Sell me on ToEE

Eye Tyrant · Nov 17, 2003

I just found out about this game (pretty weak, I know) and have heard about all these bugs and patches, etc. Is it a good game? Should I rush out and pick it up or wait for Santa?

Henry · Nov 17, 2003

First of all, have you read the following thread?

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64028

It's a bunch of first-hand experiences from those of us who have the game.

Second, the engine is good, but the game is not very long. The fun comes in trying the different alignment options, experimenting with doing certain things different ways, and just enjoying the fullest implementation of 3E rules yet to date.

Third, most of the problems vanished for me when I applied the official patch.

Zogg · Nov 17, 2003

I haven't bought the game, but I urge you to be wary! I have heard more negative stories than positive.

Lazybones · Nov 17, 2003

I have it and have played through the first areas, but I ultimately got bored and went back to multiplayer NWN.

I'd say that if you enjoyed the combat elements of Baldur's Gate, you'll like this. It's basically a 3.5e D&D tactical combat game. The role-playing/character development aspects are strictly incidental to beating up the bad guys in this game IMO.

LightPhoenix · Nov 17, 2003

My only complaints with the game are that it's extremely resource intensive, especially at certain points in the game (*coughFireNodecough*) and that there are so many errors with the data entry.

Overall I had the same experience as Lazybones though - I just got bored with it.

I am waiting to see people start making modules for it though - from what I looked through of the system files (written in Python) it wouldn't be too difficult. Certainly not as easy as NWN, but definitely possible.

Murrdox · Nov 18, 2003

Still playing it, still loving it!

Haven't solved it yet, but I can't wait to go through with an evil party.

Let's just say that the game is COOL enough that I tolerate the bugs, especially the resource-intensive areas at the very end of the game... like the firenode.

Chaz · Nov 18, 2003

This is one I was eagerly waiting for since news first leaked out it was being made(way back when). I didnt buy it when it first came out do to an unexpected financial problem. Then once I was ready to get it again I had heard about SO many problems I held off. Now im not likely to get it for a while. Maybe some day in the discount bin... I dunno.

Peace

JRRNeiklot · Nov 18, 2003

I'm thinking of getting this game, as well. I haven't found a game I could play till the end since BG2. I've tried Lionheart, Arcanum, Divine Divinity, NWN, among others and none could hold my attention. How does TOEE compare to those?

LightPhoenix · Nov 18, 2003

JRRNeiklot said:
I'm thinking of getting this game, as well. I haven't found a game I could play till the end since BG2. I've tried Lionheart, Arcanum, Divine Divinity, NWN, among others and none could hold my attention. How does TOEE compare to those?

Can't speak for any of them besides NWN.

The module that comes with NWN is crap. Picking up some of the user-made modules makes the game much more enjoyable, as does the online aspect - neither of which you'll get with ToEE. Well, user-made modules are possible in ToEE, but I don't think we'll see any for a while yet.

Olgar Shiverstone · Nov 18, 2003

You won't see any user-made modules for ToEE, unfortunately -- the art is all hand-rendered, not tile-based like NWN. So unless there's a user out there with his own art department to to do all the backgrounds, the tools aren't there to do custom mods, even though the engine is easy to program.

I've liked ToEE a lot, even with the bugs -- I've yet to experience a game-stopping bug, and the patch has fixed most of the minor bugs I would otehrwise complain about. It's the most true-to-D&D rules CRPG out there, and the combat engine is great. It still has the flaw of not as much character interaction/RP (compared to BG2, say), but I'd put that element on par with the Icewind Dale series.

I actually went back to try a couple of user-made mods in NWN recently, and had to quit after an hour -- the repetitive sameness of the tiled background was boring, and the "click on target, apply no tactics" style of combat was incredibly frustrating after ToEE's combat engine -- but note that I only play single-player games, which is hardly NWN's strength.

Edit: The official demo (which is all dungeon-crawl action through the moathouse) is out, download and give it a try!