Eschalon: Book 1 - Price and Boxed Edition Details

As the November 19 release date looms, Basilisk has fleshed out the Purchase page for Eschalon with prices and details of the boxed vs digital version. The download is priced at US$27.95, while the physical copy is US$37.95 with these details:

Please note: if you order the CD version of the game you will be able to download it immediately, however it may be 3-4 weeks before we ship the CD to you. This is because the game is going gold the week before a major American holiday (Thanksgiving) and we are not expecting to get the first shipment back from the duplicators until 2 weeks after that. We apologize for the delay.
What do you get with the CD version?
(contents subject to change before release)

• The game shipped in a DVD-style case that fits nicely in your existing game or movie collection.
• A digital high-resolution world map (on disc), suitable for large dimension printing.
• An extended music track of the Theme to Eschalon.
• The Eschalon: Book I trailer in several additional formats.
• Evolution of a game: a slide show of all the alpha and beta screenshots, as well as some prototype design work, showing the game evolve to its current state.

Thanks, dte!
More information.

Sorry to sound negative, but no printed manual with the CD version?

This is very standard norm on indie releases. Take the pdf stuff (map etc) to printing shop and print it there. I can print 50 pages for 3eur in my local shop. Not sure what the single color map will cost.

Hm, come to think of it, I didn't get the manuals with my Avernum CDs, too, so it's OK. (Though they were considerably cheaper.)

Well, for $37.95, no printed manual is a big deal to me, so I'll be passing on the CD version. Actually it sounds more like the CD version just gets you a DVD box and a cd, nothing else.

$27.95 is a bit higher than I'd hope they'd target, so I'll be holding off on this one myself for a while as I'd rather spend ~$30 on Mask of the Betrayer, then get The Witcher imported, then I'll think over Eschalon Book I, after I've seen some player feedback as to game quality and length. i.e. the game sounds pretty awesome, but that close to $30 for an indie is questionable in my mind.

$27.95 is practically the same as the new Geneforge ($28), so I consider the price to be OK. I'll at least try the demo.

I want to check the demo first. If it were in stores I'd buy the box version for sure. I'll just wait and see what I'll do at the release date.

10$ sounds like a normal price for replication, handling & shipping. Maybe they should have made it 34.99 for early adopters though. Economies of scale should have made it possible to bring the price down a bit.

That list doesn't contain *any* reference to a manual, pdf or printed. That would be a deal breaker for me. The price itself is not unreasonable, though a bit on the high side, but I can't imagine a classic roleplaying game like this not having quite a few rules and details which without a manual will be mystifying in the extreme. I guess I'll make a final decision after I try the demo.

Edit: Just cruised the official site, and noted that the list of what will be included with the boxed copy is "tentative". Hopefully a manual will get in there at some point.

According to their forum a printable pdf manual will be included. It will be basic at first and then being worked on seriously after release.
It´s one of the limitations of a small developer that they can´t spend a week or two prior to release for work on a manual.

Definitely true, and it's not reasonable to expect all the bells and whistles of a big outfit. Good news about the manual; I'm fine with any kind, pdf or even just online at their site.

Yes, there is a PDF manual in both the DL version and on the CD. However, it's very brisk- 15 or so pages giving you a few quick reference sheets, a break-down of character stats, notes for interacting with the world and some info on magic usage.

I agree 100% with everyone here- a good manual can really heighten the RPG experience. I promise the manuals will improve through the series. I've also have plans to include cloth maps with future games (just got the logistics all worked out.) If we're going old-school, let's do it right, eh?

Thanks for your support everyone. Check out the demo on the 19th (the manual is included with that as well) and hopefully you'll get those same fuzzy feelings you used to get when playing an RPG. The game is loaded with secrets areas, hidden stashes, puzzles and riddles, deadly monsters, a fresh storyline and an open world just waiting for you to explore and plunder.

Thanks for responding and reassuring, BasiliskWrangler. Looking forward to the demo, though I probably won't get to play it til I wind up The Witcher. Best of luck to the whole project.

Cloth maps!

I want some polished rocks, a pewter ankh, and some sort of wheel I have to look up every once in awhile to get to the next part of the game. Throw those in and you have a deal.

What I really want from games extras is short stories, novels, world description, lore, world map and possibly obscure maps for first exploration areas ultima underworld 1 style. Manuals are not really that important - all i look for in them is backstory, character and equipment descriptions.

Personally, I'm rather more interested in how the whole purchase process will be handled - since I'm personally rather against credit cards (still).