Hi all,

I loved Pools of Radiance on C64 (and all gold box games) and know full-well that these games are a product of their time, and the memories playing these should be kept as fond memories.

I've been looking for a more modern game and my research led me to TOEE (have played neverwinters years ago), and I've also installed the Circle of 8 mod pack... and I started playing it.. the homlet is so boring, I'm just struggling with the low interest level quests, and i've read that some people just skip them altogether.

Is it worth persevering with the game - i want awesome battles and indepth storyline... or is this kind of the flavour of what the game is like?

Just don't want to invest dozens of hours of gaming in only to give up a shortwhile in as time is valuable with a family, work etc.. cheers!

You won't get much of an in-depth story from ToEE, as it's mostly a dungeon crawl (somewhat similar to the Icewind Dale games). However, you will get plenty of great battles. Where ToEE really shines is it's turn-based implementation of the D&D rules, making for a great tactical RPG for those who enjoy that kind of thing. The starting fetch quests in Homlet are definitely the most boring part of the game (hence why one of the additions to Co8 was Welkwood Bog, to basically give players an alternative way to level up rather than running all over Homlet). I'd recommend getting through the Moathouse before deciding whether or not the game is for you, since the gameplay through the Moathouse is more in line with what you'll be dealing with through most of the rest of the game.

Thanks DarkPhoenix,

I'm hoping for that turn-based style of battle that I loved from Gold Box, and will persevere to the Moathouse and decide from there how I feel... many thanks!

The next thing to persevere through is the difficulty of the combat. :)
You'll note there's a thousand threads about "omg this is impossible" in this forum.

But it's worth it. The combat is brilliant, especially later on.

I started with gold boxes myself and ToEE was like a breath of fresh air,
too bad the style never caught on. I'd have loved a proper big grand adventure made in this style,
with cities and all kinds of stuff.

Homlet is horrifically boring. I honestly quit playing at first, since I spent an hour entering random houses and learning who was the miller, the brewer, the farmers, the laborers, the church cook, the HOLY COW can it get more boring?

I'm on an epic quest to retrieve flour!

But I tried it again not long after, and the parts that aren't Homlet are pretty cool.
One way to alleviate the boredom is to kill as many people as you can in town (but don't save). :)

Well, I'm into it - I think well worth the persevering! I'd skipped most of Hommlet, nearly gave up at the two giant spiders, and have now defeated the zombies / slime in the Moat-house... several attempts later.. but it certainly has that modern gold box style that I've been yearning for! I love the feeling of walking away from the computer, defeated yet again, only to stop at the door and think '...maybe if i did this..." and going straight back to try again.

Great fun so far, just wish I had more time.

Cheers everyone for their reply.

Oh and thank god for being level 2 at this point.... but is it enough to defeat the ogre in the moathouse? I can't get anywhere with him.

I don't think you have to kill him, but I guess I usually do.

He doesn't seem to leave the room, so you can fall back on that.
I cast cause fear on him then shoot or melee him. I think you can cast charm person on him, then pin and sneak attack.

Yeah, a bit cheesy but he can't fit through the doorway or something.
It's possible to stay further away and pin him full of arrows from a safe distance.

Since you have Co8 installed, have you done the Welkwood Bog? As DarrkPhoenix mentioned it was sort of done as a replacement for the town wandering and errand-boy style stuff. It's good for getting a level 1 party to level 2 from what I understand. Fun little adventure, too.