Temple of elemental evil

I liked this game a lot. It had a lot of potential and would of been great if there weren't so many problems with it.

I was dissapointed once I got into the temple. I don't do EVIL, so there was only one battle after the next in that place. It became very boring very quickly.

I even tried mixing it up a bit and infiltrait the temple. That was a little better because now I actually got some quests from the different factions. Still in the end I wish they had gone with a different module. One that wasn't so old and out of date. Hell, they could of done the Ravenloft module (the module before they made it a whole system like Darksun) and that would of been ten times more interesting.

The best would of been The Ruins of Undermountain. If they were going for a ton of combat, you can't go wrong with that place.

A lot of 'would of' 'should of' 'could ofs'….oh well. It's just that combat engine had a ton of possibilities. Finally it didn't take 3 years to finish just one combat round. Not that I mind taking my time, but it was so simple an idea making the monsters move at the same time and yet no one really did that before. The keyboard shortcuts were a little confusing, but as long as I wrote down exactly what I assigned every key, then it was fine.

JDR13 said:

Are you talking about another unofficial patch?

I'd be surprised to see another one after all this time. Still, with the last official patch, plus the unofficial one, most of the bugs have been corrected.

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That's a review I wrote yonks ago when the game first came out.

skavenhorde said:

A lot of 'would of' 'should of' 'could ofs'….oh well.

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I totally agree with you... but it's "would've", "should've" and "could've".
It SOUNDS like "of" but it's " 've" which is short for "have".
Would have, should have, could have.

Sorry but everytime I see it written that way I cringe

And back to topic, I totally agree they should have gone with a more fleshed out module.

This is why you don't see many turn based games. Players have Attention Deficit Disorder when the designers are shooting for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It is turn based. The monsters arent supposed to "move all at once". The rulset is complex and you are supposed to do a 5 foot step and roll for AOO and factor in readiness etc. There is no reward for companies to implement all this complexity and detail just to have the community bitch about the plot or the length of the game or bugs resulting from the complexity. Then if they dumb down the rules to implement game content the same community whines about how the designers sold out or did a rush implementation because they can't buy spell scrolls and learn them.

This is exactly how we end up with Fable.

From the tendecy, I very much agree to you. This just happens if developers listen too much.

On the other hand, not listening at all can also have ... "different" results, like in Icewind Dale. Which is almost combat-only.

Relayer said:

I totally agree with you… but it's "would've", "should've" and "could've".
It SOUNDS like "of" but it's " 've" which is short for "have".
Would have, should have, could have.

Sorry but everytime I see it written that way I cringe

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Dude, I know about contractions. I teach them for god sakes.

My grandma always used to say 'would of….etc' (blame it on her southern upbrining if you want), but that's the way I heard it and that's the way I say it/write it. Hell, this forum is littered with idioms from her. I know they're not all perfect or even correct, but since it's just a manner of speaking I think I'll keep it.

I remember this game for the great combat implementation, music and graphic style. I also remember buffs never wearing off, performance issues (at the time), combat sometimes getting stuck in a loop (the next turn never came, or a round would not end) and many other game ending gripes.

Still one of my favorite Troika games for some reason.

Still one of my favorite Troika games for some reason.

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One of your favourite? What Troika games are your favourite then?

Vampire would be at the top of my list

Speaking of Troika, the Vampire games are just not my taste, no matter how brilliant they are - it's just the kind of games, nothing else.

And I don't think I'd try to play games for their brilliance only meanwhile my stomach constantly says "no !".

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Speaking of Troika, the Vampire games are just not my taste, no matter how brilliant they are - it's just the kind of games, nothing else.

And I don't think I'd try to play games for their brilliance only meanwhile my stomach constantly says "no !".

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Witcher actually had the safe affect on me. I tried to get into it many times but just couldn't. Sigh...

The Witcher and VtM: Bloodlines are both in the top ten crpgs I've ever played.

JDR13 said:

The Witcher and VtM: Bloodlines are both in the top ten crpgs I've ever played.

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I really tried with Bloodlines. Aside from the nauseating 1st person camera (performance seemed to suck on my PC which runs Oblivion with no problem) the game areas just felt too small, underpopulated. And I hate games with non-functional prop doors, I really do!

I also hated the combat.

But I did LOVE the writing and voice acting. I think I've since bumped up my RAM from 1 Gig to 3 gigs so maybe it will perform better but i remember the game chugging a lot. In all fairness I only played a few hours into the game so maybe I'll give it another shot.

Tried a demo of Witcher a long time ago and the combat was "iffy" but I'll have to pick that one up soon.

Bloodlines was the best surprise from a computer game. When I heard that Troika was making it a FPS I thought it would suck. I should of known better knowing from playing Troika's other games, but still a first person shooter? I really didn't think it was possible for them to make it as good as it was, but I was wrong. It remains one of the best first person shooter rpgs I've ever played. Ranks up there with System Shock 2 and Dues Ex.

Relayer said:

I really tried with Bloodlines. Aside from the nauseating 1st person camera (performance seemed to suck on my PC which runs Oblivion with no problem) the game areas just felt too small, underpopulated. And I hate games with non-functional prop doors, I really do! .

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That's very strange, because the source engine is extremely smooth on most systems. I would guess there was a hardware conflict somewhere. Never heard anyone complain about the camera before either.

You should *definitely* give The Witcher a try. The demo did a poor job of representing the full game.

JDR13 said:

The Witcher and VtM: Bloodlines are both in the top ten crpgs I've ever played.

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Don't get me wrong, I love Bloodlines (and I blame Valve for not giving Troika the latest Source Engine, and for forcing Bloodlines not be released before HL2 is released.)

Speaking of ToEE though, I just dug out its manual to relearn D&D 3.5 for NWN2 . And it is awesome… Why don't they make manuals like that anymore.

leth said:

Why don't they make manuals like that anymore.

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Kid don't read books anymore.
But back when I was a child, before the internet...

you know that poll we currently have on Bioware and DA being the next BG?

I think that Arcanum is the only ever game to ever come close to it in terms of size and scope. It terms of quests etc. it was positively huge - with variety and options in the quests that rivaled Fallout.

leth said:

Don't get me wrong, I love Bloodlines (and I blame Valve for not giving Troika the latest Source Engine, and for forcing Bloodlines not be released before HL2 is released.)

Speaking of ToEE though, I just dug out its manual to relearn D&D 3.5 for NWN2 . And it is awesome… Why don't they make manuals like that anymore.

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Bloodlines is definitely one of those games that should have sold much, much better.

Lucky Day said:

you know that poll we currently have on Bioware and DA being the next BG?

I think that Arcanum is the only ever game to ever come close to it in terms of size and scope. It terms of quests etc. it was positively huge - with variety and options in the quests that rivaled Fallout.

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Maybe... but Arcanum felt like a step backward in more ways than one (archaic U.I., ugly graphics, disgustingly bad combat system).

I love Arcanum but Baldur's Gate II was polished to a sheen, there's just no comparison. BG II is in a class by itself.

Arguably:

PS: Torment did story better.
TOEE did combat better.
Morrowind did atmosphere better.
Arcanum did choice & consequence better.
Many games since have done graphics better.
IWD's soundtrack was stronger.
Wiz 8 was THE best "old school" type game (last of its kind???).

BUT, I think Baldur's Gate II had THE best combination of all these aspects.
And Bioware's efforts have paled since. Too much story, not enough game.