well... but I don't think the chosen system works well, I don't think it's comprehensive enough. I like the choices the first screen gives, I remember arguing for one of them so I was glad to see it . . . but those choices in themselves, I don't feel, are really comprehensive enough.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Nissyen, you do get more XP in-game if you have the higher difficulty on. You don't see it with the early rats, but you get 1 more XP per dragonel, 2 more for the black molds and the outlanders, etc.

[Evnissyen]

Nissyen, you do get more XP in-game if you have the higher difficulty on. You don't see it with the early rats, but you get 1 more XP per dragonel, 2 more for the black molds and the outlanders, etc.

Are you sure? If that's true, I stand corrected (though even then I still don't think XP should be tied to difficulty level) . . . but there's a major problem, here. If, like you said, the bonus doesn't appear until the more challenging foes, then I'd have to run parallel games a certain ways into the game to find out, since there's no in-game mention of the XP increase. More logically: the XP bonus should come at level-up, but there's no mention at level-up that you've been given a bonus, which would, I'd think, be added to your beginning meter for the subsequent level.

(...Shoulda been a Tester . . . shoulda been a Tester... .)

I'd also have to do an investigation on whether or not not-violating a certain game-challenge gives you an XP bonus with every kill, based on a change that I can see when that challenge is lost . . . but again, if this doesn't appear in early game, like you said... I'd have to wait until the next run and follow some of the challenges into lvl2 & level3... .

(At this point I believe I've lost all of the challenges (since they seemed irrelevant. Only the "true ranger" one was interesting to me in the very beginning, but less so after I found out that you sort of needed another way of killing people, in the very beginning, once your arrows ran out.))

[Kreador Freeaxe]

You just have to go to the dam, one screen West of Eastwillow to find Black Molds, an Outlander, and some Dragonels to see the difference in XP. The increase means that you reach the level up that much faster. Also, though, the XP for talking to the guy who left you the note is increased, so you can see it without any killing.

As for the challenges, those only affect end-game score. They do nothing for your experience during play. You haven't wanted to look at any of the entries with possible spoilers, I know, so you may not have seen the finished game posts with the scores.

[Evnissyen]

You haven't wanted to look at any of the entries with possible spoilers, I know, so you may not have seen the finished game posts with the scores.

Yes, I try my best to stay away from the threads on the areas I haven't been to, yet.

Admittedly, I've been slow with this game. I guess 'cause I've been busier, lately. I actually haven't gone into the game since Aug. 6 -- last save I made . . . and I probably won't go into it again this weekend (well, maybe a little later tonight)... and then when Dragon Age arrives on Monday I'll probably be engrossed in that, as far as my free time allows me... .

Oh, well. I'm a disgrace to the whole Eschalon establishment, I know.

I ought to be stripped of my medals.