I’ve been thinking about picking this game up. Has anyone already got ahold of it and played a bit? Is it with the high cost? I really enjoyed Arcanum so I thought I’d give this game a shot.
Wow, this is out already? I was working on an adaptation of the game (it’s an original AD&D adventure) for Neverwinter Nights, and got about 2/3 of the way through before I found out about this.
As a pen-and-paper game, it was one of the best adventures I’ve ever played. It was well-written and included much more than room after room of monsters- there is a playable plot, and each adventure builds on the last to make a coherent game.
I hope that they did it well- at least as good as Planescape: Torment.
At least? Planescape: Torment is unrivaled by any PC RPG, as far as I’m concerned.
Yeah, that’s kinda like going to a play and saying, “Well, I hope it’s at least as good as Hamlet.”
I have not played the game but wanted to ask if it supposed to be similiar to Arcanum? I really enjoyed it as well.
And I have to agree with Steelerphan, Elemental Evil was one of the great adventures ever.
Did Bioware lose the license? Damn I didn’t even know about this game. It appears to have more tactical elements than the Bioware games and I always loved that aspect so I’ll have to check this out. Gamespy gave it an 80:
http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchreview.asp?reviewid=284980
** Steelerphan** : Are you still working on the adventure for NWN? If so, looking forward to it!
BTW, Bio hasn’t lost the liscence. Atari owns the liscence to produce video games based on the D&D rules and currently it has two developers (Bioware and Troika) developing D&D games for them.
As for ToEE: I got it yesterday and here is my 8 hour review:
Graphics:
Basically Infinity Enginge plus. Very reminiscent of the BG games, but the character avatars, NPC’s and Monsters are rendered in 3D rather than as 2D sprites. The static, isometric camera is definately dated, but it works ok for the game.
The 3D characters have a decent amount of detail (Although they are a bit on the small side) and the animations are good. The backgrounds are very nicely done. However there is little fading of obstructions and it is easy to loose a character or enemy behind walls, trees, arches, etc.
Sound:
Environment sounds are convincing. Music is uninspired. Sounds for spell effects appear to be missing or generic. The voice acting is poor and the quality of sound tracks isn’t consistent.
Gameplay:
There is no role-playing in this game. None what so ever. The beginning quests in town are mundane fed-ex quests. The interface in clunky (for lack of a better term) and not very intuative. There is a major lack of information and feedback on the world and items around you. And things tend to be more complicated than they should be. The terrible documentaiton doesn’t help matters any.
Combat is the shining gem of ToEE. In depth, turned based, sword and sorcery at it’s finest. Lots and lots of options, lots and lots of room for strategy.
And that’s what it comes down to. This is a D&D strategy combat game, nothing more, nothing less.
It’s definately fun inspite of it’s flaws, and although some people report problems related to SecuRom, I didn’t experience any CTD’s or game stopping bugs yet ::crosses fingers::
Moreover the game does capture the old-school hack-n-slash D&D pen and paper flavor rather well.
I’m enjoying it for what it is, and it’s a great time sink while I wait for NWN’s next expansion pack. 
Also, if you liked arcanum (I hated that game!) I think there is a good chance you’ll like this one. I do see similarities between the two games.
Thanks for the info. I’ll have to think about it. I saw on pc.ign.com that one can download the game without cinematics or music and play for 10 hours.