The Drunken Lizard Pub

Hello everyone,

I would like to know which music title(s) in "Books of Eschalon" is/are your favourite(s).

In my opinion, one reason that the EB-series are so much fun is the music. It is really intense and emphasizes the locations and atmospheres very well. I will never forget the moment I entered Grimhold in EB I and saw this overrun stronghold, imagining the soldiers who had lived and died there... and then this sad, yet yearning music... and the dying soldier. This is just a perfect combination of story and music! It fits so well that this title (Grimhold) is my absolute favourite!

So, which part(s) of the game do you like the most because of the background music?

I believe I asked this a long time ago, but since I really enjoy the subject, I'm going to answer again!

Eschalon: Book I

My favourite is the music playing in Grimmhold and Bordertown, Overland 4. It's so beautiful it brings tear to the eye. Wizardtorium (Salted Coast) and Air Prelude (Vela) are also really good. The Commonwealth (Darkford) is spectacular. I like the light-hearted-overshadowed-by-something-sinister of Overland 3. I like the music playing in Eversleep Cemetery.

Eschalon: Book II

Durnore. I like how it fits perfectly and boosts the atmosphere sky high. The musics playing in Port Kuudad, Foreign City and Willow and the Light. Wolfenwood, oh how much I enjoyed listening to that. Underground musics, particularly Serpentine Trek.

Across both

Overland 1. FYI, that is the music playing right at the start of the game, in both games. It's become stuck in my head.

But across both Eschalons, two tracks have been my most favourite of them all. And those are the Intros.

TBH, there isn't a single track in Eschalon I don't like.


P.S. I know some of these musics are royalty-free, but some are not. Which ones are and which ones aren't?

P.P.S. Could you please have all the non-royalty-free musics in Eschalon: Book III's map editor if you can?

Where did you find the names of the individual tracks?

I absolutely agree that all tracks are worth listining and do fit very well in the situations and locations.

@ Painted Lady: there is a subfolder called "music" in EB I. Unfortunately, there is no such folder for EB II, so sadly there is no way of listening to the music outside the game (as far as I know).

Unfortunately, there is no such folder for EB II, so sadly there is no way of listening to the music outside the game (as far as I know).

Book II keeps its data in an encrypted zip file called "datapak" rather than loose on the filesystem. There are certainly pluses and minuses to this approach. I presume BW was concerned about protecting his intellectual property, but it does make things more difficult for people who enjoy fiddling around with things. Given the promised editor for Book III, I'm hoping maybe it won't encrypt its resources.

Painted Lady wrote:Where did you find the names of the individual tracks?

xolotl's editor of Books I & II. Also, Wizardtorium, Air Prelude, Willow and the Light and Serpentine Trek are royalty-free pieces.

Okay, Calathon, I may never forgive you. I was drifting along, patiently waiting for Book III until you started this post about Eschalon's music. So, I was inspired to do something I've put off for years, and create an iTunes playlist to listen to. I had to find an ogg to mp3 coverter, dig out the Book II DVD for that music, find a perfect screen shot to use for the album cover, etc.

Now that I have the album working perfectly, I'm listening to it all the time. And, now that I'm listening to Eshcalon all the time I've become completely impatient about Book III's release date. I don't want to wait until Christmas, much less Valentine's Day. I want it right now and it's all your fault!!!

Well, Painted Lady, I might say that I feel guilty for what I have done to you, but to be honest: I am really impressed and I like the imagination how you converted all the music and searched for a fitting screen shot for the album. Would you mind sharing your choice with us?
I think it shows a really great appreciation of the game and its music that you put so much effort in creating this playlist and thought about a perfect screen shot.

I can absolutely understand the way you feel: when I finished Book II, I was so impatient for the sequel that I thought even if the release would be the following week, it was too late.

Maybe one day you can forgive me when listening to your playlist, containing then the music of all three Eschalon Book parts. Then you might say to yourself: "If it had not been for this Calathon guy, well, maybe I never would have made this beautiful playlist to rejoice in."

For the album art I cropped the beginning for Book II (the skull hanging on the fence post). It looks great. Thanks for asking.

I just listened through all the songs from the music folder of Book I. My favourites were the main theme and the "battle loop" song.

I need to reinstall Book II and check out its songs. I have no memory of what they were like. And normally, I play games with music turned off. I usually like to listen all kinds of music while playing, and not just the stuff the game brings along.

Prismatic Maelstrom wrote: A track called "dank_underworld.ogg" is suppose to play in Whistling Cave, A Mysterious Cave, Outpost at Burning Sands, Lighthouse, Level 2 and Lighthouse, Level 3 but the track isn't in my music folder.

I've reinstalled the game to see if it would appear but it hasn't. The music can be heard here so was it removed in version 1.06 for some reason?

Looks like you're correct. It's not present in my 1.06 install or in the archive file that I installed from. I happened to have a copy of 1.05 lying around and can confirm it's present there. It doesn't have an artist metadata tag. Maybe a rights dispute?

For anyone else who still has a copy of a pre-1.06 release, copying the dank_underworld.ogg file from there into the music directory of a 1.06 install seems to be sufficient to restore it.

Seeing that Forge Thy Destiny and Overland 4 are owned by Basilisk Games, could they make a return in the game editor?

I really like the Norland music, and the 'Desert' track.

Thynar wrote:I really like the Norland music, and the 'Desert' track.

If by Nor'land music you mean 'Durnore', I absolutely love that piece!

I was wondering if I should post the link here to some music from Eschalon Book II that I uploaded to YouTube, after I talked to BasiliskWrangler, you guys might like it, so here's a link to the Durnore one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3VAHo_BLyg