Wish List for Book II?

[Rubeck]

My suggestion is simple: a pure point-buy system for character creation instead of the roll/buy hybrid of Book I.

The issue I've always had with rolling stats is that a permanent part of your character will be determined by a completely random factor. It just seems unfair to me that one character can roll 92 stat points, while another one gets 79 (actual numbers, I just rolled twice and that's what I got on the first and second try). It's an unfair system that forces the player to keep rerolling until he gets a decent amount and, even then, you might still have to keep rerolling because you could get a great total amount, but focused on stats you won't use (lots of endurance and strength with low-average dexterity, but you want to play a ranger, for example). It's just plain inconvenient.

Why not put everything at the bare minimum (7) and give the players a constant, fixed X amount of points to buy at character creation and leave the randomness only to temporary situations (skill checks, combat checks, etc)?

Also, this would probably make the game easier to balance.


...


Well, I have two other wishes to add to the list, but they're not as important as the first one:

1) Change the way skill trainers work

It's almost useless to get cartography the "regular" way, for example, because two seconds into the game you find a quest allowing you to get the skill with no skill point cost. =/ Sure, you'll spend money, which is also hard to come by, but money is not nearly as scarce as skill points. I say either lose the skill trainers altogether OR make it so that the skills they teach can ONLY be learned that way, and not through character creation or leveling up.

2) Breaking and Entering

It's kind of weird that NPCs don't react at all when your character breaks a door open right in front of them (at least none so far, I haven't beaten the first game yet). I know I would either turn hostile or run like hell if some random guy tried to break MY front door! They do react when you try to break their treasure chests, shouldn't they act the same way (or SOME way) when it happens to their doors?

[Grue]

a pure point-buy system for character creation instead of the roll/buy hybrid of Book I

I wholeheartedly agree! The rolling of stats in computer RPGs has always been very gamey and open to abuse, IMO. Pure point-buy system is a much, much better way of doing a character in CRPGs (and in PnP RPGs as well, IMHO), as well as being fairer and more balanced.

[BasiliskWrangler]

It just seems unfair to me that one character can roll 92 stat points, while another one gets 79

My momma always told me: "Who ever said life was fair?"

What I like about the hybrid roll/buy system is that you really get a unique character out of it. A player may be tempted to play a character that has a really low stat if they managed to roll a couple very high stats. That makes for a more natural and unique character; a character with real built-in strengths and weaknesses.

[Necromis]

BW, it also has the effect of causing people to simply re-roll until they get the *perfect* stats for their expected build. A mage with high wisdom perception. I warrior with high endurance strength....etc. If you were to, not to say you will, put a points only build for II you could still limit it to make a person choose wisely. After all they simply cannot make everything 30 to start. Or you could even put a cap on the highest starting stat...etc.

[ridcully]

i have not read all this thread - so if these things are mentioned already: please ignore them:

- do not allow monsters allow to open locked doors in search for the enemy (me); it is a nice thing to let monsters do the dirty work in the dungeons for one but i doubt, that any minion of the dark forces got a proper set of keys for the whole dungeon

- when showing modal dialogs (e.g. the "do you really want to sell your +5 dragon sword") then please only accept the keys shown on the buttons and return for a yes - and not also ESC; take it as a NO.

[Tecknomage]

(snip)
I am also woundering if in book2 you'll be able to import your character from book 1?

NOTE: They would first have to update Book I to include saving your character.

Otherwise, good idea

[Tecknomage]

Some are requesting "party" play for Book II.

One of the things I really like about Eschalon Book I is not having party play

Suggestion that would please both views, have party-play as a game option.

[Jenks]

I'd like to see some equipment 'quick-change' buttons. Having to constantly go in to your inventory to remove shield/rings/boots etc can be a bit laborious. Maybe a set of three buttons for individually set gear? Maybe one for combat, one for magic use and one for cartography etc. that you set to your owwn choice of equipment. Otherwise great game.

[Maelstrom]

What I like about the hybrid roll/buy system is that you really get a unique character out of it. A player may be tempted to play a character that has a really low stat if they managed to roll a couple very high stats. That makes for a more natural and unique character; a character with real built-in strengths and weaknesses.

Perhaps allow both as a game option? If only one, then I would prefer a pt. buy system. You can always create a character with as many weak stats as you like.

Other ideas I'd like to see (apologies for any repeats, 9 pages is a lot to read through.)

1. Spiders as a wilderness monster. It could be a running theme through the game. A relatively harmless wolf spider early in the game, followed by a more deadly jumping spider and graduating up to the most deadly - black widow. I love bashing spiders! Holdover when I read the Hobbit in 5th grade.
disclaimer: I haven't played the game through yet, so if there are spiders later than visiting Lilly...

2. Make containers hold more. It's frustrating to travel to multiple containers to add to my alchemy inventory. Maybe a 16 item capacity for barrels and chests? Alternately, as mentioned before, a chest that is accessible whenever you visit a town. Optimally, it would double your inventory capacity. Perhaps accessed at the town marker?

3. Make classes have greater differentiation. A free skill at the beginning is pretty weak. Perhaps group similar skills into a professional grouping. Initial cost to acquire a professional skill is only 2 ranks instead of 3. Skills that don't belong to any profession (i.e. survival, cartography, etc.) could be grouped into a general group that all has professional group costs no matter what class you have. Maybe add a stat modifier of +2/+1 for primary and secondary stat as well?

4. Harvest components from the monsters you kill. It would be tres cool to be able to harvest salamander slime or acid worm blood from monsters and use them as ingredients for alchemy. Perhaps hunting would be the only way to acquire these ingredients or have an extremely slow spawn rate in stores.

[SnorriHT]

I am very happy with Eschalon: Book I. I haven't had so much fun since the original Civilisation came out!

Three things I would like to see are:

1. Artificer Class - with an artificer skill which allows the creation of arrows and thrown weapons, and at high level, the ability to create items out of rare ingredients.

2. Barbarian Class - perhaps starting with a revised Dodge skill. I've only ever seen the Dodge skill trigger against melee attacks, but perhaps it would be more useful if it would allow a character to Dodge missile, direct damage magical attacks and traps? Apologies if I have misunderstood this skill, but I would really love to play the lightly armoured barbarian who relies on his preternatural senses and lightning reflexes to avoid harm.

3. Skill Synergies - which could be a away of rewarding players using related skills i.e. 5 points in pick locks and skullduggery adds +1 extra skill point to each skill, 10 points in each adds +2 etc.

[ChrisHallett]

I would like to see scaled loot/dropped item levels according to character level/difficulty of obtaining the afore mentioned loot. Perhaps areas of the game and monsters are assigned different levels, and drop rolls select from a list of items that are within one level +/- the area or enemy level.

Also, would like to see importing of Eschalon Book 1 character into Book 2 by loading previous end-game save and the program carrying over your character and equipment. However, if the player chooses this option instead of rolling a new character, the game automatically scales difficulty to suit (give all foes +same level as character, make locks +character level harder to pick, things like that...)

I suffer from anal levels of "completeisity", I like to explore every area, discover and complete every side quest, interact with every NPC as much as I can, this ended up killing my enjoyment of Final Fantasy 10. 120+ hours and I just got bored of grinding for ultimate weapons and spheres and all sorts of crap and never finished the game. (I had a FF7 save with 75 hours on it... still didn't kill all the Weapons or get the KoTR materia...)

[devinv]

Since you mentioned it, how about making the 'dark side' actually tempting? In book 1 you don't get much reward for being evil ( or just selfish or chaotic, like han solo) and it doesn't seem like a legitimate alternative to being nice and doing everybody's quests ( which gain you lots of gold and XP).

-More characters in bigger villages
-Some sort of a feedbacksystem. Maybe a blackboard or some sort of newsboard in the city where your greatest achievements are listed or other news.
-Guilds (You can join em)
-A mini-game in the taverns (dwarfen-dice or something)
-You can become a knight of the commonwealth or join the secret service
-Buy your own place
-A Beast-Knowledgebase
-More complex economy

[devinv]

Yeah! great idea!

Love these ideas. Also in the Bestiary, maybe if you damage an enemy with it's vulnerability (Say you hit a slime with fire, and it is vulnerable to fire) it notes it's vulnerability on it's page.[/quote]

[devinv]

He does make a good point: why pick a rogue class instead of a fighter class...the only difference i can see is you get a skill to start, but after a few levels that difference fades to insignificance. I think it's great that you aren't locked into a particular skill set when you make a character, but some little bonuses would be great, maybe you learn skills native to your character class faster than foreign ones? Or exclusive high-level skills as suggested below, such as backstab? If you're playing as a fighter and you want to get some magic skills to complement them, chances are you are not going to be upset that you can't cast the highest, most powerful magic user spells. You just want some basic skills to increase your armor or strength, provide light, etc. If you wanted those high level spells you would have chosen to be a magic user instead, who would probably be looking for some basic fighter skills to fall back on, etc. Sound good?

I would like to see a little more detailed skills and perks like the fallout series, maybe unique skills for each class (back stabbing for rogues only, two weapon fighting for rangers only etc) And please do something about arrow prices I mean a gold piece for an arrow???!!??? fighting with spells is way better than using bow and arrows cause sometimes you hit but deal no dmg... BTW I think ranger is way way useless instead choose a fighter it is better...