Gold Box AD&D Pool of Radiance is Back!!!

[TheMetal1]

Big collection of the CRPG set in the forgotten realms have been released in 3 collections over at Good Old Games

[Treebore]

Yeah, I was thinking of getting them, but I don't know if I want to deal with such old graphics.

[Buttmonkey]

I ordered a new laptop earlier this week (my old one is 15+ years old) and was pretty excited when I saw this. I will finally have a machine that can run something. Then I saw GoG has Might & Magic I-VI for something like $10 and I started trembling. I'm not sure I could get anything accomplished in the next two years if I pick that up. I would no doubt get fired from my job and my wife would leave me, but damn, maybe it's worth it...

[Treebore]

I have the whole M&M series as well as the whole Heroes series from GoG. The good thing, at least for me, is when I play games I have already completed, I can walk away from them any time I need to.

[Buttmonkey]

I have the whole M&M series as well as the whole Heroes series from GoG. The good thing, at least for me, is when I play games I have already completed, I can walk away from them any time I need to.

Unfortunately for me, I've only played M&M I, II, and VI and I didn't complete any of them. I got a good deal of the way through I and II. I have fond memories of a particular encounter in II. It was a fixed encounter with some type of wolves and the encounter would reset itself whenever you left the location. The treasure haul was massive. I remember hitting that encounter over and over and dumping the gold into leveling up my archer. I could never rack up enough gold to keep up with the XP from the encounter. I got the archer up to something like level 75 before quitting. The archer was unbelievable at the end. Something like 8 attacks that always hit for something like 250 points of damage per round. Good times. Fast forward 15 years or so and I dumped a bunch of time into M&M VI. That was a great game. I remember one dungeon where you open the door to a massive chamber with an insane number of beholders in it. The encounter seemed impossible to overcome. Either there was a trick to it I didn't know or you weren't supposed to tackle that dungeon until your PCs reached crazy levels. I have lots of great memories of those games. Time to go back down the rabbit hole!

[TheMetal1]

Yeah, I was thinking of getting them, but I don't know if I want to deal with such old graphics.

The old graphics don't bother me so much. I've gotten partly into the original Wasteland, which has been kind of fun to do. I'll likely pick all these up. I only had Pool of Radiance for my Apple IIc and played it with orange monochrome monitor (and once at a friends with a blue monochrome monitor). I don't know if I ever solved it though. Wasteland is in that same category of having never solved it either.

And yeah, they'll probably sit around for a while before I ever play them, but should be fun when I get to it.

Then I saw GoG has Might & Magic I-VI for something like $10 and I started trembling.

I never played any of the M&M series. There was a humble bundle that had a lot of them I picked up. Which is better - the Forgotten Realms series or M&M?

[Buttmonkey]

Then I saw GoG has Might & Magic I-VI for something like $10 and I started trembling.

I never played any of the M&M series. There was a humble bundle that had a lot of them I picked up. Which is better - the Forgotten Realms series or M&M?

I preferred M&M to Pool of Radiance by a significant margin, but I haven't played any of the other Forgotten Realms SSI games. I thought Might and Magic was the best of the CRPGs it was competing with when it came out (i.e., Ultima, Wizardry, and Bard's Tale).

[Treebore]

That is a tough one. Let me put it this way, I have replayed M&M in the recent years, I have yet to replay ANY of the D&D games. I have started on Baldurs Gate a couple of times, but that doesn't last long. So I'd have to go with the M&M series.

[serleran]

I never played any of the M&M series. There was a humble bundle that had a lot of them I picked up. Which is better - the Forgotten Realms series or M&M?

The only proper answer is both.

[TheMetal1]

I never played any of the M&M series. There was a humble bundle that had a lot of them I picked up. Which is better - the Forgotten Realms series or M&M?

The only proper answer is both.

Darn you, serleran! you're right as always!

I did pick up on the Forgotten Realms series from GOG. I realized my hard drive has way more space than I'm using - so might as well fill it up!

That being said, I downloaded Pool of Radiance and gave it whirl after my Sunday night C&C Game (via Fantasy Grounds 2 and Ventrillo!). I have one player that comes over the house and sets up. He had played Pool years ago as well. I guess I had rose colored glasses, as it didn't live up to my memories! I guess I should say "monochrome" memories.

We created a Dwarf Fighter/Thief, but he didn't get added to the party. I was surprised at the amount of customization that was available for the time - different heads and bodies for the PC portraits and even the Icon that is used in battle scenes could be custom tailored by color and look (something I missed out on in the "monochrome" world). But we played anyway. Looked a lot like the Old Bard's Tale until combat. We battled some Kobolds. The mechanics were OK. Took a bit to figure out what keys did what. Note the "end" key will help cycle thru options.

I do think that this is a game I can get into. The graphics are product of it's time, but as I never finished the game (that I remember) i'm hoping I can with this new version.