Tis a good game, better than many. Combat is fun, and though the story, setting, dialogue, etc are barebones, they're still enjoyable for their simplicity. Beginning may be a tad boring, but after the temple is entered, depending on the side - good or evil - it can be ever more fun, there's even more quests for an evil party, and that's kinda of a fresh thing in a DnD CRPG. That's why to some the game may seem a bit unfinished at that point, a good party is basically thrown against the numerous monsters of the temple, which is fun in it's own way.
Official Patches do a good job of fixing some of the problems, but I'd not start a new ToEE game without the latest Circle of Eight mod pack. It's basically a compilation of different fixes, be it fixing bugs, balance or whatever, with a couple of mods (nothing large scale though) throw in for a good measure. It makes the game even better. There was a larger scale mod in development, but I kinda lost track of it over the years and have no idea at what stage it is at moment.