Temple of elemental evil...

[LordKathen]

Opinions?

[ 02-03-2004, 04:19 PM: Message edited by: LordKathen ]

[Albromor]

LK, I suggest going over to the Atari website forums and read their forum posts. There is a real mixed bag of opinions. The biggest problem is that it is montrously buggy. They have a list over there you would'nt believe if I told ya... It isn't Troika's fault, it is Atari's because they forced the game to be put out before Christmas.

There is one official patch that did NOT take care of all the bugs. There is a fan site called Circle of Eight and they made a patch before the official one came out! From what I understand you need to apply both and yet they still don't care of all the issues.

I can't remember who it is, you can find it in the forums, but one of Troika's own developers took his own Christmas vacation time to work on a second official patch. Troika is both angry and embarrassed and I don't think they'll ever deal with Atari again.

As for game play, some people absolutely love it, others hate it. I just think it takes getting used to a turn-based game of combat. It is the closest thing you can find in 3E rules out there. The graphics are very good, the voice acting sucks, and the game for some is short and and lacking depth. Troika had tons more they were going to add, but the Atari brass wouldn't give them time. Still, it is worth checking out once the the price goes down.

The bottom line is read the forum opinions and decide for yourself. I am going to give it a shot once I finish NWN. Just my 2 cents worth.

[LordKathen]

More like 2 bucks worth, thank you very much! I downloaded the demo from Atari website, and so far I like the turn base style. It is more like the old days of pen and paper. Thanks for the words.

[Wulfere]

I have the game. I took it off of my machine after a month. While yes, it does follow the 3E rules very closely, they took some of the rules very literally.

Things I liked...

1. Making up your own party.
2. The turn Based combat was fine once you got used to it.
3. Leveling up the characters and being able to make your own magical equipment.
4. The radial menus were very slick and easy to learn. Most of the interfaces were very intuitive.

Things I didn't like...

1. The TOO literal rules aplication that makes some monsters unbeatable.
2. The story was short and bland.
3. The fact that your character will never go beyond 8th level...or was it 10th.
4. The rest of the game.

This Game had a ton of potential...they wasted that potential. Wait for it to hit the bargain bins and pay maybe 10 bucks for it. Any more would be a waste of hard earned money. If they ever put out patches that fix all the bugs I may try it again.

[Albromor]

Wulfere, you took the words out of my mouth: "The Game had a ton of potential..." Troika truly had a ton to put in, but again the finger must be pointed directly the the grey suits at Atari. They wanted the Christmas $ big time and Troika was forced to capitulate a vast amount of their plans and purpose for this game. The original Temple of Elemental Evil is considered a classic Paper and Pencile module that Troika was taking great pains to be faithful to. Unfortunatly we will never see the dream Troika envisioned.

Again, LordKathen, check out the Atari forums and make your own decision.

[The Merciful]

All right...

The development time given by Atari was short, but very clear and pulicly known from the moment ToEE was announced. Troika agreed to the tight schedule, and when asked in iterviews about it, Tim Cain and Co. repeatedly ensured that they could make the game in time, and no corners were needed to be cut. As I recal, Troika was even given some additional time to finish the game when it looked like they couldn't make it in time.

The point is it's childish to jump to the blame-Atari bandwagon, and think Troika is somehow innocent even tough they couldn't quite keep what they agreed to.


As for the game, the combat is IMO best of all D&D games I've played (well, enemy magicians are bit lame), but there isn't much besides it. The begginning in Homlett can be pretty damn tedius.

[ 02-06-2004, 05:44 PM: Message edited by: The Merciful ]

[Wulfere]

The Merciful
I agree about the blame game...The game had potential but, it wasn't realized fully. I just hope that someday they patch it enough that it is playable. I enjoyed the way combat and the menus worked...just too many glitches for me to feel like I got my money out of it.

[The Merciful]

Speaking of patches, I just read on the official forums that the second official patch should be ready and at Atari's hands at the moment.

[Zoltan]

First time I played ToEE, I thought that this game is really good. Turn based system, Detailed D&D rules, side quests etc but then I realized that story is really poor and game is really short. Not to mention Millions of Bugs even if you install both co8 and official patches. It's not a good game. My rate is 2/5

[Betelgeuse]

a little help? a want to use a heal scroll but i can't see how to use it. in my rogue's hands there is a scrolls tab on the radial menu next to potions and inventory. but that's using 'use magic device'. at first the dc is 20 and when he hits it , it says something about emulating ability score and the dc becomes 31. in the hands of my cleric/barb, there is no scroll tab. a cleric should have access to a cleric scroll. what gives?

and on another note, is there a limit to how many notes you can put on a map? i labelled many buildings in the first town to help me remember, but it won't let me put any more.

as for the original point of this thread, i'm liking the game so far. turn based is the only way to go [img]smile.gif[/img] having so many rules from the books is good. i have patch 1 installed and it hasn't crashed yet. haven't really gotten into the plot yet. just a lot of running around in town so far, and getting rid of some brigands. the radial menu on the other hand is a little awkward. i'd like something simpler, with more keyboard shortcuts like pool of radiance: ruins of myth drannor.