The Temple of Elemental Evil

Pop quiz hotshot: Three Bugbears have launched an attack against your party in a confined room, your thief is knocked unconscious and your barbarian is soaking up shots like an underground ooze and your wizard is down to her last spell. More of the creatures are approaching from a nearby tunnel and the bugbear leader has just gone wild with battle rage...things are getting hairy. So what ya gonna do hotshot? And the answer is, 'Well this being Temple Of Elemental Evil my good sir, i can bally well do quite a lot thank-you very much, now bugger off and let me play'. TOEE is all about the combat. As an rpg it has little to offer other than it's setting, as a turn based combat dungeon crawler it provides entertainment in spades. From the intial party creation the level of detail is apparent. There are a nice mixture of character classes and a huge number of skills and special feats to choose from alongside the many spells. Weapons too are expanded to an impressive armoury, and whilst a typical two handed sword may provide hefty damage, the more unsual length of spiked chain or ranseur have different benefits that may make choosing a weapon proficiency a harder choice than in other rpg's. The ruleset used in TOEE was a newer version than most other D&D games had used previously, and while at first glance it is overwhelming it does lead to a more tactical and enjoyable combat-intensive game. Tooltips provide a brief description of the different abilities, but it still takes a bit of patience and time to sift through all the data. The game itself is a visually pleasent isomentric world, filled with nicely animated monsters and special effects with an unsual electronic soundtrack rather than a typical fantasy fanfare. Depending on the alignment chosen, the reason for you party's adventure in the world of Greywolf could range from a missing persons case to wanton 'just for the hell of it' destruction. Choosing an alignment and watching a different opening cutscene and endgame scene is really about as rpg as TOEE gets. A few of the NPC's will appear in a different light depending on your alignment, but TOEE is all about busting dungeons wide open and tackling ever greater..and more numerous threats to your party. From lumbering and deadly giants to annoying ticks, the monster list in TOEE is fantastic and contains some classic D&D baddies like the giant gelatinous cube, which i don't think i had ever seen in a pc game before. Combined with the games difficulty...getting that first experience level can be a pain..and you will treat the new and oversized creatures you meet with caution until you know just what their strengths and weaknesses are. To deal with the enemies encountered on your quest the list of combat options is impressive. Do you fight defensively or charge into the fray for extra damage? Cast a spell or ready a counter spell? Move, run, trip an opponent, slice them open while they lie unconsious. The list goes on and the higher up the level ladder you climb the more feats and spells that become available to your characters..even crafting magical weapons or potions becomes an option. The curse of the Troika bugs is no longer an issue with TOEE, so if your a fan of deep and challenging turn based, squad level strategy then this game is a must. The original release contained a couple of towns, outdoor locations (and random encounter maps) and a starter dungeon as well as the Temple itself. The Circle Of Eight mod changes many things in the game and adds a heap of content, so if you do purchase the game make sure to grab their download.

ToEE is simply put an outstanding RPG. Much like Icewind Dale, it focuses on combat, but the RPG part is still important : you will have VERY different quest and a very different journey through the Temple depending on your alignment or even race. Combats respect almost perfectly the DD3.5 rules, which is at the same time a blessing (turn by turn, most interesting combats of video games using the D&D licence) - they are really interesting, not so common, and deadly. The main drawback of the game, the fact that about 50% of the game occurs in the Temple. The Temple is interesting, diversified, and includes severals secrets and faction, but still. There are only two "cities". Two things to note : - There is a "Iron Mode" included in the game. No loading upon failure. If you have some guts I recommend it - if you are smart you can win the game that way (I myself failed once just before the very end, without having played the game in "normal mode" ever again. - You should use the mods made by Circle of Eight, which correct bugs and add some content. http://www.co8.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=f546a02c787157f1be35bfdb5e76a586&f=49

Let's get real. This is not a 5-star game. It's maybe a 4. But is it worth your time and play? Here are the details and you decide: The Underlying Mechanics This game uses D&D 3.5 rules almost perfectly. It has, essentially, a D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook built into its encyclopedia. Want to cast Magic Missile but don't know what it is? Click the blue word MAGIC MISSILE and it'll come up with the handbook mention. Same for feats, classes, skills, races, weapons, armors and more. The Story It's fairly dull and bare compared to instant classics like Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate. The Combat Gameplay Top notch. Every combat is fun and unique. I find this game to be my absolute favorite in turn-based combat. The Noncombat Gameplay It's got bugs (thousands -- but www.co8.org takes care of pretty much all of them in an unofficial patch). Dialog is obviously incomplete. You can use D&D skills to craft items, buy a house for free rest, pick-pocket people and some other fun things. So it's really not horrible. vs. Test of Time I was actually playing this before GOG put it on. I have it on disk. And I'm still playing it. It's fun, even today. And that's in comparison to BG 1&2, Dragon Age, NWN 1&2. Graphics/Sound Good enough Circle of 8 This game can be grossly enhanced using the Cirlce of 8's patching. www.co8.org And with people working on patching it up even more and adding more modules, it's possible that this game will have an even longer life than anyone could know.

It was one of the first, if not the first, rpg's to implement the 3.5 edition d&d rules. The fact that the combat was turn-based also meant that the d&d system felt generic like in almost no other games. The graphics were beautiful then and still are very enjoyable today. Another thing that also stayed with me from the game is the great music. It is realy atmospheric and perfectly catches the ambiance in every scene. the game's main focus lies clearly on the combat aspect, much like the icewind dale series, maybe even more so. Dialog's are realy thin compared to games like Baldur's gate. I had a very good time with this game and played it several times. If you like d&d games or isometric rpg's like Baldur's gate, you can't go wrong with this game.