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Why did Troika make ToEE?


Kaftan Barlast

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I got "The Temple of Elemental Evil" just because I was very curious about the combat system (since I want to develop CRPGs when I graduate or as a uni project) and I cant quite understand why Troika, who could actually make top notch ROLE-PLAYING games, would turn 180degrees and make a HacknSlash?

 

 

I understand they wanted to stay true to the PnP adventure that is almost entirely focused on combat but why make ToEE and not a D&D adventure of their own, Troika-style?

Edited by Kaftan Barlast

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Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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Off topic, slightly, but has anyone heard of a mod for Temple of Elemental Evil called Circle of Eight? It's supposed to be quite good from what I hear, but I haven't had time to try it out myself.

 

Feel free to add your opinions if you've tried it. If you haven't, hey, now you've got something to do :geek:)

 

Edit: Spelling as usual.

Edited by mkreku

Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish!

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  1. I cant quite understand why Troika, who could actually make top notch ROLE-PLAYING games, would turn 180degrees and make a HacknSlash?
  2. I understand they wanted to stay true to the PnP adventure that is almost entirely focused on combat but why make ToEE and not a D&D adventure of their own, Troika-style?

  1. Troika was making ToEE and Vampire TM: Bloodlines around the same time. My assumption is that all the tech-heads went into ToEE and all the creative minds into Bloodlines. Both games have some issues due to this split evidently. Having played both it feels like two different developers doing it, which supports my notion.
  2. Somehow I don't think, that Troika really had the finances to develop a unique property at the time. They probably needed to make some money. And maybe ToEE was a lovechild too.

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1. That may have been true, I know I would much rather have picked Bloodlines to be a designer for.

 

 

2. But ToEE doesnt really offer much in terms of a complete adventure, a team of talented Designers could have written something far better in just a few weeks. The only reason I cant think of it that ATARi and/or WotC forced them to make a crpg version of ToEE, threatening to deny them the D&D license if they didnt.

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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2. But ToEE doesnt really offer much in terms of a complete adventure, a team of talented Designers could have written something far better in just a few weeks. The only reason I cant think of it that ATARi and/or WotC forced them to make a crpg version of ToEE, threatening to deny them the D&D license if they didnt.

 

They picked the module. I'd have gone with the D or G series myself. Much more interesting.

I have to agree with Volourn.  Bioware is pretty much dead now.  Deals like this kills development studios.

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BL, inspite of its good role-playing, is very much the defibition of 'hack n slash'. And, it's combat is 1000x worse than TOEE's.

 

Also, Troika chose TOEE because theyw ere asked by Atari to choose a pre existing D&D pnp module IIRC.

 

TOEE has a great combat system; but poor combat.

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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What's wrong with hack n slash? It gets tiring after a while doing fetch 'em quests and save the world the the hundredth time.

 

The key is to have such a compelling story that it dosnt occur to the player just how dull the tasks that drive it are.

I have to agree with Volourn.  Bioware is pretty much dead now.  Deals like this kills development studios.

478327[/snapback]

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  1. BL, inspite of its good role-playing, is very much the defibition of 'hack n slash'. And, it's combat is 1000x worse than TOEE's.

  1. You just keep repeating your mistakes. :blink: (Caesar si viveret, ad remum dereris.) BL combat is ALSO fun. Combat is the ONLY fun in ToEE.

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If you enjoy killing stuff then go buy and action game, I think HackNSlash CRPGs are a fundamentally bad idea.

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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"BL combat is ALSO fun."

 

No, no it isn't. It's boring. It's easy. It's repetive.

 

 

 

As for the other argument, I have no problem with hack 'n' slash. I ahve a problem with mindless hack 'n' slash.

 

Some of my favorite NWN PWs are hack n slash as in teh focus is 100% on combat; but it's fun and definitely not mindless. BL is definitely of the mindless avriety as is TOEE but nowhere near as bad as BL. IWD is also not mindless hack 'n' slash.

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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  1. "BL combat is ALSO fun."
     
  2. No, no it isn't. It's boring. It's easy. It's repetive.
     
  3. As for the other argument, I have no problem with hack 'n' slash. I ahve a problem with mindless hack 'n' slash.
     
  4. Some of my favorite NWN PWs are hack n slash as in teh focus is 100% on combat; but it's fun and definitely not mindless.
     
  5. BL is definitely of the mindless avriety as is TOEE but nowhere near as bad as BL.
     
  6. IWD is also not mindless hack 'n' slash.

I'm not quite sure how to respond to all this 'mindless' bs you seem to be so fond of. I think all the 'mindlessness' of your post is getting pretty mindless. If you had been more mindful of your comments and said it was a pretty sucky game, then I would have to agree, as I sucked my way thru BL. :D

  1. That's your opinion. I think it's fun, challenging and highly varied thanks to different clans with different abilities, different combat options, combat moves and disciplines. Of course it requires you to actually try out of different clans, styles of character development and tactics, to avoid the routine. But that goes for ANY game, including IWD and NWN. If you know what you are doing you can easily create a character that's gonna ruin gameplay totally - does that make a play or the player mindless? I think it's the latter. :-"
    There are some places (with respawning monsters) where you can get caught in repetititve mindless combat if you don't move on...and in some places you don't even have to do the mindless thing to move on. It's up to you to decide. Separating exp from kills eliminates that concern, doesn't have to keep doing the mindless thing that those other games you mention as not being mindless requires you to do to get exp...
  2. Watching a game play itself, that's mindless and that's what all the isometric click and kill games do...and what BL doesn't do...and neither do ToEE, actually. So... :-
  3. I wasn't impressed with NWN, for a number of reasons, but I wouldn't call it mindless (except in some cases where damage resistance is totally ruining any challenge in the game), simply because of the style of the player. :cool:
  4. As I've said before, if you read the lines and between them: any game can be mindless if you play it mindlessly...and apparently you do that a lot, maybe you have a handicap or something?
  5. I was really bored with IWD and I've never completed IWD2 for the same reason as well. Dragging a faceless party around, getting them lost and killing stuff with a single click of a button... Especially the mindle... 'faceless' (no personalities) part was boring. <_<

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"As I've said before, if you read the lines and between them: any game can be mindless if you play it mindlessly...and apparently you do that a lot, maybe you have a handicap or something?"

 

FDon't blame me for BL's combat ebing boring, simple, and mindless. Thanbkfully, it's role-playing is top notch 'cause the combat is mindless. There is no (or very little as there are always exceptions) thinking involved.

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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