Pool of Radiance

The Good
Pool of Radiance was the first game that really got me hooked on roleplaying games on the computer. I had tried other games before this one, but only sporadically. Pool of Radiance has a quest master in town that hasn't been surpassed by any game so far. It has interesting locations, tons of jaw dropping equipment and plenty of difficult puzzles to tweak your brain with. It has also got a hopeful atmosphere of a continent just getting started in the world, and you always feel as if you're making a difference in the world.

The Bad
I played this game on the C64 and the loading times were horrendous! And I never liked the fact that random fights could pop up anytime on certain maps. The interface could also have been a lot better (try resting for a week, and you'll see what I mean).

The Bottom Line
A great introduction to the world of D&D RPG's. A huge adventure with an extremely well written story and easy to like characters and milieus. The first and the best of the Gold Boxes!

The Good
I remember paying almost 70 dollars for this game when it was released on the C-64 and it was the best recreation of AD&D paper n pen game until Baldur's Gate was released. This game was EXTREMELY difficult, we even had the official clue-book and it was still tough. This game demanded patients and the will to explore vast regions with little success of completely covering every inch of the region.

The game drops you off in Phlan and BAM! You're on your own to go which ever way you want and do what ever you please. Thats what I loved about these SSI goldbox games, they didn't hold your hand while you sucked your thumb through the whole game.... no no no... these games were for people who loved a challenge. If you don't believe me, remember the Sokal Keep battle? like 6 huge waves of Orcs and Kobalds.... that battle alone took me more than an hour and died many times.

This game and all in it's series were extremely faithful to the 2nd AD&D rules which is a huge plus in my book. The graphics and sounds were amazing for what the C-64 was capable of. I wish I could give you an exact amount of gameplay hours this game contained but its just not possible. There is lots you can skip and lots you can't. Leveling up is that of a miracle, it happens only about 7 times if you are a fighter. Which in other words means, THIS GAME IS TOUGH. But when is it not tough when your highest level party member is only 7th level max??

The city of Phlan and all of the regions surrounding it are enormous and leaves players with hours upon hours of exploration time. This is a classic RPG and really the best SSI goldbox AD&D game ever created. Only until Baldur's Gate was there a game that compared in my opinion.


The Bad
I think any complaint I had about this game was more of a complaint about the C-64's performance than the game itself. Loading time, disk swapping etc.... all of which aren't the game designers fault rather the fault lies on the technology at the time. This was greatly improved with the release of the IBM AT/XT version (DOS version)

The Bottom Line
Timeless RPG classic for hardcore RPG gamers. If you're a real classic AD&D RPG fan, you HAVE to play this. This game in itself IS FLAWLESS. 3 thumbs up if I had an extra one.

The Good
Pool of Radiance offers fantastic, challenging game play. It's one of the best AD&D games, and, along with Baldur's Gate, was instrumental in the development of Western RPGs. With a large number of quests and a large world to explore, you can easily sink many hours into this game, but unlike many Japanese-style RPGs, it never becomes a mindless grind-fest.

Once you clear the Keep, you can take a boat out into the overworld and the game becomes very non-linear. The story progresses through quests assigned to you from City Hall, and many of these are pretty interesting. They usually go well beyond fetch quests and may have multiple ways to complete them.

Dungeons are in 1st person, like Wizardry, must most areas have an Area map (use the Area command) that will make things much easier. In a few tricky areas, you'll need to break out the graph paper. Battles take place in 3rd person on a tile-based board. There's actually considerable strategy to how you fight. Hold spells like Sleep and Hold can be used to swing the battle in your favour.

This version feels more streamlined than its PC counterparts. Battles are smaller and more manageable and the addition of music adds to the experience. The menus and controls have been mapped very well to the NES's controller and you'll hardly know that this was originally a PC game. This is certainly a port done right, taking advantage of the system's strengths and modifying the game to address its weaknesses.

The Bad
There are a few spells that are buggy or don't seem to do anything. Some parts of the game are notoriously difficult until you gain some levels and get more powerful weapons. Since you can save anywhere, this invites the player to save before difficult battles and reset after poor level-ups, getting slain, level-drains, etc.

Randomly generated creature dungeons on the world map were removed in this version due to space constrains. The quest journal, a physical book that came with the PC game and was referred to in the game, was not utilized (though a few parts of the game erroneously refer to it)

The Bottom Line
An excellent Western-style RPG and one of the few on a retro console. This version is more accessible than it's PC counterparts, but missing a few features. If you take the time to understand a few AD&D concepts (such lower = better for many stats), you'll be rewarded with one of the best roleplaying experiences on the NES. On a platform where RPG usually meant "grind-fest" Pool of Radiance really stands out as a unique, one-of-a-kind adventure.