First time playing The Temple of Elemental Evil

[Roguey]

But i have a stupid question now... Somehow i lost (or i don't know what i did...) cloaks of the Earth Temple. Are they somehow needed for the game completion? I know that some old games allowed you to drop quest items and get stuck. I hope that is not the case.

Those are only necessary to make the earth temple people non-hostile and even then you'd only need them for that purpose until you do one quest for them, in which case they automatically accept you as friend. As far as I can remember, there's nothing that can prevent you from completing it.

I am a bit confused about the plot. Because i don't understand why i am even doing it, ToEE cleaning, i mean. Ok, i am superhero. But ALL, except prisoners, who are in the ToEE, they are evil, right? Why should i even bother too speak with them?) Probably i can act as a spy or smth, but the game doesn't give me clues what should i do. It is more just a thought, not a question really, because i don't like spoilers.

All the alignments have a goal which gives you an excuse to explore the temple. You can be friendly with the temple denizens for any reason you want or just kill them on sight.

 

[rojay]

Hi. So recently i have restarted the game with Temple+ and without Co8. I am now at the first levels of ToE dungeons and the game now seems to be easier, maybe even too much easier

But i have a stupid question now... Somehow i lost (or i don't know what i did...) cloaks of the Earth Temple. Are they somehow needed for the game completion? I know that some old games allowed you to drop quest items and get stuck. I hope that is not the case.

I noticed that when you wear particular cloth in particular Dungeon area they don't attack you, or it seems so. I am a bit confused about the plot. Because i don't understand why i am even doing it, ToEE cleaning, i mean. Ok, i am superhero. But ALL, except prisoners, who are in the ToEE, they are evil, right? Why should i even bother too speak with them?) Probably i can act as a spy or smth, but the game doesn't give me clues what should i do. It is more just a thought, not a question really, because i don't like spoilers.

You can probably pick up some more of those cloaks on the first level of the temple. If memory serves there are more than enough in the chests, but as Roguey said, you don't really need them if you don't mind that particular temple faction being hostile when you see them.

There's actually a lot you can do in the game if you don't go murder-hobo from the outset. It's also a good bit easier if you play the factions against one another.

 

[luj1]

never used Co8 or Temple+ but thanks to all for exposing the truth

sounds like Temple+ >>>> any version of Co8

 

[NecroLord]

Install Temple+(awesome mod,tons of bugfixes). Also install Co8,if only for more bugfixes(you don't need to install the new content component if you don't want to).
Finally,you can just massacre all evil dwellers in the Temple(it's what I always do anyway),or you can join them(it will end the game after you speak with Hedrack,however). I think you can also pit the temple priests against one another,but I never really tried it.

 

[Yosharian]

I remember playing this game a few years ago. I managed to break the game temporarily by getting too many levels at once. I managed to kill those assholes in the tavern and got like, 3 levels at once or something. It broke the UI so it seemed like I was unable to gain XP or something. It was actually working OK behind the scenes and the next time I levelled up it went back to normal.

 

[NecroLord]

I remember playing this game a few years ago. I managed to break the game temporarily by getting too many levels at once. I managed to kill those assholes in the tavern and got like, 3 levels at once or something. It broke the UI so it seemed like I was unable to gain XP or something. It was actually working OK behind the scenes and the next time I levelled up it went back to normal.

Oh yeah,it's a well known glitch. You can only gain one level at a time,so if you gain too much XP(for three levelups,like you just said) that extra XP is completely wasted. This tends to happen if you're playing with a small party(or when playing solo).

 

[Roguey]

Also install Co8,if only for more bugfixes(you don't need to install the new content component if you don't want to).

Even the base install of co8 contains a lot of additional content that wasn't a part of Troika's design. They justify its inclusion with "We've included this for so long anyway that people who have never played the un-fanpatched game think it's part of the original."

 

[Darth Canoli]

I think you can also pit the temple priests against one another,but I never really tried it.

Technically, you don't really pit them against one another because they're already trying to climb the hierarchy by any means necessary.
You just show up at the right time to make it happen.

It's the best part of the game, along with the moat house and a couple of fights like the frog king and Hedrack.

 

[KainenMorden]

never used Co8 or Temple+ but thanks to all for exposing the truth

sounds like Temple+ >>>> any version of Co8

If you love the game, it's worth it to try the added content but I also dislike how they modified the base game. Then again, Tim Cain is said to have contributed to the project but I'm not sure exactly what he did.

I think someone new to the game should just use temple+ and do a vanilla run and then do a co8 run.

The writing and questing is pretty bad but there are some fun battles. Unfortunately some of the battles in one area seem too large for the game engine and can cause some issues but I had fun playing through it.

 

[NecroLord]

The writing in some of the Co8 quests is absolute dogshit. Can be pretty hilarious as well.

 

[KainenMorden]

I don't want to put down anyone involved in it because I think co8 is a great project and those guys still work really hard on a 20 year old game for no money just out of love for it at this point.

I can ignore the bad writing because I love the game and just wanted more combat content. Writing in general in an RPG is not that important to me overall if I enjoy the combat.

 

[NecroLord]

Hickory Branch is a great quest. Just a full on massacre of orcs,ogres,hill giants and bugbears. Non stop combat.

 

[KainenMorden]

Also install Co8,if only for more bugfixes(you don't need to install the new content component if you don't want to).

Even the base install of co8 contains a lot of additional content that wasn't a part of Troika's design. They justify its inclusion with "We've included this for so long anyway that people who have never played the un-fanpatched game think it's part of the original."

Yeah, I think that's very flawed logic and unfair to new players.

Not sure if I asked you before or mentioned it in a thread you were in but do you know what Tim Cain contributed? Did anyone else from the original staff contribute anything?

 

[KainenMorden]

Hickory Branch is a great quest. Just a full on massacre of orcs,ogres,hill giants and bugbears. Non stop combat.

I loved it and it's cool they really tested the limits of the engine but it can cause a few crashes and bugs because so many enemies are on screen at once.

 

[Roguey]

Not sure if I asked you before or mentioned it in a thread you were in but do you know what Tim Cain contributed? Did anyone else from the original staff contribute anything?

When it comes to the mod, I have no idea.

 

[NecroLord]

I highly doubt Tim Cain had anything to do with the mod. Just the game itself.

 

[KainenMorden]

It's something I've seen alleged on co8 board but yeah might not be true

 

[JanKrapivin]

Btw, both in Temple+ and Co8 i often run into a bug/glitch when i choose the whole party to move somewhere, but a few members still don't move. And i have to pick em up again. Also sometimes party just ignores the request to move to another area (highlighted by blue color). Is this problem widespread? I play on Win10.

About Temple+ vs Co8. I am a bad adviser here as i only tried the beginning of the game with every mod. But... All that i noticed is that Co8 is probably harder in combat to play.

 

[Sitra Achara]

Also install Co8,if only for more bugfixes(you don't need to install the new content component if you don't want to).

Even the base install of co8 contains a lot of additional content that wasn't a part of Troika's design. They justify its inclusion with "We've included this for so long anyway that people who have never played the un-fanpatched game think it's part of the original."

Yeah, I think that's very flawed logic and unfair to new players.

Not sure if I asked you before or mentioned it in a thread you were in but do you know what Tim Cain contributed? Did anyone else from the original staff contribute anything?

I know that Steve Moret helped, and that was with knowledge of engine data formats (in the context of the fan tool development efforts).

I don't know of any direct involvement from Tim though. Do you have a source for that claim?

 

[KainenMorden]

No, just read that in some forum post at some point.

If you're not aware of it, I assume it's not true.