I happen to do my monthly scan on RPS, that website which I have fallen out with time and time again. I happen to catch an article whos image instantly appeals to me.



I read the article to surprisingly discover that infact this isn't some game from 15 years ago, but it's actually being developed. Eschalon II. I instantly become interested and download the Eschalon I demo. Fire it up, and play it for 10 minutes (because it's almost bed time) and goddamn, it brings back good ol' memories. Kind of like Diablo and Divine Divinity but even more so like some mega old skool RPG is used to play with a rather game name of Faery Tale Adventure II. Totally similar and simple in concept but for some reason i'm drawn into it. The level of abstraction is probably what does it for me. I'm not bombarded with sound and 3D graphics, fancy lighting and textures, but a plain old quirky 2D snappy interface. Heck, even the plot starts off perfectly, there is no plot! I think i find it so appealing because subconsciously I am filling in the story as I go along.

I'll give it some more time tomorrow, but damn I want this to work. It's been what... since Morrowind that I last enjoyed an RPG?

Oh and the resemblance is uncanny as you see from the screenshot below.

Oh and since the engine is so simple... this could mean the actual size of the game world could be astronomical. Goddamn, endless "fog" to clear away A ranger-wannabe's wet dream

I have eschalon 1 tracked on gamespot and gametrailers for some time.

Nub, you posted the topic in the wrong forum

Yeah, fucking n44bs ffs.

You've got me interested now man. I always dug the way the games looked, but never really considered taking them for a spin. If you give the full version of the first or second game a whirl then make sure to tell us what you think of it. How is the character creation? Skills, classes, races? That's always a good indicator of an RPG's worth.

Moving the topic btw.

Looks a lot like Link or some of the old Ultima games. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though I'm too much of a graphics whore. I couldn't even play XCom due to graphics whorishness.

Played the demo some more. Unfortunately it's too fiddly. Which is strange for a simplistic game like this. Also the fighting based on some kind of weird, broken and unnecessary turn-based system.

Did you even read the game description at the game's homepage? It is a good idea to start from there next time you find something you might like.

No, I stopped reading anything from reviewers and developers a long time ago