The temple of elemental evil

[galic]

Does anybody out there have played "The temple of elememtal evil?". If yes, let me know your thoughts about it. I'm thinking on buying it but I do not see anybody talking about this game here. Thanks to all.

[Sir Degrader]

This should be in the misc. games forum, not here. Other then that, TOEE is one of my least favourite games EVER. Graphics are ok, but everything else is clunky and terrible sounding.

[TheCrimsomBlade]

This is the right place for that question because it was not asking how to play or what next should he do. he already has checked the other forum and hadn't seen anyone talking or playing that game so you should go to the general form for purchase advice.
As stated on the forum home page below.

General Discussion
Talk about anything you would like to! RPG's or not! This forum is extremely busy, and friendly. Don't be shy, join in!!

My advise is ;
If you like very slow games that are totaly turned based like the old Pen & Paper games then yes buy it but be aware that there is a very very large patch that needs to be downloaded befor you start playing.

[ 09-04-2004, 01:12 PM: Message edited by: TheCrimsomBlade ]

[Marathon]

I loved the game graphics and gameplay. Very tactical turnbased combat system. Probably my favorite combat system for any D&D game. A little light on story, but overall I really enjoyed the game. Originally had a lot of bugs, I think most have been fixed due to patches. I never had any problems finishing the game, but I know quite a few people did. Also, it's a very short game that was capped at gaining 10 levels. I would recommend looking for the "Circle of 8" patch as well as the official Atari patches if you do get the game.

[Lucern]

I liked the game a lot, with reservations of course. It was released too soon, but the patch isn't nearly as attrocious in size as some. Under 20 megs I think.

Anyway, the game comes the closest to any Dungeons and Dragons game to actually having the Dungeons and Dragons combat engine, and it does it in 3.5 edition as well. This said, you control a party of 1-8 (though, good luck with only one!), and you'll fight turn based battles. I give them points for lots of detail in the graphics (albeit dark a lot of the time), achieving a computer based version that stays true to the D&D game, having multiple ways to solve things, and for implementing the character generation and advancement with enough of the in-game skills and feats to keep you happy with that aspect. Being 3.5 D&D based, character generation and advancement is flexible. I won with a party all under 3.5 feet tall! Halfling and gnome power! My fighter was a sight to behold, wielding his longsword as a 2-hander felling ogres, giants, and elementals.

They lose points because it's a short game, because you HAVE to have the patch, because you spend most of your time in a dark dungeon that didn't port as well to PC as it worked out in a D&D tabletop module. I got along with the interface just fine, but the radial menu thing did get to me ocassionally. At least you're not doing it in real time like in Neverwinter Nights.

Some would take away more points because it's turn based, but I give it more points for that. Keep in mind that I'm also a fan of Steel Panthers, Silent Storm, XCOM series, and Jagged Alliance series, all varying degrees of heavy turn-based strategy. I also have the patience to play the ancient "gold-box" series of D&D games, having finished 5 of them. This one is often very light compared to those in terms of the strategy and the waiting.

So, I had fun with it, and I hope more turn-based D&D games are made. Don't pay $50 US for it though. It's approaching a year old and it didn't fare all that well. You can easily find it used online or otherwise.

[galic]

Thank you all, for your help. D&D is what I like.

[DBear]

Tried the demo--didn't care for it.

Never figured out how to use scrolls or magic items.

Having grown up on 2nd Edition, the 3.5 Edition rules might as well be in Swahili.

That said, it was kinda funny to see a gnome Paladin (wouldn't happen in 2nd Ed) swinging a sword longer than she was tall.

[seclists]

I have the game and have completed about two thirds (I know since I DM'ed the original pen&paper ToEE in the 1980s). I would say that it captures the atmosphere of the original module fairly well, and the visual & sonic atmosphere is sumptuous.

My biggest beef, though, is the user interface. Just a few examples:
-The default keymap sucks donkey's eggs. And you can re-assign keys only to radial menu (=character specific) actions. For example, there is no meaningful keyboard shortcut for selecting all characters (such as Ctrl+A, ever heard of it, eh? it's been Windows standard since Windows 3.0!), and there is no way to assign a key to this action since it is not in the character-specific radial menu.
-The radial menu is extremely cumbersome to use anyway.
-Moving the characters around is painful. If you thought that Baldur's Gates had terrible pathfinding algorithms, let me tell you, they were *nothing* compared to this. On an Athlon XP 3200, it usually takes several seconds to calculate the destinations (i.e., before the destination markers appear after you have clicked the desired destination). And even then, you only get a "best estimate" destination. Forget about trying to move a character to an exact location! You will, at best, end up next your desired destination, but never exactly there.
-One more pathfinding issue: pretty often the game only manages to calculate the path only for some of the characters, not all of them. This will result in some of party staying behind, idle, while a couple of characters charge forward. Your spellcasters could run into a hostile mob while the rest of the party are happily standing idle at the other end of the map!
-Oh yeah, the game occasionally "stops" for second or so, even on a relatively modern computer (Athlon XP 3200, 1GB RAM, Radeon 9800). The patches do not resolve this issue.
-It is sometimes excrutiangly difficult point the mouse at the desired target when there's a lot of "stacked" stuff on the screen. For example, an enemy is standing behind a player character: it will be extremely difficult (sometimes downright impossible) to target your magic missiles at the enemy without accidentally clicking on the friendly character - and no, the game does NOT ask you whether you really want hurt a friendly character! I have also accidentally performed "Full attacks" on my own characters in similar situations. Again, the game does NOT ask for confirmation; my paladin will happily slaughter my wizard. Another example of the "stacking" problem: if several monsters are killed on the same spot and their corpses become "stacked", it can be impossible to loot all of them, since you can use the mouse pointer to select the topmost one only. This can be a game-stopper, if the one that you cannot reach happened to carry a critical quest item...

Yes, this game is much shorter than the Baldur's Gates. The game has also crashed a few times after the most recent patch, too. I wouldn't even try it without patching first.

Some people have also complained about the story / adventure design, but these criticisms would be better directed at Gary Gygax - who designed the original module, rather faithfully converted into electronic format here. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Verdict: I am enjoying it. It is not comparable to the Baldur's Gates, but it is a decent substitute if you have already completed all Infinity Engine games and want more. Gorgeous-looking but ultimately let down by gameplay issues.

[ 09-08-2004, 02:03 AM: Message edited by: seclists ]

[seclists]

Add one issue for ToEE... this will contain a spoiler, so here's

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When fighting the fire temple mob, the game "stops" when my CG Barbarian kills one of the salamanders. It is as if the game is waiting for something to happen. I can end my barbarian's turn, not make him do anything. The turn is not passed to the next character/monster. I can move the mouse pointer around, but not do anything - not even bring up the save/load menu.
I wonder this is related to the Barbarian's Spring attack ability and/or Scather. I will try the combat again, this time I will leave the barbarian behind or have him wield an ordinary sword.
This bug is very repeateble (I've tried the combat 4 times now, and the bug occurred every time), and my game has been patched to the most current patch-level.

[Lucern]

SPOILER ALERT...


Seclists - DO NOT retry that if it's not too late. I know it's silly, but the harddrive I replaced in June froze at that point - then died. Now it 3 years old and I can understand it dying, but that freeze was its last hurrah. The new one froze there too. Since you'll get to 10th level with all characters most likely, just don't fight them. I had a rogue just steal the treasure while sneaking. But that freeze is a bad one, not one you can get out of by Alt-Tab easily!