Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

Rating:
Summary: Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
Review: I`m dissapointd in this game. When I purchased this so-called game, I expected the type of game play of Nintendo with all the new rules, classes and different beginnings. What I got was problems. Jumpy gameplay and occasional sound from NPC`s, and what is with the waiting after attacks. I know you are allowed to move after attacks but if you move the enemies automatically hit for double damage and when they move sometimes you don`t even get an attack. Also I`m still waiting to use the characters I have kept from Nintendo. I hope they do a much better job in the future or I`ll keep my money in my pocket.

Rating:
Summary: if I could give this game no stars, I would
Review: because that's what it deserves. it was a crime to release this game because of all the bad decisions and bungled work.

let's go down the list...

this game claimed it used 3rd edition D&D rules, but the terrible implementation bore almost no resemblance to 3rd edition. here's a hint for the game developers: if you can't pick your feats and skills, and the feats and skills are gimped to begin with, it's not really a 3rd edition ruleset.

tedious, unimaginative gameplay. this game essentially consists of one dungeon that you have to run in and out of. endless backtracking and running through empty spaces you've already cleared.

an interface where it is maddeningly easy to send your character to instant death with one unfortunate click. play this game and I guarantee you will shout many times in hair-tearing frustration, "No, I didn't want you to go there!" and the priceless, "I didn't tell you to do that!"

character generation. you got fewer points to make your own characters with than the pre-generated characters get. what ... madness is that?

the graphics are highly touted by a lot of reviewers, but this does NOT look like a game that came out three years after Baldur's Gate. they should have been able to do do better than this.

then there's the endless, laughable laundry list of serious bugs: corrupted saved games, inability to install on any drive but C, and its unfortunate tendency to HOSE THE REGISTRIES ON WIN 98 WHEN YOU TRIED TO UNINSTALL IT. all of these bugs, I believe, were eventually corrected with patches, but they never should have shipped a box full o' smegma like this.

only true hate and loathing could inspire me to write this long a review. I highly anticipated this game. I was really looking forward to it. and the game ended up a crushing, betraying disappointment.

I want my money back, and the several hateful hours I spent swimming in digital dreck.

Rating:
Summary: Very few people will like this game
Review: This is a very slow game with a poorly designed interface. The only people who will like this game are those who want complete control over their combat so badly they will put up with all of the short comings of the game to have it.

This is a dungeon crawl in the truest sense. Your characters walk verrrrry slooowly from one sloooow combat to the next. You dread taking a wrong turn because it takes you soooo long to get back to another spot.

The characters can't be customized that much, and the rules (they claim to be 3rd Edition D&D - I wouldn't know) stink. Charisma, the most important attribute of... a Wizard??? Excuse me, did I read that wrong?

What is good about it? Well the graphics are beautiful. You will have lots of time to look at them as your characters plod slowly along their way.

Take my advice and save your money. This game stinks.

Rating:
Summary: Some good ideas, but potential is unrealized.
Review: One has to be remarkably persistent if you want to play the game. Odds are you will encounter serious obstacles in trying to play the game (I have tried it on three different platforms and encountered major problems on all three), and it is amazing that a game manufacturer could release such a bug-infested product and expect anyone to buy anything else they would in future produce. In addition, the support for the game has been poor as the promised patches have been slow to appear and do not address some of the worst problems. That being said, if you are VERY patient in surmounting the technical problems, the game itself isn't that bad, though it would benefit from more NPC interaction. It is slow at the start, but gets better as it goes along. IF they get their programming act together and come up with a more varied story line, this game system could be a good one.

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Summary: BEWARE:This game will likely NOT work on your computer!
Review: I was so looking forward to renewing my relationship with Pools of Radiance. Until I actually purchased the game and tried to install it.

Even with THREE patches already issued, the game will NOT install on ANY system with less than 650MB of available space on Drive C: only!!

Now, don't think that you can install it on another drive. The packaged installer will ONLY allow use of the C: drive, and the available patch that you have to download insists on 650MB of available space on the C: drive, even if you want to install the game elsewhere!

UBI sez that new versions are on the shelves, but the version I bought on 12/21 does NOT work. It's getting returned tomorrow.

What a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Shouldn't have Dungeons & Dragons stamped on its box
Review: As I continue to play Pool of Radiance, my opinion of it has grown steadily worse. This is the third review I'm writing on it, and for the first time, I'm wishing there was a '0 stars' rating. As has been thoroughly pointed out, this thing is the ultimate bore. You will find raking leaves in your backyard more fun than playing it- I guarantee that.

What's more, since I bought the game I've started playing pen and paper D&D, and I can assure you that this game does NOT follow the 3rd edition rules to any reasonable accuracy. The designers cut more than corners on this production, to the point that it's more like a demo version of D&D.

I'll just list off a few things (I'm sure I'll think of more later):
-Weapons are restricted by class. They aren't supposed to be- anyone should be able to use anything, but sometimes at a penalty.
-The wizard, druid, and bard classes are not included- probably the most glaring omission.
-You are supposed to be able to choose skills, and a good three fourths of them aren't even implemented.
-Spellcraft is actually supposed to be useful, because you can cast counterspells. You can't do that in Pool of Radiance.
-A wizard is supposed to be able to cast on the defensive to avoid an attack of opportunity. No such thing here.
-Enemies are only supposed to be able to make one attack of opportunity per round. In the game, it's unlimited.
-You aren't supposed to be able to critical hit or sneak attack an undead creature.
-(this should be obvious) Pool of Radiance is missing about 90% of the standard spell library. Included among the no-shows are such incredibly useful spells as mirror image, stoneskin, ANY summoning spell, ANY shapeshifting spell, and even most of the cantrips and orisons.
-Clerics aren't supposed to cast spells like a sorcerer, save for either cure or cause wounds spells.
-Clerics don't get domain spells
-Spellcasting is limited to sorcerer spells fixed per level- no empowering, extending, quickening, etc. No casting lower level spells from higher level slots.
-The game is completely missing any and all combat modes save a normal attack and spellcasting- no tripping, grappling, disarming, etc.
-You are supposed to be able to pick feats- and there are supposed to be many, many more.
-Power attack is supposed to let you pick a number from your base and add it to damage. It only lets you pick max or plus half here.
-Changing armor is supposed to take a long time. It's a free action in the game.
-Drawing a weapon is supposed to be a move equivalent action.
-Invisibility is supposed to force an enemy to guess where you are. The enemies don't guess- they know.
-For some reason (probably a bug) sorcerers don't suffer movement penalties for encumbrance.
-You can't have a familiar.
-You're supposed to be able to maintain a 'Shocking Grasp' spell indefinitely after casting it.
-Cloudkill is supposed to do more than make enemies grunt (another bug?)
-They took the easy way out- there's no resistance other than spell resistance.
-Spell components aren't implemented (I don't mind this much, but some people do)
-Obviously, there are no skill checks other than finding and disarming traps.

And after all this, I have also decided the graphics aren't even that good. I had thought them the only strong point of the game earlier, and now that I've been further into it, I can assure you they are not. There's simply NOTHING NEW as you go on- everything is the same tile of wall, same table, same barrel, et. al. Give me a break, UBI. I know you can do better than that.

Rating:
Summary: Have these people been asleep the last five years?!
Review: Just about everything they could do wrong...they did wrong. The interface is absolutely awful. The characters move in this pokey slow manner that make you want to scream. Getting at spells goes through a multi level menu. The combat is almost exactly like the old turn based Pool of Radiance from five or six years ago. I take a shot, then you take a shot then he does, etc. Utterly lame. The adventure is completely linear. It gives you no choices and leads you by the nose. Often you don't even have a choice of right or left since the dungeons tend to lead you in a line as well. When you level up the machine decides how to allocate your feats and skill points for you. Please, please, please save your money. Buying this would only encourage them to put out more garbage.

Rating:
Summary: Fun game but lots of bugs
Review: This was a great game in theory, but the bugs made it hard to cope with sometimes in reality. Make sure you install the patches before you play! Quite satisfying in length, but maybe a little more variety in the landscape would be nice. Overall a good time.

Rating:
Summary: So I must be one of the few who liked this...
Review: First off, let me say I haven't played a lot of computer RPGs. I have been playing A/D&D (1st, 2nd and now 3rd editions) for 15 years however.

Having said that, I really do like this game. It does follow the 3rd Edition rules quite well for a computer game. There are things missing (no wizards, only sorcerers for example), but most are understandable when considering the differences between computer and tabletop versions (watching your wizard take time to study spells wouldn't be a lot of fun would it?).

The graphics are amazing. Seeing a fireball blast apart a Skeleton instead of imagining it is sweet. Plus, the sound effects are just subtle enough to be heard without being obtrusive.

So if I liked it so much why am I only giving it three stars? The game overcompensates the die rolls in favor of your opponents (I've heard to give the monsters a sporting chance as it were). I have terrible dice rolling luck and my paper-based D&D characters never roll as many 1's as my PoR characters do. I've had to reload the game from before a battle a few times just due to this fact.

Yes, PoR's original installation program won't let you uninstall it. Therefore, download the installation patch that does. Yes, the game does crash occasionally; save the game often. Yes, sometimes it is slow; learn to take life at a more leisurely pace.

Even with its faults, the game has been fun for me to play. My characters are advancing; the storyline is advancing and my enjoyment of computer RPGs has advanced along with it.

Rating:
Summary: Ummm... No.
Review: First of all, I wonder why the "positive" reviewers are wasting their time adding insults like "whiners" toward those who are having problems? Just review the game, you just hurt your own credibility with insults ("see, only jerks like this game").

Secondly, the game was released unfinished. Any game that wipes out people's OS's deserves a refund. It is slow - and not just in combat. Given it's feature level, there's no justification for how slow it runs on fast, modern hardware. This is not a thinking player's game so much as a game for people who live in slow motion, or just like to spend a LOT of time playing a game in one sitting - like a whole day. The story is basic, the NPCs are lifeless, and even the installer is badly designed! (Not even counting the uninstall bug.)
Tweaks help, but should not be required. How far would you get selling gas if the car owner had to do a different tune-up at every station? It's not "advanced graphics," it's Poor Design and Testing.

In short, I wish I hadn't bought it. I don't have months to spend giving myself headaches building a few basic characters (no feats and skills! what?!?) a few levels only to find that the game's over and I don't know what happened of any importance.

The key to a "real" roleplaying game is interaction, richness of detail, and a complex and coherent world, and this game doesn't have those. It has all the worst parts of PenNPaper and none of the good parts.

Graphics: Good

Sound: Dull
Gameplay: Stinks
Reliabilty: Worse Than Stinks
Audience: Masochists Only