This game will appeal to the classic D&D gamer in you! It certainly brought back memories of the original BG with some old-school gold-box nostalgia thrown in for good measure. Troika managed to capture this classic pen and paper adventure in all it's adventuring goodness, while maintaining that D&D feel through out. The game is a lot of fun, holds the interest, and offers some replayability to boot. Having said that, there are some things that bring my total rating down a bit. Graphics wise the game It feels a LOT like BG. This is both good (who didn't love that game) and bad. The 2D backgrounds are very nice and sharp, detailed, but they are 2D. No zooming in or out on your party, no rotating about for a better view, etc. The buildings do not seem to fade as you step in behind them either and it's easy to loose sight of an enemy an NPC, or one of your characters behind a tree, home or archway. Ambient sounds are spot on, but the voice overs lack the quality of games such as BG and Neverwinter Nights. Voice tracks can vary significantly in quality during a single conversation, and most are uninspired or dull. Yet there are a few which are excellent, crisp, clear, and memorable. I don't what happenned here, why didn't Troika demand the same level of quality from all their voice tracks? Combat is a faithful representation of pen and paper D&D. You have a myriad choices to play with, and as the game is turned based, you have all the time you want to micromanage your party's action during the combat round. This is by far, ToEE's shining achievement. Although it may be a bit complex for those not familiar with the rules, once you get the hang of it combat will flow smoothly and provide you with hours of pure sword and sorcery goodness. Overall the game was certaily worth this gamer's gaming time! ;)
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