The Temple of Elemental Evil

The Themple of Elemental Evil is a flawed game. It has tons of bugs, the game can crash randomly, it has gamebreaking bugs that can block your progress. And despite all that I find this game to be one of the best experiences of Dungeons and Dragons adaptations in the videogame scene. The game ports the 3.0 D&D ruleset almost perfecly, you can perform any action allowed by the tabletop ruleset and it adapts one of the most iconic adventures in D&D history, The Temple of Elemental Evil. I will not proceed into the analysis of the D&D module, but for the purposes of a videogame, it does just fine. The graphics are beautiful, and despite having 3d models that are dated today, the far away camera and pre-rendered scenarios make a game that is visually very appealing for today standards. One last thing, is that the comunity for this game made a mod called The Circle of Eight, that fixes most of the game problems. And the same modders made custom campaings that can be played on the game engines, all for free.

Spent the morning getting the circle of 8 modpack working... Took uninstalling and reinstalling a time or two, then tweaking the game to my liking from the in game options menu. If you are not lazy this is good deal on an awesome game. If you are lazy, just complain here like the rest of the couch potatoes. :):):)

This is the first game I've bought on GOG.com. Albeit not perfect, this game feature a unique combat system with turns in which you can state the action of each character and until you haven't decided that action, the game doesn't go ahead. While this inevitably slows the course of the game, it is the only way to recreate the flavor of the original "old" DnD combat system, in which a single clash could last several hours. I wish more games could feature a similar system, based on strategy much more than action. The graphic is still quite good for a game issued in 2003. The main campaign is quite linear, many side quests are fun, the character progression is fast enough but doesn't allow to reach astral levels and so a good swordplay is much needed even if your magic user can cast lots of fireballs. If you have time you can also mess up with magic and create your magic items. Only the last part of the quest is a little bit boring (too much combat and combat and more combat). All this reverts me 30 years back in time and it is enough for me to give 5 stars.

This game should be considered unfinished without the two must-have mods: Circle of Eight and Temple+. Without these mods, the game is buggy and lackluster, but then a lot of other games are as well. With these mods, the game is a rare gem. This game is deep...very deep...and extremely satisfying for those who have the patience to delve into the depths of this game's possibilities.. And yet, a lot of people have complaints. Let me comment on some of the more frequent ones. Yes - ToEE takes time to learn to play well. But so does X-COM, especially with the Long War mod installed, and yet it's considered one of the best tactical strategy games ever made. Yes - ToEE requires learning a whole new DnD system that is full of rules and combat nuances. But so does Pillars of Eternity, and that game is completely worth the effort. Yes - ToEE's story is thin. But so is the one for Icewind Dale I and II, and those are fantastic hack-and-slash games. ToEE is at heart a dungeon delving game, not a grandiose tale of epic proportions. No - the game isn't linear. The game is very replayable, with nine different starting points, thousands of character possibilities, and multiple endings - all based on your choices during play. For gamers who like a challenge, who want to take their time in combat, and for whom ping rates are less important than strategy - this game is a blessing. Judge the game for what it is, not what you wish it to be. For the style of gaming and the kind of player that ToEE was meant to cater to, it's darn near perfect. And once you're done, you can install the Keep on the Borderlands module (a whole other adventure), or run the Icewind Dale module (some modders have recreated the Prologue from that game on the ToEE engine, and the rest of the game is being worked on as well).

This is much more hardcore D&D than Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale. The campaign is a short self-contained D&D module, but it sticks much closer to the rules of the tabletop game. You will quickly learn that levelling up in any way possible before you even leave the village is very important as the battles can be very tough. This is well worth considering if you enjoyed the other D&D based titles, but it is a much tougher challenge. The game as it originally shipped was a buggy mess, but there are several fan made patches that fix a whole lot of issues. I have the original disc version, but I'll probably buy this when I'm feeling flush for the convenience of having this classic on hand easily. Recommended for any RPG enthusiast.