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the mighty stamar
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 602
Location: arcata ca, humboldt county |
| Impressions retail TOEE and game |
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Well its supposed to come out today. I know I wont be able to find it but Ill try.
So what Im wondering right now for everyone who gets it today, is what does it look like and how does the game start etc. |
Tue Sep 16, 2003 6:11 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
My order will take 3 or 4 days to arrive from the US. Gamespy's review might give you something to start with. |
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Tue Sep 16, 2003 10:18 am |
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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
NOTE: Below are from posts by Dys at Atari Forums, titled "It's worth it". I combined, condensed & rearranged his impressions of TOEE into post below:
Warning: minor spoilers mostly in "gameplay section".
-----------------------------------------------------
I must say that I am happy. The game has been a blast for the 10 hours I have played it so far. I have found a few minor glitches here and there, but nothing has detered me from playing it yet.
Packaging
- 2 cd's in sleeves... <sigh. I miss jewels>
- The manual is spiral bound and pretty well organized... I thought it was missing some uuntil I realized you can access all of it in game.. and I mean all of it. When some one is encumbnered they get a little weight symbol on the portrait that you can click and it will tell you all about encumbrance. Additionally this weight changes colors to let you know what level of encumbrace they are at.
- Manual is black and white.
Interface & Game Menu
- The radial menus are way better then PoR2. Moving is well thought out<little markers to let you know if you will suffer an attack of opportunity were such a nice treat.
- The options are Game options < Video, sound, and Prefs>, Cinematics, and credits.
- Video- Anti-aliasing, high quality cloth, etc.
- Max resolution is 1280 X 1024 X 32 < looks very good even if my characters look a little small>
- Audio is volume level.
- Prefs are things like how you end your movement, if you see floating text when your characters talk, and if you see HP damage as Numbers.
Gameplay
- I started a neutral good party.<1 healer, 1 wizard, 1 rogue, and 2 fighters.> Let me be the first to warn you. The combat is hard. I have had to restart combats multiple times, have my mage killed multiple times because I left her unprotected. The monsters will go for spell casters<healers and mages>. but the combat is fun. Even getting killed by a hill giant and his bear companion 5 times was fun.
- I brought a few NPC's into my party. The first was a thief.. I kicked him out cause he kept taking all the loot. I didnt really talk to him either.. I was busy running around doing quests... your Charisma and skills will definetly influence your conversation options. I had one NPS suggest we get married....... Got a cool sword outta it... but still... I cant smite evil with the wife and kids and Mini-Wagon.
- I have noticed and read in the book tht NPC's will lie to you. They will claim to have abilities they dont or even have abilities they dont tell you.
- And all those skills seem to have a use.. Tumble lets my monk avoid Attacks of Opportunity when he runs past people to get to spell casters. <plus he has some pretty cool unarmed combat animations.
- For the invis thing I just got the spell so I will try it in just a bit and post a reply in an hour. There is a window you can have open that show combat results< no die rolls though> that also shows spot checks, slight of hand, Bluff, etc... I had a barmaid try to pickpocket me so I played around with it. The first time she failed and I noticed so a convo box opened right up.. depending on who I had selected when I entered the Bar I had a few different options on what to say < my bard is the party speaker and he was able to resolve with out me killing everyone, which is what hapened when I had my paladin selected.> I loaded my save game and the next time she was succesful at stealing loot from me and I didnt notice.. I saw it in the box but there was no convo option. I could have struck her down and fought with the whole bar, but I didnt have an convo options. I am looking foward to getting to play as evil next to see how different it is. I can already tell it will be cause of some comments and reactions from different people.
- And I got yelled at for running around naked.. I was switching armor and forgot to put it back on.. so the towns people would remind me I was naked...
- ohh.. and magic Items feel rare.. I only have a few items, other than scrolls and potions, at level 4
- Yes you can take there stuff... I killed all guards in a room but 1... looted all of em and came back later.. the guard I hadnt killed had came to was naked with 2hp and still wanted to fight.... sigh.... She was cute too.
- Well... I briefly played with invisiblity... It seems to have no ties to sneaking...
- I went to a room that I knew had a hidden monster in it < I didnt kill him cause he kept kicking my but so I skipped that room>
- I cast invis on my monk, set him sneaking and went in.. nothing the monster didnt come out of hiding... so I turn off sneak and ran around... nothing..
- Then I sent my bard in sneaking.. nothing.. the monster stayed <I must have made my sneak checks. not surprising since I have gained a few level since going there and have boots of elvenkind on my bard.> So I turn of sneak and... Whan out of the water and combat began... The monster ate my bard but ignored my monk who was still invisible...
- so far I am level 4 with 7719 xp. That should be for all my characters. I just got the location of the ToEE < between this post and the last> If the ToEE is as big as I remember then I should have about 30-40 hours play time.. this of course doesnt include all my deaths and reloads. Also I made 5 for my party you dont have to .. you can make 3. Plus NPC's might help with combat, but I am greedy and dont want to share loot.. loot is good. loot is mine.
- Spells go to level 5 so that should mean like level 10 as a cap. and of course those levels get higher.
- I have been doing a lot of quests, so I would be total play time will range from 25-50 with somewhere around 40 being average. If you cut the side quests and just go for the ToEE that would put you at the lower end of course.
- Ohh.. I missed my other favorite thing. My monk does crane kicks when he is standing there not moving... I am looking for Paint the house, and Wax on, Wax off next...
- The first village is probably 20 buildings with about that many quests. There are roaming NPC's but most of those are guards.
- Well.. I guess it feels like baldurs gate.... There is a definite story, ,but sometimes you feel easily sidetracked working on quests.
Features
- The death animations I have seen are pretty cool, but nothing overly gorey.. no missing heads etc. Combat animations are cool. Different animations for different levels of Damage. Crits get spin kicks or 360 Hammer crushes. Blood flies when you hit, ,splatters the ground, and then fades out after a bit. Dead people look dead. Frogs collapse. Your PC's will sway before falling to the ground. When Frogs grapple you their tongues shoot out and wrap you up and then you see this big pink tongue around your character.
- The nudity is really hard to see, and even there I believe they all have *Butt flaps* in the words of George of the Jungle. There is drinking.. a few drunk character, a drinking contest....
- Yes every item shows on your character. My monk is wearing orange monk clothes and an asian hat<hey he doesnt get out much> and it shows.. Gloves show, Cloaks< I gave my Paladin a white cloak right off the bat> etc. They show differently.. like I mentioned earlier.. if you dont wear clothes people will notice.
- Day and night feel like baldurs gate, and I havent noticed any weather effects.
- Something I found cool was the game tracks kills for you.
- The logbook shows you everything you have fought, how many of them , what CR they are, What your highest XP fight was, who has the most kills, the most consecutive hits and misses, how many traps you have found, etc.. they keep all of these little details for you... Kinda like fallout did..
- They also list the deeds you have done.. if you clean out a certain area you get a labeled.. good for some areas cause you are a savior bad for others cause you killed some of there friends.
Sound & music
- Music has been good... I didnt really notice it for a while.. which is good to me.. it feels natural and blends in .. Rising and falling as it should... Not standing out as dumb. Sounds effects change with day and night.
- I have 4.1 surround sounds speaker and didnt notice it for a bit... Combat felt intense at first and the music was driving but blended in.. exactly what a sound track should do.. it didnt distract me from my goal.. it helped me..
- The sound effects are solid.. birds chirping during the day, Crickets at night. Different noises for different weapons hitting home. Spells have great sounds effects.. <magic missle comes to mind, ,plus it always looks different. The missles feel lazy sometimes and just float around, sometimes they look drunk and zig past the target and come back, and sometimes they just smack home.>
- I believe the music is all synth.
Techincal & player complaints
- ...some of the paths are a little odd. When you tell your party to go somewhere on the map some will move some wont, some will find an easy path, some will run one direction and then turn and go another. Minor and nothing to distracting.
- I have noticed it seems to run a little slow after about 2-3 hours of play time.. not too bad, but noticable. Also like I mentioned some of the paths your characters walk are odd.... they will walk into fenced in areas and then walk back out before walking around the fence.
I also had my Cleric repeating a message over and over from the end of his turn til the begining of his next turn < just the visual display not the voice. Nothing major.
- It hasnt crashed and everything feels minor.... First patch should catch it all.... It just doesnt feel rushed or incomplete.. it feels like they were done and the game is ready
- Portrait selection is limited.. that was a complaint I had right off the bat, but I can live.
- The environments are detailed, but they do not have a lot off interactivety.. you see butterflies and leaves falling, Fireflies at night. Water splashes when you run through it but I havent really found a lot chests.. mind you I havent even gotten to the ToEE yet.
- The voice acting can be a little cheesy, but some of it is pretty good. |
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Tue Sep 16, 2003 3:28 pm |
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The Hurricane
Tempered Warlord
Joined: 01 Jun 2002
Posts: 299
Location: The Sword Coast |
My copy comes tomorrow.  Gamespy gave it a good review and an editor's choice award I believe. Their major complaint was that it was too much of a dungeon crawl. However, I thought this was openly known that ToEE was a combat heavy module. Oh well.
_________________
= Member of The Nonflamers' Guild =
= Member of The Alliance of Middle-Earth =
= Not just a member, but a client of The Followers of Righteousness =
"Stand back...there's a hurricane coming through..." |
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Tue Sep 16, 2003 5:57 pm |
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RedTiger
Village Leader
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Posts: 93
Location: Center of Chaos |
That's as complete a first take on the game as i've probably ever seen. Thanks! I should get mine hopefully tomorrow so I can compare notes. |
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Tue Sep 16, 2003 6:07 pm |
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Seth
Last Man Standing
Joined: 23 Jan 2002
Posts: 1008
Location: Faerun |
How can you give negative points just for lack of multiplayer?
_________________
Money - An article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness. |
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Tue Sep 16, 2003 7:02 pm |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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quote:
Originally posted by Seth
How can you give negative points just for lack of multiplayer?
Easy
"THis single player game sucks because it's got no multiplayer support. Multiplayer is the way of the present and future! Non-multiplayer CRPGs are dinosaurs, man, and should be extinct by now. If Diablo 2 can do it, why can't everyone?"
A common theme. 
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Wed Sep 17, 2003 1:42 pm |
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Seth
Last Man Standing
Joined: 23 Jan 2002
Posts: 1008
Location: Faerun |
Ok I just got home with my copy. I was reading manual on the bus I can tell you this, “impressive” doesn’t even start to describe it. Also the price is $64.64 CAD with taxes, which is a little bit less than most of the new games.
@Xen I can’t wait to read your review. Just after reading the manual I’m overwhelm by complexity of the game. Knowing that you are DM and you know most of the tricks in the book I would really like to hear your opinion even before you decide to write.
_________________
Money - An article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness. |
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Wed Sep 17, 2003 10:00 pm |
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the mighty stamar
High Emperor
Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Posts: 602
Location: arcata ca, humboldt county |
Um...
Gamespy is the worlds largest multi player website
every game they review has a multiplayer rating...
just want to clear that up for people not thinking about it. |
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Wed Sep 17, 2003 11:10 pm |
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hoyp
High Emperor
Joined: 02 Oct 2002
Posts: 501
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30 - 40 hours seems to be a little short for a 50 dollar game.
They shoyuld have included something that will extend replay value (editor maybe).
I will still get it though. |
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Wed Sep 17, 2003 11:39 pm |
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Northchild
Fearless Paladin
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 232
Location: New York, USA |
Purchased and installed it after school this afternoon. So far, so good. Graphics, sound, and control are great. Overall it's very engaging... jumped right into Ironman mode and am having fun with it.
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New to 3D? Check out www.3dbuzz.com today! |
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Thu Sep 18, 2003 1:18 am |
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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
quote:
Originally posted by hoyp
30 - 40 hours seems to be a little short for a 50 dollar game.
They shoyuld have included something that will extend replay value (editor maybe).
I will still get it though.
That's pretty healty amount gameplay for a rpgs. If you slowly explore every corners anf picking up maximum amount of quest, you would get about 50 hours of gameplay. Beside, games by Timmy always have more options than you thought. Different party and aligment will get different endings & stuff. |
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Thu Sep 18, 2003 11:47 am |
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EverythingXen
Arch-villain
Joined: 01 Feb 2002
Posts: 4342
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I'll be posting impressions as I review the game, no doubt. And I'll tell people if the story is different enough or entertaining enough with different classes/alignments to be worth a replay.
30 - 40 hours is a good little game... but if it's actually entertaining enough to play through three or four times that becomes 90 to 120... and if Iron Man is hard enough you can add another bit to that as well.
And when you really think you're great you can, as always, probably adjust difficulty to maximum and THEN select iron man.
_________________
Estuans interius, Ira vehementi
"The old world dies and with it the old ways. We will rebuild it as it should be, MUST be... Immortal!"
=Member of the Nonflamers Guild=
=Worshipper of the Written Word= |
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Thu Sep 18, 2003 3:14 pm |
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The Hurricane
Tempered Warlord
Joined: 01 Jun 2002
Posts: 299
Location: The Sword Coast |
ToEE is impressive. So far I think it's worth the $50 bills, every penny. The graphics and animation are superb, my favorite character is a half-orc barbarian with two-weapon proficiency. His hide armor flays as he moves...and he looks darn snazzy in that Asian hat. The turn based combat is great - rules like attack of opportunity and tumble really translated well. Oh yeah, and character creation gets two thumbs up...fun and rewarding. Oh well, that's just my $00.02 about the game so far...in fact, I'd better go play before this hurricane knocks out my power...not like I couldn't handle it...I am THE Hurricane.
_________________
= Member of The Nonflamers' Guild =
= Member of The Alliance of Middle-Earth =
= Not just a member, but a client of The Followers of Righteousness =
"Stand back...there's a hurricane coming through..." |
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Thu Sep 18, 2003 4:35 pm |
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