Rating: 
Summary: Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor Rocks!!!!!!
Review: Wow! how do you compete with all the other reviews..I REALLY don't think that the game is that bad.. While I admit that it has some technical bugs to it..can only install on the C:\drive.. etc..(which is fixed) I think that they did a FANTASTIC job on making this considering that they had to switch right in the middle of making it from 2E to 3E.. I undestand that they came may be missing some of the classes, feats, and other things, but remember to switch and code the game for release in midstream would be damn near impossible, but they did it.. on to the excellent stuff.....POR has got to be one of the most visually stunning games yet. I have played BG1/II, Icewind, Diablo, etc.. while all of those game are good graphics wise. I would have to say that they did 10x better with POR. the graphics are so 3D, where in the others it felt very linear.. I read that one person commented about walking everywhere. number 1- you are an adventurer, you don't get a car..
number 2- push the F1 key while your playing.... it will bring up the menu of options.. SO YOU CAN RUN! just read the book.. seriously the interface is fresh, not the same cookie cutter approach that all the other games use. I would say that this is an EXCELLENT game and they have made an excellent start to making a really good series. If they keep at it and fix the little things that all the people are saying are wrong.. they can bring all these people back... As for me, Lvl 3 party.. and still going strong
Rating: 
Summary: Has problems but overall a good game
Review: I must admit I expected more from this game. Character generation is my biggest complaint. Point value system starting with 8 in each attribute ... I like to use characters I RPG with and build them in the game. You have to have a pretty bad character to do this with in PoR. Turn based I love. That is AD&D. If you want real-time go play Warcraft or something. AD&D is based on initiative and rounds and that is what a good AD&D computer game should use. Graphics are awesome. And the story, while I have only had the game for a week I like the story line. Yes, I am having crash problems but no corrupted files. Overall I say I am enjoying the game and would still buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Old School RPG....not BG or Diablo
Review: I see there are a FEW old schools RPG
(Huge dungeons and turn based) players still around.
With all the BG games and Diablo's most of you have forgotten that these games are not what RPGs were suppose to be.
We all like Diablo and all the action based RPG's because they require us to think less and just kill, and relieve stress.
I have enjoyed the BG games and Diablo but a change should be welcome!
Strategy is the key!
This game is different, still fun but strategy oriented. If you have played it any amount of time you see that there are draw backs and advantages to be had in every situation so you have to THINK about what to do next where to move etc.
To quote another reviewer this is a "thinking man's game"
Rpg's used to be about exploration and the story, and very challenging, this game has all the old school qualities and is pretty to look at. Think about it WHY ARE there so many mods for Diablo to make it tougher? How cool is it to have a level 20 characters on the first level of Diablo? Well a little but you can't expect every game to be that way, especially when you base it on the D&D rules. You will not kill everything with 2 hits and your characters are NOT invincible!! This game is not perfect but the patches are out now and the game runs fine. As far as the complaints about experience gained by your characters... if you make dumb characters (low intelligence)
they don't learn as fast moron! ALL the bashers load it up again and clear your mind of BG and the click fest syndrome; and enjoy the game for what it is and don't bash because it's different. Open your mind!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste 50 bucks like I did!!
Review: Ok, Ive played most rpgs out there (many good many bad), I have to say, this one stunk. I played the orrigional once and it was more enjoyable. Pool of Radiance: RMD is nothing more than an excruiatingly dull dungeon crawl. The graphics are ok, but then they arent everything. The game got a little sticky during battles (running on a 1.8 gig pentium 4 processor) even after I defragmented my hard drive. If you want to spend some money on a good rpg, then buy Arcanum or one of the Bauldr's Gate games. Don't waist it here. *tosses Pool of Raiance on top of a copy of "Jurassic Park: Tresspasser"*
Rating:
Summary: I've Been Waiting For This!?
Review: 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?).
Rating: 
Summary: If I were you I'd pass on this one...
Review: I played the original Pool of Radiance on my Commodore 64 back in 1989. Naturally, I've been looking forward to this updated sequel for months. Ordered it, received it, eagerly installed it... all I can say is what a disappointment.
The storyline is generic and uninteresting, the interface is cludgy and unintuitive, and there are several things that are just plain annoying. I don't know if I can bring myself to finish this game...
Like the original 1988 version of Pool of Radiance, you will waste a lot of time fighting long meaningless battles for little or no experience points.
All negative aspects aside, the graphics and animations are great. If you don't care about role-playing and an interesting storyline, and just want to run around spending all of your time fighting for no reason, then this game is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Sloooow and boooring
Review: I have really been looking forward to a new SSI D&D game. A good old fashioned dungeon crawl with awesome graphics sounded like a lot of fun. It should be. It really should be. It isn't. The problems?
The customization of characters is very limited. You get to create four cookie cutter characters. You might as well start with the pre-made characters for all the thought that goes into it. The game action is terribly slow. It takes forever to get anywhere. By the time you get through a few rooms you are so bored you can't stand it. I bought this game the day it came out and I have been trying to like it every since. I have just given up. That's $40 I will never see again. Oh well lesson learned. By the way the music is pretty good and the movement (slow as it is) is fluid and life-like. I also have had no problems with crashes but then I have a fairly high end system. I wouldn't buy this game unless you are a very patient person. I reccomend instead Baldur's Gate II.
Rating:
Summary: after much hype the verdict is.........
Review: Not superb. Graphically superior than it's predecessor Baldurs Gate, Pool of Radiance lacks the game play that BG held. I've always said I would take a game that lacks in graphics if it makes up for it in Game Play, and BG did that, This game is mediocre at best. It is stable on my computer, I have yet to have it crash (knock on wood)so I'll give it point for that, having a game for near two weeks with no crashes is pretty good. I'll give it a point for graphics, as mentioned earlier they are great. I'll give it a point for allowing you to create up 4 members of your party. Where does it lack, Game play as mentioned is poor, interface is tiresome, I guess the hardcore table top player geeks like it, but I can't stand the turn based combat.... I turned it off. With Baldurs Gate Infinity Engine, it was customizable... players could make their favorite sword from whatever book they read and through it into the game to be bought of found, one group even made a whole new add on for it, but I don't see that this is as customisable, there for not very player friendly, so minus a point. If you are a BG fan, don't buy it thinking you will get something like it, you won't. It doesn't hold the interaction of BG, I like that, if I like running around hacking things up with little to no problem solving, I would play Diablo II. I guess SSI created a concept that had a following already with the original Pool of Radiance game, made a graphically great game so they could hype it up and then threw it at us.
Rating:
Summary: Who went wee-wee in the kiddie pool of radiance!?
Review: I didn't experience any of the technical problems mentioned in other reviews and apparently I should count myself extremely lucky ( I sure as heck won't be uninstalling this game anytime soon, only to lose my OS. Wow, that's some shoddy product). So I will speak only to the game itself. It's terrible. And yes, I can and will compare it to Black Isle's BG and IWD series. How can you not!? If UBISoft intends to compete in the D&D RPG market they need to get their act together. First of all they were oblivious to the whole appeal of the 3rd edition rules - the ability to finally tailor-make a character. At no point in the game play was I allowed to select skills and feats myself. Secondly there is a reason the actual D&D game is turn-based. It has to be. There is no other way for several people and a DM sitting at a table to coordinate accurate combat. The computer which can control the various combatants your characters face should remove the boredom of having to watch 4 zombies mozy on over to your party one by one to attack them. Black Isle understood this. If BG and IWD wasn't your "thinking game", if you were overwhelmed by the pace, then you obviously didn't discover the auto-pause feature for combat. I won't play a game if it's cheap on tactics and strategy, and Black Isle's were so rich with that, with their combat system and numerous spells and weapons. POR for it's attempt at the 3rd edition can't compare. The sounds and music are quite dull. I ordered the collector's edition hoping the soundtrack CD would be as good as the IWD soundtrack that I bought from Black Isle - not even close. The characters lack the flair of BG and IWD. The story is non-existant at times. The playing area is as empty as an abondanded wharehouse. Most of the areas lack enough monsters, or treasure, trinkets, puzzles, secondary characters or anything that might develop the story or mood of the game. That's great if you like walking around aimlessly. The CG images of the characters and monsters if not the spell effects at least showed some effort but they can't save this game. All in all the debut of the 3rd edition rules on computer was a big dissapointment for me.
Rating:
Summary: Defending the Game
Review: Ok, so many people ripped apart this game. Personally, I didn't think it was that bad. My game has only crashed once, much less then BG2 when it first came out. It's one of those games that gets really bad if you don't like it.
Problems:
Long combat (slow game)
Little choices (example you can cast level 8 spells but theres only one option for a class)
Interface (takes time to figure out what things do)
The manual is little help
Knowledge of D&D is important
Not much of an RPG Positives:
Great Graphics
Runs Smoothly (No jerky movements)
Cool dungen crawl system
Fun combat (Turns allow you to enjoy spells)
Turn based system allows you to enjoy combat
Many mini quests in a dungen
many items Overall I enjoyed the game, then again I got a great deal. It is definatly not worth [the money], but if you find it for a cheap price, I recommend getting it.
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