The Codex's official opinion on Temple of Elemental Evil?

[Konjad]

This game has outstanding graphic, great atmosphere and combat... but is it enough to make it for not so good dialogues, bland quests and good&evil world? IMO it is, I really loved the game for it's pros. Dialogues were from bad to good but in the end they were okay, at least if you don't expect them to be better than the ones in Baldur's Gate. The combat is the best one I've ever seen in any cRPG game, same goes for graphic with isometric camera.

 

[Ancient]

Like it very much , because i enjoy combat in this game and combat is like 80% of game itself :D

 

[Tycn]

I have a shameless bugbear fetish

 

[Topher]

Character creation is a blast and I enjoy the combat. I also like the fact that I can get good use out of a fighter-thief type character with the 3rd edition rules.

 

[Jack]

Best RPG since Arcanum.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Get the fuck out.

The combat is the best one I've ever seen in any cRPG game

You don't play many cRPGs, don't you?

 

[Jack]

 

[Konjad]

Get the fuck out.

The combat is the best one I've ever seen in any cRPG game

You don't play many cRPGs, don't you?

What cRPGs had better combat?

 

[Darth Roxor]

Off the top of my head, the regular contestants: Wizardry 8, Betrayal At Krondor, Knights of the Chalice. I could probably come up with more if I thought about it some more.

Fuck, I'd even take both Icewind Dales over ToEE. Despite their rtwp bastardisation of D&D, at least they didn't have you kill fucking bugbears 24/7.

Combat system itself is not enough. Encounter design is quite possibly even more important than that.

 

[Topher]

Combat system itself is not enough. Encounter design is quite possibly even more important than that.

Then why they hell did you list Wiz 8?

 

[Tycn]

I thought the Betrayal at Krondor combat was fairly rudimentary.

 

[Konjad]

both Icewind Dales over ToEE

Wizardry 8, Betrayal At Krondor

I have different opinion but it's very subjective so no point in further discussion about it, I think.

Knights of the Chalice

I played only demo for about half an hour but I heard many good things about it. Maybe I'll try it out sometime soon. I didn't play longer at the time because text in the game was unreadable, they changed it in a patch as I heard.

 

[Tycn]

How is ToEE better than Infinity Engine combat? At least the latter has variety instead of just sheer volume.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Then why they hell did you list Wiz 8?

Heck, I dunno. Maybe it's because of that giant variety in monsters that can attack you, the giant variety in various negative effects they can unleash to rape you and some great and memorable fights, like the one with the Sorceress Queen in the cathedral.

The most basic difference between Wiz8 and ToEE is this:

ToEE: There are 10 rooms up ahead. Probably 9 of them will hold a mob of bugbears that will make you think 'godfuckingdammit not those fucking bugbears again, please give me something fucking different'. The 10th room will have a bunch of gnolls that differ with nothing but their names.

Wiz8: There are 10 rooms up ahead. You will probably meet a mob of bats that can shriek to frighten you or use life-stealing that is a bitch to remove. Then, you'll meet a bunch of Higardi spectres that are gonna keep making your party afraid and insane. Then you'll meet a death lord who can cast instakilling death cloud for 10 turns. Then you'll meet an adamantine slime that is impervious to almost everything. Then you'll meet...

See the pattern?

I have different opinion but it's very subjective so no point in further discussion about it.

Hello, TESF.

I thought the Betrayal at Krondor combat was fairly rudimentary.

Krondor combat is mostly a lot lesser in scale than other things you could think about, but its tactical depth is amazing. You encounter four moredhels. One is a mage. One has a poisoned crossbow (and poison is a BITCH). The two others go for your sole mage at once, blocking him from casting. Now comes the question... who the fuck should you target? The mage, who can do various raping things to you, the crossbowman who can make a single party member useless or the two warriors, so you can unleash powerful spells? And if you can finally cast again, what do you cast? One single powerful spell that will drain you dry and cause one hit to kill you or a few others that might not be as effective?

Some monsters like Rusalki or shades also require approaching with great care. In some encounters, you can even maneuver the battlefield to lure enemies into some of the traps that pop up here and there.

And generally, the fact that you have only three characters (sometimes even two) makes EVERY decision absolutely vital.

 

[Konjad]

How is ToEE better than Infinity Engine combat? At least the latter has variety instead of just sheer volume.

Infinity engine is just 'click and watch till they die' with warrior/rogue classes, weapons are the same, except for dmg and chances to hit. in ToEE you actually use tactics. Fighters with spears might stand behind the ones with axes and swords, attacking from a longer distance and having their comrades as a living shields. On open space it doesn't have impact or very little but in narrow dungeons it's very important. Mages are pretty much the same in IE and ToEE but in ToEE you had more non-offensive spells (or at least I remember so). Rogues and clerics are same as well but - thanks to weapons - as warriors they actually may use more advanced tactics than just 'stand next to the enemy and slash' with proper teamwork.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Yeah, who cares that it just boils down to fireballing bugbears, but don't let me interrupt you.

 

[Konjad]

I have different opinion but it's very subjective so no point in further discussion about it.

Hello, TESF.

Shitty provocation is shitty. Can't remember BaK's combat much, I've played it a very long time ago, but as for Wizardy I don't see it very tactical. It's not more advanced than ToEE's (bah, it's much more simple) and feels just worse in general.

 

[empi]

Great combat system.
Great graphics.
Poor encounter design.
Poor everything else.
Can be fun, had great potential.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

It's good for what it is. Been quite a while since I played but I remember the dialog and quests being pretty god damn awful, but the engine was absolutely fantastic and as a dungeon crawl it was neat. Especially since you had the option to join the bad guys.

Worst part of ToEE was that the engine didn't get used for other games. Should have been the new Infinity Engine, bros.

 

[Morkar Left]

Good for what it is. Beautiful engine and good turnbased combat. But the temple is disappointing. I expected way more c&c, better encounter design and bigger dungeons.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Excellent engine and combat, story leaves much to be desired and I still haven't tried it out with the fixpack (I really should).

 

[Achilles]

I like ToEE very much. Damn you Ulminati, where is that fucking update?

 

[hoverdog]

Great combat system let down by horrible, absolutely horrible content.

 

[Konjad]

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

It has a good combat engine. Indeed, the whole engine is quite nice. A great pity it could not have been used in better modules or their own plots.

 

[racofer]

DA:O >> TOEE

 

[Relay]

ToEE had the best D&D combat implementation but the worst dungeon and encounters. Had, say, Baldur's Gate 2 used this engine instead of Infinity it would have bumped it from the "good RPG" side to "stellar RPG". Unfortunately all we got was ToEE and it sucked hard.

Good engine, shitty game.

 

[Roguey]

A ton of fun. I never touch the bugbears. I really wish the fast-turn-based option in the ini actually worked and the movement speed didn't feel so sluggish but oh well.

 

[pipka]

Voted yes, it has Cloud's awesome sword. :weeboo:

 

[Archibald]

Good for what it is.

I`m a bit confused on why few poster praised engine, yes it had turn based combat with party but i always thought that engine itself was rather clunky and mediocre.