Alright. The Temple of Elemental Evil is done and dusted. I'm sure I'll play this a few more times in the future to see more variations of what is possible, but for now, I played a good-aligned run and saw two endings; an ending where Zuggtomoy is banished and the ending attached to destroying a specific golden item. :) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3642461801 As someone intimately familiar with 3.5e AD&D, this game is very much second nature to me from a rules perspective, and as someone who also knows The Temple of Elemental Evil backwards and forwards, the actual adventure is also very comfortable for me. So, it really becomes a simple exercise of getting used to the isometric CRPG presentation. Which, that's my favorite genre of gaming, so...you know. Without a background in at least 3e AD&D though, I think new players will find this game to be far more challenging and with a greater barrier to entry than is typical of modern CRPGs especially. Because, despite all the welcome adjustments and the far improved functionality SNEG brought to the table with this release, this is very much an old video game based on an even older TTRPG gaming system and adventure. So, be aware of this before diving in. Without at least a cursory understanding of 3.5e AD&D, the struggle will be real. With that said, this is an honest adaptation of one of the most famous of dungeon crawls. All the things you might remember from the classic adventure are here. And if something is missing, I didn't notice or it wasn't relevant to my playthrough and didn't reveal its absence. If anything, for me, this is a reminder of what also could have been. Can you imagine being able to play through T1-4 as the intro to the grander adventure that continues forward into A1-4, G1-3, D1-3 and finally Q1? Especially as they were re-written in the large module format with better tie-ins. IYKYK. I know WoTC is into doing their own thing with D&D but actually finding and funding suitable devs to bring the entire campaign to life in 3.5e would be something truly epic. And arguably would be like printing money. Anyway, this version does clean-up most of the issues I had with the original release and does tweak some stuff as well. IMO, it was a cleaner experience and was definitely not the crash fest the original was. And although I played this version on Steam, I also appreciate that SNEG gave existing owners on GoG the ability to choose the original version or this version when downloading the game. Which they did for free. Very cool. Right. So, this is your classic party-based isometric CRPG, turn-based dungeon crawl with lots of different factions all vying for power and lots of different ways to resolve things. You can play as good, neutral, evil. Whatever you want. The game has something for you. Actually, it's probably an easier game if you were to play as an evil-aligned group due to faction options that open up to you. But it is of course satisfying to play as a good party. You have five PCs, which you can generate yourself or use pre-gens. Or a combination thereof. You also have three party slots available for recruitable NPCs. Of which there are many. I went with the classic combo of Otis, Elmo, and Furnok; but I think you can't really go wrong with whomever. Although you will typically want to have recruited whomever you're going to stick with before you get past the first level of the TOEE so they can also level up. Otis starts at lvl 10 (the level cap in this game), but most of the recruitable NPCs will need time to level up. Speaking of leveling up, I do want to offer some advice here. There is no HP maxing available. It's all a die roll. So, as you are leveling your character up, save before actually doing so. Although it would not be in the spirit of the game necessarily to keep reloading until you get max hp, I think you want to at least get half max. So, 5+ for Fighter/Paladins, 4+ for Clerics/Rangers, 3+ for Rogues/Bards, 2+ for Wizards. That sort of thing. And speaking of saving: save early, save often. You can even save mid-battle. And it's also worth noting that while you can wander off and sleep/heal, your enemies can't rest to heal. So, retreat and come back if you need to. The damage you did to a boss previously should remain intact. At worst, you might have to sacrifice a party member temporarily so the party can escape. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3637768830 There are of course issues with the game. SNEG did a good job, but they didn't catch everything. The old trader UI is terrible. Sliding one item at a time is laborious at best. Some of the party UI is similarly out-of-date and not what I'd call user friendly. Cameras move well and can now be controlled with WASD, which is great. What they can't do is scroll in or out. Which sucks. Crowd control spells always work better against your party than against your enemies, and some of them, such as fear and confusion, your party will generally fail their saves for regardless of your stats. Also, a shockingly large number of enemies have a well-developed tumble skill, which is a huge factor in combat. None of these things are bugs, but they are reminders of how much CRPGs have improved since this game's original release. Also, in addition to a level cap, there is also an XP cap, and unfortunately, once you hit your level cap and assuming you have selected the ability/abilities to craft various enchanted items, you can no longer do so since they cost XP, you've maxed out your XP, and can't have negative XP that would technically reduce your level again. Some actual bugs though. Sometimes even though combat has ended, the game doesn't recognize the changed status and won't allow you to interact with doors, bodies, etc... the only way out of this bug is to reload a previous save or somehow manage to trigger another battle. Fake triggers don't seem to work. Although no longer a crash-fest, the game did crash to desktop about eight times during my 55-hour playthrough. There were also several instance related bugs such as a gate crashing, removing access to a specific area. Also, on occasion, the game will select a target for your attacks/spells rather than allow you to do so. The worst bug IMO though is tied to "The Butcher of Hommlett". How it works is, if NPCs in your party who are from Hommlett die, it counts towards this. If three die, you are branded the butcher, all services are shut off for you in that town, and you will be attacked on sight, not only by guards, but potentially also by your own NPC party members. However, what the game doesn't do is recognize when you have Raised a fallen NPC follower from the dead, restoring them to life. So, let's say Elmo has died on three separate occasions on your run. That's it. Insult to injury being that he himself will also attack you once the Butcher status triggers, lol. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3633253610 So, with this game, the good significantly outweighs the bad, but the bad is very definitely there to be found. IMO, this is a game you 100% must play if you are a fan of old CRPGs and/or 3.5e AD&D. You are THE target audience. Gamers without those preferences or experience would be well served to consider familiarizing yourselves with the 3.5e ruleset, at least via the Player's Handbook, which you can find as a free PDF in plenty of places online. If you aren't willing to do so, this might not be the game for you. And as a reminder, if you already owned TOEE on GoG, you also own this new version there as well. 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