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Temple of Elemental Evil

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 99
Date: May 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Troika, a group of RPG veterans who have worked on such great games as Fallout, and Arcanum, are about to release a game we have all dreamed about.

Working with WOTC, and even Gary Gygax himself, Troika is recreating the Temple of Elemental Evil so that it will be the first 3.5 edition Dungeons and Dragons computer role playing game.

Total faith to the 3.5 rules, and total faith to Gary Gygax's classic module is what Troika is making in their development house. Expect classic turn based RPG action, in a module that will delight both old and new fans of CRPG's.

This game is not out yet, nor is any demo, but with Troika at the helm, expect this game to be handled well. These guys know how to make a good RPG, and with the Temple of Elemental Evil as source material, it is hard to go wrong.

Troika + Gygax + D&D = RPG hit

The Game NWN Should have been

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 50
Date: September 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The rightful heir to the throne the Baldur's Gate series once held is almost here!! When are developers(and publishers) going to realize---it's the gameplay, stupid! That's the reason that NWN and its expansion packs are headed directly to the bargain bin. That's why BG2, a game that was completely 2D while everything else was 3D was one of the best reviewed and best selling games ever. That is why This Game is going to do well, and deserves to do well. These guys know their gaming fans. They want rewarding gameplay, multiple detailed storylines, gorgeous graphics(even if they are mostly 2D), and a game that feels like its filled to the brim with character. Not bland environments that bore the gamer to sleep.

If you ever played Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, or any other roleplaying game, and just wished it had more depth--then Temple is the right game for you. Please, buy this game! Don't let the mindless clones like UT take over the gaming market! Buy this quality product and make a statement you want substance over nice packaging and snazzy-sounding features on the back. It's what's inside the box that still counts, right?

Finally what I'm looking for!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: January 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I started by playing the demo. There was another article by a person who played the demo that I have to somewhat agree with. This game does not make everything uber easy. Your not going to survive every encounter like most games. Resting is difficult, and it should be. If I'm sleeping in a dungeon, I deserve to wake up to a cadre of ghouls or giant rats. But if I think about the situation, find a room with a door, close it, and then rest I'm okay the vast majority of the time. The game, and especially the demo are great once you realize that this game makes you think a little and is not extremely easy. And in my opinion, that's the way it should be.
On another note, I'm completely psyched that someone has brought back the turn style encounters. Time freezes and allows you to choose what you want each character to do. To me this game is more like the table version than any other game I've played in a long long time. Great graphics to boot. Make sure you get all updates before you play the game. Its worth it. Good job atari!!!!!!!

True to DnD

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: October 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Hello there all of you who visit Amazon.com

I wanted to say few words about this product just because it seems that some people have missunderstood the concept of this game. Some of you might know that the key developers of this game have also been working on games like Fallout and Arcanum - both games with an original world and original quests. But this time Troika (the developer) wanted to create a game which would be true to the original DnD system which was not a computer game at all. yes, other companies have tryed to convert that feeling before but in my opinion they have failed to deliver the "rights" feeling - Troika did it. I'm loving this game, it may not have the great worlds of Arcanum or Fallout, heck I can say that's it's a dungeon crawl, but it has the best such game I have ever played.

So if you're into tactical fighting, DnD and some adventuring this is the game for you.

Bugs, yup there are some bugs, I've not seen any game stoppers (some claim that there are) but I've encoutered few of them - most of the "bugs" are actual the way the game is supposed to be. But there will be a patch any time soon so maybe you can keep waiting for few more days and you will have the game of the year.

Why do I like this game ? Is it the story - I have to say that the story is that great what I was waiting from Troika, but it's because the game is a perfect copy of the original module - Troika put something new into it and also changed the world to fit the new 3.5 ruleset. The story isn't original (it's great, but not an Oscar winning writing). The game world isn't original (all DnD games are alike - more or less). It's the way the game world reacts to your actions, it's all in the choices you can make.

And also I have to say that the game looks fantastic. Don't even try to tell me that the engine is same with the one they used in Arcanum ( yes yes, I know it's somewhat the same engine but gazillion new lines of code).

I hope this was helpfull and I also hope that you would try this game before you judge it.

Finished at last, and boy is it great.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

About a month ago, upon creating my party, doing the 1 minute alignment specific beggining sequence, and seeing how beautiful the game's artwork is, I attempted my first quest. The only problem was; the npc who I had to talk to mysteriously disappeared. I then realized the game wasn't exactly finished. Troika just recently released a patch and I have redelved into the world of GreyHawk. I have found one of the best games of the year.

Being a jaded computer role-player, I am quite hard to please. Diablo II and Baldur's Gate II seem to be the template for just about every RPG nowadays, sticking with recycled mechanics and a fresh coat of paint. Which is a safe, albeit uninspired, route. Apparently the creators of TOEE have enough respect for what they create, and enough interest in what they are doing, to break this slump.

Upon entering the game the player is greeted by instant gratification visually. Every detail of what one might expect in a cookie cutter (not a bad thing) fantasy universe is smoothly implemented. In other words; everything flows and fits. The wisplike fireflies of the night, the town drunkard, the random encounters with "bandits", and the political church all are there. They aren't there because the developers were trying to be different, they're there because they should be. PS: They are also there because this is a faithful adaptation of the module with the same name.

As you do the mildy uninspired quests to get to the first mini dungeon (leading up the the epic temple dungeons of course), the main meat of the game is introduced: combat. This is more of a D&D creation than any game before it, going with nothing less than an ambitious turnbased mechanic. Every tactical endeavor must be preasent for success. And oh boy, is the challenge fun.

But of course, there are several ways to do many of the situations, and many of the confrontations can be avoided. My main strategy though is to charm the biggest monster I can find and then kill everything.

With all this killing, you may be wondering about the story. Well, there isn't really a story. This game is all about Dungeons and Dragons. The nostalgia many of us have about it, the aptmosphere behind it, and the feeling you get whith two criticals in a row. Nothing could stop the developers from achieving their clarity.

Now go buy this game.

BUGS, BUGS AND A GREAT D&D GAME!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: March 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you like D&D on the PC you will love this, If you play "pen and paper" this is probably the best entry into PC D&D gaming. The engine is great and spellcasting could not be easier or more rewarding.

The bugs are real bad:
1) Patch the game before using.
2) If you know little about computers or get easially frusterated look into neverwinter. But patch that one too.

An Awesome Way to Discover the World of Greyhawk

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: March 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First I'd like to say I never had any problems running this game. I popped it in, downloaded it, and played it with no weirdness. Smooth as could be. Also I strangely did not have a level cap, but just kept getting new spells and feats, etc. (I honestly think something went wrong here--but my characters just kept leveling up beyond where I think the game was programmed to prevent me. Hey give me more bugs like that anytime!)

The gameplay feels a lot like Baldur's Gate (which is the computer game that made me fall in love with both the Forgotten Realms and computer RPG's--the best computer RPG of all time) with much of the same freedom to explore and do things in any order you want, and to approach problems from a variety of angles. Most of all, it is a great way to fall in love with D&D's Greyhawk setting if you're like me and pretty much have only gotten to know it in snippets from the 3rd edition core rulebooks. It is wonderful to immerse yourself in, an engaging story that will suck you in for hours and hours.

A couple of warnings. First the game is HARD. You will be challenged to think tactically about every fight you get into, even the random encounters along the roads, and even then you will die horribly a lot. They throw some mean badguys at you without flinching. I loved the challenge of it, but I can see how all the merciless slaughter could turn away someone who's used to games that pamper them a bit more.

Also as mentioned in another review, you'll find that any adventuring companions you run into will get first cut of the loot when looting enemies. I can see why they did it, to reflect the fact that characters who join your party don't automatically become your slaves, but still it can be a bit frustrating, especially when an ally pilfers the best stuff off a body literally on the other side of the map from him and you cannot get him to return it. Also if the comment made is true, and the NPC's will overload themselves, then that's another big headache. What I found as a solution was this: Give the NPCs all the worthless big items you're carrying around (quarterstaves, rocks, arrows, etc) until you fill all their inventory spaces. They won't be able to pick up anything but coins and won't get encumbered. The other easy fix is to kill your NPC companions as soon as they've outlived their usefullness and get your stuff back (gee, any guess what the alignment of my party was?)

On the whole I was impressed by the game. I found the graphics very pretty (a refined version of what you get in Baldur's Gate--a bit of a dated presentation compared to Neverwinter Nights, but very nicely drawn and animated). The dialogue options were great--with four or five responses available at each branch of conversation I was usually able to say some flavor of whatever I would have wanted my character to say. The NPCs were colorful and fun, always worth talking to, and the main plot when you enter the Temple is really absorbing. My one regret is that apparently there is some demon queen ultimately responsible for the ills in the game, but for the life of me I could never find her--though I did run into two gods and fought gobs of uberpowerful devils and demons across the elemental planes before finally submitting to the will of my dark lord. Heh-heh, how often does a game let you do THAT?

Toee is a really good game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: July 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I think that most gamers didn't have enough patience to play this great game too much. The fact that it is made by a company smaller and not so famous as bioware doesn't mean that they didn't make a good game and you should throw it out the window after seeing some bugs. I haven't played the pen&paper module, but the computer game really has a nice atmosphere. The dozens of npcs you meet and join you all have strong personalities and the fact that you don't see their char record and have to experiment with them a little is really neat.
So what if it has some bugs? there are a lot of patches on the internet and exp cap removers and modules to fix all of those. I think Troika did a great job, the graphics in my opinion are the best in a d&d computer game, and the dungeon-crawling fun beats neverwinter nights' shadow of the undrentine (a lousy addon) from my point of view.

Just like DnD only buggy ;)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First off this is definately as close to pen-and-paper DnD as has been done. The changes are explained and in my opinion are minor. The combat is helping me, as a DM, to better understand the tactics used in 3.5 (since I write all the story I don't have time to playtest fights or what not).
Second, it's got some bugs. Every game I've ever played does and this is no exception. When they get these worked out I'd give it a 6, because...
The replay value is tremendous! Each alignment has subtle differences and Good vs. Evil are very diff, as one works to destroy temple and the other works to save it. All quests require cleaning the moathouse, so don't let that similarity discourage you, they (G vs E) are very different. And evil has at least two paths that are different.
All-in-all I think Troika did great and that this will be a stepping stone to an even greater work from them.

Awesome Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is by far the best D&D simulation of all time. I truly loved the old gold box games - for their time they were brilliant an a lot of fun - but this game is really as close to the real thing as I hoped. I also enjoyed the Baldur's Gate games and Neverwinter Nights, though I found Torment to be a lot less like D&D and more like its own game. ToEE is, without a doubt, the best of the bunch.

I always dislike the limited number of conversation options available for computer "RPGs", but that's my main gripe. The combat system is organized and easy to manipulate. It's all turn based - just like the real thing. There's no lame click-click-click combat which requires no strategy or thinking. This is NOT your mindless Diablo-type game. The AI is remarkable in that certain monsters will focus totally on the spellcasters and try to kill them, while other, dumber monsters just go for whoever is closest.

I remember playing the original ToEE and a few of the encounters and running into the characters from the module was a real kick. I didn't remember enough to spoil the game though and there are enough differences so that everything is new and fresh.

As far as bugs go, I have encountered some, like monsters in walls and one crash to desktop, but nothing major. An up-to-date computer is recommended, as one of my friends with an older system has had more issues than I have. I agree that Atari/Troika should have refined the game and cleared up the problems prior to release, but even with the bugs it's the best game I have played in years.

Now... How about making the sequel for levels 10 and up using the Against the Giants series? I'm in!

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