Rating: Summary: Nothing too impressive Review: I agree with a lot of the things that have been said already. While the graphics on the backgrounds and the animations are very good, and the sounds are good as well, the graphics on the characters are somewhat lacking. Character creation is fairly limited and somewhat bad at points (the fact that when you choose an icon for your character, you only get two options, and they are basically the same exact thing, only slightly different colors, was disappointing at best). I think where this game really loses out, though, is gameplay. It's just not fun. It plays like a Windows program, and that's just not exciting. You cannot scroll the screen beyond where your characters are standing, making the view limited. You can't rotate the view, meaning that your characters are often standing in the way of something you are trying to look at. Basically, nothing about the game screams excitement. It's a ho-hum, not really worth buying until maybe it comes down in price kind of game.
Rating: Summary: Your Money is Much Better Spent Elsewhere Review: Starting off I'm stunned that a company would release a game in the state that this one was. It was pretty obvious that this game was rushed to the shelves w/out proper testing and tweaking. It's very easy to see things that were "wrapped up" quickly for release, even the intro movie looked to be incomplete. Among the bugs is one where if you uninstall the game it would hose your OS, nice.Past that, if you are one of the lucky ones and the game is able to run on your machine the gameplay is very lackluster. Again I blame a great deal of this on it being rushed. There are several issues with balance, you cannot customize your characters, pre-gen'd chars are better than any you can make. The storyline is HORRIBLE. It's very go to A to get B and give to C. C then gives you something else to go chase after. I really hate that they destroyed the name of such a great title. :(
Rating: Summary: Returned without Opening Review: Would have given 0 stars or N/A but not possible with Amazon's thingie. Someone buying a computer game should not have to worry about their OS being wiped out. This is the last time I purchase a piece of software without trying it out first.
Rating: Summary: Can't get past the crashes Review: The game runs for 5 minutes and crashes. Was hoping for a RPG fix before NeverWinterNights. This is not it.
Rating: Summary: Don't believe all the negative whinning.... Review: First of all lets talk about bugs. I have played the game for about 20 hours now and have not had a single technical problem. How does the game play. Well, it isn't BG or Diablo, and thank goodness for that. I hated both of those games. Diablo was simply a frenetic clickfest requiring absolutely no thought at all. BG was a little better with the pseudo real time, but things were still to hectic for my liking. Combat in Pool of Radiance is turn based and I am in heaven. I can actually see what each of my characters is doing and plan what they will do next round. It is more of a thinking man's game, so I guess that is why most of the whinners don't like it. The dungeons are simply vast. I have yet to complete the first level of the first dungeon, and my most powerful character is only up to third level, so it will keep you busy for sometime to come. I suppose that is another strike against it for those who want to reach superhero status after five minutes of play. Enough rambling. If you want a fun dungeon romp with turn based combat, then buy this game.
Rating: Summary: I waited for this?? Review: I agree with the other reviewers -- let down! Interplay has set the standard with the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series. This game can't hold a candle to them. Time to pray to the Interplay/Black Isle Gods and hope they keep the great D&D games rolling. Lack of in depth story, clunker of a combat system, navigation limited to monitor display are all problems. What's so great about the graphics anyways? Somebody please tell me this is not what the Third Edition Rules have turned the game into. This game must have suffered from some serious mission creep. How else can you explain it?
Rating: Summary: Regardless of Bugs --- This game ROCKS Review: I purchase POR: Ruins of Myth Drannor the day it came out and I've played it for several days. As with a lot of games, when they first come out, there are some bugs with it. I've experienced, from time to time, not being able to attack in combat after loading a saved game. Ubi Soft is currently working on 'patches' for this bug as well as others that have been reported. It can be frustrating when encountering these situations, but this game is GREAT. Buy it!!! I'm ignoring a lot of the negative comments spreading around about this game. If you want to read what some dedicated gamers have to say about it join in on the 'forum' section and read some of the posts out there.
Rating: Summary: Great game Review: This game is really fun. I have been playing it steady for about five days now. The experience is very similar to playing paper and dice D & D. Fighting is at the center of the game: and it is very fun. You must think to win a battle. There are bugs, including an install bug, which did not come up on my install, and a save corrupt bug, which did happen to me. I was able to correct the second bug by reading the forums on various websites for the game. Keep an eye on this game, and if a good patch comes out, it would be worth getting.
Rating: Summary: Gameplay lacking but entertaining Review: I must have been lucky so far...I haven't suffered the crashes and installation horror stories I've been reading about. Like most people, I have been looking forward to the first 3E D&D rules-based game... While I'm not crestfallen after having played the game for a day, I'm not blown away or very impressed. Character generation is a bore...while I almost agree with a point-based stat generator (keeps you from sitting there for an hour trying to get 3 or 4 '18s'), the lack of customizing in terms of feats and skills takes away the great versatility of the new rules. Why would my Monk need the Iron Will feat of all the other good ones available? The set skills are okay, considering that in most of these types of games you're only going to use certain ones anyway...at least you can multiclass... Combat is tedious and the game lacks a decent hotkey system despite being able to map character actions to the F2-F12 keys and selecting options in combat is a frustrating affair... I'm really surprised that after all the complaints about movement in Baldur's Gate, ANOTHER D&D game would come out where you can't move directly and quickly from one explored area to another...there is absolutely no reason that you should have to walk ALL THE WAY BACK after exploring an area. This just wastes your time and makes exploring the huge dungeons more of a pain. The writing is okay and the story is just like all other "role-playing" games out there...GO GET THE THING. GO GET THE OTHER THING. BRING THE THING BACK TO ME. KILL THE THING...and so on, ad nauseum. I give the game 4 stars, reluctantly, because it is the first 3E game and from what I understand, they switched engines mid-development. But I'm appalled at the installation horrors that I've heard about, companies should be ashamed to do that to people. With all its problems, I'm still enjoying the game, despite the poor interface and geologic level-advancement (nothing is worse than fighting for your life and gaining negligible experience). Perhaps with some patches the gameplay will improve and give this game some more credibility.
Rating: Summary: I Want A Refund! Review: After the anticipation I felt for this game, all I can feel now is bewilderment. How could this game have been released? I have played for about four hours and have given up. The gameplay is horrible. It is slow, the cursor movement is choppy and at first level my sorcerer has no spells. I am unfamiliar with the 3rd edition rules of D&D, but I always thought a sorcerer would get at least one spell so it must be a game flaw. I have not found one single quality in this game that would make it remotely fun to play. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS GAME. You will be better off playing Baldur's gate, BG2 or Icewind dale again. If you are a fan of these games, as I am, you will be sorely disappointed with Pool of Radiance.
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