Eschalon: Book 1 is 10 years old and you can get it for free now:

Eschalon: Book I is 10 years old, and now FREE!

2017 marks the 10th anniversary* of the release of Eschalon: Book I, and to celebrate we are giving it away! Yep, it’s free, now and forever! You can download the full, pre-registered copy here or through GoG or Steam**. As if this cake needed any more frosting, Book II and Book III have been reduced in price, too.

Thanks for 10 great years! It’s been an awesome adventure, and we are looking forward to what the next 10 years brings.

* Technically, Book I was released in November 2007, but we wanted to celebrate now.
** As of this writing, Steam was having trouble digesting the new prices (FREE?!? Have you gone mad?!?). It may be a day or so before you see those prices change.

N4G posts that Gamebanshee has launched a database with all the information you will need for Eschalon: Book I

GameBanshee has just launched a dedicated subsite for Eschalon: Book I that features an annotated walkthrough, a searchable equipment database, detailed location information, a list of alchemy recipes, and everything players would want to know about the game's classes, origins, axioms, attributes, skills, and spells.

Both Eshalon Book I and Eschalon Book 2 are now on sale at Good Old Games with a discount of 50%, for the rest of the week. This means you can get them now for $2.99 and $4.99 respectively.

In a blast from the past, Macworld has reviewed the first Eschalon game for a score of 3.5/5:

In fact, almost every interaction you have with the game is based on dice rolls. It’s extraordinarily non-linear in that respect, which is great for RPG players that just want to explore without feeling pressured to follow specific storylines or plots. The downside is that the game doesn’t necessarily play down to your level early on, so it’s possible – in fact, it’s very easy – to wander off into areas where there are higher-level monsters that will kill you almost immediately. This gets frustrating, so it takes some trial-and-error to find areas in the game you’re well equipped and experienced enough to handle.

Basilisk has dropped the price on the Eschalon: Book I and II:

We have lowered our prices on Eschalon: Book I (now $9.95) and Book II (now $14.95). These new, lower prices should be available through all our partners as well.

If you are an old-school RPG fan and still haven’t played Eschalon, now is a great time to grab both games and get up-to-speed before we release the epic conclusion of the series in Book III!

RandomNPC has a review of the first Eschalon game.  It's quite positive, though they do have some complaints.  Here's a snip on the atmosphere:

Apart from versatile gameplay, this sense of isolation and danger is one of Eschalon‘s most compelling aspects.  It takes real effort, or one hell of a suicide run, to make that first trek to another settlement.  It’s far from impossible, but when you make your way from the cozy town of Aridell to the improvised shantytown at the border, you know you’re not just some fledgling amnesiac abusing the quicksave function.  The aptly-named Bordertown may only have a handful of dingy inhabitants, but they’ve got goods for trade and they’re the first sane humans you’ve run across in hours.  Even the comparatively large city of Blackwater offers only tenuous security, surrounded as it is by hostile wildlife.  The whole land feels cut off, neglected, and left to fend for itself, and this aptly mirrors what you have to deal with to stay alive.

Basilisk Games have updated Eschalon, Book 1, to version 1.06. This patch is described as a 'maintenance release'. The update will be supporting newer systems as well as not supporting PowerPCMacs anymore.

For Mac users: 1.06 is an Intel-processor only build. See our previous update- we are no longer supporting PowerPC-based Macs. If you have a PowerPC Mac, we obviously recommend that you do not upgrade.

For Linux users: 1.06 is compiled with the latest libraries on Ubuntu 10.04. This might make the game incompatible with your system. Consider trying the demo before you request a new download link.

Links for the demo can be found in the downloads section of our website. If you need a new full version, please email us your purchase information (order number works best!) and we can activate a new download link for you.

We are sending these updates out to our distributors (Steam, Direct2Drive, Impulse, etc.) tonight. They will have their versions updated in a few days if you bought your copy through them.

Nice to see a review of Eschalon out there.  From My Game Company:

The story in this game is really something. You begin with no memory of who you are, where you are, or how you came to be there. This means you will be learning about the world of Eschalon along with your character, which adds a lot of realism to the adventure. The only clue you have regarding your past is contained in the sealed note shown in the screenshot above. This note provides the guidance and direction you need to get started. As you play through the game, you will discover that things aren't always what they seem. I was surprised by a number of clever plot twists that I didn't see coming. The story is epic in scope and very well-written indeed. 

Basilisk Games has a few copies of the Mac version of Eschalon: Book 1 to give away.  Head over to their site if you have said hardware and would like to win a copy.

GamersInfo has a review of Basilisk's popular indie, Eschalon: Book 1.  As usual for this site there is no score but they obviously liked it:

Once you get past the creation system, you’re dropped into an open-ended world. You can go where you like, and nothing holds you back except for your character’s level and skills. Exploration is turn-based. Just point and click, and he’ll go in the direction you want. Monsters move whenever you do something. Left-mouse button initiate your primary attack, whether it is a sword, mace, dagger or bow, while the right mouse allows you to cast spells. So if you’re being chased or have encountered a tough monster, you can take all the time in the world to decide your next move. Basilisk is not joking with the statement about “playing at your own pace.” You can literally stop and smell every flower. For me, this is one of those games that is perfect to play at the end of the day. Just prepare a cup of chamomile (or Sleepy Time) tea, turn on this game, and slowly inhale and exhale. Feel the tension slowly fade away.

Linux Forums has posted a review of Basilisk Games' cRPG, Eschalon: Book I, with a scoreless but positive look at all the details:

The first thing that strikes you about Eschalon is the music. It's soothing, calm, makes you feel comfortable while playing. And play you will. Alot. This is not the kind of game you can finish in a week then move on to another turn-based game. You'll give up your social life, you'll start arguing with your girlfriend about going to sleep late and in a few more day you'll be calculating everything in turns. I swear to God I was seeing tiles on the street by the third week.

Conclusion:

Eschalon is the perfect example of how a turn-based game should be made. The number of creatures you'll encounter is not as high as in other games of the genre but they're five times harder to kill. You'll spend countless hours battling, resting and battling again. Furthermore, Eschalon will make you use your brain because completing a task will not be just about how much blood you can spill. There are cryptic riddles to crack and an incredibly large map to explore. I'm impatiently waiting for Eschalon: Book II that's coming out this year. It will also have a Linux port, a redesigned interface, support for higher and better graphics and a larger game resolution. Thumbs up to the people at Basilisk Games.

Whilst waiting for news about Basilisk's Book II, Book I in the Eschalon trilogy has been released on Steam. It is sold 20% off its original price (10.99€), and is sold on sale until the 17th of Feb for 15.19€. Must be a mistake.
We (Read: RPGWatch) are mentioned on the product page for awarding it the reader's poll "Independent RPG of the Year" award in 2007.

Basilisk Games has released an updated demo for their indie cRPG, Eschalon:Book I. You can find the details and download it over at the official forums in this thread, where it is still being referred to as a BETA.  Atomic Gamer has the file for Windows, along with this short description:

Basilisk Games recently updated their demo for Eschalon: Book I to version 1.05. This is a maintenance release and it addresses a number of outstanding issues and improved stability. v1.04 also brought 2 additional maps not included in the original demo.

You can also download it for Windows, Linux and Mac at GamersHell.

GamingNexus blog has posted a very blog-style but generally positive review for Basilisk Games' indie crpg, Eschalon:Book I:

But as I logged into that first game, with the tumbling sound of six-sided dice dancing on my digitized character sheet, with the moonlit soundtrack coursing its way through the woods, with the taughtly[sic]-written character development details ... I was already being struck with a sense of nostalgia for a computer roleplaying game when I had no basis for nostalgia and computer roleplaying games. It made no sense.

That wouldn't have sealed the deal though. Not a misplaced sense of pseudo-nostalgia. I could have turned back at that moment and eventually convinced myself that I'd been completely unmoved. It might've taken a week, but I'd later describe my experience as "nonplussed." But then the story startled me from the very beginning. Not only did it open up with an overbaked amnesia cliche (something I'd railed against only one week prior), but I was being whirlpooled into this overused you-wake-up-and-have-no-idea-who-you-are convention, already sucked in beyond the event horizon. Somehow (!), I was falling for it. And it was from nothing less than the cleanly-penned authorial tone of the text. It sure wasn't the graphics luring me in. And it sure wasn't the off-handed turn-based movement scheme. But there was something about the writing...

Basilisk Games has announced they're dropping the price on their old school indie crpg, Eschalon:Book I.

Here's the full quote: 

July 30, 2008...We are excited to announce a price drop on Eschalon: Book I from its original price of $27.95 to $19.95 effective tonight at 12:01 am! Like all forms of entertainment media such as books, movies, music and especially games, there comes a time when it makes sense to lower the price of a product to attract new customers.

So, if you've been hesitant to purchase the game in the past because of its price, or maybe you've been "borrowing your friends" copy, now is when you can show your support for independent game development and classic role-playing games by purchasing a copy of Book I for yourself. Thank you very much!

Note that this is the downloadable version only, as they sold out of the CD version last month.(From an earlier newspost on the site: "At this point we are not planning on ordering any more due to the volume of discs that must be purchased at a time.")

Basilisk Games dropped us a line to say their new forums are up and if you'd like to check them out, start with this full list of spells from Eschalon: Book 1 - the first time the full list has been compiled. 

RPG Codex has kicked up a review of Eschalon penned by Elwro.  I'd say the article is mildly positive but a number of things do come in for criticism:

As for the quests themselves, usually there's only one way of completing them. Sometimes it's painful as some entirely reasonable options haven't been included; I guess that's where the low number of people working on the game shows the most (apart from the abundance of typos). For example, you may learn that a certain respected member of the starting town community does some really bad things. And while you can tell on him, nothing happens... this wouldn't be so bad, since you can come up with a plausible explanation when you know the details, but you aren't even given an option of confronting him – no new dialogue choices appear! Another case is when some shady guy gives you a quest which involves murdering a person you've most likely gotten acquainted with by that time. Unfortunately, you can't even tell her that someone's after her life. Sadly, stats do not seem to have influence on which dialogue options you get. 

Basilisk Games has teamed up with Linspire, Inc to offer a download service at CNR.com for the Linux version of Eschalon: Book 1. 

From the press release: 

 SAN DIEGO and INDIANAPOLIS, March 19  /PRNewswire/ -- Linspire, Inc. developer of CNR.com, an easy-to-use, one-click digital software delivery service for desktop Linux software, and Basilisk Games, an independent game developer, today announced the immediate availability of Eschalon: Book I for Freespire 2.0, Linspire 6.0, Ubuntu 7.04 & 7.10 (32 bit) desktop Linux users. Available for download and installation with one-click through CNR.com, Eschalon: Book I is the first in a trilogy of role-playing games designed to have a play style similar to classic RPGs of the 80's and 90's (http://www.cnr.com/product/eschalonbook1). 

Full game and purchase information for all versions of Eschalon is available at the official Basilisk site linked above. 

Basilisk Games has posted a link to this French review of Eschalon: Book 1 and for those who speak that language it looks like it's well worth a read. I can just about translate the title with my shooldays' French, ("Of Goblins and Men,")  but I think its safe to say its positive, with the final score four Z's, which apparently equates in English to : "Come Get Some! " 

PC World's Matt Peckham (yes, him) has kicked up a short article on award-winning indies worth trying out.  Eschalon gets the selection for the RPG crowd and here's a snip from the short overview:

Remember Ultima? Tile-built worlds? Isometric view angles? Turn-based combat? Having the option to abandon your computer at will without hitting pause to prevent holy pandemonium from breaking loose?

Miss that? If so, you'll want to give Eschalon: Book One a try. It's a role-playing game (RPG) done up old-style, but rendered in clean, high-res lines and inviting hues that make it visually superior to most of its bygone predecessors. Like stats? It's got 'em. Loot? Scattered everywhere. Pick a class, a name, your attributes, and you're off to wrestle with oodles of enemies, plot twists, and your own missing memories.

2404.org has kicked up a short review of Eschalon: Book 1.  The score is a harsh 5/10 but it's clear from the start the author isn't impressed with the idea of an "old school" game.  Here's a snip on coping with the darkness:

The game makes much of light, and combat in dungeons or at night is usually frustrating, as enemies are “partially hidden by darkness,” making it difficult to land a blow. Your character has little choice but to keep at least one hand free to hold a torch; granted, slimes and such might battle in pitch darkness, but it’s rather odd that human enemies don’t seem to care about needing light. Torches are plentiful, at least, though players wishing to use a shield or two-handed weapon will find the preoccupation with light to be most annoying. Merely exploring in darkness is unpleasant as well; turning up the brightness on your monitor will be more rewarding than lighting a torch. 

Basilisk sends word of a contest to win of two multi-license Eschalon CDs.  It's only open to existing game owners and offers those who purchased a digital or standard CD version a chance to grab one of the new multi-license versions.  Head to this thread for the full details. 

Eschalon has been reviewed over at GameBanshee. There's some criticism for the writing and combat but they enjoyed it overall, awarding a score of 7.6/10:

Kudos to the Eschalon: Book I team, as well, for creating a convincingly non-linear RPG that mixes a direct main plot with a goodly number of side quests, and avoids ramping the difficulty up too much, too quickly, if you decide to take The Grand Tour, instead. Not that you won’t be killed easily if you travel too far away, at least if you try and fight or box yourself into a corner. I don’t like the too restrictive pathways through the linked map sections, but at least there’s a great deal of territory to explore. It’s worth exploring, too, because Basilisk has created plenty of mini-encounter spots, where minor collections of monsters hang around a body or treasure chest. Sometimes their proximity is well-motivated, but at other times it feels rote, with the monsters obviously placed to furnish the obligatory challenge.

Shamus Young at Twenty Sided wraps up his look at Eschalon with a synopsis of the story and a rather abrupt conclusion.  Most of this piece is one big spoiler, so don't head over if you haven't played the game to completion - here's what I can quote:

I’m probably being unfair. Eschalon is designed to be old-school, and the old games were notoriously sloppy with justifications for doing all sorts of crazy stuff in the world. The classic “Gather up the Seven Magic Keys of Evil-Thwarting, which have been hidden for no good reason” was about par for the course back then, and Eschalon is miles ahead of that sort of thing.

I was a bit wary about the ending, since this is Echalon: Book I. I was worried we were going to get left at some wretched “buy the next game!” cliffhanger. But no, this game is self-contained and wraps things up nicely.

I had fun with the game. I’ll be looking forward to Eschalon: Book II.

Basilisk's Eschalon has been reviewed at MacWorld, scoring a 3.5/5:

In fact, almost every interaction you have with the game is based on dice rolls. It’s extraordinarily non-linear in that respect, which is great for RPG players that just want to explore without feeling pressured to follow specific storylines or plots. The downside is that the game doesn’t necessarily play down to your level early on, so it’s possible—in fact, it’s very easy—to wander off into areas where there are higher-level monsters that will kill you almost immediately. This gets frustrating, so it takes some trial-and-error to find areas in the game you’re well-equipped and experienced enough to handle.

...and Twenty Sided continues their detailed critique with a third part that looks at character progression:

Character progression in Eschalon is fun and interesting. My biggest complaint is that the much needed in-game minimap is bound to the “cartography” skill. That is, if you don’t spend skill points on it, you don’t have a minimap. The map is pretty limited until you’ve reached about five ranks in cartography. It costs three skill points to acquire a skill, and then an additional point point for each additional rank. So, it will cost you about seven skill points to make the minimap do what you want. Considering that you only get three skill points each time you level up, this represents a major investment of points. Once you know the game you’ll discover a few ways to acquire points without sacrificing so much of your potential performance in battle, but I still dislike this idea of spending in-game skill points to make the game interface more useful. I also don’t see a need for it from a gameplay perspective: There are already lots of great skills in the game. If the minimap just worked and the cartography skill was taken away you’d never miss it. 

This has actually been up for a couple of days but I was hoping for more entries to report together.  So, Shamus Young continues his discussion of Eschalon, with comments on the text status window and the economy:

Eschalon Book I reminded me of how useful the text window can be and how much we’ve been missing out with newer games. Words are powerful. Words are potent. Words are so powerful that you can run an entire tabletop game and relate a new, unfamiliar world using nothing but text which you read aloud (or make up on the spot) and convey everything the players need to know. Visuals complement text nicely, but visuals in lieu of text can deprive the player of tremendous depth and subtlety. That’s fine if you’re playing a quick game of “Kill the Monsters and Take Their Stuff“, but most games aspire to be something deeper. And nothing adds depth like well-written prose. 

Time to catch up on some Basilisk updates.  First, Thomas Riegsecker announced a week ago that the studio was holding a two-day meeting to kick off production on Book II:

Just a quick note to all our fans that Book II development is underway as of today. The designers of Book I are gathered in the studio for the next 2 days and we are hammering out changes/updates for the next game.

This is not an official announcement for Book II...we will unveil details of the game sometime next summer. We are estimating a 12-18 month production cycle.

Don't bother to ask questions because I don't have any answers (yet ). It's still too early to say this or that is going to be in Book II. We are mostly looking over the posts made to this forum and we are going to see just how many of your suggestions can make it into the game. We also have another game (not in the Eschalon series) that we will unveil at a later date which is getting blueprinted today as well.

As always, thanks for your support!

A little before that, Thomas revealed that Book II will remain a solo game:

Well, we are waaaay too early to talk much about Book II as we are continuing to promote Book I and monitor sales, but I wanted to let everyone know what has been decided upon so that speculation does not drive everyone to the point of insanity! The following is pretty much set in stone as far as what to expect for the next game game...

- Book II is going to use a modified version of the Book I engine running at 1024x768. We are using 80% new tiles, so you are not going to get a visual re-hash of Book I.

- Based on the poll results, we are going to stay solo (no party) for Book II. Don't worry, all you party people- we've got other things in the works.

- You will be able to select male or female. We are working with the storyline now to see the best way to add additional races other than human. If we decide not to add racial selection do to storyline limitations, we will further tweak the Origin attribute to supplement the variety of your male/female Human character.

- It is going to be a "Basilisk Games" type of game. What does that mean? We are staying old-school. Book II is going to be even more stat-heavy than the first game. Although there have been a lot of awesome suggestions given to us and we will implement many of them, when it's all finished we still need to be able to say that Book II is an "old-school RPG". We are not going to change our design philosophy or style; there are too many game companies who have tried to give everything to everyone and they destroyed their game(s) in the process. We would rather keep 95% of you happy than try to satisfy the 5% who claim Book I sucks do to some design choice we made.

That's it for now. As with Book I, we won't reveal much about the game's storyline until it is released. The release date is "when it's done", which means sometime between next week and two years from now. However, I personally don't think Book II's development will take as long as Book I, due to the fact that many of the assets we have now we had to buy/make during Book I's development.

As for the "other thing in the works", Thomas has hinted at an Eye of the Beholder styled game a couple of times, such as this post on engines:

We could [...] take the engine in a radical new direction: an engine that we have been developing that would be similar to Wizardry 8, with hints of Dungeon Master / Eye of the Beholder.

Finally, Basilisk has announced new purchases of the CD version will be multi-platform (PC/Mac/Linux):

We ran out of Windows and Mac CDs this past weekend, so instead of reordering a new batch of each, we've decided just to put  all three versions on one CD and that sell that instead!! You've read correctly: buy  Eschalon: Book I on CD for any platform, and the CD you receive will have the  Windows, Macintosh  and  Linux versions on the disc. Linux fans, here's your chance to finally get the game on CD! You may notice the price of this CD is a couple dollars more than the previous CDs, which is due to the slight increase in duplication costs for the multi-license disc and new packaging.

The first part of an Eschalon review is up at a site called Twenty Sided, who we've linked once before.  This part is mostly setting the scene, so there isn't a lot to say at this point:

Like Oblivion, Morrowwind, and Fallout, most of your success in the game is dependant not on your attributes, but on the skills you’ve mastered. There are 24 in all, from Swords to Elemental Magic to Lockpicking. Note that while you start out with certain skills, you’re free to pick up new ones any time you level up. This means that you’re pretty much free to make up your own character class if you want, although this freedom does mean it’s possible to cripple your character in the long run. On my first play-through I was a fighter with a bunch of rogue skills. These extra skills spread my skill points too thin, and I ended up with a guy who was mediocre at a lot of things instead of great at a few things. This made the game really hard, and I was obliged to abandon that character and begin again. The game expects and even demands a little min-maxing, so if you want to explore all the different skills you’re going to have to play through the game more than once.

The full Linux version of Eschalon: Book 1 is now available for purchase (and don't forget there is a Linux demo to try). 

Basilisk Games announces that the official Linux demo for their old school Indie cRPG, Eschalon:Book 1, is available for download, and expects to have the full Linux version of the game on line for purchase this weekend. You can download the demo at the link provided here at the official site, or at Gamer'sHell.

Basilisk has officially released the Eschalon v1.04 patch we recently reported and a beta Linux demo is available for those that want to try it out.  From the website:

The newest patch for the Windows version of  Eschalon: Book I is online. You can grab the patch over on the Book I page, and the fixes can be seen here. This is a minor update, just to get the Windows version up on the same level as the newly released Macintosh version.

We've also posted a link to the beta version of the Linux demo. We are still trying to work out some problems, but if you are a Linux user and want to give the demo a try, download it and let us know how it runs on your system.

Basilisk has released a beta v1.04 patch for Eschalon that addresses the problem for those without a standard "My Documents" folder and some other minor issues:

Here is the latest Windows BETA patch. It's a small change log, just to get Windows users up to the same level as the Mac version coming out tomorrow.

[FIXED]: Bug with Haste III potions
[FIXED]: Even more map issues.
[FIXED]: Enchant Weapon scroll has proper icon.
[FIXED]: ESC from Portal Spell works.
[FIXED]: The game should now work on most non-English versions of Windows, whereas the previous version would crash when not being able to see "My Documents".
[FIXED]: Made changes to the Character Editor to eliminate a few remaining bugs.
[UPDATED]: Added an additional error message to the save-game process to notify players if there is a problem.

Remember, this is a BETA! Two things to watch out for:

The "My Document" fix may actually cause some problems for people whose Documents are not actually called "My Documents". If the game doesn't see "My Documents", it will attempt to save the game inside the installation directory. You may need to do some manual copying of your saved games to the new directory if this happens.

Secondly: I've incorporated several fixes into the Character Editor. Those of you who have figured out exploits in the past- please give this one a work over and see if you can break it. Hopefully the small skill point bug from the last fix is now fixed as well.

Link: http://basiliskgames.com/betas/eb1_104_update.exe

Scorpia has the first full review of Eschalon we've seen.  As usual for her site there's no score but the text is quite positive apart from some criticism of the class system and certain balance issues:

Unlike many games today, the world is not linear. For example, in Neverwinter 2, locations showed only when you learned about them in some way, and so travel was very restricted. Eschalon is more like Oblivion, where you can start walking in any direction, without waiting for someone to tell you about an area.

Going some places too soon, however, can get you killed. Unlike Oblivion, monsters do not scale to your level. So it’s entirely possible for you to wander into an area you’re not strong enough to handle yet.

One thing not seen much in games lately is the puzzle. Eschalon does have some puzzles strewn through the dungeons, though none are particularly difficult, and most have clues nearby. Still, a nice touch.

The cool kids with Macs can now go play Eschalon while those of us with PCs can go back to crunching spreadsheets.  Here's the press release:

Basilisk Games Announces the availability of Eschalon: Book I for Macintosh computers

Indianapolis, Ind. — December 11, 2007 — Basilisk Games, Inc. today announced the availability of Eschalon: Book I for Macintosh computers.

“The Macintosh has become an exciting gaming platform over the past few years” said Thomas Riegsecker, Lead Developer of Eschalon: Book I. “We are very pleased to be able to bring our brand of role-playing to the Mac, further increasing gaming options on this great platform.”

With a focus on a single-player storyline, statistically driven character development and turn-based combat, Eschalon: Book I features a style of gameplay rarely seen in anymore commercial games. It is now available for purchase from Basilisk Games Online at http://basiliskgames.com/order.htm

About Eschalon: Book I

Eschalon: Book I is a classic role-playing game experience that will take you across massive outdoor environments and deep into sprawling dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of who- or what- you are. It is now available for Windows based PCs and Macintosh computers. A Linux version is expected in early 2008. More information on the game and links to the demo can be found online at http://basiliskgames.com/book1.htm

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 has released the promised updated demo for Eschalon Book 1, which includes all the fixes from the recently released patch as well as 2 additional maps providing another 2 hours of gameplay. The official site offers a link to the GamersHell mirror and it's also available at Atomic Gamer  and FileFront.

Basilisk Games sends word the Mac version of Eschalon: Book 1 will be released on December 11, and an updated Windows demo (two additional maps plus "tons" of bug fixes) should be available later this week - we'll let you know when it's out.

Basilisk Games home page has posted links to the 1.03 patch, making it official, and also states progress towards Mac & Linux versions is proceeding well:

The newest patch for the Windows version of Eschalon: Book I is online. You can grab the patch over on the Book I page, and those of you who are curious about the fixes can find them listed here. Also, we are going to announce the release date of the Macintosh version next week, and the Linux version is going to be closely behind that!

You can see the changelist as well as pick up the patch here at the official site, and it's also mirrored at FileFront and Gamer's Hell.

From the Eschalon forums:

Change log for 1.03 Update
[FIXED]: Vela has been redesigned a bit to help prevent the accidental failure of a specific quest.
[FIXED]: Hide in Shadows bug.
[FIXED]: Quick Travel with container window open crash.
[FIXED]: Alchemy lab ingredients inconsistency.
[FIXED]: Gravedigger's Amulet notification leaves the Effect Window when amulet is removed.
[FIXED]: Messing around with inventory while wearing a Gravedigger's Amulet no longer spams the message box.
[FIXED]: Enkindled/Enchanted bonues on weapons end appropriately when spell runs out.
[FIXED]: Compress Atmosphere scroll icon properly set.
[FIXED]: Fleeing enemies now avoid leaving the map which can cause problems; also creatures that might already be stuck on the edge of a map are forceably dealt with.
[FIXED]: Quick-swapping weapons while holding an item no longer deletes the held item.
[FIXED]: Yet more typos, and a few map alignment issues.
[FIXED]: Rare occurrence of system hanging when you strike a powder keg with a melee weapon.
[UPDATED]: Random Encounters (while camping) puts enemies in better locations- should no longer trap enemies in trees or in locked rooms.
[BALANCE]: "Divine Ore" quest pays 1000xp, rather than 100xp

You can get it here: http://basiliskgames.com/patches/eb1_103_update.exe

I am sure it is stable, but I will call it beta for a day or two while you people give it a test. If nobody has any issues with it, I'll post it live on the website.

Remember! Some of these map changes will not be visible to you unless you restart.

GameBanshee has a post-release interview with Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk about Eschalon:

GB: Would you say that the game's main plot is a little cliché?

Thomas: I think you are referring to the “amnesia hook” that we use to start the game off with. While that bit is not too original, we definitely take the story in a fresh direction after that. What surprises me is that we managed to stay away from the “savior of the world” plot unlike what every single commercial RPG still uses, and people still comment that our amnesia hook is overused. All I can say to the critics is: play the game and then comment on it. Saying a story is weak when you’ve only read the first page isn’t very fair.

Basilisk Games has released a v1.02 patch for Eschalon, fixing "mostly obscure" bugs.  Here are the fixes:

Fixes/Changes to version 1.02: [FINAL]
[FIXED]: Blackwater Tavern owner now lets you visit you-know-where more than once.
[FIXED]: Several more map barrier errors and typos.
[FIXED]: Item duplication exploit.
[FIXED]: A bad alchemy mix doesn't send ingredients back to your inventory.
[FIXED]: Game reports Object Condition when damaging objects with fire.
[FIXED]: Options Menu exploit.
[FIXED]: Attacking priest in Blackwater caused crash.
[FIXED]: Armor Imbuing bug
[FIXED]: ToHit Imbuing Bug
[FIXED]: Selling grouped items to an NPC who doesn't have enough money no longer crashes game.
[FIXED]: Pressing Esc in conversation no longer brings up Option Menu upon exiting dialog.
[FIXED]: Crash under very specific deaths (for example, death while in the middle of casting a spell)
[UPDATED]: Several small changes made to the map at end-game to ensure one specific ending works as intended.
[UPDATED]: If no enemies or NPCs are nearby, the held-weight limitation for casting is forgiven.
[BALANCE]: Haste duration has been significantly reduced to limit its overly powerful effects.
[BALANCE]: Several high-level swords have been adjusted (increased damage) to be more appropriately balanced.
[NEW]: Upon drinking a potion, the game will autostack the empty flask on top of the first Empty Flask found in your inventory. If no Empty Flask is found, the system puts it in your hand for you to manually place.

Direct link to the patch file. 

Basilisk has released the v1.01 patch for Eschalon we reported earlier.  Here are the final notes:

Patch version 1.01: (FINAL)
FIXED: Pressing "T" while holding a shield crashes game.
FIXED: Skill point exploit in Character Editor.
FIXED: Typos...I won't list them all, but any posted in the support thread or emailed to me are fixed immediately.
FIXED: Pressing "J" while the inventory window is open no longer causes text to overflow from the Quest Journal.
FIXED: Map barrier errors...I won't list them all, but any posted in the support thread or emailed to me are fixed immediately.
FIXED: Several skill description inconsistencies.
FIXED: No longer lose items left in mixer when pressing Esc.
FIXED: Magick Journal should display all spells properly.
FIXED: Space bar exploit.
FIXED: Inventory tooltip focus problem.
FIXED: Creatures on edge of screen occasionally not responding to attacks.
FIXED: Camping on beach no longer hangs system.
FIXED: Bashing object while container window is open no longer crashes game.
ADDED: Keystroke 'x' opens Inventory, Equip Window, and Stats window all at once. Oh yeah, this is nice! 
BALANCE: Made a small change to allow the maximum recovery rate for MP to be 1/3 rounds, rather than 1/4 rounds.
BALANCE: Increased arrow quantities for merchants.
BALANCE: Balanced empty-handed bashing/Fire Dart bashing/Lock Melt to be a bit more even.

Direct link to the patch file.  In addition, they are calling for Mac testers as that version approaches release.

Basilisk has outlined the first set of planned fixes for their old-school indie release, Eschalon:

This is an ongoing list of fixes currently in place for patch 1.01. I will keep adding to this as bugs are found and fixed, and the patch will be released after everyone gives it a good shakedown for a couple more days to see if there are any other problems found. [edit] Oh, and thanks to these brave pioneer Windows users, Mac users will be getting version 1.01 from the start so these problems won't be an issue!

Patch version 1.01: (Ongoing)
FIXED: Pressing "T" while holding a shield crashes game.
FIXED: Skill point exploit in Character Editor.
FIXED: Typos...I won't list them all, but any posted in the support thread or emailed to me are fixed immediately.
FIXED: Pressing "J" while the inventory window is open no longer causes text to overflow from the Quest Journal.
FIXED: Map barrier errors...I won't list them all, but any posted in the support thread or emailed to me are fixed immediately.
FIXED: Several skill description inconsistencies.
FIXED: No longer lose items left in mixer when pressing Esc.
FIXED: Magick Journal should display all spells properly.
FIXED: Space bar exploit.
FIXED: Inventory tooptip focus problem.
ADDED: Keystroke 'x' opens Inventory, Equip Window, and Stats window all at once. Oh yeah, this is nice!
BALANCE: Made a small change to allow the maximum recovery rate for MP to be 1/3 rounds, rather than 1/4 rounds.
BALANCE: Increased arrow quantities for merchants.

ToDo: Correct tree placement in Western Tangletree

From the rest of the thread, it shouldn't take too long.

Eschalon: Book 1 is now available for purchase and, of course, there is a demo you can grab!

Don't forget to throw some opinions in the comments. 

With Basilisk's anticipated indie CRPG Eschalon: Book 1 about to launch on Monday, we've spent the last week playing review code and putting together some first impressions:

The first thing that strikes you is the production values – this is a beautifully crafted game that doesn’t just set a new benchmark for indie CRPGs, it would be perfectly at home on retail shelves if it wasn’t for the fact that 2D games have been long abandoned. From the main menu on, the presentation is stellar, with a crisp and elegant interface that’s both easy to use and attractive, clean graphics and solid sound. It’s clear considerable thought has been put into the interface and controlling the game and there are many AAA projects that don’t do anywhere near as well. The only downside is the disappointing resolution, which is fixed at 800x600 – although you can play in a window.

Read it all here.

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!

Basilisk has set a release date for the Windows version of their indie CRPG, Eschalon: Book 1 -

Basilisk Games sets a Release Date for Eschalon: Book I.

We are pleased to announce that November 19, 2007 is the official release date for the Windows version of Eschalon: Book I. More information on the Macintosh version will be available after the Windows version ships, and a Linux version is scheduled for 1Q 2008.

About Eschalon: Book I:

Eschalon: Book I is the start of an epic trilogy of old-school computer RPGs created in the spirit of the great role-playing games of the past. The game will take players across massive outdoor environments and deep into dozens of sprawling dungeons as you seek to uncover the mystery of who they are.

Basilisk's site has a new Purchase link for their indie game Eschalon, which has been in the final beta phases for the past few weeks.  The link contains an "It's almost here!" message, so we're getting close to release.

Basilisk writes they have closed the applications for Eschalon beta testers and now have to plow through the hundreds of offers they received, which may take a week.

While on Eschalon, I noticed this post on their forums:

I've been getting great feedback from our internal testers and wanted to share a couple amusing stories with you people:

One of the testers who is playing a Rogue uses Cat Eyes serums to give himself the ability to see in the dark without producing any light. He supplements that with a torch, which when combined with the Cat Eyes effect gives him a very bright vision radius in the darkest dungeons. Now then, when his torch is lit, he looses his ability to Hide in Shadow, but as soon as he nears an enemy he extinguishes his torch and falls back to just Cat Eyes. He can then walk past most enemies undetected, safely hidden in shadow. The funny thing is, since he has not bumped up his Move Silent skill, sometimes enemies hear him and begin following the mysterious footstep sounds in the dark. If he makes one wrong step and walks onto a tile where the ambient light is greater than his Hide in Shadows skill can be effective, they suddenly see him and then it's trouncing time!

Another tester who is a caster has regaled me with anecdotes of how he uses various spells to his advantage. As a designer I find it amusing that certain spells that I thought would be highly depended upon are occasionally ignored for a combination of other spells which I thought would be unused by most higher leveled casters. One example involved charming an enemy to fight for him and then entangling a couple other enemies so they can’t fight back or escape. This allows him to sit back and watch them kill each other and it costs much less Mana Points as opposed to assaulting enemies directly with mana-draining combat spells.

Just thought some of you may enjoy these examples of gameplay.

Basilisk dropped us a line to say they are looking for a dozen beta testers for Eschalon - follow the link to apply. The good news for everyone else, is the game is getting close!

A small but welcome update from Basilisk on Eschalon at their site:

We just wanted to give a tiny update to those of you who stop by regularly looking for news. The first beta release is in the hands of our internal test crew and it's getting torn to shreds as you read this. Actually, they are giving great feedback and the game looks as if it is wrapping up nicely.

Baring any huge problems, we will finally post some information on the semi-public beta test before the end of September. We'll be looking for a dozen people to run through the game and help us get it ready for everyone else. Stay tuned.

Basilisk Games has posted some new streaming and download links to their recent trailer in addition to the one up over at GameBanshee, so if you've had trouble viewing it, this is your chance to try again.

Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk dropped us a line to say they have added an RSS feed so you can stay on top of Eschalon updates as fast as possible.

The first opportunity to see Basilisk's Eschalon: Book 1 is available with GameBanshee hosting a teaser trailer. The 30 sec or so movie shows some combat, a few glimpses of the interface in motion and one dialogue screen - you may have to pause because it flies by pretty quickly.

Head here for GameBanshee's newsbit and link (6.76Mb, .avi with divx), although I had trouble with that link, so here is a direct one.

Basilisk's Thomas Riegsecker has been interviewed at GameBanshee in a general article that provides an overview of their indie project, Eschalon: Book 1 -

GB: What can we expect from the game's quest system? Will there be multiple ways to complete each quest (such as combat and non-combat approaches) and is there some type of journal that keeps track of what steps we've completed for each quest?

Thomas: Each quest has a specific goal, but it is often up to you how to best achieve that goal. If you are told that you need to enter a specific location but there is a locked door in your way, it is up to you to determine the best method for your character to open that door. Bash it down? Pick the lock? Cast a spell to melt the lock? Search for the key? That part of the quest is up to you.
 

There is a quest journal that tracks what quests you have been given. In the journal contains a brief description of what you need to do to complete the quest, but that is all you are given. There is no arrow pointing you to your destination. We don’t hold the player’s hand and direct them to their goal; we want players to explore and discover on their own.

There is also one new screen included that shows the spell journal open over a dungeon of some sort.

Basilisk Games has allowed a beta tester and forum member to post some short observations about Eschalon, and the thread continues with some discussion and further details:

First off, the screenshots don't do the game true justice, it looks great. I'd say it's just slightly ahead of the game Arcanum in it's general graphic presentation, but with some really beautiful effects (eg from explosions, smoke, lighting).

Traveling through the game is quite lovely. The background music is the right balance of ambience and actual style and detail, which gives great character to one's travels. This added with very nice environmental effects light torchlight in the dark and fireflies floating about at night, just breathes life into the game. So this is not some half-realised project, it's very full and atmospheric. Setting up camp at night really feels like you're camping.

Thanks Sanday and Thomas!

Thanks to Sandy for pointing out a post a week or so ago on Basilisk's Eschalon forums that brings us up to speed:

Since it appears everyone is screaming for more news, I thought I should give a bit of an update here...

Right now we are in heavy crunch mode. Internally, we thought we could start the final beta test by June 1st, but we just didn't make it there. There are no technical hurdles in our way, it just happens that producing decent content takes more time than you'd think. Creating a single side quest involves the initial design, usually some rendering, scripting, dialogue writing, testing, and often programming when we discover a hole in the system. It is a huge accomplishment to get one working side quest implemented in one day.

I would never have thought from the beginning that the process of game creation would be so involved, especially a project like Eschalon where we purposely want the game to be "old-school". We weren't going to design a game with Radiant AI or a graphic engine that competes with Crysis; we are making a better looking Ultima style game with touches of Might & Magic and Wizardry. It turns out that quality game production on any scale takes time, and an RPG is about the most time consuming project of all. The variables that must be considered are staggering at times.

So, we're here and working hard on it. We don't have a dedicated promotional person, so it's hard to stop what we're doing just to get an update out or some screenshots posted. We try to be very quick about answering questions here when asked because we understand how many of you rely on the forums for news and this is extremely convenient for us.

We have some stuff in the works: we are scheduled to do an interview in June and we have an exclusive deal with a website to host our video trailer when we are done with it. We have been grabbing chunks of video from time to time and are slowly getting something put together for that. We have some internal testing coming up with a few "fresh eyes" that will give us valuable feedback on where we stand with the game. The final beta has been pushed back later in the summer and unless these early internal tests reveal any problems, we'll be on track for that.

Thanks to everyone for your patience and more importantly your enthusiasm and interest in the game!

Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk has penned a first Peek article for RPG Vault, talking about Eschalon's gameplay:

Throughout the development of Eschalon: Book I, we have studied many other RPGs to figure out what makes some of them stand out above others. An obvious conclusion we came to is that a good RPG is one that allows players to exploit the game using the strengths of their character. More specifically, a good RPG will allow players to figure out for themselves the best way to achieve in-game goals using their character's abilities rather than the game simply presenting the player with prefabricated solutions based their character's class.

The article includes a new screen showing a little dialogue.

Basilisk has posted some small shots of monsters from their indie title Eschalon: Book 1 at the official forums.

Basilisk Games has released the minimum specs for their upcoming Indie RPG Eschalon Book 1. Here they are for both PC's and Mac's.

Here is what we are estimating in terms of minimum specs needed to play. We have done quite a bit of testing on various machines to come up with these specs and we will continue to post updates as more testing is done.

// Windows //
Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP
1.8 GHz processor
256 MB RAM (512 recommended)
DirectX 7.0 or later
3D accelerated graphics card
*Windows Vista is not yet supported, though the game may run just fine on your Vista installation. Currently Vista has some very rough drivers and not all hardware combinations may work correctly with Eschalon.

[Update 3/23/07] I just tried the game on a Toshiba 1.6GHz Pentium-M laptop with 512MB RAM, an Intel 915GM video chipset, and Windows XP...it was "playable" but not very fun due to the sluggishness.

// Macintosh //
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
1.6 GHz processor
256 MB RAM (512 recommended)
3D accelerated graphics card

For Macintosh users we are unable to support anything before OS 10.3.9 due to the development platform we are working with. We understand that this may disappoint some Mac users, and we are sorry. This was a requirement of the platform that we did not realize until we recently began porting the game.

Received some update news about Eschalon: Book 1 in my email this morning, so here's the entire contents for your reading pleasure.

Hi everybody.

Here's some updated info about Eschalon Book 1. Basilisk Wrangler mailed me the following message.

From BASILISK WRANGLER

Not to worry...it's nice to hear that you people haven't given up on us! The top issues worked on in the last 4 weeks: - rebuilt the save-game function to hopefully make the game more friendly to Vista (saved game files are now stored in "My Documents" rather than inside the game's install directory.) - finished a few high level spells that were in need of adjustment. - added 4 new areas to the game world as well as numerous tweaks to the current game areas. - spent a full week messing with sound due to ongoing changes with the sound drivers (again, thanks to Vista) - fixed lotsa bugs on the ToDo list. So what's left to do? Well, we still have quite a bit of "2nd half" game work that needs to be done (the further into the game you play, the less stuff there is for you to do other than stick to the main storyline.) Also, the studio itself is moving to a new location in March so we have been getting things prepped for that transition (transfer of equipment and data line). Development is, as always, in "full-steam ahead" mode. As we get a bit closer to the finish we'll start throwing out a bit more info on the game itself as well as more screenshots and perhaps some video captures of the gameplay. 

A note on Basilisk's site informs an upgrade to their Eschalon forums went awry.  They have now been restored but the location has changed.

WithinGames has a nice interview with Thomas Riegsecker from Basilisk Games on their indie title, Eschalon: Book 1.  Here's an early snip:

The gameworld seems to be very traditional and full of archetypes. What do you think makes it more interesting than other games?

Good question. I`m sure some gamers may be turned off by our approach to making an RPG. Rather than reinvent the genre, we are attempting to replicate the feel of a classic RPG. Essentially, what we are trying to do is the equivalent of restoring a vintage car rather than design a shiny new vehicle from the ground up. This effort may not appeal to every gamer, the same way that vintage cars don`t appeal to all automobile enthusiasts.

A sort-of non-update was kicked up at the Eschalon: Book 1 site a couple of days ago but any feedback is always welcome:

Just a small website update to start the new year off fresh.  Progress on the game continues unabated. Although we may be quiet for weeks at a time, rest assured we are still working night and day on this project. Mac fans: this past week we did our first test port to MacOS and it was very successful. The game runs great on MacOS X!

Thanks to everyone who has followed our progress throughout 2006 and has contributed to the project through suggestions and donations.

Basilisk Games has kicked up an estimate of the system requirements for their upcoming turn-based indie effort, Eschalon: Book 1.  Here's the entire post:

Here is what we are estimating in terms of minimum specs needed to play. This is not an official spec statement yet because more testing is needed, but with many people asking us we thought we'd get an estimate to you.

// Windows //
Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP
1.8 GHz processor
256 MB RAM (512 recommended)
DirectX 7.0 or later
3D accelerated graphics card

Windows Vista is not yet supported, but the game may run just fine on Vista once it comes out. The beta version of Vista has some buggy drivers that prevented us from doing any testing.


// Macintosh //
Mac OS X 10.3 or later
1.6 GHz processor
256 MB RAM (512 recommended)
3D accelerated graphics card

For Macintosh users we are unable to support anything before OS 10.3 due to the development platform we are working with. We understand that this may disappoint some Mac users, and we are sorry. This was a requirement of the platform that we did not realize until we recently began porting the game.

Thanks, dte!

Basilisk Games wrote in to let us know they've added three new screens on their turn-based indie RPG, Eschalon: Book 1, focusing on the updated interface they have been working on.  Here's an additional update from the front page:

The state of the game continues to be: looking good and coming along nicely! We've still got a bit of content to create, lots of play balancing to be done, and polish to be applied. At this point it's unlikely that we'll make a 2006 release, but we're getting so much closer! For more information on the game and small updates that don't always get posted here on the News page, please check out the forums.

Thanks, Thomas!

This mini-update was posted in the game's official forums in response to a request of mine for some new information. It looks encouraging.

Our most recent milestone was getting the demo portion of the game finished in time for the IGF submission deadline (September 8th). Since then we’ve been working on:

• Spell system balancing...after lots of testing, a few spells were deemed “redundant” next to other spells and skills, so both realms of magic got an extensive review. Several spells were added, others removed. The new spell list is more useful now.
• Skill balancing...Hide in Shadow, Move Silently, Meditation and Survival were all improved or adjusted based on mid-to-high leveled character testing.
• We improved the blast function which handles the scattering of elements and the concussion radius of explosions. This affects any spell, item or trap that produces an explosion or requires an area or scattering effect.
• Further code optimizations done to improve load times and performance.

Heading into October and beyond we are going to continue to work on content and balancing. No promises yet on beta testing or the release date, but we are definitely getting closer! Wink I'm sure some new screenshots could be produced in the next fews week as well...

Thieves/Rogues on their own don't get any "special" attack styles just for being a Rogue. But, if you are designing a Rogue-like character, then it's assumed you'll specialize in picking locks, disarming traps, spotting hidden items, moving silently, etc. All these skills are well utilized in the game world. For example, there are secret spots in the game world that some players may never find if their Spot Hidden skill is too low, but a decent Rogue will see them! Hopefully each character type will find cool situations in the game designed to utilize their skill set.

Remember, Eschalon is not class-based. It is skill based, so any character can technically possess any skill. It's all up to how you want to play it.

Here's the definitive answer on where we are at:

The engine is essentially "feature complete", but if a cool idea comes our way we might still try to stick it in there. However the bulk of the coding is done.

Right now we are cranking out content...maps, quests and graphics. We are still fine tuning the GUI and overall difficulty of the game. We're seeing things that work well and things that don't, so the game is still undergoing fundamental changes internally. This is really where all the elements come together to make a game.

As much as we'd like to give everyone a solid date, we just can't. Being wrong on release dates is a good way to piss off your potential fan base, so we are just saying "it's done when it's done."

Jonric: What would you like to say about Eschalon: Book I to introduce it to our readers? What kind of play experience and replayability will it offer, and what inspired you to create this particular style of game?

Thomas Riegsecker: Eschalon: Book I is a role-playing game that features "old-school" RPG mechanics. Since this term is somewhat vague, I will explain what it means; we are making a game that is designed to feel like some of the great computer RPGs of all time - the Ultimas, the Might & Magics, the Wizardrys, etc.

What inspired me to start this project was actually the sheer disappoint that I have felt with the design of most modern RPGs. They are created with the idea of targeting as wide a demographic as possible, and in doing so, they've shut out the niche market that gave birth to this genre in the first place. Today's hardcore RPG fans have an extremely limited number of true RPGs from which to choose. With the Eschalon series, we hope to alleviate this lack of choice by offering an RPG that is inspired by the greatest ones of all time rather than trying to reinvent the genre all over again.

We consider Eschalon to be very replayable as there will be many areas of the game that the player might not discover the first time through, and playing the game as a different character type will offer new insights into the storyline and new challenges to the player.