Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

aka: Black Adder, Pool of Radiance 2, Pool of Radiance II, Pool of Radiance: As Ruínas de Myth Drannor, Pool of Radiance: Ruiny Myth Drannor
Moby ID: 5072
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Description official descriptions

An homage to the DOS-based Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box game Pool of Radiance, Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor returns again to the worlds of the Forgotten Realms.

Although the game begins in the city of Phlan, which was reclaimed in the previous game, the majority of the action takes place beneath Myth Drannor, once a beautiful city of peace, where men, elves, and dwarves could live in peace and harmony, which is now in ruins.

Despite its visual similarity to contemporary games that utilized real-time combat (such as Baldur's Gate), the game features a strictly turn-based system, similar to those implemented in Gold Box games. Orisons and Cantrips, straight from the then new Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules, have been added. The game features new character classes and races such as Barbarians, Monks, Paladins, and Half-Orcs. Clerics and Sorcerers can cast over 100 spells. The Dungeon Master communicates all important findings and events throughout the game.

Spellings

  • 光芒之池II之剑与魔法的传说 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 光芒之池:迷斯卓諾遺跡 - Traditional Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

208 People (160 developers, 48 thanks) · View all

Game Design
Special Effects & Interface
Multiplayer Engine & Gameplay
Graphics Engine
Animation Engine
Gameplay Engine
Pathfinding & Collision Systems
Dialogue Engine
Interface Engine
Tools
Additional Programming
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 63% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.5 out of 5 (based on 29 ratings with 5 reviews)

Mediocre, boring Baldur's Gate clone

The Good
In the 80's SSI released now classic Pool Of Radiance game, which I played like crazy. It has a huge area you can travel while doing various mission which range from finding objects to slaughtering monsters in the slums.

Pool Of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor contains also a huge area you can go through and it is a sort of a sequel to the classic 80's game, while it's been made by a different company. It's not prettiest flower in the meadow but the graphics look okay, while it does look noticeably uglier than Baldur's Gate, which is a game that comes to mind from this one. And that's pretty much all the positives I can say about it.

The Bad
The huge dungeons are the fall of PoR:RoMD. The idea of large area of adventuring sounds good, but the execution lacks badly. Main feeling I got from playing the game is sheer boredom. You just run around the ruins, kill monsters and rarely meet anyone who you can actually talk to.

This could be okay, but the navigation system is so idiotic, it makes the gameplay more of a chore than a treat. While the game has a map, you can't use it to plot your course, nor can you even get the screen roll so far a way, that you could just click directly in the far away spot you want to go. You are forced to take small sprints at a time, as the screen is pretty much locked to your main character.

As a note, the games map system show a button for world map, which I foolishly thought would actually allow you to access a world map at some point. It doesn't. The designers of the game thought that the VERY small area before you enter the ruins is the world.

Other huge minus are the fights. The system works okay, but it all happens so slowly. It's just not fun to wait for all those pesky skeletons or ghouls to slowly walk towards you.

I won't be giving any roses to music neither. There seems to be only a couple of tracks, which are played over and over again. Mostly the game is silent, but it starts to get pretty annoying when the same battle music starts blasting from the speakers for a millionth time.



The Bottom Line
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor is a pretty mediocre and especially boring Baldur's Gate clone. It really has nothing going for it that would make it a fun game to play. When it was originally announced I recall it having quite a hype, but just like many other games with the hype, PoR:RoMD didn't manage to fill any of it.

Windows · by tomimt (397) · 2010

Second that opinion: AD&D in the Gutter. This game is Blasphemy!

The Good
Uh...that's a tough one. Well I do admit that the background graphics are very good, although when you see your characters move, you can see something went wrong...hahaha

Although I do "sense" what the creators of this game were "trying" to achieve, they didn't do a very good job of doing it....(sigh)

The Bad
Ahh...my favorite part, the don't likes of the game.

OH MY GOD! Should start this statement...what were they thinking when creating this game. I don't know about you, but the technical requirements are of this game is a little heavy, I couldn't see the intro (do you need a 3-D card? I'm not sure).

These guys have stuck a dagger to the Pool of Radiance Legend straight in the heart. I can say that the creators of this game are more interested in finding a market to sell, that creating a good game. You can see that they put a LOT of effort in the graphics, but that's all the effort they did put.

The battle engine is a down right insult. Never in my life time have I found an RPG so IRRITATING. The menu's are so hard to use, that mouse pointer doesn't seem to go where you want it to go.

The characters are very rigid, in moving. This you'll find out when fighting the bad guy. Its kinda strange that you can actually lose the fight because your character can't stop moving when you're telling him to attack...AAARRGGGHHH!

That's enough insults, I'm sure you get the picture. Be sure to find a good shrink after playing this game....hahaha

The Bottom Line
Its blasphemy. Don't even think of getting this game.

Windows · by Indra was here (20756) · 2006

About the original game Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

The Good
If this game plays at all like the original 2001 release, I don't see what anyone is complaining about. It was one of the best D&D games I have ever played and I have played almost all of them. I disagree with one person's recommendation of a warrior in the party. It's better with a paladin that can double as a cleric to help turn the undead and even do a bit of healing. The survivability goes up surprisingly a lot with that combination. A rogue is a must and I recommend a mage. That's the secret combination I found that works best.

The Bad
It was so long I didn't get to finish it and now I can't find anyplace to download it since my new comp doesn't have a disk drive.

The Bottom Line
And awesome action-packed adventure among the ruins of an ancient city of the era when the races lived together and great spells were weaved that has sadly been run down and the magic has become unpredictable. A place where great and ancient treasures can be found...and death for the unwary.

Windows · by Rhaazyk Koch (2) · 2020

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Bugs

The first US version of this game was a technical disaster: not only that the installer accepted no other drives than C: - one could live with that although it's a sign of sloppy programming - the uninstallation program would accidentally erase some core components of Windows 9x, rendering the system unusable after rebooting. Because of this, the game was withdrawn and re-released with a fixed installer. This delayed the German version too.

Cover

Both the game box artwork and the cover illustration of the tie-in novel are by renowned fantasy illustrator (Gerald) Brom.

Inspiration

The game follows a November 1, 2000-published novel of the same name by Carrie Bebris, both the computer game and the novel sharing a common source of a pen & paper RPG module from Wizards of the Coast.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • April 2002 (Issue #213) – Coaster of the Year

Information also contributed by Entorphane and Pseudo_Intellectual.

Analytics

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Jeanne.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, phlux, JRK, chirinea, Wizo, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, firefang9212.

Game added October 5, 2001. Last modified February 29, 2024.