Just a thought from somebody who really enjoyed TOEE (with Co8 mod of course); how hard would it be to remake TOEE using the Infinity Engine?
My personal opinion answer to this is it would take more effort than it would be worth to translate ToEE into Infinity engine.
Allow me to explain. While I am a HUGE fan of ToEE, and would absolutely love to see more ToEE content, most of what I love about the game is the turn based engine. All of of the '5 foot step' and the tactical placement of spells and the initiative components and all of the rest that comes with the actual turn based execution would be lost in the translation to Infinity.
As for the ToEE story, it wasn't really that robust in the first place. If you Really wanted the story translated into a new engine, you could probably mod it in NWN pretty simply (even if you have no prior experience with that engine). But again, why?
The Infinity engine isn't great or fantastic or awesome. Baldur's Gates, Icewind Dales and Torment is great and fantastic and awesome. The engine isn't irrelevant, but it isn't the reason we like these games either. The setting, story, characters and overall intellectual property is why we like them. There's also overall good voice acting, music and sound quality that adds to them imo. None of those things are a result of using Infinity, so dumping ToEE into it would indeed not magically turn it into a fantastic game.
Though in my opinion ToEE is a great game. It's just horribly bugged and has too much unfinished and cut content. If it ever gets Enhanced Editioned it should get the same treatment as the Baldur's Gates instead of some attempt to re-invent the game... well, maybe not quite the same treatment. Patches more than once every blue moon would be preferable.
Though in my opinion ToEE is a great game. It's just horribly bugged and has too much unfinished and cut content.
Definitely check out (assuming that you haven't) the Co8 community patch. "Most" of the bugs and missing content have been filled in and fleshed out. It is most satisfying to play now that it is closer to fixed. It could still use an EE treatment, but it works pretty well as is.
Though in my opinion ToEE is a great game. It's just horribly bugged and has too much unfinished and cut content.
Definitely check out (assuming that you haven't) the Co8 community patch. "Most" of the bugs and missing content have been filled in and fleshed out. It is most satisfying to play now that it is closer to fixed. It could still use an EE treatment, but it works pretty well as is.
I'll keep this short so we don't derail the thread :P
I have... a... community patch thing, but I don't think it's the Co8 one. Iirc I avoided that one since it added a lot of unofficial stuff and made several tweaks I disliked, and I only really wanted fixes, restoration where possible and having the children put back in so quests could be completed. I'm selectively purist when it comes to games, it's a personality flaw I suppose. The one I ended up with wasn't perfect either but I felt it less invasive, so speak.
I have... a... community patch thing, but I don't think it's the Co8 one. Iirc I avoided that one since it added a lot of unofficial stuff and made several tweaks I disliked, and I only really wanted fixes, restoration where possible and having the children put back in so quests could be completed. I'm selectively purist when it comes to games, it's a personality flaw I suppose. The one I ended up with wasn't perfect either but I felt it less invasive, so speak.
Yeah, I downloaded one of those patches and thought that one of the changes was offensive / borderline racist -- calling the conical bamboo hat a 'coolie' hat. After I saw that I avoided the mods and the community.
While I didn't enjoy the engine as much as the infinity engine it does have potential. I would wait to read forum comments but would consider buying modules made with the TOEE engine.
I don't know what I want, at this point. A Baldur's Gate sequel would probably be right out - the story arc of it was neatly sealed with the end of BG2:TOB and I don't think trying to revisit it would work well at all. But I also don't want to really start into another RPG with some other world-canon going on, either. I've got the patience to dig into Elder Scrolls lore and Forgotten Realms lore because both are incredible, well-documented by their communities and rich with fan fiction and fan art. I supported Project Eternity's kickstarter but if and when it comes out I don't see myself digging into the lore there unless they really manage to knock that game out of the park - we're talking a game that pretty much has to beat out both Baldur's Gate and Skyrim for story depth, which is a tall order.
I guess what I'd like to see is other games in the setting of Baldur's Gate - either Faerun as a whole or the Sword Coast and Athkatla area - that are not directly related to the original trilogy. References would naturally be welcome. I want to revisit the atmosphere, more than anything, but with modern gameplay. Imagine something like an open-world 3D version of Baldur's Gate, with a full version of the city. It'd be bigger than Vivec from Morrowind, or like a giant overgrown Riften from Skyrim. The Sword Coast is just such an enchanting place - this eclectic mix of the major urban centers of Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter, yet it's still this wild frontier where anything can happen, mixed with the coastal environment... there is just nothing else like it.
Obviously there are probably good reasons why this could never happen - assholes sitting on copyrights at the top of that list, but I can dream.
No matter what the forumites may or may not wish, I think there's no way we could get a game that's not the new edition. Wizards of the Coast is trying to sell their latest stuff, and they're not going to allow an AD&D (or even 3.5, which was also acceptable to me) game to be produced when it could be advertising D&D Next or whatever it's calling itself these days. Not only that, but it would be hard to get the game to sell to anyone besides us die-hard BG/Infinity Engine fans, because of the likely old graphics.
For that reason, honestly, I think unless they're EEing IWD, IWD2, or PS:T, they should think about creating a game in a new engine and system of their own. They can take the good parts of AD&D, discard the bad parts, and mash it in to something new and different enough to not get sued over.
No matter what the forumites may or may not wish, I think there's no way we could get a game that's not the new edition. Wizards of the Coast is trying to sell their latest stuff, and they're not going to allow an AD&D (or even 3.5, which was also acceptable to me) game to be produced when it could be advertising D&D Next or whatever it's calling itself these days. Not only that, but it would be hard to get the game to sell to anyone besides us die-hard BG/Infinity Engine fans, because of the likely old graphics.
For that reason, honestly, I think unless they're EEing IWD, IWD2, or PS:T, they should think about creating a game in a new engine and system of their own. They can take the good parts of AD&D, discard the bad parts, and mash it in to something new and different enough to not get sued over.
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Trent really likes tormenting (pun intended) people.
Allow me to explain. While I am a HUGE fan of ToEE, and would absolutely love to see more ToEE content, most of what I love about the game is the turn based engine. All of of the '5 foot step' and the tactical placement of spells and the initiative components and all of the rest that comes with the actual turn based execution would be lost in the translation to Infinity.
As for the ToEE story, it wasn't really that robust in the first place. If you Really wanted the story translated into a new engine, you could probably mod it in NWN pretty simply (even if you have no prior experience with that engine). But again, why?
But again, personal opinion.
Though in my opinion ToEE is a great game. It's just horribly bugged and has too much unfinished and cut content. If it ever gets Enhanced Editioned it should get the same treatment as the Baldur's Gates instead of some attempt to re-invent the game... well, maybe not quite the same treatment. Patches more than once every blue moon would be preferable.
So a full game... Not before 2400.
I have... a... community patch thing, but I don't think it's the Co8 one. Iirc I avoided that one since it added a lot of unofficial stuff and made several tweaks I disliked, and I only really wanted fixes, restoration where possible and having the children put back in so quests could be completed. I'm selectively purist when it comes to games, it's a personality flaw I suppose. The one I ended up with wasn't perfect either but I felt it less invasive, so speak.
While I didn't enjoy the engine as much as the infinity engine it does have potential. I would wait to read forum comments but would consider buying modules made with the TOEE engine.
I guess what I'd like to see is other games in the setting of Baldur's Gate - either Faerun as a whole or the Sword Coast and Athkatla area - that are not directly related to the original trilogy. References would naturally be welcome. I want to revisit the atmosphere, more than anything, but with modern gameplay. Imagine something like an open-world 3D version of Baldur's Gate, with a full version of the city. It'd be bigger than Vivec from Morrowind, or like a giant overgrown Riften from Skyrim. The Sword Coast is just such an enchanting place - this eclectic mix of the major urban centers of Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter, yet it's still this wild frontier where anything can happen, mixed with the coastal environment... there is just nothing else like it.
Obviously there are probably good reasons why this could never happen - assholes sitting on copyrights at the top of that list, but I can dream.
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For that reason, honestly, I think unless they're EEing IWD, IWD2, or PS:T, they should think about creating a game in a new engine and system of their own. They can take the good parts of AD&D, discard the bad parts, and mash it in to something new and different enough to not get sued over.
...But first, BG2 to Android, I assume.
For that reason, honestly, I think unless they're EEing IWD, IWD2, or PS:T, they should think about creating a game in a new engine and system of their own. They can take the good parts of AD&D, discard the bad parts, and mash it in to something new and different enough to not get sued over.
...But first, BG2 to Android, I assume.