Eschalon Book I and King's Bounty

[Angry Broccoli Dog]

I've been replaying Eschalon Book I for a while, it's a really fun and interesting RPG. Very reminiscent of old school RPGs, interesting story, fun gameplay, and best of all, there are Linux, Windows and Mac versions. There are many different skills you can choose to suit your play style, as well as a choice of religious philosophy, which grants bonuses/penalties depending on which option you choose. Gameplay is turn based, and (admittedly) more involving as a magic-user type class. Warrior and archer types are somewhat simple, they don't really have any special abilities.

The sequel to the first game should be coming out soon too, so I recommend trying the first out before it does.

King's Bounty: The Legend, is a remake of the first King's Bounty game on the Commodore 64/MS-Dos/Mac/etc. from 1990. It's a lot like the games from the Heroes of Might and Magic series if you've ever played them. (In fact, the first King's Bounty game was made after the Heroes of Might and Magic series began.)

In case you haven't played any of the HOMM series, King's Bounty: The Legend is turn based as well, but in a somewhat different way compared to Eschalon. There are armies of monsters spread across the map, and when you meet them while traveling in an overhead style map, you enter a different screen for a battle. In the battle map, your army and the enemy army are placed on a hexigonical grid, and you command your troops and use their abilities in order to defeat the opposing army.

That is the meat of the game, really. There is a story to the game too, though, as well as regular RPG features such as stats, spells, etc. There are also a set group of 'classes' that you can play in KB:TL, Mage/Paladin/Warrior, where Paladin is basically a mix of Mage and Warrior talents. KB:TL also has a sequel out now called "King's Bounty: Twilight Princess", although it's not out in retail in the US yet (only on Steam and download).


Has anyone else played these? I really enjoyed 'em.