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[IMG News]

Basilisk Games has released a development update for Eschalon: Book III. the upcoming third and final episode of the old-school fantasy RPG series. The post includes details about populating the world with interesting areas to encounter, as well as outlines elements which still need to be implemented.

Work continues unabated on Book III. Seems like most of our time has been spent filling in the empty areas of the world. When Book III was in it's earliest stages, most of the important areas were made first leaving large tracts of land literally empty. Those needed filled in, and so we are. This activity is time consuming, in part because we are really giving these secondary areas as much details as the rest of the game. Secret paths, hidden stashes, and even just simple details that might only be seen by a few people who walk off the beaten path. We'll maybe even throw in a few secret messages and Easter eggs. This is the final Eschalon game, after all- we want to go out leaving players with a great experience.

What still needs to be done? Well, we have not touched the Skill system at all. Over the past couple years we have talked about various changes to a few of the skills- some minor tweaks and some major alterations. While we've played around with a few ideas, these changes still need to be formally added and balanced, which really only works when the rest of the game is laid out. Beyond this, there is still a long bug list that needs addressed and a few more side quests that we plan on getting in, so we still have some development time ahead of us. But rest assured, Eschalon: Book III is crawling ever closer to the finish line day by day

Read the full post at the link below.

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[the Battle Cat]

Playing Eschalon II I was so broke from buying food and repairing my Chintzy Gear of Fail that I couldn't afford to pay for a single lesson.  After several game starts and abandonments then finally mucking about for a week on the verge of starvation I tucked it in deciding Basilisk forgot what made a game fun.  I really really REALLY doubt that I'll try game 3.  It's a shame too, because the first game was so fun I played it through 3 times in a row, back to back.

[Kilvain]

The food and water requirement (unless, like you can in Book II, you choose to turn that option off) will still be in Book III, so I'm guessing you should just give it a pass.

[the Battle Cat]

Turning food requirements, equipment deterioration, quitting when death is imminent, and random item creation off results in upwards of a 50% experience penalty!  In other words, if I make the game play like the original one I came to love I am severely punished.  WTF?  I expect that if I try to play Book III my character will die of cancer face down in a puddle of bile vomit or some other new way to make my game experience suck.  I would play it if they didn't penalize me for trying to play the game the way the first game played.  It had all the other features I loved but I would be so "experience gimped" I would never make it out of town.

But other than it nearly totally sucking, I recommend this game to everybody who likes turn based RPGs.  Everything else about it is great fun.

[Eric5h5]

I didn't have any problems with any of that stuff.  I had plenty of money, food, etc.  Technically you get an experience bonus if you turn on the optional stuff, not an experience penalty if you turn them off.  In other words you would get enough experience by leaving them off, and more than enough if you turn them on, which I found to be the case.  I had other issues with the game I've discussed elsewhere, though.

--Eric

[the Battle Cat]

Changing the settings to make the game play the way I want it to gimps my experience by 40%.

[Eric5h5]

If you can't win with 5% of the standard experience, you are lam0rz!  Real gamers can win with 1% experience!

--Eric

[the Battle Cat]

I desegree theirfor your rong and I win.

[Eric5h5]

--Eric

[the Battle Cat]

Thanks, but I use toilet paper.   I reserve the right to change my mind though.

[Eric5h5]

...And thus tBC's regression to a fifth-grader is complete!

--Eric

[Marble]

Ha!  Best forum thread I've read all week.

[the Battle Cat]

Thank you, thank you.  We'll be here all week.