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Very, very disappointing

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'm really sorry if any of the developers of ROMD are reading this, but this game is a dog. DO NOT buy it. Go buy one of the Baldur's Gate games instead, or wait for Neverwinter Nights. I was so disappointed by this game because it could have been so much better. As the first D&D 3rd Edition game out there, it had the opportunity to define the standard by which others would be judged. Instead, it failed to qualify as even remotely fun, especially in comparison to the Baldur's Gate games.

Plenty of other reviews talk about the numerous inexcusable bugs (like the install/uninstall problems) or the painful game play (why exactly can't I send party members more than one screen away from the leader?), so I won't get into it here. What I would like to know is:

a) how could the people who slaved on this game night and day for god knows how long not realize that the game was fatally un-fun?

b) how could these bugs have slipped past QA?

So much potential. So disappointing.

Glad to be over with this...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Along with a multitude of other people, I looked forward to this game with eager anticipation. And, along with a multitude of other people, I was severely disappointed.

I guess that I first got really disgusted with only having 1st level characters in Myth Drannor. You know, the place where Elminster doesn't go. Okay, I dealt with it.

I personally did not have a problem with the uninstall bug, thank goodness. I was plagued with the crash bug, where it would randomly crash, usually at the worst times. (Almost through a major battle, etc.)

Also, I had spent 10 hours or so in the game and my save game became corrupted, and I had to start all over again. This made me very upset.

The game, as of this post, has been out over 1 1/2 months. We have gotten very small patches, but nothing to fix the crashes or other bugs in the game itself. I lucked out towards the end and finished up quicker than I thought. I'm glad, because the battles get very wearisome. And that's all the game is.

If you like fighting an awful lot, then you may enjoy this game. I was hoping for more of an adventure game.

On the up side, I got to play Baldur's Gate 2 for the first time afterwards! What a difference!

This game stinks

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The art stinks, the music stinks, the lack of plot, the GUI, the playstyle and the endless, and I mean endless bugs all stink. Save your money.

Too many BUGS!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: October 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am a big fan of rpg's and rushed out like many people to buy POR. The problem is that there are too many bugs to play the game. The problems range from not being able to install the game, not being able to Uninstall without messing up your operating system. The problem that i am faced with is that the game wont let my party attack, which means i really cant do anything. What is worse is that there are no patches to fix any of these problems. So i would strongly advise you to wait until they fix these problems before buying this game, because chances are you wont be able to play it. I've been to POR official website and there have been so many complaints and problems it is a shame that they would release what seems to be a great game with so many problems.

Pool of Radiance II: The Most Expensive Virus you can Buy

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: October 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

First, I would like to thank Ubi-Soft for relieving Bethesda Softworks for releasing the most bug-ridden game ever. You simply cannot do a fair review of Pool of Radiance II without first addressing the technical issues, and, brother, are there ever technical issues. We're not talking the minor graphics and sound glitches common in other games (though they are still present.)

No, we're talking such things as losing save games, losing data files, and, worst of all, possibly even wiping out your Windows itself! Yes, the uninstall program can, if you've installed the game anywhere other than the default directory, eradicate your Windows directory! As the title says, this is the most expensive virus you can pick up from Babbages.

If you're able to get the game running, you'll discover that Pools of Radiance is a mediocre game. The story is dull. The pacing is slow. In lieu of a decent artificial intelligence, the game engine actually cheats for the monsters and NPCs that you'll encounter. Game design wasn't very high on the priorities list of the designers either.

Lastly, then, we hit the question of 'How true to D&D is the game'. Sadly, even here, the game fails abysmally. Several core character classes are missing. The ability to customize feats is gone. Character advancement is automatic, with no customization whatsoever. The dice-rolling is actually stacked against the player, so that the higher the level of the character, the more likely that they'll suffer 'critical failures'.

But if you slug through the slow pacing, the bad rules-implementation, and the niggling bugs here and there, about eight hours into the game, you suddenly lose /all/ your save games thanks to yet another critical bug. It can't go understated just how frustrating this particular bug can be, as it makes actually solving the game nigh impossible.

Aside from the most critical bugs, Pools of Radiance II would be an extremely weak game, easily the worst of the D&D conversions to have appeared over the years. When you throw in the fact that the game, thanks to the critical file and OS bugs, is essentially a glorified Trojan virus, you have one of the biggest RPG disasters of all time.

Avoid this game, at all costs. If you already have it, you may want to see if there's a ... against Ubi-Soft that you can join into. The '1' that I've given this game, honestly, is one point too generous.

PoR Myth Drannor - a Return to the 'Old School'

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 15
Date: October 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I am genuinely surprised by th other reviews I have read about this game. I suppose I might feel differently if I had experienced any of the technical issues some other posters have, but I have not. The technical issues aside, a number of people have expressed disappointment regarding the rules and the 'flow' of the game.
The best thing I can tell you is: If you are expecting Baldur's, you may be disappointed. If on the other hand you long for the RPG's of old, like the orignal Pool of Radiance, Bard's Tale....You will love this. This game has the feel of pen and paper gaming, and gives you a fair amount of control over what takes place. I think many people were disappointed in this game simply because they expected it to be something it is not. Overall I find this game to be pleasing visually, some entertaining points and quests, and nothing too in depth plot wise.

Bottom Line: If you are the kind of person who owns any of the RPG archives, because you don't like the new RPG's as much, buy this product and you wll enjoy it. If you want an experience like Diablo 2 or Baldur's, don't buy this product.

Save your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Before we even get into the gameplay issues let me say that it is inexcusable that PoR was released in such an obviously incomplete state. I would return it because of the technical issues alone. Just in case those aren't enough for you never fear, the gameplay is absolutely miserable. Characters you can't customize, random dice rolls that aren't random, I don't just want a refund, I want an apology from UbiSoft.

Alas, it could have been so much more...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It was supposed to have been the second coming of the Gold Box, the triumphant return of the old SSI tradition of AD&D CRPGs. Sadly, while Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor LOOKS like the 21st century incarnation of the Gold Box, it has too many issues to be truly an enjoyable experience.

(For the younger folks, the "Gold Box" series was the old turn-based CRPG series for AD&D produced by Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI). It included such classics as Curse of the Azure Bonds, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, and the original Pool of Radiance.)

If you actually play D&D 3rd Edition and have the Player's Handbook, most of the rules in the manual are repetitive - you have them all in your PH. The game tries really hard to stick to the core rules. It succeeds in some places - it uses the point-buy alternate character generation system from the DMG (and only that system is available), and it handles the new multiclass system well. You can progress up to 16 level in a class - and since you can theoretically multiclass to practically every class, that's a lot of levels. However, it starts to go downhill from there. No gnomes. No bards or druids or (GASP) wizards! Just sorcerors! Rangers hve no dual wield. YOU CAN'T ALLOCATE YOUR OWN SKILLS AND FEATS! =sigh= No female characters either. After a game like Arcanum, this is a real letdown.

The equipment selection is pretty sparse as well. Let think of it - no crossbows! And the game seems to have reverted to the 2nd edition and previous rule of weapon restrictions for mages and clerics - not surprising as there is no Martial Weapon Proficiency feat.

Magic is fine at the lower levels. In fact, the graphics for many of the spells are fun (chain lightning!). Unfortunately, the spell selection thins rapidly at the higher levels. There's only one divine spell for levels 7, 8 and 9, and not much more for high level arcane magic. Again, a letdown after being spoiled by Black Isle's Baldur's Gate series.

Okay, so you create a party and play. The first thing I noticed was the lack of interaction with the world. Just an NPC here and there. Again, a letdown from Baldur's Gate. That makes the actual combat rather anticlimactic. You wade in. You kill the monsters. You rest. (And resting is rather easy - you can blow all your spells, have an encounter, then rest again afterwards.) The story is no great shakes either. Let's just say that you start in Myth Drannor, ancient magical city of the elves in the Forgotten Realms, and it looks like you'll end in Myth Drannor. Little hope for a change of scenery, though admittedly I haven't played through the game. I may not at all.

Bottom line: Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor doesn't even come close to the standard established by Baldur's Gate in terms of systems and gameplay. Its highly-touted implementation of third edition rules is spotty at best, and it seems arbitrary. If you haven't completed the Black Isle games, you're better served buying one of those instead.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is, without a doubt, the most worthless attempt to make a Dungeons & Dragons computer game. It has numerous crash bugs, boring gameplay, and more bugs than an ant farm. Did I mention bugs? It has no "role-playing" to speak of, you can't customize your charaters, and also has the minor problem of occasionally EATING people's operating systems. Did I mention that it is buggy? If it worked (which it usually doesn't) it would be a bad copy of Diablo II. Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape:Torment and their sequels are all vastly superior products.

Bottom line: it is a 2 gigabyte virus.

I've Been Waiting For This!?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'm thinking, 'Alright, Pool of Radiance is finally out'. So I pay my 50$ and drive home to install it. I chose Drive D, not C, but it's still on my C dirve? Oh well, let's play.

I'm still waiting to play. You can't escape combat. That's a big minus considering the monsters in the first dungeon are way more powerful than your whole party.

Why can't I choose what skills and feats for the characters I generate (which are still the only characters in my party)? The customising of characters is nil. I so much prefer Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 even though I only get to create just one character. But those games are way more fun than this game.

What's with the movements? My newborn baby moves faster than these guys can walk. Excuse me sir, do you carry any magic items? No. You don't really carry anything. I'll just take my gold and leave.

Basically, a big "THIS GAME REALLY STINKS, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY, BUY HOOKED ON PHONICS 'CAUSE IT'S PROBABLY WAY MORE FUN THAN THIS RPG (IS THAT WHAT THIS IS?).

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