Posted on: April 1, 2011
SkeleTony
Verified ownerGames: 463 Reviews: 13
As good as D&D-based RPGs get
Tjhis game is FULL of "role playing" goodness. You just have to understand that the "role playing" part of the term "Role Playing game" does NOT refer to what actors mean when they 'search for good roles to take'. The "role playing" in RPGs refers to the TACTICAL role of characters in a party. RPGs are a direct descendent of table-top war games. Where war games emphasized 'armies' or entire crews(i.e. tanks) within larger armies(and 'divisions', 'brigades' etc.), the RPG emphasized single 'characters' as units within a 'squad'(called a "party"). So they are4 technically squad-based tactical games. D&D, even in it's best form(re: the 3.5 ed. rule set) is fraught with nonsensical, illogical game mechanics. "Hit points" being nonsensically defined to rationalize their equally nonsensical increases with experience(RuneQuest did away with this way back in the late 1970s but most RPGs are still playing catch up here), the "Fire and forget" spell system(ugh! How did this ugliness survive for decades after better systems were introduced?!), etc.. But ignoring problems of logical consistency within the rules set, ToEE is a great game. Whereas Baldur's gate forced you to create a single character and then recruit others(unless you use the multiplayer work around) and Icewind Dale does not allow for recruiting RPCs at all, ToEE makes a nice compromise by allowing you to create five and recruit three. This allows you to make sure you have the party you want while still allowing you to recruit additional members who may offer unique benefits. The radial menus used here are a crappy feature and make the interface kind of screwy but this is a minor quibble I suppose. Being a more combat-oriented game than say Baldur's Gate, it is a good thing they went with true turn-based combat. In this respect ToEE is far superior to both of the Baldur's gate games because you do not have to struggle with pathing issues when you give orders to your characters(not to mention the 'feats' and such of 3rd edition D&D).
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