Big, big game, lots to do, meshes several genres and pulls it all off really well; tons of freedom/non-linearity, good replay value.... Great Game 5 stars!
More like an erratic, disjointed rant than a "traditional" review, 'cause that's how I roll, so here's how it is: I started playing D&D back in the early eighties; still have my original manuals,etc., I've been computer gaming forever and rpg's are my favorite.. I've been looking for *years* for a BG2 type game, full party creation, epic, super long... lots of quests and lots of ways to tweak your characters, etc... a game that makes you *care* about the party you create, you know what I'm talkin' about.. so I've played my Arkania's, my Icewind Dales, my dosbox rpg's, my snes wizardry games (again...) etc... always looking for that "best" one... I didn't buy ToEE years ago when it was first released because my hardcore gamer friends told me it was horrible... I let it go at that and never gave the game another thought.... turns out there's been some ridiculously serious bug fixing and modding going on for quite a few years now... so what you need to do is get this game, which comes from GoG *fully patched and compatible and ready to go with the Circle of Eight Mod Pack* which you will Google and download.. then you will simply apply that one mod and you will own the best party based game you've played in a long, long time.. spent hours creating my party.. you can switch members in and out like Wizardry... graphics are the best for a game of this type.. there are clothes (capes, pointy hats, etc.) of different colors that you will dress your party with when you create them, allowing for great customization,along with hairstyles/colors, etc., and arms/weaps of course... I made my dream thief... finally a game that lets me use my thief like I'm actually playing D&D.. I mean, the combat in this game feels like Jagged Alliance 2 sometimes; you wanna just sit back, relax (and get tense!) and take your time with each fight, really using each heroes' abilities; everything counts and there are TONS of options and it can get intense, like JA2... it's THAT cool.. so... I make my dream thief and she's a 3 feet tall (you can adjust height!) Halfling, she's got a black hood/cloak combo; the cloak blows around nicely, the physics are exceptional for this type game... The classic magic missile spell... My first cast in the game.. I just sat and smiled.. watching it slowly fly around the screen almost like an insect then home in and POW!!... the enemies are varied and amazing.. the fights are never boring.. I spent a few hours the other night just traveling back and forth over the world map to get into random encounters to level up my characters (and have fun!) it wasn't a chore, it didn't feel like a grind because it was so intense! You will smile when you see the character creation screen(s)... you will love dressing your heroes to look the way you like them; appropriate size, colors, etc... armors and weaps (tons!) look really nice and distinct.. animations are excellent.. characters are large on screen (or smaller; you can set many resolutions) ...of course there are many Feats, Skills, Spells and abilities, etc., for you to play with... Many environments; the ambience in the game is great, this game *will* suck you in from the very beginning... You'll be re-rolling/re-allocating stats to create your dream party and you'll be smiling the whole time.. You know how the portraits don't always "match" your characters in games like this? Well, my Cleric has antlers on her helmet in her portrait... and wouldn't you know, she found a helmet just like it ;-).. little touches, little touches.... this game is Quality... Re-playability, oh yes... for a long, long, long time... My search is over. Two downloads. This game. And the Circle of Eight Modpack.
