The Drunken Lizard Pub

This review is my own thoughts and feeling about this game and many people will feel much different then I , some things that I've found bad about this game is actually very good for other players.

I only played the GNU/Linux Demo, I didn't buy nor pirated this game due to the great respect I have for the developers who created a GNU/Linux client and not abandoned us.
I got even more respect for Tom (I think it's your name) the developer who is very active on the forums (I always have much respect for developers who are very involved in the community).

The Good :

1. This game have a GNU/Linux client ! a huge plus ! <<< you got my respect !
2. The developer/s are very involved with the community, they listen to the players thoughts and try to implant them in their games.
3. The Real Time/Turn based experience is revolutionary and excellent !
you can play this game as a Real Time and when you stop it turns to be turn based !
4. Many Many skills !
5. Loads of quests !
6. Day and night shifting !
7. You can buy this game via Internet and play it instantly or you can buy the DVD (but for windows and Mac only ).
8. Dungeons ! a real Old School RPG got to have them
9. It's in 3rd view perspective and not 1st view (doom style).
10. You can save anytime you want.

The Bad (might be bad only for me, other people might like it) :

1. The graphic isn't that good, I know it's an Old school RPG and the graphic never meant to be glorious, but for me it could be much better and still maintain the Old School feeling.
2. The Day/Night shifting is too fast IMO , I think it should be longer.
3. The night is way too dark for me, you got a torch but the view is still too low IMO, yeah I know you try to make it more realistic but I would like to still see better then that at night.
4. The quests are not so clear and too hard, you don't always know what to do and were to find things.
6, Weapons skills - if you want to be a warrior/fighter you don't know (at first) in which weaponry skills to invest (blunt, slash etc..) which weapons got the most damage in this game, which weapons are faster, more accurate etc...
7. Still no DVD version for GNU/Linux for the fans.
8. If you are a fighter you got only one attack option (unless I missed something).
9. Not so many dialog options.
10. I'm not sure about it because I never finished the game but only played the demo but I think that there is only one ending for Chapter 1.
11. You can only play a male (it is good for me because I always play a male character but some people would prefer to chose a female character).
12. It might bother only me or some other GNU/Linux users but this game is not free (free as freedom, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't cost money) meaning that we can't change the source code and make this game better.
13. The leveling up is way too slow for me and the maximum level is way too low (only about 20).
14. The screen resolution is low (only 800x600) and couldn't be changed to a higher resolution.

Overall it's a great game for those people who like Old School RPG's but if you are seeking for pretty graphics this game is not for you.

Thanks Basilisk games for making a great multi platform RPG game, I hope that you will succeed in this and future games.

Many of your points in your review are wrong, you would not be able to tell that from playing the demo. However you would be able to see that by reading the forums, especailly about the endings.

As for some of your other points it is the style the game is, todays games hand things to the player way to easy and I think alot of us have become used to leveling at breakneck speeds and going up level 99 in FF....that was not the case not so long ago.

Actually I hope that I'm wrong about some of my "bads" (and the endings) I didn't want to read too much because of the spoilers who might ruin it for me if some day I would like to buy this game.
You can tell correct me without spoiling the game.

About leveling...yeah we used to level up faster, I mean if you are in higher level you can get better things and new skills - that's one of the fun parts about RPG games.

MaximB wrote: About leveling...yeah we used to level up faster, I mean if you are in higher level you can get better things and new skills - that's one of the fun parts about RPG games.

What do you mean with "we used to level up faster"? Obviously not old school RPGs.
I remind you that in Baldur's gate for example you have a level cap of 7 ! And Baldur's Gate is not even old-school in the view of purists.
Level 99 is something for non-RPGs like WOW or Diablo....
So I am strictly against starting any level inflation!

Back to Topic:

My personal review score is 9/10.

It is an excellent game.

It would have been 10, had it been a little bit longer.

MaximB wrote:... 1. This game have a GNU/Linux client ! a huge plus ! <<< you got my respect !...

Definitely agreed!

... 3. The night is way too dark for me, you got a torch but the view is still too low IMO, yeah I know you try to make it more realistic but I would like to still see better then that at night.

I agree with this, too - BW, do you ever go out in unlit areas (i.e. countryside) at night? Actually, it's never really that dark, once your eyes have adjusted, even on moonless nights. Different people see differently at night but, personally I can see quite clearly and even read print if there's good moonlight. And I'm not a youngster!

Edit: dungeons are a different matter. Obviously, in an enclosed space with no light source, it doesn't matter how good your night vision is - you won't see a thing without a light source.

What about a "see in the dark" skill - perhaps it would only apply to vision at night and not to vision in dungeons?

12. It might bother only me or some other GNU/Linux users but this game is not free (free as freedom, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't cost money) meaning that we can't change the source code and make this game better.

This I have to disagree with. I'm a Linux user too, and, much as I approve of the concept of free software, I have to respect not only software writers who need to charge for their products, but also those who do not wish to release their source code: I think that's something that's entirely up to them. I'm quite happy to have a superb game like this released as a Linux version under the conditions that it has been if the alternative is that it would not be released in a Linux version.

acoustibop wrote:

MaximB wrote:... 1. This game have a GNU/Linux client ! a huge plus ! <<< you got my respect !...

Definitely agreed!

12. It might bother only me or some other GNU/Linux users but this game is not free (free as freedom, it doesn't mean that it shouldn't cost money) meaning that we can't change the source code and make this game better.

This I have to disagree with. I'm a Linux user too, and, much as I approve of the concept of free software, I have to respect not only software writers who need to charge for their products, but also those who do not wish to release their source code: I think that's something that's entirely up to them. I'm quite happy to have a superb game like this released as a Linux version under the conditions that it has been if the alternative is that it would not be released in a Linux version.

As far as I know, the game is written in a proprietary language for which there are no free compilation tools, anyway.

I fully agree that a property GNU/Linux client is better then NO GNU/Linux client.
I do have much respect to the companies who do release a GNU/Linux client and I think it would have been even better if they released it under the GPLv3 because it wouldn't matter for the money profits.
People who would want to steal this game - will steal it anyways.
But if this game were to be free as freedom (not as beer) it would encourage people to actually buy it as they could change the game themselves (or pay for someone who would) and make this game better.
But I do respect Basilisk games decision on not making it free as freedom.
because as I've said a GNU/Linux client is better then no client - so you got my respect anyways .

I'm no programmer but I don't know much property languages.
But you got so much free languages like C,C++,Java,Python etc...
A property engine is something else but I suspect that this engine was made by the Basilisk games for making this game.

Horace2 wrote:... As far as I know, the game is written in a proprietary language for which there are no free compilation tools, anyway.

Exactly. So, to release the game under a free licence, they would also have to release the source for their game engine.

And releasing the source for the game doesn't just mean people can steal it; it means they can also hack it. So you could get people modifying the game just enough so it wasn't obviously the same game, and trying to sell it as their own.

Ironically, it's the big companies who could do this most easy, firstly because their products tend to be so well known that any such hacked versions would be much more likely to be recognised, and secondly because they would have the legal resources to pursue anyone trying to do this.

Basilisk need to protect their investment in this game; I can easily understand their reluctance to release the game under a free licence. Apart from anything else, such caution helps to ensure they stay in business and continue to make great games!

And the bottom line is, it's their intellectual property. They're not protecting the game in any unfair way, as big companies often do; they're just not allowing people to rip them off more than can be helped. That's entirely their right. I may be entirely in favour of open, free software, but I also recognise that Basilisk have every right to protect their investment fairly and support them in this.

Please tell me which engine Basilisk games used ? (I thought that they made it by themselves but please enlighten me).
Another thing is that there are many free licenses.
If someone will release their work under the BSD licenses then you are right - anyone can steal it, close it and use it legally.
But if they release this game under the GPLv3 then the source will have to stay opened even if someone will use it.
And it won't bother the sales as you can still sale your work even under the GPL license.
Those people who don't want to pay they can easily pirate this game from aMule.
There is nothing you can do about it, there is no anti-piracy mechanism that will save any company from pirates which I don't support.
There is no other way but to relay on the people, if they want to steal it they will.
By releasing the source you giving them a tool to change the game, it have no contact with piracy.

A few weeks ago there were a book that was released under the common license in the web, I could read it from there.
But I actually ordered that book - there is nothing like real paper
So people will still buy this game if it was released under the GPL.

Anyway I still respect Basilisk games no matter which way they chose.

The game is written in BlitzMax which is a proprietary language and not free. It is a cross platform language by Blitz Research. Therefore without BlitzMax the game cannot be modified. The source cannot be released under GPLv3 (if I read GPLv3 correctly, I could be wrong), since it relies on a product that is not open source or licensed under GPLv3.

You must purchase BlitzMax and therefore a license from Blitz Research. Blitz Research gives you the right royalty free to do what ever you want with the software you develop with their products.

So even if BW released the source code you still need a separate product to modify it. And just because you can pirate the game does not mean BW has to give anyone access to how he accomplished what he did or his programming style. Also remember that some of the art work and music were drawn and composed by other people who may be licensing or allowing use of their work. So he may also be protecting their interests. Yes, BW is relying on people's basic honesty when it comes to Eschalon: Book I sales. I hope he is amplely rewarded by many sales on all platforms.

I hope so too
I just can't understand why chose a property language when you got so many free languages like C,C++,Java,Python and many more...

Ho well...I wish them luck..

Now back on Topic !

Because then you have to write the game from the ground up - effectively, you have to develop your own engine.

So, although it may cost money to buy an engine, it's probably a lot quicker and cheaper than developing your own.

If Basilisk had taken a decision to write the game completely themselves, including developing their own engine, we'd probably all be sitting around in this forum discussing how the early Windows non-playing demos were coming on, and whether there might ever be a Linux version?

Somehow, I prefer it this way...

Edit:

MaximB wrote:But if they release this game under the GPLv3 then the source will have to stay opened even if someone will use it.

Sorry, I foolishly assumed that people who might modify the source and try to sell the result as their own game wouldn't respect the GPLv3 - silly me!

MaximB wrote:Those people who don't want to pay they can easily pirate this game from aMule.

Yes, but only as is. They can't modify it and pretend it's something else. Even the people who steal it that way will realise what it is and who made it. So, while Basilisk may not make money from the piracy, at least their reputation won't suffer, which may count for something.

I thought it was a programming language and not an engine like torque Crystal Space or Ogre3d...

I'm not sure if it's an engine as such or a language, but if it is a language, it must be strongly oriented towards game construction, and hence still time and money saving.

BlitzMax is a cross platform programming language that can be used to make games. BlitzMax is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Blitz Basic its older brother is geared to 3D game making. BlitzPlus is geared to making 2D games. The languages can also be used for other applications. Blitz Basic and BlitzPlus are Windows products. All are developed by Blitz Research.