it's flippin' amazing. if you liked Icewind Dale, you'll love ToEE. the beginning is a bit slow, but once your party levels up a couple of times, you won't stop until the game's over.
you do need community patches. google "Circle of 8" or "Co8". it fixes a lot of issues, making the game a bit harder in the process. they're not mandatory, but a lot of people have issues with the game without them, so to be on the safe side install them