Eschalon: Book III - Review @ Strategy Informer

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Strategy Informer has the next review that I could find online for Eschalon: Book III. Unlike the last two reviews the reviewer does not like the game, and give it a 6/10.
Eschalon: Book 3 is an RPG that defeated me entirely. It may be that I have to hand in my badge and my D6 after making that admission. Memories of my crackpot custom party finally defeating Wizardry 8 or traversing the lands of Avernum and being granted access to the Tower of the Magi are sullied now. Eschalon: Book 3 is for masochists, statisticians and the truly hardcore - those made of sterner stuff than I. It's not a game I can recommend to anyone, but I can't truly tell you that it does not get better, such was my failure. If you've played the previous games in the series, you may fare better and perhaps Book 3 will be the final chapter of a journey you started back in 2007 – if so I wish you luck. But for me it was an exercise in humiliation, battered to death by flies and blobs of assorted colour, as kitten-kidnapping bandits shattered my resolve.
More information.
 
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Oh the poor 'diddums' couldn't handle the game cause there was no hand holding and it has some real challenge. This reviewer needs to get a real job and stop wasting our time pretending he's a gamer!! From a site with the word 'strategy' in its name, I'm appalled. Yes, you actually sometimes need some genuine strategy to be successful!!!! Welcome to a REAL RPG!!!!!!
 
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He does make it sound like something I would enjoy indeed :)

I do have to actually put some time in #1 and #2 first though (bought them ages ago and played a couple of hours each but never started a serious play-through. Hope to, some time in the future)…

I have to admit they didn't strike me as too hardcore though... Old school sure.
 
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They really aren't that hard core, just straightforward Old School!! My review has been sent to Myrthos, so should appear soon.
 
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Hilariously enough, he makes it sound pretty enjoyable even though that wasn't his intent. What I don't get is why they have an ADHD console kid reviewing a game like Eschalon, or for that matter, why a site named Strategy Informer would bother posting this review at all.
 
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I usually like that site and haven't played this game so have no personal experience, but it does seem like he didn't play long, didn't try very hard, paid for bad decisions, and should know better based on claims of experience.
 
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Eschalon: Book 3 is for masochists, statisticians and the truly hardcore.

I laughed when I seen this.As Corwin said he really should get different job.He really shouldn't bash good, and relatively easy game just because he wants to play it with brains off.
 
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Have to agree with the general sentiment in this thread. Eschalon is an enjoyable old-school experience, but it's not overly hard as far as old-school experiences go.

Would love to think what this reviewer would have thought of the mazes in the Bard's Tale series -- particularly the Death Snares in Destiny Knight -- if he thought this game was too hard.

It's an interesting commentary on the way games -- and the expectations of the people who play them -- have changed over the decades, though.
 
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Oh the poor 'diddums' couldn't handle the game cause there was no hand holding and it has some real challenge.

People are too used to their hand holding now. Pillars of Eternity has people complaining about having to read journal entries to know what to do next and/or explore to find where to go in the thread on the subject.
 
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@Mithter Thibbs
Hey - I love Bards Tale II :) -> one of my all time favorites. I still have the hand drawn maps.
 
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I still remember that Grey Crypt in Bards 2. Could not use magic was an evil place. Spinners and teleporters all the old tricks.
 
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They really aren't that hard core, just straightforward Old School!! My review has been sent to Myrthos, so should appear soon.

Good news, curious what you have to say.
 
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I played the first two and thought they were pretty easy; is this third one much harder ?
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Sadly I cannot remember much of the story - the 2nd one ended with you doing something or other (any refershers?)
 
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You've been gathering Crux stones at the behest of someone you don't really know, to keep them away from someone else you don't really know, but who has tried to kill you.

The game is hardest as a rogue, almost impossible. If the reviewer had rolled a mage as his first character, he would be talking about how the game is laughably easy and almost no challenge. I can't think of a harder way to play Eschalon, than as a rogue.

To be honest, there really isn't a story at all in this game. Just a vague collection of ideas that the developer can't communicate well. Skill progression is the only strength of Eschalon. It's enough to make it a solid, though unspectacular, game.
 
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Funny review, I liked it, inspite of his take being different than mine.

I'm playing right now and overall I'm enjoying the game. For me Book 3 "is" the hardest of the 3 games. I'm about 25 hours in and my Archer character just can't hack it (LOL). And food is a lot harder to come by in this game if your character is weak and needs to do a lot of resting.

Fortunately the game is flexible enough that I can change character direction. I tend to save my points while gaming, thus I have some options.
 
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I played the first two and thought they were pretty easy; is this third one much harder ?
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Sadly I cannot remember much of the story - the 2nd one ended with you doing something or other (any refershers?)

It's a bit harder, but the game definitely hit the RPG spot for me.

No need to remember any of the story. It sorta gets summed up in the beginning.

However there are some Eschalon play mechanics you probably forgot but should be used early on.

The most important being that you should hold off on spending points on skills and try to use a trainer instead and buy the first eight levels (about 3500).

And two, many of the levers in the game can be tripped with Arrows, stones, and spells. (just learned the spell one this game - doh)
 
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Many studios could envy Eschalon: Book III, because it is expertly done. The developers pulled a beautiful final trick on us with this one. Waiting for the MOD tools and patch then I'm going to kill all NPC's and play the best MODs!
 
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It's not the gamers fault that the game is seriously unbalanced.

After reading the intro of the review, I thought to myself, "I hope you didn't try playing as a rogue, with all the challenges turned on. Because the game would be impossible to play through".

Well, that's exactly what he did. And you can't really fault him for it. The game has horrible balancing issues, and not everyone spends time on message boards where people will tell you that indeed, you can't play the game as a rogue, especially not with all the challenges turned on.
 
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lol, the Mass Dragon Age Wussies Effect has reached an Apex. Grow some chest hair boys!
 
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Well, that's exactly what he did. And you can't really fault him for it. The game has horrible balancing issues, and not everyone spends time on message boards where people will tell you that indeed, you can't play the game as a rogue, especially not with all the challenges turned on.

You can play rogue it's just not as easy, tried in book 2 and beaten it slower than warrior or mage but it was doable with some build tweaks(adding alchemy or divination so you can consistently buff yourself for example).Harder than most other classes yes but never super-hardcore as review describes it, and once you hit point where you can afford some good items and where hp regenerats faster on rest game becomes easier.

He also should have tried other classes and builds, it doesn't look like he finished so he did review with very little time spent with game and that is just wrong.
 
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