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Crash dummy game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Okay, this is one of those games that crashes frequently. I have played all the way through a couple of times. The story line is good, the graphics are good, but the game is so unstable that it crashes about every 15 min. on my computer. The scroll down spell lists are a pain in the .... while in the turn base combat. There are a shortage of quick key options in this game and I seem to waste a lot of time walking back and fort to areas that should have a short cut (most areas do not respawn). A recall spell of some kind would make this game so much more bearable. This game would take considerably less time if you didn't spend so much time walking your characters from one corner of the world to the other without even having one encounter.
I really like the story line, but there aren't very many things you can do for extra XP. This game had all the makings of a great game but fell incredably short because of a crashing problem and so far to walk with nothing to kill.
Like I said I did play this game through a couple of times, but it is a slow play. The multi-character part of this game is okay, but it seems like my wizard always ends up first through the door or on the front lines when combat starts. There is no way to prevent this flaw that I have found. This game is fun if you can look beyond the crashes and the constant walking and the characters blocking the leader and the weakest character always going first no matter what you do to stop it. Neverwinter Nights is a much better game in my opinion or even Heritic Kingdom, but any game will have its flaws and this one has several, but it is still fun to play

A decent D&D game, but with serious problems

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game a few days ago, and here are some initial thoughts.

Cons: For those who play the PnP D&D game, this PC version is lacking. First, in character generation, while you get to pick race, class and stats, there is no opportunity to pick skills or feats. The skills and feats are given based on the class you pick. Also, there is no option to play as a wizard; only the sorcerer is available. It seems this was done out of laziness on the programmer's part. In combat, there is no option for charge attacks, which means that if you are out of range for a melee attack, you are screwed and just have to deal with it. There is also no option for the other special attacks, such as bull rush and trip attack, but if there was at least a charge attack I could deal with that. Also, unlike Temple of Elemental Evil, there is no path drawn on the floor to show distance allowed to move without losing the action part of the turn. Rather, there is a little icon that pops up on the cursor showing if the movement is within distance or not. There doesnt seem to be an option for dual-wielding. The characters move entirely too slow, so going back to some place you have been and need to return to takes forever. The menu for casting spells and using skills is entirely too small, and so makes taking these actions tedious. I know this game is 3.0 rules, and I dont know if they are different from 3.5 in this regard, but my ELF rogue cannot equip a longsword or a longbow. I know these are not rogue feats, but they are elf racial feats. Thus, I am stuck with a little 1d6 shortbow for my long range fighter.

Pros: Like ToEE, this game is turn based. Also, the game does run 3.0 rules. The game is not all that bad; it is DnD, and there's plenty of loot and experience to gain. Contrary to what some other reviewers have said, this game is not impossibly difficult. The first part of the game involves killing orcs, which only have one HD, an AC of 14, and at least in 3.5 rules, have a CR of 1/4. Considering there are 4 party members, and the usual encounter has 2 orcs, this is not bad at all.

After years of patches...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: May 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When this came out I wholeheartedly agree with the previous reviewers here--- and then some! It was awful, buggy, and slow. Now with computers much faster than the specifications required and with 4 count 'em, 4 official patches later, one having been released fairly recently by the distributer-- it's a little better. It is at least playable. You may get better play by turning off anti-aliasing features in your video card.

If you have the discs collecting dust or see it in a 99 cent bargain bin, it might be worth satisfying any residual curiosity. There are still a lot of aggravating aspects, but one thing that was good was the background artwork for the time. People disappointed with it when it came out should be aware of patches up to version 1.4

There are also some good mods out there for changing your character icons.

Unfortunately, it still does not hold a candle to the classic 8-bit gold box game.

Yeah, maybe the worst game I've ev er played...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: January 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Lets disect the product summary...
*The player must create a party of six adventurers and explore the haunted elven ruins of Myth Drannor in order to stop the Pool's evil influence.
This was the best part of the game - making characters.

Pool of Radiance 2 is the first game to use the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules.
*But Ubisoft didn't apply these rules correctly.

Playable character classes are Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Sorcerer, Monk, and Rogue, while the races include Half-Orc, Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, and Half-Elf. Characters advance from 1st to 16th levels, allowing spellcasters access to 8th-level spells.
*I wouldn't call what they sold me as "playable".

As you explore the ancient ruins of Myth Drannor, the Dungeon Master will communicate all important events and findings.
*The DM doesn't communicate to you that you probably want to kill yourself for paying for this hunk of garbage.

Combat is based on turns, just as in the tabletop game.
*Except that the tabletop game is fun.

With a great single-player campaign as well as multiplayer support, Pool of Radiance 2 is ready to carry on the legacy of the famous Gold Box games and lead D&D RPGs into the era of 3rd Edition rules.
*Legacy?! Bwahahaha!!! Yeah, right!!!! I'll never purchase anything from Ubisoft again!

I spent $60.00 for the "Gold" edition as soon as it was released. The Horror!!!! At least it came with a lame music soundtrack and a dice bag, which I've since lost!

TOTALLY HORRIFIC WASTE OF MONEY

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

WOW! I wasted my money on this piece when it first came out. I just bought it because it was a D & D RPG and I remember the old PoR (Yes, I am an old man). I am so glad that everyone (or most people) agree with me. This game sucks especially because the gameplay is SLOOOOW!

How much can you slow the action in an RPG?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: April 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have owned this game for quite some time but because I was involved in playing several other RPG's I just got around to trying it and boy was I dissappointed. This has to be the slowest game play ever. If you don't mind playing 30 minutes to kill one monster (maybe a SLIGHT exageration) then this games for you. I played for several hours and never made it past level one (and I didn't die). I will be archiving this game in my trash can never to be mistaken for something I might like to play again.

Shame there's not a "0" star rating!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: February 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game for $4.99 and I would have to say that I really got my moneys worth in annoyance and utter frustration. I have installed the game twice and have the newest patches installed as well. On both occassions the game will tease me with 20-30 hours of game time and then crash when I save. THIS CRASH WILL CORRUPT ALL SAVE FILES AND YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO START FROM SCRATCH OR UNINSTALL!!! The only positive I can say about this game is that I was somewhat happy when I snapped the disk in two. Don't waste your time or money on this garbage.

Oh my gosh...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: May 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I pop in the disc and select install. The game refuses to let me do a full installation because it says I don't have 1 gig of space free on D:\(When I clearly have 5 gigs free). So, I have to do minimal install. I then finish installing it and go to play the game, only to learn that it didn't install on D:\ drive. Apparently, I need to download a patch just to install the game to D:\. Wow, the creators sure messed up on something so fundamental. They must not have even tested the game because apparently, you can't install the game in any specified folder unless you download patch 1.1.

Then I go to play the game only to see my characters walking at 2 miles an hour. I start it up with a paladin, barbarian, and rogue tearing the place up while my mage sits down and rests. I then realize that my characters don't have their long swords equipped. This is odd because I just equipped those long swords. I look at my inventory only to learn that there is no long sword animation. I have the sword equipped but I can't see it because I guess the creators left that out or the minimal installation(which I was forced to use) must not have it. This pisses me off greatly. I then look around for quicksave. Where is quicksave? I have no clue. You can't customize your controls or something. I then give up on the game to play Icewind Dale. The games have the exact same stories, and Pool of Radiance has so many problems that I don't ever plan to play it again. Besides, if you do find a sword that does 585598250298 damage in the first dungeon, you know theres a problem.

Kind of a Shame

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I remember fondly the time I spent on a C64 working
my way through the original Pool of Radiance. I was
really looking forward to the release of this game-
unfortunately it comes up dry in several areas. I won't
repeat what was said about the lack of variety in character
creation or the agonizingly slow path to leveling other
than to say that review is spot on. The variety of monsters
you encounter is slim, the plot is not really there at all.
Finally, the combat (the meat of this game..) is plodding and
time consuming with very little flash or drama.

Bottom line, and I am sorry to say it- unless you're just
between games and have something like "federal prison" type
time on your hands to kill- don't waste the hours of your life
playing PoR.

Not a Real RPG

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is not a real RPG. Despite claiming to follow the rules of D&D 3E it does so selectively. The biggest problem is that it does not allow you to level your character on your own (pick feats, skills) - its like playing with the worst kind of DM.

This game is nothing but a dungeon crawl in a (very poor) D&D suit. Dungeon Siege is much better (and gives you more control of your character development).

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