Eschalon: Book II Review
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CampaignThe campaign in Book I took place entirely in Thaermore. In Book II you get a little more variety. You start out in the Human lands of Mistfell, and then you visit the Dwarves in Nor'land before finally taking on the Taurax in Amireth. Each region has a different look, and there are roughly 50% more map zones in Book II than Book I, making the campaign roughly 50% longer as well (30 hours versus 20 hours).
That's the good news. The bad news is that the world in Book II is far less interesting than in Book I. In Book I you'd almost always find a quest NPC or an ambush or a secret chest when exploring a map, but in Book II you mostly only encounter creatures to kill -- although, continuing with the theme, there are 50% more types of enemies around, so at least you get more variety in what you face off against. The maps get especially bad at the end of the game when you explore a large frozen lake and some grasslands. These areas cover about ten maps but they're flat and boring, and they have maybe five places of interest between them. The endgame maps look like they're just placeholders waiting for the real maps to come in.
Fortunately, the interior dungeons work better than the outside zones. That's where you tend to find puzzles and boss fights, and where you learn some background information about the world. For example, near the starting town of Eastwillow you learn about the lost town of Westwillow, which ended up at the bottom of a lake after a dam was built. Most of the people of the drowned town moved on to live elsewhere, but some stayed behind, and they now roam the bottom of the lake in undead form. By the by you get to visit Westwillow, and you're given a chance to put the inhabitants to rest. There's also another mage tower (like in Book I), and in the final patch for the game, Basilisk Games added in the Fathamurk dungeon, which is both tough and interesting, a good mix.
The quests in Book II are of about the same quality as in Book I. That is, they're on the simple side where you mostly just need to find an object, talk to somebody, or kill something. Every so often you have to make a decision for how to complete a quest -- like when you meet two people, each of whom claims the other is a lycanthrope -- but for most of the quests you just receive experience points or gold at the end. Surprisingly, despite the 50% theme elsewhere, Book II has roughly the same number of quests as Book I, which helps to explain why some of the map zones feel sort of empty.
There is also -- you guessed it -- roughly 50% more equipment to find in the game. Characters can wear helmets, chest armor, gloves, leggings, boots, rings, and amulets, and they can also carry weapons and shields. Most equipment comes in tiers. For example, for Heavy Armor you start with copper before making your way up to bronze, iron, steel, and eventually better materials. There are also some unique items, mostly weapons, but there aren't any set items. You can also find some items with random bonuses on them, and the Alchemy skill allows you to add your own bonuses as well.
Finally, the difficulty in Book II is higher than in Book I. At the end of Book I, instead of giving the Crux of Ages to the leader of Thaermore, you were allowed to attack him and his honor guard. This wasn't intended as possible-to-win battle, but not only was it possible, it was pretty easy. Well, Basilisk Games evidently didn't like that, and so the combat is tougher in Book II, which is a good thing.
However, there's more to the difficulty than just combat. Basilisk Games also added in a lot of nagging difficulties, like having to eat and drink, and having to repair your equipment. It's also much tougher to identify objects in Book II than in Book I (among other things, the +6 Lore rings from Book I were replaced by +2 Lore rings), and encumbrance is much more difficult to deal with. My first time through the game, I played a Strength-based fighter, but even so I couldn't wear the best and heaviest armor simply because my maximum encumbrance didn't allow it (or rather, I couldn't wear the heaviest equipment and still have weight available for the objects I found during my explorations).
I'm all for a tougher game, and I enjoyed the tougher combat, but I wasn't as enthusiastic about having to return to a town every 20 minutes so I could sell off my excess loot and free up some weight, especially since Book II like Book I doesn't have the most convenient teleportation system. Fortunately, though, you can turn some options on or off when you start your game. These options include eating and drinking, repairing equipment, and whether objects are fixed or random (which controls whether you can save and load at chests to guarantee good loot). The options give you some control over how difficult the game is, and they also affect the score you get at the end of the game.
