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Eschalon: Book 1 - Interview @ RPG Codex
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Dhruin
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Eschalon: Book 1 - Interview @ RPG Codex
   

RPG Codex has posted an <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10913" target="_blank">interview</a> with Thomas Riegsecker of Basilisk Games about the indie RPG we uncovered a couple of weeks ago, 'Eschalon: Book 1'. Here's a cool snippet:<blockquote><em><b>7. What other non-combat activities are in the game? What does a skill like Cartography do? How do they affect gameplay?</b> <br> <br>All the Skills are based on a 1-100 range, with 100 being godlike and would require a lifetime of devotion to achieve. Cartography is a good Skill to talk about: the automap in the upper right corner of the screen does not work at all until you have at least one point in your Cartography Skill. With just one point, your automap will work but it will only produce a crude outline of your surroundings. The more points you allot to your Cartography skill, the better the automap will look as color and details emerge. Eventually you can even get creatures and NPC locations to show up on the automap if your Skill rating gets high enough. Other non-combative Skills such as Lockpicking, Skullduggery (trap disarming), and Move Silently work the same way.</em></blockquote>
Post Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:29 pm
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slak
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Joined: 13 Jan 2005
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Finally an interview! Now I'll just have to wait until the dot gets one aswell =)
Post Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:29 pm
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Dhruin
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We'll have one soon. Basilisk asked us to wait until ~ the end of January for them to be feature complete. I guess RPG Codex were a bit faster on the draw when the time rolled around.
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Post Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:44 pm
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
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Joined: 10 Jun 2002
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Looks like an interesting if somewhat niche game!! It certainly appeals to my gaming preferences!!
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Post Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:54 pm
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Shimbatha
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Turn based? Check.

Single player? Check.

Isometric? Check.

I'm sold. Bring me more.
Post Sat Feb 04, 2006 12:32 pm
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Roqua
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Joined: 02 Sep 2003
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quote:
Originally posted by Shimbatha
Turn based? Check.

Single player? Check.

Isometric? Check.

I'm sold. Bring me more.


Do you mean single player as in one character or single player as in not multi-player, because it looks like part two (at least) is a party game.

The combat system question wasn't a good answer IMO. Strategy lies in choices, options, and decisions. If you can play as a RT game by just clicking over and over it sounds more like Diablo hack n' slash that pauses after an action than a true strategic TB game. It also leads me to believe the combat model is the hordes of weak enemies model, which i can't stand. Of course, I would rather have much less, but much more strategic combat. Clicking over and over just doesn't do it for me.

IMO if you aren't going to do TB right, might as well not do it. RT or twitch lends itself much better to the hack n' slash hordes of weak enemy model much more than TB.

Of course I could be, and hope I am, wrong, but that is what the answer seems to insinuate to me. Then again, begars can't be chosers I quess.

Anyway you could ask about that in the next interview Dhruin?
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Post Sat Feb 04, 2006 3:21 pm
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quote:
Originally posted by Roqua

The combat system question wasn't a good answer IMO. Strategy lies in choices, options, and decisions. If you can play as a RT game by just clicking over and over it sounds more like Diablo hack n' slash that pauses after an action than a true strategic TB game. It also leads me to believe the combat model is the hordes of weak enemies model, which i can't stand. Of course, I would rather have much less, but much more strategic combat. Clicking over and over just doesn't do it for me.

Maybe you should read the combat answer again. I didn't get the impression there would be hoards of monsters or that it would be similar to RT at all.

It sounds to me like the engine would compute and render the results of your commands, and the enemy's response, rapidly, and that the player is under no reflex pressure to respond. He specifically says you can take as much time as you want to decide what to do each round. What's wrong with that?
Post Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:51 pm
 
bargeral
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Joined: 13 Feb 2005
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I think you can rest easy Roqua. I didn't read that as deriving any benefit from going quickly, just that you don't need to go needlessly slow either. Sounds good to me, one of my pet peeves is when you have seen the same once-apon-a-time-cool but now tiresome animations for each attack. meh. If they are trying to make so that I never end up waiting on the game then I'm good. If I'm ready to move on, the game should be too.

I swear, some of the 40+ hours of game play games could be cut in half if the battles resolved at a decent clip. Take Dragon Quest 8 for example. Once I selected the menu choices, why do I have to see every animation to find out what happened? Ideally the game would have a "skip to the result" option for once I've seen them. Or a "only play the sexy animations". That would be OK too.

My .02
Post Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:43 pm
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
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Joined: 10 Jun 2002
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Anyone willing to admit playing PoR2- RoMD!! Remember how it took 20 mins for a horde of monsters to all move during ONE turn!! A battle could take HOURS!! No way to speed it up either!! It still gives me nightmares!!
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Post Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:56 pm
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Roqua
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I don't think I explained myself well. And yes, I read into the answer thats why I wanted Dhruin to maybe clear it up during his interview.

In the IE games, you had one attack for melee. You could set the game to pause after anything. Making the game TB. Having it be TB doesn't make it any better, or provide any more options. It just makes it pause. Might as well play it in RT and just get through the crappy combat.

The answer given, seems to imply to me that there might not be any combat options, therefore no strategic combat, or any reason not to just click really fast with your one option (attack).

Some games have a reason to be TB, like the JA's, x-coms, Silent Storm, ToEE, Realms of Arkania trilogy, etc. Because there were lots of choices to make during your turn. These choices had a big impact on combat, character building, and strategy, and most importantly, if you won or lost. Play smart, you win.

Then there are other games that it really didn't make sense to be TB since there was no choices, like Arcanum, and geneforge. I love both those games but the combat was week. Combat wasn't fun. It was just an event to get through. Might as well of been RT so you could just get through it quicker and move on.

I'm not saying this game is going to suck. It looks like one of the only good games being developed. My kind of game. I am not a Gothic, NWN, Diablo, Hellgate, Oblivion kind of guy. I like this kind of game.

I am mearly hoping the TB combat will be good and strategic, not bland and repetitive. I think this is a valid concern. I am going to buy this game either way, I am just asking for a question to be posed to the developer to clear up something I have a question about.
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Post Sun Feb 05, 2006 6:55 pm
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