The Drunken Lizard Pub

I still remember how I waited for Book I to come out. In 2007, it was a kind of revolution, to see such a beautiful, but obviously niche game, made by extremely small team, not only released, but also successful enough to spawn a sequel. Actually, it was Eschalon that alerted me to then-smallish world of indie game development and gave me hope, both as a gamer and a an aspiring game programmer.

I can't really say I waited for Book III with the same feeling. First, it was in development a bit too long. World change a lot since days when Book II came out, we now have Kickstarter, and all those new indie RPGs from small and even medium-sized companies. Before, indie RPG, basically, meant a game by Spiderweb Software, Basilisk Games or one of innumerable forgettable RPG-maker based JRPGs. Now, there are a lot of players in this niche (Single Player, Turn Based, Stats Heavy etc.).

How does Book III fares alongside then? Well, we haven't yet really SEEN most of new games. Only Shadowrun Returns managed to be released before Book III. One thing I can certainly say, is that Eschalon is still one of the most beautiful indie RPGs out there, even with its fixed 1024x768 resolution. It looks far better than latest offerings from Spiderweb (I love them, but they hurt my eyes with low-contrast locations, where I often can't see enemies until they move). It stands well against 3D games like Shadowrun and Wasteland 2, because good 2D sprites will always look more interesting to me than 3D models.

But there are two aspects where I find Eschalon seriously lacking. One is combat. It was acceptably boring in the first game, but I hoped for some change in later instalments. But my hopes were dashed with release of Book III, which changed nothing. Spamming attacks or a single spell is still perfectly valid tactic, and the only variety we have is enemies with resistances, but it's still boring. Part of problem here is Eschalon is single-character game. I remember there was a talk about allowing a party in Book II or Book III, which would make combat far more tactical, but it never went anywhere, I guess, because it would require a full rewrite of movement and combat mechanics, and AI: a big part of game code.

The other area where I find Eschalon isn't very good is story & text. I mean, it's a bit simplistic. Sure, it got a bit more interesting in Book II, when we learned more about Orakur, but still... It hasn't really got any factions I can root for, or notable characters, and I can't feel any sort of philosophy behind it. Look at Geneforge, for example: this was a series that really did well on that front. The theme of power, and who should have access to it, and if it should be destroyed, spread or protected, is very interesting and relevant in modern world. I think it's one of the best philosophical stories in history of computer RPGs. I have hoped that Eschalon would develop its story into something more complex after Book I, but it didn't. Still, I'm OK with stories that aren't as deep as Geneforge's or Avadon's. Story could still be saved by offering interesting characters and adventures. But I feel that Eschalon falls short on both. NPCs are mostly bland and unmemorable, and adventures... Well, they are just adventures. Kind of like in dungeon crawls.

That being said, I still liked Book III, and I recommended it to other people. I loved graphics, complexity of skills, Cartography, Foraging, interesting puzzles (by the way, I got the one about weight AND one about colors without help, hurray for me!). But I just wish I could have loved it more, far more.

In the end, I want to congratulate Basilisk Games on their long run. I myself haven't managed to finish a single pet project in that time, and my day job wasn't a stellar success too in terms of cult game releases

I hope that the next Basilisk game will be a bit more innovative and complex, and maybe with a deeper story. And that we won't have to wait sooooooo long for it (Do I want too much? Yes, yes I do)

Possible spoilers here, be warned.






It has that addictive quality that keeps me coming back for more. But other than Mage or Fighter I don't really see much replay value. Not sure how you could make it as a pure thief, maybe will give it a try.

The biggest disappointment is the ending. After building up to heroic status, I end up feeling all dressed up with no place to go. Hopefully there will be some decent mods where you can import your character.

I agree with pretty much everything you said.

I started playing Eschalons when Book 2 had just come out. I loved the games to bits and finished them multiple times. So obviously I had high hopes for Book 3. I wasn't expecting it to be the grand RPG messiah or anything, but I was expecting it to be -THE- Eschalon. Unfortunately it wasn't that :/ Don't get me wrong, I still like Book 3 a lot, but I think that *cough* it's the worst of the trilogy. And I really don't think I'm alone with this.

I disagree with the party thing though. I've always loved that you're alone in Eschalons. Sure, it takes away from tactics, but imo, it adds for immersion. I play these games alone in a dark room, so when I only see my character, I get into it much more. The overall feeling of Eschalon had always been the thing for me. They remind me a lot of my other favorite RPG franchise, Gothic. Alone and weak, in the middle of nowhere.

When it comes to the story, I'm not all that interested in the grand scheme of things in these kinds of games. I'm much more interested in the lore of the world. Countries, cities, factions, those kinds of things. Much less interested in characters or storylines. Unless they are exceptionally good.

All in all, I'm sad to see Eschalon trilogy being over, especially when the end wasn't as strong as I had hoped, but it's also super awesome that it -did- get finished and not become some random unfinished game in the bin. And for that basilisk games gets all my respects (also cookies. Tasty cookies.)