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Long awaited, huge disappointment

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 18 / 18
Date: September 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Having seen the advance screen shots of the game 2 years ago at E3 in L.A., I have long awaited the release of Pool of Radiance. I am an avid fan of the original game and series that took us to the Forgotten Realms. To say the graphics aren't stunning would be an understatement for they truly are. That is about the only thing I can say good about the game itself.

To describe it best would be Diablo on SLOW MOTION! Everything moves at a snails pace, including combat which is more tedious than it is worth - to boot, the game is mostly combat, little story told within and what is told is rarely spoken and hard to read. To bring up a menu for ANYTHING requires right clicking, then clicking on a subheading, then on the final choice and FINALLY on the monster, character or object you want to do the ability on. Ease of controls is something this game is not. Reading your characters health requires another sub command within a command, etc. Anyone who has played these games before knows that ease of controls is key to enjoying any game.

Characters walk slowly everywhere except in combat. You cannot move one character ahead of the party to scout around since you cannot be 10' from the rest it seems. Scrolling on a map only goes as far as the size of your monitor, no farther, despite having uncovered the area from the 'fog' previously. All in all, the controls are horrible.

Character generation is extremely limiting despite what the reviews say. There are no bards, no true wizards (only sorcerer), no subclasses within the class like the Third Ed. rules offer (not to mention Baldur's Gate II), no gnomes, no female characters unless an elf-human-or half-elf, lack of a good spell list (only the basics are covered), the average weapons, no ammo to buy for ranged weapons (unlimited supply? Realism counts to some degree now), etc.

It is a poor adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons universe. Do not be fooled by the graphics alone. The third edition rules are touched on here and there but it is clearly not what any gamers would like or expect. For the first attempt by SSI, UbiSoft and Prima games to enter the D&D universe, it is a poor one at best. Stick with Baldur's Gate II and wait for the expansions in that series. Otherwise, there is Neverwinter Nights next year to look for. What an extreme disappointment this was. After just one day, I am already returning the software. Sad and a true disappointment..

Tragic reworking of old classic

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: September 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

In the words of the immortal bard, "Man, this game [stinks]."

All the promised features have been removed, and what is left is less fun that glueing the side of your favourite head to a passing train.

Take your copy of P.O.R. and throw it around in the park with a close friend. Deeply dull entertainment.

Looks good but play is lacking

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: September 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is ok overall but the play seems slow and the controls
aren't the most intuitive or easy. It looks pretty good but
nothing exceptional here.

The character customizability seems to be nonexistant, you just
distribute stat points and pick one of 2-8 character models
depending on the race/class choice you made.

Overall it's disappointing, but that's mostly my own fault for
expecting it to have all the classes and races from DnD 3rd
Edition, they left out my favorite (Wizards), and because I
thought the character developement would be more involved.

Pool Of Radiance , ala 2001

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 11
Date: September 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is not a bad RPG at all. If youre not sure about the 3rd Edition rules , get the cluebook , or do it on your own. Character creation is a little different then the other D&D games out there on the market , but its not hard to get thru , and pretty quick to make a character. The interfaces are pretty good , no blocking off the screen for interaction with NPC's. Combat is pretty straightforward also , very easy to get thru. Having a good well rounded party has made things pretty easy for me to get thru the game so far. Graphics and sounds are good also. Obviously since I just picked up the game today , I cant do a total review , but from what I've played so far , its a decent game to pick up.

What a waste of money!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the first Pool of Radiance series. It was the first computer game to bring a great PC version of a popular RPG to fruition. I also played the Black Isle/Bioware versions of the AD&D series (Baldur's Gate & Icewind Dale) and loved those games. But this one? I think my review would be censored if I told you what I thought of this game.

First of all, the game crashed on installation! Blizzard may be the only software company that releases relatively bug-free PC games these days but how can a software company justify a game with bugs in the installation process?! I've heard that I have it lucky. Some people have had their operation systems wiped out in the installation process.

After getting the game to run, I was unimpressed. The graphics are decent but it doesn't have the same atmosphere as the other recent Dungeons & Dragons products. It's a "hack and slash" only game and things such as quests, great storylines and character interaction which made so many of the Dungeons & Dragons games enjoyable are non-existent in this product. The instruction manual is also a poor substitute for an introduction to the new 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons rules.

I'm afraid that the more I play this game, the more technical errors I'm going to find. There are already many bugs such as the game crashing when you save it during certain conditions. I can live with a bugged game if it promises to offer great gameplay when it is fixed with patches but this game is a pitiful attempt to live up to some of the great successes the Dungeons and Dragons series has seen with PC games.

Don't waste your money. If you're an avid D&D fan, wait until the game price drops and then try it out but I'd recommend Baldur's Gate II as a much better alternative if anyone desires a great RPG game for the PC.

How did this game make it out the door?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: September 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game is, without question, one of the worst games I have ever played. I first tried to install it on my Windows 98 computer. When the installation failed and I had to run their uninstall program, somehow it completely hosed my registry and ruined my computer, preventing it from booting up again! Then, when I finally got it working on a Windows 2000 computer, numerous video, sound, and gameplay bugs ruined any sort of enjoyment I was getting out of it. The last straw was when I tried to save the game and the game crashed but also corrupted several of my previous saved games!

Even if the game were completely bug free, it's not a very enjoyable game to play. Combat is tedious, characters are not very customizable, and the interface isn't very intuitive. It's certainly no Baldur's Gate or Diablo.

It's a shame. I was really looking forward to this game after having spent some happy hours playing the original Pool of Radiance and the subsequent gold-box games many years ago. I really wanted to like Pool of Radiance 2, but believe me, you'd be better off spending your money on something else....

Worse as I go along...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: September 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have to admit first that this is my most anticipated crpg I've been waiting on for over a year. As it came close to being released though I saw a few let downs in the reviews; little things such as no crossbows and not being able to choose your own skills, and of course no weapon focus. This I could live with. Finally it was released though and I started playing it hard and trying out my different options. My second big disappointment came when I found out that you can't choose your own feats either. Ahh...oh well, this I can live with.

Me and my buddies had preplayed a storyline out for our characters months before this game was released, getting our guys to around level 3 or 4 multi-class before we started the game. How we were going to incorporate this into the PoR story was have us each just play the single player first by ourselves as practice to get our guys to that level we achieved on pen and paper. Then we would export those single player individuals into the multiplayer version to beat the game all together for the first time around.

Well my third(and hopefully last) huge let down came when we loaded up the multiplayer and saw that it looks nothing like the single player. No storyline as I can see, no Nottle waiting for you to save him and sell items, no elves in the tree. Where the hell is the tree? This is I could not live with. I ordered 3 of these games just so we'd all have a disk, and now the multiplayer has turned out to be some "Diablo" type game with only random monsters, dungeons, and too many special items. We're still going along...hoping we'll find some form of story and not just meaningless hack and slash in the multiplayer. If I do or don't depends on how I'll come back and change my rating.

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.

If it works (25% chance or so) it still isn't any good

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

Here's the deal: this game is no good. It is extremely buggy and does not work on many computers. In fact, it has caused several OS crashes and breakdowns (which means it can permanently break your Windows). Those interested are referred to the forums at the official website.
So what if it works? Heres the quick and simple:
Though it supposedly has 3rd edition D&D rules the game does not allow you to roll your characters, nor choose feats and skills (there is a terrible point system for character generation and the computer chooses feats and skills FOR YOU based on your class)
Speaking of classes, the Druid and WIZARD class are not supported (YOU CAN NOT BE A WIZARD!!!!!!!!!!)
The graphics are nice if they work, but nothing truly incredible.
The interface is, for the most part, counterintuitive (its not very good). Everything is done from drag down menus accessed through right clicking. There are NO HOTKEYS for spells and skills.
Rogue characters CAN NOT HIDE or MOVE SILENTLY!!!! Also, no member of your group other than the leader can walk more than 50 ft away from the other characters. why? Cause that would be good maybe...
There are good points, but they're pretty lame: you can run, attacks of opprotunities are present (the only real 3rd edition improvement, and this just makes the game harder), and you get to make a whole party (which Icewind Dale let you do).

Conclusion: this game is a mockery of third edition d&d rules. The game is like a slightly more complex Gauntlet. Its no good, and chances are it wont work for you anyway. If you shell out extra money for the Collector's Edition you get some cool stuff, but no better chance for the game working. My advice is wait for Neverwinter Nights, a game that should be a quality release, unlike this game, which...

Don't buy it!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: October 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Thousands of user complaints about incompatibility with their systems, severely curtailed ability to customize the graphics and sound, reduced implementation of promised features, and little incentive to roleplay within the game are just a few reasons to avoid it.

This is probably the worst implementation I've ever seen. Go buy Baldur's Gate instead.

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