BecomeAPatron

Eschalon Book II Hints and Tips

eb2 screen6

Eschalon Book II is now out for PC and it’s a great Ultima-style RPG game. Mac and Linux versions are due out May 26th 2010.

Here are a few hints and tips I’ve built up so far:

Skills:

– Start with light armour, not heavy armour like I did, that was dumb. Probably best not to bother with shields until later too (I got it early at the expense of other useful stuff).
– Get at least level 1 in cartography. Level 8 seemed to be pretty useful and I didn’t bother to go higher.
– Don’t get divination or elemental until you have at least 15 in wisdom or intelligence respectively otherwise you won’t be able to learn any spells anyway. Spend the points on fighting or something else until you are clever enough.
– If you get wisdom 15 and divination, you can learn the heal spell, pretty darn useful. There’s also a neat cartography spell at intelligence 15 and elemental (I think it was Int 15; I got it around then anyway).

QuickSave:

– Use the quick save a lot and reload if you get a disease, otherwise you’ll be really crippled and that snooty cleric charges a fortune to remove the disease. Of course if you are purist you’ll have to grin and bear the ailment.
– Sometimes you identify something to find out it’s worth less than the cost of identify! If you have lots to identify but not enough cash, save and then identify the first one and make a mental note what it is, then reload and identify the second one etc. until you find the best thing. Again you may find this against the spirit of the game.
– Quick Save just before going into a shop. If you don’t like the selection keep reloading until it’s better because the shop’s contents randomize each time (if you went with the default game settings). Also you can do it before smashing open barrels and opening chest etc. This is dirty cheating.

Fighting:

– If you are being chased, run off the map and they’ll go away. Handy!
– Try to get monsters to chase you just one at a time to pick them off (classic technique).
– Lead monsters in dungeons to a torch on the wall so that you can still hold your shield and fight in good visibility.
– Don’t bother doing any fighting at night especially in rain storms (torches don’t work), camp it out until dawn.
– Bows are pretty crappy at first, as they have a long distance penalty and then you can only get off a couple of shots before you have to swap to melee weapon. You must swap when then enemy is still several squares away otherwise they’ll whack you whilst you are swapping. Also arrows are expensive.
– Setup two weapon configs: melee and ranged. Don’t forget to apply the same armour and rings etc to each config. If you gain a new item, switch to config 1 first, then put on the new item and save, then switch to config 2 and put on the new item again and save. Bit of a pain but you don’t want to accidentally remove it when changing config.
– Use bludgeoning weapons to smash barrels, doors, chests etc not bladed ones.

General Tips:

– Read all the in-game tips (F4).
– Use the hotkeys (press F1 to find them out). X is very useful as it beings up 3 core dialogs.
– Don’t let yourself starve or dehydrate, it’s real bad.
– If you get desperate for cash, sell a scroll, they are worth at least 60, then you can buy food and repair your cheap shoddy weapons and armour.
– Rat meat. mmmm good. Well not that good, but if you get hungry, kill some rats.
– You can carry kegs of black power and put them down where you want. They can be used to blow up special walls, locked doors, locked chests and closed barrels etc.
– Keep an eye out for small square hard to see panels on the floor in dungeons as they are switches for hidden doors, traps etc.
– Get some Lore rings early on and put them on whenever you need to identify stuff. Of course later on just get the Lore spell. Other useful rings are foraging rings and intelligence rings (put these on when you can’t learn any more spells due to low intelligence).
– Get a whole bunch of gloves that you can use at different times such as: tinkers glove (for mending whilst you are camping, this is VITAL to save lots of money), lock picking gloves, skullduggery gloves etc.
– Take off boots when quick travelling so they don’t wear out!
– Consider keeping hold of some wizard hats to boost intelligence or wisdom in the event that you can’t learn any more spells due to low intelligence or wisdom.

Quest Tips (SPOILERS):

– Ruel’s house isn’t that near the sea like the woman says, it’s somewhat inland. I wondered off into outlander territory looking for it (too far NE) and was getting ass-kicked but then stole loads of cool stuff off them and ran away.
– Kill the black molds in the pump room to get the copper key.
– Trust the first guy who tells you about the werewolf, it’s not a trick like you are led to believe 🙂
– Destroy the wasp nest with a powder keg or demon oil. Don’t use a bladed weapon for goodness sake.
– The treasure map from Everdale is for the East Fellpine Forest above the river.
– You can get into Port Kuudad via the sewers which you can reach by going the the caves near Everdale. Go North East when you exit the caves.
– For the 4 chests in the sewer that lead to a secret hideout you need: a candle, a bag of salt, a lockpick and quill. All these can be found and bought from shops. Sometimes you need to travel for a long time to make sure the shop restocks, then save and reload until the item you want is there.

Please add your tips too!

30 Responses to “Eschalon Book II Hints and Tips”

  1. Fida Says:

    In the first dungeon, try to kill rats with metal doors, you will get more exp this way.
    Always bash things in power mode to deal more damage.
    If you ran out of arrows (and no merchant sells them), quicktravel from Eastwillow to Port Kudaar and back few times and merchants will have new stock. I think there’s no time penalty (maybe only some score penalty)

  2. Grey Alien Games Says:

    Thanks Fida! I just added some more too.

  3. Grey Alien Games Says:

    I just added even more

  4. Saturday Helper Says:

    How to Kill Things
    Beetles, Goliath Tough looking giant beetles, they have a paralyzing blast. This affects you for five rounds (efficacy declines as the beetle is wounded). The beetles however have a limited range. Find the edge of the range, and kill them with ranged magical fire (level 3 or higher) recharging your batteries by camping as necessary. Alternatively, at Broken Blade and in some places in the pine forest, you can find narrow doorways or passages. stay their and smite them with fire/blood boil/ etc spells. Arrows are relatively inefficient. When their power is low enough, use a melee weapon to finish them off.
    Undead. Very tough, and chances of being hit by disease. Kill one by one at a distance, since they are very slow. Arrows or spells at level 3 and above. Do not engage in melee until they are down to a speck of life points. They also recover slowly, so you can hit one, go and camp, then come back and benefit from some of the damage you have previously inflicted on them.
    Taurax scout. Real toughie. Get a few barrels of gunpowder. Lay an ambush. Blow him up a few times. Then take your chances with a base 5 and above melee weapon, retreating, camping, and coming back as necessary.
    Salamanders. As undead, though they regenerate quickly. Make sure you tackle them one by one, by exposing yourself to one, making it follow you to a convenient killing ground, and doing it in, before returning for the next one.
    Dwarves (yes, sigh, you may ave to wack a few of those lovable little critters…). Decoy one by one into a side passage. Then as the undead.
    Harpy Eagles. They can save against elemental spells. Use a divination ranged spell against them, and you can kill them in the air. Interesting blood spots remain in the air above the rift. As usual, make sure you tackle them one by one.

  5. Grey Alien Games Says:

    Thanks very much! Keep the tips coming everyone.

  6. Stranger Says:

    You can clear the area near enter to the Taurax dungeon with this:
    – 2x mana potions (III)
    – 2x mana fortifications bottle (III)
    – learn ‘Mass Boil’ and ‘Invisibility’
    – drink mana fortify
    – kill everything in 2 minute using ‘Mass Boil’ (lvl 2) while Invisible (lvl 3). repeat drink mana potion, then mana fortify when needed.

    You can clear the area inside the Taurax dungeon with this:
    – good bow and arrows
    – ‘cold’ spels
    – ‘Invisibility’ learned
    – cast Invisible (lvl 3) and kill the beasts with ice spells and arrows – very effective.

    Does somebody believe that all four Crux’s can be separately obtained in EB II ???

  7. Quindaka Says:

    Hi I am very new to the game (first day playing). Went into the well and killed the dude down there. Went further west to a dead end and a room with two barrels of black powder. I think I’m supposed to blow them up to open to another room, but I don’t know how to ignite them. Also tried to backtrack but now the gate is locked and i can’t get back the way I came in. So can somebody help me ignite the black powder? Thanks

  8. Grey Alien Games Says:

    You can blow up barrels by shooting them with an arrow or spell.

  9. David Says:

    what reagents do you use to stegthen your sword and armor?

  10. thunderchris Says:

    -Hold onto all the training books you find for Alchemy, Bludgeoning/ Cleaving/ Sword Weapons, and Divination and Elemental Magick (unless you desperately need the skill!) until you get to Port Kuudad. You can train all those skills there, and it is much cheaper to buy lvl 1 and get two free skill levels.

    -The combination for the church chest is located on the large ‘city marker’ looking tombstone right outside.

    -Forage can be another great money making skill. A good stack of regeants can be a solid source of gold!

  11. Grey Alien Games Says:

    Great tips thanks!

  12. Quindaka Says:

    Hey all,
    Back again needing more help. Wend down into the Dwarven mines, go the security key, went thru the transporter, killed rats and spiders to get to the two-path transponders. One eventually leads you to the second and you end up in a room full of those mushroom-like plants that shoot you. Have tried several ways to get out of there – drink stoneskin and invisible, but can’t find a way out of the room you land in to get away from those plants! Where is the way out of the room and what’s the best way to avoid being scorched by the plants! HELP!

  13. Quindaka Says:

    I’m sure others know this by now, but camping is a great way to gather reagents and by the time you get up to 93 mana (where I am now) you can get a boatload when you camp to recharge your batteries. It allows you to make your own potions or gather reagents to sell to scrape up some cash.

  14. Grey Alien Games Says:

    Yep camping is indeed awesome when you collect stuff.

    I remember that mushroom room and recall dying once, but I can’t remember what I did after that. I may have avoid it. I think there’s a chest in there but I didn’t bother with it. Perhaps the Basilisk Games forums will have more clues?

  15. 2evill Says:

    Remember that you need foraging to get reagents from camping!
    A good tactic against enemies is to attack at night with nightvision on, they get -20% attack.
    The dam has a dwarven tomb with two urns. These spawn dwarven ghost if disturbed, and they are easily killed with magic because they are slow. The urns contain good loot.

  16. Khudukha Says:

    to get out of the room there is an illusinary wall near the eastern end of the NE wall

    how do you I get into the mages tower. I can’t get through the last portcullis.

  17. Ranmor Says:

    Use unarmed combat to break barrels ect open (particularly useful early on) … it prevents damage to your weapons.

    I also used the same tatic on the nest the farmer wants you to wipe out (on map next to starting village) … although it took longer you get extra xp from all the creatures spawned.

    Also, I don’t think anyone said this, the doorless room with chests can be accessed by donning bronze articles (armour, helm, sword ect) although I am not sure how much is needed.

  18. Grey Alien Games Says:

    Ah man I totally never figured out that Bronze armour solution!

  19. thunderchris Says:

    In Westwillow an easy, if time consuming way to knock out the zombies and skeletons is to lead them into the bricked area around Mayor Thadeus. He will cast lvl 3 Fleshboil on any enemy that is near him. Just continue to run around in a circle as he boils them down and collect your free XP!

  20. thunderchris Says:

    An update on Ranmor’s comment on the bronze chest

    I had bronze armor on legs, feet, head, and torso, with a bronze weapon and bronze shield. I tried equipping each piece as I went along but it looks like you need a full set.

    Also, the book you find can be taken back to the librarian in Port Kuudad for a NICE chunk of xp, as well as access to the basement archives. The 4 bells that can be picked up along the way look like they will do something for you on the bell stand.

  21. thunderchris Says:

    Update on the 4 Bells-

    Upon hanging the 4 bells you find throughout the world (blue, yellow, green, and red) on the bellstand in the Kuudad library basement you receive 30,000 xp. Thats right- THIRTY THOUSAND xp.

    The locations are
    yellow- in the thieves arcadia under the port kuudad sewers
    blue- up the ladder in westwillow, right behind the prospector, to a small island
    red- behind a wall you need to blast through in the hammerlorne mine
    green- on the second floor of the mage tower, kind of tucked out of the way.

    Once you have the four bells, and the Orukar book from the treasure room at Ruel’s house, all you need to do is click on the bell stand and enjoy your new levels.

  22. Susy Says:

    What happens, if I sold one of the bells to a store – can I find it again?

  23. Grey Alien Games Says:

    That’s a good question, I never tried that as I thought they were important. I think I got all the bells in the end but didn’t know what to do with them 🙁

  24. Rhythmaticus Says:

    Items found in chests are generated the moment you open them. To garner better loot try quicksaving right in front of the chest, opening it, and if you’re not happy with it just load game.
    Also, i found some pretty mean weapons in certain places. I’m not sure if these were randomly generated too, but chests seem to have an individual loot quality rating – some chests generate consistently better loot than others.
    – Bludgeoning weapon: Splitsunder. Check the chests in the dwarven mines second level. It’s the area called ‘aggregation room’ or something, with all the skeleton marauders guarding the lever.
    – Cleaving weapon: Hexedge. Got this as a reward for the Goliath Borehead killing quest, recieved from Magi Suramis in Port Kuudad temple. I reckon this would be the same every time.
    – Piercing weapon: Wraithbiter. For this one, you need to go way deep into Ironpool Dam, to the deepest part of Westwillow. Go past where you see the Prospector ghost dude. I would recommend having the element armour spell and finishing the Prospector quest down there first, as the chest is heavily guarded by skeleton archers and electric shock traps.

  25. Rhythmaticus Says:

    So….I need a little help then, what’s this thief place under Port Kuudad sewer? You put one of each of those items in each chest down there?? Then what? Is this the place where you solve the soulpiercer arrow quest? Please help!

  26. Jake Birkett Says:

    So when you place the 4 items a way down int the thieves’ den appears. Pretty sure you find out about the arrow quest when you get to the thief boss, but it’s been a while so I can’t recall, sorry.

  27. Chris Says:

    How do you kill the stone Gollom in the farrock mines? he regenerates as fast as i can gain mana points

  28. C4rnos Says:

    I think unarmed is a useful skill to have if you cannot otherwise repair your weapons, and very useful (get lvl 1 at least) to bash barrels and chests, as nothing gets worn out!

  29. Cronos Says:

    how do i use the lore spell it just says target obscured whenever i right click something in my inventory

  30. Nortadameus Says:

    there is big chest on horsrum magic npc on durnore, weapon npc on port kuudad but bihind somekind like jail bar, the question is…. 1. Can we get there? 2. (Destroy the jail bar) how? ty for any answer if there anysome answer for my questions;)