Heya:

I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
Con this morning a bit. Here's some random thoughts:

o It looks a bit like Pool of Radiance:Ruins of Myth Drannor. Not so
much in terms of graphics (ToEE graphics are far better looking, far
more colorful (PoR had mile after mile of the same drab dungeon
passageways)), but in terms of playstyle. As far as I could tell,
there was no combat grid. There's a movement bar that drains as a PC
moves and it was color-coded, I think, so perhaps the topmost bit of
the bar indicates whether you've moved less than a 5 foot step. Not
sure about that. Anyway, my point was that moving characters was
similar to PoR, what with the lack of fine grain control. There is a
blue circle that shows where the PC will wind up, though, so it's not
too random.

o Maybe it was just the settings or something, but the characters were
really big on the screen. Far closer to Planescape relative sizing
than Baldur's Gate, for example.

o When I first went up to the game (it was on 2 stations), nobody was
playing it and it was at the options screen. I chose New Game and it
put me directly into what was obviously a saved position. Four
characters, a dwarf warrior (level 10, I think), a paladin (she
probably was a druid/paladin, now that I think about it), a wizard,
and another character. Inventory is pretty standard, what PCs wear
wasn't a paperdoll exactly, closer to EQ's square slots I think. Easy
to navigate. Left clicking an item gives its stats. The dwarf's waraxe
was 1d12 (20, x4). I thought they were x3, but that's fine.

o Casting spells has a plus and a minus. The plus is that it's easy to
choose spells. Right click the caster and a circle appears around the
character, sectioned off. The rightmost section says WIZ or DRU or
whatever. Clicking that causes a semicircle to expand on that side,
with sections labelled 1,2,3,4,5 (no cantrips, obviously). The druid
in the demo had HORRIBLE spell selections. Everything was Summon
Nature's Ally, or Magic Fang, or Call Lightning. No cure spells, which
hurt when I went up against the Vrock. Clicking a spell level causes
another semicircle to expand outwards, sectioned off, containing the
names of the spells the caster can cast (entire names present).

o The minus on casting spells is that if the caster is on the right
side of the screen, when the spell names expand out, you won't be able
to read them. Maybe there's (actually I pray there is) a "Center On
Current Character" button, since casters absolutely require that.
There's got to be a button like this. I wish there'd been somebody
around to ask questions, but it didn't really seem like it. And I
definitely had that "Hey, I wanna ask questions look" on my face.
You can scroll the screen (although it's kind of slow, setting
controlled?) to read the names, too.

o Also casting spells: Targetting is very nice. Casting fireball put
up a big blue circle that allowed me to cover exactly the target I
wanted (my PCs and some nearby monsters). One nice thing is that on
screen you see all the saves, damage, etc. but if you want to be sure
who is taking damage, making their saves, etc., there's a log of that
you can look at. Targetting a lightning bolt was easy too, it's a long
slightly thick blue line. Magic Missiles can be individually targeted
to multiple monsters (a red circle appeared around my target with a
1/5 in the middle, every time I clicked it went 2/5, 3/5, 4/5, 5/5).
That was from a wand, by the way.

o Summoned monsters didn't impress me. I had the druid cast a few
nature's ally spells against the Vrock. I couldn't tell if they even
had hit points, since the Vrock would do some kind of stunning breath
or sonic wave or something and the polar bear and dire wolf (and one
other, I think, boa constrictor, maybe) just fell over.

o When I realized the Vrock fight was going poorly, I tried loading a
different save. I was eventually successful, but there was EXTREME lag
in trying to select a new save to load. Probably just some kind of
memory leak or something and one of the traits of a demo.

o The Vrock was in a courtyard of a castle or something. My party went
underneath an arch to get into the courtyard and the game paused,
obviously loading the Vrock and the visible area. I saw somebody else
send characters through a doorway and it was a more traditional area
transition.

o The demo characters' equipment was pathetic. No wonder I had trouble
against the Vrock: no magic weapons. I think the one hit the dwarf
made, one point got through DR. No potions, either, although the
wizard had a Brew Potion section on the opposite side from the spells.
The druid/paladin had a bunch of special abilities. I had no luck with
Lay On Hands, though. Is it supposed to draw an AoO? The Heal ability
(skill?) healed the cleric (that was the fourth character, I think)
from -5 to 18, but she didn't get up. Not sure if that's how it's
supposed to be, if she was permanently stunned by the Vrock, or what.

o Scrolling the screen and character movement was a little slow.
Either a demo issue (I hope) or controlable via settings.

o There was no rogue in the default party so I never thought to try
sending a character off on his own to scout stealthily. I did send a
character out alone a bit and monsters immediately reacted. Hopefully
they have to make spot checks against hiding characters.

o Of the creatures I killed (giant frogs, kobolds, I think), none had
treasure. No treasure chests either.

o I'm tempted to go back tomorrow just to spend more time with the
game. If I could rearrange the casters' spells, I'm pretty sure I
could apply some smackage to that Vrock, despite its 22 SR.

Take care,
Bill

bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message news:<3a7ffd96.7591325@news-server>...
> Heya:
>
> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
> Con this morning a bit.

Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
a game for me at all.

bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message news:<3a7ffd96.7591325@news-server>...
> Heya:
>
> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
> Con this morning a bit.

Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
a game for me at all.

bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
> Con this morning a bit.

Mike Noren <mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
>made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
>another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
>a game for me at all.

I really don't see why the Temple of Elemental Evil would've ever been
on your to-buy list. It would've been a very big surpise if it had not
been a D&D based CRPG with lots and lots of combat.

Ross Ridge

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/rridge/
db //

bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
> Con this morning a bit.

Mike Noren <mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
>made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
>another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
>a game for me at all.

I really don't see why the Temple of Elemental Evil would've ever been
on your to-buy list. It would've been a very big surpise if it had not
been a D&D based CRPG with lots and lots of combat.

Ross Ridge

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/rridge/
db //

mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk (Mike Noren) once tried to test me with:

> bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
> news:<3a7ffd96.7591325@news-server>...
>> Heya:
>>
>> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
>> Con this morning a bit.
>
> Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
> made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
> another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
> a game for me at all.

You're basing this off of some guy's first combat sequence in some demo,
without regard to the game as a whole. It might have a lot of interesting
story and/or also some (hopefully) actual choices/role-playing that matters
in addition to the turn-based D&D combat. Of course, if you hate D&D you
probably should steer clear of it regardless.

--

Knight37

I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.

mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk (Mike Noren) once tried to test me with:

> bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
> news:<3a7ffd96.7591325@news-server>...
>> Heya:
>>
>> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
>> Con this morning a bit.
>
> Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
> made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
> another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
> a game for me at all.

You're basing this off of some guy's first combat sequence in some demo,
without regard to the game as a whole. It might have a lot of interesting
story and/or also some (hopefully) actual choices/role-playing that matters
in addition to the turn-based D&D combat. Of course, if you hate D&D you
probably should steer clear of it regardless.

--

Knight37

I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 19:47:23 +0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

>bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
>> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
>> Con this morning a bit.
>
>Mike Noren <mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>>Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
>>made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
>>another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
>>a game for me at all.
>
>I really don't see why the Temple of Elemental Evil would've ever been
>on your to-buy list. It would've been a very big surpise if it had not
>been a D&D based CRPG with lots and lots of combat.
>
> Ross Ridge

Heya:

What I played was just a demo. I only played with it for a total of
about 15 to 20 minutes. From screenshots I've seen elsewhere (and
from watching a guy go into a building) I know there's NPC interaction
(quests and such) but I didn't get to that. I just wandered around,
smacking some frogs and kobolds and _getting_ smacked (righteously)
by a Vrock (ouch).

On the other hand, someone who uses the phrase "yet another
D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator"... well, I dunno what to
say to that.

Take care,
Dreeble

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 19:47:23 +0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

>bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
>> I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
>> Con this morning a bit.
>
>Mike Noren <mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>>Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
>>made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
>>another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
>>a game for me at all.
>
>I really don't see why the Temple of Elemental Evil would've ever been
>on your to-buy list. It would've been a very big surpise if it had not
>been a D&D based CRPG with lots and lots of combat.
>
> Ross Ridge

Heya:

What I played was just a demo. I only played with it for a total of
about 15 to 20 minutes. From screenshots I've seen elsewhere (and
from watching a guy go into a building) I know there's NPC interaction
(quests and such) but I didn't get to that. I just wandered around,
smacking some frogs and kobolds and _getting_ smacked (righteously)
by a Vrock (ouch).

On the other hand, someone who uses the phrase "yet another
D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator"... well, I dunno what to
say to that.

Take care,
Dreeble

"Ross Ridge" <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote in message
news:bferkb$355$1@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca...
> bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
> > I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
> > Con this morning a bit.
>
> Mike Noren <mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
> >made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
> >another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
> >a game for me at all.
>
> I really don't see why the Temple of Elemental Evil would've ever been
> on your to-buy list. It would've been a very big surpise if it had not
> been a D&D based CRPG with lots and lots of combat.

It's going to be a bigger surprise for me if it IS a dungeon hack,
considering the guys that are designing it are the same ones that did
Fallout and Arcanum.

Tom

"Ross Ridge" <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote in message
news:bferkb$355$1@tabloid.uwaterloo.ca...
> bbock1@san.rr.com (Bill Bock) wrote in message
> > I played the demo Temple of Elemental Evil at the San Diego Comic
> > Con this morning a bit.
>
> Mike Noren <mike_noren2002@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >Thanks for the review, although I must say that for me, personally, it
> >made ToEE drop right off my to-buy list. It sounds very much like yet
> >another D&D baldurs gateish fantasy combat simulator, and as such not
> >a game for me at all.
>
> I really don't see why the Temple of Elemental Evil would've ever been
> on your to-buy list. It would've been a very big surpise if it had not
> been a D&D based CRPG with lots and lots of combat.

It's going to be a bigger surprise for me if it IS a dungeon hack,
considering the guys that are designing it are the same ones that did
Fallout and Arcanum.

Tom

"Ross Ridge" <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote in message
> I really don't see why the Temple of Elemental Evil would've ever been
> on your to-buy list. It would've been a very big surpise if it had not
> been a D&D based CRPG with lots and lots of combat.

Tom Meyer <fake@email.address> wrote:
>It's going to be a bigger surprise for me if it IS a dungeon hack,
>considering the guys that are designing it are the same ones that did
>Fallout and Arcanum.

If the designers didn't want to make a dungeon hack, why would they give
the game the same name as the biggest hack and slash dungeon adventure
module Gygax ever created for AD&D? I'd expect something between Diablo
2 and Icewind Dale at best.

Ross Ridge

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/rridge/
db //