Eschalon Review in KoDT

[Randomizer]

For those of you that haven't seen it, Knights of the Dinner Table, issue 140, page 69 in "Disks of Wondorous Power" reviews Eschalon: Book 1 among other games. Consult your local friendly gaming store or order it from http://www.Kenzerco.com for a copy and to see everything else in the issue.

From the article:

Ah, the pre-summer doldrums of computer gaming. None of the good stuff, and not even much of the bad stuff comes out. It's a good time to look in the nooks and crannies for games, or to fall back to games that didn't get played enough the first time around.

First up is Eschalon: Book 1, from Basilisk Games. This is ancient old school RPG. Nothing real-time here, just strict turn based single character RPG fun in the style of Temple of Apshai (for you extra old folks), or perhaps Nethack (for you young'ns in your 30's, though this game is not as deep, no puns intended)... there's nothing in this millenium to cpmpare it to. The gnae itself even has all the quirks of older games, from "zoning" (running to a new area) to escape monsters, to save/reload to get better chest loot, to fidgeting with the graphics settings to get around all the darkness in the game, to shopkeepers that work 24/7 and NPCs that have really quirky views of morality (you can steal from them repeatedly with no penalty).

The graphics are nice in a 2D sort of way, but everything else is by the (old) book. You roll up a character, literally, the game even makes the sound of dice rolling as stats are determined; you get enough bonus points that any roll can be used to make any kind of character. There are classes and a sort-of alignment system, but the latter is safely ignored (you can pick a 'do nothing' alignment for no bonuses or penalties), and the former just gives one extra skill, that any class can pick anyway. Then you pick some more skills -- as a one-character game, your best bet is to go with a generalist, with both combat and magical skills, especially healing. The only mandatory skill is cartography; the game has a very nice automap system that only works if you have the skill, and works better the more skill you have.

Then you wake up in the game world with no memory of your past, and basically kill everything you see using the old "bump into it until it dies" combat method. This is all fairly low-level adventuring and the game world is only a dozen or so areas. It's very much a 'love it or hate it' game, and I sure didn't find much joy in playing, but the demo is free, so if you're looking to see what games were like in the late '80s, wander over to http://www.basiliskgames.com and give it a shot, you might even like it.

The review continues on to Oblivion and other games.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Great review. I don't mind bad reviews when the writer has done his/her job and actually played the game to come up with well-argued reasons why they didn't enjoy it.

NPCs that have really quirky views of morality (you can steal from them repeatedly with no penalty)

Huh?

kill everything you see using the old "bump into it until it dies" combat

Come on. Eschalon's combat isn't as deep as other systems, but we aren't Gauntlet. That game you could bump into enemies to kill them.

This person seems like they had no intention of even trying to enjoy the game from the moment they installed it. Well, since it is said that no publicity is bad publicity, I'm happy to see that we're being talked about.

[Lucifer]

But BW, if a person says: "Oh lord, smite this game, for it is from satans game makers itself, and therefore the worst game ever made" Would you still want that in a review?

Although, he did seem to TRY to say the game was good. Apart from the spelling errors.

Didn't know why he said the game was 2d, looked very 3d-ISH to me.

But hey, Game's getting out there, into the open world eh???

Good nuf for me.

[Dragonlady]

The reveiwer is known for being crumangie-like in the KODT forums. I was the one shouting how good the game was and asking everyone to try it. Guess he likes shoot'um up, 3-D, move the screen all around type games. Oh well, at least he tried it and liked some of it. Shrug.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I was the one shouting how good the game was and asking everyone to try it.

Thank you, Dragonlady!

[Dragonlady]

I was the one shouting how good the game was and asking everyone to try it.

Thank you, Dragonlady!

Your welcome. A good game deserves praise. And heck, I got to beta test it and that was fun and a thrill for this ol' dame.