Difficulty-wise, Troika’s quests are ever-protective of our low intelligence. One character says he can’t perform a quest-based action, for example, despite having a scroll in the very same room where he remains that can do what is required. You find it, use it; boom: instead success! Quest completed: what a genius! Another character promises to religiously convert (a quest goal, as if you didn’t know) when he sees a “miracle,” and does so after you heal a relative of his with a scroll—as though he’d lived all his life in a town that lacked mages, clerics, monsters, potions, wands, etc. While these are some of the worst examples, they are not atypical of quest plotting in TOEE. They represent an imaginative void, a complete absence of ideas, and suggests that Troika put all their development time and resources elsewhere. The results are a game whose visuals and combat system draw me into their illusory world, and whose writing then kicks me out with complete disbelief.
Scott
Now that said. There are some good examples of Troika doing some good role playing and writing.
The opening vingette's based on party alignment. They are well done for their purpose. Troika could have dumped the PC's right at the edge of Hommlet like the module does. Instead they give a reason to be there.
The same goes for the closing vingette's. No descriptions for resolutions were given in the module. It simply stated that when the Golden Skull was destroyed that Zuggtomy was weakened enough that the PC's could send her back to the Abyss.
Troika provides dialog and personality to the hordes of NPC's. Whereas some of the "in town" quests are simple, it does go to show that the Devs took the time to fill in the blanks.
The claim that troika spent its time getting the combat engine right is not unfounded, but is also not entirely correct. To use that statement to deride Troika's efforts is misleading to those who would read the article. The Temple of Elemental Evil....like all of Gygax's modues is "combat heavy" and dialog light. For Troika to have taken the time to add dialog based encounters should be applauded if anything. Playing through the game I get more enjoyment than listening to the GM droll over the various boxed texts.
Gnarley Woodsman attempts to save vs. Boxed text. [d20=10+5=15 vs. DC17=failure] The Woodsman fails and falls asleep. ZzZzZzzz
Good Gaming!
Although the box states 16+, I fear the writing in the game was done by somebody far younger.
Very few options can be selected, and I never see the answer I would like to give amongst the options.
Example:
My paladin agrees with the innkeeper that he will gamble to reveal a cheater. So he plays a few games and reveals he's a cheater, displayed as the options:
1. Hey! you are cheating!.
Now every time I talk to the guy (who seems eager to join an adventure) I get the options:
1. Yes, Join our group
2. No, I just wanted to dash your hopes again, Cheater!
Now, what the frick is that all about?
I dont want the guy to join my party, but I dont want to kick him while he's down either, how much work ould it have taken them to include
3. no, sorry I am not looking for any sellswords. Good luck to you, and stay out of trouble.
4. just checking up, you havent been cheating any customers, right?
Not to mention, my paladin could gamble and win at a drinking game....
Poorly done, but the combat is fun.
:embarrass
Scott
Atari has publically stated that there will be an official patch some time this month.
Even without all that the game is damn fun!!
Lord Deadite: Per posts from the Dev Team at Troika, the dialog is based upon your characters skills and Charisma. Each player will have different results to the same NPC's dialog based upon those attributes and skills. Maybe try having the MORE intelligent PC / NPC do the talking. After all wouldn't a group of REAL people make that same decision? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying or inferring here that you (your Paladin) are stupid!
My Overall Rating Pre-Patch: 7 of 10, let's hope that goes up higher Post-Patch!
I hope they make more games which use the same type of interface as BG, IWD, NWN, and yes TOEE.
However, they do need to invest more time in the dialog itself.
Now they have the engine worked out, a sequel should be alot better, or so I hope.
Let's not forget PST, torment was the best, the story made it what it was.
This game is clearly about combat and not about the story, which is a pity.
Rating:
Temple of Elemental Evil - 7
Baldur's Gate - 7
Baldur's Gate 2 - 9
Icewind Dale - 6
Icewind Dale 2 - 7
Planescape Torment - 10
Rating:
Baldur's Gate - 8
Baldur's Gate 2 - 8
Icewind Dale - 4
Icewind Dale 2 - 5
Planescape Torment - 8
ToE - remains to be seen. I really hope it is good. I am a bit worried though by all of the comments I see.
Abysslin
Click on Forums, then do a Search for "patch" and you should find a number of threads that will link to it.
http://www.rpgcodex.com/content.php?id=76
By the way, our unofficial ToEE patch can be found here:
http://www.co8.org
No offense, but you're a fan of the game, so if anyone's opinion is not to be trusted, it's yours and if I'm going to trust any review, it will be the honest one, not the gushing with praise one.
Like these:
Another disappointment is the dialog. The opening of the game takes place in Hommlet and this portion of the game does include a fair amount of social interaction and non-combat quests. However, the writing for these dialogs is sometimes lackluster and feels somewhat mechanical.
Another consequence of being an adaptation of a classic D&D module is a somewhat lacking story.
One interesting thing about ToEE's release is that it came a full week early - the game was originally targeted for a September 23rd release, but was finally pushed up to the 16th. This may not have been a terribly good idea. ToEE is woefully buggy. There's a long list of issues with this game: many spells are simply broken (flame strike is a good example of this: it's supposed to do a meaty 1d6 points of damage per caster level, but deals a measly 1d6 plus caster level in the game), some class features are incorrectly implemented (such as the paladin's divine grace bonus to saving throws: it should be dependant on charisma, but in the game, it works with constitution) and in some extreme cases, the game flat-out doesn't work, crashing repeatedly for unknown reasons, though many feel the reprehensible SecuROM protection is to blame.
Many of the bugs and problems with ToEE are really basic and even stupid stuff that should have been spotted and fixed by any halfway decent QA team. ToEE sometimes feels very unfinished and there's a ring of truth to that. Several dedicated fans of the game have started modding the game, fixing the various glaring mistakes and even re-implementing some of the content that was cut at the last minute by Hasbro, Atari's parent company. These modders report that several of the files they've been editing, the spell effects file, for example, bear quite clear 'work in progress' stamps from ToEE's programming team. It looks like Atari decided they wanted ToEE out on shelves as soon as possible and quality be damned.
And many other...
Actually, Spazmo was very objective in his review, and pointed both good and bad sides of this game. I don't know where you see the gushing with praise... I'd say it's more objective than the GameBanshee review, which blames ToEE for not being Baldur's Gate...