listen & spot: what is the effective use for them?

Yes, indeed I was asking this to myself. What's the effective use in ToEE?
I already know what they do in p&p D&D: they should prevent monsters from surprising the party and having free actions, should allow PCs to see and listen things that usually won't be listened or seen.
But what in ToEE? I can't recall the last time when my ranger or rogue had to make one of those skill checks.

 

I could just be dreaming, but I think that ages ago before patching the game if all of my party had high listen scores they wouldn't be flat footed at the start of the first round. I'm not 100% sure on that though.

 

yeah cujo thats how it works for me. the couple of charcters like my rogue that have a good spot and/or listen dont get surprised as often. i believe its a skill check the game does automaticly when an encounter happens. if i remember right it also affects how close the creatures encountered are to you at the start.