Temple of Elemental Evil - PeeCee Edition!

[Yael]

I just got the game and I find it very well made (3.0 rules rulez). I haven't finished it yet, I'm still dungeoncrawling with my full caster party (Monk 1/ Druid 7, Cleric of Nerull 8, Ranger 8, Sorcerer 8, and Necromancer 7, yeah the wizard died at some point) inside the temple.

What are your experiences with the game? Is there any way to 'optimize' inside? How about we do a let's play? Any tips? Are followers worth?

[Flickerdart]

Despite being the moth faithful rendition of 3.0 in video game form, it's not a super great game due to buggyness and general Troika-esque production values. The Circle of Eight mod makes it a little bit more tolerable, and of course the Cookies of the Gods live up to their name.

[Yael]

I never got able to download the Co8 modpack due to unknown problems, but I didn't know about the other one.

[Flickerdart]

Cookies of the Gods isn't a mod, it's a recipe in the back of the instruction manual for chocolate chip cookies.

[Miscast_Mage]

Circle of 8 is definitely recommended; ToEE is a flawed diamond of a game. It's got some great aspects, but bugs and minor issues sour the experience. Circle of 8 does nothing but fix these bugs, streamline the clunkier issues of the game and restore some lost content the developers didn't have time to finish.


Cookies of the Gods isn't a mod, it's a recipe in the back of the instruction manual for chocolate chip cookies.

Why was I not informed of this.

I've actually been getting the itch to replay ToEE the last while, incidentally, though I don't make the usual party I always do. I'm tempted to try a "solo" run with only a bard PC and rely solely on the NPCs you can hire, iron-man mode. It could make an amusing Let's Play too, if people are interested.

[LibraryOgre]

While I enjoy ToEE (and second the "Get Co8" statements), I have the same problem I have with a lot of stuff based on 3.x... a plethora of choices leads to me gaming the choices, rather than simply playing the game.

[KillianHawkeye]

Minor nitpick: Temple of Elemental Evil runs the D&D 3.5 ruleset, not the original 3rd Edition.


As for the game itself, I really liked the gameplay and game mechanics (although the user interface could have used a few tweaks). Unfortunately, the story of the town of Homlett and the dungeon exploration didn't really catch my interest so I didn't play too much of the game.

[Triaxx]

The latest versions of Co8 add a bunch of additional content, including some fights against drow. (I mention it unspoilered because it's possible to stumble into it. Then die horribly.)

It's actually one of my favorite D&D games, because I enjoy the combat as much as the NPC interaction, and the combat is exceptionally well done.

[Miscast_Mage]

While I enjoy ToEE (and second the "Get Co8" statements), I have the same problem I have with a lot of stuff based on 3.x... a plethora of choices leads to me gaming the choices, rather than simply playing the game.

I'm the same; I spend more time building parties and working out characters than actually playing the game. Hence why I'm thinking of attempting a "solo" run, to stop myself from spending more time on the character creation screen rather than the game itself. :smalltongue:

[LibraryOgre]

I'm the same; I spend more time building parties and working out characters than actually playing the game. Hence why I'm thinking of attempting a "solo" run, to stop myself from spending more time on the character creation screen rather than the game itself. :smalltongue:

I tend to use Co8 to limit myself down to 3 PCs, and decide on some key roles I want filled... and thus I tend to have a high-intelligence Bard (SKILL POINTS!), a cleric, and a wizard.

[Miscast_Mage]

That actually works out pretty well. Some of the better NPCS *cough* Elmo *cough* are single classed fighters and provide little outside of meatshielding. you can also get some of them straight away in Hommlet *cough* Elmo again *cough*

There's also a rogue you can get in Hommlet, so that's one role taken care of.

[russdm]

I picked up the Co8 mod, and have played a little bit. I also have a strategy guide.

I usually made a full 5 person party, using picking CN (to fight the air elemental, since some of the starts had you just talking with a few actually having combat), and used the "all stats are 18s before racial modifiers" tweak. The tweak helped the game be slightly more survivable to me.

Plus the fact that the version I had of the game didn't allow for custom equipping of the party and instead just gave them stuff when starting the game always annoyed me. The guide book that came with the game said you could equipment your characters as part of the character creation and game starting. Didn't happen.

There is a "Let's Play" on LPArchive.org of this game that I have been reading and its funny.

Might try playing the game again later, I made it as far as the moathouse before stopping. I have lost quite a number of low level parties to the spiders and exploring the rainbow meadow place. Its a challenging game since it was copied over with little concern for how tough fights are against the party. Despite that, fun but dying a bunch became irritating.

[Miscast_Mage]

I was having a read through the Let's Play too; quite a hilarious read. It also demonstrates your point about balance; the party went after the hill giant at level two and ended up with a CR 8 encounter.

I'm definitely going to do a Let's Play of this now, though more an in-character RP based one. I'll go for a 3-man party as a CN group. I've got a snarky pompous bard, a motherly dwarven cleric of Kord and a brain-damaged half-orc barbarian. I'll still be making liberal use of the NPCs, as such, going with 3-PCs/5-NPCs from the Co8 options.

Also, annoyingly, I did a test run through the dungeon for the CN vignette. The locked chest at the end? It has to be lock-picked. You need a rogue, end of, unless you want to cheat in a scroll of knock. And part of the party banter I had planned was that the bard was, in fact, a bard and not a rogue. :smallannoyed:

[Flickerdart]

I read through the journal - it wasn't as entertaining as I'd been told, and makes the game seem exceptionally short for an RPG. Probably because it skips all the running back and forth and tedious combat against giant frogs.