![]() ![]() The plot of the game is weak, but even that's more than can be said for the original game. There's no doubting that Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor is packed with more game than most games of the genre, but there's also a deeper conundrum-will you stay to play it? Some really questionable design issues mar an otherwise intriguing entry into the genre, and while there will undoubtedly be many people who spend untold hours playing this game both single-player and multiplayer, I have a strong suspicion that many genre fans will find themselves putting it aside and going back to less flawed titles. Imagine my consternation, then, when I delved into the completed product. Pool of Radiance was a formative event in my young life, and Pool of Radiance had the promise of doing much the same in my adult life. Imagine my excitement, then, when I found out that Stormfront Studios was to bring back the excitement of that game in modern form. The disc bent, and many many hours of my life went down the drain as I could no longer continue my holy campaign against the evil Tyranthraxus. My love affair with the original Pool of Radiance ended when my mom closed a drawer a little too hard when one of the discs was wedged in it. No matter-the game was brilliant, and I spent many many hours exploring the various locales in it, even going so far as to buying the strategy guide, which is undoubtedly hiding somewhere around here as we speak. ![]() Of course, I had cheated and made my characters have all eighteens for their stats, which means even menial battles took forever as the game compensated by throwing 15 orcs at me instead of 3. I had a copy for it on my Apple file://c, and I remember playing it for untold hours after school every day. The original game that went by that title, which happened to be the very first Gold Box game released, also happened to be my very first encounter with RPGs. The name Pool of Radiance holds a very, very special place in my heart. (May I recommend some Within Temptation?) As it is, chances are good that you'll throw some other CD in and listen to it instead. When you spend as much time with a game as you'll have to spend with Pool of Radiance, the sound has to be really stellar for you to bother with it for extended periods. Indeed, I'm having a problem recalling if there was much music in the game, which is never a good sign. The sound effects are purely standard fantasy effects, the voice acting ranges from poor to passable, and the music is nothing to speak of. Of course, their measly 1D8 selves died just as easily in their huge form, but they definitely looked cooler doing so.Īs for Pool of Radiance's sound, it's definitely less impressive than the neat graphical touches. It was nice to be brought back down to reality. The first time I saw an Orc I thought, 'No freaking way!', but then I realized that over the years I had gotten used to the 'main characters are huge' syndrome in RPGs. ![]() The result is similarly mixed-the prerendered backgrounds aren't anywhere near as sharp as those found in the Bioware and Black Isle offerings, but the 3D character models are considerably better detailed than those found in most games of the genre. The novel is about a group of four adventurers- Kestrel, a thief Corran D'Arcey, a paladin of Tyr, Durwyn, a fighter and Ghleanna Stormlake, moon elf wizard-as they explore the ruins of Myth Drannor and face the Cult of the Dragon headed by a powerful sorceress Kya Mordrayn and, her partner, the dracolich Pelendralaar.Graphically, Pool of Radiance is somewhere between the prerendered gorgeous-yet-static state of the Baldur's Gate series and a fully real-time rendered RPG like, say, Anachronox. ![]()
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