Let's play ToEE!

[Andyman Messiah]

Words from the master himself! I obey!

I'm going to quote you on that!

IN context!

Seriously, great start for an lp! I'll be reading. :wink:

 

[RK47]

the OP is absolutely right on Hommlet, because it's really soul crushingly boring and repulsed me for weeks till I gave it another go. Although the -patch-less experience was hilarious: imagine finishing the game by *accident* ; TOEE is a gem in the rough. Just some devoted polishes would've made this game a master piece instead of 'Yet another Troika beta for $50'

 

[someone else]

This LP almost makes the game sound good.

The game is okay if you like D&D combat. Once you get fireball, the game gets a little too easy. The game does have a powerful adversary which many people find too difficult to beat. It depends on what kind of party you are using. First time I fought it I won without a scratch, but then I was spoiled and running a munchkin party designed to take it down.

 

[NiM82]

This LP almost makes the game sound good.

The game is okay if you like D&D combat. Once you get fireball, the game gets a little too easy. The game does have a powerful adversary which many people find too difficult to beat. It depends on what kind of party you are using. First time I fought it I won without a scratch, but then I was spoiled and running a munchkin party designed to take it down.

I found the Balor boss in the fire node to be a lot harder to take down than Zuggtmoy, though that was with CO8, dunno if they tweaked anything there.

 

[someone else]

The game does have a powerful adversary which many people find too difficult to beat. It depends on what kind of party you are using. First time I fought it I won without a scratch, but then I was spoiled and running a munchkin party designed to take it down.

I found the Balor boss in the fire node to be a lot harder to take down than Zuggtmoy, though that was with CO8, dunno if they tweaked anything there.

I was talking about the Balor actually. I was playing the CO8 version too, the Balor summoned in the first round and died in the second. The CO8 version actually makes it easier as your party is of a higher level and you have better equipment + enchantments.

 

[Lesifoere]

This LP almost makes the game sound good.

The game is okay if you like D&D combat. Once you get fireball, the game gets a little too easy. The game does have a powerful adversary which many people find too difficult to beat. It depends on what kind of party you are using. First time I fought it I won without a scratch, but then I was spoiled and running a munchkin party designed to take it down.

Oh, I've played the game. I stopped at one of the elemental nodes because by then the memory leak rendered the game unplayable, but even before then, it was kind of... painful. The story made no sense to me, so I just proceeded into the temple blind and slaughtered everything willy-nilly. Though, to its credit, it's the only turn-based RPG I can stand.

 

[Herbert West]

That's quality posting! Waiting for the next part!

 

[Kingston]

I love the Hommlet music. Its pretty relaxing.

 

[Texas Red]

but even before then, it was kind of... painful.

Have you tried dildos or masturbation to lessen the pain during sex?

 

[Castanova]

WTF? Get your own avatar, Magedude!

 

[Redeye]

Dralasite?

 

[dragonfk]

Damn this game engine is so beautiful. A kingdom for a true RPG built on ToEE engine!

 

[Thrasher]

Nice writeup!

Has anyone played the CO8 Keep on the Borderlands mod?

I'd like another good reason to replay this turned-based gem.

 

[peak]

Damn this game engine is so beautiful. A kingdom for a true RPG built on ToEE engine!

Aye. It's a shame that such a beautiful engine was made and only used for one game, which did not realise its full potential.

Great LP so far. Makes me wanna finish the game, but I'm right in a Thief 2X/Dwarf Fortress-playthrough which kinda sucks up most of my gaming time.

 

[NiM82]

Nice writeup!

Has anyone played the CO8 Keep on the Borderlands mod?

I'd like another good reason to replay this turned-based gem.

I've installed it but not had time to play it much, I've just had a wander around the initial keep/shops. Seems they've added a lot of new content, there's rope climbing skills and stuff, also seems to be a use for all the speech checks etc (there's a lot of dialogue), plus schedules for npc's (people wont trade with you at night). The new maps aren't anywhere near as good looking as the troika stuff, but it's more than adequate. Not actually engaged in any combat yet, but it certainly looks interesting from the little I've seen.

 

[Thrasher]

No major bugs? May be worth a try then.

Looks aren't that important to me.

Interesting quests, story, NPCs, dialogues, tactical turn-based combat, and odd combat situations are...

 

[NiM82]

Well I've literally only installed it and has a quick wander, so far too early to tell what bugs are about (bound to be a load as it's a demo version, plus ToEE's usual glitches). The CO8 forums are probably a better place to check for bug info and stuff.

 

[ghostdog]

I wish this game was something like NWN , mainly a tool for making mods. What awesome mods would have been made with these beautiful graphics and excellent combat system...

Anyway, this is a great LP. Keep it up.

 

[Crichton]

I've played a bit of the KotB demo. There's a thread somewhere,

here http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=22147&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=kotb&start=25

My basic impression was that it was about the same content-wise as the ToEE OC. Some of the attempted rules improvements seemed pretty poorly done (skills that didn't show up on teh character sheet, wands to activate some kind of searching), but they also seemed largely optional. From what I remember about KotB, the Co8 version is very faithful to the old module.

 

[Schaden]

ToEE was a fantastic D&D CRPG experience. I played it almost straight through, and beat it in 2 days. The engine had so much potential. It's a shame more wasn't done. A new series like the gold box games would be been good.

I'd recommend it to anyone, especially now that's it's bargain bin. My only real fault with the game was its short length. Due to its fairly linear nature, I never considered replaying it. Although I used a save game to check out the different endings.

 

[Thrasher]

Thanks for the references!

 

[NiM82]

The engine had so much potential. It's a shame more wasn't done. A new series like the gold box games would be been good.

I think they did plan to do quite a big series with it. There was an interview somewhere with Gary Gygax (from when it was released) and he mentioned they had discussed doing other modules and listed few potential candidates.

 

[Trash]

Is the op playing this one with the CO8 modpack? It fixes loads of problems and adds quite some content. I especially liked the challenge that the new npç scripts for monsters and other foes gave. All in all it goes quite a way to improving TOEE, even though it is destined to always be a flawed gem.

 

[Pussycat669]

CO8 modpack?

No. I try to stay as close to the original experience as possible. Only the second official patch is installed plus the unofficial patch from a guy called Moebius because of the looting bug. Of course his patch also just *has* to make changes with the mechanics, tragically. Most notably the removal of level caps. I like level caps however mostly because they generally suck and make the end game actually tough so I took them back in (or so I hope).

Still, looks fun.

Fun alert! Fun alert!
Initialize counter protocols immediately!


Visiting Hommlet: A snake pit survival guide (Chapter 2)

Our heroes press on to find Mathilde in their quest to bring back peace and happiness to the farmer brothers. It doesn't take long before they stumble into her house.

Mathilde is your stereotypical tough as nails town prostitute. Her parents were prostitutes, her grandparents were prostitutes and judging by her comment above it is safe to assume that her children continue the tradition. Now the old lady is tired and doesn't want anything other than to marry a rich old cunt so that she can be freed from all her earthly needs. Someone like Filliken. She even got a shack that could be used to store his grain but it is in need of repairs and the local carpenter seems to be too busy doing other stuff. Of course, it is left to our group to find out what he's up to.

He's whining because no one in town takes him seriously despite his hard work but instead of seeing the fault in himself he keeps on blaming the system in other words religion. Hommlet is torn between the followers of two different beliefs. There are those believing in the so called 'Old Faith' lead by an apathetic druid named Jaroo. This faith is about 'balance in all things' (Screamer, as the diplomat woman, will be forced to say that a lot of times) and inner piece and this kind of idiocy. Naturally, they are also the losing side in this little theological war. The followers of St. Cuthbert, god of justice and so forth, on the other hand are the new kids on the block and have a more practical business ethic. Their priests enforce donations from their followers so that they can build a tower nearby to establish a dictatorship of good. It's not like the people of Hommlet wouldn't deserve it.

Anyways, the carpenter thinks that if he converts to the Old Faith the people will like him more. His brother jumps in to reinforce this notion. He also provides us with just enough soap opera to make certain that this is no doubt a trendy new age cRPG.

Judging by the clues they collected Magedude predicts that the smelly bump who lives next to a big tree must be the druid Jeroo who was mentioned and one of Hommlet's big players. We decide to visit him next.

This man is the ultimate antidote in case that you still believe that tree-huggers are cool. His voice actor sounds as bored as Screamer while he explains to her the nature of the delicate balance that could be disturbed if he should convert someone to his faith. She'll have to speak to Terjon (the name sounds oddly familiar) who is chief cleric of the local church (oh right, burning church, slaughtered acolyte. It all comes back to her now) and ask for his allowance. Since the church is on the other end of town, the group decides for a little more sightseeing before continuing the quest.

The tower on top of the eastern hill looks inviting and after struggling with the narrow ascent and some AI pathfinding difficulties they find themselves before its gates.

Within we encounter Rufus and Burne, two veteran heroes and local legends. They are responsible for the town defenses.

Once we're done with the moathouse later, we'll get the opportunity to let them join our team. They both kick arse but they remain only for a limited amount of time before they return to Hommlet forever (most likely at times when you would really need them).

The moathouse lies within a distant future however so we bypass the time by asking Burne for a job. He says that someone is sabotaging the construction of the second tower and makes the request that we look into things as undercover agents. Once we arrive at the construction site, we talk to the only laborer in sight. Screamer gets the opportunity to make use of her speech skills for the very first time. Whenever convincing someone with words is an option it can be recognized by the yellow dialogue lines that pop up. A little symbol at their side will indicate which skill is used. A smile stands for diplomacy, a parchment for bluff (interestingly enough), fist for intimidate, eye for sense motive and ear for listen/spot (don't know which. Edit: It's listen, actually). I don't think that there are any rolls involved here. Only the skill rank of the character talking seems important. So every time you see a special dialogue option you can be certain that it will sell.
Thanks to her way with people (and a little bribe of 100 gold pieces) Screamer finds out that this laborer is the saboteur and lackey of two totally evil merchants.

We should attend to those fiends at once (they sound malicious enough that they actually might have something to do for our naughty boys and gals) but before we do that we make a nice snap-shot from the construction site.

Despite all the bad things that can be said about Hommlet, it is hard not to admit that a lot of effort and love was put into details. One of the positive things that catches the eye is that only a few house interiors are the product of infamous copy & paste procedures. Actually, it goes so far that the room of a potter, who has really no purpose in the game whatsoever, actually looks like a real pottery! I wish so much effort would have been put into bugfixes as well. There is only one critique and that is, as you may have already noticed, that many of the interiors are way too dark but this is true for pretty much all the interiors in ToEE.

Now back to the merchants. They occupy a larger estate in the northern part of town. Screamer makes the acquaintance with the skinny Gremag and kingcomrade's evil twin Rannos. They both always say the same only with different words so there is only one screenshot this time.

After a conversation of the like-minded, we get our 100 gold pieces back in exchange of the promise to keep our mouths shut. Although they're apparently not interested in any help Screamer decides to keep the promise for now, in case anything comes up later. The merchants also got a male slave for sale but now knowing of their cutthroat nature no one in the group even bothers to take a closer look at him. While searching the stable next door for no apparent reason they also discover a suspicious figure that is hiding in a heap of straw. Sadly, none of them has a high enough rank in sense motive so they don't see anything out of the ordinary in this behavior.

There are two other notable merchants that we meet during our walk downtown. Firstly Brother Smyth the blacksmith who has his small forge right next to the pub (and who makes me feel less guilty about my bad choice of names).

If he's not studying the fine art of smithery he also has a part time job as a druid apprentice so he can both heal (again for 100 gold) and barter with you. He's like your entrusted drug dealer. Always eager to give you a fix but don't be surprised if you should feel cold and hollow on the inside afterwards. We're going to visit him often.

Then there's the heartbreaking story about the sad tailor up the street.

He wants to be a true patriot and join the militia but the officer in charge won't let him 'cause he’s small. We visit the officer in question who lives at the southwest border of Hommlet. He and Screamer blah blah a bit, we get XP, everyone is happy.

Another person we ought to help is a farmer whose daughter causes him a serious headache. He comes up with a desperate plan.

The men in the party draw straws and Johnny loses. Luckily enough the chemistry between him and the farmer's daughter seems to be about right.

We welcome Fruella for her short stay in our jolly touring company. She's loud, repulsive and a terrible foe in battle, once she starts to wield that big cleaver she's carrying around. If you look for a decent melee she's definitely worth considering. Her two downsides are that she demands a full share of the loot (meaning she will soon be overburdened with worthless junk like spears and leather armors with no apparent way to get rid of it) and that she won't leave the group voluntarily. It's too bad for her that a NPC in your group won't defend himself if attacked from other members. Johnny and Punkaid don’t hesitate to beat her to a bloody pulp with Punkaid dealing the fatal deathblow (Johnny seems to be more sentimental than expected which leaves the rest of the group worried about his mental state). Her daddy doesn't seem to care much about her corpse lying right next to him even when Johnny strips her from all her belongings, including her clothes. We’ll make a good deal with it at Brother Smyth’s place.

A local jeweler also sounds too juicy to be left out of the trip.

If you look at the upper corner you can spot a glimpse of a thing almost too beautiful to be described in words. It’s a treasure chest at last!

Tumblefingers, without much though, rushes to the jeweler’s bedroom to take a closer look (neither the people in the entrance hall nor the here unseen guard in the living room appear to be bothered by this at all). About careful inspections it is revealed that the chest is trapped and will release a dangerous cloud of poison if someone unskilled in the art tries to open it. It does take great effort from Tumblefingers (and a few reloads) to finally defuse it and she's understandably frustrated to learn that she's not skilled enough to pick the lock of the darn thing. Set into a larping rage, the group decides for a spontaneous 'no witnesses' bank robbery (the jeweler was way too much of a snob anyways). Johnny is placed in the passage between entrance hall and living room and set into defense mode. The now isolated guard is quickly gunned down by three combined crossbow shots. The jeweler and the other guard soon meet the same fate but not before they beat Johnny half to death.

Our reward: Level up!, a +1 sword for Johnny, a lot of shiny stones, the key to the chest (with even more shiny stones) and a few days rest in the Inn.

All in all the experience is very helpful to boost the morale of the troop. In fact, so cheerful is the look of senseless violence and murder that Screamer finally learns to sing! We sell the stones to Brother Smyth for a good price.

Fun Facts: Further investigations reveal that the two guards were actually chaotic evil so there is a good chance that they would have robbed the jeweler themselves. We could say that we did him a favor of sorts.

Only a grumpy shepherd stands between us and the church now.

Fun Facts: Attacking him at random might prove to be a bad idea. Not because he’s especially tough or something but because all his animals, sheep and dogs, will turn hostile towards you. Those sheep can make short shrift of any party below level 3.

He's again one of those 'I was a hero too once but then I realized that digging in animal dung the whole day is more fun' fools. At least he's got a quest for us about his sheep being poisoned and that he has no clue how it happens. It doesn't take a rocket scientist that the only plants on the field that you can pick up must be the cause. They are brought to Jeroo who confirms that those plants are indeed poisonous and the reason for the sheep demise. Now it would be a funny closure for the quest that the sheep actually poisoned themselves but of course Jeroo has enough free time in his boring life to run around the whole town and remove any of such plants. So someone must have planted them there. Visiting the fields at night reveals who is behind it.

It's apparently just a stupid punk kid. It's easy to guess that he too is only a decoy for a yet bigger plot but he won't give away who are the masterminds behind it all (that he lives right next to the evil merchants should be a dead giveaway though). We sent him home never to return again. Quest done.

Then there is a very last thing that our group can do before climbing up the final hill.

Behold! The one and only unprovoked encounter in all of Hommlet!

I guess those St. Cuthbert guys really need that new tower if they let one lousy goblin come that close to their church. He has only around 3 hitpoints however, so the fun is over as quickly as it started. He's carrying a ring that belonged to the late wife of the shepherd. We could trade it in for some nice items and with the sense of making an old man happy. We sell the ring to Brother Smyth.

At last, our group arrives at the church of St. Cuthbert where all quest strings join together. Something important is going to happen here, as everyone in the group is aware (except for Screamer and Johnny perhaps). While Magedude prepares some fire spells and the rest of the team gather flammable liquids, we allow ourselves to take one final break before bringing this most exciting trilogy to an end.

 

[Mamon]

Does this game have lots of bugs? Do you recommend a patch?

Does it have a lot of sidequests?