Rating: 
Summary: Very, very disappointing
Review: I'm really sorry if any of the developers of ROMD are reading this, but this game is a dog. DO NOT buy it. Go buy one of the Baldur's Gate games instead, or wait for Neverwinter Nights. I was so disappointed by this game because it could have been so much better. As the first D&D 3rd Edition game out there, it had the opportunity to define the standard by which others would be judged. Instead, it failed to qualify as even remotely fun, especially in comparison to the Baldur's Gate games.Plenty of other reviews talk about the numerous inexcusable bugs (like the install/uninstall problems) or the painful game play (why exactly can't I send party members more than one screen away from the leader?), so I won't get into it here. What I would like to know is: a) how could the people who slaved on this game night and day for god knows how long not realize that the game was fatally un-fun? b) how could these bugs have slipped past QA? So much potential. So disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: Great D&D Game!
Review: I love this game - it's much better (in my opinion) than the Baldur's Gate seriers and is much more like playing real D&D.
Don't believe the bad reviews - it's a ton of fun & also challenging - you have to develop your characters & experience is gradual, just like in real D&D.
Rating:
Summary: Hardcore D&D Gamers Don't All Love It
Review: I have to say that I am probably one of the most hardcore gamers I know. I have read almost everything third edition, and own a bookcase full of old second edition stuff. I've DM'ed for several years and played as well, and all I can say is, if you want to play D&D on the computer, buy Baldur's Gate I & II, and Icewind Dale. These games are far superior. The gameplay of Pool of Radiance is poor, and the story, as far as I have been able to determine, is boring. The actual module, which was released months before the game, is much more interesting. And I want to know why it is that all of my level 1 characters have +2 weapons. If I'm getting +2 weapons in the first level, what will I have by the end of the game? +20 defending greatsword of nod my head and everything dies? If you really want to play a Pool of Radiance game, find a DM and play the pen and paper module. Fighting with the game play just isn't worth it. Addendum** Make that -5!! The characters they give you to start with have better stats than you can create a character with! What kind of garbage is that? This is the worst thing I think I have ever seen! ...
Rating: 
Summary: Bad rpg, good graphics
Review: This could have been a good game. The combat system is very true to the pen and paper D&D. The problem is that it is really, really repetitive. If you've had one battle, you've pretty much had them all. And aside from a few extra powers, the battles don't change. The RPG aspect of the game is laughable. Most of the time I had no idea when I was fulfilling quests as most are kill the bad guy in front of you. Now I have to wait for a good CRPG like Neverwinter Nights to come out. Black Isle knows how to do D&D. UBI Soft doesn't
Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time and Money
Review: I can't believe I actually apent money on this game. It is the WORST game I have ever bought for myself and that's bad. I would rather play ... I try to think of someone I can sluff it off to, but no one is around that I would like to put through that torture.
First of all, the interface is utterly too much. I mean the only thing is your hit points in one corner and a map/quest button in the other. Experience is never equal to what it should be. I am convinced you only level up after completing tasks. While trying to use the interface, you will run out of time trying to cast a spell, wasting your time as your party is killed, the enemies you face at 1st level is too much at one point. I mean they actually make you fight a wraith when your party might have one magical weapon. I mean come on, what good is that? There is no wizard, only a sorcerer class. I'm just totally disgusted by this game.
Secondly it does crash on me. Every time I try to leave after my party has been wiped out over and over, it will freeze up making me have to hard restart my computer which makes me very angry. DON'T BUY THIS GAME... I know I shouldn't, but Baldur's Gate is what I thought it was gonna be like. It turns out that it is worse ...
Rating:
Summary: Awesome- long time coming
Review: Xylina, in the reviews section here has said it, if you were any kind of pen and paper D&D fan, this game is a must, expecially since you can tweak out the game play with what limited game options you have. I am running a home brewed system:
abit kt7-raid, tbird 800@950, 30gb WDCaviar/60GB wd caviar, 12x10x40 creative CDRW/pioneer 16x10x40 DVD, 256 MB pc133, 64MB geforce pro/GTS and the game runs beautifully when I disable FSAA in the control panel. These other mucks out there who are whining need to learn how to use a computer before they think they can game ]=[unt3d-0n3
Rating: 
Summary: wait
Review: The anticipation of this game was too great. It does lack in some areas quite badly. I was hoping it would bring D&D to life and in that respect, it has failed. Most of all, I was looking forward to the online gameplay, but I've become a bit disappointed. It's not terrible to play, however, if you're not sure of buying...you may wait until the price comes down on this one.
Rating:
Summary: A major disappointment
Review: I got it after waiting for A WHOLE YEAR since pre-order... The original release date was Feb 2001! Anyway, even after half a year more in development time, the game still sucks. Yes, I like BG2 system more. Even though the graphics of PoR is better, my characters run like snails. Morever, I *** cannot *** customize my character! All new character, no matter what class you choose, has the definite 19 points to share amongst all skills. This kind of character creation really push me away... especially when you like to customize your own character. Yes, I do, and so do my friend! So, after the first battle, the game go to eBay. Do not waste your money on this.
Rating: 
Summary: EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG!!!
Review: Caveat Emptor Let the buyer beware! Pool of Radiance has been shredded by the masses. People who don't believe in the death penalty want to kill the people at UBI Soft. Why? Well, that is a good question. First off, let me say, this game has some serious issues right out of the box, which, in my belief are the fuel for the fires of irritation which seem to consume most all of the reviewers. Apparantly, Ubi was in such a hurry to get out this game which has laid dormant for so long, they forgot to do adequate beta testing. To worsen things, there seems to be some squabble between the producers (Ubi soft) and the developers as to whose fault it is. Without being privy to that knowledge, the most logical culprit is Ubi soft, since most of the game code was written litteraly years ago. Besides, one of the quirks was no uninstall program, which is definitely UBI's fault. Anyway the major problems are: no uninstall, strange problems with corrupted data on the game saves, not enough 3D hardware support, and a crash near the end of the game. These problems will be addressed by patches, which today 10-23-01, there are two which fix the (1) unistall and the (2) game save corruption. The third "mega" patch, should fix all the other technical problems folks are whining about, like 3D support mainly, and other errors and bugs. Perhaps, since there are so many bad problems with this first release, they will rerelease the game with all the fixes in there. I hope so. The above bugs are why the game received four stars, and not five. Folks say that PoR has slow battles. Yes, they are slow. They are turned based, sort of like playing an RPG with dice, except, they are not THAT slow, and they are not at all boring. The graphics are fantastic, and the weird stagger of zombies and ghouls and ghasts gives you the creeps--which couldn't happen if they all ran to meet you, or if they just appeared. The folks that say game play is slow, don't bother to offer any solution as to how a turned based game could have quicker combat. And, personally, I love combat! The more time I spend in combat, the more fun I have! It is tactical turned based combat, like X-Com, which was one of the best games of all time. So, if you think this game is real time, read the box. It is just turned based. So, if you hate turned based games, don't buy this game. They say the interface sucks. Well, I for one, didn't have to read the manual to figure out how to play the game. That to me says the interface is intuitive, at least for weirdos like me. If pull down menus annoy you, don't buy this game. Otherwise, it is pretty much just like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale. The only difference is they have more stupid icons. Now, is that really that difficult to use? BTW, I am a Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale fanatic! The third edition rules are much better to me than the second edition, because they are more logical. They are more difficult to understand in a lot of ways (unless your name is Spock), but they add much more dimension to the game. There are some discrepencies between this game and the actual third edition rules, but that is because the rules weren't solidified when they were making the game. However, the rules they have are fair, balanced, and very interesting. The dungeons are huge! There are interesting puzzles, interesting bits of D&D lore, traps galore, undead crawling from the cracks, and even undead orcs and lizardfolk! I mean, there are some very creative situations you will run into down there that add to the feel of a real dungeon crawl. The fact that they have a dungeon master really really really adds to the aura of those old days of dice and graph paper for those real RPG'rs out there. I mean, sure all this stuff is trite when you come down to it--that's why they call it lore! But it is the unexpected creativity you see, the interesting stories, and the fun new character system that I really enjoy. Sort of being immersed in a whole new world of ahhhhh...... If you have better than a Voodoo 2 card in your system and the most up to date driver, you shouldn't experience many problems theoretically. I can only speak for myself--I have run it on my home 1.7gHz Dell with a GeFore 2 Ultra and the new WHQL driver from NVIDIA--the game really runs well on that setup. Make sure you have the latest WHQL driver on your system, since there is no tweaking program for video. And if you don't understand the above paragraph, I wouldn't buy the game at all. At least not until they have more 3d support. So in conclusion Don't buy this game if: -your impatient
-you don't have a connection to the internet
-you have an old computer with poor specs
-you like second edition D&D rules only
-you like real time games
-you hate pull down menus
-you are easily annoyed by crashes and bugs Buy this game -you love the new 3rd edition rules -you love huge dungeons
-you love great graphics
-you have a nice fairly new graphics card with a new driver
-you have decent specs on your home system
-you want an immersive world with a rich story line
-you know how to download a patch and install it
-you are patient
-you don't care what others think
Rating:
Summary: Should not have been released
Review: I purchased this game and assumed it was finished, it was not. I set up my system with a minimal amount of space on C: drive, and this program must be installed on C:. Even if you download the patch, the installer still looks for enough space on C: to install. I wish I could give you a review of the actual play of the game, but like I said I will not be able to play it until Ubisoft puts out another install patch, or I re-partition my system(not likely, either one). Unless you have lots of space on your C: drive (minimum 630 MB), don't get this, you'll never be able to install.
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