If your like me and still haven't played Eschalon: Book II GameBanshee has a new section of content that might interest you. If you already finished the game it's still worth a look.

Continuing our journey through Basilisk Games' Eschalon trilogy, we've brought you our full review of Eschalon: Book II, as well as the dedicated subsite that we promised last month.  And just as we provided in our Eschalon: Book I coverage, you'll find a fully annotated walkthrough, a searchable equipment database, detailed location information, a bestiary, alchemy recipes, character classes, origins, axioms, and skills, and a whole lot more. Enjoy!

Mac World has also reviewed Eschalon: Book II, offering a short and general overview. The score is 4/5 this time:

This pain has a purpose, though: Knowing you didn’t just idly click your way through makes your success all the sweeter. Eschalon: Book II requires you to make choices, most especially when to run. It also encourages some creative solutions that aren’t handed to you by simply clicking in the right spot. (Hint: Those heavy barrels of gunpowder you’ll find have a million uses around the home and office.) Characters can invest skill points in many skills and trying to learn to do everything will often leave you unable to do anything.

The Basilisk site is pointing out a review of Eschalon: Book II at PC World. It's short and there's no score but it's nice to see a review from a large site:

Hearkening back to some of the oldest games in the genre, Eschalon Book II demands you carry sufficient food and drink to sustain you on your voyage, plunges you into impenetrable darkness if you don't have a torch, and has your weapons break and your armor tear with depressing regularity. "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" is the rule here; if you swap out your bow for a sword and shield when the bandits have closed on you, you will take several blows while you do so. The amount of loot you can carry is limited by weight. Fighting in the dark is very difficult... but if you want to hold a torch, you can't hold a shield or a two-handed weapon, and torches burn out. Merchants have limited supplies of goods and restock infrequently; it's quite possible to buy out all the food the innkeeper has to sell. The cost of armor and weapon repair--and healing potions--can easily chew up the reward from any quest.

A site called Gaming Irresponsibly has a review of Eschalon: Book II, with a score of 8.5/10:

The clincher exists in the plot. This is perhaps where the game is most limited by its dedication to classic gaming. Simply put, the game places you in the shoes of your old character, which in the last game was responsible for saving the kingdom of Thaermore from Goblin Invaders. The new plot does, in many ways, what it should have done which is expand on the concepts presented in the original and place them within the context of a larger conflict. Being a fantasy RPG, there was just simply not that much room for growth here. For the multitude of quests that were offered as side missions, and the nonlinear format that your character could follow, I didn’t feel as if the core of the plot matched up to the greatness and detail that was put in the rest of the work. Instead of growing, the plot seemingly trots along with your character based on the decisions you make. Perhaps this is a sign of the times for fantasy writers, but when it comes to resorting to a more traditionalist affair such as this, the plot could have used more development.

It's apparently 12 months since the release of Eschalon: Book II and, to celebrate, Basilisk is giving away some t-shirts. Head over for details.

It doesn't reveal much but it does indicate that Eschalon: Book III is proceeding nicely. Basilisk Games sent word they have put up a teaser page for their as-yet-technically-unannounced upcoming game.

Basilisk Games writes they are having a sale next Friday.  Buy Book II direct from them - and you'll get Book I for free.  Details here.

Basilisk Games has released the v1.05 patch for Eschalon II. With this patch you also get the add-on adventure The Secret of Fathamurk for free.

This add-on is for high-level characters of level 15 or more. You can go to this area at any time regardless of your level. More info on The Secret of Fathamurk can be found here.

You can view all of the changes for the patch here. If you bought the game through Steam, Impulse, Gamersgate or any of the others then you probably won't get the patch and add-on until at least Monday.

Basilisk has a sale on the DVD version of Eschalon: Book II for those that like physical media:

For the remainder of September, all Eschalon: Book II DVDs are $20.95! Shipping and handling is $4.00, making the total cost of the DVD the exact same as the digital download! If you have been thinking about buying the game, don’t miss this chance to get the game on DVD at no additional cost!

Thanks, Jedi_Learner.

Basilisk Games has announced that they'll release a 5-10 hour expansion to Book 11, called The Secret of Fathamurk. The add-on will be completely free to those who own the game. For good measure, here's the press release, but before that, be sure to look at the official FAQ. 

Basilisk Games Announces the development of "The Secret of Fathamurk", an extended adventure for Eschalon: Book II

Indianapolis, IN - September 3, 2010 - Basilisk Games, Inc. today announced the development of an add-on adventure for Eschalon: Book II called "The Secret of Fathamurk". 

"This expansion for Eschalon: Book II will add 5-10 hours of new gameplay for fans of the game," said Thomas Riegsecker, Lead Developer of the Eschalon series. "Better yet, we're not charging players a dime for it. If you own Eschalon: Book II you will have access to this new content free-of-charge with the 1.05 update.

"Eschalon: Book II is available now for Windows, Macintosh and Linux based computers. "The Secret of Fathamurk" expansion will be included in the 1.05 update coming this October. Current owners need only to download the updated game to have access to this new content. The final release date for this update will be announce on the Basilisk Games website. Visit http://basiliskgames.com for more information. 

About Eschalon: Book II Eschalon: Book II is the sequel to 2007's hit independent role-playing game, Eschalon: Book I. Continue your journey across massive outdoor environments and deep into twisted dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of your past and who is behind the menace that threatens all of Eschalon. No experience with the first game is needed to enjoy this second chapter in the Eschalon trilogy.  More information on the game and links to the demo and video trailer can be found online at: http://basiliskgames.com/eschalon_book_ii

About Basilisk Games Founded in 2005, Basilisk Games is an independent game developer located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company's mission is to produce compelling old-school computer role-playing games for gamers who still remember what great computer RPGs used to be about: "Single-player. Turn-based. Stat heavy. Story driven." Visit Basilisk Games online at: http://basiliskgames.com

Thanks also to Paul, who wrote in on this.

Craig from IndieRPGs points out their review of Eschalon: Book II.  The score is 4/5, although I thought the text read lower than that.  A snip on dialogue and quests:

You have no Charisma or Personality stat, so there are rarely more than one or two ways a conversation can go. Most conversation trees give you two branches at a time: one “I’m ending this conversation” branch, and one “I’m continuing this conversation” branch. That’s mostly it. Consequently, the hand that guides conversations forward never manages to stay out of sight. You will always know that you are talking with a “Give a Side Quest” or “Advance the Plot” marionette. For a game so plainly about exploration, the inability to meaningfully explore other characters is a major oversight.

This stinginess with dialog options extends to the quests. Just to be clear: the non-dialog-driven quests in Eschalon are nicely non-linear, with multiple ways of achieving the same objective. Entering Port Kuudad, for instance, can be accomplished in a wide variety of different ways, few of them immediately apparent when you first arrive at the outer gates.

But once you start talking to NPCs, all this non-linearity goes out the window. Eschalon reprises one of the problems that plagued the original Baldur’s Gate: encounters that always devolve into fights no matter what you say or do.

RPG Codex has a review of Eschalon: Book II, written by Elwro.  It's a mixed article with the presentation and music praised but criticism for the story, balance and "emptiness":

On a more positive note, you will find two people accusing each other of being a werewolf. There doesn't seem to be a clear cut way of non-violently establishing once and for all which one of them is the lycanthrope; you have a few (weak) hints and have to rely on your gut instincts to some extent. One of the men owns a magical shop you might not want to lose access to... An interesting, difficult situation; the dev gets points for that.

Unfortunately, these are only isolated instances of interesting content in the predominantly empty game world. With all the bugs (now mostly ironed out) and general feeling of emptyness, it's unfortunately obvious that the developer simply had to put this game on the market in May. There are also two places, a cave entrance and a staircase, which should provide access to two dungeons which do not exist in the game. You're told “There's nothing more in that direction. Turn back – your fate awaits elsewhere!” With all the empty areas, I felt like having been ripped off a little. This is unfortunate, since it seems like a matter of presentation. It would be better if the entrances were non-approachable by the character, or if they were simply removed, as the dungeons might be added in a future addon. You might remember that a similar project for the first game did not take off. Here's to hoping the developer fares better this time. If he did not put the entrances in the released version of the game, the players could await the dungeons as a nice, free expansion. Unfortunately, due to overall lack of content in the game they look like something which should have been there from the start.

Mishmash Magazine has an enthusiastic review of Eschalon: Book II, the author enjoying the art and small touches:

Another element of Eschalon: Book II that I found truly impressive was the writing. This game not only has a good story, it also has very well-written dialogue, and detailed, textual descriptions that accompany everything. If you right-click a weapon or potion, you get a sentence or two telling you what it is. If you eat something, you get a sentence telling you what it tastes like. And when you talk to someone, you get a brief description of what they're doing, how they appear at that moment and anything else that might be relevant, or that simply adds to your immersion.

If Steam is your preferred digital vendor, Eschalon: Book II is now available on the service.

There's also an interview over at Mishmash Magazine, with Thomas Riegsecker mostly discussing his background and the development of the Eschalon series.  A sci-fi RPG sounds like fun:

The Eschalon series seems to be well-recieved by fans and critics alike. Do you have plans to continue the series with a third installment?  And if things continue to go well, would you like to expand into developing other types of games as well?

TR - Definitely! We are very much looking forward to bringing the Eschalon trilogy to a close with the third game. After that, I want to move on to other ideas not related to the Eschalon universe. I personally want to do a Sci-Fi RPG using a new engine and possibly expand onto additional platforms. And while RPGs are what Basilisk Games is known for, I am not opposed to venturing into other genres if the inspiration strikes.

We are also going to release many of the tools we used to make Eschalon after the third game is out, so fans can continue to make their own adventures long after we’ve moved on to our next thing. I will certainly enjoy seeing what other people can come up with.

Thanks, Paul!

Mac site Game on Mac has posted a review of Basilisk's recently released crpg, Eschalon: Book II, giving it high marks. Here's the conclusion:

On the positive side the game has incredible depth, with a huge area for exploration.  There are endless artifacts to collect and use and so many different combinations of character skills and attributes that you could spend a lifetime playing the game in different ways. 
 
Overall I feel that the game has stayed true to its origin in old-school RPG.  This might put off the newcomers a bit, but for the rest of us it's an excellent, completely immersive adventure with as little limitation on your actions as possible.  I give the game 5 out of 5, as it is a great example of its genre.

Different reviewers for Inside Mac Gamers have given their take on Book I and Book II for Basilisk Games turned-based rpg-series. They are very positive about both games. Here's their take on part 1, scoring it 8.25/10:

Although EB1 is enjoyable it is not without flaws. Some of the skills available in the game are quite powerful while others are of more questionable value and the effect of adding points to attributes and skills is not always clear. This can lead to the creation of both over and underpowered characters. Another drawback is the odd decision to limit an automap option only to those with at least one point in the Cartography skill. Luckily the skill can be acquired early in the game through a quest, but considering the ubiquity of automaps in modern RPGs it is an unusual design choice.

And here's their take on part 2, scoring it 7.5/10:

Still, Eschalon: Book II is more than fun enough the first time through. The fighting takes strategy, the backgrounds, sprites, and particle effects are all good-looking, the sound and music is well done, and the world is plenty big enough to last you for a reasonable length of time. What it really comes down to is whether you enjoy rogue-like RPGs or not. If you do, then this $25 is well-spent.

Corwin explores Basilisk's second game in the Eschalon series.  The first was an indie hit and expectations for Book II were high - here's a sample of Corwin's view:

One of the key elements for an rpg is exploration and there’s plenty of that here. The game is, in many ways, huge. I’m a completist and my playtime was 69.1 hours according to the game itself. Much of that was spent exploring and of course, fighting my way through hoards of monsters. One key point here; your in game mini-map will only work if you have at least one skill point invested in Cartography. This is sufficient for the early stages but either find/buy an amulet of Cartography, or increase your skill level to three as soon as you can: it really helps make the map more readable. You will discover several towns, forests, grasslands, icy wastes and lava flows in your travels, but several quick travel locations do make this less of a chore once you discover them. The walking speed has been increased from Book I, but many people still complain it is too slow. It didn’t bother me, but then I’m a slow player.

Read it all here.

A post at the Basilisk forums explains the next step for Eschalon: Book II.

Greetings,

Just a quick mention of where we are at with version 1.04 and what it will contain:

Version 1.04 will, of course, contain all the latest bug fixes. While there aren't many major bugs left, a few of the bugs have caused some general playability issues for people using Linux. The game is exceptionally stable in current version 1.03, so 1.04 will just be a bit of clean up.

More importantly, 1.04 will have support for other languages. Currently we have Russian, French, Spanish and Slovakian translations in the works by fans. These initial translations will just be game text only, which includes narration, books, dialog, and spell/potion descriptions. This should be enough for most people to fully enjoy the game- future versions of the game will likely have additional text translated such as the interface graphics and messages generated by the system.

I hope to be able to include several of these languages with the 1.04 release, however if the translations take much longer to produce then I'll just release 1.04 without some of them. Users can drop-in new "language packs" as they are released. If you are interested in translating the game into a specific language, please contact us.

In addition, 1.04 may have a few balance adjustments as well. I am playing around with some of the settings now based on feedback from all of you. More info on this when 1.04 is released, which is scheduled for the end of June.

Beyond 1.04.... Once 1.04 is out, we should have a stable platform for which we can merge in the add-on content. This will likely take 6-8 weeks to complete and will be released with version 1.05 of the game.

People are already emailing us about Book III. For now, all I can say is that Book III exists in ideas only. We will not commit to anything until we know that Book II will fully pay for it's development and provide the company with funds to move forward with the final game.

Basilisk Games has released the Mac and Linux versions of Eschalon: Book 2.  In addition, v1.03 is available for Windows to match the version of the new releases.  Here's the PR:

Basilisk Games Announces the Availability of Eschalon: Book II for Macintosh and Linux

Indianapolis, IN - May 26, 2010 - Basilisk Games, Inc. today announced that Eschalon: Book II for Macintosh and Linux based computers is now available.

"Macintosh and Linux users can finally return to the land of Eschalon once again" said Thomas Riegsecker, Lead Developer of the Eschalon series. "We are very pleased to be able to offer Book II on multiple platforms. Players only need one Registration Code to have access to all three versions. Once you purchase a Registration Code, the game is yours to play on any computer you own."

Eschalon: Book II is available now for Windows, Macintosh and Linux based computers. A Registration Code capible of unlocking all three versions is available directly from the Basilisk Games website. Most major digital distribution services will be offering Eschalon: Book II in the next two weeks.

About Eschalon: Book II

Eschalon: Book II is the sequel to 2007's hit independent role-playing game, Eschalon: Book I. Continue your journey across massive outdoor environments and deep into twisted dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of your past and who is behind the menace that threatens all of Eschalon. No experience with the first game is needed to enjoy this second chapter in the Eschalon trilogy. More information on the game and links to the demo and video trailer can be found online at: http://basiliskgames.com/eschalon_book_ii

Freshly-released indie Eschalon: Book II is on sale at Impulse for 20% off, which is UDS$18.72 - a bargain.  Give thought to buying direct from Basilisk for the support but if your price point is <$20, here's the answer.  Thanks to the readers who pointed this out.

A patch 1.02 is already out for Eschalon, Book II, Basilisk Games' newest addition to its old school rpg series. Registration for the game will be improved, a number of bugs will be squashed and spelling and grammar mistakes will be corrected. And more. The full notes: 

- The Registration process has been modified to improve the accuracy of verifying codes.
- Fixed a "Divide By Zero" error when you get your HP or MP to regenerate at "1 point every 0 rounds."
- Fixed an "Exception Access Violation" when some creatures neared the edge of the map.
- Last thrown object no longer results in injury if you are unskilled in Unarmed Combat.
- Soul Piercer arrow gives proper damage bonus against ethereal creatures.
- Casting Sunder Flesh no longer crashes game.
- Spell Protection From Curses works properly.
- Spells Mass Boil and Supernova now display proper damage ranges in description.
- Encumbrance stats are properly updated after casting Draw Water.
- Sleeping in bed properly updates weather sounds.
- Combat music properly ends when leveling up, then restarts after exiting editor.
- Recipe window now displays all recipes properly.
- True Healer challenge modified so to not fail during certain events.
- Fixed an issue involving the Masterful Riposte feat and Haste being used together.
- Spell Trapkill works properly on all floor traps.
- Corrected a stat issue that caused some flying creatures to ignore open spaces over chasms and such.
- Fixed a number of grammar and spelling errors.
- Fixed several minor map errors.
- Cleaned up a few graphic anomalies on tiles & sprites

Eschalon Book II, Basilisk Games latest chapter in its rpg series, has been played by the folks at Gear Diary. They have penned down their impressions of the game. Since many of us no doubt played the first game, here's something about how the game has advanced in the sequel:

But while it is similar to the original, don’t mistake that for meaning there hasn’t been any progress. As mentioned, you can now choose to play as a male or female character, and there have been a whole bunch of visual enhancements including the game now running at 1024 x 768 native resolution. But even within those changes there are a number of usability improvements that make the game even more fun to plow through!

A site called Grey Alien Games has some tips for starting out with Eschalon II.  It's mostly stuff our audience is probably across but it might be worth a look if you're finding it hard to get going.  Some very mild spoilers but it's mostly general tips.

Indie developer and RPG blogger Jay Barnson caught up with Thomas Riegsecker to discuss Eschalon: Book II.  The conversation covers a little of Thomas' thoughts, the development and the game itself:

Rampant Coyote: The big marketing point for Eschalon: Book 1 was that it was “old school” in style. What does “old school” mean to you? How did you incorporate that feel into Eschalon: Book 1?

Thomas Riegsecker: Modern RPGs tend to consist of action-oriented game play, “skill trees” and storylines that can fit on a napkin. You may ask: what is wrong with a skill tree? Well, with a skill tree you can’t build an incompetent character- your skills may branch out, but they all lead to the same bad-ass dealer-of-death by the end of the game. It doesn’t matter what branches you take- you will have a successful character by game’s end. The only difference is the special effects you’ll get to see blasting out from your weapon.

Old-school, to me, means that we give the player ultimate control over the development of their character. With a complex array of attributes, stats, and skills you have the freedom to experiment with your character’s design- and that means you have the potential to make a jack-of-all-trades dud…or a god-like titan that can walk through the game with little effort. There is freedom in an old-school game; not just in the character design but also in the world design- a sense that you really can go anywhere from the very start.

The highly-anticipated Eschalon: Book II has been released for Windows, with the disc version including Mac and Linux versions due in a couple of weeks.  Grab the demo here and buy the game here. The official PR:

Basilisk Games Announces the Availability of Eschalon: Book II for Windows

Indianapolis, IN - May 12, 2010 - Basilisk Games, Inc. today announced that Eschalon: Book II for Windows is now available.

"We are thrilled to announce that the second book in the Eschalon Trilogy is now available for download" said Thomas Riegsecker, Lead Developer of the Eschalon series. "Fans are going to really enjoy the game enhancements and larger world. Book II is a big game!"

Eschalon: Book II is available now for Windows based computers. Basilisk Games will release the Macintosh and Linux versions of the game on May 26th, 2010. Eschalon: Book II for Windows can be purchased directly from the Basilisk Games website, and in the next few weeks from most major digital distribution services.

About Eschalon: Book II

Eschalon: Book II is the sequel to 2007's hit independent role-playing game, Eschalon: Book I. Continue your journey across massive outdoor environments and deep into twisted dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of your past and who is behind the menace that threatens all of Eschalon. No experience with the first game is needed to enjoy this second chapter in the Eschalon trilogy. More information on the game and links to the demo and video trailer can be found online at: http://basiliskgames.com/eschalon_book_ii

Thanks to everyone who wrote in - the announcement came just after I had logged off for the day.

Basilisk Games tweets that Eschalon: Book II is "big" and "first time through on difficult mode will take most players 35-50 hours depending on how much you choose to explore". That should make it quite a bit longer than the first game.

The highly anticipated indie CRPG Eschalon: Book II will be released on May 12 for Windows, with other versions soon after.  Here's the official PR:

Basilisk Games Announces the Release Date for Eschalon: Book II

Indianapolis, IN - April 27, 2010 - Basilisk Games, Inc. today announced the release date for Eschalon: Book II for Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

"We are very excited to finally be able to announce the release dates to our second game, Eschalon: Book II, after more than two years of development" said Thomas Riegsecker, Lead Developer of the Eschalon series.  "Eschalon: Book II is considerably bigger and better than the first game, and incorporates over 60 fan-suggested enhancements."

Eschalon: Book II is scheduled for release on May 12th, 2010 for Windows based computers. Basilisk Games will release the Macintosh and Linux versions of the game on May 26th, 2010.  Eschalon: Book II will be available as a digital download on most major distribution services and directly from Basilisk Games website.

About Eschalon: Book II

Eschalon: Book II is the sequel to 2007's hit independent role-playing game, Eschalon: Book I.  Continue your journey across massive outdoor environments and deep into twisted dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of your past and who is behind the menace that threatens all of Eschalon.  No experience with the first game is needed to enjoy this second chapter in the Eschalon trilogy.  More information on the game and links to the video trailer can be found online at http://basiliskgames.com/eschalon_book_ii

About Basilisk Games

Founded in 2005, Basilisk Games is an independent game developer located in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The company's mission is to produce compelling old-school computer role-playing games for gamers who still remember what great computer RPGs used to be about: "Single-player. Turn-based. Stat heavy. Story driven."  Visit Basilisk Games online at http://basiliskgames.com

Basilisk Games posts a short update on the progress of Eschalon:Book II:

Just a quick update: beta testing is still going great! We are giving our testers a Release Candidate later this week to check out. If all goes well, we should be able to announce a release date very, very soon. Keep checking in!

This is a good time to remind everyone of our Twitter, Facebook and Buzz accounts. Often “minor updates” will end up there if they aren’t important enough for our main website. It’s just another way to stay in the know!

[EDIT] This was just posted in the community forums. It’s far more entertaining than our boring update: Link

Basilisk Games posts a short update on the Book II beta testing process:

We are no longer accepting Beta Tester applications. Thanks to everyone who has submitted an app- the response has been great! We will begin contacting the lucky applicants in the next 48 hours.
Posted: March 12th, 2010

There's also a hint in the forums  that the game may be ready by late April.

Basilisk is calling for beta testers for Eschalon: Book II.  Head here to apply - but for the rest of us, this means the release is getting close-ish.

You can check out the teaser trailer for Eschalon: Book II on Youtube.

The teaser for Eschalon: Book II is now online! View it on Basilisk Games YouTube channel, or on WeGame. More links to come soon.

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcxtmDaHZls

Basilisk has announced the first trailer for Eschalon: Book II will be released next week, which is pretty cool news for its legion of fans.

Basilisk Games has a single new screen for Eschalon II and the newsbit says "Development continues forward at a dizzying pace! More info soon".

A welcome update for those following Eschalon: Book II:

We are now testing with our “internal beta testing crew”.  Their focus is game balance and checking on the main quest; meanwhile side-quests and secondary map map details are getting filled in. It is our greatest hope that this will lead into a semi-public beta test in February. Stay tuned!

Is there something about holidays and libraries?  Like Zombie RPG, Basilisk has released a holiday-gift screenshot of a library scene from Eschalon II.

The official Q&A thread at the Basilisk forums has a new entry:

[Grindstone_82] Could you elaborate on why you decided to cut out crossbows in Book II? I'm asking because I've always been a fan of those. I know the "realistic" reload times would be tedious, but IMO that's not relevant. It should simply be like a bow that does more damage, but gets fractured faster (since you have wear 'n' tear in Book II), maybe it should also be harder to repair. After all, with only one action per round and one character, fighting can seem pretty slow to you anyways >)

Also, is there the possibility that you will allow for a party of two characters in Book III? That would greatly enhance character creation even more. Imagine the possibilities; like an uber-char and a useless mule with all the support skills, or a pure fighter and a pure mage; and could a Virtuous Paladin and a Nefarious Rogue even work together at all? Just a thought (wish).

One final question about replay value; in Book I, it seems anyone can do anything. Thieves pick locks, mages unlock them via spells, fighters just smash them. There wasn't a single chest in the game IIRC my fighter couldn't smash. There wasn't a single trap he couldn't just walk through. I'm guessing from the interviews you've given that Book II will play out a little differently though.

- I explain our take on crossbows in this old thread from 2007.

- Book III will finish the trilogy as a single-player, single-character game. We have at least two other games already cooking deep in the labs, and they will feature party-based play.

- As for characters doing anything...yeah, we made it that way for a reason. In all my time playing cRPGs, I never understood why some locked doors were completely impassible due to not having the key, yet I was carrying a massive axe that could split the door wide open with a single blow if only the game allowed me to. For Eschalon, I wanted the player to really feel like anything is possible if you put the effort in. Now in Book II, tasks like this will be more challenging. Heavy doors will take more effort to break through, locks will be tougher to pick, etc. This will require a greater amount of focus on your character's skills to be successful. But still, how you play the game is up to you.

Basilisk Games has issued a short but always welcome update saying basically that no news is good news and that Book II is still on track and getting ready for another internal test in January.

Here's the post:

When we haven’t updated the front page for a few weeks, we start getting a regular stream of emails asking for some news. Well, we’ve said in the past when it is quiet here at Basilisk Games it is because we are hard at work, and that has never been truer than now. Book II is looking great and we are getting ready to run through another internal test in January. The release is not that far off! Please keep checking back, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

Basilisk Games has posted a brief update on the progress of Eschalon: Book II, sequel to their original old school cRPG, Eschalon:Book I. Sounds like prospects are now for a late 2009 or early 2010 release.

Here's the full post:

As promised, here is the official Book II development update:

The game is coming along very well. We had an early alpha test in September which resulted in over 100 fixes/suggestions. The month of October has been spent preparing the game to be submitted to the 2010 Independent Game Festival (entry deadline is November 1). That means we didn't get a lot of late game content done, but we did apply a whole bunch of "bling" to the make the game look and sound its best!

In terms of engine development, everything is essentially in place and working. Just a couple of minor tasks still exist in the "ToDo" list for programming. Sound and music has come a long way as part of the October bling makeover. As for game content, we are still behind where we are scheduled to be (we are about three months behind where we thought we'd be with content now) but we are making great advances daily. With programming and polish mostly out of the way, we are moving full-steam ahead with content.

The big question is: will Book II make it out before the end of 2009? Honestly it is looking a bit doubtful, but we are not forecasting any kind of significant delay. Our next big internal test is scheduled for early December, and we hope that leads into the semi-public beta test a few weeks after that. If all goes well, a January release is certainly possible! Besides, after the chaos of the holidays, that would be a perfect time to sit down with a good old-fashion RPG and burn away the rest of the winter months!

More info to come!

Basilisk offers a peek at the box art for Eschalon: Book II - and it does look rather nice.

A welcome interview with Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk Games can be found at Linux Gaming News.  The discussion covers both Eschalon Book 1 and Book II, although most of the questions are used to illuminate the new game.  Other interesting topics include the breakdown of Windows vs Mac vs PC sales and the size of the team. Here's a snip:

5. In Book 1 the quests were very liner [sic] and often had only one solution, will it change with Book 2 ?
Are you going to make several solutions to each quest with consequences to your choices ?

Good question. It’s hard to answer because the number of solutions to each quest depends on how you define those solutions. For example, one of the first side-quests you come across has you retrieving an item for someone as part of a debt settlement. Now then, you can go directly to that person and threaten them. You can can offer to buy this object from them, knowing you’ll make a bit of profit when you get your reward. You can steal it from them, either through stealth or murder. Or, if you explore a bit more, you can find something to blackmail them with. By my count that is four separate ways of achieving the final goal. Others might say “well there is still only one way to successfully finish the quest and that is by retrieving the item and delivering it.” Perhaps, but that’s not being very creative- you could just keep the item and murder the person who gave you the quest.

Often, we try to find several ways for a player to get from point A to point B within the game, whether a quest is part of that journey or not. Like in Book 1, there were 3 unique ways into Crakamir, and players found the best way for themselves through their own individual play style. Book II will have a lot of this type of “multi-path” gameplay.

As for consequences to quests- yes, we are definitely going to put more examples of this into Book II than we had in Book I. But in keeping with old-school game mechanics, Book II will still have plenty of quests that are simply “do this and get a reward”. Some RPGs are built entirely around the concept of choice and consequence. That is the gimmick the developers are going for, and it’s great to have this kind of gameplay option for RPG enthusiast. Our gimmick is that we are old-school: Lots of exploration. Tons of character development options. Stat micromanagement. Crazy monsters and powerful spells. Traps and puzzles. And in the end, we have a huge gameworld that you can make your own adventure out of: follow the main quest or don’t. That’s your choice and consequence.

It's been a long time between updates of the official Q&A thread at the Basilisk forums but there's finally a new one - and it's a good question.  Here we go:

Question #13:
[MaximB] In Book 1 the quests were very liner and often had only one solution, will it change with Book 2? Are you going to make several solutions to each quest with consequences to your choices ?

Good question. It's hard to answer because the number of solutions to each quest depends on how you define those solutions. For example, one of the first side-quests you come across has you retrieving an item for someone as part of a debt settlement. Now then, you can go directly to that person and threaten them. You can can offer to buy this object from them, knowing you'll make a bit of profit when you get your reward. You can steal it from them, either through stealth or murder. Or, if you explore a bit more, you can find something to blackmail them with. By my count that is four separate ways of achieving the final goal. Others might say "well there is still only one way to successfully finish the quest and that is by retrieving the item and delivering it." Perhaps, but that's not being very creative- you could just keep the item and murder the person who gave you the quest.

Often, we try to find several ways for a player to get from point A to point B within the game, whether a quest is part of that journey or not. Like in Book 1, there were 3 unique ways into Crakamir, and players found the best way for themselves through their own individual play style. Book II will have a lot of this type of "multi-path" gameplay.

As for consequences to quests- yes, we are definitely going to put more examples of this into Book II than we had in Book I. But in keeping with old-school game mechanics, Book II will still have plenty of quests that are simply "do this and get a reward". Some RPGs are built entirely around the concept of choice and consequence. That is the gimmick the developers are going for, and it's great to have this kind of gameplay option for RPG enthusiast. Our gimmick is that we are old-school: Lots of exploration. Tons of character development options. Stat micromanagement. Crazy monsters and powerful spells. Traps and puzzles. And in the end, we have a huge gameworld that you can make your own adventure out of: follow the main quest or don't. That's your choice and consequence. 

Basilisk let us know they have posted two new screens from Eschalon: Book II at the official site.

Thomas from Basilisk has gone to their forums to ask about changing the distribution of Eschalon II:

So with Book II we are looking to distribute the game a bit differently than we did with Book I. As you know, Book I has a separate demo and full version of the game. So you play the demo and if you like it, you buy the full version which comes via a download link from Plimus or BMT Micro. This has worked well, but it has some downsides.

With Book II we are thinking about handling distribution they way others (such as the fine folks @ Spiderweb Software, for example) do it by having one version of the game that has a limited play area, and you would use a key code to unlock the "full version".

The benefits to this alternate method of distribution are:
- No need to maintain separate demo and full versions. This is a huge time saver!
- No need to issue patches (a big pain for Linux, Macs, and 3rd party versions). When we release a new version of the game, it would be the entire game. You can remove the old version, download and install the new- your existing key will unlock this latest install as long as your .cfg file is still present. If not, just use the key in the original email to unlock it again.
- No need for us to manually reissue download links like we do now when people want to reinstall Book I. People can download the latest full version on their own. This would save us a ton of time as well!
- We can still use Plimus and BMT Micro to issue keys. That means you don't have to wait 24-48 hours for a key from us. Order the game and almost instantly receive your key.

Since this will be different for people already comfortable with the way we distributed Book I, are there any comments or questions?

I would have thought this is a no-brainer.

Basilisk Games has updated their page for Eschalon: Book II with a collection of their most recent screenshots. Some of them have appeared in the Colony of Gamers interview and elsewhere, but now you can check them all out in one place.

Colony of Gamers  posts an interview  by rune_74 with Basilisk Games on their upcoming indie cRPG, Eschalon:Book II, complete with some choice interface screenshots:

..Can you list off some of the other new features that have been added?

There are so many! I really encourage anyone who is looking forward to Book II to head over to our website and browse the forums- I believe a fairly comprehensive list of new features is posted there. But to sum it up, Book II has a new 1024x768 default resolution, gender selectable characters, changing weather that can affect gameplay, new skills, new challenges, new goals, larger game world, and much, much more.

..There were two major complaints for the first game, length and speed of walking, have these been addressed in book 2?

Yes, we've increased the walking speed by about 20%. This gives the character a quicker stride and allows you to cover more ground in less time. Also, we've added more QuickTravel points so that once you've reached specific destinations, you can add that location to your QuickTravel menu and instantly return with the click of your mouse.

As for the length of the game- Book II's regional areas and dungeons are larger than its predecessor, and we've extended the limit of your character's development out to level 30 (Book I has a level cap of 21). Our goal is to make Book II about 15 to 20 hours longer than Book I.

Thanks to rune_74 for giving us the heads up on his interview in the forums.

RPGVault takes their second look at Basilisk Games' cRPG in development, Eschalon:Book II, focusing on improvements in the gameplay and engine since Book I:

While returning players will feel familiar with the mechanics of the game, nearly everything underneath the hood has been updated to reflect the requests made by fans of the first edition. Features such as an auto-stacking inventory, a ring for maintaining acquired keys, an improved alchemy mixer and spell journal are just a few of the dozens of enhancements made to the engine..

There are various enhancements to the gameplay as well. For starters, the upper level limit of character development has been raised to 30, allowing for deeper builds and a greater range of customization than before. Two new skills have been added (Repair and Foraging) bringing the total number in Book II to 26. In addition, the existing set has been rebalanced, making many of the original ones more functional, and therefore more useful. Since the Eschalon series is skill-based, any class can experiment with any choice without limitations; however new in-game Challenges will reward players who utilize those aligned with specific classes, archetypes or goals.

The arcane arts of Magick and Alchemy have been updated for Book II as well. The total number of available spells has expanded to 45, with new possibilities like Milo's Cell of Holding (entrap a group of enemies within an energy field) and Draw Water (pull humidity from the air to fill your Water Skins) joining revamped ones such as Dense Nimbus (formally Air Shield). For would-be alchemists, the addition of new reagents to the game means a larger range of potions can be crafted, not to mention fresh imbuing mixtures that can applied to weapons and armor, improving their abilities.

Basilisk Games dropped us a line to point out a music sample from Eschalon: Book II.  Head to the site for a link to a piece called The Road Less Traveled.

RPGVault has posted a nuts and bolts preview from head basilisk wrangler Thomas Riegsecker for the upcoming sequel in Basilisk Games' Eschalon rpg series, Eschalon:Book II, complete with a pair of interface screenshots:

For those returning to the series, awaiting them is a familiar gameworld with intriguing new play options. New players will be stepping into an old-school role-playing adventure with flexible rules that allows for everyone, both experienced RPGers and not, to enjoy an adventure that is a perfect challenge for their respective skill levels.

Gamers who have played pen and paper RPGs might recall that every Game Master seems to enforce his or her own set of sub-rules, for example whether or not to require that characters must eat during the adventure and therefore must carry a suitable supply of rations with them. With Book II, we've implemented a similar system of allowing a customizable set of rules that can be chosen before the start of each game. Each rule imposes a unique set of restrictions, allowing the players to make the adventure as challenging as they prefer. The tradeoff is that the more demanding they make it, the more the system will reward them with bonuses to the quality of random loot, additional experience points, and a higher rank at the end.

On the Challenges system and scores:

Another element that has been added to the Book II engine comprises objectives called Challenges, which are various goals that players can attempt to achieve during the course of the campaign. These may be character class restrictions or involve statistical goals. The idea came directly from the fans themselves, many of whom began to challenge each other with various objectives as a way of increasing the replayability of Book I.

Once inside the game, players can access a Game Statistics screen to see how they have done on the various challenges thus far. For example, the True Thief challenge requires never resorting to bashing locked chests or doors open; they must be picked or unlocked with a key. Furthermore, the character must never be caught in a criminal act, or be taken off-guard by a trap. If any of these restrictions are violated, the test is failed and the the end-game rank bonus and the title associated with it are lost.

An important aspect of these challenges is that any class can participate, so your character may be a Ranger who can still achieve the True Thief title just by adhering to the set restrictions.

Many of these challenges directly oppose each other, so far example it would be essentially impossible to achieve both the Pure Mage and Pure Warrior challenges in the same game simply because of their respective requirements. Choosing which ones to pursuit often means sacrificing others. However, like the rules, they can ultimately be ignored by any player who has no interest in participating in them. Success or failure with them does not affect the game in any way.

Finally, many have inquired about the end-game ranking that has been frequently mentioned. This is a score that reflects how successful an individual is at completing the game. It is based on cumulative experience points, quests finished, challenges met, and rules that were in affect during the campaign. Whether a player uses this score as a goal to beat on subsequent playthroughs or just for bragging rights among others is up to him or her.

Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk let us know he has posted an updated feature list for Eschalon: Book II as a sort of interim development update.  The list of improvements is quite long, so here's just the gameplay section:

GAME PLAY
* 7 new spells; several existing spells have been altered/upgraded.
* Gender Selection (play as a male or female character).
* Selectable attack mode alters damage and accuracy based on character ability and enemy stats.
* Parry mode for defensive posturing when needed.
* New skill: Repair. Used in fixing worn equipment for better performance or increased value before selling.
* New skill: Foraging. Used to increase your chance of finding food and alchemy components during your travels.
* Significant skill rebalancing for more unified progression.
* Weapons and armor now deteriorate realistically with use (optional). Increasing your weapon and armor skills slows deterioration rate, and the Repair Skill can be used to fix damaged equipment.
* Food and Water now a factor in survival. Long treks into deep dungeons will require planning and preparation. (Optional)
* Powder kegs can now be picked up and dropped in new locations which makes for strategic game play options.
* Game world objects more dynamic: explosions and fire can affect objects; more objects are usable.
* Rebuilt the luminosity function to remove exploits. This corrects the "Torch exploit" as well as balancing "Hide in Shadow" better.
* New difficulty modes and tracked statistics add to replay value.
* New item generation function for thousands of unique weapon and armor variations.
* Difficulty settings for easier or more challenging gameplay.

Good to see news on Eschalon: Book II.  Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk let us know they've kicked up an update at the official site.  Here's the text:

- Book II is in full development over the holidays with plans to run some early alpha testing in January. Everyone always asks if we are still "on schedule" with development. The answer is yes, though with a lot of work still to do we have no solid estimates on a release date yet.

- We are working on several new articles that will run on a major website in the next few weeks, which will include brand new screenshots and fresh information about the storyline and gameplay of Book II.

- We have been working with a new artist to apply some additional polish to the next game. We'll try to show you a glimpse of his work in a future update. Some of his previous work has been with Daggerfall, Morrowind and Dark Age of Camelot.

- One of our forum members have translated the recently posted Monster Profile pages into French, which is the start of our goal to provide Book II in multiple languages. We will get these new French translations posted very soon.

Oh, and just for kicks, we updated the Book II logo for the holidays which also happens to reflect the new arctic zones of Book II.

The third promised Eschalon: Book II monster profile was kicked up last week - head over for the Sentinel Stalk.

Basilisk Games has posted their second monster profile for the month of October, The Mire Troll (Trollin Foulis). For a full description of the creature, check out the bestiary entry here.

Basilisk Games sent over a note saying their first monster profile from Eschalon II is up, with another to come each week of October.  Head over for the Catacomb Rat.

We've missed a few of Basilisk Wrangler's development discussion points for Eschalon:Book II based on questions from the player base, so here's an update of Questions 8-11:

Question #8
[confused1] Since we will be able to choose male or female characters, will stores stock different gender clothing? Or will it all be the same? And on a similar note, will gender help/hurt certain stats?

There is currently a decent debate on this subject going on here. As it stands, males get a +1 bonus to Strength and females get a +1 bonus to Dexterity. Rather than repeat myself here, the link provides much information regarding this decision. There will be no special clothes between genders. Women characters wear the same armor as men, not leather thongs and mithril brassieres.

[Dragonlady] Since we are going to be able to pick female avatar pics, will there be a few small quests for just females to do and vice versa of course to be fair. If not, that's okay too.

There will be no special quests for males/females, but on this note we will have at least 1 significant "Class Quest" for each of the 5 classes.

You can catch up on the rest by following this link  to the Question of the Week thread at the Drunken Lizard Pub.

The folks over at Basilisk Games have an announcement  up about their plans to release a new Book II monster profile each week in October, complete with stats. Here's the info:

September 3, 2008 - Basilisk's Monstrous October

Many of you have been following our weekly Q&A thread where we answer your questions regarding Eschalon: Book II. We've been mostly good at keeping up with it regularly, posting new answers usually over the weekends. If you haven't seen it yet, please follow the link and check it out!

I mention this Q&A Thread only because we have decided to run a feature in October where rather than answer a new question each week, we will instead unveil a new Book II monster complete with stats, lore and picture. We will link to the monster's page from here in the Recent Updates thread, so be sure to check here for the first monster on Monday, October 6th!

This week, Basilisk Games tackles a quick question on Mac accessability for their crpg in development, Eschalon: Book II: 

 Question #7:
[Jude] Will the Mac version still work on a Power Mac G4 running OS X 10.3.9?

BG: As of right now, yes it will. We are at the mercy of the company who develops the compiler, meaning if they change their baseline requirements for the Mac then so must we, but right now a G4 running 10.3.9 is still the current low-end Mac requirement.

After skipping a week, Basilisk Games has returned to the fray with Question #6  in their "Question of the Week" feature on the content of Eschalon: Book II, presently in development.

It's a short one so I'll quote it in full:

Question #6:
[realmsmaster] Since there will be weather and climate effects, will the type of weather or climate have an effect on the character? Example, I am in a desert. I should roast in full plate armor. Will I have to switch my armor to something more appropriate?

As of now we have no plans of doing this type of statistic tracking (i.e. comfort level of character based on temperature or climate).

However, it has been mentioned that climate will affect your hunger and thirst bars, if you have the hunger/thirst rule turned on. Specifically, the desert region will make you consume water more quickly and the arctic regions will make you consume food more quickly.

Time for another Eschalon: Book II Question of the Week:

[dteowner] The lack of a time penalty for switching between ranged and melee weapons seemed a bit like an exploit. Will that change for Book 2?

This was a bit of an exploit in Book I. For Book II, the planned fix is that every time you place something on your character, 1 round will pass. So yes, swapping weapons would take one round.

The equipment presets that are mentioned will take one round per item swapped, so if Set #1 and Set #2 differ by 4 pieces of equipment, it will take 4 rounds to swap. If you are alone, the swap happens instantly (though 4 rounds would still pass) but if there are others nearby, the rounds would pass more traditionally because the system would run everyone elses rounds too.

As you can guess, it would be foolish to swap sets in combat if there are many item changes. However, if the difference between set #1 and set #2 is just your weapon, then it is handled just like a one-round weapon swap.

Just to get away from E3 for a bit, Basilisk has tossed up a new weekly question on Eschalon: Book II:

Question #4:
[Saxon1974] Do you have an estimated gameplay hours for this one? I think I heard it would be much larger than book I which I think was about 30 hours, so Im guessing it will be longer than that. Is the walking speed being changed at all? (I didn't have a problem with it but I know alot of people wanted to be able to walk faster).
[Unclever title] You mentioned three major regions for Book II, a temperate region, arctic region, and a volcanic region. About how large are these regions in comparison to the familiar Thaermore? In adddition, about how long can we expect this game to be? (ballpark estimate if necessary).

Book II will be longer than Book I in terms of more quests and areas to explore. But like Book I, Book II's length is largely going to be determined by how much extra stuff you do. It would be impossible to say how much time will be required since everyone plays at different speeds, but we would like to provide a 40-hour experience for the average player. In comparison, Book I was a 20-25 hour game for most people.

The walking speed has improved by about 20%, so your character does walk with a quicker pace than in Book I.

Each of the 3 regions in the game will roughly be the size of Thaermore (perhaps a bit smaller). But two of the areas (Arctic and Volcanic) are less populated than the temperate zone, so players can expect larger expanses of "wilderness" (i.e. areas that are explorable but not necessarily critical to the main storyline).

We were lucky enough to grab Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk Games for the first interview on Eschalon: Book II.  Here's a sample:

RPGWatch: One of the bullet-points in the announcement that caught my eye was the “cause and effect outcomes” you mention for many quests.  What exactly does this mean and does it differ from how you approached Book I?  I'm hoping this means more opportunities to make choices in how to resolve quests or how the result changes the direction of events – am I reading this right?

Thomas Riegsecker: You are correct. In Book II we’ll have more quests that branch based on player choices, and the effects of these choices will be more apparent. For example, helping one person may affect your standing with someone else, or completing certain quests may impact the game world in unforeseen ways. Overall, we just want to give the player a greater sense that their actions have real consequences.

Read it all here.

Keeping up with Basilisk Games' question and answer sessions on their title in development, Eschalon:Book II, here are the last two weeks worth of material:

 Question #2:
[RezoApio] One question about translation: will B2 be available in other languages ? or will you offer fans the possibility to translate? This also leads to the question of moding B2 btw.

There is definitely more thought being put into translatability this time around. For Book I, much of the game's text was stashed away in proprietary files which made it very hard to give to others for translations. For Book II, we are keeping nearly all of the text in common format files outside the the game where translation will be much easier to do...

To more specifically answer your question: Basilisk Games will not handle non-English versions ourselves, but I expect that alternate language packs would probably start appearing a few weeks after release.

Question #3:
[Yeliu] Will we be able to ride horses to move faster and add a charge attack?

No. There will be no horses (or other mounts) in Book II. To be fair, we tried...we spent 3 weeks in February experimenting with adding horses to the engine and it just requires waaaaay too much modification. Things we had to consider: what to do with horses in towns and dungeons, horses in combat, how do traps/disease/poison effect horses, horses in regards to boats and portals, how player encumbrance effects horses (and a horse's carrying capacity in general), food/water requirements (if player needs to eat, shouldn't their horse as well?), not to mention tons of additional animation needed to put horses in the game. Seriously, horses and mounts need to be worked into an engine at the development stage for it to work properly- it's not something that can be easily tossed into an already developed engine.

I do promise that it will be considered for any future game we do outside the original Eschalon trilogy.

Basilisk Games has started a Q & A thread over on their forums for players' questions on their rpg in development, Eschalon:Book II. The plan is to select one question per week and feature the answer here.  Here's an excerpt from the first exchange:

 Question #1:
[VPeric] We all saw the thirst and hunger bars on the screenshots, could you elaborate on them? Features like these are usually tedious*, so how will you be implementing them?

Great question, actually. Well, as far back as I could remember, my "dream RPG" always had a food/water requirement (FWR). This definately comes from Ultima 2, the first RPG I ever played. I remember fondly how cool I thought it was to need to buy food before heading out into the wilderness. That really deepened the experience for me. Later on, games like Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder further showed me that a FWR could enhance the whole gameplay experience. How many people played Dungeon Master where as you played and your character began to starve or dehydrate, finding an apple or a water fountain was more exciting than finding a super new weapon! :D

So, for that reason alone, Eschalon was always supposed to have FWR as part of the gameplay. Some of you remember the poll that originally led us to remove it from Book I, but months after the decision was made, the poll actually swung back the other way! So, with Book II I really want to put it back in there not only for my preference but also because of the poll results.

As for how to keep FWR from being tedious, we'll just have to play with it a bit and see where to set the default "consumption rate". Not too fast, not too slow...

Above all, I completely agree with everyone's concerns: if I (or the beta testers) feel that it is an annoying feature, we'll gladly take it out before the game is released. It makes no sense to add a feature unless it enhances the role-playing experience, not take away from it.

Gamebanshee posts a press release from Basilisk Games announcing the second iteration of their indie cRPG, Eschalon: Book II:

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – June 10, 2008 – Basilisk Games, an independent computer game developer specializing in role-playing games, today announced that Eschalon: Book II has entered full production and is expected to be released Q2 2009 for Windows, Macintosh and Linux-based computers...

"Basilisk Games is very excited to announce that we will be releasing Book II early next year. Classic, old-school computer role-playing is very much a viable market and we have been happy with the consumer response to Book I." commented Thomas Riegsecker, Lead Developer of the Eschalon series. "Book II will be an exciting step forward for the series."

There's more information here at the official site, including screenshots:

Eschalon: Book II is the sequel to 2007's acclaimed independent RPG Eschalon: Book I. Built on an updated engine and the same design principals as its predecessor, Book II features a huge tile-built game world and a unique approach to turn-based gameplay. Thousands of items, creatures, NPCs, dungeons, traps, and puzzles await your discovery in this old-school role-playing game inspired by such classics as Ultima, Might & Magic and Wizardry.

Book II continues Eschalon's world events where Book I ended, though no previous experience is needed to enjoy the game. Book II features a sprawling story spanning three regions with cause-and-effect outcomes to many quests.

Book II uses an updated game engine running at 1024 x 768 native resolution. Hundreds of new graphic elements, tiles, sound effects and music means Book II is not just a remix of Book I.

New weather effects including snow, rain, and thunderstorms which can affect gameplay stats and skills.

New gender selection (play as a male or female), additional skills and enhanced skill development allows you to advance your character as high as level 30.

Enhanced GUI includes additional save game slots, increased number of Inventory and Quick Slot spaces, new Key Ring and Potion Mixer, "Equipment configuration" presets for convenient swapping of entire armor and weapons sets, and more!

New difficulty modes, challenges and tracked statistics add to replay value.

Gamebanshee posts a link to the Basilisk forums, which have been nicely redone lately, and the word at the Drunken Lizard pub is that the sequel to their indie RPG Eschalon:Book I is getting closer to going into full production mode, as you can see from this forum post:

The storyline is already in place (as it has been for about 3 years) and I have worked out most of what the main quest would include already, but I have zero side quests designed yet. Actually, very little has been done on the production side of Book II yet- we've just been doing conceptual tests and some modifications to the engine. Hopefully we can make an announcement soon to officially confirm that Book II is "in full production". We are working out the last details of that now- ensuring we have the resources to move ahead with production and actually see it through to the end.

And yes, I would love to see some quest ideas here! Most people here know what kind of quests would be possible within the capabilities of the Eschalon engine, so share your ideas!