The Temple of Elemental Evil

The Temple of Elemental Evil: A Classic Greyhawk Adventure
ToEE logo (website)
Original title	The Temple of Elemental Evil: A Classic Greyhawk Adventure
Studio	Troika Games
Publisher	Atari SA
Senior Developer	Timothy Cain
Erstveröffent- lichung	September 16, 2003 October 2, 2003
platform	Windows
Game engine	Steam Engine (adapted Arcanum Engine )
genre	Computer role playing game
Subject	Dungeons and Dragons
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse & keyboard
system advantages preconditions	Windows 98 / ME / 2k / XP with DirectX  9.0b CPU : 700 MHz RAM : 128 MB Graphics card with 32 MB RAM 800 MB free hard disk space 4x CD-ROM drive DirectX 9 compatible sound card
medium	CD , DVD , download
language	German English
Current version	Patch 3 (December 27, 2004) Community Patch v8.0 (September 16, 2013)
Age rating	USK PEGI

The Temple of Elemental Evil: A Classic Greyhawk Adventure (OT: The Temple of Elemental Evil: A Classic Greyhawk Adventure ) is a turn-based computer role-playing game from the US computer game developer Troika Games for Windows PCs . The game is based on the role-playing campaign of the same name by Gary Gygax for the pen & paper role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and was the first D&D computer game to use rule set edition 3.5. The game was published in Europe via Atari in October 2003 and is considered to be the most faithful implementation of the Dungeons & Dragons rules in a computer game.

action

Since this is an RPG campaign for Dungeons & Dragons published in 1985, the events take place in the original D&D main campaign world Greyhawk and not in the Forgotten Realms of the campaign world Faerûn, which was common at the time of publication . The module is an archetypal example of a D&D campaign in which an initially nameless, weak hero troop fights its way through a dungeon populated with numerous hostile creatures , gradually gaining strength and ultimately driving away evil.

The action takes place in the vicinity of the town of Hommlet in the Land of Flanaess. Thirteen years before the campaign began, the region was the site of a major battle between an army of evil under the demon Zuggtmoy and a united army of the northern realms. With the help of the Magic Circle of Eight, the evil creatures could be pushed back into their headquarters, the so-called Temple of Elemental Evil, and magically enclosed. But over time, the forces of evil began to regenerate and invade the surrounding country again with its troops.

At the beginning of the game, the player's group of adventurers is entrusted with a seemingly simple mission that takes them to the town of Hommlet. The narrative that gives rise to the trip is determined by the group's attitude and therefore varies. After the group has done some small jobs for the villagers on site, the adventurers are finally asked to dig a fortified bandit nest, the moathouse. As it turns out, the bandits are led by a priest of the temple. With this knowledge, the temple, together with the pirate nest Nulb, becomes available as a travel destination and the group is now looking for access to the temple.

Set up in the temple, the player learns that the forces of evil are divided into four factions according to the elements fire, ice, air and earth, each of which has its own domain within the temple and competes with one another. The group has to gain access to Hedrak, the leader of the temple, through further assignments. The player is faced with the decision to kill Hedrak or to kill the hill giant Scoorp on his behalf. If he chooses the latter option, he is accepted into the ranks of the temple and the game is over. If he kills Hedrak, he gets access to the four elementary nodes, each of which houses a gem. These can be used in a powerful artifact. The final confrontation with Zuggtmoy follows, which leads to three different finals:

1. Zuggtmoy is banned for 66 years
2. Zuggtmoy will be destroyed for good
3. Zuggtmoy is spared and the group of adventurers is richly rewarded

Gameplay

The Temple of Elemental Evil is a group-based role-playing game played from an isometric overview perspective. It is controlled indirectly with mouse and keyboard via a point-and-click user interface. It is the first computer game to be based on the Dungeons & Dragons edition 3.5 of the rules , which the developer implemented almost completely and verbatim. At the beginning of the game, the player creates or chooses a group of five heroes, to which up to three other computer-controlled characters can join in the course of the game. These can also be controlled by the player, but they require a share of the loot found in the game, which they automatically secure. Character creation follows the D&D set of rules. The six basic attributes (strength, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, charisma) are rolled, whereby the throws can be repeated in the normal difficulty mode if you are not satisfied. The remaining skills are acquired according to a point buy system, i. H. the player invests a predetermined number of points in the desired skills. The game also has a special difficulty mode called Ironman , in which the player only has the opportunity to roll out the values ​​of his character once when generating a character. Furthermore, the player only has one save in this mode. If a character dies in Ironman mode, he cannot be brought back to life.

The game world is made up of various individual cards, between which the player and his group of heroes travel back and forth. The game world is explored in real time, but the combat system is turn-based. The turn order is based on the character values ​​of the figures and creatures, the so-called initiative value. Instead of the square or hex field division, which is common for round-the-clock battles, The Temple of Elementary Evil works with a system of circular action radii. The typical D&D attitude (good, neutral, evil), which must be determined for the group of heroes at the beginning of the game, determines which types of attitudes can become members of the group of heroes and has a certain influence on the start and end of the game as well as the tasks offered . For completing orders and killing enemy creatures, the player receives experience points, as is customary in role-playing games. When certain points are reached, a so-called level up takes place , through which a character can be upgraded and, for example, learn new skills or develop existing skills. The game's level cap is level 10.

development

The Temple of Elemental Evil was announced on January 9, 2003 under the title Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil . After Arcanum: Von Steam Engines and Magic, it was the second project of the Troika Games development studio and was commissioned by Atari, the then D&D software license holder. It uses a combination of two-dimensional, pre-rendered backgrounds in front of which the game characters, animated in 3D, interact. It is a further development of the Arcanum engine. The game is based very closely on the role-playing game template and only expanded it to include a few side quest scenarios and a larger area of ​​the central town of Hommlet in order to be able to offer more variety for the games.

Troika was given the task of developing the game within two years. It was effectively completed in twenty months. The development work officially began on February 1, 2002, with the originally planned completion of the work on June 1, 2003. Troika's development team consisted of 14 people, supported by some interns and external contract work. Right from the start, the aim was to achieve the most detailed implementation of the D&D set of rules and a gameplay similar to classic role-playing games such as The Bard's Tale and Wizardry . However, the concept originally envisaged an adjustment to version 3.0 of the rules and regulations and was only later changed to 3.5 after Troika had learned that the new version of the rules was about to be released. For this adaptation, the development period was extended by two months to August 1, 2003 in consultation with Atari. The work was delayed, however, so that Troika did not submit the finished version of the game until August 30, 2003.

In addition to the update of the rules, the scope of the game has been expanded in a few other points compared to the original concept. Some dedicated developers developed the introductory tutorial in their free time to familiarize beginners with the complex set of rules. The extensive help menu that works with hyperlinks and the screen output of the dice rolling in the background have also been added in the course, and the number of spells has been increased from 82 to 223. Even at the beginning of the development work, the idea of ​​different starting positions and motivations arose, depending on the sentiments of the heroes, for which nine additional cards and dialogues had to be created. During the entire development period, developer Troika had to struggle with adhering to the estimated development time and the delivery dates for the project milestones. In particular, there was a lack of additional development time for detailed troubleshooting, despite two additional development months and overdrafting of this time quota. Compared to the original material, some adjustments had to be made towards the end of the game, which could not be implemented sensibly for the computer game. Therefore there are adjustments to the level design and the composition of the fights.

Originally announced for publication in the USA on October 2, 2003 and in Germany at the end of November, publisher Atari surprisingly announced the completion of the development work on September 4, 2003. The publication was brought forward accordingly and the game was released on September 16 in the USA and on October 2 in Europe. Previously, an official demo of the game was released on September 10th.

The first release version suffered from significant bugs , which could not be fully resolved even by three patches released over time. Numerous other problems were only resolved through a so-called community patch created by the fan base .

reception

Rating mirror

German-language ratings
publication	Rating
4players	70%
Computer picture games	Note 2.12
Gamecaptain	83%
GameStar	74%
GBase	8.0 of 10
Krawall.de	76%
Looki	82%
PC Games	79%
International ratings
CGW	2.5 of 5
GameSpy	4.5 of 5
GamePro (US)	4.5 of 5
Game Informer	7 out of 10
GameSpot	7.9 out of 10
Gamezone (US)	8.4 of 10
IGN	7.5 out of 10
PC Gamer (US)	79%
Meta-ratings
GameRankings	70.88%
Metacritic	71 of 100

Reviews

The Temple of Elemental Evil received mostly positive, albeit cautious, ratings ( GameRankings : 70.88% / Metacritic : 71 out of 100). Among other things, the retail version suffered from significant bugs, which made the publication of three patches necessary and which were not completely fixed even afterwards. Overall, the game was rated as very complex.

Among other things, the turn-based combat system was praised for its extensive possibilities and the attention to detail to the given rules. The fights are therefore very entertaining. The graphic design was also convincing. According to 4Players, the controls are well thought out and help the player to quickly access the game's extensive options, especially during battles. However, the interface did not meet with the same approval from all reviewers and, on the contrary, was described as awkward. Some testers also regretted the lack of a multiplayer mode. Among other things, the thin plot and the lack of party interaction, as well as the lack of comfort functions and entry aids apart from the extensive manual, were criticized, among other things, compared to Baldur's Gate . In addition, reviewers repeatedly encountered dropouts in the game AI , which led to the passivity of the actually hostile creatures. In his test for GameSpot criticized author Greg Kasavin that the detailed implementation rules in combination with lack of explanation it new and D & D to find -unerfahrenen players complicates the game. There would also be no auxiliary functions, for example when leveling up, so the game is primarily aimed at those familiar with the rules.

In reviewing the development, producer Tom Decker admitted too many bugs. Accordingly, another month of development time would have been necessary for a better program quality. Publisher Atari did not want to finance this renewed increase in the project period, nor was it possible for developer Troika to carry out the project on their own. The choice of the old role-play module as the basis of the plot has also not proven to be advantageous. The campaign offered too little substance with regard to the plot and the descriptions. An expansion and adjustments were not originally planned and would have involved additional work that was not calculated. Therefore, additional content such as the different entry scenarios based on the attitude could not be continued in the further course of the game.

Depiction of homosexuality

The Temple of Elemental Evil included the opportunity to free the homosexual slave Bertram in the port city of Nulb and let him enter into a romance with a male group member, which ultimately leads to a marriage of the two characters. Although there were depictions of homosexuality in previous games, The Temple of Elemental Evil was , along with Fallout 2, one of the first games with the possibility of same-sex marriage. Alex Krotoski of the Guardian described the game as “a good example of pushing the boundaries” when it comes to depicting homosexuality in games. In an article for Armchair Empire, Matthew Barton described the integration of homosexuality in games as an important step towards better identification with games in order to open them up to new target groups. He predicted that The Temple of Elemental Evil would go down in history as the first mainstream computer game to specifically promote gay marriage. He justified this, among other things, with the low age classification from 13 years in the USA in this context. The portrayal sometimes caused unease among heterosexual gamblers, and the game was released during a period of current controversy about political statements by the Bush administration to prevent same-sex marriage in the United States, which is why this portrayal met with a public response, particularly in the United States . The Temple of Elemental Evil also served as a reference when, in 2006, when the action adventure Canis Canem Edit was released, there were renewed discussions about the representation of homosexuality in games .

Producer Tom Decker defended the decision in an interview with IGN:

“I particularly felt strongly that since we had several heterosexual marriages available in Hommlet, we should include at least one homosexual encounter in the game (although there were actually two, one was in the brothel that was removed) and not to make it a stereotyped , over the top situation, but on par with the other relationships available in the game. I felt strongly about keeping the character of Bertram in the game, and I am glad we were allowed to keep him, despite any controversy it might cause. It's been entertaining reading the boards about Bertram and reactions to him. "

“Since we had several heterosexual marriage options in Hommlet, I felt strongly that we should at least incorporate one homosexual encounter into the game (there were actually two, one in the brothel was removed) and that we weren't making a stereotypical, excessive situation out of it should, but an equal relationship with the others available in the game. Keeping the character Bertram in the game was very important to me and I'm glad we got to keep him, despite all the controversy that might cause. It was very entertaining to read the forum entries about Bertram and the reactions to them. "

- Thomas R. Decker (producer) : Post-release report on IGN

The website GayGamer.net voted Bertram at number 6 in their top 20 "Most Homosexual Computer Game Characters".

Modding

Troika Games did not offer development tools for hobby developers for The Temple of Elemental Evil . Nevertheless, a manageable modding scene developed around the game. Among other things, community patches were released to fix the remaining bugs as well as new content in the form of rule extensions and additional quests for the game. Most of all bug fixes and mods are summarized in the Circle of Eight Modpack .

Web links

• Official website ( Memento of January 28, 2005 in the Internet Archive ), (English).
• troikagames.com/toee.htm ( Memento from February 15, 2004 in the Internet Archive ). Presentation of the game on the developer's website.
• The Temple of Elemental Evil at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Alan Rose: D&D fans fix Temple of Elemental Evil. www.joystiq.com, October 6, 2006, accessed on December 4, 2012 (English): “ A group of dedicated Dungeons & Dragons role-playing fans have managed to accomplish something Atari and Troika failed to do three years ago - fix most of the bugs in The Temple of Elemental Evil. " 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Stefan Weiß: Temple of Elemental Evil. In: PC Games . Computec Media Group , November 23, 2003, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Greg Kasavin: The Temple of Elemental Evil Review. In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive , September 22, 2003, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Jamie Madigan: Greyhawk Adventures: The Temple of Elemental Evil. In: GameSpy . News Corp. , September 16, 2003, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
5. ^ ^{A b c d e} Stefan "Desslock" Janicki: Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil. In: PC Gamer (US). Future Publishing , archived from the original on October 18, 2006 ; accessed on November 26, 2012 (English). 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Temple Of Elemental Evil - Developer Interview. In: Worthplaying. September 4, 2003, accessed November 28, 2012 . 
7. ^ Justin Calvert: Greyhawk: The Temple of Elemental Evil announced. In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive , January 9, 2003, accessed November 28, 2012 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c d} Jörg Luibl: Test: The Temple of Elemental Evil. In: 4Players . freenet AG , November 17, 2003, accessed on November 26, 2012 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} Tal Blevins: The Temple of Elemental Evil: Full of evil, elementals and lots and lots of bugs. In: IGN . News Corp. , September 22, 2003, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b c d} Thomas R. Decker: The Temple of Elemental Evil Wrap Report. In: IGN . News Corp. November 25, 2003, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
11. ^ Greyhawk - German name / date. In: PC Games . Computec Media Group , September 2, 2003, accessed November 28, 2012 . 
12. ↑ David Adams: Temple of Elemental Evil is Gold. In: IGN. September 4, 2003, accessed July 25, 2007 . 
13. ↑ Sam Parker: Temple of Elemental Evil golden. In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive , September 5, 2003, accessed November 28, 2012 . 
14. ↑ Sam Parker: Elemental Evil coming next week. In: GameSpot . CBS Interactive , September 12, 2003, accessed November 28, 2012 . 
15. ↑ Temple of Elemental Evil: Demo. In: GameStar . IDG , September 10, 2003, accessed November 28, 2012 . 
16. ↑ The Temple of Elemental Evil. In: Computer Picture Games . Axel Springer AG , accessed on November 26, 2012 . 
17. ↑ Michael Mombeck: Test: The Temple of Elemental Evil. In: Gamecaptain. Maiwald & Benne GbR, December 16, 2003, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
18. Jump up ↑ Temple of Elemental Evil: Review. In: GBase. eNamic GmbH, March 8, 2005, accessed on November 26, 2012 . 
19. ↑ David K ​​.: Push the temple open to everyone? In: Krawall.de . November 25, 2003. Retrieved November 26, 2012 . 
20. ↑ Ulli Kunz: Temple of the Elemental Evil - Test. In: Looki . November 25, 2003. Retrieved November 26, 2012 . 
21. ↑ Vicious Sid: Review: The Temple of Elemental Evil. In: GamePro (US). IDG , October 7, 2003, archived from the original on February 6, 2009 ; accessed on November 26, 2012 (English). 
22. ↑ Michael Lafferty: The Temple of Elemental Evil Review - PC. In: GameZone. October 21, 2003, archived from the original on October 2, 2008 ; accessed on November 28, 2012 (English). 
23. ↑ ^{a b} GameRankings : Average rating of the game , based on 23 ratings. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
24. ↑ ^{a b} Metacritic : Average rating of the game , based on 24 articles. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
25. ^ ^{A b} Matthew D. Barton: Gay Characters in Videogames. In: Armchair Arcade. Retrieved November 26, 2012 . 
26. ↑ Aleks Krotoski : Homosexuality and Gaming. In: The Guardian . Guardian News & Media, January 19, 2005, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
27. ^ Clive Thompson: The Game of Wife: Gay marriage comes to video games. In: Slate . The Washington Post Company , April 7, 2004, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
28. ↑ Bryan Ochalla: Boy On Boy Action - Is Gay Content On the Rise? In: Gamasutra . UBM, plc , December 8, 2006, accessed November 26, 2012 . 
29. ^ Adrienne Shaw: Putting the Gay in Games. Cultural Production and GLBT content in Video Games . In: Games and Culture . tape 4 , no. 3 , July 2009, p. 228–253 ( online [PDF; accessed November 26, 2012]).
30. ↑ Flynn "Fruit Brute" DeMarco: Top 20 Gayest Video Game Characters. In: GayGamer. July 21, 2006, archived from the original on May 8, 2007 ; accessed on February 14, 2007 . 
31. ^ Circle of Eight mod for The Temple of Elemental Evil .