World
The game takes place in known to many D&D world, to be more specific not far from Verbobonc (which is to the west of Free City of Grayhawk). It seems that village of Hommlet is in trouble once again. The temple that was threatening the entire region isn't as exiled as everyone hoped it would be. But before you start exploring the depths of places that should be long forgotten.. You have to make a party!
Party
Race, gender, class, attributes, alignment, appearance.. and you're ready! You can ofcourse make more than one character, and it is recommended that you go with a full party, Note, that you also must choose PARTY alignment, which will allow you to take only characters of this specific one, aswell as immediate neighbours. No chaotic evil killers in a paladin party.
Each character can advance in any class he wishes to (and meets the requirements) to a total of 10 levels. The classes are exactly what we know from pen and paper games. There are, ofcourse, some exceptions, and the most important one is number of spells. It's reduced, to not scare newcommers with sheer amount of options. For D&D and cRPG veterans this may be a con, but i've found the amount of spells satysfying.. for such a short, short adventure.
Yes, i've said short, and i'll say it once again : short! As short as it gets without starting a revolt in gaming world. It's the biggest flaw and the biggest crime of this game. You're thrown into deep water very soon into the game, and when you think that you're about to finish the first chapter.. the ending pops on the screen. More about that later..
Quests
Back to the alignments.. Your choice here changes the game in almost every aspect, from intro, through many quests, till the very end. With this beign said, everything you do can change the entire game-world drastically, and you're free to go, say, and do whatever you wish.. Within the boundries of ToEE's shortness..
Most, if not all, quests can be finished in unseen before amount of ways. The main storyline has more possible endings, than some other RPG's have choices. I will not give you any details, not to ruin the fun of figuring them out on your own.. (and every spoiler that i would make would reveal 1/20th of the game) There are plenty of side quests, and some you will not be able to get.. due to alignment, other side quests that you've already done, not belonging to a specific class.. the list goes on!
NPC's and Combat
You meet many, many NPC's on your way, some of them (quite a big amount) can even join you in your struggle against the temple (or against the good people of Hommlet.. or against everyone!) sadly companion reward system is somewhat borked. After each fight they'll claim one (or more) items for themselves. Now it does not matter what is the quality of said item, or its usefullness, and no, you cannot get it back in any way other than murder (although i never tried stealing). More than once i had to kill the arrogant companions to reclaim something that I wanted. Much more often they become overencumbered, due to picking tons of worthless stuff. This is an object of many frustration, and an obvious flaw.
They fare very well in battle, and the battles can be quite spectacular. Its very easy to get familiar with combat system in this game, and after that it's just plain, pure fun. Well, unless you die, which is very likely to happen, as the enemies are quite smart themselves. They co-operate, and use the most effective strategies, which may surprise you!
Here however i must mention another problem. Power. A specific item ruins the game balance completely! Once again, i will not go into details, but when you see a fancy, golden sword - don't take it. Even if you decide to kill its owner, just don't ever, ever use it! The game is too short as it is!
Anything else?
Final words? Aside from the flaws with encumberance, level cap at 10, few stability problems and mentioned above golden sword, this game is so open in every possible way, that it would be a strong candidate for best computer role playing game ever made.. If not for how short your adventure is. Five times longer, and it would be a well deserved 10/10.. Five times longer, and i would still be playing it now, constantly drooling. But it's not..
ToEE is a chapter, not a book, Even if the quality of the chapter overshadows a small-sized library of other games, its just one chapter. About 14 too short for the crown.
8/10
Gamebanshee's 4/5
Stworca