The Temple of Elemental Evil

Incredible game that is extremely faithful to the Dungeons & Dragons third edition ruleset spearheaded by the legendary Timothy Cain. Temple Of Elemental Evil released in a very shoddy state, but as with all Troika games was a masterpiece held back by extreme production pressures, scope ambitions and the sheer reality of not having enough resources to fully actualize the vision. Most of those issues are resolved now with community patches and content so Temple Of Elemental Evil stands on its own as one of the excellent RPGs.

The Baldur's gate games may have had a better story. Neverwinter Nights may have had better graphics. But for the true DnD fan, no other game offers anything as close to the table top experience as ToEE. Nearly all of the core 3.5 rules, feats, and skills are here, with excellent dungeon design and hours of turn-based tactical gameplay. Temple of Elemental Evil is a continuance of one of Greyhawk's iconic dungeons, originally developed by Gary Gygax himself for the original DnD rule set decades ago. The back story of the Temple is long and diffuse, overarching 3 decades and at least 3 different rule systems, but even those completely unfamiliar with the table top game will find a lot to like here. It is the only CRPG to my knowledge that makes good use of the third edition alignment system, altering the main quest and opening to suit the alignment of your party. There won't be any lawful good Paladins running with chaotic evil Barbarians here. In addition to the main quest, there are dozens of side quests and dungeons to discover and complete, and an excellent combat system that includes many of the tactical maneuvers from the table top game that haven't been implemented in many other video games, including trip, grapple, and rush. This opens up a wealth of turn-based tactical fantasy combat with a high replay value. My only gripes with this game would be the somewhat sparsity of the story, and the relative shortness of the game itself. The level cap only goes to 10, and the final dungeon just seems to come way too quickly. Playing through the table top version of Monte Cook's 3rd edition ToEE campaign lasted for months of several hours a week play; a determined player could probably finish this game in 20 hours or less. However, the excellent level design, turn-based combat, authentic item creation system, replay value, and role-play elements make this game a must-buy for any RPG fan that wants to delve into a complex and well-developed tactical experience.

Faithfully follows D&D 3.5 rules and gameplay without a grid based battle map. Truth be told it might be the only D&D game which uses the 3.5 system. I've had so much fun with this game throughout the years and used to own a real copy at a point that I'm still playing, so giving this game anything but a 5/5 would be a crime against myself. If you are reading this without my rose tinted glasses I got to say that the game is alright, the combat is excellent and the story is nothing special. Just like in real D&D you roll up characters and a lot of builds can be made in character creation. The game consists of two towns, one dungeon and a mega dungeon with a few areas outside of these relevant to different quests. With other words do not expect a huge world to explore like boulders gate. Still I recommend the game highly and nowadays it is well worth its money.

The reason I like this game so much is that each battle needs some planning, and thus the party you create needs a lot of thought.. and thus ;)... its a thinking mans D&D game..very absorbing... wonderfully slow paced which I prefer.. and very faithful to 3.5 rules which had just been released. So the money I saved on Antara went here ;)

In spite of applying the much lauded Circle of Eight patch this game still suffers many noticeable bugs (Windows 7, 64 bit). I get roughly half a dozen CTDs per every two hours of game time as well as other oddities. One of the latest is one where I click to move a party member and they move, for about a second, before halting causing me to have to click repeatedly to get the party going- highly annoying. Still, the combat is bar none and it somehow pulls me in despite the bugginess. Recommended if you can stomach a classic DnD game that is still rough around the edges even after 8 frickin' years.