Gameguru reviews/specials archive                                        << back to the main page Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (hx) 01:02 PM CEST - Oct,22 2001 Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (PoR2)  is a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy RPG  based on the popular 3rd Edition of the Dungeons and Dragons rules. I bet most of RPG fans expected a Baldur's Gate with 3e rules, a deep, rewarding role-playing experience with customizable characters, non-linearity and questing galore.   Unfortunately Pool of Radiance 2 is nothing of that.The game looked like it might've been fun, but there is almost no role playing, it's all about hack and slash. When everything is about combat, combat should be perfectly implemented right? But it isn't :(  The combat interface is stupid at some times, ruining your planning more often than leading to success. For example, it is completely impossible to disengage from a fight - you just can't run or hide. This isn't what I call role-playing, is it? :) Also the game's navigation and view system, which prohibits you from breaking up your party and using one member to scout ahead, and which limits your view of the game world to a relatively small, unscrollable area. This doesn't say the game is unplayable, but it can be quite frustrating - click the wrong menu item, and you are done. What about 3rd Edition D&D rules? , well rules are implemented, but I found several things very disappointing. First of all, you can't roll your starting characters, but you spend points on you basic stats. Second, you can't choose your skills, or feats, and some of the feats you get are rather useless for your class. The last thing that disappointed me is the lack of skills and feats allowed, and the fact that you can't equip even two weapons. So should you buy this game? :) It's really hard to write some final word, strongly depends what you expecting from this game.  If you are looking for a deep role-playing experience comparable with Baldur's Gate II, you will be pretty disappointed, so much the worse PoR2 isn't what it promised to be. Download playable demo (90MB) and visit official Pool of Radiance homepage.  If you already bought this game, don't forget to download the first patch which fixes uninstall and install errors, and the second patch (2.2MB)  which fixes various save games problems and a multiplayer connection problem. snd: 3/5 - mediocre, some creepy sounds, voices, and effects gfx: 4/5 - very good,  graphic effects for spells and beautiful game load screens are best feature of the game, 3D animating character and monster models playability: 3/5 - too much combat (turn-based), very repetitive, quite frustrating, unhandy menu-driven interface, 3rd Edition D&D Rules, up to 4 characters of a 6-character party, multi-play (with random dungeons) for up to 6 players,  over 90 spells genre: RPG platform: PC 2CD release: October 2001 developer: SSI publisher: Ubi Soft Overall: 60%

last 10 comments:

Kurse the Tormented posted - Oct, 22 2001 - 18:18 I really Enjoyed the game.. for what it was. a Very well thought out Dungeon Crawl. I had a few problems.. with the limited skill selection... I like the idea of controlling where my points go into my character.. such as my thieving skills Secondly.. and most importantly.. I like making copies of every piece of software that I own.. for my own security. BUT.. I cannot find an encryption breaker. I know they are trying to protect thier Product.. and I can respect that.. but not all of us wish to mass produce thier Wares.. Kurse the Tormented boyle posted - Oct, 22 2001 - 19:21 Except from the 3049 bugs in the it kick ass. Sibko posted - Oct, 22 2001 - 22:30 "too much combat (turn-based), very repetitive"...ahhh so it like ever Final Fantasy game with the lots of fantastic pre rendered cut scenes DuAl_SuN posted - Oct, 22 2001 - 23:23 I think that POR2 is a nice game .It is not BG2 of course and the rules are not exactly 3rd edition but i really enjoyed it . I believe that it has better maps and dungeons than Baldur's and of course better grafics . As i said it is not BG but it is a very good RPG ...... 60% is too low .... 75% is my opinion QUID posted - Oct, 23 2001 - 01:41 I think 60% is what it deserves. I did not like the text font in the game and the controls where hard to use. Sniper Wolf posted - Oct, 23 2001 - 02:13 Can this can be on full Real-Time Fighting. It's real a bore when its turn-based Spine-of-the-World posted - Oct, 23 2001 - 19:53 Turn Based or NOT its one of those things the _player_ should choose. (Arcanum) Nathan posted - Oct, 28 2001 - 12:53 This game could have been great. It feels rushed, incomplete. There are so many little things that the game is missing that I could write a list a mile long. Little things that add up to me having no desire to play my new $50 game. chris posted - Dec, 06 2001 - 22:23 its a cool game the you can fix the bugs easily,but even before i buy a game i download all the patches that make it run faster somther etc so as soon as i get a game i just unzip the files and everythings perfect Note the only thing that anoys me bout the game is that the dungons are so big its good i a way but if they were sorta divided up better ie smaller it would be a much better game Me! posted - Dec, 29 2001 - 01:43 i just got this game and after dieing to about 3 ambushes in the early stages i think i have got the hang of it. any one know of ne cheats? Melvin posted - Jan, 14 2002 - 16:59 I just bought the game and I read all your comments. I hope those comments aren't here to tell me, "hey you've wasted your money." but at looks of it, I think it's pretty better than BG2. I'm not a big RPG player anyway. Sami Manttari posted - Jan, 14 2002 - 18:59 Multiplayer game is so damn BORING. Nothing to just kill kill kill and kill. No missions. :(( I was really disapointed. Allso lack of mage was bad thing. nejc posted - Mar, 30 2002 - 14:09 I have troubles with game, because I don't have 2 files: dran0122.mcz unit3301.mcz Can anybody send me please. Simon Millar posted - Apr, 03 2002 - 07:14 I have enjoyed large parts of the game but it is very limited in terms of real role playing the hack and Slash element is becomes very tiresome and repetitive. I loved final fantasy VII with it depth of plot and awesome film sequences. I like the fast flow of POR the start stop of BGII is frustrating. POR also looks great though it dosen't push any new boundaries with its tradition dungeon settings. I think POP adds some new elements such as fast gamepay that haven't been capitalised upon by combining this with deeper and unigue character and plot development. The dungeons are huge and once you've come to a dead end you spend many frustrating hours retracing your steps to stumble across a missing item or key which allows you to advance. Are there any walk throughs ? Simalarion posted - Jun, 25 2002 - 02:00 He he you cant compare this to final fantasy!! THis is a D&D turn based role playing game not a actoion packet shootem up adventure for kids and up. The biggest problem today is that gamers dont know the genere and what to expect (rewievers also have that problem, they put Dungeon siege in the rpg genre, i bought it!! he he the character in the game even do the fighting for you, you just have to pick up the weapon and go forward, and it is no charakter building to speak of, i had it on hard mode and woke up from sleep when the final cut scene came, it took me 20 hours) So the point is figure out what youre bying, check out more than just one rewiev, becouse they offen dont know what they are writing. Pool of radiance is a good rpg game when the bugs are gone with 1.4 patch. If you like rpg i would tell you to buy pool not Dungeon siege or final fantasy that realy is action for evrybody to play-  write a comment The old comment system has been replaced. Check out FORUMS!