The Drunken Lizard Pub

Necromis wrote:It don't happen in the real world, so why should that happen in Eschalon? LOL

Well I can't throw a fireball or heal myself in the real world, so by that logic there shouldn't be any magic in the world of Eschalon. The concept of a random encounter is that if you're wandering through an area you're bound to eventually run into something, whether it be a snake in the grass, or a taurax wandering the desert. The idea of killing all the visible creatures in a forest and having that forest be devoid of all life from that point forward is far less believable than occasionally running into another creature at some point.

That being said, I definitely would not be a fan of random encounters, not in this type of RPG. Regeneration is the name of the game. On loading each map there should be a percentage chance, however small, that some enemies appear somewhere on that map. There shouldn't be any scaling of the enemy levels unless it's some sort of rare spawn or change in the story for that map (i.e. some faction moves into an area and sets up shop).

Of course it also depends on how the game is balanced. Having played through Book I, for it to have monster regeneration would be pretty much pointless, as my character was far too powerful at the end of the game without having even more enemies to kill and gain XP from.

CrazyBernie wrote:That being said, I definitely would not be a fan of random encounters, not in this type of RPG. Regeneration is the name of the game. On loading each map there should be a percentage chance, however small, that some enemies appear somewhere on that map. There shouldn't be any scaling of the enemy levels unless it's some sort of rare spawn or change in the story for that map (i.e. some faction moves into an area and sets up shop).

That, to me, sounds like the best solution to this issue: upon first loading a map, it's filled with the monsters that BW & co. want you to encounter (i.e. these would be the "fixed" monster encounters), and then on all subsequent reloadings of that map (or, perhaps, on any subsequent reloads after the map was cleared of all monsters), a small chance that a monster or monsters would be spawed somewhere on the map (i.e. "unfixed" monster encounters) upon reentering it.

That would definitely be preferable to Ultima III/IV's system of "random" encounters.

CrazyBernie wrote:Of course it also depends on how the game is balanced. Having played through Book I, for it to have monster regeneration would be pretty much pointless, as my character was far too powerful at the end of the game without having even more enemies to kill and gain XP from.

Only true if you don't want to develop your character to Level 20(21)! (Hey, some of us actually want to play around with getting Lore to Level 10, or Cartography to Level 10+. or Mercantile to Level 15, or Speed to 20! and you generally can't do that until you've maxed out your character's other vital stats!)

Personally, even with Easter eggs, I think I've always maxed out my Book I games around Level 15 or so, and I've never had the patience to sit there and repeatedly "camp" just to generate the monsters necessary to raise my character to Level 20!

OTOH, I think I'd be more likely to play on past Level 15, if I knew just continuing to wander around Thaermore (and its dungeons) would be fairly likely to produce some more monsters for me to slaughter!

Anyway, I think respawning of monsters even in the later stages of Book I would have increased my likelihood of playing on until Level 20, rather than just getting to the intended "end" of the game and starting a new character immediately after.

IJBall wrote: Personally, even with Easter eggs, I think I've always maxed out my Book I games around Level 15 or so, and I've never had the patience to sit there and repeatedly "camp" just to generate the monsters necessary to raise my character to Level 20!

OTOH, I think I'd be more likely to play on past Level 15, if I knew just continuing to wander around Thaermore (and its dungeons) would be fairly likely to produce some more monsters for me to slaughter!

Anyway, I think respawning of monsters even in the later stages of Book I would have increased my likelihood of playing on until Level 20, rather than just getting to the intended "end" of the game and starting a new character immediately after.

Well the problem for me is that there's no real reason to "max out" in Book I. I pulled off the Destroyer ending @ level 15, and I even leveled up to 16 (free health/mana restore ) in the middle of the fight. The battle was cake... the enemies had at most a 21% chance to hit me, and after popping two potions that turned to 2%. Meanwhile I had a 98% chance to hit them. While I like to level my character high enough to not have a hard time when I enter a tougher area, it's nice to have something to need that power for. There should be sidequests to get uber armor or weapons that involve fighting uber enemies.

I thinks that's the reason people come up with the "challenges." I personally could care less about playing through the entire game with just a dagger and a loincloth. I prefer fighting that super hard dragon to obtain the ultimate sword that he's guarding. That's far more rewarding than being able to brag about defeating Gramuk with throwing stones.

As far as increasing skills like lore and mapping to astronomically useless levels... well good for you. =P

I put on a few extra levels just for fun at the end of the game, I didn't have much of a problem finding the mobs to do it either. I love the idea of setting up irresistible Taurax bait (a tent) and then wrecking their day when they came to do whatever it was they were trying to do. Good times. That said I have to agree with those who prefer to be able to secure an area. With the exception of some storyline events it doesn't make much sense for a gang of bandits to spring up every time you clean out a campsite, they're not hermit crabs.

Well . . . if bandits aren't hermit crabs, then they must be something rather similar. Like extrovert crabs.