Product Description: The Legacy of authentic D&D gaming continues! An unspeakable, ancient evil has reawakened, rendering everything it touches undead. This multi-player game features Random Dungeons and huge 3D animated characters and monsters.
Amazon.com Product Description: Return to the Pool of Radiance that spawned the golden age of computer role-playing games. Pool of Radiance 2 carries on the story of the first PC Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game: the Pool has resurfaced, and it renders everything it touches undead. The player must create a party of six adventurers and explore the haunted elven ruins of Myth Drannor in order to stop the Pool's evil influence.
Pool of Radiance 2 is the first game to use the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules. Playable character classes are Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, Cleric, Sorcerer, Monk, and Rogue, while the races include Half-Orc, Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, and Half-Elf. Characters advance from 1st to 16th levels, allowing spellcasters access to 8th-level spells.
As you explore the ancient ruins of Myth Drannor, the Dungeon Master will communicate all important events and findings. Combat is based on turns, just as in the tabletop game. With a great single-player campaign as well as multiplayer support, Pool of Radiance 2 is ready to carry on the legacy of the famous Gold Box games and lead D&D RPGs into the era of 3rd Edition rules.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - What to say about this game...
Well, for those of you who are interested in buying this game I think that you would buy it for the same reason I bought it: "Oh, a Dungeons & Dragons game, I think I'll buy it!" Well, to be perfectly honest with you, this game just isn't that good.
The main problem I had with the game is it's difficulty. To be blunt, I couldn't finish the thing. By the time it starts getting good, a moron's habit of thinking fireball and lightning bolt as being the end all of spelldom just doesn't cut it, and the diety powered drow elves easily hack your party apart. Thats the other problem that comes to mind; the impossibly high levels of monsters encountered. Somebody said something about punching the DM, well thats exactly how I feel.
As is usually a problem with role playing games, luck is a real issue. With a paper and pencil campaign the DM can sometimes even things out when they go a little off to keep the gameplay going. The problem with a computer DM is that if the game is not fair, your characters die. Sure, stratagy and repetitive saving compensates, but not entirely.
One good thing about the game is it's atmostphere...comes to mind. The music, although boring, and sound effects, help to keep a person playing as you venture through those spooky dungeons.
One thing I particularly hated about the game is the usual D&D plot. A group of unhardened warriors happening to enter into the back door of the quietest part of the dungeon, and then the game gets progessively more difficult just as your characters grow in experience. There is no seeing the demonlord at a distance and choosing not to attack it because that would be stupid. There is only the boring unravelling of the adventure.
If you love D&D and you have no problem pulling a jedi trick with the digital dice rolling, buy this game. If not, buy it to buy it but not to win; or don't buy it at all.
One last thing, don't even try to play and only save when your tired of playing, the equivalent to Temple of Elemental Evil's iron man option, to make the gameplay more authentic. The bugs prevent you from enjoying it and you have to save just to make sure it doesn't crash at just the wrong time; and if you do that your far too prone to question your dedication saying to yourself "If I lost, would I just load my saved game?"
Rating: - Didn't work
I have a brand new computer (2008) and my graphics card would write the characters under the background scenery so I was never able to actually play it. I looked online but wasn't able to find a way to corrent this. Not the sellers fault, just the game software didn't work well.
Rating: - Crash dummy game
Okay, this is one of those games that crashes frequently. I have played all the way through a couple of times. The story line is good, the graphics are good, but the game is so unstable that it crashes about every 15 min. on my computer. The scroll down spell lists are a pain in the .... while in the turn base combat. There are a shortage of quick key options in this game and I seem to waste a lot of time walking back and fort to areas that should have a short cut (most areas do not respawn). A recall spell of some kind would make this game so much more bearable. This game would take considerably less time if you didn't spend so much time walking your characters from one corner of the world to the other without even having one encounter.
I really like the story line, but there aren't very many things you can do for extra XP. This game had all the makings of a great game but fell incredably short because of a crashing problem and so far to walk with nothing to kill.
Like I said I did play this game through a couple of times, but it is a slow play. The multi-character part of this game is okay, but it seems like my wizard always ends up first through the door or on the front lines when combat starts. There is no way to prevent this flaw that I have found. This game is fun if you can look beyond the crashes and the constant walking and the characters blocking the leader and the weakest character always going first no matter what you do to stop it. Neverwinter Nights is a much better game in my opinion or even Heritic Kingdom, but any game will have its flaws and this one has several, but it is still fun to play
Rating: - The Game is great...
I am a big fan of the first Pool of Radiance (AD&D Gold Box) and I am a bigger fan of this game.
The only draw back was getting used to the third edition rules, which was ok, but the adventure and fun is unparalleled to any other RPG game I have played, with the exception to games that came out later (ie Oblivion, NWN etc).
It is a good buy and you will have a hard time finding it.
Rating: - After years of patches...
When this came out I wholeheartedly agree with the previous reviewers here--- and then some! It was awful, buggy, and slow. Now with computers much faster than the specifications required and with 4 count 'em, 4 official patches later, one having been released fairly recently by the distributer-- it's a little better. It is at least playable. You may get better play by turning off anti-aliasing features in your video card.
If you have the discs collecting dust or see it in a 99 cent bargain bin, it might be worth satisfying any residual curiosity. There are still a lot of aggravating aspects, but one thing that was good was the background artwork for the time. People disappointed with it when it came out should be aware of patches up to version 1.4
There are also some good mods out there for changing your character icons.
Unfortunately, it still does not hold a candle to the classic 8-bit gold box game.
- What to say about this game...
- Didn't work
- The Game is great...
