Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

Rating:
Summary: not since Ultima IX...
Review: ...have i place such high expectations for a RPG only to receive a game that's barely playable, i got it the first day out but there are now known technical issues with the release of this game. after 2 hours of playing, my saved games were utterly corrupted and the game crashed consistantly back to the desktop. i have to manually delete some files just to be able to play. other technical issues have been raised in various forums that i will not address since i will assume that a workable patch will be available by the time this review is posted; instead i will mention the gameplay itself.

graphically, the game looks nice but it only has one resolution of 800x600 so you see a limited view of your party's immediate area. the pathing AI during combat is horrendous, often taking a longer route than necessary... this sometimes leads to your character running by an enemy, giving them an attack of opportunity against you; this can also negate your ability to attack -- depending on how far you need to move to an enemy, you may or may not be able to attack, taking a longer route even though it initially shows an attack icon means a wasted move. it's also hard to position your character to score flanking attacks. the combat manual is almost too cumbersome, though hotkeying commands help.

i like the point-buy system of generating your character's ability score which is sanctioned by AD&D rules and a very fair way of managing your needs. but your character starting equiptment sometimes doesn't make sense. your characters generally have a range weapon, a bow or sling, but no ammuno... arrows are really hard to find and was not sold by the first trader you meet (i haven't come across another trader/shopkeeper so far), yet most of the orcs you meet will launch arrows at your party.

this game follows 3E rules but pre-determines each character's feats, skills and abilities without input from the player. the characters does not appear balanced, the ranger for instance does NOT have the ability to use dual weapons (no one can) making the class much weaker than other fighter classes; the favored-enemy is pre-selected (at least on level one).

getting to level 2 is fairly straight forward but getting from level 2-3 is TEDIOUS -- it feels like most of the enemies encountered rarely provide much experience points. sometimes the enemies seemed harder to fight because your characters are so weak -- at level 2 your will face shadows and wraiths and only one or two of your party will have magical weapons at that point; once you are in combat mode, there is no way to retreat.

since you HAVE to keep your party together, you also can't send one character to do advance scouting (this oversight will be a huge disappoint especially if you play the multi-player mode).

overall, this feels like an unfinished game that's more of a dungeon crawler (with lower resolution and much less loot) than a true RPG -- the plot line so far is fairly trite. i am just severely disappointed that this game is linked to the excellent gold box series -- maybe it's unfair to make the comparison but if you carry the name Pool of Radiance, you've got to deliver.

Rating:
Summary: Pool of Radiance II: The Most Expensive Virus you can Buy
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: This game isn't worth your time.
Review: I'll keep it short and sweet:

Imagine Baldur's Gate I. Now slow down the action tremendously and make the plotline totally linear. Then make the game buggy - it often sputters (lags) almost like Ultima Online did back in 1997. That's essentially what you get with Pool of Radiance.

Even with the inevitable release of a patch, the game itself is not compelling. You walk around slowly until you find a monster. The monster approaches you slowly. You slowly attack it and it slowly retaliates. When it's dead, you walk around some more.

If you're looking for a non-linear game that you can play as a single player, I'd consider waiting for NeverWinter Nights.

Rating:
Summary: Very very bad game.
Review: First off, overlooking the fact that the game shipped with a bug that will only allow it to be installed to your c: no matter what you tell it to do. Nevermind that it's actually completely destroyed peoples operating systems. Put all that aside and you have a dull, uninspired romp through a HUGE dull and repetitive dungeon with characters you can't even customize. If your a D&D fan STEER CLEAR of this game as you will hate it. If your a diablo fan stear clear as this game is NOT like diablo. It's very VERY slow paced and limited.

Rating:
Summary: TAKE ACTION!! No more 1 star games, please!!
Review: This game is a disaster. Not only does it not capture the flavor of the DnD 3rd edition rules (primarily the ability to almost limitlessly customize each of the character classes), but the graphics are poor (except for the magic and creature animations, which are pretty good), combat is repetitive and tedious (it's sort of like a turn-based Diablo)-- You know what? The list goes on. There's been an awful lot of bad reviews of this game all over the internet. Don't buy this game. This seems to have been a rush job, and no amount of patching can fix the problem. I was SO looking forward to this game, and my hopes were dashed once I finally got to play it. I tried, I really did, but it's just a sorry excuse for a computer game that was foisted on an eager audience, which to me and many others says that UbiSoft doesn't really give a rip about their customers. What happened to the Quality Assurance team? Did anyone who worked on the game actually play 3rd Edition DnD and if so how could they let this happen?!?! I played the game for three days and it drove me nuts!! I'm tired of computer game companies releasing GARBAGE and then expecting us to pay for it by putting up with it by shelling out money, putting up with their lame excuses, and even (for the most part) giving them the benefit of the doubt and downloading tons of patches over and over. No more. Unless you enjoy being treated like this, I suggest you TAKE ACTION!! Read the following letter, posted by a Mr. Crowley on the Pool of Radiance homepage, then DO SOMETHING!! If you agree, DON'T JUST SIT THERE!! Take action. It's our responsiblity as consumers.

Dear Fellow Gamer:

This post may not apply to this particular site's game, but it does apply to you as a consumer and buyer of gaming software.

Ubi Soft and Stormfront Studios have recently released a game entitled "Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor". It appears that the game is bug ridden and in many cases, unplayable in its initial release form. In the worst case, it has caused people's Operating Systems to fail. We, the purchasers of this game, would like to recommend that, at the least, you refrain from purchasing this game until the manufacturer can assure that this product will work safely at least, if not well, on all computers.

So what, right? Weren't planning on buying this one? Well, that's ok, we understand... but there's a deeper issue here. Ever buy a game that needed a patch JUST TO RUN? Ever wait for a game with excitement, only to have hours of frustration trying to get the thing to run? You're not alone. There are far too many products like that released on a yearly basis. Issues that could be fixed with better Quality Assurance teams. Products that were rushed out the door. Games that don't run well unless you have a Supercomputer.

The reason that these companies can continue to behave like this is that we, as consumers, continue to allow them to. Buy the game, it doesn't work, we wait for the patch to fix it, install the patch, play the game, and then let them off the hook. No apology from the issuers because of the technical issues, no repercussions to their bottom line, no further mention of your time wasted, your frustration, or your inconvenience.

How long, as a segment of the US economy, will we wait until we hold producers to a higher standard? To make them do a better job. I'm not talking bug free releases, I'm not delusional. But shouldn't the game you buy AT LEAST RUN? Be able to start up and play to a say 95% performance level? Without having to reinvent your machine?

Stay tuned... we're mad over here. We may not let Ubi Soft off easy for this one (they do have lots of titles you might be familiar with).<... .

Thank you in advance for your time,
Your Fellow Gamers

Rating:
Summary: What the buyer needs to know:
Review: First of all, people may have different ideas of what constitutes an RPG, however they could probably all agree that it involves taking characters into a fictional setting and taking part in their growth through an immersive combat and interaction system. Unfortunately there's very little in the way of ROLE PLAYING in this game. The thin, linear plot offers no meaningful opportunities to play characters of varying alignments and backgrounds due to the game's nearly complete focus on tactical combat. PoR boasts of being the first game to utilize 3rd Ed. D&D rules. Some very important rules were indeed carried over, but you'll find that some of the best aspects are not under your control. Particularly when it comes to the development of your characters.

GAMEPLAY:
PoR takes place in the labyrinth ruins of Myth Drannor and its gameplay is very much of a dungeon crawl. These dungeons are rather simplistic in design with few features to distinguish one section from the next. While the combat can be engaging initially, it becomes very repetitive after several hours. Enemies during these turn-based rounds take their sweet old time performing an action and walk towards you at a snail's pace to even initiate combat. You'll fight hundreds of the same types of enemies of which there aren't a great variety, and earn a modicum of experience points as a reward. Reaching the next level of experience in this game does take a very, very long time, making such an achievement both relieving and tiresome. You will earn a great deal of gold and items over the course of the game, yet this will ultimately prove useless since you're given nearly no opportunity to spend this hard fought loot.

Your PCs won't be experiencing the varied and interesting dialogue choices available in such CRPG games as the Fallout, Planescape: Torment, or Baldur's Gate series. While you won't be interacting with many NPCs due to the lack of such side characters, what NPCs that do exist lack personality and serve as reminders of what little your own characters seem to have. While PoR has minimal roleplaying opportunities, the game does allow you to create your own character and attributes albeit with a point-based system (an optional rule from the 3rd Ed. D&D). Sorry, but you can't roll up your attributes and even the pregenerated characters the game provides for you will always have more points allocated to their attributes. Thus, it provides little incentive to create your own characters. And no, you can not even change the names of these pregenerated characters. You'll find that these small bonuses from the higher attributes play a vital role in the combat system. While many players will opt to severely sacrifice certain attributes to make other abilities stronger, for a warrior... for example, expect to be as intelligent as a roll of toilet paper, have the wisdom of an issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, and inherit the charisma of Mini-me. You're given a small role in your character's progression. 3rd ed. D&D implements feats and skills much like the Fallout series perks and skills system. PoR has added several of these skills and feats to their game, but you do not get to customize your characters by getting to select their skills or feats at all. Instead, the game chooses them for you. Therefore... a fighter, sorceror, rogue, etc. will be an exact clone of another. Fortunately, a few of these feats and skills are completely useless. Spellcraft for example has many uses in 3rd Ed. D&D. In PoR, it only gives you a chance to identify an incoming enemy spell.

This game started out as an ambitious project that promised features such as characters being able to interact with the environment for tactical purposes... pushing crates to block doors or climb atop tables to gain a height advantage over adversaries. No longer there. But there are several tons of chairs, tables, boxes, and rocks that you WILL have to smash or risk the possibility of missing a key or other vital item. However the likelyhood of a useful item being in one of these "containers" is extremely slim. Yet you'll really have no other choice.

The interface for combat is not intuitive. While you do get to make your own hotkeys, its procedure is inconvenient due to having to move from each tab screen to the next.

GRAPHICS and SOUND:
Many of the animations, particularly many of the spell effects, have been well designed and some of the monsters look very good. But items added to your character, especially boots and gloves look like they were drawn in with a red crayon. The backgrounds outside the dungeon look very good as well.
The synthesized music is dull and unvaried, however some sound effects for the fights are good. The sound department was not a focus anyways. The load screens give you some absolutely horrid artwork to stare at for the 30 seconds or more that it often takes.

REPLAYABILITY:
There is very little incentive to replay this game. It's extremely linear and while its tactical combat system offers more variety than a game like Diablo 1&2, the amount of time to conduct hundreds of these battles will make you question whether you'll look back fondly and remember any of them in retrospect. Some computer or video games you will remember with fondness due to certain poignant experiences within them. PoR doesn't have any such charm or creativity.

FINAL WORDS:
Technical problems are rather severe with this product. Among a few major bugs existing for this game, a couple of them are unforgivable. One is the extreme difficulty in installing the game onto partitioned drives (which many experienced computer users do have). The other is particularly dangerous to your computer. This one bug, while rare, causes your OS to be completely wiped. Check the forums ...for more specifics.

Some people may actually enjoy the lengthy and immersive combat, but it's hard to imagine how long anyone can keep it up. With hundreds of mundane battles with recycled enemies, it'll certainly test your mettle and patience to continue. You'll find that resorting to a few rudimentary tactical maneuvers is all that is required and that loses its appeal after some time.

There will be those who are of the extreme sort though who think of this game as the best or one of the best they've played ever. These are very sad individuals who are unable to make unbiased judgements regarding this game. Beware, the buyer. This game has caused many people frustration and anger. Even those who are able to play the game will need a guide book or go online to a forum to meet other existing players for hints on how to proceed.

A site called the Scrying Room is linked to the start menu if you're fortunate enough to be able to install the game. Fihnakis, the administrator there, has long promoted PoR and worked hard to support the game during its development. He's one of the most disappointed fans. ... returned my game recently. Thank goodness for return policies.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, if not exceptional
Review: This game has gotten a lot of bad press. A lot. I don't even know where to begin describing how much undue criticism Pool of Radiance has received, but I would advise anybody out there not to believe all the hype.

Don't get me wrong--this software won't be redefining any genres. However, aside from a couple of bugs that should be fixed before the week is out, it still manages to solidly provide an experience not dissimilar from that you'd find in the original SSI games.

This game isn't for everybody, either. In particular, there will be a sizeable population of the Baldur's Gate and Diablo crowds that will find the play interminably slow. That's to be expected--this game isn't targeted at this audience. What Pool of Radiance DOES provide, however, is a solid dungeon crawl and one of the better attempts at turn-based combat in recent memory.

I haven't encountered a single bug in thirty plus hours of playing, so I won't bother commenting on that particular complaint, but I would think that the effects (i.e. "It ate my Windows") some people are using as an excuse to throw around labels like "virus" are mostly fabrications or stories heard from a guy who heard what happened to some other guy. Generally speaking, if you don't run any programs that will interrupt the install or uninstall process, you'll be fine.

So, is the game enjoyable? Well, that really depends. If you're looking for a brain-dead exercise in mouse clicking (and keep in mind that I like Diablo, myself) or an expansive story, you're not going to find that here. However, folks who remember the old gold box games, or people who are just looking for a game that roughly approximates sitting around the table with your friends (as opposed to the console feel that a great many CRPGs are adopting), this is where you want to be.

Rating:
Summary: a decent game, but doesn't live up to the hype
Review: well from what everyone else has written about their copies being buggy and some not even being able to install the game. i feel luck, i ran out and bought the game the day it was released. and i had no problems installing it or playing. not a single bug so far. but and this is the major problem i have with the game, it is way too boring, not anything like it was hyped up to be. the controls are somewhat sluggish, and i hate the menu interface. but still all in all a decent game

Rating:
Summary: An amazing letdown
Review: I'll start off by saying, I do enjoy rpgs alot, at least I used to, recently the pickins have been to many and to drab. This is another example of a game that could have been good, but is too much of a let down.

It reminds me of a game I picked up awhile back, forgot the name, but on the back it said it was a 'Diablo like' game. It was in really big letters, and I was jonesing for Diablo 2 which at the time hadn't been released. Get it home, and put it in, and its a turn based strategy game.... Yeah, Diablo like my foot.

I describe Pool of Radiance: RoMD like this, a very slow Baldur's Gate. My main problem is that the game plays very slow. Second, multiplayer seems to be a huge joke, where DOES the multiplayer take up at, and does it have a story at all? Third...well, the Third Edition rules.

This is my first contact with them, and I was really hyped to see them at work, since some friends of mine want to convert some of our all time favorite campaigns over to NeverwinterNights. After this game, we may skip NeverwinterNights altogether.... To put it lightly...why in the heck is the Mage's spells based off of Charisma, can anyone explain this?

All in all, the game is a let down, its nothing more than a really cheap rip off of Baldur's Gate, yet turn based with the characters being so big that you can't see very much of the map at the time. The upswing is that it is all 'seemless' in the fact that you don't have 'zones' per say, the areas can be very large in scale, so it makes exploring more interesting.

Final word, if you like playing with the 3rd edition rules, and can stand very slow game play, then nab it, because all in all, it actually is like sitting down and playing it pen and paper style, taking turns with initiative. The bugs are pretty bad in spots, but hopefully they will fix them soon. Beyond those kind of ppl, buy it at your own risk....

Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: 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.