There's an unofficial patch out, by the way.
Here's what I think of it so far:
- Graphics: Nice. I like the pretty pre-rendered 2D stuff; it has excellent atmosphere that reminds me pleasantly of the IE games. The avatars are a bit blocky and faceless, though. But hey, that's what you get in most 2D isometric games. I'll have this over blocky 3D graphics any time, any given day.
- Sound and music: Nothing spectacular. The music is negligible. Usually I only hear grunts and swords clanging, that kind of thing. Makes me miss IWD's music. Or DD's, for that matter. The kind of soundtrack you would want to listen to outside the game. ToEE just doesn't have that.
- Writing: I'm sorry, here, but frankly the dialogue and writing overall are deserving of scorn. It is bland, hackneyed to gag-worthy in places, and doesn't feel natural in others. Was the budget limited on the writing department? I'm not expecting the quality of literature writing (mind you, for me, the definition of "literature" is debatable, but I digress), but I do expect it to be better than juniour high level. (Or is that an insult to junior high students? Ah, well.)
- Roleplaying: I'm sad to say that there isn't much of this, at least not as much as I expected. I admire the fact that alignment affects the beginning, but investing in skills like diplomacy seems to be a waste of time. Okay, so I was expecting something similar to what is seen in Lionheart's Barcelona area, where my character could bribe, bluff, lie, and cheat her way through. Not to mention talking bosses out of a fight. (And still get the same amount of XP as fighting the critter, if not more.) Maybe this isn't fair, considering the original ToEE is all about dungeon crawl, but didn't Tim Cain tout this game to possess "roleplaying opportunities"?
- Combat: It's turn-based, but quite fast-paced - a pleasant surprise. I actually enjoy the combat, and that's saying a lot for someone who can't tolerate the sluggishness of turn-based combat. It's also complex and sticks faithfully to D&D rules.
- Character creation: This is one of the game's strengths, although some of it feels a little pointless. If you aren't a cleric, the choice of deity doesn't really affect anything.
- Interface: I don't like radial menus. At all. It's bearable, but can be bloody awkward at times. Otherwise, though, it's easy to use.
- Bugs: So far, I haven't been bitten by anything major. The screen went black with white stripes on me twice, but reloading remedied that. At times the game lags and slows down for no good reason, even though my machine more than easily surpasses the minimum -- even the recommended -- requirements. (P4 2.8 GHZ, 800 mHZ bus, Geforce FX 5200 128 MB, 512 RAM. Yeah, it's nothing uber, but it can run most newer games just fine.) That, and the fact that toggling combat off doesn't seem to work nine times out of ten.
- Hardcore D&D: I'm not too sure about that. I know my bits of D&D, but I think that even without the geekdom, you can enjoy the game just fine.
- Overall: This is turning to be an experience very similar to IWD. Nice hack'n'slash, but not quite the text-heavy Planescape:Torment, or even the first part of LH. Okay. I can live with that. I didn't have that high an expectation of this game, after all.
Now, waiting for Riftrunner and KoTOR.
