Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (Windows)

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Description

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.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "光芒之池：迷斯卓諾遺跡" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "光芒之池II之剑与魔法的传说" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "Pool of Radiance: Ruiny Myth Drannor" -- Polish title
• "Pool of Radiance II" -- working title
• "Pool of Radiance: As Ruínas de Myth Drannor" -- Brazilian title
• "Pool of Radiance 2" -- Informal title
• "Black Adder" -- working title

Part of the Following Groups

• Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Setting: Forgotten Realms
• Dungeons & Dragons (D&D / AD&D) licensees
• Fantasy Creatures: Dwarves
• Fantasy Creatures: Elves
• Fantasy Creatures: Orcs
• Games made into books
• Pool of Radiance series

User Reviews

About the original game Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor	Rhaazyk Koch (3)
Unplayable	Jacques Guy (55)
You can call it a "playable disappointment"	Marina Shoykhet (7)	unrated
Mediocre, boring Baldur's Gate clone	tomimt (374)
Second that opinion: AD&D in the Gutter. This game is Blasphemy!	Indra was here (20905)

Critic Reviews

Game Vortex	Jan 31, 2003	70 out of 100	70
PC Games (Germany)	Nov, 2001	70 out of 100	70
4Players.de	Dec 04, 2001	70 out of 100	70
Pixel-Heroes.de	Nov 01, 2008	7 out of 10	70
Just RPG	Aug 03, 2002	B-	67
Jeuxvideo.com	Dec 19, 2001	13 out of 20	65
PC Zone Benelux	Dec, 2001	64 out of 100	64
IGN	Oct 26, 2001	6 out of 10	60
Super Play (Sweden)	Nov, 2001	6 out of 10	60
Quandary	Mar 09, 2002		50

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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.

Related Web Sites

• FAQs/Walkthroughs (Several available on GameFaqs website)
• Official Game Page (Official home page for Pools of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor)
• Scorpia's Strategy Guide (Very indepth with info about all aspects of the game. Includes discussion about the bugs and patches (with links for download).)