Incline ToEE is fucking fantastic

[Jvegi]

ToEE is not bad. It's D&D that's shit.

I've played it for the first time last year and it does have a ton of issues. Not the UI, it's pretty good, not bugbears and not Homlett, because it can be skipped. My main gripe, other than some minor stuff, is the lack of difficulty and encounter variety. The game shines the few times when the stars align and you get a proper difficulty balance with interesting enemy positioning. Most of the time however it's just a repetitive slog with boring loot. And the Temple itself is just dull and incoherent.

Anyway, it's a flawed masterpiece that could really, really benefit from having a goddamn difficulty slider.

 

[filpan]

I am probably blind. How do you open character screen in this game? I need to see what feets, skills, resistances, etc. my character has.

 

[filpan]

But where can i see my skills and feats?

 

[curds]

But where can i see my skills and feats?

There’s three little blue icons on the character screen, in a row up the top. One is inventory (it opens on this page by default) the others are spells and feats (iirc).

 

[filpan]

^Found it, thanks!

 

[Nikanuur]

Yes, it's awsome.

 

[Beans00]

TOEE was pretty good but I something about the game always made it feel like I was walking in quicksand. I beat it once and never had the desire/willpower to go back to it.


Hommlet at least needed location markers on the map. Man that town dragged on.

 

[Uncreation]

I remember i didn't play this when it came out because there was a lot of talk about how buggy it was. Well, i remembered it again now and said i should probably get around to at least finishing it once. I just started and i already have a dumb question. It seems my first character is the one to interact with people, at least when it's the NPCs that trigger the interaction. So if someone comes up to me and starts a dialog the one that responds is always the first character in the party.

This might be a problem since he's a tard. Of course it's funny to read stuff like: "Me go!" or "Who do bad thing?". But i have dialog skills on other characters, like diplomacy, bluff, etc. Will i be able to make checks using my other characters, or does the game ignore the skill of the rest of the characters in dialog? If it's all on the guy talking, then can i at least change my party order, so that if someone comes up to talk to me all of a sudden i can get some better dialog options than "duuurhurhur"?

 

[Fluent]

Friendly reminder, you can also play this module (by module I'm referring to Temple of Elemental Evil T1-4, the pen and paper version) in FRUA. There are multiple designs (FRUA modules) that take a crack at remaking ToEE based on the pen and paper version. An absolutely excellent version is Ray Dyer's offering, for his "The Realm" campaign. Just excellent stuff if u like dungeon diving and going on expeditions. Just wanted to mention this for people who may be interested but didn't know it existed. Hope u have fun with whatever version u play (the Troika adaptation is great, too!) Cheers!

 

[Black]

I remember i didn't play this when it came out because there was a lot of talk about how buggy it was. Well, i remembered it again now and said i should probably get around to at least finishing it once. I just started and i already have a dumb question. It seems my first character is the one to interact with people, at least when it's the NPCs that trigger the interaction. So if someone comes up to me and starts a dialog the one that responds is always the first character in the party.

This might be a problem since he's a tard. Of course it's funny to read stuff like: "Me go!" or "Who do bad thing?". But i have dialog skills on other characters, like diplomacy, bluff, etc. Will i be able to make checks using my other characters, or does the game ignore the skill of the rest of the characters in dialog? If it's all on the guy talking, then can i at least change my party order, so that if someone comes up to talk to me all of a sudden i can get some better dialog options than "duuurhurhur"?

The game only uses the skills of the character you're talking with. You can sorta fix this by moving the portrait of your talky character to the first (leftmost) spot, that way that character will act as your party's face. I always put my thief as character #1 since he has all the skills.

 

[Uncreation]

Thanks! Kinda sucks that it works that way, since it makes it hard to have options like intimidate and diplomacy available in the same conversation even if the possibility is coded in. Anyway, yeah my Rogue is my skill monkey and he has most of the talky skills. I might also restart and change my party a bit anyway since at the very beginning.

 

[Black]

Let's yell at Sitra Achara to make party skills "global".

 

[gurugeorge]

Let's yell at Sitra Achara to make party skills "global".

Yeah I think that's one of those QOL things that doesn't take away from actual gameplay - all it does is cut out a bit of extra fiddling and peering at the screen that you'd be doing.

 

[Sitra Achara]

Let's yell at Sitra Achara to make party skills "global".

I thought about that, but wouldn't it trivialize the skill point allocation? Since you're playing multiple characters it becomes much less 'costly' to max out all conversation skills. Intimidate for your fighter, diplomacy for cleric, bluff on sorc if you have one, and the rest handled by your rogue/bard (who is now free to also max out use magic device).

 

[Raghar]

Because it's shit.

nigga u think risen 2 is a good game

It's nice game when you see it as a parody and want to play as pirate.

 

[Raghar]

Why does this not get shilled here more often?

Lv cap = 10.

Yea, shitty bastards. They should release an expansion that would expand it to level 30 and add more features including kingdom management, artifact making, and army combat.

Better graphic than NWN, and more artsy than NWN2.

 

[Black]

Let's yell at Sitra Achara to make party skills "global".

I thought about that, but wouldn't it trivialize the skill point allocation? Since you're playing multiple characters it becomes much less 'costly' to max out all conversation skills. Intimidate for your fighter, diplomacy for cleric, bluff on sorc if you have one, and the rest handled by your rogue/bard (who is now free to also max out use magic device).

I liked it in SoZ because it made me feel like I have control over the whole party even in dialogue but yeah, it'd probbably trivialize skill allocation, the game isn't really made for that.

 

[gurugeorge]

Let's yell at Sitra Achara to make party skills "global".

I thought about that, but wouldn't it trivialize the skill point allocation? Since you're playing multiple characters it becomes much less 'costly' to max out all conversation skills. Intimidate for your fighter, diplomacy for cleric, bluff on sorc if you have one, and the rest handled by your rogue/bard (who is now free to also max out use magic device).

That's why the contribution system with diminishing returns (like in POE2) is the best way of doing it. You notionally "consult" your characters to give you a bump that might or might not be enough, which makes perfect sense from an rp perspective, and really makes interaction richer and more fun, except where you're forced to use only your skills for some reason (which ought to happen a few times in any game), or where other members of the party have to do the interaction (in which case you're supporting them).

It's just a bit too skeletal and not simulationist enough to have only the main party member's stats contributing to interactions. Don't your party members have anything to contribute, are they just standing there with their fingers up their asses?

 

[Sitra Achara]

I agree that it's weird. But then so is having a conversation with a party rather than a single person.
At any rate, I can add it as a house rule for anyone who is so inclined.

 

[gurugeorge]

I agree that it's weird. But then so is having a conversation with a party rather than a single person.
At any rate, I can add it as a house rule for anyone who is so inclined.

Don't think of it as a conversation with a party, think of it as a coversation with the protagonist who's getting occasional bits of vocal advice, hints, whispered advice, subtle nods, gestures, shakes of the head, etc., etc. from his party, as he's talking to people.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I thought about that, but wouldn't it trivialize the skill point allocation? Since you're playing multiple characters it becomes much less 'costly' to max out all conversation skills. Intimidate for your fighter, diplomacy for cleric, bluff on sorc if you have one, and the rest handled by your rogue/bard (who is now free to also max out use magic device).

Most people playing ToEE now already played it a trillion times so i don't think it'd do any harm, even less if it's optional.
Just for the sake of now having to remember/ write down who uses which skills and which skills are required in the next conversation.

It'd be a great QoL improvement for my 10+ playthrough.
I'd rather have the Archmage class and the ongoing classes completed though.