D and D Rpgs are Lacking

[Death Knight]

I find that d and d roleplaying computer games are very lacking in many ways to other turn based party games. Ive been experimenting with Temple of Elemental Evil and its really just a bad game.

 

My character that wields a bow, has a 20% chance to hit an enemy that should be around his level. I have given this char 18 dexterity and he is lvl 8 and can't shoot a thing with just 2 attacks. Talk about tedious. What makes this even worse is that the enemies can have up to 4 attacks per round, how is that fair?

 

I don't think these games have good rulesets. The reason why is that there are too many friggin rules and they manage to break every single one of them with the enemy characters. I can't shoot the enemy with a bow when he is next to an ally without having a feat. But he can break as many rules as there are with just 2 rounds. You have to practically read a manual when it comes to getting to figure out the rules in these games. Its like going back to college again

[Alorael at Large]

Maybe. I haven't played Temple of Elemental Evil, but I've heard mediocre things about it. The other D&D games have received rave reviews, though. Planescape: Torment only loosely relies on mechanics, of course, but Baldur's Gate is an amazing implementation of 2nd edition and Neverwinter Nights is similar for 3rd edition, and KotOR certainly relies heavily on it as well. Baldur's Gate II, Planescape, and KotOR are three of my favorite RPGs.

 

Perhaps the problem is that ToEE is just a poorly balanced game.

 

—Alorael, who agrees about the manual problem. D&D has lots of rules. But on the bright side you can usually play decently on a moderate difficulty just by intuition and reading, say, feat descriptions.

[Death Knight]

Knights of the Chalice is even worse than Temple of Elemental Evil. Dragons with 8 attacks that can move half way across the room. Its like the developers are trying to assassinate the players through sneakiness.

[Earth]

Its like the developers are trying to assassinate the players through sneakiness.

 

I thought that was devs purpose to keep players not putting party's/char's nose to wrong place.

[Sudanna]

If there was a place in a game that you really weren't supposed to go, they would put a wall around it. Or not make it in the first place.

[Ishad Nha]

I enjoy BG2 but I found Icewind Dale 2 to be hard and tedious.

There is a pronounced learning curve if you are not already familiar with the D&D ruleset. Unavoidable but it is necessary if the game is to reflect the mechanics of the pen and paper games.

[Death Knight]

Infinity engine games were not that hard for me. I probably should have stated that I was referring to d and d games that were turn based only. I can figure out Baldurs gate/planescape torment as they are fairly simple but haven't played Icewind Dale. The fact that you can pause the game at any time makes the games much more casual compared to TOEE and KOTC.

 

Sarevok was easy as a solo character due to backstab, invisibility potions and summoning wands. For some reason the smaller the party in those games, the easier it is to make it through. Usually when I took a party of 6 in BG2, I had more of a risk of someone dying due to micromanagement. In a 2-3 person party, I usually can make it through without too much worry. All you need is some fast pausing skills

[Earth]

If there was a place in a game that you really weren't supposed to go, they would put a wall around it. Or not make it in the first place.

 

that's no fun.

[Ishad Nha]

ToEE was not that lethal as I recall, it helps if you have a proper party line-up. But individual fights could be tough, especially if you were not of high enough level. You would need to understand the V3.5 game mechanics well, thus you could see what various skills and feats could do for you.

[Catoblepas]

Temple of Elemental Evil had a very interesting combat system with a lot of options, more than any infinity engine at least. Unfortunately, unlike the BG series, Planescape torment, or Icewind Dale, it has a rather lackluster plot and sidequests, and it seems exceptionally railroady at times.

 

 

For instance, at one point early in the game, there is a dark elf cleric you have to kill to get access to the next area. Instead of killing him, I used nonlethal attacks and beat him unconscious, stripped him of his armor, weapons, and items, and ran out the door. Apparently you can't get to the next area without killing him however, so I ended up beating to death some helpless naked guy to advance the plot. Temple of Elemental Evil had a lot of potential, but horrible execution.

 

The Infinity engine games are all pretty solid though, and you might also want to look into the Neverwinter Nights games as well.