Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Temple Of Elemental Evil Discussed

Posted by simoniker on from the playground-of-elementary-school dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Just writing to let you guys know that UGO has an interview with Tim Cain, co-founder of Troika Games (makers of Arcanum), talking about their latest game, Dungeons And Dragons: The Temple of Elemental Evil. The game appears to be based off the popular D+D module of the same name. Cain is best known for his work on the fantastic Fallout games from Interplay."

20 comments

  1. Out of subject probably... by sICE · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But there's a free online rpg: Tibia, check it out it's damn addicting. Sadly the linux version isnt up to date, but wine handle well the w32 binary.

    --
    -- search the web
  2. Non-article... by Phoukka · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ToEE has been discussed and Tim Cain interviewed at least once a week since the game was announced. Check out IGN, ShackNews, etc. Better yet, dare I say it, ask Google...?

  3. Great Module by Thyamine · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This has to be one of the best modules out there. I've put all of my RPG friends through the paces in this one at least once, and some of them have volunteered for it multiple times. It's a classic, and I'm glad to see someone taking it on so that _I_ can finally play it =)

    And I'm hoping they don't change the maps too much, I already know where the good stuff is at ;-)

    --
    I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
    1. Re:Great Module by tdelaney · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Greyhawk Inn - Unofficial Offical Board

      Atari ToEE forums - Official Board

      Troika are doing their absolute best to stay true to the module. Notable changes include the elemental nodes being somewhat smaller and more densely populated (anyone knowing the module will know just how large those elemental nodes were).

      Other deviations include expansions of many minor characters in the module - for example one of the NPCs (a trader IIRC) is mentioned as not having being eligible for the militia because he's too short. This has been expanded such that there are quests revolving around this point.

      One interesting - and to my mind much needed- feature is the concept of "party alignment". This is basically the "there's no way a paladin would work with a bunch of evil bastards" bit. Members of the party must be near the party alignment - for example, if your party is "Neutral Good" then all members must be Lawful Good, Neutral Good or Chaotic Good. This allows for a much more coherent game as characters you meet, etc respond accordingly. Previous Troika-member games (Fallout 1&2, Arcanum) have had the concept of developing your alignment/karma as the game progressed, but that doesn't carry over well to a party-based game.

    2. Re:Great Module by Thyamine · · Score: 1

      Excellent to hear. Which brings up a good point. How many DM's out there have (let me flaunt my geekiness a bit more ;) read this or other modules, and been amazed at the back story that the players will NEVER SEE.

      I mean, I appreciate the work involved, but do I really need to know that Jacob watched his brother die when he was 6, turned towards evil to fill the empty hole in his life, then was hired by Lord Evil McEvil to assassinate the party, who then quickly decimates him because I have a cleric who's Flame Strike happy? At least work it in somehow for me, have him wear a shirt that says 'Watched my brother die and all I got was this stupid t-shirt' ... something to make the party at least _try_ and parlay.

      --
      I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
    3. Re:Great Module by moonbender · · Score: 1

      The game looks absolutely great. Haven't been looking forward this much to an RPG since BG II. I even re-installed Pool of Radiance II (which is similar in concept) again yesterday, thinking "well it couldn't have been that bad" - well I was wrong.

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    4. Re:Great Module by Lightwarrior · · Score: 1

      You sure about that 'one step away' rule? Last I heard, it was something more along the lines of:

      LG LN LE
      NG TN NE
      CG CN CE

      With the 'extremes' (LG, LE, CG, CE) only allowing only the two same/neutral or neutral/same alignments.
      The 'moderate' (LN, NG, NE, CN) alignments allowing the three 'near' them (excluding the 'polar opposites' of their non-neutral side), and...
      'True Neutral' only excluding the 'extremists'.

      I could be wrong, but I thought that was how it was.

      -lw

      --
      Mods: Disagreeing with me != my post Offtopic / Flamebait.
      World without hate or war, invaded. Tragic?
    5. Re:Great Module by tdelaney · · Score: 1

      Using your matrix, you select your party alignment. Then any alignment which is no more than one step away in a horizontal or vertical direction is valid.

      So for example,

      LG party alignment allows LG, LN, NG characters.
      NG party alignment allows LG, NG, CG, TN characters.
      TN party alignment allows LN, NG, NE, CN, TN characters.

      There is one additional restriction - if you currently have a Paladin in the party, you cannot add any evil characters - and if you have an evil character in the party, you cannot add a Paladin. This does not mean that you can never have a Paladin and an evil character in the same party - just not at the same time! You can change party members at one of more of the inns (either in Hommlet or Nulb - I don't know - it may depend on your party alignment). So you could start off with a Paladin, then later remove him and add an evil character.

    6. Re:Great Module by Lightwarrior · · Score: 1

      Hah, that's exactly what I was trying to explain, except you kept it succinct =) Thanks!

      -lw

      --
      Mods: Disagreeing with me != my post Offtopic / Flamebait.
      World without hate or war, invaded. Tragic?
    7. Re:Great Module by mink · · Score: 1

      The Wizardry games had this back in the early 80's and kept it up through Wiz 8.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    8. Re:Great Module by mink · · Score: 1

      While this is a decent mechanic, it does stifle roleplaying outside of CRPG.

      What is the problem if a party of mostly good characters and a paladin takes on some rat bastard evil thief. The paladin isnt going to like him, or his ideas and they will come to a minimum of words, but it should add more character to the game IMO.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
    9. Re:Great Module by tdelaney · · Score: 1

      Well, you can pick up a rat bastard evil thief NPC. Who may well sell you out.

      The rationale is that a good group would not adventure with an evil bastard (or an evil group with a good bastard, etc) for any significant period of time.

      It also allows Troika to set up starting vignettes for the different parties i.e. each party alignment starts the game in different ways. It also allows each party alignment to *finish* the game in different ways - for example, the Lawful Evil vignette (I believe) continues throughout the game and can strongly affect the end of the game.

  4. Link is incorrect? by J_DarkElf · · Score: 1

    It points to http://ugo.com/ , not http://www.ugo.com/

    Corrected link

    On my system using Mozilla Firebird and Opera 7.11 at least -- connecting to the server sans the www gets me a weird error page with the mime type of a GIF image, returned as HTTP 200 OK... not even a 404. Then again they are running Microsoft-IIS/5.0 as a server, so this breakage is probably by design.

    1. Re:Link is incorrect? by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      works fine for me without the www on Firebird 0.6

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
  5. Could be worse... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It could be Gary Gygax's The Tomb of Horror.

  6. Is this a Neverwinter Nights module... by analog_line · · Score: 1

    ...or a completely new game? The implication in the article is that it's a completely seperate game with a completely seperate engine. If it is, why on earth would someone do that? I can understand more action-oriented styles getting their own new seperate game (like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and the upcoming Heroes) but if it's for PC...who's going to pay $50 for a Temple of Elemental Evil game that the same number of people could remake in half the time as a Neverwinter module, and for less cost? And even if it has better graphics than Neverwinter, I doubt I'm going to be able to make my own modules with the engine they give anywhere near as easily, if they even give people modding tools.

    I know I won't buy it. I know a lot of people who won't. Doesn't make an awful lot of sense.

    1. Re:Is this a Neverwinter Nights module... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you nuts? Have you ever seen the original ToEE module? The thing is *MASSIVE*, we're talking, hundreds of hours of gameplay... It would be a massive undertaking to make it into a NWN module, and, even so, it would be kludgy, since the NWN engine is so fscking limited...

    2. Re:Is this a Neverwinter Nights module... by tdelaney · · Score: 2, Informative

      Bwahahahaha! You made a funny!

      ToEE is a completely new game. It uses a much enhanced version of the Arcanum engine, but uses 3D sprites on pre-rendered 2D backgrounds. It's a lot closer to Baldur's Gate than NWN, but not very close to that really. For example, it uses a *turn based combat system*, which is probably the best possible news for Fallout fans.

      Apart from anything else, Troika wanted to implement the ruleset correctly (unlike NWN). In fact, ToEE will be the first game released using the 3.5 D&D rules.

      And no, you won't be able to make your own modules (or at least it won't be supported). This is a single-player only game, with no modability. This is a Good Thing(TM) - it allows Troika to concentrate on what they do best, which is creating an immersive game with a strong but fairly non-linear storyline. I would be willing to bet a *lot* of money that you could not create an NWN module that would come anywhere close to what ToEE will be like.

    3. Re:Is this a Neverwinter Nights module... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It looks to me like you have never played NWN to know it's features and limitations.

    4. Re:Is this a Neverwinter Nights module... by tdelaney · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I should have emphasised the *you* could not make a module that would come anywhere close to what Troika will make. It's possible that someone could (though I doubt it). But I bet *you* couldn't, since you've already displayed the lack of imagination and attention to detail required. I would also bet that your assertion that "the same number of people could remake in half the time as a Neverwinter module, and for less cost" is also false. Troika were starting with an engine that they developed and knew from scratch. That's a big advantage.

      On top of everything else, ToEE is an isometric game - which is my favourite type of game to play. I never play first-person shooters. I rarely play over-the-shoulder games (I returned Dungeon Siege after a few hours play).

      And no, I haven't played NWN. But I've done enough research to know that their implementation of the 3e rules was highly flawed.

      Personally, I would have preferred that Troika not do a D&D game, but believe that they will once again produce an excellent game with their usual level of immersiveness and strong but relatively non-linear storyline. And the D&D license will get them a lot more sales.