Eschalon Book II Demo-Boring?

I'm trying to find the fun in this game. I enjoyed the first game, but this game is feeling very much like they generated a new map and placed the first game, untouched, right into this one. I mean I'm at 1024X768, but other than that what is different? I've only been on a couple of screens because most screens say that they're outside the demo portion. How small is this game compared to other low-graphic options like Avernum? I really expect a game that seriously skimps on graphics to have hours and hours of gameplay to make it worth any money investment. Are other towns decent sized? There's only about a half dozen people in this first village. Generally a demo wants to really impress folks so that they want to buy the full game. This demo makes me want to ask, "Where's the fun?"

The game has a lot less content than a typical Spiderweb game. It's an atmospheric little indie game. I don't regret purchasing it, but I wasn't blown away by it either.

It's a one man effort.. hoping for hours and hours and hours of content is probably a bit naive.

As somebody said elsewhere:
If you liked Book I you will also like Book II.

I estimate the length of both games as about the same. However the size of the second one calculated in map-areas is bigger.

It shows the playing time in game, I was at about 45 hours at the end, having played most side quests.

I like it.

Thanks, bkruegar. I mostly enjoyed Book I, though I found elemental magic to not scale compared to melee damage. I never did finish Book I because the story didn't keep me interested. I played several characters up to level 10-12 though, looking for a powerful mage build. 45 hours isn't too bad, though kinda short.

@worstever-Tom has as many people as Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb games are much larger. Of course SW graphics are even worse than Eschalon's. I can already tell that I wish Tom would have not wasted any time making scores and challenge games, instead focusing on more locations and quests. It's not an arcade game, so who really cares about the final score?

Still, with what bk and rune have said, I may have to buy the full game. I'm just not seeing enough in the demo to be impressed. Hopefully, the full game will change my mind.

In Vogel's games, the content finds you wherever you go. In Basilisk games, you have to search for the content yourself.

Sometimes it's very boring. Sometimes it's fun, since in Eschalon 2 the stat system really works and I think almost all skills and stats are useful. Well, unfortunately in the long term the game is designed so as to encourage you to break the stat system yourself, in an amusingly Oblivion-like way, but that's a story for another time.

I enjoyed it, book I was maybe more enjoyable just because the atmosphere and setting was completely new and exciting…. but book II the rules and skills etc are more fleshed out and it is still a lot of fun to play, especially since it is harder if you put on all the hardcore rules…. still quite easy but harder which I enjoy.

About the mage……. I think you just played it wrong, this game is not so easy like most mainstream new games, you have to think, learn the game and make the right choices. I think the mage is by far the most powerful character if you play it right both in book I and book 2.

I should have said pure mage, GG. A mage can be powerful if you go ahead and use divination and buffs and fight melee. The most powerful character in the game was basically a paladin. A fighter with good divination spells to become unstoppable. A mage was at the mercy of their mana and the fact that spells never gained in power as your character did. A fireball at full power does the same damage at level 3 as it does at level 20. The most powerful spell was the freezing sphere or whatever and it was weak compared to a buffed fighter. Not only that, but you could only cast a couple before mana was out and this was with perception/meditation maxed.

The game was okay and I'm hoping this one is improved; for mages especially.

My playthrough was over 60 hours and I really enjoyed the game. A review is in the works.